The Lost Week

Here are the movies I watched during the week between Christmas and New Years, aka "The Lost Week". I chose some really good movies to end 2022 on! 

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Singin' in the Rain

It's kind of wild that I had not only not watched Singin' in the Rain, considered one of the greatest films of all time, until now...but that I didn't even know what it was about until now. Singin' in the Rain, a musical comedy starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, is about the transition from silent films to talkies and how that affected actors and film crews. What a cool time period and cool concept! 

Kelly plans Don Lockwood, an actor who appears in many silent films with Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen). The duo star together so often that they are collectively referred to as "Lockwood & Lamont" and there are constant rumors of romance between the two (even though Don pretty much loathes Lina). But when the duo are required to make a "talkie" to keep up with the rest of Hollywood, their secret will be revealed: Lina Lamont has an absolutely awful voice. 

Enter Kathy Selden (Reynolds), a young dancer with a beautiful voice. When the latest Lockwood & Lamont picture is revamped to be a musical, a plan is hatched for Kathy to voice Lina's lines and sing for her. But then Don and Kathy start falling for each other and jealous Lina schemes to ruin Kathy's career.

With classic songs such as "Singin' in the Rain", "Good Morning", and Moses Supposes", Singin' in the Rain is a delightful, colorful, film that lives up to its reputation as one of the GOATs.

Grade: A

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Red Rocket 

Sean Baker, director of Tangerine and The Florida Project, loves to make "slice of life" films about Americans living on the edge of poverty and society. His latest, Red Rocket, follows a man that we might generously call a "ne'er do well" (or, less generously, call a fuck-up and a creep). Mikey Saber (played in a stunning breakout role by Simon Rex) left his hometown of Texas City, Texas for Los Angeles 17 years ago where we worked in the adult film industry. He has returned home to an estranged wife who wants nothing to do with him, no job, and no prospects. It's pretty clear that Mikey is infamous in Texas City and that everyone hates him.

Mikey is a fast-talker and is incredibly charismatic. He's not evil, but he is wildly self-centered and, though not lacking in intelligence, very good at making spectacularly dumb life choices. He visits his old marijuana dealer, Leondria (Judy Hill) and gets a job moving bud. He also meets the barely legal Raylee (who goes by "Strawberry"; played by Suzanna Son) at a local donut shop and becomes immediately smitten/horny. He is convinced that he can bring this girl, who is less than a month away from turning 18, back to LA and turn her into the greatest porn star who ever lived.

All of this would be insanely creepy if it weren't for Simon Rex's pitch-perfect performance. It's still very creepy to see a guy who is probably in his late-30s "dating" a girl who is technically legal in Texas but is young enough to be his daughter, but Rex walks this incredibly fine line of coming off as a genuinely nice and funny guy, but also a total doofus who can't think one step beyond the pussy and donuts right in front of his face. 

Red Rocket is hilarious, cringe-y, free-wheeling, and sexy/trashy in a way that will make you question your own ethics. 

Grade: A-

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Blast from the Past

I LOVED this movie as a young teen. When I saw it was on streaming, I wanted to, well, uh, have a blast from the past! This sweet, goofy romance holds up! Brendan Fraser plays Adam, a 35 year old man who was born and raised in a fallout shelter after his parents, Calvin and Helen (Christopher Walken and Sissy Spacek, both hilarious and wonderful in this movie), become convinced that it's only a matter of time until the United States is bombed by the Russians. They're not just paranoid either, as the film opens during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

Well, 35 years later, Calvin believes it's safe to explore outside again, but get a shock when he leaves his shelter and it's 1997 in a shitty neighborhood in LA. He immediately sees a homeless guy digging through trash and a trans hooker saying she "can be a boy, girl, whatever you want" and believes that the humans up above are mutants! (btw, despite how that sounds, the joke is always on Calvin and never on the people he--and later, Adam--meets).

Calvin is so shocked that Adam has to take his place and go up above to look for resources and, possibly, a non-mutant wife. When attempting to sell some old baseball cards, he meets Eve (Alicia Silverstone), who helps the naive Adam not be taken advantage of by the guy offering to buy the cards. Adam convinces the skeptical Eve to help him sell his cards (which are worth thousands apiece) and buy all the resources he needs to keep his parents comfortable in the fallout shelter. 

Blast from the Past is genuinely sweet and funny. Some elements I thought might not have aged well (for example, Dave Foley plays Troy, Eve's gay roommate) are actually handled really well for a movie from 25 years ago. When Eve tells Adam that Troy is gay, Adam says "well, good for you!" thinking she means like, a joyous person. The fact that Adam is so clueless and yet so earnest and sweet means that whenever he encounters someone different and new to him, he treats them with respect automatically. 

Brendan Fraser is just wonderful in this movie and it makes me happy to know that we're in the Brendanaissance right now and the actor is finally getting his due after some pretty shitty treatment he received in Hollywood. 

Grade: B+

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Fall

This survival thriller was SO anxiety-inducing. I watch a lot of horror and thriller movies, but I think I was the most vocal over this one, often saying out loud (while watching it by myself, mind you) "Oh fuck." "Oh no!" "You've got to be shitting me!!" and just "NOOOOOOOO!!!" That's because Fall is about the fear that gets us all: heights. Or, more specifically, falling from heights.

Becky (Grace Caroline Currey), her husband Dan (Mason Gooding), and her best friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner), are rock climbers. But when Dan dies in a terrible accident, Becky becomes a recluse and even contemplates suicide. To pull her out of her funk, Hunter basically forces Becky to go on an "adventure" with her, where they will climb a decommissioned TV tower for Hunter's YouTube channel. Becky allows herself to be coaxed and prodded into going along with this crazy stunt.

Well, the tower has a ladder all the way to the top. But at the top, the ladder, which is old and rusty, breaks and falls away, leaving the women stuck at the tippy-top with no way to get down. Their backpacks, which have their water, fall and land on a communications dish below and though they have their phones, they don't have service.

Fall has every survival thriller trope and cliche in the book. However, despite the fact that I guessed one of the big "twists" about two minutes in, I still had a great time watching the movie. I wished I had seen it in the theatre, because it would have been even more intense. But even on my old-ass TV, it was still very effective. 

Grade: B+

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See for Me

A Shudder original film, See for Me is a serviceable thriller about Sophie, young, blind woman housesitting for a rich lady. When burglars break into the woman's house, Sophie must use an app called "See for Me" to survive. This film takes inspiration from both 1967's Wait Until Dark and 2016's Hush, but doesn't really offer us anything new. There are a lot of tense moments, but honestly I was the most tense when Sophie would go down stairs. Like, Sophie holding a gun and facing off against a bad guy? Meh. Sophie running around a house she wasn't familiar with? GIRL BE CAREFUL!!

I will add that there is a not-so-subtle "it's ok to steal from rich people" message in the movie, which I'm kind of ok with and I wish the movie had more balls to fully embrace. 

If you're bored and looking for a home invasion thriller with a twist, you might enjoy See for Me. Otherwise, it's one to skip.

Grade: B-