Quarantine Watch #588: Tender (2019)

I just didn’t believe the performances of this film. Additionally nothing felt tender. I REALLY wanted to like this so bad, but I didn’t buy that they liked each other nor the interaction even happened. I also had a hard time connecting to the film. This may mean that it wasn’t meant for me and I just can’t see it because I am not a gay black woman, but it is hard for me to really tell.

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Quarantine Watch #587: The Guest (2014)

Dan Stevens makes this movie. His screen presence and way he is able to play this character, helps to keep you engaged, especially once things go off the rails. A lot of it doesn’t make the most sense, but that doesn’t matter because the film plays in such a dark, action space that you can’t help but watch. The mystery of trying to figure out what is going on is also enough to keep you surprised by each twist and turn the film takes.

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Quarantine Watch #586: Tiger (2021)

I am so conflicted about this film it is hard to reconcile it. I did not know the whole Tiger Woods story since he has just always existed since I’ve been aware of pop culture. There wasn’t a pre-Tiger Woods version of golf for me, he has always been there. As such, the history and the details about him fascinated me and helped to keep my interest throughout the film. That being said, this film just felt yucky. It is the best word I can think of to describe it. The majority of people interviewed are old friends who knew Tiger, his ex-girlfriend, and his mistress. It feels so adjacent and tangental to his life. Tiger is not in it, nor has he promoted it. It makes me think anyone who is still close to Tiger Woods would have asked if they should do the documentary and in my opinion he would have told them, “No,” considering the documentary digs up the dirty laundry of his extramarital affairs. The music is a bonkers choice. It plays like a murder mystery series on Netflix, it is so ominous. They directors want to feel like the stakes are seriously high, but ultimately it is about golf and a man cheating on his wife. It’s not murder. It isn’t even sexual harassment or violence. He isn’t a bad guy. He is just a super flawed human being, like all of us. When you put all of it together, it feels like the documentary is bullying Tiger Woods. It feels weird that it would be directed by two white guys when a good chunk of the documentary is about how Tiger Woods was shouldered with the responsibility of being a perfect role model for BIPOC people in sports. It is also a tricky thing to profile one of the greatest athletes ever while they are still alive and are not interviewed in the film for their point of view. At the same time you don’t want the subject to be a producer on the film, because then it creates bias for the film. It’s a lough line to toe.

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Quarantine Watch #584: WarGames (1983)

WARGAMES is always such a great rewatch. Matthew Broderick is so good in this, you can really see the personality he is developing that eventually helps to make FERRIS BUELLER legendary. This film also has one of the best openings in film. John Badham is a really underrated director. because he knows how to drive scenes and work with actors. It also is a smart cold war film that plays well for younger audiences and adults alike. Anyone who has not seen it must see it, especially anyone born after 1990 to see how computers really have changed.

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Quarantine Watch #585: Chef (2014)

This is a perfect film in so many ways, which is why I find myself rewatching it over and over again. My sister hadn’t seen it and so we decided to watch it because its so funny and so full of heart. It may be Faverau’s best film and I think that comes from his real passion for cooking.

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Quarantine Watch #583: Marty (1955)

I had seen clips of this film and the original TV version back in college and never got around to actually watching the whole thing. This may be my favorite Ernest Borgnine performance in anything I have seen him in. It warms my heart that this received so many accolades at the time because, well, it is such a warm film. It is so hard not to love it. That comes from the stellar performances by Borgnine, Betsy Blair, and Esther Minciotti. The world of the film is so mean to Clara, who is cute and not as off or unattractive as the film makes her out to be. Growing up in an Italian American family in New Jersey this film also just read authentic. That comes from the sharp writing of Paddy Chayefsky. The film just feels like when I would be at my aunt and uncle’s house as a child while people cook and yell at each other with love, pride, and stubbornness.

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Quarantine Watch #582: The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

I did not expect to love this film as much as I did. The stucture of the documentary is really phenomenal as it brings you in with the news footage of Milk’s death and then tells the story of the LGBT community through Milk's story. The film wastes no time in showing how great of a man and how determined he was. It also shows how bringing different communities into government and the public eye is the only way to really bread acceptance. The part of the film after Milk’s death is also shocking because a) I didn’t realize how much of a riot happened afterwards and b) it looks like footage shot in 2020. It is insane that humanity never seems to grow but only repeats. This makes you feel angry and cynical about the world, especially during the moments of Dan White’s trial.

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Quarantine Watch #581: Good Morning (1959)

This is one of the best, quietest, most fart filled protest films I’ve seen. It is so great how Ozu uses this town to explore human nature and how we act with one another — especially with all of life’s hypocrisies. Each story has a way of interacting with every other one. The determination of these two kids to remain quiet with everyone until they have a TV is so admirable with the little kid being so adorable. By doing so they are thumbing their noses at the system while all of the adults act more like childish gossips than role models or people in charge.

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Quarantine Watch #580: Antonio Gaudí (1984)

While I really appreciate both the work of Antonio Gaudí and Hiroshi Teshigahara I just did not connect with this film. It was essentially just images of Gaudí’s work, which works better for a coffee table book than a film. Unlike films such as KOYAANISQATSI, which showcases beautiful imagery and cinematography with smart editing that entrances you, this just felt like the buildings and architecture of Gaudí being photographed, which is a completely different entity than a documentary film. All of that being said, the buildings looks insane and organic which feels like David Cronenberg building the sets for Tatooine in the original STAR WARS trilogy.

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Quarantine Watch #579: Come and See (1985)

This is greatest film about war ever made. Period. I have never fought in a war nor have I had to deal with a war on the grounds of my country, but this film is the closest I think I or anyone else can feel what its like to be in the middle of a war. This is not just how film usually portrays, it causes you to really feel the human and emotional cost of war. It brings you to tears and wrecks your soul as you see the darkest side humanity has shown. It is so fascinating to see WWII from the Russian side as it is so rarely seen. If I even see a still photo from this film now I feel my soul leave my body for a brief moment at the sheer horror of it. This is mostly done through the amazing performances by Aleksei Kravchenko and Olga Mironova.

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Quarantine Watch #578: The Quiet Family (1998)

This film is so Korean in terms of its comedy and style. It is so nuts and by the time the fourth, fifth, and sixth person dies it becomes hard to think how far the film could go. This is such an all star cast that it is so cool to see how far these actors have come especially Choi Min-sik and Song Kang-ho. Even having them in the same film is a treat. Everything with the hitman and the cop is so funny and plays like a screwball comedy from the early days of Hollywood — full of misinformation and mistaken identity. The final moment of the film is also such a great way to end everything.

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Quarantine Watch #576: Josie and the Pussycats (2001)

This is such a great movie that no one likes to admit is a great movie. Not only is it hysterical, but it is so smart in both its commentary and structure. The music by Letters from Cleo are PHENOMENAL and can easily stand on their own outside of being associated with the film. The cameos for the band DuJour are so fun. Rachel Leigh Cook is so beautiful and her expressions are great as the leader of the film. I wish she had a bigger career outside of the late ‘90s/early aughts. This is also a great example of how good Tara Reid could have been. When you see her in this and AMERICAN PIE is really has a presence and knack for comedy. It’s a shame she spiraled so far out of control that she could never really regain what she had.

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Quarantine Watch #577: Kajillionaire (2020)

Evan Rachel Wood is really getting a chance to showcase how good of an actress she is especially in this idiosyncratic world that Miranda July is so good at crafting. It is such an interesting experiment to see an adult who can’t truly exist in the world due to the way her selfish and hypocritical parents presented the idea of the world to her. This is the most I have ever like Gina Rodriguez and while I believe her being drawn into the family and the innocence of Old Dolio (especially in the hand scene) I don’t buy them being a romantic couple by the way the film’s ending showcases. However, the final moments of the film is really fantastic in presenting the messed up love and code of conduct this family has. Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger are also so great in this.

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Quarantine Watch #575: Minari (2020)

This really is one of those great American dream films that come around every once in a while. The thing that really makes it work is how simple it is — a man wants to build a farm to help his family and is so focused on it he splinters what he has with his family. Still his determination and work ethnic is admirable. Everyone seems to be talking about Steven Yuen in this. While he is a great actor I wasn’t moved by his performance. Instead I loved what Han Ye-ri brought to the table. She was really phenomenal. Youn Yuh-jung and David Kim are the other standouts of the cast. Youn Yuh-jung reminds me so much of other vibrant elder Asian performances such as Zhao Shu-zhen in THE FAREWELL. Her relationship with David so wonderful to watch blossom. Will Patton also has never been this good and really becomes this character. The ending of the film is also so heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. This is such a better and more finessed version of what something like MARRIAGE STORY could have become. I bet the reason that sets it apart is that the family in MINARI are blue collar farmers instead of highfalutin artists.

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Quarantine Watch #574: Koyaanisqatsi (1982)

Wow this is a special film. The way it shoots the images a the way the editing juxtaposes them is truly wonderful, evocative, but ultimately ineffable. The Phillip Glass music also really helps to compliment the gorgeous cinematography. I just loved watching it. I really want to check out the other two films in this series now, even though I hear this is the best one. It is also worth mentioned I watched this stoned, which I think really helped my viewing experience.

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Quarantine Watch #573: The Black Cat (1934)

It was such a treat to see Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi on film together. The production design was pretty cool as well. Aside from that I had difficulty enjoying the film itself. It has a lot of problems but also is such a seminal film in both the horror genre and the history of film score as atmosphere. I bet all of the satanic overtones and plot points would have been more disturbing and horrifying to people in 1934, but today it is hard to really become invested in what is happening or to try to make sense of it all. I would have loved to see a remake of this with Christopher Lee in the Lugosi role due to his war experiences.

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Quarantine Watch #572: The Vast of Night (2020)

What a unique film. It reminded me of LOCKE in how much emotion and story is conveyed with audio over phone calls. The production design is so good considering how low their budget was. I also really loved the lighting and camera work. The two leads were also great and I can’t wait to see them in other things, specifically Sierra McCormick. They did such an amazing job I can’t wait to read the script for this because I’m interested to see how it reads. I bet it’ll be fun.

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Quarantine Watch #571: Promising Young Woman (2020)

First thing’s first: the soundtrack is the star of this film. It is so clever in how the music dances a waltz with the film, in truly the best way. The music cues come in at the perfect moments, especially with songs like It’s Raining Men, the string cover ofToxic that was elaborated on in the film’s trailer, and the Paris Hilton song I don’t know the title of. Carey Mulligan gives a performance I’ve never seen her give before. It was great to see another side of her. Bo Burnham is pitch perfect as always. Alfred Molina was a nice suprise, but at times it felt like he was bit over the top (still he was great in the role). For that matter the assembly of the cast is phenomenal, with so many talents appearing for even the slightest bit of screen time. I only wish Molly Shannon had been in it more, because I love a serious Molly Shannon (like in OTHER PEOPLE). Similar to SUMMER OF ‘84, this film does an interesting thing structurally by not ending when you think it will and giving the story a 4th act with a complete perspective shift that says a lot, not only about the themes the film was exploring up to that point, but also about the cost of the everything that happened. I had issues with how the story was told at times. It felt very overt, but also I think that’s part of the style of the film. These things happen so overtly and we as a society have let it happen and fester for so long. The overall look of the film was so fun and the bright colors and style were perfectly aligned with the story. Some shots were a little too stylized for my taste, but I am really excited to see what Emerald Fennell does next, because she has such a unique, sharp, and fun personality.

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Quarantine Watch #570: Black Narcissus (1947)

The honest to god best part of the entire film is the wondrous cinematography. The colors in the mountains are amazing. They feel like paintings and photographs at the same time. Amazing stuff. Deborah Kerr is really great in here, especially in her scenes with David Farrar. The story didn’t really connect with me at all, but I really could appreciate for the work and craft that went into it.

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Quarantine Watch #569: Survival of the Film Freaks (2018)

I had some stuff I wanted to get done and decided to put this on because this type of doc is totally my jam, but also I could still do the things I wanted to do. I was really interested in the history and the entire topic of cult films. My major issue with the film is the actually composition of the documentary. There are many documentaries. It gives off the look that it was made by a bunch of film fans who go together with their friends to make a documentary about this. Lloyd Kaufman and Joe Bob Briggs are necessary for any film on this topic, but everyone else feels like they couldn’t get the people they wanted to interview who love cult films and could have elevated the piece. People they could have interviewed that come to mind are Eli Roth, James Gunn, Patton Oswalt, Tom Savini, Paul Scheer, Sean Baker, Bruce Campbell, and Sam Raimi instead of Ted Raimi (not that there’s anything wrong with him, he’s great it just feels like they couldn’t get his brother so they settled on him). I also had issues with the score. The mix is odd as it drops in and out and the same short pieces are repeated over and over again creating a sort of looped carousel music that starts to feel annoying after it goes on for a while. Some of the interviews go on for two long and some feel like they recorded someone quickly at a convention and thus have the sound of a crowd around them. Additionally the structure of these interviews get to a point where everyone is saying the same thing so you keep hearing the same information over and over again. It also becomes a little indulgent with the interstitials in between the interviews where it becomes a supercut of cult films. These moments go on for too long and aren’t that motivated so it just feels like the directors took movies they liked and cut them there as an afterthought to fill runtime. There is a lot of good intention and heart within the film, but it feels rushed and I wish it was made a little tighter so I could enjoy it more.

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