NOTE: From now through March, Being Human is Hard will arrive in your mailbox sporadically because I value my sanity. To those living with chronic pain, chronic fatigue or those who find winter to be are rough season: Give yourself grace and tenderness; you deserve it.
After 12 days in Canada visiting fam I’m back home with the pup, tucked under the covers until the jetlag passes. I made good use of my Alamo Drafthouse movie pass before I left tho, so we’re gonna review the six films I saw, all while wearing gel tips that make me grateful for spell check. We’ll also go over some shows and movies I think are worth streaming.
All of Us Strangers
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a movie sit with me for days after seeing it. All of Us Strangers is a dreamlike and devastating reflection on trauma, isolation, and loneliness in queer identity. The film feels like it was made for writers and filmmakers, which has left some viewers upset by the ending. As one Redditor stated, "People addicted to literal interpretations won't leave this film happy. Its narrative is human emotion.”
Andrew Scott is brilliant in this role, and the years spent honing his craft allow him to command the screen with the slightest changes in facial expressions and body language. Paul Mescal gives a lasting and memorable performance with his tender and vulnerable portrayal of a young man looking for connection.
As much as I love this film, I don’t recommend watching this movie alone; its as gorgeous as it is heavy. Watch with a friend or loved one (not a parent).) CN: drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, death.
The Beekeeper
After falling in love with the B-movie summer blockbuster Meg 2: The Trench, and recently watching/rewatching all of the Transporter movies and Hobbs and Shaw, my love of action star Jason Statham has only grown exponentially. Since his breakout role as Bacon in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Statham has appeared in over 50 films in the last sixteen years, and has been credited with leading the resurgence of action films in the 2000s and 2010s.
So, when I saw the trailer for The Beekeeper - his fifth movie in the last year - I purchased a ticket immediately, and reader it did not disappoint! Five minutes into the movie he tased a bag of hornets, causing me to burst out laughing at this unhinged act of pest control. What followed was an hour and forty minutes of Statham dispensing classic action-thriller justice that we’ve come to expect and love from him. The phenomenal supporting cast includes Phylicia Rashad, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Jeremy Irons and Minnie Driver.
With a score of 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, I highly recommend The Beekeeper to anyone looking for an action movie that's fun and gleefully over the top.
The Iron Claw
You don’t really need to know anything about wrestling to enjoy this film, which tells the real-life triumph and tragedy of the Von Erich brothers. This movie will leave you with a rock dropped on your chest, especially after you read Wikipedia and realize the film left out a bunch of other messed up stuff that happened to this family. Zac Efron looks like a real-life 80s action figure and delivers an outstanding performance. CN: drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, death.
Godzilla Minus One
While recent adaptations have positioned Godzilla as an anti-hero, helping humans by defeating other kajui, this reimagining of the original 1945 Godzilla takes the franchise back to its roots by depicting a ruthless, destructive beast with no regard for human life. Set in the days following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Godzilla becomes empowered by the radiation, kicking the country and her people while they are already down. It’s a story that honors real-life history and human resilience, all while bringing back the bad-ass theme song from the 1964 film Mothra vs. Godzilla.1
The Boy and The Heron
Fans of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki’s decades-spanning career have been waiting fervently for this film. Without giving too much away, the movie is heavily influenced by Miyazaki’s own life and focuses on how individuals navigate and come to terms with a world characterized by strife and loss. The film’s themes of grief, family, and responsibilities have obviously struck a chord with movie viewers: for the first time in Miyazaki’s career, the 82-year-old Japanese anime master is No. 1 at the North American box office. The film is available to watch dubbed and with subtitles; I saw the dubbed version but would prefer to see it with subtitles.
Poor Things (Spoilers)
Yorgos Lanthimos has received so much praise for his most recent film one has to ask, did the critics watch a different movie than I did?
Poor Things is essentially a pedo-fetish film masquerading as a celebration of female sexual empowerment. Set against the backdrop of beautiful Victorian steam-punk imagery and spectacular set and costume design, the plot of the film centers around Emma Stone’s character, Bella, a female Frankenstein who is resuscitated after a fetus’ brain is placed in her skull. The audience is briefly informed that Bella’s brain is supposedly maturing at a rapid pace, but it’s blatantly obvious that Bella maintains an adolescent mental capacity throughout the movie.
No matter how pretty or visually stunning, at the end of the day Poor Things is still a movie that’s 85% uncomfortably long scenes of naked Emma Stone talking and walking like a kindergartener while masturbating and fucking.
TL;DR: No thanks.
Recommended Streaming
Movies
Jurassic Park (Netflix) - The T-Rex and Velociraptors are still terrifying. Stands up as one of the best movies ever made.
Polite Society (Prime Video) - A fun and quirky comedy action movie about family, sisterhood, and independence.
My Neighbor Totoro (Max) - Cute, funny, heartwarming, and sentimental, this animation classic should be bumped to the top of your watch list if you haven’t seen it yet.
TV
Fargo, Season 5 (Hulu) - Juno Temple’s gives an outstanding performance throughout this whole season, commanding every scene she’s in. I wasn’t a fan of Jon Hamm’s performance, he doesn’t play a believable villain IMO. The rest of the main cast - Richa Moorjani, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lamorne Morris, and Joe Keery - do an exceptional job. CN: domestic violence/intimate partner violence.
True Detective, Season 4 (Max) - I am in love with this season. Jodie Foster is spectacular and the story line is super spooky. CN: death, gore, violence.
Millennials will remember that Pharoah Monch sampled this song (without permission) in his hit single “Simon Says” off his debut album Internal Affairs (1999).