Category Archives: Movies

#233- Ghostbusters

Quick recap: Three professors start a business trapping ghosts because, as we all know, bustin’ makes you feel good!

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Fun (?) fact: The bookcase that fell over in the beginning of the film was an accident but was kept in the movie ‘to add mystery’.

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Venkman’s animated self creeps me out a bit, tbh

My thoughts: Being a #80s/90skid, my three favorite movies growing up were: 1) E.T 2) The Little Mermaid and 3) Ghostbusters. Now that I have a 6 year old, nothing makes me happier than being able to share with him things I loved, even if he doesn’t quite get it at first:

In the beginning of the film as Venkman is testing students for telepathic abilites:

B: Wow, that girl can read minds!

Me: No, Venkman is pretending that she can because he wants to date her.

B: So…..she’s the ghost?

Suffice to say, this kid was dying to see some ghosts. Naturally, because that’s how life works, I never noticed how many ‘adult’ jokes were in the movie when I was little  so it was a little awkward sitting through a few scenes. Nonetheless, he seemed to enjoy the movie and I later heard him pretending to be a Ghostbuster in the bath, so I guess I don’t always suck at this parenting thing.

It surprised me how much of this movie is carried by Bill Murray. He’s hilarious, of course, and the other guys are good, but it’s Murray that does it for me. Knowing that most of his lines were ad libbed makes me appreciate the humor even more. Rick Moranis was much funnier than I remembered, especially the scene at his party. There are so many moments I loved and so many great quotes, but the plot itself was a little meh. Personally, I much prefer the plot of Ghostbusters 2, although it lacks a bit in the jokes department.

It makes me happy that a childhood favorite has held up so well after all these years and I’m glad I got to pass it on to the next generation.

Final review: 4/5

Up next: Lola

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#232- The Godfather

Thanks for the suggestion, Josh!

Quick recap: A charming, uplifting story about a close-knit Sicilian family.

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Extra fun fact: 90% of  Simpsons episodes are just a parody of The Godfather

Fun (?) fact: The cat held by Marlon Brando in the beginning of the film was just a stray he found on the lot. The cat, being a cat, purred so loudly that some of Brando’s lines weren’t able to be heard.

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My thoughts: I’m so relieved to finally be able to cross The Godfather off of my ‘Oh my god, Mary, you haven’t seen ______? What’s wrong with you?’ list.And I’m also glad that it will not be added to my ‘Oh my god, Mary you didn’t like _______? What’s WRONG with you?’ list.

So. The Godfather. There’s so much to love about this film, but I think the genius lies in having all these common family events- a wedding, an ill loved one, a wife getting blown up, a baptism- and portraying them through the eyes of the Mafia. It created this perfect juxtaposition where I, as the viewer could identify with all these scenes and yet also SO NOT identify with any of the scenes. I know people love this movie for all its badass violence (and believe me, there’s plenty of that), but there is also heart, which I found most surprising. The baptism scene is a perfect example of that and also maybe the greatest scene in film,period. On one hand, here is Michael, the new godfather, honoring his duties, and with each phrase the priest says, the other scene is of absolute slaughter. He’s the godfather and he’s also The Godfather. Perfection.

I’m not even going to go into the acting because of course it was superb and all that jazz, but I never really got used to Don Corleone, played by Marlon Brando. I blame two things for this: 1) I’ve seen so many parodies and tributes  of The Godfather that seeing the actual performance felt like a parody itself and 2) I haven’t forgiven Brando yet for One-Eyed Jacks. Nonetheless, it’s one of the greatest roles in film and I can’t imagine anyone else doing it.He too is a juxtaposition between this family man- playing with his grandson, giving his children advice- and also running one of the most dangerous crime syndicates in history. Don Corleone seemed so helpless after getting shot, yet he still managed to influence every decision just by his very presence. It’s one of the greatest roles in film, which I know I’m saying a lot, but come on, it’s The Godfather.

Final review: 5/5

Up next: possibly the Ghostbusters or Casablanca

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#231- There’s Something About Mary

Quick recap: In the screwballiest of screwball comedies, There’s Something About Mary is about a guy (Ted) in love with a girl (Mary).

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Ben Stiller as a high school kid will haunt me for a long while

Fun(?) fact: Lee Evans (who plays Tucker) has the most godawful British accent but as it turns out, he is actually British and just exaggerated what he normally sounds like. Actors!

 My thoughts: Hello. My name is Mary. YEAH. This movie came out when I was in middle school and has been the bane of my existence ever since then. Not that I needed more fuel for people to tease me about my name- ‘Hey Mary, how does your garden grow?’ ‘Hey, Mary, where’s your lamb?’ ‘Hey, Mary, are you proud?’ ‘Mary Me!’ (actually, that one was kind of funny). The point is, I hated this movie just for that reason and I’m glad to say that now I can hate it because it is the WORST.

All you really need to know about There’s Something About Mary is that it is directed by the Farrelly brothers, who are known for such gems as Shallow Hal, Osmosis Jones and Dumb and Dumber. Now, I have nothing against lowbrow comedy or even the Farrelly brothers in general. I have seen Dumb and Dumber many times and certain scenes still make me laugh. The difference though is that that movie had heart where this one just has jokes about masturbation and killing a dog. Yes, there is a love story but just barely. It’s mostly just a vehicle to get to the gross out stuff and making fun of people who are disabled. I never bought into the whole Ted/Mary dynamic mainly because there wasn’t much there. There is one scene where the two sit around and talk about more meat products needing to be on sticks. This turned out to be a joke that Seinfeld was going to use originally but decided against it so the Farrelly brothers bought it. These guys suck.

And as for the ending, which I’m going to go ahead and spoil because screw you if you want to watch this after my review, it turns out that EVERY guy is in love with Mary. There is a zany cast of suitors throughout the movie with the reveal at the end that Mary’s crazy high school boyfriend, Woogie, is Ted’s best friend and his been patiently waiting for his chance. I cried in despair upon realizing that I had been duped by the Farrelly brothers and hadn’t seen the twist ahead of time. The other reveal that Mary’s ex, Brett, was actually Brett Favre didn’t send me into quite as big a shame spiral, but I was still pretty broken up about the whole thing. Please don’t watch this movie.

Final review: 1/5. I guess you could call this the height of screwball comedies, which just means that it gets much, much worse.

Up next: Cleansing my palette with The Godfather

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#230- Pan’s Labyrinth

Thank you to Sam for recommending this movie! I know you could’ve chosen LOTR but I appreciate the restraint 🙂 

Quick recap: A young girl growing up during the Francoist Period in Spain enters a fantasy world to escape her frightening real life situation.

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Fun (?) fact: In literally every other country except America,this movie is known as ‘The Labyrinth of the Faun’, which makes way more sense.

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All glory to the Hypnotoad

My thoughts: Boy, was this a dark movie. I remember the depressing ending from when I watched it a few years ago but I was still a little taken aback by its bleakness. Then again, this is directed by Guillermo del Toro so no one should go into this expecting rainbows and sunshine. Or go ahead and believe that. I’m not here to tell you how to live your life.

It’s hard to describe why I loved Pan’s Labyrinth so much because I lack all those fancy words that real film reviewers use, but I’ll try my best. To me, the world that del Toro created in the movie felt real. It went beyond creating a creepy set and cast of characters and it moved into something that truly had life. At first I was like, ‘Can’t Ofelia at least catch a break in her OWN MADE UP WORLD?’ but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. This girl has seen stuff and like many kids, uses her imagination to try and make her situation better. But even then, you can’t ever really escape and so her fantasy world is completely intertwined with her real world. Which makes this movie ten times more depressing, honestly.

While looking up trivia for the film I came across several theories about the meaning or theme of the movie. Of course there is the religious element, which I usually shoot down because people think they see Jesus everywhere (mostly in toast). And there is the theme of good vs. evil, which a) seems too simple for a movie like this and b) once again, this theme is in everything. I didn’t bother to read too much into what I watched and instead just enjoyed the story. I trust that del Toro put in a bunch of symbols but I like that Pan’s Labyrinth can also be taken at face value as a (very depressing) fairy tale.

Also- war is hell, man.

Final review: 5/5

Up next: There’s Something About Mary

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