Better late than never, our annual tradition of picking out the best films of the year has arrived, if not without a COVID shaped caveat. But a pandemic can’t keep cinema down, even if is keeping cinemas closed. There was still plenty to enjoy in 2020, as you’ll hear in this week’s episode!
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Good lists from everyone! You all had at least one I missed, so I’ve got plenty to catch up on.
One of my favorites of the year was Tread. It’s a documentary about that guy who turned an old bulldozer into a tank and smashed up his small Colorado town back in 2004. It does a great job of showing how he turned minor grievances into a bizarre, destructive crusade. It was also the last thing I saw in theaters before everything shut down.
The first thing I saw when theaters sort of opened again was Bloodshot. Yes, I risked it all for Bloodshot.
Anyway, 20 minutes in I was thinking it was the most brick-stupid bullshit I had ever seen. But there’s a bit of a twist not long after that’s actually pretty clever. It’s a bit more critical of the military industrial complex (and the tech industry’s cozy relationship with it) than I was expecting from a C-tier comic book movie starring Vin Diesel.
Probably not worth my stupid ass risking getting sick over, but worth checking out.
For my last one I’m going to cheat a little, because technically it came out in Italy in 1995, but 2020 was its first (legal) US release. Cruel Jaws, released in Italy as Jaws 5 (seriously), is basically the Troll 2 (or even Plan 9) of shark movies. Bizarre dialog, confusing plot, a major character played by a Hulk Hogan impersonator, and big chunks of its runtime pulled from another unrelated Jaws ripoff, it has to be seen to be believed. It’s on Amazon Prime right now, so give it a shot.
Chris your brief comments on “Tenet” were really disappointing, with all your praise for Chris Nolan’s past work I really thought you were gonna give this movie a decent shot. I know it’s hard understand on the first couple of viewings, but this movie I think is really special with all the craft put behind it.
Please give it another shot, maybe with the same amount of attention as something like”Memento”, or instead just sit back, turn up the volume and try appreciate the ride. Trust me a Nolan is designed as a ride with the plot as a maze, don’t worry about it too much, peace!
Before the 90s, it was consistent in movies for children that they have a scary section. Because we’re exposed to these scenes early on and don’t necessarily revisit them ever again, the memory or hyperbolic representation of these scenes linger into later in life, pinging our brain every now and then like the central nervous system’s reaction to bee venom.
I’m not sure if you had a LaserTime in the past regarding scary scenes in children’s movies, but there is plenty of material that gives reason to discuss the classics.
Besides plenty of scenes in Brave Littler Toaster, there’s Pink Elephants in Dumbo, the clown dream in Pee Wee (which I’m sure gave many people coulrophobia), and don’t forget large Marge either from Pee Wee and the many Disney classics. So what do you think? These movies were made for children and the creator’s believed these scenes served a purpose to the story and overall enhanced the audience’s experience, yet later movies have fewer and fewer. I’m sure there’s a Carl Jung analogy for these sections of the movies’ stories.
Do you think this would be a good Laser Time subject?