Senior Year

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Senior Year!

Original image located here. Accessed 5th December 2025

Sometimes a film appears on your watch list and it stays there for so long that you forget why you put it there in the first place. But in this case, I think I know why: My first point of contact with this movie was seeing saw that scene where the cheerleader is thrown up but doesn't get caught and is subsequently knocked out. Nothing like some mindless violence to get one interested.

What I got however was a movie that seems to be at odds with itself: On one hand it could have gone and said something about arrested development and being a teen in an adult's body but it did not (did it see Young Adult and get cold feet?). And on the other it could have gone and said something about the current youth being disrupted out of lifelessness by an older person - and while it does do that it comes across as forced. So what does that make this movie?

Certainly there are some good jokes and Angourie Rice does an AMAZING job of channelling Rebel Wilson but the rest of the time? Just too much cringe for my liking. Damn...

Ghostbusters Afterlife

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Ghostbusters Afterlife!

Original image located here. Accessed 3rd June 2022

I have a friend named Nick. He is the biggest Ghostbusters fan i know and he was adamant that i watch this. Well, I'm not one to argue with fanboys - that and the fact that Nick is a big guy so I'm definitely not going to argue with him.

I have to say this movie does come across like the most expensive fan movie ever made. There's loads of in jokes and references. There is a sense that nostalgia is powering the whole thing. There is Paul Rudd acting like he can barely contain his inner fanboy.
Yet at the same time, while the reverence is there, it faces opposition. For movie is from Jason Reitman who directed Young Adult (which I saw weeks before). And the reverence is for a movie that was built on irony. And can I really buy Egon being a parent let alone a neglectful one?

Misgivings aside, there is still a lot going for this movie. The strength of the franchise - the unlikely combination of horror, humor and special effects - are at work here. There is some great use of atmosphere (the chess game for one), the kids that are the leads do a great job and and the climax is indeed a treat.
So yeah, not a bad effort

Favorite line: "Playtime's over, lets toast this muffin!"

Young Adult

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Young Adult!

Original image located here. Accessed 13th May 2022

You know how it happens: You put a movie on your To Watch List and it stays there. It stays there for so long that you eventually forget why you put it there in the first place. But then again, there is something to be said about approaching something with fresh eyes.

So what this movie is putting forth is a character study: Of a woman who is wrapped up in the idealised teen life that her own life is in a period of stagnation. It's billed as a comedy but I don't believe it is. It is quite a bleak movie. Sure there are laughs but they are few and far between. As mentioned above, I forgot why I wanted to see this movie but somehow I think the anxiety of my approaching middle age could have something to do with it.
So far what I may have typed up sounds anything but a crowd pleaser but the movie works purely through the lead Charlize Theron, who certainly does a lot to make a potentially dislikable character appear in a sympathetic light.
But here's a thought: Does it make all the difference that this character is a female one? Somehow i can't help thinking that if this character was played by a male actor the movie would be disregarded as either a) a Taxi Driver clone or b) incel bait.
So yeah, not an easy watch - more akin to a car crash if anything - but it certainly was compelling.