Nerd Pride Radio

As I was compiling movies for Kyle's thread, I found a bunch of movies that I've intended to see for a long time but just never seem to get to. So I made a list. And then I looked at everyone else's top 10, and I added more to my list. And now I've got 40 movies that I've been meaning to get to.

Step 2: I plugged all of them into my account, and now when I go to my watchlist, it shows that 10 of those movies are available to watch on streaming services that I have available to me:

1. Booksmart
2. Eighth Grade
3. Goon (watched)
4. Hot Rod (watched)
5. Lady Bird
6. Moonlight
7. Snowpiercer (watched)
8. Sorry to Bother You (watched)
9. The Blackcoat's Daughter
10. The Lobster

So when I have screen time, instead of picking out some new TV series, I'm going to start getting through these. And over time, hopefully a bunch of those other 30 will start becoming available to me as well.

So I started last night with Goon. Always meant to see this. I've heard good things.

[Spoiler-ish review for 12 year old movie follows. Short version... I loved it.]


Goon was friggin brilliant. A near perfect sports movie. Scott is incredible as Doug "The Thug" Glatt. Liev Schrieber was incredible--particularly his dead-on Canadian accent. The direction was wonderful. This is movie is noble and uplifting while also being absolutely brutal. The loving, lingering, slow-motion shots of blood on ice were powerful. The archive footage at the end of the the actual Doug "The Hammer" who inspired Goon were relentless, but not so visceral. This movie brought it close up and showed what those hockey fights the fans love so much actually mean for the flesh and blood caught up in them.

I love this movie so much. Sweet, noble, bloody, brutal. Crazy good.

Some of these would be great for our other movie thread.

Haha been awhile since I watched it but Goon does indeed rule.

Here's the remainder of my want-to-see list, minus the ones that aren't released or aren't streaming yet:

Bad Words (2013)
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Ghostbusters (2016)
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
Hotel Artemis (2018)
Into the Woods (2014)
John Wick (2014)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
Jojo Rabbit (2020)
Keanu (2016)
Lucy (2014)
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015)
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
The Age of Adaline (2015)
The Favourite (2019)
The First Purge (2018)
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil (2019)
The Purge: Election Year (2016)
The Shape of Water (2018)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Welcome to Marwen (2019)
Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

Sorry to Bother You

Holy crap! I did NOT see that coming! I don't know what I thought this movie was, but it took me totally off guard. Cassius Green is a telemarketer in a more than slightly surreal world, and the film tackles race and class and capitalist plutocracy. It's occasionally funny. Often disturbing. Not at all subtle. Recommend.

Hot Rod

Ugh! Andy Samburg's attempt to make a Happy Madison film, apparently. Gross. I shut it off halfway through. And I only made it that far, because I was watching it for my son. He and his friends saw it together in high school, and he's always spoken very fondly of it. He's told me several times I should see it. But it is not good.

Snowpiercer
I dig it. That was a fun movie.The metaphor is super-obvious, so I get to feel smart without having to think hard. The suspension-of-disbelief required was off the charts, but that's kinda the point... it's a metaphor.

Just watched Booksmart over the weekend (sorry High Spirits, i'll get to you soon). It's a joy. Just love when a film gets great reviews, looks like something I would totally like, and then fulfills my high expectations.

Gonna play catch-up with your list. Hope to see Moonlight at some point in the next few weeks.