An open thread where you can share what you’ve recently watched, offer suggestions on movies and TV shows we should check out (or warnings about stuff to avoid), and discover queue-filling goodies from other FSR readers.
The comments section awaits. I’ll get the ball rolling.
Pulp Fiction is on Netflix streaming, which is an incredible gift for obsessives who want to examine every nook and cranny like it’s the Zapruder Film. I hadn’t seen it in quite a while, but even though so much of it has entered into the pop culture lexicon, the revisit was as sharp and hip as ever. Or maybe that’s because only stuff like Royales with Cheese, Bible verses and $5 Milkshakes entrenched themselves into quote repetition.
It made me wonder if people saying they’ll go “Medieval” on someone remember (or realize) that Marsellus Wallace says the line after being anally raped with a red ball gag in his mouth. The movie is almost slick and cool enough to forget how brutal it gets. For that (and many other reasons), seeing again was a blast.
It also made me wonder this: if Eric Stoltz had stayed in Back to the Future, is there any chance he would have ended up as a drug dealer in Pulp Fiction? [Netflix Streaming]
Final movies fascinate me, and while it’s not the last they made, The Barkleys of Broadway was the last that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together. The massively iconic film couple dances and sings after a ten-year hiatus of working together, playing a husband-and-wife comedy team who fight constantly and might be done completely when she seeks a more prestigious career. As you can tell, the meta angle is there in full form (even though Astaire and Rogers were never married) alongside the gymnast-like talent.
It’s also exceedingly bizarre at times ‐ particularly a goofy Scots musical number, an extended performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 1”), and some hilarious bi-polar behavior from both main characters. Overall fun and harmless, though. [Amazon Pay Streaming]
Every review of The Wolverine is accurate. Patient, beautiful dramatic work courtesy of James Mangold, a script from Christopher McQuarrie and strong actors…blended with a toy-selling, studio-invention of a third act that runs on the winces of audience members.
Neil was right. Fortunately, it acts like amnesia bullets for anyone who can still remember X-Men Origins: Wolverine. [In Theaters]
So what did you watch?
Your Previous Recommendations
