Change Your Image
subjectivecuriosities
https://subjectivecuriosities.tumblr.com/
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Nine to Five (1980)
Mowie Wowie
Put down Karl Marx's Das Kapital & pick up this rated PG movie about women getting high & taking patriarchal capitalism hostage. The film starts off with Dolly Parton's super hit '9 to 5' Before introducing the main characters. Judy (Jane Fonda), Violet (Lily Tomlin), and Doralee (Dolly Parton in her acting debut) all work for the "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" Boss Mr. Hart (Dabney Coleman). This is perfect casting. By far my favorite part of the film is after toking on some 'mowie wowie' at Doralee's house each of the women share their fantasies of executing their boss. Judy goes first, imagining herself (in black & white) hunting Mr. Hart in his office while a mob of coworkers searches for him outside. She shoots him & puts his head on the wall like a big game trophy. Next Doralee imagines a western aesthetic where she subjects the boss to the same type of humiliations she endured. He flees the office & she hog ties him, to no ones objection, & leaves him spit roasting over a fire pit. The best is saved for last, Violet imagines everything like a disney film, where there is a mix of live action & animation. With the help of cartoon animals she puts poison in the boss' coffee. After Mr. Hart drinks the coffee steam comes out of his ears & his head spins around. Then with further help from her cartoon friends Violet pulls a lever sending Mr. hart out the skyscraper window. Her coworkers shown working chained in the lower level of a castle are given their freedom & rejoice while all 3 women smile & wave dressed like princesses. The women don't kill their boss but after a series of mistakes they have no choice but to kidnap Mr. Hart & run the office themselves. As an added bonus Ronald Reagan was fussy enough about the weed smoking scene to write in his diary on February 14th 1981 "...they had to get stoned on pot. It was an endorsement of Pot smoking for any young person who sees the picture." I love this film so much I included it on the Subjective Curiosities Podcast.
Evangelion Shin Gekijôban: Jo (2007)
Anime at its best
Written and directed by creator Hideaki Anno this is a faithful retelling of the first 6 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) in all the ways that matter. Serving as introduction to the social and psychological struggles of Japanese teenager Shinji Ikari (Spike Spencer) as he begins to navigate new relationships primarily with co-workers Lieutenant Colonel Misato Katsuragi (Allison Keith), an emotionally guarded career driven woman, and co-pilot Rei Ayanami (Brina Palencia), a teenage girl ill equipped for normal social interaction. This takes place along side dealing with the painful reunion with his absent father Commander Gendo Ikari (John Swasey). Shinji has been brought to Tokyo-3, a city wrecked by one apocalypse and always on the brink of another, at the request of his father to pilot a giant bio-powered robot named Evangelion Unit 01 in battle against terrifyingly destructive creatures known as Angels for the mysterious paramilitary organization NERV. On top of all this Shinji is also the newest student at his middle school where he meets fellow students Toji Suzuhara (Justin Cook) and Kensuke Aida (Greg Ayres). Shinji also must learn to cohabitate with Misato Katsuragi when she becomes his legal guardian. The plot is heavily driven by the emotional drama referred to in the movie as 'The Hedgehogs Dilemma', a metaphor for the way in which people (like hedgehogs with their pointy quills when gathering for warmth) hurt each other the closer they get to one another no matter how much they desire to be close. The rest is driven by beautifully animated mecha battles in which the Evangelion units fight three unique Angels. The soundtrack composed and arranged by Shiro Sagisu is perfect. The first film in a tetralogy everything is set in motion to tell the story of one of the best Anime franchises I've ever seen. I was lucky enough to see this film in theaters and I wouldn't hesitate to do so again. Ive rewatched this film so many times that I featured it on the Subjective Curiosities podcast.
Greener Grass (2019)
Weird in the best way
Okay lets get the obvious out of the way; John Waters, Tim & Eric, David Lynch, Wes Anderson, Stepford Wives, Edward Scissorhands, Napoleon Dynamite & so on. Essentially the aesthetics of this film are highly stylized & pleasantly unnerving. While it can be hard to keep a feature length film as fresh as a short this is a worthwhile expansion of the short Greener Grass (2015). I don't usually care for film trailers but just the trailer alone will let you know if this film is for you or not. In the trailer you have a mother impulsively give away her newborn baby to her best friend, her other child transforms into a golden retriever, & all the adults wear braces & drive golf carts. I knew I had to see it. Written, directed by & starring Jocelyn DeBoer as Jill & Dawn Luebbe as Lisa this film is hilarious & unsettling in different mixtures throughout as the tone shifts back & forth. This film is funny in a surface level way featuring television parodies & goofy characters while at the same time interesting in a more thoughtful way dealing with questions of identity, competition, narcissism, & many social constructs taken for granted in western society generally but particularly in suburbia. I really love the way this community seems hyper specific in their behavior and yet somehow completely familiar to many locations across The United States. The film basically starts with two thoughtless acts (Jill giving her newborn baby away and her son's golden retriever transformation) & then spends the majority of the film reacting to these actions with grounded consequences & genuine interactions from everyone involved. At the same time there is a building tension throughout the film that the viewer experiences primarily as voyeuristic first person shots that build into glimpses here and there of a murderer that is on the loose. These two tensions combine with Jills development of her individual identity to create the climax of the film. This is one of my favorite films which is why I featured it on Subjective Curiosities podcast.
Treevenge (2008)
My Favorite Christmas Horror Film
Typically the only Christmas movies I watch are horror films & although Treevenge is short it is my favorite of the subgenre. The premise is simple but the execution is sublime. The first half of the film is spent showing the horror pine trees experience every Christmas season & the second half shows what happens when the trees have had enough. The film follows the trees as they're cut down by surly lumberjacks who excessively express their hatred of the trees in every possible way including bodyslams. Following being removed from their homes we see the terror the trees experience as they are transported to Christmas tree lots & taken home by obliviously cruel human families. The film does a great job of showing the juxtaposition between the happy holiday celebrating families & the terror filled trees on Christmas Eve night. On Christmas morning the trees have had enough & all hell breaks loose. One of the biggest faults I find in contemporary films is the way in which so little of the action itself is shown, just as we're about to see the event the whole film is leading up to the camera will cut away, the events are merely discussed while never taking place on screen. Treevenge is the antidote to that anticlimax. Scene after scene of creative over the top campy gore is shown. This entire film has the tone of just the right amount of self awareness without so much winking at the audience that it ruins itself. From a dead pet to a dead baby there is no holding back as the tree uprising utilizes equal cruelty that was brought upon them by the Christmas tree trade. Director & Writer Jason Eisener and Writer Rob Cotterill met on the set of the TV show Trailer Park Boys (2001) resulting in lots of familiar casting. Jonathan Torrens & Sarah Dunsworth play the parents of a family celebrating christmas with joy in one moment & bloodshed in another. Cory Bowles & John Dunsworth are credited as voicing the trees. I featured this movie on s01e01 of subjective curiosities because of how much I enjoy it.