Trev's Movie Dump: October 2016

I need to keep up with these better. It's getting harder and harder to remember anything I've seen once a few days have passed. 

Swiss Army Man

This film really deserves a second watch on my part. In short, I liked it. Not a lot, but I liked it. Perhaps on that second watch I'll learn to appreciate it even more as Swiss Army Man does frustrate me on a few levels. Let's be really clear... this is a weird fucking movie. Is it as weird as The Lobster (that I posted last month)? While both are completely original and totally out there, it's hard to compete against a film with a farting corpse that can also pop a boner that doubles as a compass. That said...

This movie is essentially a whole surreal take on how society can make us feel like we have to keep everything bottled in (emotions, thoughts, love, etc.), and it's only when you just let it all fart out that you can truly discover who you are and find personal happiness or enlightenment. Something like that.

I strongly encourage anyone to watch this film just because it's something entirely different from a lot of things that are out there. (A good counter-balance to the rebooted and sequel superhero franchises out there.) And if you ever find it too hard to grasp such a silly concept of a farting dead body helping a guy stuck on a deserted island find his home (and love) again... at least you can find joy in a really astounding soundtrack. 

The Others

This was really the only horror film I imbibed on this Halloween season. (Sad, I know. What can I say? I was busy pushing through five different PS4 game that I'll post soon, I swear.) The film seemed to make a lot of online horror fans' larger lists. A guess a mid-tier horror film, if you will. For me... it was alright. 

Spooky is the best way to describe this film. A lot of bumps in the dark without ever really seeing anything. And I applaud that. Sometimes less is definitely more. I will, however, say it didn't take me long to start guessing there was going to be a twist ending and what that twist ending was going to be. Maybe that's just because I've seen a lot and it's harder and harder to surprise me. Maybe that's because there were some obvious clues as to the direction of the film. 

Who knows?

But I did enjoy the viewing for what it's worth.  

La Belle et la Bête (1946)

For those of you that don't read French, this is Beauty and the Beast. Rather, the very first film adaptation (I think?) to the now famous story of a cursed monster-man living in a castle who imprisons a helpless girl that eventually warms his heart and helps him breaks the evil curse. 

This French version is a little out there and a little cool. The story is a slightly more convoluted than the Disney cartoon that most people will resort to in comparison. (There's also a lot of homosexual metaphors buried in it, but I won't tackle that here.) In regards to similarities to the Disney film, we do have an old man who first gets trapped by the Beast. And his daughter is the one that eventually saves the day. But Gaston is gone and replaced by Belle's equally douchey brother. There's also an attempt by the brother to break into the Beast's secret treasure room. So, yeah... needless to say, there are differences from the story we're all familiar with.

Artistically, this movie is really surreal. Especially whenever a character enters into the Beast's castle. Just check out Belle's first trip to the castle below:

There were other scenes trippier than this, but YouTube has limited selections.

Despite its age and relatively slow pace, it was a fun movie and definitely has some aesthetic features that still hold up after all this time.