2025 Film Challenge

Indeed!

*furiously adds Pied Piper to watch list*

A. Joy to the world!
[watch a film corresponding to or taking place during each of these major holidays]
1. Christmas It’s a Wonderful Knife
2. Halloween WNUF Halloween Special
3. Thanksgiving Holiday Boyfriend

B. Eat, Pray, Love
[watch a film matching each of the themes listed below]
1. a film centered around food Chicken for Linda
2. a film in which religion is a central theme The Gospel According to St. Matthew
3. a romantic film An Affair to Remember

Gospel According to St. Matthew was incredible. After so many years of hearing about An Affair to Remember, it was kind of a let-down. I'd generally recommend all of these films, but Gospel is the only one that gets a strong recommendation. Oh, wait, Holiday Boyfriend is genuinely terrible, but captivatingly so.

I really didn't get the appeal of Gospel According to Saint Matthew. It's been a couple of years, but it just felt like someone was recreating as accurately as possible highlights from the Bible. What was it that you enjoyed so much @Takoma11?

Count me as a huge fan as well.

The first time I tried to watch it, I didn't even make it 15 minutes. This time I was totally captivated.

And yes, I suppose, it is the idea of accuracy, but for me it was the emotional accuracy. I loved seeing annoyance and exasperation flit across the face of Jesus at points when people just weren't listening to what he was telling them. A distinct "You'll never be good enough" moment with Judas. And to me the most powerful moment, the way that the actress played Mary portrayed the moment of watching the crucifixion: the way she was overwhelmed and would look up to look at her son, but then had to look away, but then would have to look up again, then away.

It just really spoke to me in terms of bringing very well known characters and moments and taking them to a very human, recognizable level.

Now that said, I thought I'd have better luck with Flowers of St. Francis (another one I couldn't quite get into this year). But right at the beginning when he was like, "Hey, I'm so bad. One of you step on my face and tell me how bad I am," I was just like . . . ummmm . . . might need to try this one another time.

C. Location, location, location…location
[watch a film largely set in each one of the following locations]
1. Hospital The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2. School The Tribe
3. Courthouse The Trial of the Chicago 7
4. Police Station Keep an Eye Out

D. I coulda been a... European contender:
[watch a film that has won the following European awards]
1. Cannes Film Festival Fanfan la Tulipe
2. Venice International Film Festival Poor Things
3. Berlin International Film Festival Orlando: My Political Biography
4. Locarno Film Festival Mrs Hyde

A mixed bag for me. Death of Mr. Lazarescu was the best of the bunch. The Tribe, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Poor Things were huge let-downs. Keep and Eye Out was quirky and blessedly short, but I didn't love it. Fanfan la Tulipe was old-school sexist fluff, Orlando: My Political Biography was good but overlong. Mrs Hyde had a really cool premise but ultimately underwhelmed.

I felt The Death of Mr Lazarescu was ok, and Poor Things was a huge, huge disappointment!
The Trial of the Chicago 7 will likely make my end of the decade list of top films when I eventually reach that point, around 2031. Stay tuned for that!

On my side of the challenge, I finally watched Dirty Dancing (it was never a priority) because I had felt Orbach’s portrayal as a stern yet judgmental father was enough for a strong father figure.
To my surprise, I actually liked the film. Nothing amazing or anything, but there’s something there about social class status and such.

One day you will learn not to take my advice. Today is not that day evidently.

__________________
Captain's Log
My Collection

I was also surprised at how much I enjoyed Dirty Dancing when I finally got around to it.

Oh, hey, listen. I didn't love it, but I did really enjoy it. It was fun and funny and weird, and bless you that it was only 76 minutes long. It was exactly what I needed that night. It was a perfect recommendation.

I saw Poor Things last year, knowing really nothing about other than it won awards. And I wouldn't say I was disappointed more like WTH is this??? I felt like there was more to it than what was put on film and it was just a spectacle of oddity and sex.

Also saw Dirty Dancing for the first time last year and it was one of the better movie experiences I've had. I really enjoyed it and all its corniness.

Finish another section. This one was kind of a challenge. Due my personal criteria, the choices were even more narrow than it would otherwise be. There wasn't a whole lot to choose to from that I haven't already seen. Generally, I tend to have little interest in movies that feature weddings or funerals, especially weddings but I made it work.

H. The Duality of Life
[watch a film prominently featuring each of the services listed below]
1. a film featuring a wedding - Resort To Love
Sometimes Netflix can make you think you're a hallmark or lifetime movie. This was a decent movie to play in the background.

2. a film featuring a funeral - The Soul Men (2018)
I think I enjoyed this one more than my overall rating would indicate. My enjoyment rating is on 4. Samuel L. and Bernie exceeded the material given to them imo

Overall this was pretty meh, but I got it done.

On to the next.

Yeah, I could have warned you about The Tribe. I didn't care for it either.

Still debating whether to squeeze in Poor Things somewhere.

Could have seen Mrs. Hyde as part of Cinema International, but didn't for some reason. Maybe if I go with French again as the foreign language, I might see it anyway?

Adds WNUF Halloween Special to watchlist.

The idea intrigued me, but I was looking for a recommendation and yours works for me!

I've seen it twice I guess, but I often go back just to watch that opening interrogation scene. The secondhand frustration never fails to make me laugh .

It's definitely worth a watch. Especially if you like horror and don't mind found footage.

When the smoke starts billowing out of his jacket, lol.

M. Are we there yet?
[watch one film for each of the miscellaneous challenges listed below]
1. a film taking place in a single day - 12:01 (1993)
2. a psychedelic film - The Rainbow Bear (1970)
3. a narrated film - Better Man (2024)
4. a film in theaters - Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025)

12:01 has a similar premise to Groundhog Day, but in this one our hero is reliving the same hour repeatedly. There's an attempt at a comedic tone but the leading man is too snarky for my taste so I didn't really care what happened to him. This was preceded by an Oscar-nominated short film called 12:01 PM which had a more serious tone and that one was more my speed.

Rainbow Bear is a collaboration of Bill Melendez of Peanuts fame and African rock band Osibisa. A very trippy short film about a bear walking on rainbows and growing flowers out of his nose among other things. Incredible.

Better Man is the Robbie Williams biopic in which he is portrayed by a CG chimp. I despised every frame of this one but the three folks I saw it with all loved it. Do with that what you will.

The Zep thing is not the best doc you'll ever see but if you're a fan it's worth a trip to the theater to see/hear the vintage footage in IMAX. Went to see it with two of my high school bros and we had the theater to ourselves. Fun.

Another section is officially in the books. Most of these movies were not marked for the challenge, they just happened to fall under the category, thankfully.

L. We built this just city
[watch a film tackling the following themes connected to the Social Progress Index]
1. Poverty - The Piano Lesson (2024)
"I watched both the 2024 version and the 1995 version both are about equal, this one just has a bigger budget and a runtime that allows for more of the story to be told. Great casting and direction. Highly recommended."

2. Urban Crime - See You Yesterday (2019)
"I feel like I've seen this one before. It reminded me of The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster meets Don't Let Go but with better execution. It kinda fumbled the plot in the last 3rd and gave up at the finish line. Decent watch."

3. Political turmoil -Strange Days (1995)
"I feel I'll like this movie with more viewings. I liked everything about it except the rapper, I felt it was a miscast and the way the character was written was cringe even by 90s standards. Like who wrote those raps? That's the music that will galvanize the people? HA!"

4. Female suppression - Blink Twice (2024)
"I went in with low expectations on this one because it stars Channing Tatum. Turns out it was a beautifully shot film with a decent plot and acting. What ruined it was all this build-up and this is what Z0e Kravitz thinks is the best resolution for retribution... yeah. Go on."


5. Freedom of expression - Ava and Gabriel: A Love Story (1990)
"This one I watched on a whim because I was intrigued by the screenshot used on Prime for this one. It's a romance but the romance takes a backseat to the bigger themes, primarily race, religion, sexuality and censorship. This is one of my surprise favorites of this year and the best among the 5 I've seen for this section."

One to the next.

Trying to decide if Cannibal Apocalypse counts.......

2 options if you have Criterion Channel:
Tampopo and Babette’s Feast