Dating And Hating - Dating Amber (2020)
It’s not often that I expect to be writing about queer, Irish content, but I guess that’s what I’m doing after watching Dating Amber, viewable now on Amazon Prime. That’s not to say that queer Irish content doesn’t exist; it’s just that…well, we as a country, we’re not always the most vocal about accepting and embracing all things queer, are we?
Is Two And A Half Years Later Still “New”? - The New Mutants (2020…Kinda)
For a film that was originally due to be released Friday 13th IN APRIL 2018, it feels somewhat painful writing about The New Mutants nearly three years later.
And yeah, I’ve specifically waited until a Friday 13th to write and publish this; it seems kind of right, no?
Do you know what doesn’t seem right for this film though? The absolute clusterfuck that is its release.
Partly due to Covid-19 (booo), partly due to production and branding, I still can’t actually tell if this film has been released properly. Well, it has been released: I made the point of catching it in the cinema in those handful of weeks when the cinemas were open, but I specifically wanted to hold off on writing about it until other people would have watched.
Game Of Thrones Minus The Blue Balls - Kingdom, Seasons 1 & 2
A politically heavy Korean narrative that just happens to have zombies in it isn’t quite what I was expecting when I sat down to watch Kingdom on Netflix, but it’s what I got.
And boy, was I happy to get it. Visually stunning, I found it very hard to write about Kingdom and not draw comparisons with Game Of Thrones. So let’s just put my money where my mouth is and say that, yes, it’s fucking better, being nowhere as afraid to embrace its horror/fantasy roots.
In Space, Everyone Hears You Scream - Event Horizon (1997)
The late 90s and early 00s were a different time, okay. We didn’t really have internet back then; no video content, social media was nothing more than a phone call or a text message (that you had to pay for), and there were definitely no opportunities to have opinions.
Plus, I was young, barely a teenager who had bed-times, a limited number of TV stations (even fewer in my own bedroom) and, not to mentions that whole lack of money thing.
In that world, horror (and similar content) was limited; sure, there were the covers of Fangoria that you might see in the newsagents, but I wouldn’t be allowed to go anywhere near them (plus, the music or comic-related content might be cooler.) When I wanted to borrow a VHS tape from Xtra-Vision, it would have to be something that everyone would and could watch. And even if any horror films were going to be shown somewhere that I could watch, was it on at a time I could get near it?
Putting it like that, it’s a wonder I turned out to be me at all.
Nine Killed You, Nine Shall Die - The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971)
As a married man who has gone through his own medical dramas, there’s something about The Abominable Dr. Phibes that sets a particularly high standard for me. After watching this film, I now highly expect that, as and when something ever happens to me, my husband will take on the Vincent Price role and avenge my death.
Them’s the fucking rules, peeps.
Such is the somewhat beautiful premise of this film, a camp and silly story that is very indicative of its age. First released in 1971, the film plays with those elements of camp, keeping its tongue firmly in cheek throughout. Thankfully, it’s coming from a time where that camp wasn’t always screamed at and forced upon its audience, and works poignantly well within this narrative.
The One In Which Oscar Isaac Is God - Ex Machina (2014)
Yeah, sure, I write things from a queer perspective far more often than I intend to. But I can write about other things…right?
You’ll…still read my stuff when I write about other things, right?
I Killed The Teen Dream. Deal With it - Jawbreaker (1999)
I wasn’t really expecting multiple posts in a row to be about what could be called “classic” films (I call them that, shut the fuck up.) But Covid-related lock-down sure does trigger a desire to spend your time thinking about old content and, perhaps more importantly, wondering why the fuck you love it so much.
So with that in mind, I decided a couple of weeks ago that it was time to re-watch Jawbreaker and wonder if it’s still as lovably rogue as I remember?
In some ways, it is.
Somebody Super Like You - Phantom Of The Paradise (1974)
Give me a film that touches on creativity, copyright, romance, deals with the devil and a touch of queer (y’know, things I’m likely to love) and I will love you.
I’ll also probably tell you that there’s no need to give me that shit because I already have Phantom Of The Paradise and I will then ask if you have watched it. And if you haven’t, I will point you in the right direction, lend it to you, buy if for you or give you a filthy look for never hearing of it.
Invisible Monster - The Invisible Man (2020)
In something that might come as a bit of a surprise (to some people), I made the point of not wanting to see The Invisible Man in the cinema.
Why? Because there’s a certain element of home invasion in movies, especially by things that are silent and unseen, that plays with a primal fear inside of me, a fear that I do not willingly want to visit in a public space. That said, I was intrigued by everything else to do with this film, knowing that, when I got the chance to watch it at home, I could turn it off, pause it, leave the lights on, that type of thing…you know, all of that primal craic?
When most of the world is on lock-down and you’ve made such a film open and available for me to watch at home, though; that is something I can do.
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