Joey Magidson
Welcome back to my Home Movies! Today, we have a ton of things hitting shelves, making for something more or less for everyone. Action fans have Bullet Train, while horror buffs have Bodies Bodies Bodies (it’s spooky season, after all). Plus, this week also sees one of the best documentaries of all time in American Movie come to Blu-ray. Read on for more…
Bullet Train
This action flick has a ton of comedy to it, largely coming from a zany turn by Brad Pitt. Bullet Train may have landed differently than some expected it to, but there’s plenty to like. I know I had a good time with it. My review here has more:
There is a lot going on over the course of the two hours plus that makes up Bullet Train. There are philosophical musings, mistaken identities, savage fights, murders, and more than one accidental death. There’s also a ton of comedy, to the point where this is oddly funnier than it is thrilling, while still being a top notch action flick. The tonal tightrope is sometimes walked a bit sloppily by the film, but by and large, it works. Especially considering how much Bullet Train is just aiming to please with its good natured carnage, it’s a ride you’ll certainly want to take. The movie is often bonkers, but it’s also a real hoot.
Bullet Train has as much action as it has comedy, with the final product being better for such a surprisingly varied mix. There’s a hump to get over while the narrative is still finding its footing, but it’s so much fun to watch these characters, especially the lead played by Brad Pitt, that it’s ultimately of small concern. This movie wants to entertain you at all costs, and entertain it sure does, even if it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Even if Bodies Bodies Bodies isn’t the next great A24 elevated horror effort, it’s a genre picture with plenty on its mind. Not everything works, but more than enough does to warrant a recommendation. From my review (here) at the time:
Bodies Bodies Bodies is almost as if The Bling Ring and Spring Breakers had a horror baby. Spoiled rich kids doing bad things needs something more than just surface level depictions to work, and it takes strong filmmakers to pull that off. That’s ultimately the case here, but it’s not without more than a few little bumps in the road.
Also Available This Week
Abbott Elementary: The Complete First Season (TV)
American Movie (First Time on Blu-ray)
Carmen
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Series (TV)
Doctor Who: Colin Baker The Complete Season One (TV)
Easter Sunday
Evil: Season Two (TV)
Fall
The Flash: The Complete Eighth Season (TV)
Flux Gourmet
Hockeyland
The Innocents
Mack & Rita
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
The Thing About Pam (TV)
The Time Traveler’s Wife: The Complete First Season (TV)
Cure
From The Criterion Collection: “Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s arresting international breakthrough established him as one of the leaders of an emerging new wave of Japanese horror while pushing the genre into uncharted realms of philosophical and existential exploration. A string of shocking, seemingly unmotivated murders—each committed by a different person yet all bearing the same grisly hallmarks—leads Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) into a labyrinthine investigation to discover what connects them, and into a disturbing game of cat and mouse with an enigmatic amnesiac (Masato Hagiwara) who may be evil incarnate. Awash in hushed, hypnotic dread, Cure is a tour de force of psychological tension and a hallucinatory journey into the darkest recesses of the human mind.”
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La Llorona
From The Criterion Collection: “A country’s bloody history stains the present in the Guatemalan auteur Jayro Bustamante’s transfixing fusion of folk horror and searing political commentary, inspired by the real-life indictment of the authoritarian Efraín Ríos Montt for crimes against humanity. A notorious, now aging former military dictator stands trial for atrocities committed against Guatemala’s Maya communities. While battling legal repercussions and the people’s demands for justice, he and his family are plagued by a series of increasingly strange and disturbing occurrences, seemingly brought on by an enigmatic new housekeeper (María Mercedes Coroy). With a restraint that renders the film’s shocks all the more potent, Bustamante crafts a chilling vision of a nation reckoning with collective harms and the restless ghosts of a past that refuses to die.”
Stay tuned for more next week…
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