Procrastination has really been the name of the game for this post - I’ve had capsule reviews written for weeks, but have been enjoying sweater weather and ‘Stranger Things’ binge watching far too much to compile it all. I DID meet my goal of 300 films for the year on the 26th of October - 300! Holy cow!

This chunk is a bit eclectic - for starters, I had a Disney pub quiz to study up for, which involved watching a bunch of animated films I’d never seen. Disney really had some doozies, let me tell you. (I will, in brief, a little later.) For those wondering, yes, we won our quiz, so it was totally worth it. In addition to those features, there was the obligatory smattering of Halloween season films, and also my attempt to stay on top of recent releases as we kick awards season into gear.

Enough with the procrastination, let’s get to the reviews! As usual, the full list of 25 films is at the end of the post, and you can follow along with my watching adventures through my MovieADay list on IMDb.

‘The Florida Project’ (2017)

‘The Florida Project’ is Sean Baker’s next film after the guerilla-style ‘Tangerine’ that he shot entirely on an iPhone. This film, shot mainly on a more traditional film camera and with clearly higher budget allowances, expands on his storytelling ability, exploring another underexposed side of American life with touching realism reminiscent of De Sica’s ‘The Bicycle Thieves’ and other neo-realist works of that time. Here, the backdrop is the colorful world just outside the major Disney theme parks in Florida, amidst the kitschy tourist shops and low-rent motels. Painted in bright colors of purple and pink, they bring to mind the cookie cutter neighborhoods of Edward Scissorhands - but here, instead of hiding suburban melodrama, the bright facades mask the broken washing machines, bedbugs, and housing project-like existence of their long-term tenants living life below the poverty line.

Central to this is Mooney, an energetic, uncouth, vibrant 6-year-old largely ambivalent to her single mother’s financial situation - she has close friends, access to free waffles and bacon courtesy of a playmate’s mother, and endless areas to explore and play. Yes, the words out of her mouth are sometimes rude, and explicit - words picked up from her surroundings that we generally believe young children shouldn’t say - but there’s no malice in Mooney. She’s the delightful heart of this film, which is played out largely like vignettes, with no major plot to be followed. We explore her world as she does, and the camera often follows at her level - we see this roadside life through the eyes of an energetic 6-year-old, who hasn’t quite grown up enough to realize the unsustainable reality of her situation. But even as we escape with her on her adventures (there is a sweet moment where she takes a friend to a field of cows, calling it ‘a safari’), we as viewers can’t help but see the warning signs of impending trouble with her mother, and when the film reaches its emotional climax, Baker returns to his guerilla-style film roots in a vivid, frenetic final sequence that feels almost like a final fever dream escape away from the coming darkness and into the colorful theme park that has loomed over their lives. 8/10.

‘Butterflies are Free’ (1972)

This movie ended up on my watchlist due to a (now slightly defunct) dinner question that asked you to name your favorite film for [blank] year, without repeating anyone’s previous answer. Once I got past the 80s, my years were looking a little thin, so I made lists of a few films that could pad my choices. This ended up being one of them, though I’d never heard of it before. And actually, it might be one of my favorite films of this 25.

This is an early film for Goldie Hawn, even before ‘Shampoo’, though the character’s name is the same. Jill (Hawn) is free-spirited, energetic, and a bit flighty, which contrasts well with Don, Edward Albert’s calm and genuinely warm-hearted character. Essentially, she’s a freethinking hippie type who moves to San Francisco and into an apartment next door to a blind man, who has moved out on his own to prove to his mother that he can live his life on his own terms. The whole story stretches just over two days, staged mostly in his apartment, which - wait one second checks internet really quick - yep, it was a stage play first, so that makes sense. That also means that the dialogue is what shines, and the actors involved make the most of it. Hawn and Albert are great, but things really kick into gear when his mother shows up uninvited. Played by Eileen Heckart, who won an Oscar for her role, she moves from resistance to acceptance in a marvelously well-acted journey that really stole the whole film. And her back-and-forth chemistry with Hawn was fantastic. I would highly recommend this little gem of a film. 8/10.

‘Professor Marson and the Wonder Women’ (2017)

With all the buzz around ‘Wonder Woman’ this year, it seems conveniently timely that this film about her creator would hit theaters. Professor William Moulton Marston not only created ‘Wonder Woman’, he also invented the modern lie detector test, and lived in a polyamorous relationship with his wife and their lover during a time where that lifestyle was not accepted at all. So this film explores him, and the two fierce, powerful women whom he loved and whom inspired him.

What was really lovely to see was the presentation of the relationship between the three characters - the film presented a type of love that is often stigmatized, or portrayed in a unhealthy manner when it is explored, and instead of falling down a usual trope, the film did justice to the truth of their love and their family. In turn, the judgement offered within the film - that of their neighbors and colleagues and the moral panel reviewing ‘Wonder Woman’ itself - that judgement was rebutted purely by the scenes of the family relationships we were shown, a case of a picture being worth far more than words in making the argument that people are just people, and love is just love.

Additionally, both women were portrayed as strong, but in very different ways, which is a fact that gets lost in Hollywood sometimes - a strong woman is not some cookie-cutter shape, you can be a strong woman in many different guises, and you can still claim strength and power. We don’t all look like Sarah Conner, Mr. Cameron.

Lastly, the art direction was gorgeous - it was a period film, after all, and it was soft and lush and beautifully filmed. And while all the leads gave good performances, I just adored Rebecca Hall in this - she hit all the right notes with her character’s various struggles, both inward and outward. Solid 8/10.

‘The Craft’ (1996) and ‘Practical Magic’ (1998)

It’s the witching season, with Halloween just around the corner now, and no matter what my SO says, it IS a season, and it merits the watching of seasonally-themed films. Since I’m much happier skewing towards the magical end of the horror to witchy spectrum, these two films featured prominiently on my ‘Recommended Watching’ lists, and I saw no reason not to indulge.

‘The Craft’ is bloody brilliant - I don’t know how I’d never seen it before. It feels far too similar to ‘Charmed’ to not be an influence in the latter, even featuring the same ‘How Soon is Now?’ cover. Plus the 90s vibe is so very strong, it’s glorious. You have to appreciate the irony of the Catholic prep school girls falling so extremely into the occult, and the film goes on to emphasize the darker side of high school life. What I found interesting is that the one girl who manages to be ‘scared off’ by the powers they are harnessing (and who conveniently has enough natural power to take on the other three) is the one who’s spell is the most non-consequential to her life (she wants her crush to be obsessed with her). The others use the magic to change the tragically oppressive parts of their lives, be it physical disfigurement, racism, or poverty. Even when faced with the consequences of their actions, going back to life before magic isn’t an easy choice to make. For a campy, bewitchingly fun film, there’s some serious undertones adding texture. Delightful 7/10.

‘Practical Magic’ is far less cohesive than ‘The Craft’, and suffers a bit because of it. The opening sequence had me largely confused, to be honest, because the “prologue” runs maybe 20-30 minutes, and manages to cover a hundred years or so of backstory, and then sets up the sisters’ current backstories, and then there’s a tragic death and then the story FINALLY truly begins. Whew. Don’t get me wrong, there is some fun in this story - there’s plenty to be had just with Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest playing the witchy aunts, and that’s before you get to Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as the two sisters. The sisterly bond manages to keep the film afloat even when it should sink under the weight of one too many side plots. Bullock shines the brightest in her snappy scenes opposite the charming detective, and those bits of dialogue stole the show for me. (Also, Nicole Kidman’s outfits are to die for. SO 90s.) But it doesn’t hold a candle to other witchy fare like ‘Hocus Pocus’ or ‘The Craft’. (But fun trivia - it was filmed near Seattle, on Whidbey Island and San Juan Island. I’ve been to Coupeville, where they filmed most of the little town scenes - apparently they painted the entire street white for filming!) 6/10 for rocky narrative at times.

‘Scream’ (1996)

I followed up ‘The Craft’ with ‘Scream’, not knowing that two of the same actors were in it. Also I had no idea it was so funny, and was largely a spoof of all the horror films that were well known at the time. It was great fun, and I will just leave my live recap here (sent to my sister, who is in a different timezone, hence the no replies until later) to explain my feelings while watching it.

‘Brad’s Status’ (2017)

So in my view, there are three types of bad movies: The first are movies that are just not movies - for whatever reason, the execution is so bad that they missed the whole concept of being a movie. The second are ‘so bad they are good’ films, where they’re awful and cheesy and ridiculous, but man you still had fun watching them (see ‘Geostorm’). The final type are films that yes, are films, and they’re well made, but something inside me strongly, viscerally, HATED it. And it’s that final category that ‘Brad’s Status’ falls into. Below is my review, unedited, that I furiously typed right after leaving the theater.

Let me start by saying, this film left me fuming. It felt like a first world, white privilege, toxic white middle class male “sob” story, in which it’s self indulgent and ridiculous with no tragedy at all. This is the story of a narcissistic idiot who doesn’t understand that he’s not suffering, like, at all, and continually breaks into daydreams about having the life of his college friends, all of whom seem like utter dicks, but for some reason he can’t see that. Instead, he wants to be a rich asshole who slimily has two girlfriends half his age and lives through his accomplishments that put him above other people (by ‘accomplishments’ see ‘butt loads of money’). He is the white male believing that the American Dream is meant for him to become part of the immoral 1%, and the fact that he has a good kid, a non-profit company, and an idealistic wife means that he has failed at life. I just can’t - GTFO.

‘The Princess and the Frog’ (2009)

I hadn’t seen this Disney film, and I had no idea what I was missing. It’s so charming and fun! Tiana is great - it’s nice to have a Disney “princess” who is grounded, hard-working, and going after a dream that’s more than just “marry a prince.” It was great to see traditional animation done so elegantly - the film is quite pretty. I loved the art deco style animation used for ‘Almost There’ - it was a great nod to the art of the Harlem Renaissance painter Aaron Douglas, and the result was unique. And the songs were so much fun! Definitely one of the better Disney soundtracks of this century, if not of all time. Also, who knew I could get so attached to a little firefly…

Speaking of Disney films, as I said earlier we were prepping for a Disney pub trivia, so I was watching a bunch of animated Disney films that I had missed. Now I can pretty safely say that I didn’t miss any great ones (other than ‘The Princess and the Frog’), but I enjoyed ‘Treasure Planet’ and ‘The Black Cauldron’ more than I thought I would. And ‘Brother Bear’ was cute because the baby bear was cute. ‘Dinosaur’ and ‘Home on the Range’ were just not good, but for different reasons (aging vs. purely dumb). But my favorites will still remain some of the classics from the Disney Renaissance.

All Watched Films: 276 through 300

276. The Princess and the Frog (2009)
277. On the Waterfront (1954)
278. Treasure Planet (2002)
279. The Black Cauldron (1985)
280. Brad’s Status (2017)
281. American Made (2017)
282. The Mountain Between Us (2017)
283. Coming Home (1978)
284. Butterflies Are Free (1972)
285. The Craft (1996)
286. Scream (1996)
287. Baywatch (2017)
288. War Dogs (2016)
289. Duck Soup (1933)
290. Brother Bear (2003)
291. Coma (1978)
292. Dinosaur (2000)
293. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)
294. Rush Hour (1998)
295. The Florida Project (2017)
296. Marshall (2017)
297. Home on the Range (2004)
298. Practical Magic (1998)
299. Geostorm (2017)
300. Attack the Block (2011)

Okay, that’s all from me right now - it’s going to be awards season before you know it, plus there’s some highly anticipated holiday blockbusters coming up (excited for ‘Thor: Ragnorak’ this weekend!), so the next list should be fun! As always, if you’ve missed any of my MovieADay updates, you can find them all here.