Hello again, Ladies and Gentlenerds! By now, you’ve all diligently viewed the entirety of our oh-so-meticulously compiled lists of lockdown-killing shows. You’ve behaved yourself, stayed at home, spent time with the spouse/rugrats/parents/pets/dust bunnies. You’ve developed new and fascinating ways to prepare Ramen. You were good to go.
And now (at least in Wisconsin), we find out it’s gonna be at least another month.
We at the Pullbox feel your pain…and so we’re back, with more safer-at-home commiserating goodness. This time through, it’s our Silver Screen Edition: one staff member per day will offer up their list of three, somewhat to very under the radar films we’ve enjoyed in forestalling our own boredom.
So without further ado, here’s, well, me (Andy), with today’s picks:
Tucker and Dale vs Evil (R; 2010; Alan Tudyk & Tyler Labine; directed by Eli Craig) I love dark humor, and especially dark humor that plays with tropes. Oh, and movies with Alan Tudyk in them. And slasher flicks. This one checks those boxes, and a whole lot more. Two hillbilly best buds are off to check out their new vacation palace, but end up instead embroiled in a battle for survival with…college kids! Utterly hysterical black humor that turns every slasher flick cliché right on its chainsaw-wielding head. (Available on Netflix)
Mars Attacks! (PG-13; 1996; Jack Nicholson, Pierce Brosnan, Pam Grier et al; directed by Tim Burton) Fair warning: this is a film you sorta have to be in the right mindset to see. An utterly hysterical send-up of the classic Topps Sci Fi card set of the 1950’s, which was itself a send-up of the fantastical sci-fi movies and alien invasion fixation of the era, everything in this film is over-the-top and extra. The cast alone on this one is worth the viewing (seems as though all of Hollywood wanted to be a part of it, as well as a good chunk of Canada)…just prepare to flex your suspension of disbelief to near-catastrophic levels. Ack! Ack! Ack! Do not run from us! We are your friends! (Available for rent on Amazon Prime)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (R; 2004; Jim Carrey & Kate Winslet; directed by Michel Gondry) It’s really almost too bad that Jim Carrey is who he is—because if he wasn’t the over-the-top (frankly annoying, in my opinion) goof that he is in most films, more folks probably would’ve given this one more of a chance. As it is, that just means you get to (re)discover this gem, and lucky you are to do so. Carrey, playing a man hoping to escape the pain of a failed relationship by having all memory of his ex surgically removed (as she does the same) conveys they gamut of loss, sorrow, confusion, hope and wonder of this at-times bizarre tale with impressive authenticity…and Kate Winslet is, as always, flawless. (Available on STARZ)
So there you go—track down some off-beat humor for a chilly (for us up in the Midwest, anyway) Tuesday, and we’ll be back tomorrow with my Clara’s picks! Until then, keep your feet and the ground, and keep reaching for the stars!
