25 days, 25 films (and two tv shows). And man, am I burned out.
This month, I have managed to watch a film or TV show starring someone from the cast of The Old Guard, because why not, I love this film. I had days where I watched films while dealing with headaches. I watched in the mornings and late at night. I changed my plans about ten times, especially for the last five days. It’s been a trip.
To recap, I’ve done two check in posts, where I talked about the following films in order: Tutti i santi giorni (Luca Marinelli), The Italian Job (Charlize Theorn), Murder on the Orient Express (Marwan Kenzari), They Call Me Jeeg (Luca), Far From the Madding Crowd (Matthias Schoenaerts), The Martian (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Aladdin (Marwan), The Bigger Splash (Matthias), Fabrizio De Andre: Principe libero (Luca), If Beale Street Could Talk (KiKi Layne), Æon Flux (Charlize), Racer and the Jailbird (Matthias), Ricordi (Luca), and Doctor Strange (Chiwetel). That was up to December 14th.
For the rest of the month:
On December 15th, I wasn’t feeling good, but I watched What Happened to Monday, with Marwan Kenzari. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really impressed with the film. I felt that most of the characters were just one note, and it’s something that’s been done before. Marwan didn’t have much to work with, but he did alright with what he had. It was better than The Mummy… which isn’t saying much. Why was he being screwed by English-language films pre-TOG?
On December 16th, I still felt like death, so I rewatched A Little Chaos, with the always adorable Matthias Schoenaerts. Look, I’ve seen it before, and I loved it. He has this way of making every scene so damn perfect, even when he’s not the focus of the shot. The film is honestly one of my favorite films of 2020.
December 17th was when I watched Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron. I was finally feeling better, and this film blew me out of the park. I though the story was strong, including the twists that came in a justifiable manner. The fight scenes were tight and choreographed well. The cameramen deserve raises, because the cinematography was on point. It deserves the sequel that is coming, hands down.
On December 18th, I sat down and watched Una questione privata (Raibow: A Private Affair) with Luca Marinelli. And honestly… I just wasn’t impressed. Luca is fine, the storyline is fine, the Italian countryside is picturesque as always… but it feels like the film ends about ten minutes too early. The main plotline doesn’t get solved in any way. It just… stops. It doesn’t really work for me, unfortunately.
December 19th was reserved for Marwan Kenzari’s Wolf. Which destroyed me. 100%. I cried. A LOT. This was a powerful film, and I thank one of the amazing people on Tumblr for sending me a copy with subtitles, because the English dub was terrible. My tweet regarding this film basically says it all: “Mr. Marwan Kenzari, how dare you destroy me twice in one day. How the hell am I supposed to sleep at night knowing that you exist and can make me sob with just one word or look? (Wolf was fantastic. Like, damn near perfect. Holy hell.)” Worth it.
On December 20th, I was starting to feel burned out, so I watched KiKi Layne’s first short film, Veracity. It was only 20 minutes long, but I really enjoyed it. It’s a tale as old as time: girl meets girl, girl kisses girl, girl gets outed by someone opening the damn door during the make out scene, girl gets ostracized by the entire student population, girl gets shut down by girl, girl and girl decided to be friends, because that’s what is important. And KiKi nails it. I really enjoyed this one, and it revitalized me to finish this little challenge.
On December 21st, I wasn’t really up to watching a film. So, while wrapping my Christmas presents, I watched episodes 3-10 of Fx’s Trust. Luca Marinelli plays an Italian mobster and kidnapper… and it’s such a problem that he’s so damn hot. No seriously, it’s a problem. The camera loves his ass, and especially his ass in tight pants. Or when he’s smoking. It’s an issue. One that I love. (Also, I love it. One of my favorite mini-series I watched this year.)
On December 22nd, I decided to watch a trash film called Collide with Marwan Kenzari. And yes, it’s a trash film. It felt like it was aiming for the “so bad it’s good” title, but missed, by a damn mile. The cast was horrifically miscast (why are Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley in is mess???), the script was dull, repetitive, and unimaginative, and honestly, it’s been done before, and done better. Marwan is completely wasted and written out of the back half of the film. It’s a mess.
But we did get this gif, so it’s not all bad.
December 23rd is when everything started hitting me, and wow was I tired. So, I ended up watching half of the The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, with Harry Melling playing a good character! Now, I haven’t finished the series, I have three episodes left, but I’m waiting for Mom so that we can watch it together. But was I saw made it absolutely clear why this mini-series is considered one of the best released projects on Netflix. Because wow. And Harry knocked it out of the park. I knew he took his craft seriously (I mean, look at his post-Harry Potter career, it’s awesome), but this show proved he has a lot still left up his sleeve.
On Christmas Eve, December 24th, I picked my last movie to watch, mostly because I had to save a bunch for next week because Mom. I decided to watch another Disney remake, The Lion King, with Chiweter Ejiofor as Scar. And, well. That was a war crime. And assault on my childhood. Just, how. There was no reason to consider making a live action remake of this Disney classic. None at all. And yet they did. And it’s terrible. It didn’t have the magic of the original film. It just… exists. Also, they put Beauty and the Beast‘s “Be Our Guest” in place of the hula scene. Just. No. Please. Never. (Marwan, I need that gif down here.)
As for today, it still counts. And there’s really only one movie that I can watch today that really encompasses what I’ve seen for the past 24 days. So, after this post goes live, with our 25 pound turkey in the oven (named Kaysanova, because reasons), I’m watching The Old Guard. Don’t judge me. I’m in the mood for some wonderful fun. And damnit, I didn’t get my Christmas miracle (a.k.a. sequel conformation) for Christmas, so I need happiness.
And if you’re curious, Kaysanova is the ship name for Yusuf “Joe” Al-Kaysani and Nicolo “Nicky” di Genova from TOG. We’re not that creative. (Nile and Booker’s ship name is Book of Nile, so at least this one is fun. But I like Book of Nile. No judgement.)
With that, I call this little idea done. I was going to continue on to the New Year, but I’m just getting burned out. Besides watching TOG today, I think I’m just gonna go play a good game or something and relax for a couple days. I have a couple more films I want to watch (Martin Eden with Luca and Rust and Bone with Matthias to name two), but I’m gonna take my time on those. I’m just… exhausted.
I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy holiday season! I’ll be resuming my previous posting schedule starting next week (Monday-Wednesday-Friday) as this is the end of Blogmas. I hope everyone enjoyed the daily posts, because I am TIRED.
Until next time! (I need sleep)