#3: The Saturday 411
A Musical Movie, Animated Free Therapy, and a Dark Web Game
Happy Saturday, everyone! I’m getting into a rhythm of writing these little Saturday updates and they’ve been a lot of fun. They’re also keeping me motivated to consciously consume film and television throughout the week so that I can tell you about it! 😁
I may have already mentioned that, last year, I felt pretty out of touch with the film industry and which buzzy movies I should make sure to watch. Getting engaged and married doesn’t leave much time for that hobby…
I’ve recently been catching up on the top movies of 2023, especially since the Academy Awards nominations came out earlier this week. But I’ve also been checking our two local theaters to see which films are playing, which films are on their way out, and which ones are on their way in.
The Lynchburg Regal Cinema is playing the new stuff, and our little dollar theater, called The Venue, is actually still showing December 2023 releases. I’m hoping to catch several there, including The Boy and the Heron, The Color Purple, and maybe The Iron Claw? (I’ve heard the last one is really good and really sad.)
This past week, I couldn’t see any showings for Means Girls after Wednesday, so I made a last minute plan for a Tuesday matinee. And I actually made it to see Mean Girls — in the theater. Shoutout to Zoe, my sister-in-law, for coming along!
Mean Girls
The original Mean Girls shaped a generation. It came out in 2004. I was 11 years old at the time. For my 13th birthday, a friend gifted me the DVD. Besides The Lord of the Rings, I remember Mean Girls as the first real PG-13 movie I’d seen. And I loved it. My friends and I watched Mean Girls on repeat. We quoted it daily, in situations that were and were not applicable. We thought we were hilarious, and we adored Tina Fey for writing such a brilliant screenplay.
20 years later, the Broadway musical adaptation was adapted into an on-screen movie. It’s Mean Girls for Gen Z, for a new generation. And I honestly really loved it!
I don’t know that you could enjoy it as much as Zoe and I did if:
You haven’t seen and metabolized the original.
You don’t like musicals.
But if you have seen the original several times and you do like musicals, or maybe just don’t mind them, I think you might like this.
When I lived in New York City and was around theater people a lot more, those music theater geeks loved the Mean Girls score. I was skeptical. I didn’t like how so many Broadway musicals at the time were adapted from tv and movies: Spongebob the Musical, Shrek the Musical, Legally Blonde the Musical, Mean Girls the Musical…
It felt like a ploy to get people to pay for Broadway tickets. It felt lazy. It didn’t feel the way Broadway was supposed to feel. So I never listened to the songs from the Mean Girls musical and I paid no attention to the on-stage stars.
To my surprise, I really liked the music. It’s very Broadway. The performances were great, and it was fun to see Reneé Rap play Regina George onscreen, since she had closed out the role on Broadway in 2019-2020.
I enjoyed the small adjustments they made to the movie, such as Damian and Janis together playing the role of narrator. And rather than phone calls made from landlines and photocopies of the Burn Book scattering the school halls, text messages and social media are the primary way that backs are stabbed and rumors are spread.
Another thing I appreciated about this film is that all of the girls have normal bodies. They’re gorgeous, sure, but they aren’t stick thin in the same way as the original Plastics. Those girls, including Rachael McAdams and Amanda Seyfried, were tall and thin, constantly sporting miniskirts and low-rise jeans, showing off their impossibly thin waists and legs. This makes sense, given it was the 2000’s, possibly the height of unhealthy beauty standards for teen girls.
In 2024, the girls wear decidedly Gen Z outfits: baggy high-wasted pants with crop tops that show off their midriffs. Lindsay Lohan, in the original, still sported tight-fitting clothes. Our new Cady Heron wears oversized shirts and Blundstones. In a few scenes, our new Gretchen wears a plaid miniskirt. In one scene Cady displays a little midriff.
We’ve still got a long way to go with representation of different body types, but I loved that Regina George was tall and curvy, and that the most noticeably slender woman in the movie is Tina Fey. What you really need to watch out for in this version, though, is the breasts. There are a lot of low cut shirts and push-up bras. Don’t take your teenage boys to this one.
I laughed a lot, and I gasped happily several times at the big names who make an appearance, including our original principal, Mr. Duvall, played by Tim Meadows, John Hamm playing Coach Carr, and Busy Philipps playing Mrs. George. The whole experience was just a lot of fun. And sometimes, that’s exactly what you want from a movie-going experience.
Thanks again Zoe, for coming along — it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable without you! And thank you Tina Fey for being so brilliant. We love you.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
After missing a movie on a date Wednesday night, because we arrived too late, Ben and I watched another episode of Malcolm in the Middle. Ben pointed out that I laugh a lot at that show. It’s so wacky, but also pretty endearing. Apparently, I enjoy it more than I realize.
Then we tried to find a new show to start on Apple TV+ (somehow we have another free 3 month trial!). We couldn’t decide the mood, and nothing kills the mood for us like scrolling endlessly. But then a pretty animated movie caught our eye: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022).
This story originated in book form, and it’s one I haven’t read. So I expected a little more narrative. Ben and I felt a little let down at the end. It was tender, but we wanted more! In the end, it felt like someone had listed out a bunch of self-help phrases and memes, and then written a story to go along with it.
And yet — the animation was beautiful and peaceful. The pacing was calming. I felt my nervous system came down entirely to rest. And the therapeutic idioms were kind of nice, after all. I do need to be reminded that I’m enough and that sometimes the bravest thing is to ask for help. Ben called it the “Tao of Pooh.”
If you’ve got young kids, or if you had a bad day, and need something to watch, you might put on The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.
Self Reliance
On Friday night, Ben and I settled in to watch a new movie by Jake Johnson (also known as Nick from New Girl) on Hulu. Jake Johnson wrote, directed, and stars in this comedy with a dark twist.
Tommy (Johnson) is a lonely man stuck in routine. When given the opportunity to play a dark web game in which he is hunted for his life, he decides that sounds more exciting than returning to his old life. If he stays alive for 30 days, he wins a million dollars.
The first 60 minutes of this movie, for me, were great. I was intrigued, and there was suspense without too much horror as Tommy waits for the hunters to find him. It turned out to be 85% comedy and 15% thriller — just right for my constitution. The pacing kept things moving, there were very cute scenes between Tommy and Maddy (Anna Kendrick), and I started to wonder if the game was real or if Tommy was imagining it all as a coping mechanism for the pain of great losses in his life.
The last 30 minutes then took a downhill for us. Self Reliance didn’t go where we expected it to go, but where it went didn’t blow our minds. There was a lot of promise here, and not enough follow-through. We would have wanted more scenes of Tommy’s life after the game was over, examples of the way that playing for his life changed the way he lives. But after it was over, we couldn’t really figure out whose character changed (a key component of a compelling story!) and ultimately it seems like most characters were simply static.
The directing was great, and Jake Johnson should do more! The acting was great. This crazy wild game happened, we got some laughs along the way, but there were some loose threads that were never satisfyingly tied up. It all felt kind of one-note. Maybe we were asking too much of a lower-budget film, and I’d be curious to know if anyone has seen it and has a different take?
Still, even if another critic or conversation helps me see some story things differently, that won’t change the fact that I was missing the wow factor at the end of the movie. The credits started rolling, and my feeling was more “meh.”
This is a lot different from having a questioning, wondering feeling at the end of the movie. The stories that have you still thinking about them, that leave a deep impression, those are the really good ones. In Self Reliance, I would have loved to be left wondering if the game was real, or all in Tommy’s head.
My advice is: trust your gut. If a movie left you confused, certainly turn to the critics. If you loved a movie, turn to the critics to help you organize your thoughts. But don’t let a critic completely negate your initial impression at the end of a movie.
That being said, if someone out there really loved Self-Reliance, I’d love to hear more about why!
ICYMI
I published my thoughts on Past Lives! It’s a wonderful film. I hope you’ll watch it and read my review:
Past Lives
My husband hates it when we’re late to see a movie at the theaters. He says the first 5 minutes of the film are the most important because they tell you what you the film is going to be about. Then I remind him that there are thirty minutes of trailers that are far too long and show us way too much about the upcoming releases. But he likes…
Let’s hear from you!
What did you watch this week? Anything to recommend? I’d love to hear about it!
I go back and forth on my opinion of movies so much until I learn what the director wanted from it. Even then I may not like it but I feel much more secure in my opinion of how they communicated their message and how I deciphered it.
When it comes to Self Reliance, I think there's more there but it still left me with that initial meh feeling.
This morning though I realized that it might be a meta narrative on our viewing of it. Spoilers below:
When the ninja production assistant tells him he has to leave and that he can't just stay under the bridge to win, it could be seen as the storyteller's understanding of the audiences need for a finale rather than the loophole Tommy wants.
And then, throughout the film there are fish eye lens shots and I didn't realize that those might be the view from the mini cameras so there are elements that I didn't initially pick up on.
I don't know though, I guess I just have to keep watching movies with my beautiful, intelligent, and creative wife to learn more about them
🤷🏻♂️😊
Glad to see more body types in Mean Girls! But yeah those actresses are stunning—we have a longer way to go to see more average-looking people (especially women) onscreen, haha. With exceptions, actors are expected to be good-looking; the reason I’ve heard is that audiences prefer watching beautiful faces, at least in leading roles, but I don’t know how much that assumption has been tested.
I definitely need to see Past Lives! I just watched Sometimes I Think About Dying at the Angelika. It was a 9:20 showing on opening night, and there were only three other people in the theater, also by themselves. I think at least two of them were reviewing it, haha. Daisy Ridley gave a fantastic, subtle, internal performance. It’s not perfect but it really makes you think about how hard human connection can be.