First Time Watches: September 2019

It’s been a long time since I wrote one of these posts. There was a lot of stuff going on with me over the summer and well into September, but I’m now back at it. I’m back to writing about more than just bad movies. I’m back to writing about some not-so-bad movies alongside the bad movies. That’s a good thing. That’s some extra writing from me getting out there. Whether you like my writing or you don’t, I just like to have it out there. And that’s where this post comes in.

I have tried, over the past few years, to write about the movies I watched for the first time over the course of a month. This is one of those instances. I’ll be writing about my first time watches from the month of September 2019. That’s more than two years ago now. I know that. I fell behind. Don’t judge me. I’m going to keep pushing to try and catch up over the next couple months, and maybe end up near enough now that there’s no shame in writing these posts anymore.

Throughout September, I saw a handful of films for the first time. It wasn’t as much as some other months. Nowhere near, really. There were only seven movies that I saw for the first time. Why? Well, I rewatched all the Fast and Furious movies, so that took up a good chunk of time. What I did see for the first time, however, stuck with me. I saw a sequel to a modern horror classic. There was a modern retelling of a classic tale. There was a chase movie with a man and a dog. All that and more will come up in this post. Let’s get started. 

 

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

I don’t know exactly what was holding me back from watching this one. I think it was the hype around it. There are certain movies that get hyped, and I think “But why this?” and end up steering away from them. Unfairly. This was one of those movies. When I finally sat down and watched it, it was a delight. All Taika Waititi work is a delight. There was no reason for me to not watch this one until I did, and I wish I had seen it sooner. I enjoyed the relationships between the characters more than anything. Taika’s comedy pushed that forward even more. It might be my least favourite of his movies, but I like all his directorial efforts. This is no exception.

 

Escape Room

This horror flick kind of came out of nowhere. Nobody expected it. When it came out, everyone was pleasantly delighted by how fun it was. It worked for me like it worked for other people. There were elements of other movies in there, most notably Cube. It had the same sort of room to room to room dynamic where characters kept falling into new traps while navigating their way through the maze. Only, this one had bigger spectacle. The sequel came out earlier this year and I haven’t seen it yet. I’ve heard it doesn’t hold up as well as this first film did. But this first one was a whole lot of fun.

 

It Chapter Two

The first film felt like a clear vision from the writers and director. They were telling the story in their way. The kids were great in the roles. The second film picked up with the adults. It was still good but had a few problems that the first film never did. The adult actors were good. Yet their performances sometimes fell into impression territory as they tried to capture performances similar to their child counterparts. There were certain Stephen King elements like saying “Hi-ho Silver! Away!” on the bicycle that would have paid off better if they were adult call-backs to childhood moments in the first film. But they were absent from the first film. It made those kinds of moments fall completely flat. Overall, a good sequel with some major problems.

 

The Wraith

A rock and roll road rage movie. After being killed, the spirit of a man came back with a souped-up black car to take down the racing gang responsible. Solid soundtrack of rock songs from the time. Some great effects including a huge explosion at a garage. Some fun car work as there were a bunch of street races. Randy Quaid. It wasn’t a good movie, but it had enough good elements to make it worth checking out at some point.

 

The Kid Who Would Be King

I’m a sucker for modern retellings of classic stories. If someone takes a story set in the middle ages or ancient times and reappropriates it into a modern setting, I’ll likely watch it. I’ll likely enjoy it, too. The Kid Who Would Be King was one of those movies. It took the Arthurian legend and transplanted it into the modern United Kingdom. I didn’t love the movie. There’s something about Joe Cornish’s work that keeps me just slightly outside of loving it. But I highly appreciated it and would recommend it to anyone interested in the Arthurian legend.

 

Gotcha!

Here I was, thinking I was going to be watching a movie about paintball. For the first few minutes, I thought I was. Then the movie shifted. It turned into a spy thriller about a college kid trying to escape East Berlin with government secrets because the European woman he fell in love with wanted him to. This definitely wasn’t a paintball movie. It was still an enjoyable movie, however. I had a good time with it. Until the final moments, that is. The scene that cut to the end credits involved the main character being offended that a woman wouldn’t reciprocate his flirting, so he shot her in the butt with a tranquilizer. Cue credits and “Gotcha!” theme song. That was one of the craziest final moments I’ve seen in a movie, and it absolutely would not fly today. Wow.

 

Rottweiler

I don’t even want to talk about this one. It was one of the worst movie watching experiences I’ve had in a long time, and I’m two years out from watching it now. There was a demon rottweiler chasing a guy for an hour-and-a-half movie. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It was just one of those movies I had to watch because I scheduled it for my other blog. It ended up being a chore to get through. I can’t remember if I have it on DVD or if I found another way to watch it. Either way, I will not be revisiting this one. I have better things to do with my time.

 

 

With that, September 2019 came to a close. Seven movies, seven different opinions about them. There was some horror thrown in there because it was leading into October. There were other things, too, for a little bit of variety. More of that variety would boil over into the next month. There was a lot of horror, with movies like Girls with Balls, Anna and the Apocalypse, and The Bride of Frankenstein in there. I also went to a film festival where I saw non-horror things like Prey and Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band. There will be lots to cover when that post is ready.

To finish off this post, I’ve got the plugs that I always have. You can find me on Twitter here and here. You can find me on Instagram here, here, here, and here. I write about bad movies. I write about Power Rangers. When you’re not checking my stuff, check out Jaime Burchardt. He’s well into his annual horrorfest now. You should also check out Talk Film Society. Marcus Irving recently wrote about the final two Pierce Brosnan James Bond movies. Check out what he wrote, if you have a chance. I’ll see you next time I get one of these posts up.