Top 10 Movies &
Shows Watched in Quarantine (So Far)
The world has always
been a crazy place, but lately, it’s been even crazier than usual, as we’ve
plunged into a worldwide pandemic that has forced most of us to stay home in
self-isolation for over a month as of writing this. While this obviously isn’t
ideal, there’s always a bright side. I’ve had time to catch up on plenty of
things that I’m normally too busy to do, and one of those is, of course,
watching movies and TV shows.
With this abundance
of free time, there really is no excuse for me not to post something here. I’ve debated what to post because I
wanted to avoid centering anything around the pandemic—it’ll pass eventually,
but when, exactly, things will be back to normal has been a question we’ve all
been asking and will continue for ask for quite a long time. So, at this point,
it’s kind of impossible not to address it, but I thought this might be the
simplest and most positive way to do so.
A few things to note: these are the ten
best new things I’ve watched in quarantine so far (expect a part two at some
point), but I am only going to talk about things I’ve watched for the first
time. As easy as it could be to talk about watching Jurassic Park again for the thousandth time, I wanted to keep it
fresher and share what new viewing pleasures I’ve had in these trying times. Not all of these are brand-new movies or even very new at all,
but a few of them are, and nearly everything is available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or YouTube.
10. Hot Rod (2007)
This indie comedy starring Andy Samberg before he was quite
as well-known as he is now (thanks to the popularity of the show Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the Lonely Island
music videos) was a box office failure when it came out, but it’s become
something of a cult comedy, and now, having seen it, I get why. Samberg plays a
stunt man who tries to raise money for his step-father’s life-saving surgery,
but his biggest hurtle to overcome is his own incompetence. It’s honestly not
that great, but there was just something about it that kept me watching all the
way through. It’s full of strange characters and incredibly idiotic jokes, but
is kind of endearing and pretty amusing, with plenty of supporting actors who
went on to much bigger and better and funnier things. It’s a goofy little
comedy that I probably wouldn’t watch again, but it’s still worth a one-time
viewing if you’re a fan of Samberg and this particular brand of dimwitted
humour.
9. The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Matthew McConaughey made a strong comeback in the 2010’s,
but The Lincoln Lawyer is often
forgotten as one of the earlier films in the so-called “McConaissance”. It’s based on the novel of
the same name by Michael Connelly, and follows a lawyer who conducts his
business in his car rather than an office and deals with some really scummy
criminals. He takes on a particularly rough case that links back to another
older case of his, and the safety of his colleagues, friends, and family become
jeopardized. It’s not really anything special, but reasonably suspenseful and
well-cast, with great actors like William H. Macy, Marisa Tomei, and Bryan
Cranston in supporting roles. The camerawork is overly shaky and the
cinematography isn’t that appealing, but it works mostly thanks to the
performances and source material. If you’re into courtroom dramas but want
something different than the usual fare, this does this trick.
8. The Platform (2019)
This is the newest movie on my list, having just hit Netflix
last month. It’s a dark science fiction tale of a prison with hundreds of
different levels, and prisoners are always paired up, but are switched around
at random to different levels. Food comes on a large square block that descends
from above, down through the middle of the levels, stopping at each one for
just long enough for the prisoners to get some food. This means whoever is at
the top eats well, and whoever is at the bottom starves. We follow one guy’s
attempt to beat the system and figure out the secret behind the platform, but
it’s a brutal endeavor. The problem with The
Platform is the mostly dissatisfying ending, but I won’t spoil it in case
you still want to give it a watch. It’s a Spanish film, and very much R-rated,
with some truly disturbing content, but is also an intriguing concept with some
apt social commentary.
7. The Quick and the Dead (1995)
I’m a big fan of writer/director Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead franchise and his first two Spider-Man films, and I had no idea for
the longest time that he had directed a western with such a high calibre cast,
led by Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman. It has the familiar Sam Raimi style with
fast-moving shots and interesting editing, but it lacks any fantastical
elements and stays true to the western genre—perhaps a little too much, as it
feels frequently familiar and a bit predictable at times. Having said that,
it’s still fast, fun, and cool. A bunch of gunslingers compete in a tournament
where they duel to the death and the winner moves on to the next round until
the ultimate gunfighters face off in the final round. It’s not overly
complicated, but it works. There are some great dialogue exchanges, good
character moments, and satisfying revenge-seeking. A very well-made and
entertaining flick that’s more than worth the time to watch. 
6. Jungle (2017)
Danielle Radcliffe stars as a backpacker who embarks on a
journey down a river in the Amazon with a shifty guide and a couple other
friends. It’s supposed to be a fun experience, but survival in the jungle is
rough, and it gets even rougher when Radcliffe becomes lost and has to get back
to civilization all alone. I think Jungle surprised me the most of all the
movies on this list. I had heard nothing about it when it came out and thought
it looked a little over-Hollywood-ized, as these kinds of survival movies
sometimes are, but it’s actually a very realistic and suspenseful film—one of
the best survival films I’ve seen in a while—with a great performance from
Radcliffe. It’s from the director of the crocodile movie Rogue, which is also a survival film, though Jungle is a lot more hopeful and better directed. The jungle
scenery is dazzling, there are moments that made me squirm and sit up on the
edge of my seat, and it’s fascinating to know it’s all a fact-based story and
the characters are based on real people. Definitely an underrated film that
deserves to be more well-known.
5. Jelle’s Marble
Runs
I wanted to branch off from just movies and include not only
TV series but YouTube series as well. I saw something pop up on Facebook that
was one of the many jokes about quarantine boredom, and it was about people who
miss sports, showing a clip of a marble race: several marbles rolling down a
trench dug in the sand. I thought it was funny, but then I kept thinking about
the idea of racing marbles. So, on a whim, I looked it up on YouTube. Turns out
there’s a channel dedicated to an intense
marble racing league, and they pull
out all the stops. They have over a dozen unique marbles, complex race tracks
with alternate paths, jumps, and tunnels, a great commentator, on-screen stats,
rankings, and so much more. As weird (and sad) as it sounds, it kind of is a good alternate to not having any
sports on TV right now, and is actually a lot of fun to watch.
4. RedLetterMedia’s
Quarantine Catch-Up
The only YouTube channel I’ve been following for years
that’s directly curtailed their content to reflect the times we’re living in is
RedLetterMedia, and wow have they ever gone for it. The ongoing review series
they produce called Half in the Bag
has always been focused on reviewing movies new to the theaters, but obviously
with theaters being closed right now, they can’t do that. The show’s setup is
straight forward and has been the same forever: hosts Mike and Jay sit in Mr.
Plinkett’s house and talk about movies instead of fixing his VCR. Now, they are
unshaven, the house is filled with toilet paper, disinfectant, and even more
bottles of booze than usual, they have a crude fence dividing the room so they
keep six feet apart, and they are catching up on all kinds of different movies and shows
and reviewing them in their typically hilarious conventions (along with some
amazing jokes made about the pandemic). I can’t recommend these particular
videos as strongly as anything else on this list, simply because they have a
very specific brand of humour that will not
be for everyone, and it’s a film review series that’s been going on for so long
it might be hard to get into. However, if you want to see two drunk Milwaukee
hack frauds crack some dark, cynical jokes about the world and Hollywood as it
is in 2020, have at it.
3. The Beach Bum (2019)
Matthew McConaughey is Moon Dog, a stoner poet in the
Florida Keys, and the movie is literally just him vibing for ninety minutes.
It’s certainly not the kind of movie for everyone, but I found it thoroughly funny
and enjoyable. Moon Dog is high the entire movie, he just stumbles through
life, and with the exception of one major tragedy early in the film, things
mostly just work out for him and he continues to vibe. The supporting cast is
great too, with the likes of Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg, Jonah Hill, Zac Efron,
and Martin Lawerence. It has a great lead performance, a somewhat
unconventional narrative, and is highly recommended. I’ll leave it at that.
Watch The Beach Bum.
2. Doctor Sleep (2019)
This Stephen King adaptation came and went with little
fanfare last fall, likely because audiences were leery about a sequel to The Shining, which doesn’t hold up too
well for younger audiences today, and it came out the week after Halloween, so
everyone had had their fill of scares by then. It’s unfortunate, though,
because Doctor Sleep is 1) an
extremely faithful adaptation of the novel, with great care taken in capturing
the themes and bringing scenes from the book to life in exact detail, 2), a
satisfying follow-up to the Stanley Kubrick adaptation of The Shining, which made many changes from that source material, and 3) a wonderful fusion of Stanley
Kubrick’s directing style with director Mike Flanagan’s style. With Oculus, Hush, and The Haunting of
Hill House, Flanagan proved himself one of the better horror directors
working today, and now with Doctor Sleep
in addition to Gerald’s Game, he’s
also one of the preeminent Stephen King adaptors, joining the ranks of Frank
Darabont (Shawshank Redemption) and
Rob Reiner (Misery).
While I wouldn’t say Doctor
Sleep is extremely exceptional by any means, as a tricky combination of
keeping faithful to Kubrick’s unique vision as well as King’s (in regards to
both novels), it’s a great accomplishment. I was particularly impressed with
the casting of the characters and the recreated sets and characters from The Shining. Ewan McGregor was great as
Danny Torrance all grown up, Rebecca Ferguson was the perfect choice to play
the villain Rose, and even the small-bit supporting characters fit their parts,
too. The sets of the Overlook were recreated with such precision I was blown
away by them, and I was also surprised the choice was made to include so many
of the characters from The Shining
but all re-casted. It didn’t bother me as much as I thought it might, and I
actually enjoyed those parts a lot. I read the book beforehand and wasn’t
overly impressed by it, but the changes made for the film version were all good
choices and strengthened the narrative, though it relied a little too much on
nostalgia for Kubrick’s The Shining
and is overly long, with the director’s cut (the version I saw) clocking in at
3 hours. Still, one of the better Stephen King films I’ve seen (and I’ve seen
almost all of them) and highly recommended.
1. The Boys (2019)
Just when I thought I was done with superhero movies and
shows, along comes The Boys on Amazon
Prime, which tells a story featuring superheroes that I didn’t know I needed
and never thought I would get. It subs out the familiar names and character
models of the most famous heroes known like Superman and Aquaman and Wonder
Woman, but these heroes (or “supes” as they’re called) are recognizable as
intending to be like them…only they are fraudulent, corrupt assholes, and the
titular boys are going to bring down the heroes and the corporation who manages
them, exposing them for the scum that they are. Except, how can regular people bring
down super-powered beings and a billion dollar corporation? Well, not easily.
It kicks off with a guy named Hughie walking down the street
with his girlfriend and a superhero with super speed called A-Train (obviously
a riff on The Flash) literally running through
his girlfriend at high speed and brutally killing her (by accident, allegedly),
which sets off a chain reaction of events that lead to Hughie teaming up with
Billy Butcher, played oh-so-perfectly by Karl Urban. Butcher hates supes for
reasons that become clearer as the show goes on, and he pulls Hughie into the
world of anti-superhero investigation. The curtain is pulled back on the
seemingly heroic, friendly superhero team called “The Seven” (basically meant
to be like The Justice League), led by Homelander, who has the powers of
Superman, but in truth is far from the friendly face he puts on for the public.
Through the experiences of Hughie and Starlight, the innocent newcomer to the
superhero team, we see this world is not as black and white as most superhero-filled
worlds are. It’s not just good vs. evil. It’s…complicated.
I found The Boys
to be extremely compelling, funny, and just a solid piece of entertainment. The
first season has eight one-hour episodes, which felt like the perfect amount,
and a second season is on its way. It’s gleefully violent and over-the-top in
ways mainstream theatrically-released PG-13 superhero movies can’t be, but not
in the same way something like Deadpool
is violent and comedic. While often funny, I wouldn’t say The Boys is primarily comedic. It gets pretty dark at points, and
almost every episode had at least one moment that made my jaw drop. If you
aren’t completely burnt out on superheroes, or want to see something a little
different than the do-no-wrong heroics we’ve seen too many times now, The Boys will be worth your time.
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