Soarin', Flyin', Movies

I don't know. I haven't seen Challengers yet.

There was a six-day gap last week where I didn’t watch a single movie. Now, I was drinking and gallivanting across London, so I’m okay (I know you were worried), but that’s quite a hiatus for yours truly. If my Letterboxd math is correct, that’s tied for the longest run of no movies for me this year. Does this matter? Very much so.

Anyway, to clear everything up and get back to the ol' 9-5, I watched three movies on the plane coming back from the United Kingdom. I moved my flight up in order to get back sooner and fly with a friend who immediately fell asleep and actively told me not to talk to her, so everything’s going great.

I brought my own headphones that kind of cancel noise, depending on the amount of noise, and a bunch of movies on my laptop. Alas, there were no outlets, so I only watched one movie on my laptop and then two others on the Delta Screen over the eight-hour ride. This is all pivotal information that you NEED to know. Here’s what I watched.

Take Shelter

This is a 2011 movie that I hadn’t heard of until I saw someone mention it on Twitter recently. It’s an apocalyptic (or is it?) story about a man who starts having visions of a dire event to his family’s chagrin. He takes it upon himself to try to protect his wife and daughter, becoming an enemy to the entire neighborhood all the while. It has a great Michael Shannon performance, but it honestly kind of let me down overall.

I had no clue Jessica Chastain played The Wife, and she’s fine and all but not given much to do other than be there. This is one of those movies that has a plot device of “person in relationship doesn’t say anything about how he’s feeling,” which results in a lot of miscommunication and kind of whatever clashes. It’s pretty well made—it’s Mike Flanagan after all—but that kind of storytelling always feels a bit stale to me. This was a big thing we noticed when watching the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Just fucking talk. God…

I wouldn’t say we’re 0-for-1. More like .6-for-1.

I did have dinner during this one (of BBQ chicken and these little potato slices), which was mediocre as well. It all kind of went together, unfortunately.

About Time

There’s a common refrain (and scientifically proven fact) that you’re more likely to cry while watching something on a plane due to altitude or whatever.

The lower-than-normal air pressure in the cabin is known to induce mild hypoxia (reduced oxygen levels in the brain), which is associated with a raft of cognitive and emotional effects, including heightened negative moods and a diminished ability to handle stress.

I saw About Time, a Richard Curtis movie I liked quite a bit on first watch a while back, and decided to run it back for Movie No. 2, because why not go for a fun rom-com?

Sidenote: One time I watched The Pianist on a plane, which is a very bleak Holocaust drama and that was a bold move. Especially when considering that I never turned the closed captions on, so I didn’t know what was being said for most of the movie. Also, someone next to me on the flight to London turned on The Zone of Interest, a very depressing Holocaust movie, and then turned it off after five minutes and put on Aquaman instead.

Back to About Time, which was a little bit worse than I remembered to be honest. I’ll never say anything bad about Rachel McAdams, but the movie itself is a little bit more twee than I remember and has some very weird plot developments like Domnhall Gleeson’s character proposing to McAdams because he decided that he didn’t want to hook up with Margot Robbie. It’s … odd.

There are some great scenes like the main couple’s first encounter at a dark restaurant and most of the stuff with the protagonist’s dad, but the time-travel elements are all over the place and a bit more confounding than I remembered. Still pretty good but lower than I expected.

The Royal Hotel

Okay, we’ve now seen a psychological horror and rom-com so now it’s time for a female action-thriller in The Royal Hotel. This is a 2023 movie from Kitty Green starring Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick that I never got around to, despite critical praise. Kinda random that they had it on an airplane, but we’ll take it.

This one’s about two women who take bartending jobs in middle-of-nowhere Australia because they need money. And, you know what? Things don’t go great. This could easily take the Alex Garland movie title of Men, as this story is basically about how all men are garbage. At least the ones in Australia.

It’s truly suspenseful and full of strong character actors acting like assholes. Nothing too special but a solid and nerve-wracking thriller that certainly has something to say.

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That’s all I’ve got right now. If everything works out, we’re gonna have a pretty special and insane draft next week. There’s also a non-zero chance I have an emergency post coming this weekend after seeing Challengers.