The Double Features Of My Dreams
Justin Long inspires yet another Aerial Shot, because he's the best.
I’d like to think that I’m honest with you guys. And I have to say, I don’t have that much for this week.
I’m still coasting off of that three-day weekend and I’m having trouble coming up with any ideas. I saw Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Sunday, and that’s really all I have to say about that movie. I also watched 1973’s The Long Goodbye for no reason whatsoever and that ruled, but I don’t have much to add other than that. What I do have, however, is a double feature for the century that some friends and I partook in last Friday, which consisted of Barbarian and Dodgeball. One is a fucked-up terrifying comedy about Justin Long as a loser in which the audience never knows what to expect. And the other is … well, it’s the same description as the former in a drastically different way.
I enjoyed both movies, and I decided to put together some double features. Some I’ve done, some I hope to do. That’s what I’ve got for this week. Hope you enjoy.
It Follows & Moonrise Kingdom
So, I’m starting with this one, because it actually happened. Kind of. A former roommate once had a movie date with a new guy and asked me what would be a good movie to watch. Sarcastically, I said It Follows and thought nothing of it until I got a text late one night upset about my rec. The two of them actually started It Follows—a horror movie about a supernatural STD—and quickly transitioned over to Moonrise Kingdom, an exponentially better choice. It’s one of my favorite anecdotes and the two of them are no longer together.
Center Stage & Climax
These are both dancing movies, and that’s pretty much all they have in common. The former, which I watched concurrently with friends during peak COVID, is a dramedy centered on a group of teenagers trying to make it in the world of dance at the American Ballet Academy in New York. It goes through the normal sports-movie beats and features some stellar Peter Gallagher shots and some strong dance sequences. The latter is a horrific LSD-laced hallucinatory nightmare in which French dancers start to lose their minds due to a drugged-up sangria. It’s beautiful in its vulgarity and also made me nauseous. What can you say? That’s just the French.
Jackie & The House of the Devil
I’m calling this one the “Oh, Greta’s in this?” double feature. We all love Greta Gerwig (WE ALL DO) and now that she’s an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director, one may forget that she’s also an incredible actor. Well, here are two of her lesser-known parts. There’s of course Frances Ha and 20th Century Women and Mistress America, but you should do your best to watch Jackie and The House of the Devil. The first is one of the best 21st-century biopics centered on Jackie Onassis with Gerwig as former White House Social Secretary Nancy Tuckerman. The second is a solid horror mystery in which Gerwig plays the friend of a college student that takes an unfortunate babysitting job. These are certainly two movies that should be seen in succession. Why? Why not?
The Time Traveler’s Wife & About Time
This is a very specific niche but it’s a niche nonetheless: Movies in which Rachel McAdams plays the wife of a time traveler. Both of these films were made within four years of each other and McAdams plays the object of desire for the male protagonists. I enjoy About Time a good deal more, but if you’re looking for McAdams in a romance with someone who can jump backward through time and space, both of these are for you.
Nosferatu & New York Minute
This is an obvious one, but it’s worth adding in here. Nosferatu (1922) and New York Minute (2004) are constantly being compared and contrasted, but it’s still a worthwhile double feature. Both startling and groundbreaking in their own ways, these two films are pivotal in the art form’s history. A few of us did these movies back to back and we’re still recovering. It’s impossible to say which is truly better, but only one of the two features Simple Plan.