Movies and Wobbegong

[enuja]

I listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour, an NPR podcast, mostly as a substitute for actually listening to new music and watching a bunch of shows and a bunch of movies. But, in 2022, they were raving about Everything Everywhere All at Once, and I was tempted to go see it. It was from The Daniels, directors known for their absurdity, and I, historically, haven't particularly liked absurd things. So I talked to Wobbegong about it, and he really encouraged me to go see it. He thought the Daniels were excellent directors, and it sounded like a good movie, even though, for pandemic reasons, he hadn't seen it yet.

So, I put on my N95, went to a crowded theater, and had an absolutely wonderful movie watching experience.

Wobbegong certainly didn't always make good movie suggestions: he showed me a bunch of movies I absolutely hated over the years. But he was still an enormously influential part of my movie watching experience, and he suggested I watch most of my favorite films.

Last year, Wobbegong strongly recommended that I go see Civil War, directed by Alex Garland. It seemed like a very important film to him. I didn't exactly enjoy the film, because that's not the type of film it is, but it felt important and impactful, even if it did take a few cliches a little too literally. I'm very grateful I saw it, and that Wobbegong convinced me to go see it.

I don't know how Wobbegong would have felt about Warfare, Alex Garland's new movie, which is out now. And I don't think I'm going to go see it: I haven't seen a film in theaters since Civil War last year.

I'm wondering whether I should go see Sinners, the new movie by Ryan Coogler. Pop Culture Happy Hour was absolutely cheerleading it, like they did Everything Everywhere All at Once. Sinners is a horror movie, which isn't always my favorite genre, but I did love The Babadook, a 2014 horror film that Wobbegong strongly recommended.

The last time Pop Culture Happy Hour made me really really want to watch a film, it was I Saw the TV Glow, which came out on May 3rd of 2024 (less than a month after Civil War, which premiered on April 12th of 2024). I still haven't seen Glow, because, despite the short amount of time between Civil War coming out and Glow coming out, by the time I heard about Glow, Wobbegong wasn't healthy and together enough to go see movies in theaters, or even to talk about movies. And then, both the fact that I wasn't able to talk to Wobbegong about it, and the fact that glow is a trans narrative (and I always thought that Wobbegong was an egg), means that I still haven't seen I Saw the TV Glow.

Sinners doesn't have all of that baggage; it's no different from everything else I will experience for the rest of my life: I won't be able to talk to Wobbegong about it.

Comments

[luinied]

This might be a weird place to invite you to a movie, given, you know, the feelings in this post, but I have an extra ticket to Lost Highway at the Music Box at 2:30 today, if you want in.

(My planned movie companion can't make it, hence the last minute nature of this.)

[enuja]

I just now saw this, so I definitely missed that showing. I was actually at music box last Saturday for HUMP! Fest, (I think some of the feelings in this post might have been related to going to a theater for the first time since Charles died), and I'm planning on seeing Sinners this upcoming Friday. Contact me if you'd like to join!

[luinied]

Aww, I appreciate the invitation, but my roommate is getting back tonight after several weeks in Virginia, so I'm going to be hanging out with her / trying to spoil her rotten now that she's (for now) done with family health emergency caretaking.

I hope it's good! I'm gonna see it eventually!