Midday Movies Kicks Off

Speaker 1: 00:07 [inaudible]. Speaker 2: 00:07 We are starting something new today. A monthly segment called midday movies with KPBS film critic Beth DACA, Mondo and movie Wallace is film critic Yazdi Pathoglobin. Each month we will look at new films or themed topics or film festivals. Welcome Beth and Yazdi. Are you all the day? Good to be here. Okay, I'm glad. I'm glad and maybe still a little chill. A little frightened from a, a certain movie that you guys saw. I mean, the only chill was from the air conditioning. [inaudible] okay. Alright. I don't know. Look, first up we have it chapter two based on Stephen King's book. Here's a clip from the trailer Speaker 3: 00:51 [inaudible] you see the losers? We made a note, I swear [inaudible] if it isn't dead, is it ever comes back? We'll come back to you. We didn't stop it. Can you use the cloud? We can let it happen again. Speaker 2: 01:25 That remind us of the history of this Stephen King Story. Sure. It was first a mini series back in 1990 which was really notable for Tim Curry's brilliant performance as the clown pennywise. But two years ago we had the first part of a remake and that focused on the story of the young kids and the kids are dealing with some very real world whores, things like abuse and bullies and things like that. But they also have to face this kind of shape shifting monster that appears mostly as a clown. And so they attempt to defeat it. And of course they make a pack that if it ever comes back they will join forces again. And that first one was kind of a mixed bag. I felt like it really got the real world horrors right. But everything else wasn't too scary. Right. And Yazdi how did you think the sequel played out? Speaker 2: 02:16 Is it good? Is it scary? So I'm the [inaudible], I don't like [inaudible]. I don't like horror movies and I'm happy to report it wasn't particularly scary, I think. Really? Yeah, for all the whistles out there. So the sequence sees the same characters that we saw in the first movie. Come back as grownups and as they had decided previously and now that the terror of pennywise is back, they regroup and decide to take it on. I think this movie plays more like a blockbuster horror films. It's really big on spectacle and not as much on true psychological terror, which was just usually what scares me. And I wish the movie would've spent a little bit more time to get into the characters and give more insights about them. Because like, like Beth said, there's a lot with each of those characters, what they have suffered through as children. Speaker 2: 03:02 Right. So may, so the clown wasn't necessarily a metaphor for those things you guys don't think. I wish it was. I think that's what the book really had, but the films, the two films haven't really made that connection and I think that's a shame. It is scary in one way in that everybody towards the end does really stupid things. Like in horror movies, you know, they go into the dark in the middle of the night and the, the climb down the sewer and trip and fall. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. All right. Both of you were disappointed with the film, but was there anything you did like, I thought the acting was really strong and some of the directing was good. I just think that the horror that's in the film is the real world stuff and there's a great opening scene that's just terrifying. That deals with some gay bashing and that was scary, but nothing else in the film really was. Speaker 2: 03:51 I did like the fact that the movie has some really good transitions as it goes from the younger characters to the older characters back and forth. That's done with a lot of craft. And I liked the fact that the movie has two very interesting cameos. One bio previous famous director and another by a famous writer. All right, there we go. Now the poster has the tagline. It is, will this be the last we see of pennywise? If this film makes money, it will not be the last we see of pennywise and he'll either come back and haunt some other town or uh, we'll get the origin story. Yeah. Yeah. So there won't be an entire generation scared of clowns as a result of this movie? I, I don't think so. No. Okay. All right. A very different film is Brittany runs a marathon. This is about a young woman who decides to change her life after a visit to the doctor. Let's take a listen to the trailer. Speaker 4: 04:47 I had a friend, she was prescribed Adderall and now she's very alert. You know, some people abuse Adderall. Let's get you healthy. I want you to try losing 55 pounds. Speaker 2: 05:01 Husky, you want me to pull a medium size working dog off of my body? That in the current social and political climate, how does a story about a person getting thinner and into shape play out? Well, it's a fun, upbeat story and the actress is very good. Jillian Bell, but at the same time we're in this period of extreme political correctness. So I feel like there's a bit of this tension between how do you tell a story about someone who's overweight, who decides to exercise and lose weight as a means of feeling better and looking better, but then not be criticized for not being accepting of kind of all body types. So I felt like instead of just telling her story, they kept making these stops to kind of say it is okay to have a few extra pounds and be happy and all that. So I feel like it's a little difficult to tell this story and and be able to just tell it kind of like they were trying to not body shame yet during this whole thing. Speaker 2: 05:56 Exactly. And so they also check off a lot of other like politically correct boxes with making sure that they have some representation representation from people of color and different gender orientation and things like that. So Yazdi did you feel it was, it was just a self-empowerment film or was it more than that? I think it was more than that. The trailer would lead you to believe that it's about this woman who betters their life by running a marathon. And actually what I liked about the movies, it's so much more than that. It's really more about emotional growth as much as her physical betterment. And you know, she's a very closed off person. She doesn't let anybody else inside very easily. And I think the movie, especially in the latter half, spends a lot of time devoted to her emotionally taking accountability for her life. And it does, it doesn't happen instantaneously. It takes a long time to get there. Just like a marathon. And there you go. Now there's a scary thing running a marathon. All right, well this is September and time for most students to return to school. So to go out to, do you have any, uh, back to school films to recommend? Yes. I know people tend to go towards kind of cult comedies and films like that, but the one I go to is a very dark but hilarious film, which is election. Speaker 5: 07:10 Who cares about this stupid election? We all know it doesn't matter who gets elected president of carver. Do you really think it's going to change anything around here? Make one single person smarter or happier or nicer. Speaker 6: 07:29 Okay. Speaker 5: 07:29 The only person it does matter too is the one who gets elected the same pathetic charade happens every year and everyone makes the same pathetic promises just so they can put it on their transcripts to get into college. So vote for me because I don't even want to go to college and I don't care. And as president I won't do anything. The only promise I will make is that if elected, I will immediately dismantle the student government so that none of us will ever have to sit through one of these stupid assemblies again, if you want to Speaker 2: 08:05 saying something about high school social dynamics and even get a little insight into what might cause a school shooting, but also be able to laugh at some very acerbic humor election is the film for you. Okay. And Nice mix there I suppose. Yes. I am a huge, huge, huge fan of election. Uh, my s my pick is a movie called eighth grade, which came out last year. And I think it's different from most back to school kind of movies because usually back to school movies are comedies like the one from the eighties and Napoleon dynamite and all of those. Um, or they are, you know, true horror movies like Carrie was. And this particular movie looks at the actual horror of being an insecure teenager going to middle school. And the central character year is somebody who, who lacks a lot of self confidence and the movie looks at her with a lot of empathy in terms of how a person actually just going into middle school has to survive. It's a survival, you know, just getting through the days. So I really liked that film. Hey guys, it's Kayla back with another video. Speaker 7: 09:08 So the topic of today's video is being yourself, being yourself can be hard. And it's like, aren't I always being myself? And Yeah, for sure. But being yourself is like not changing yourself to impress someone else. Speaker 2: 09:23 I really like the fact that the movie treats her with a lot of empathy. And you can kind of realize, you know, how much we have forgotten about how horrifying high school was. Wow. Interesting. And I would recommend school days. Yes. Oh yeah, go. It's college though, but not high school. It's, you know, it's spike Lee too. There you go. You, you addressed social issues and even class issues, all of that in, in one movie, but a, a distinct choice for films that address all of those, some real problems in school. Thank you both. And we will be talking to you in October for the next mid day movie show. Speaker 1: 10:04 [inaudible].