The Mooonkeee

Oh... oh no....

So there's a toy monkey drummer thing... wind it up and... someone dies. A lot. Violently. Like a comedy horror amount of death. It starts at the toy of two boys, and then they have to deal with it as adults. Something something dealing with life, accidents, and death, and what does that mean, and also comedy deaths.

This is a "black" comedy, which I have a bad track record with. It's either comedy so esoteric you can only tell it's supposed to be funny in hindsight. Or... it's just really bad comedy "but that's all right, because it's supposed to be 'black' comedy!" No, that's not a good excuse for bad comedy, and this is comedy that thinks it's funny, but it really isn't.

Not bad performances, with Theo James doing double work as twins, but you can easily tell who is who as one of them wears glasses. Colin O'Brien isn't terrible as the young punk kid, and hey, that's an Elijah Wood cameo!

The effects look fine, the film clearly enjoys showing splatter and gore, but... it again wants to be comedy splatter and gore, but no, just no.

This isn't a terrible movie. It's just not a good one.

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Les glaneurs et la glaneuse

"Gleaning" is the act of picking up what has been left behind. Usually relating to harvets, but...

We start with the field gleaners, who get potatoes and other crops, left behind after the harvest. Previously they were the harvesters, but with machines doing that job, they are left with the leftovers. And given that machines can only do so much, there is a fair bit to gather. But what can be gleaned there is restricted by the law, so are they breaking it or not? And not just vegetables, but also grapes, apples, other items... But then, on the streets of Paris, what is left behind can be after shops close, after people leave items to be picked up by the garbage men, that is also "gleaned".

Agnes Varda presents a documentary about gleaners, and even gleans herself. She isn't shy about putting herself into the movie if that's what the moment calls for, but we mainly follow people she interviews as they glean for their living. Nowadays this might be called "Freeganism" but back in 2000 (when this movie was made) and in France, it isn't called anything so sexy, and is mainly about people trying to live their lives. (Although there are those who also refuse to take part in "normal society" and scavange.)

According to the law, people are allowed to glean in the fields after harvest, as long as they respect the owners and meet conditions on when, and in the city they can glean because people have discarded/given up their ownership.

And it makes you wonder what you've thrown away that people could still use.

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THE boogermans

What if, get this, trauma was an actual monster?

A family has a dead mother (what is this, Disney?) and the father isn't really opening up with the two sisters. After a visit from a horror movie infector, the sisters start getting the idea that there is an actual monster, with the younger sister being targetted first. After nearly killing the monster, the older sister gets the idea "hey, what if we kill it?" and they all come together to believe in their dead mother to help with beating the monster's ass. And of course, it is totally dead and not coming back...

Yeah, there is nothing notable here, this movie is as generic as I made it sound. Sohpie Thatcher is a lead sister, and hey, that's a cameo by David Dastmalchian! The monster itself is hidden in darkness, which just makes it hard to tell if it is scary or not. The "eating" effect has hints of being interesting, but doesn't fit with the rest of the esthetic.

This has a polish of current horror movie production-wise, but doesn't strive for anything more.

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