Musical Mondays Week 104 The Guest

[grudlian. 4725]

1 minute ago, GrahamS. said:

Above comments said, I am quar’ing with my parents who do have Prime, so I’m not immune to piggybacking on their account. I have access to Netflix the same way, but have Hulu and HBO Max subscriptions. Also, my library is connected to Hoopla and Kanopy (both awesome free services).

Seconding Kanopy and Hoopla. If your local library (or your a college student for kanopy), they are worth getting. Once you get your library card setup on the site, you never need to go to the library again to use them. I've found some of the harder to find HDTGM movies on Hoopla.

There are also free streaming services like Pluto TV or Tubi (free with ads) that are checking out. They aren't great, but you can find some good stuff on them. 

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

3 hours ago, Cameron H. said:

Hey all! It's been brought to my attention that it's my pick next week.  I was just wondering, for future reference, what streaming/premium services do you all have? I know things still aren't great for a lot of people, and I'm trying not to pick anything that would put people out of pocket. I have a few picks, but if for instance I know most people have Amazon Video rather than, say, HBO or something, I'll pick something from there. 

Thanks!

I personally pay for Netflix, Amazon, and HBO. I have access to a ton of free ones, Crackle and Popcornflix and the like.  Don't use me in the decision though, I'm able and willing to pay if needed (or even sometimes I'll find a torrent for free, I'll admit).

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Sorry for the late reply, but 'The Guest' just really works for me. I have a couple close family members who served in the military, and what the family does in this movie, at least in the first act, doesn't ring false to me. At certain points in my brother's military career, he had a... rough time, so I thanked the heavens for the one or two friends he had in the service and they stayed with us a few times. Granted, my brother was THERE at the time, but if my brother had been killed under shadowy circumstances and one of the people who made his time in the military less burdensome showed up at my door... I might welcome him with open arms. I know, again, 'The Guest' is different because Dan Stevens is a total stranger to the family, but I still bought it.

I guess I also get frustrated when movies over-explain things. For me, franchises like Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare and Elm Street get worse when we get into the lore and motivations of their respective monsters. I don't want to know that Freddy is "the bastard son of a nun and a hundred madmen" and that you can subdue his spirit if his bones are buried in consecrated ground or whatever. He's just a vengeful, evil ghost who loves Christmas sweaters! So the military super-soldier program stuff is actually the least interesting parts of 'The Guest,' but I think it's worth it for the presence of Lance Reddick, whom I will take being authoritative and intimidating in a Rice Krispies commercial.

For me, horror is so much about aesthetics, which is why I enjoy a lot of the anachronisms or weird costume choices.. Dan Stevens being sexy as hell and charming, yeah, sure, I'm down. The 80s music obsession? Yes please. Illogically powerful fog machine? Cool.

I also think this movie definitely qualifies for discussion here, as musical moments, especially "Haunted When the Minutes Drag," are integral to that atmosphere and mood for the film, and even character development. I think it's closer to a musical than most horror films because it accomplishes these things with specific songs in the way the 'Halloween' theme or the Friday the 13th "ki ki ki, ma ma ma" noise establish mood. Clearly, it's not 'Anna and the Apocalypse' with song and dance numbers, but characters still discuss and listen to music, and the songs listened to diegetically are then used as score, so it's a film that makes its song choice very prominent.

And I was the dude who asked us to do 'Long Dumb Road,' so I guess I'm up for the discussion of any movie if the person proposing the film wants to talk about it. We've been doing these discussions so long (which I am very thankful for!), an occasional change of direction is welcome.

[Cameron H. 23786]

1 hour ago, Quasar Sniffer said:

So the military super-soldier program stuff is actually the least interesting parts of 'The Guest,' but I think it's worth it for the presence of Lance Reddick, whom I will take being authoritative and intimidating in a Rice Krispies commercial.

I agree with this. That stuff made it get into Universal Soldier territory for me, and I would have preferred less explanation. 

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

53 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

I agree with this. That stuff made it get into Universal Soldier territory for me, and I would have preferred less explanation. 

Yeah, if Reddick was just Stevens's former commanding officer that the military brought in to "decommission" him, it would have saved a lot of plot shoe leather, and maybe more room for developing the other characters.

[GrahamS. 803]

Note: the last film I posted was the Tribe Called Quest doc and this EASILY beat that several times over in the number of views and comments. Clearly—even though it wasn’t overtly a “musical”—something about this film got peoples’ attention. Maybe it’s the power of Dan Stevens’ abs.

just thought that that was interesting!