A Tale of Three Ripleys
Plus Dinosaurs! Zombies! and Horror with Friends!
June brought a slew of Ripley movies to Criterion. We watched Ripley’s Game a few weeks ago, starring John Malkovich as an older, colder Ripley attempting to turn a neighbor with cancer into a cold blooded killer. A few months ago we watched Ripley, the miniseries with Andrew Scott- which gave us the younger Tom Ripley as he begins his career of conning men and women around the world. And, this weekend we watched what I remember as my first foray into the world of Patricia Highsmith’s titular character, The Talented Mr. Ripley starring a fresh faced Matt Damon. Dang, everyone in this looked so young! Jude Law, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchette and Gwyneth Paltrow.
The Ripley miniseries and Talented Mr. Ripley are telling the same tale. Damon almost feels innocent as Ripley to me. Like he’s deciding to slide into this scheming, sneaky life of con, where as Andrew Scott plays it much cooler. He always seems so many steps ahead. I enjoyed the latter two films- maybe its because I enjoyed that book- the only one I have read. Ripley’s Game was decent. I just didn’t care for Malkovich as Ripley. I blame that on Andrew Scott. I have a few more Ripley films I want to see including Purple Noon with Alain Delon.
In the last couple weeks the Castle Puppycat crew (that’s us) were invited to some excellent horror nights with friends. The first boasted a double feature of Bloody Axe Wound- a silly, extra meta slasher/queer romance. And Censor- an eerie descent into madness by a “Video Nasty” reviewer. We had seen that, so we watched the first film, had a lovely time watching gory and inventive kills, ate some snacks, shared some laughs, and headed home. On July 4th, Dr. C and I convened with some others at yet a different friend (there was some excellent overlap here though, trust me), andhad a blast watching two films NONE OF US HAD HEARD OF!
Do you know how wild it is to stump the horror nerd group we hang with? Well our friend did it and we were treated to 2 very different, and very enjoyable films. Red Rooms, set in Montreal follows the trial of an alleged killer through the eyes of a woman who seems obsessed with him. But why? I haven’t stopped thinking about this film since we watched it. The way its shot, the score, and the performances. Seek it out and see if you can figure out why Kelly Anne is obsessed with Ludovic Chevalier. I’m still not sure. The Special wasn’t as good as Red Rooms, but it was a fun watch. A guy suspects his wife is cheating on him, and his best friend convinces him to get “The Special” at a brothel. To explain what that special is would be to ruin the film. Just know it evolves into a wild body horror film. The acting isn’t the best, but this was a fun watch.
Ok, let’s talk briefly about dinosaurs. I love the first two Jurassic Park films. I saw the first of the Chris Pratt reboot and thought meh. But once i saw a trailer for Jurassic World: Rebirth, I knew I would be seeing it. Jonathan Bailey has stolen my heart with his slutty little glasses playing a scientist who studied with Alan Grant and just wants the chance to see a live dinosaur in their habitat. Scarlett Johansen as the best in the business “item procurer” is fun, we all know she can play a badass, but here she gets to call the shots. And Mahershala Ali as her partner in crime boat captain who can move anything in and out of port rounds out the main cast, and what a fun bunch. Then there are the effects. Give me the CG dinosaurs I AM HERE FOR IT. Big monsters are my passion, even if some of them are genetically altered and look like a weird T-Rex with the face of Predator. Again I say, I AM HERE FOR IT. This is what summer is about for me. Big, dumb monster adventure movies.
Speaking of dumb, I saw A Minecraft Movie thinking it was going to be dumb and y’all, this one surprised me so much. I laughed a lot, and now I want to see more movies with the comedy team of Jason Momoa and Jack Black. if there is a prize for dumb adventure movie, slap a blue ribbon on Jared Hess’ take on Minecraft, Its a lot of fun. And isn’t that what its all about sometimes? Watching something silly, dumb, and fun?