Excalibur, Challengers, Abigail, Tremors, Anaconda, Late Night with the Devil

- Excalibur [1981] - Too good for numbers

I talked about this movie when I watched it last year and felt the need to fill my partner in on its majesty for us to have a properly prosperous 2024. Excalibur feels like a movie from a different universe, and a timeline that never actually happened there either. The thing I said about it after this watch was that, it feels as though Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a direct parody, despite coming out 6-years earlier. Yes, they’re build on the same lore so they’ll of course be similar, but their beats and the just sheer genuine insanity of them both feels almost too mirrored to deny. Excalibur is a movie that rarely makes much sense, is fantastic to look at in every single frame, and is the perfect film to throw on with a group of friends who just want to have a good time. There’s nothing about this journey that feels particularly in or out of place and it’s just so much dang fun, there’s no way it doesn’t put a smile on your face.

- Challengers [2024] - 95

From Bones and All director Luca Guadagnino comes another film that simply shouldn’t work. Where Bones is a devastatingly good romance about cannibals, Challengers serves up another ace with a love-triangle film about… tennis… There’s just no reason this film should be compelling, engaging, or even vaguely interesting [a concept its awful trailers are sure to hammer home]… and yet, [maybe my rating of 95 is a bit of a spoiler here] Challengers is likely to be one of my favorite films of the year. To call this ride “engrossing” or “enthralling” is simply too reductive and entirely unfair of how impressive each piece of its construction is. From narrative structure to performances to its absolutely electrifying score, there isn’t a single part of Challengers that doesn’t feel like a volley straight to your senses in all the right ways. This is one I intend on writing a longer review for, but how can you not love an intense and thrumming emotional drama written by the Potion Seller?

- Abigail [2024] - 65

I’m pretty surprised at the way the Ready or Not crew’s latest film, Abigail, is being received. It’s not that the numbers are particularly high or low, just that they’re pretty near each other [IMDB: 71, RT: 84/86… though I do think they all trend a little too high]; I would have expected this to be an extremely polarizing film, more similar to James Wan’s Malignant [IMDB: 62, RT: 77/52], and I would recommend it to the exact same type of audience. Abigail is what I could call a “jaunty horror”: a horror-themed film that isn’t quite silly enough to be called a “horror comedy” like something akin to Shaun of the Dead or Little Monsters. It’s plenty of fun with some notable actors and overall entertaining — if entirely caricaturized — performances. While it does to a mostly excellent job of setting up tropes and then being really self aware in the way it avoids them [a genuine accolade I enjoyed over and over], Abigail ultimately falls to the same issues as Ready or Not in terms of commitment, content density, and length. If you like things that fall into this sort of “jaunty horror” genre, you’ll love this, no doubt. If you don’t… you’re not missing anything special here.

- Tremors [1990] - 77

Speaking of catching my partner up on things… 1990’s Tremors is one of the movies I watched the most with my sister growing up [you’re all shocked, I know]. Revisiting it as an adult, it’s still mostly quite good. The effects and creatures look great, the pacing is absolutely excellent, and the adventure [though lacking some logic during certain moments] is fun, engaging, and raucous. In a lot of ways, Tremors feels both like an homage to creature-features of the 50’s and 60’s while also being a prescient touchstone for the rash of them that came shortly after its own release. As Fuchs says in one of the greatest practical effects films of all times [The Thing, 1982], “There is still cellular activity in these burned remains. They're not dead yet!"; and Tremors has a lot to offer even 34-years on.

- Anaconda [1997] - 64

On that same note… Anaconda is still fun for its absurdity, fun cast, and whatever the hell Jon Voight was doing the entire time, but isn’t on the same level as Tremors. This movie is goofy and mostly serves as an excellent backing piece to a party or game-night as it doesn’t quite have the pacing or execution required to pull of its sillier plot aspects. This is a movie that one could tune in and out of, only coming back for the more directly interesting parts, without really missing anything. That said, it’s effects still look mostly excellent and it really is fun, it’s just not as tight as some other greats within the genre.

- Late Night with the Devil [2024] - 82

I already wrote on this last week and did a full review as well, so there isn’t much to say here except that, on a second watch, my same problems persist, with the almost “false” ending standing out in even starker contrast now. It’s still quite good and a very easy recommend, I just wish it had baked a little longer to really hone in its conclusion.