Today felt like the day for me to mention the last few films I’ve viewed on the big screen, along with the local establishment I ate at before one of the movies. Elvis Presley in Concert is a film which was Elvis in the 70’s, mainly on but sometimes off-stage and featuring plenty of unearthed footage. Despite being directed by Baz Luhrmann-I was mixed on his 2022 Elvis movie-after the opening the rest of Concert did not feature many of his worst instincts.
It was a great experience; the music, the visuals, the crowd… the movie was solid evidence why I’m happy to ignore modern music when it does not compare to someone like Elvis. The best experience was afterwards; a lady a bit younger than me was dressed in 50’s clothing & wore a SWEET black satin Elvis jacket. Afterwards, a group of grey-haired women were talking to the lady and they happily discussed everything Elvis, at least from what little I overheard. It was a tremendous experience seeing multiple generations and a crowd of people featuring different races come together to celebrate one icon.
One night I saw Psycho Killer; it was after hearing the bad reviews-I was curious. “Qu'est-ce que c'est?” is my reaction! The first two acts weren’t great but was not terrible either. Killer was simply a dopey picture w/ a killer who had a dumb fake voice that was still watchable. Then, the final act happened; the story went in a bizarre direction that was also bad; what a huge misstep. Before anyone asks, no, the Talking Heads song doesn’t appear, either in original form or an insufferable modern cover.
This past Monday, I saw an early screening of Undertone, an A24 horror film releasing officially tonight. Now, I don’t love the movies that A24 produce or simply release like most cinephiles… however, some are worthwhile. Thankfully, Undertone did not have the typical A24 pretension. I knew that Undertone focused on sound first & foremost, which intrigued. What I didn’t know: not only is it a movie set in one location, the only character you see speaking on camera is a young lady who is a podcaster… nor that she lived with a bedridden mother who is comatose and near death. Despite being reminded of what happened to my late mother 6 years ago, I made it through the movie alright. I do understand why the character’s mom remained in the house-hospice isn’t inexpensive.
As for my thoughts, re: Undertone… the movie did a lot right. The movie’s methodical pacing was fine w/ me. The lead actress did a nice job, I liked the subtle moments, and I even recognized the ambiguity throughout, especially the final act. Unfortunately, the ending fell flat with me; nice idea, but it didn’t work out. Still, I’ll say that the movie was good overall.
As for the crowd at this screening, despite my fears, they actually were behaved and reacted to certain moments as you’d expect. However, once the end credits began, an experience new to me happened. Many people laughed… not just for a few seconds-I mean, uproariously laughed, for more than 30 seconds straight! They did not like how Undertone concluded, and they made it clear. Their reaction was far funnier than if they booed or catcalled the screen. I did hear some negative comments as I left the AMC but I’ll never forget the long, sustained laughter in disbelief.
Before the Elvis film, I was in Maitland to try a local establishment I found out from some website or account. Befitting its name, Cow & Cheese only offers a few items but the smashburger I had accompanied by seasoned fries were both tasty. Tasty to my ears was the Sirius radio station they had on consisting of 90’s and early 2000’s hip-hop. I won’t be able to visit that often as Maitland isn’t that close by yet I was still happy to support such a place.
My return should be sometime in the next few days.
