Movie Challenge Update #4

Mountain passes and strange vacations

Author

Tyler Barstow
April 02, 2023 • Est. Reading Time: 2 minutes

I got a bit behind this week (I think I’m 3 days behind) but nevertheless I’m sitting at 20 movies so far and still chugging along. I’ve been replacing titles as I go since some of the ones I originally picked have proven to be unstreamable or I’ve just gotten worn out with a particular theme and decided I needed something else. For instance, there will be fewer Lars von Trier movies on the final list than there were at the beginning, as Nymphomaniac vol. 1 reminded me why the path of “what if a stray thought I had one time became a 3 hour long ontology” is best left less traveled for my own particular psyche. And so we move on, with a quick note that there are only 4 here today because I lumped John Wick 3 and John Wick 4 in together last time:

A ★★★★★ review of Speed Racer (2008)

It took me a week after seeing this to realize that what makes this movie amazing is the way it feels like it was made by a very talented middle schooler obsessed with Speed Racer. I never really followed Speed Racer growing up, so a lot of this movie was lost on me, but I just want to publicly state that the large sections of this that felt overthought or under-edited are very likely specific choices by the Wachowskis to create an homage that honored not just the source material itself but the way that any kid experienced and loved it along the way. This isn't a 5 star movie for me, but it's a 5 star movie for Speed Racer people.

A ★★★★ review of Force Majeure (2014)

Hilariously-sharp nails on the chalkboard of modern masculine and feminine tropes. Less about the search for a categorical truth and more about the obvious shortcomings of our own animal selves. Not as directly brutal as Triangle of Sadness, but a similar comfort level handling the weight of its topics. It's meaningful that Östlund's release before this was a documentary on bullying, and he continues to prove himself as a genius at documenting human behavior on film.

A ★★★½ review of Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Does Pete Davidson have a permanent black eye? This movie scratches the same itch for me that Scream does, but with far better manicured nails. I'd watch 9 of these if they existed.

A ★★★★★ review of The Sting (1973)

There's a reason this movie was nominated for 10 Oscars and won 7, and that its script was preserved in the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress. It's both a genre- and era-defining film, and even bridged the gap between the classical music scene and the broader pop cultural mainland for Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer". We only have 2 movies featuring Redford and Newman together onscreen, this one and Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, and both of them are transcendently good. It might feel criminal that we don't have more, but it serves as a reminder that the