hello and welcome to where i dump my thoughts on pointless things!

i had the urge to get kinda into depth on some of my fav movies, so that's what this is. it contains my letterboxd top 4 (minus tcm2), as well as some extras just because four is a criminally low number. if you read this, thank you ver much. 

letterboxd; @quentine

Saw (2004)

dir. james wan

i love saw so much. i already made a post gushing about it but that doesnt matter lmfao. this is the first saw movie to ever grace the earth and i think it is so fucking revolutionary. the traps, the twists- it was something so new for that time and so shocking and just everything. it really sets a standard for the next saw movies to come and i think that might be why i started hating the franchise as the movies went on and got newer. i don't have much to say about this movie analysis wise- i did have a file with the opening sequence analyzed but my old school has unfortunately locked me out of my account so i have no idea what i rambled about.. i can guess it went something like 'adam!! my little meow meow!! so silly!!!'

Detroit Rock City (1999)

dir. adam rifkin

this movie is SO UNDERRATED. it's a total hidden gem for anyone interested in cheesy teen flicks about loser-boys who love (insert metal/rock band). you don't even have to like kiss to watch and enjoy this movie. i do not listen to kiss, i don't have the desire to, and this movie is a masterpiece to me still. it's so inherently 'i wish i was born a boy' coded, and i'm a sucker for those movies. i would say, if you enjoy scott pilgrim vs. the world, you'd enjoy this movie! it has that comic-type feel to it, featuring a scene where a literal lightbulb lights up above edward furlong's head when he has an idea. also, natasha lyonne is in it, so that amps the watchability up by around fifty percent. it really is just an innocent story about boys wanting to see their favourite band live, and jumping hurdles to do it (when god says no, they say yes!) heavy recommend!

Zero Day (2003)

dir. ben coccio

this is where i need to get a little more serious, because i have some intense thoughts on this movie and its heavy subject matter. i believe this film holds a super important message, and i'll get into that. zero day serves as a character study of two troubled individuals, cal and andre, who are planning an attack on their school. they are all-in-all your average teenage boys who you'd find on reddit or 4chan, edgelords with a gun obsession. we spend the entire movie tagging along with them to places such as a new years party, the dentist, to see their families, to see girls, and then returning home to setup for their 'mission' in this found footage style. they are documenting themselves, and their lives seem fairly standard. where i believe it gets interesting is once the film style switches to security footage of the shooting. the entire movie has somewhat built up their 'humanity', though the footage shown is barbaric. they're shown as monsters. they're no longer recognisable as relatable beings that we could know in day to day life. by putting an emphasis on their humanity, the movie helps to push the narrative that people like this are not one-dimensional villains, beaming with textbook symptoms of what a criminal is. it could be anyone.

also, i feel like i need to clarify that this movie has real-world implications involving the lives of innocent victims, some of whom never got to experience adulthood. this film is heavily based on the columbine massacre, despite the director's denial of that fact. cal and andre represent dangerous outliers, not heroes nor role models. 

Evil Dead II (1987)

dir. sam raimi

an absolute essential for horror fans. i believe this movie is a perfect example of a good horror-comedy. sam raimi had his vision and fucking served it! despite the obvious satire of the film, parodying the typical horror tropes seen in b-list horrors, it is so obvious this film is created in admiration of said genres, not in mockery. you can laugh along and still appreciate the fear factor. this movie is endless chaos- ash cannot catch a break and the slapstick humour i think plays a huge role here to fully allow the horror to flourish amidst the comedy. ash is fighting a seemingly endless supply of problems, one after the next, and an example of these problems includes his own possessed hand which is a really fucking funny scene; they gave it a little demon voice and it even flips him off. but then's that lingering sense of powerlessness. each thing the deadites pull, it's like a new low. your dead girlfriend? how about your own hand? how about this chick's mom, but as a neck-extending-flying-deadite??? bringing the first one into this as well, how about the FUCKING TREES? nothing is off-limits here, which leaves us in anticipation amongst all the madness. not to mention, it gave us one of the most iconic horror hunks ever. pretty groovy. 

Final Destination 3 (2006)

dir. james wong

foreshadowing. that's the keyword in describing this film. final destination as a franchise is very camp, especially this third one. a lot of criticism i see this movie getting is how the characters are stupid, how so and so would do this differently- yes, the characters are dense, but isn't it enough to see kris lemche playing an annoying emo boy??? i love the scooby-doo-esque mystery aspect in this one. by using the pictures as clues for what might happen next, it allows the viewer to feel a part of the problem-solving, i loved playing along on my first watch. although it may be predictable as all hell, one thing they succeed in is building anticipation within the scenes. the gym scene is so painfully stressful to watch, and so painfully masculine too ("yuuuurrrh, fuck the bruins!!"). i believe this is the first final destination film with genuinely likeable side characters as well. each one has a trope, and a life outside of 'they were almost in the crash...' i also fucking love whoever wrote in that ashley and ashlynn weren't that genre of bitchy girly-girls, but instead some genuinely nice girls who don't put up with frankie's shit. pretty epic gore effects too, by the way.

Natural Born Killers (1994)

dir. oliver stone

oliver stone's 'natural born killers' is a very in-your-face message about the media's exploitation of crime, fueling the fire for criminals to thrive on and essentially keeping them in business. the movie follows mickey and mallory knox- deranged mass murderers and lovers. making a statement on how media coverage of crimes and crime itself reinforce one another is the biggest of themes in the film. a more on-the-nose example of this would be the character of wayne gale (played by robert downey jr.), the host for true-crime television show 'american maniacs'. gale feeds the general public's fascination with true crime in the most exploitative way possible, dismissing the pain and hurt caused by such events and instead and focusing on the perpetrators (the terribly exaggerated 'live re-enactments', the making sure HE'S in frame; also both good examples of his tv being SHIT). gale even begins to indulge in the violence with m&m during a prison riot to protect them. without them, he has no content. to further push this theme of media and crime needing one another, m&m have an enforced rule; they always leave one person at their crime scene alive to tell the tale. without that person, it wouldn't be branded their crime. it would be a case of whodunnit, and they wouldn't have a name. there's also a sequence in this film in which they parody the show 'i love lucy', showcasing mallory's abusive upbringing in the form of an old sitcom. although stated that this is to show the contrast between america's nuclear family and the reality for dysfunctional households, i believe showing her life in this format also hints at how reaching at a criminal's poor home life is a very common 'justification' in media for their crimes.

the overarching message of this film seems to be saying that without media coverage, crimes like such would be no more. i don't necessarily agree with that- they would just go undocumented. but, there is definitely less of an appeal for the people who go on to commit for their name to be in the paper. 

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

dir. jonathan dayton, valerie faris

this movie is absolutely adorable and it makes me ugly sob every time. every character in the hoover family has their own flaws, but the movie serves as a reminder that that's what makes them unique, it's what makes them them. via olive's goal to win the title of 'little miss sunshine', the film tries to show us that life is often seen the same way most beauty pageants are- think about it. these young, dolled-up girls walk out on stage and force a smile for the grand prize. they are rated based on their outward appearance, their image, how they carry themselves. even the title, 'little miss sunshine', suggests someone who never feels blue. but, that isn't a person, that's a machine. a cog in the big unrealistic-expectations-machine. no one will always be happy, because human emotion is a rich tapestry. a spectrum. it teaches us to respect and embrace the middle ground of life, respect the unknowingness and unpredictability of life, and be happy with your place in it. the hoover family is a direct representation of what a traditional, 'picture-perfect', american family isn't; a detoxing grandfather, an angsty teen, a suicidal uncle, a black and white thinking father, an overworked mother and of course, little olive, who wants to win 'little miss sunshine' but is afraid her weight sets her apart from the other girls. but they all have each other and come to realise by the end of the movie, that's what matters more than anything. this film is raw and carries an absolutely beautiful message flawlessly. society could learn a thing or two from the hoover family.

Haggard (2003)

dir. bam margera

- honourable mention woohoo !! -

ooookay. honourable mention solely because this movie is really fucking funny. written by bam margera and brandon dicamillo, the humour in this film is very 12-year-old-boy-esque, which is not everyone's cup of tea but it just works for me here. ryan dunn breaks up with his girlfriend glauren (yes, GLAUREN) after she got caught cheating on him. shortly afterwards, rumours begin to spread that she's with.. wait for it... a metalhead called HELLBOY. HIS FUCKING NAME IS HELLBOY. still hung up on her, ryan eventually gets the help of valo (bam margera. he named himself valo. he NAMED himself VALO) and falcone (brandon dicamillo) to get over her. just an entire movie of silly goofs and an essential scene of bam shredding a ramp in the middle of his living room- it couldn't be more perfect. also, it's bam margera, yes he played a HIM song in the movie. also tony hawk makes an appearance as a divorced cop. so that's a thing. this, to me, is the type of movie where you think the madness is finally over, a stunt plays and you say "well, it can't get any crazier than that". and then it does. and then it does again. again. and again. rest in peace ryan dunn. <3

and you did it! you made it through my incessant ramblings, and maybe even related to and/or made sense of them. feel free to leave your own personal opinions in the comments, i'd love to see what people thought of these movies and what their own takes on them are. thank you ver much and goodnight. lmfao

(can you tell i got more into this the more i wrote?)