[Weekly Update] October 25, 2020 (Patreon)

Happy Halloween!

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

• Our Halloween video about Shin Godzilla is finished. It'll go live in a day or two.
• As with all of our special videos, it ended up having nothing to do with Halloween anyway, lol. Ultimately, it's a video about my one problem with Shin Godzilla, with some basic explanation on how the film works as a metaphor, and where the metaphor crumbles.
• Afterward, we have another video about cinematic metaphors. This time, metaphors in the Rurouni Kenshin series.
• For the second half of November, I'll be taking a break. Our channel schedule has been ridiculously busy lately. This will give me some time to restructure my workflow, reply missed emails and such. Hope you don't mind the absence! I'll have a special video for you afterward, I promise.
• Oh and I have a funny comedy recommendation for this Christmas. It's kinda ridiculous but I think you'll love it.

ABOUT MEDIA

• Back to the topic of Halloween movies. I don't know why, but I also associate a bunch of non-horror films with the festival. So, let me ramble a little.
• The stand out one is probably Street Fighter the movie. Yes, with JCVD. It's probably the costume that makes it Halloween themed. But something about its association with home media and that 80s/90s goodness invoke the nostalgia I feel towards Halloween.
• Which is hilarious because I never experienced Halloween until I'm well into my teenage years.
• Come to think of it, I associate nearly every JCVD movie with Halloween (and Christmas). Watching it a lone at night on my computer just calms me.
• Probably due to the same association with home media, I find a bunch of Hong Kong movies to be great fit for Halloween. Of course, nearly every Stephan Chow movies fit. Shaolin Soccer being one of them.
• Fight Back to School, iirc, ends with a gun fight in a school party. With fake set all around the gym. Watch it at midnight when you are just starting to feel sleepy, and you'll feel like you are in a dream. It's great fun.
• There are, of course, non-horror films that are explicitly Halloween themed. Like E.T. and Nightmare Before Christmas.
• But for some reason, I also feel like A Bug's Life is a great Halloween watch. That movie still looks amazing for an early 3D animation feature. It sure aged a lot better than Toy Story.
• Oh yeah, Toy Story! That's another one. Maybe it's because all these films feel like they have Halloween costumes available.
• On a newer spectrum, Edgar Wright movies! They are nearly always fast pace and feels like you are experiencing a dream. When I finish his movies, I always feel like I just woke up in the middle of a dreamful sleep.
• If you are a general audience who watch movies casually, Shaun of the Dead is great fun.
• But if you are a cinephile and understands the film language, Hot Fuzz is my go to.
• Baby Driver is also quite fun for a Halloween watch. It even has one of the best Halloween joke of all time.
• And in a totally unrelated note (wink wink), my final recommendation would be The Austin Powers series. Crazy costumes, fancy party, lot of jokes and make pretend. This whole series is just one big Halloween costume party!

And that's the update for this week! Sorry for the slightly incoherent rambling. I literally just finished our Godzilla video this morning and am still tired lol.

In any case, if you are from an area that celebrates Halloween, I hope you have a good and safe time! If you don't, well, it's late Autumn, and it is still a great time for the above mentioned movies. Give them a watch, enjoy the night, and let us know what other movies you find fitting for this season.