HALLOWEEN ENDS | PIGGY | CLERKS III
Pop Culture Weekly Round-Up 14/10/2022
Hello, everyone! Here I am again to give you some Pop Culture recommendations for your weekend. I’m not going to lie, it was hard to find something good being released this week. I watched some really questionable TV shows and movies. In the end, I decided to share some thoughts on three movies. The really good slasher PIGGY and the not awful but also not great flicks CLERKS III and HALLOWEEN ENDS. There is also a playlist with five songs I listened to during the week.
In other news, BLINK 182 is back! Tom DeLonge finally proved aliens exist so now he is back writing songs and making dick jokes with Mark and Travis. There is a new song out and a massive tour was announced as well. Needless to say that this middle-aged emo kid here already bought his ticket to the Lisbon gig. Now I just have to survive for another year, fingers crossed 🤞
QUICK THOUGHTS
PIGGY Is Spanish director/writer Carlota Pereda’s debut feature film and tackles the effects of fatphobia and bullying. The film revolves around Sara (Laura Galán), the butcher's daughter of a small town in rural Spain, who is constantly harassed about her weight by village girls. PIGGY twists the predicted revenge film genre into something truly upsetting. Instead of acting out a vicious fantasy, Pereda's screenplay is far more focused on highlighting the complex nature that exists in all of us. Doing that, the film brilliantly employs genre thrills and a compelling social critique. I also liked all the creepy and disturbing details that she includes in the script to heighten the story's tension and dread. Laura Galán's engaged performance brings PIGGY disturbingly to life. And the whole production was just tremendously well-crafted. Given that this is Pereda's debut full-length film, I can say that I was very impressed with her skill as a director. I can’t wait for her next project!
CLERKS III is the third and allegedly last chapter in the CLERKS trilogy and the most recent entry of Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse (it’s like the MCU but with dick jokes). I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch this flick. I’m such a big fan of the first CLERKS and I really wanted to like this since I’m a fan of Smith's earlier work. But unfortunately, like his most recent efforts, CLERKS III feels more like a homage to the past than a whole, thoughtful new movie. Although it has some amusing and heartwarming moments, it loses its focus as it progresses, and the promising concept for the third flick quickly loses its way. It is funny how this provides a behind the scene look at the first CLERKS production. But it never captures the magic of the 1994's original. I can only recommend CLERKS III for the devoted fans of the View Askewniverse. Other than that, I would say not to waste your time. Just watch the original movie. You will be better off.
HALLOWEEN ENDS is the third entry in the trilogy directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jamie Lee Curtis. HALLOWEEN ENDS first half feels like a stand-alone movie. It truly tries to do something that we haven't seen before in the previous HALLOWEEN entries. It focuses more on the consequences and traumas caused by the previous two movies and I thought that was an interesting concept. But in the second half, HALLOWEEN ENDS “twist” is perhaps this trilogy's biggest misstep and undoes the few clever ideas of this reboot with some silly writing choices. From then on the movie follows faithfully the formula of pitch-black locations and shining knives. Although there are a few amazing kills and some gratifying sequences, the story did not work for me. But I’m very curious to see the viewer’s reaction to this flick. Because I doubt that the movie's portrayal of Michael Myers will meet the expectations of the most devoted fans of the franchise. Would I recommend HALLOWEEN ENDS? Well, if you have watched the other 2 movies you might as well just watch it. But if you are looking for some horror flick just because we are in the spooky season, avoid this trilogy. Just watch the very first HALLOWEN movie.
TOP 5 SONGS
These were the 5 songs on heavy rotation in my house last week. You can listen to them on Spotify and YouTube.
I honestly don't think I'm going to watch Clerks III. The original was so good, and so unlike anything else I'd ever seen--or seen since--that I think I'd just be going into it expecting to be disappointed.