Category: Chloe’s Essays

Casper: Eggs and Orange Juice

casper

Casper (1995)
Directed by Brad Silberling
Written by Sherri Stoner & Deanna Oliver
100 min.

Why doesn’t anyone ever talk about how great Casper is? Yes, the 90’s Casper, starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci. I don’t know about you, but as a kid I fucking loved this movie. But I feel like if I were to bring it up to people as a legitimately good film, they’d laugh at me. Well, laugh away if you want, because I revisited last night to make sure it holds up, and it turns out it absolutely does.

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Chloe Pelletier on Greg and John’s Argument

chloegregjohn

If you didn’t catch the latest episode of the Smug Film podcast, in which John D’Amico and Greg DeLiso get into a heated argument about film and film criticism, you should, because it’s important.

Having read the site for as long as it’s been around, I believe what sets it apart from most film blogs is that everyone here has a very unique and personal perspective on film—and that individualistic honesty is on full display in this episode.

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‘Turkles’: A Movie That Looks Amazing

I stumbled on this movie while browsing my local library’s new releases online. The title piqued my interest, so I Googled it and found the trailer above.

I need to see this movie.

Greg DeLiso and and I are always on the hunt for the next great unintentional comedies for us to fall in love with and quote incessantly to each other. We’ve delved far beyond famous ones like The Room, Troll 2, and Birdemic: Shock and Terror—our favorites include lesser-known gems such as My Streets, Little Marines 1 & 2, and Breakout: Batteries Not Included. Few have ever heard of them, but they offer as much, if not more laughs than better-known so-bad-it’s-good fare.

It appears nobody has discovered Turkles yet, as is so often the case with a lot of these movies. It’s an untapped genre that people assume consists of only a handful, but really there are tons that are hilarious.

Here’s a video with more weird clips from Turkles. The person who put it together clearly didn’t do so because they saw humor—I think it’s just a highlight reel for one of the actresses—but it plays like a greatest hits of awkward Turkles moments:
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The Final Member: A Documentary About Penises, And On A Deeper Level, About Documentaries

finalmember


The Final Member (Completed in 2012, Released in 2014)
Directed by Zach Math and Jonah Bekhor
90 min.

Spoiler-free.

There’s a scene in this delightful film about a penis museum and the men who want their members to be immortalized in it that is so important that I shouldn’t even talk about it, but I have to, because it unintentionally has a lot to say about documentaries. Don’t worry—I’ve figured out a way to discuss it without spoiling anything.
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Phenomena: Being a Girl is Fucking Metal

phenomena


Phenomena (1985)
Directed by Dario Argento
Written by Dario Argento and Franco Ferrini
110 min.

Very mild spoilers.

It’s understandable that independent, assertive, intelligent women might have trouble identifying with most female characters, because these traits are traditionally seen as ‘masculine‘, and as such, given to men.  For this reason, I more often identify with male characters than female ones. Aside from Ana in Cria Cuervos, it’s usually pretty hard for me to think of any on the spot—but now that I’ve seen Dario Argento’s Phenomena, I have another.
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