BEFORE: Getting closer to Movie #250 for the year, really at that point all that will be left to watch in Movie Year 16 will be a week of films in September, the October horror chain, and 14 films for November and December. Really, it's going to be like "No Movie November" this time, because my Thanksgiving film is just going to be two films away from my Halloween film. Seems like maybe a great time to take a vacation, which is exactly what we're planning to do. We're going to drive down to North Carolina to see my parents and my sister's family, and maybe we'll have an early Thanksgiving dinner with them, or something like it. But we sure don't want to drive around Thanksgiving, because that's when everyone else is doing the exact same thing. So we'll do this the second full week of the month, and we'll be back in NYC a full 6 days before anyone else leaves for wherever they're going for the holiday, even if they're leaving a week early. Then, when real Thanksgiving comes around, we're free to do whatever we want - last year we had a buffet meal in a literal mansion on Long Island that was just incredible. I'm not giving out the specific location because I don't want word to get out. But suffice it to say we do have a plan, or at least the concepts of a plan.
Looking at the list again, maybe I'll watch 5 films in November, then 9 in December. Any way I slice it, there's going to be a lot of down-time in those 2 months. Great, by then I could probably use another break. Anna Kendrick carries over again from "Alice, Darling", and she's moving up in the ranks quite quickly. But I think there are a few people who are in 3 or 4 or more horror movies, so they'll have the last chance to improve their stats for the year. December will basically be Kevin Dillon, Mel Gibson, Emile Hirsch, Paul Rudd and done, I think. It's still 70 degrees out but I feel Christmas coming.
THE PLOT: Given the opportunity to participate in a life or death reality game show, one man discovers there's a lot to live for.
AFTER: Well, this film was certainly better than I expected, better than it's short synopsis made it sound. I guess I was expecting something like "The Running Man", but it's nothing like that. But it is a game where there are people trying to kill the participants - or are they? Honestly it's a bit unclear what the true nature of the TV show is, because Jake is Tommy is sort of told a bit about how it works when he signs on, but then learns conflicting facts about the TV as time goes on.
The premise is that a participant will win a million dollars if he can survive for a month, and that there will be people playing the game who will be trying to kill him, but it's also possible that those people will be busy hunting the other players, so really, they may not ever get around to Tommy, really, what are the odds? No, really, what are the odds, like how many other player are there? Tommy wonders this too so he places a Craigslist ad to see if anyone else wants to talk about "the game" that nobody is supposed to be talking about. The producers of the reality show (they're Dutch, or maybe Danish, so the show may not even ever AIR in the U.S.) also let slip that the killers will only approach when he is alone, they've been instructed to avoid collateral damage, it's an insurance thing I guess. So Tommy figures he's in the clear, he just needs to spend more time with friends and family members, then he'll always be safe. It's a solid plan, except that he doesn't have any friends and his sisters and mother don't want to be any part of this, and also they think that Tommy is delusional.
So Tommy hires a homeless (sorry, home-FREE) man to follow him around, he pays James in food at first, but promises him an apartment or something once he wins the million dollars. More help comes when someone answers his ad, and Maddy says she's also playing the same game, so they figure if they just spend all their time together, they'll be in the clear. Tommy figures that she's kind of cute in that Anna Kendrick-y kind of way, they hit it off so sure, why not spend all your time for the next 20 days with someone you just met five minutes ago? There's some kind of dating show that works along these lines, right? Just without the killers stalking the contestants. There's a flaw in Tommy's logic, though, like spending time with another contestant might not make him as safe as he thinks, what if one killer just uses it as a chance to kill them both at the same time? The film does explain this later on, so really, I can't call it as a NITPICK POINT.
The production crew has been told to plant cameras everywhere that Tommy might go, and also to not be seen, so they come and go like ninjas. Eventually the killers do show up, and they appear in strange and various forms, like a sumo wrestler or a Sinbad impersonator (the comedian, not the mythical sailor & adventurer) so sure enough, Tommy's life has become a nightmare, and honestly, it wasn't that great to begin with, he had an ex-girlfriend who broke up with him and he never really understood why, plus his father took off when he was 10 or 11, after they'd just spent a great day together, and he never really understood why that happened either.
Since the title of the film doesn't really seem to apply any other way, I guess we can assume that Tommy gains self-reliance by being on the show, and maybe it's something he never had before? He gains the ability to FINALLY knock on his ex's door and ask her about the break-up. He learns to fight back when he's threatened, and he even gains enough confidence to finally confront his absent father. Some of this is set up by the show and some of it is not, but since Tommy doesn't know for sure how "real" the show is, we're also left to wonder. Are there really people trying to kill him, or is this all just an elaborate prank? And if it's a prank, who's behind it? All we really know about them is that they have the ability to hire a former SNL star (no, not that one, think lower-scale) to give Tommy his instructions. But they can't afford Ellen DeGeneres, just a low-rent look-alike.
For the last few days, Tommy does what he maybe should have done in the first place, he hides in a settlement of homeless people living under a bridge. This is a great cover, because nobody ever really sees these people, even if they do, they want to ignore them. Well, at least Tommy's getting out there and meeting people, even if they don't have great hygiene, and by the end of the month, neither does he. But it will all be worth it if he wins, right?
Really, this is phenomenal timing for me because the new season of "Survivor" starts tonight, so I may stay up and watch that after tonight's movie. Also the season finale of "MasterChef" aired tonight, and next week we'll start up again with "The Masked Singer" and also "Hell's Kitchen". It's a great time to be alive, peak TV, right? Or is that over? I still have to watch the Emmy Awards, which aired over the weekend, while I was busy. I guess there's "Big Brother" going on too, and the "Golden Bachelorette" and "Dancing With the Stars" if you're into that. We'll be too busy watching "Halloween Baking Championship" which started Monday and "Outrageous Pumpkins" at the end of this month. Gotta get ready for October!
Look, I don't think they'll ever have a show on TV where people are hunted for sport, but you never know. They're saying the S-word and the F-word on TV pretty regularly, now, and we never thought that would happen. Never thought weed would be legal in so many states, but look where we find ourselves. Wait, wasn't "Squid Game" a hit show on Netflix? I forget, was that real or fake? Does it even matter any more?
Also starring Jake Johnson (last heard in "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"), Andy Samberg (ditto), Natalie Morales (last seen in "The Little Things"), Mary Holland (last seen in "Unicorn Store"), Emily Hampshire (last seen in "Mother!"), Christopher Lloyd (last seen in "Senior Moment"), Biff Wiff (last seen in "Everything Everywhere All at Once"), Boban Marjanovic (last seen in "Hustle"), Eduardo Franco (last heard in Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken"), GaTa, Bjorn Johnson (last heard in "Paddleton"), John Hans Tester (last seen in "White House Down"), Daryl J. Johnson (last seen in "Superhero Movie"), Nancy Lenehan (last seen in "Battle of the Sexes"), Jeff Kober (last seen in "Leave No Trace"), Eric Edelstein (last seen in "Jurassic World"), Ely Henry (last seen in "Cheaper by the Dozen 2"), Miriam Flynn (last seen in "For Keeps?"), Ilia Volok (last seen in "Hunter KIller"), Steven Littles, Tamra Brown, John Ponzio (last seen in "The Dark Half"), Karen Maruyama (Last seen in "Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar"), Sky Elobar (last seen in "I Do... Until I Don't"), Gloria Sandoval (last seen in "Chef"), Makini Manu, Theo Wilson, Thomas Vu, Lawrence Whitener with a cameo from Wayne Brady (last heard in "Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild").
RATING: 6 out of 10 references to Super Mario Bros.
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