Recent theatrical viewings

[Dr. Whom]

Well, it wasn't on my radar, but at the screening of Backrooms I ran into an acquaintance who is a major film geek and he was looking forward to seeing it. Then I saw Mark Kermode rave about it on youtube, so I decided to give it a go.

[Alex]

Minions & Monsters (2026)

At the start of the era of talking pictures, a group of minions want to make a monster movie. For this, they need a monster and they end up accidentally summoning a shoggoth.

This one is an absolute hoot. It is Pierre Coffin & Brian Lynches homage both to silent era Hollywood and 1950s creature features, with a guest appearance of Goomi's take on Lovecraft (of the Unspeakable Vault of Doom). It is chock full of references. Yet, contrary to meme based humour, these references aren't the jokes in themselves. The gags work in themselves, the references just add a layer (for instance the two monsters from Mountains of Madness are called Howard and Phillips)
For the rest it is non-stop minions slapstick action. Contrary to most contemporary movies, it doesn't stop to provide An Uplifting Moment, or Spell Out A Message. Not that it doesn't contain commentary, it doesn't let it get in the way of the action.

Highly recommended, especially for film buffs

I am so glad that someone else got the Unspeakable Vault reference. Took Ash to see this (totally nothing to do with me going to see pretty much anything that has a hint of Cthulhu in it). I second the good Dr's review. See how many movie references you can pick up in the first 10 minutes or so. Ash was laughing so hard at parts of this, his legs kicking up in the air, I thought he was going to fall off his seat.

[Rev. Powell]

Went to see the BACKROOMS expanded edition. As expected, inessential and mainly for fans of the YouTube series (which I never watched past the first episode). Still, the theater was packed (it was the smallest room in the house and didn't sell out on discount Tuesday, but still). Some people obviously hadn't seen it previously, judging by the gasps and "WTF"s. Most people left before the post-credits bonus sequence. If you haven't seen it yet, this edition is worthwhile. I wouldn't make a trip simply for the extra footage unless (like me) you really liked it and want to see it again.