Weekend Lounge ~ Monsters at the Movies

Welcome to the weekend!

After last week's controversial and over-sized post, I decided to dial it back a bit with this one. Let's take it a lot slower. Since summer is officially near its end, and a lot of madness has occurred not too long ago, I felt it right to celebrate its end with something more lighthearted.

The subject today is the director Joe Dante, and the video creators in question are Red Letter Media. The videos might be long, but they are very well worth seeing. Take a load off as they cover the filmography of the legendary director of the bizarre and weird who never seemed to get the recognition he deserved despite it all.

Marvel as Rich and Jay from RLM watch through every movie directed by Joe Dante and make more good decisions (Gremlins 2: The New Batch truly is is better than the original) and questionable ones (their take on the ending to The 'Burbs is grossly incorrect and misses the entire point and appeal of the movie) as the two try to come to terms with just who this director is beneath it all. You might be surprised at just where it all leads to, because Joe Dante is a director unlike any other.

Here is the second part of their episode on him:

You might disagree with some of their choices and opinions, but the overall list between them is well chosen. It is a shame his latter work has fallen into the same problems as so many others these days, but it is what it is. His highpoint is still hard to match for anyone else, even today.

There is still no director quite like him at his best.

As for myself, I would rank the top 5 movies of Joe Dante as follows:

1. Innerspace
2. The 'Burbs
3. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
4. Gremlins
5. Matinee

All these movies are very much worth seeing and a window into a world no one else could quite come up with. They've also aged incredibly well with time and are some of my favorites even today. You're definitely never going to find another creator with a style quite like his or manage to top what he was able to do with these films.

And to top it off, here is a shorter video highlighting director Quentin Tarantino's opinion on the works of Joe Dante:

Tarantino, whatever you might think of him, is someone who understands the appeal of the weird and bizarre, or both the high class and B film, and he shows it in the above video. Despite his image, he realizes there is more to art than the surface level. It's something we should all already know, especially as film's peak as a dominant artform is passing as by.

That's all for this week!

Have yourself a good one and I'll see you next time.

Check out Mistcreek Tales for 14 tales of weird and wild stories unlike anything else!