Hi Folks, a lot of people had good thoughts about shows on CBC Gem and I realized we hardly touched movies. So, let’s do that!
I’m going to ignore the big Oscar Winner sort of stuff (12 years a slave etc) or super famous comedies (Napoleon Dynamite) and focus on some smaller stuff.
Rhymes for Young Ghouls - Feels like an Indigenous Guy Ritchie sort of movie. Heavy subject matter though (revenge on a residential school administrator) but quite good. Canadian made, Indigenous director.
Blood Quantum - Solid B movie, Indigenous community vs Zombie Apocalypse.
20th century women - Hard to describe but it’s about a single mom raising her son in 1979. Great writing.
Banshees of Inisherin - A man tells another he’d no longer like to be friends. Things escalate incredibly from there. Darkly funny, one of my favourites of the year.
Snowpiercer - Really dark sci fi action, incredibly unsubtle class allegory.
Tangerine - Sean Baker’s (who wrote n directed Anora) first movie. It’s a day in the life of a transgender prostitute trying to find her cheating pimp/bf. It’s heartfelt, wrenching and beautiful in its seedy way. Really good.
Goon - Think Slapshot but in modern times and funnier. “Two rules, stay away from my fuckin’ percocets and do you have any fuckin’ percocets?” “CHOOSE 69, IT’S HILARIOUS!” (I say this every time I’m playing sports and someone has the number 69, which is about 1/3 of the games. Even in adult leagues.)
(I assume if you’re into horror you’ve seen the Babadook and It Follows but if not, damn you are in for a treat!)
Babadook is fantastic.
I watch a lot of horror and it had me on the edge of my seat
Banshees of Inisherin was amazing!
Absolutely! Martin McDonagh is quickly becoming one of my favourite writer/directors.
The vvitch was a pretty decent horror movie. Kind of slow and atmospheric.
Wait, that’s on gem? I need to stop sleeping on this service. That movie is a classic.
For a free service, it’s kind of impressive how much good stuff there is.
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?
Ohhh, good call!
I haven’t watched any movies on GEM yet (my smart tv is too old and doesn’t support it) but scrolling through to see what’s available, it looks like there’s lots of good stuff!
Here’s a few I’ve watched in the past.
- ROOM(based on the book by Emma Donoghue) heart wrenching. Definitely some trigger warnings but very good. Highly recommend the book too
- Snowpiercer (based on a Graphic Novel) post apocalyptic dark and twisty sci-fi. The tv show is better imo, but the movie is still good.
- The Holiday classic early 2000s feel good rom-com
- Atanarjuat: the Fast Runner. The first movie to be completely written, acted, directed in the Inuktitut language, and
- Napoleon Dynamite I think you could call it a cult classic, and definitely hugely influential at the time.
- The Grand Budapest Hotel Wes Anderson, what more need I say.
