Movietime: The World's End and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
It’s surprising I hadn’t seen the complete Cornetto-Trilogy up until this week. Edgar Wright made some of my favorite movies, namely Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim. I never got into Shaun of the Dead – don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine enough movie, but it didn’t stick with me. This is why I was a bit reserved about watching The World’s End. Luckily, that was unfounded, as the movie is very enjoyable, even if it isn’t my favorite of the bunch.
I found parts of it to resonate quite heavily with me. Getting older brought this remorseful view of my youth with it, that this movie expertly taps into. It deals with emotional and drug abuse quite well without making it the fingerwaving focus of the entire story. A lot of things are left unsaid and only subtly hinted at. Other things are powerfully conveyed in well written dialogue. It goes to show that a silly movie can be poignant, can have something to say. So many comedies fall flat because the writers completely forgot about that.
Since I’m thinking about the topic of drug abuse, I have also watched Fear and loathing in Las Vegas for the first time. Movies that put drugs so front and center never gel well with me on a narrative level and I felt disgusted all the way through. But there were silver linings: the dialogue can be surprisingly witty and the movie does a lot in terms of visuals. This one did not resonate with me, but I am still glad to have watched it.
While both movies are flawed in their own right, they were at least interesting experiences. Lately, I’ve been getting into movies more again, also thanks to letterboxd. My reviews there a way shorter than this one, since I normally write them right away, but you can still follow me on there, if that’s a thing you enjoy doing.