In Retrospect: X

Still pretty friggin' good!

I feel so justified doing a little marathon this week and watching these movies again! X dude, X. That shit is mm, just right. It's certainly more eye opening and even more appreciated if you watch it after Pearl. So I guess the paralyzingly fierce breakdown smile made Howard stick around for about 60 odd years, and it is so damn interesting to see that shift with these characters go from mostly innocent young lovers torn apart by the Great War to flat out serial killer married couple, it is just wow! Despite the heavy prosthetics used for Pearl and Howard you get a lot of emotion and readable facial acting, and I still fucking stand and applaud the movie Citizen Kane style for just taking the time and humanizing them. It would have been easier done than said to just make them a creepy old murdering odd couple, but we get just a smidge of insight into their lives and relationship and it makes the film a cut above the rest in my opinion. It's shot with love and affection in that 70s style but never loses it's modern cinematography footing, there's some good shots and great use of color from time to time. I am rather curious what the overall visual flair will be for Maxxxine, cause Pearl was Wizard Of Oz as all get out, X had more than a healthy dose of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I have no clue what the overarching homage will be but I'm excited. Hands down best scene of the movie still to this day for me is that brutal first murder, it is gruesomely practical but just the music and the lighting and the dance....whoa man. Not only did it send shivers down my spine in the bestest way possible, but there were tears welling up in my eyes and I cannot explain for the life of me why they did, I had no clue murder could be so beautiful. That's a weird sentence to say but I felt how I felt. It is goddamn art in my opinion from the neck stab to the van engine being shut off. There was a vision to this in all aspects, not to outshine or to reinvent the wheel, but to do it to the best of their ability. You wanna know what the one single friggin' thing I did NOT like about this movie was? I hated the posters and promotional images. Like really? That's all you had for the majority was a still frame of Jenna Ortega mid scream?? It sucks and I never liked it and I saw it way too often. You know an image that might catch my attention? That freaky ass silhouette of Pearl carrying a pitchfork like some wraith-like witch, that is awesome! And I'll level with you right here right now, I forgot what the ending was. I didn't know who was gonna live or die, so I was along for the ride one last time. I know, it's a little obvious but I had a lapse in mental faculties which let's be honest ain't nothing new here! Good times be had, I am never not in the mood to listen to some 70s baby making music, let's flipping do this Friday!