Weekly Recap #2: Hand sanitizer, memes, and crying in a movie theater

Hello and welcome to another week of my movie adventure. I had a couple of rants this time, so buckle up.

#7 Hope Springs Eternal

This movie was under the "Critically Acclaimed" tab. How it got there? I'll never know.

I was so taken aback about how strange this movie was, that I took notes while I watched. Here they are:

This movie takes place in a high school, which is normal enough, but each scene in said high school has no more than 5 kids in the background. Even during lunch scenes, the cafeteria was almost completely empty.
One of my biggest pet peeves in teen movies are when the characters are dressed in clearly what a 40-year-old thinks teens wear. How many juniors in high school wear a formal vest over their t-shirt?
The main character's boyfriend is from Australia, which is something they don't want you to forget. In one scene, the Aussie boyfriend stormed off after being upset about whatever and when he turned around he had a boomerang strapped to his backpack, I shit you not.
My favorite line in this movie is "you gotta sanitize if you wanna fraternize!"
The main character is bad at school because she's missed a lot on account of her having cancer. Now that she's in remission, she has to study up so she'll be able to get into college. I guess she took too long to study, so she got to class like 20 minutes late. Then she had the audacity to demand that she be allowed take the test. When the teacher said no, she insisted that she take it by writing "everything she knew" on the chalkboard... in front of the whole class. THEN THE TEACHER JUST LET HER. Why would you just shrug when a student insists on writing the answers to your test on the board, in front of everybody else who's taking the test? What the hell is this movie?
There's this scene that I'm guessing is the climax of the movie, that takes place at a house party. The party was first meant to celebrate the main character dying, but when they found out she wasn't dying, they made it a cupcake party (I swear this movie is real). Anyways, there's this weird two minute scene where girls at the party just sing along to a song in front of everyone. There's no explanation given for this.
So, I just finished the movie and the girls in the party are singers I guess? The credits are basically a music video for their song.

I cannot stress enough how strange this movie is. If you don't believe me, head over to Netflix and try it out for yourself.

#8 The American Meme

I first want to apologize for how long this post is, but hang in there -- it's about to get longer.

Some of you may know that my day job is as a Content Specialist. Basically, I make social media posts for small businesses. Before I got into this line of work, I understood the disdain for social media, and to some degree, I agreed with it. However, I'm tired of hearing about it every damn day. I know hashtags and trends seem stupid to the everyday user, but to the businesses I work for, it's not just posting pictures of yourself, then food, then yourself again -- it's a livelihood.

The energy that people use to hate social media could be used for so much more positive things. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and whatever else people use are not going anywhere -- so let's stop talking about how toxic it is and start actively using it for good.

#9 Beatriz at Dinner

I usually read about movies after I watch them for behind-the-scenes info. I read that the director was told to cast a big name for one of the white characters, or else he would have a hard time selling his movie. Mind you, he already cast Salma Hayek as the lead.. Imagine having Salma Hayek, an Academy Award nominated actress cast as the lead, and still being told it would be hard to sell your movie. And we all know why people told him that.

#10 Beautiful Boy

Great acting and an amazing character study -- my favorite genre.

#11 Hell Fest

I'm mad at everybody who told me this movie was good.

#12 What They Had

I'm so glad I got to see this movie. It's a hidden gem for sure.

#13 If Beale Street Could Talk

This is the first movie in a while that made me cry in the theater. It was genuinely moving. I love Barry Jenkin's style. I can't wait to see what else he does.

Thanks for sticking around another week! See y'all next Sunday.