Catching Up.

Despite a hiatus where the internet in my apartment was out and I went away on vacation, I watched (over the last week and a half) Hail, Caesar! (2016) and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016).

Hail, Caesar! was able to get a good Rotten Tomatoes score (as noted on the packaging for the Blu-Ray) but the judgments of critics were that it was a nice movie but that it should be remembered as one of the lesser Cohen Brothers movies. As a fan of older movies from the studio system, and an even bigger fan of the stories that came out of the production of those movies and in the studios.

Hail, Caesar! is just a fun dark comedy that happens to have some pretty impressive musical numbers mixed in as scenes from fictional movies. The tap dance routine with Channing Tatum and the synchronized swim routine with Scarlett Johansson were both favorites in our household and rewatched on their own later.

On a recent vacation my wife bought the book Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was based on and she really enjoyed what she read. She was a little confused by the trailer before watching because it didn't seem like a movie of the same tone as the book because it seemed to highlight wacky jokes. That is not what the movie was, and it was pretty edgy, insightful, and dramatic.

I think Whiskey failed in its marking from the start by naming itself in the way it did. It's not witty or creative to try to pull one over on weak stomachs by using military lettering jargon and it's not a new concept. It's a movie that's fast and loose with cursing and is well done in that aspect, and even comments on the vulgarity so it deserves a more witty name. Hell, they could have stolen the almost replacement name of another film thought to have suffered from bad marketing in its name in a comment on the never-ending wars in Afghanistan. Live. Die. Repeat.

Both movies are good watches to make for a nice date night at home. Stop by Red Box for one or both of these movies, get yourself some instant popcorn, garlic salt, parmesan cheese, black pepper, and green Tabasco hot sauce and enjoy your evening on the couch.