What Movie Should I Make My Partner Watch?
My partner and I have decided to trade movies every Tuesday in order to make the other watch something they normally wouldn’t. I think it’s some sort of kinky permission game she came up with to provide a constantly shifting power dynamic in our relationship, but the verdict is still out on that.
Last week, she got me to watch Yul Brynner abs in the classic musical, The King and I. I hadn’t seen this thing since the first 30 minutes in music class in 1990. All I could remember from it was Ramses yelling at a white woman about Moses which was a fun piece of trivia for a 9 year old. The film itself is still quite a lavish spectacle even when viewed from the future. I live-streamed the whole thing and had this to say about the rendition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin at the end of the film:
It’s quite a hodgepodge to me who is no scholar. Felt like Thai flavored Japanese Kabuki theatre with an English vocal chorus doing gospel call and response … As delivered by a Puerto Rican actress playing a Burmese slave wife in a movie released in 1955 set in 1862…the shit is boffo is what I’m saying
So the King and I.. it was fine. Walk don’t run unless you really like musicals where rather than singing and dancing along when someone sings, everyone just watches a person bear their souls for the duration of the number. As a singer I’m used to it, but I’m typically on stage, not in a school teachers bedroom.
I’ve now received the threat that next week I WILL be watching another musical. I do my best to enjoy film musicals, but it’s only happened with Chicago which deserved every Oscar it got. Beyond that, I don’t really even enjoy Disney musicals. My partner knows this, so make no mistake, a promise for another Hollywood musical is absolutely a threat. At least it’s my turn now, but I don’t know what to do. I want to pick something she’ll enjoy, but something that’s a dark horse – a film that I love that she thinks she’ll hate but ends up being completely in love with to by the end.
She’s not a big action movie fan, but 2 years ago I vowed to have her watch Fast and Furious 5 – 8 so we could get ready for 9. We did Fast Five but she barely remembers it at all! It’s like she doesn’t understand the power of FAMILY! So with F9 on the back burner and me in the driver’s seat (ZING!) I have the time to bring her into the franchise with a blitz of sheer bi-weekly action.
My other alternative ideas are Fired Up and Barry Gordy’s: The Last Dragon. Fired up is a raunchy comedy about 2 football players that lie their way into cheerleader camp so they can get with all the cheerleaders while they’re there. Of course they succeed, but not before learning the meaning of teamwork. The Last Dragon is a cult black martial arts film about a kid nick named Bruce LeRoy that has to save his neighborhood from the machinations of an unscrupulous music producer and a triple OG thug called THE SHOGUN OF HARLEM… and I have to spell it that way or he’ll kick my door down and ninja the shit out of me.
So what should I make this non action watching woman watch? It’s a tough decision, but if I pick any of these movies I know that I’ll have fun. I’d better… because I‘m not sure how much I’ll like a Sweeney Todd film next week. Here’s a poll on twitter if you want to help our or just bug me in the comments.
https://twitter.com/MikeDynamo/status/1260144186096943104
Till then, remember, when I say “Who’s the baddest, you say Sho…nuff… et cetera et cetera, et cetera… ”
Bikinis and Pancakes 