AG’s Quarantine Survival Guide: Movies

This stay at home thing still sucks. Even with some TV show recommendations, let’s be honest we are are all so, so bored. No bars, no in person hangouts, no sports, and now there are rumors of a shortened NFL season!

But don’t worry, AG has still got you covered to appease that boredom, at least temporarily. Each staff member will be giving you their personal recommendations on various activities to help you get through this whole social distancing thing. We highly encourage y’all to share your picks in the comments below, as well.

Next up it’s movies. With the presence of online streaming the options seem endless, but with that comes the catch-22 of finding something actually good. So, gals and guys…what have you been watching?

MITKO:

So to keep you all going, I’ll give you a trilogy of movies to watch. We’ll take a break from the zombies and instead move on to kandarian demons that possess the living. (Hey, its technically not Zombies alright?) The Evil Dead movies were directed by Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell. The classic cabin in the woods movie, “Evil Dead” (Also check out Cabin in the Woods, speaking of those) was scary originally, but with its use of claymation doesn’t hold up as much on the horror factor. Instead of running from this, Raimi and Campbell embraced it adding more comedy into “Evil Dead 2,” and then going full Three Stooges slapstick in “Army of Darkness”, which was originally supposed to called ” Medevil Dead”. After you get done watching those, there is also a Stars series (now on Netflix) to continue on with. Enjoy.

TA2TONY:

Pretty easy decision here. You should watch The Big Lebowski. It is my all time favorite movie, and for as much as I love movies that is not an easy thing to do…pick a clear cut number one. I have no idea how many times I’ve seen this movie, nor do I care. I will continue to watch it because it is a masterpiece. And in times like these sometimes you just need a good ole injection of The Dude in your life.

As a runner up, for those still going to work, I suggest Office Space to cheer you up every time you hear a coworker do something annoying such as utter an overused office cliche.

BRAG:

The Wild Geese: 1978 Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore.

Loosely based on The March of the 10,000 (See also: The Warriors (1979)), this one follows a mercenary commander (Burton) and his lieutenants (Harris, Moore) as they go from agreeing to a contract, to recruitment and training, to the mission itself.

As with the story from ancient Greece, treachery strands them in hostile territory and they have to fight their way out to safety. Harsh and brutal, and yet with some surprisingly touching moments and some outright tragedy mixed in for good measure.

(Full movie can be searched for on YT)

Kelly’s Heroes : 1970 Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O’Connor, Donald Sutherland, Gavin MacLeod, Harry Dean Stanton.

Falling somewhere between dark comedy and satire, the plot revolves around the heist of stealing a Nazi gold stockpile. It captures the blatant absurdities that become normality in wartime quite well by packing this little gem chock-full of them and exaggerating atop that. Attempting to explain this one’s futile, just go watch it.

(Availability for free unknown)

The Lost Battalion: 2001 Ricky Schroder

One of the better “based on a true story” movies out there, this follows Maj. Charles Whittlesey and the battalion he commanded when the rest of the offensive retreated and he held firm to not retreating without orders, as ordered and reinforced by the blatant contempt that professional officers held for the “lawyer in a uniform”. Trapped in a salient pocket they hold on through attacks by the Germans and shelling by their own artillery, this is the battle that made the carrier pigeon Cher Ami a legend.

(Full movie can be searched for on YT)

TONY:

If you read my Friday Night at the Movies post a while back, you know I love Napoleon Dynamite. It has such a high rewatch value that, even though I’ve seen it a million times, I still laughed when I went through it to make that post.

There’s so much meat that I couldn’t fit it into that one article, so here’s another thing that a lot of people didn’t notice. At the beginning of the movie Napoleon asks his grandma what’s for dinner, and she angrily tells him to make himself something, right before she pulls out a dish she made for the pet llama. As if it was sad enough that he’s being raised by his grandma (implying something happened to his parents), his grandma cares more about a llama than she does about him.

CHRIS:

Enemy at The Gates: Yes, it’s not an accurate movie by historical standards, but it is good in my opinion. I enjoy the “weather” in the movie, how it is always cold and dreary, much as I would expect the Battle of Stalingrad to have been. It is one of those ones if I am flipping through the channels, which I hardly do anymore as my TV is practically always off, I will watch it. That being said I haven’t watched it in maybe 2 years.

Lonesome Dove: This is a saga, but all 4 episodes are worth it 100% This is my all-time favorite Western, edging out The Outlaw Josey Wales, Cattle Drive, and Red River.

Von Ryan’s Express: Also a book, the movie stars Frank Sinatra, where he does not sing one song. A group of allied POWs break free from an Italian POW camp, get recaptured by the Germans, then take over the prison train they are put on. The book is good, but I think the movie is better.

The Duellists: This 1977 movie stars Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine as two opposing French officers in the age of Napoleon. They fight a series of duels, and I’ll leave it at that as to not ruin the movie. The period clothing, gear, and style of fighting is what makes this movie so great to me. Not to mention I also took fencing lessons for a few years, this movie is one of my all time favorites that I watch a couple times a year.

Let’s go to the Winchester and wait for this to all blow over

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