Things I Watched #8

Movies with a * were seen in theaters.

  • Galavant (2015, season 1); first viewing for Thomas & Beau’s 2nd.
  • Hotel Transylvania 3 (2018); second viewing for Thomas & Beau’s first.
  • Sand Sharks (2011); first viewing for Thomas & 3 for Beau.
  • Inkheart (2008); first viewing for Thomas.
  • Klaus (2019); second viewing for Thomas, and first for Beau.
  • The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1966); first for Thomas.
  • Cats (2019)*; first viewing for Thomas and Beau.
  • Bo Burnham’s “what” (2013); first viewing for Thomas.
  • Bo Burnham’s “make happy” (2016); first viewing for Thomas, Beau’s somewhere high number count viewing.
  • The Witcher (2019); all of season one, first viewing for Beau and Thomas.
  • Mary and the Witch’s Flower (2017); first viewing for Beau and 2nd for Thomas.
  • I, Frankenstein (2014); first viewing for Beau, and 4th for Thomas.
  • Velvet Buzzsaw (2019); first viewing for Beau, and 3rd for Thomas.

Hey and welcome to another ‘Things I Watched’ post. We have done 8 of these so far and isn’t that kind of wild? Me (Thomas) & Beau watch so many movies together and also apart. I am writing the reviews today for this post. Klaus is a big emotional journey of a movie for me, Velvet Buzzsaw is silly good. It does not deserve to be as much fun as it is. Finally, we round out the written reviews with the first season of Galavant which Beau has seen and turned me onto, so it comes with all of our thumbs up in the fun department.

As always, and before getting into the recommendations. At the end of each blurb there is a link to the website Does the Dog Die? which can be used to search for triggering content in movies. Highly recommend this website and answering questions for movies that you have seen to help others.

I have included YouTube videos that are related to each in this post to mix things up a little bit. I hope you enjoy these movies half as much as I do! Because then you’ll end up falling in love with them.

Klaus (2019); What can I say about Klaus? Would me saying that it is a touching Christmas movie that gives me renewed hope for animated Christmas movies mean anything? Well it is that and more. It’s a charming movie about a postal worker who solves a remote towns blood feud (Hatfields & McCoys style) through the power of presents for depressed children. The movie is touching. The titular Santa Klaus is played by J.K. Simmons if you are looking for a fun voice actors involvement. The movies attention to environmental detail reminds me of the colorful palettes of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009). Blending together 2D with shading techniques so well that I was tricked into believing it was the best 3D animated movie I had ever seen. Overall, this movie is gorgeous and uses 2D animation in a way that will hopefully catch on and is now one of my must watch holiday movies. Check it out over on Netflix! Does the Dog Die.

Behind the scenes video on how Klaus was animated. As I (Thomas) am a Game Art & Animation student this type of tech is inspiring.

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019); Velvet Buzzsaw is a ridiculous horror movie that is a delight to watch. It has both goofy and weird kills, where monkeys pull people into paintings, and graffiti crawls up someone’s skin until it goes into their mouth to suffocate them. It stars a bisexual (?) Jake Gyllenhaal as an art critic. He is extremely over the top and everything in this movie, consistently just lounging around nude while doing research on artists and struggling to maintain his latest relationship as she becomes a rising star for her artistic find. But what she (the woman who found the art that is by a guy who she saw die) doesn’t know is that the art is cursed! It kills all who attempt to profit off of it! Velvet Buzzsaw is a ridiculous movie that is only available on Netflix. If you want a goofy horror movie that is very re-watchable, this movie is worth the 113 minutes. Does the Dog Die.

Official Trailer for Velvet Buzzsaw on Netflix.

Galavant (season 1); This is the singing King Arthur TV show that was cancelled too soon. There are two seasons of it, but if you just want to have a fun romp this is where it is at. Watch Galavant singing through his quest to win back his girl from a peppy and rich Timothy Omundson as King Richard. Galavant wants his happily ever after. King Richard during this season meanwhile is just trying to win over his new queen Madalena by taking on love and confidence tips from his burly hitman murder henchman Gareth. The episodes aren’t long at 22 minutes apiece and the show is very lighthearted. If you don’t like silly musical conversations then this one isn’t for you. If you like silly musicals, fantasy, and need something that isn’t screaming about how intense it is then join me (Thomas) as being a big fan of the amazing Galavant. Does the Dog Die.