It’s Tuesday again, and around here you know what that means. It’s time for Tubi Tuesday, where I browse through Tubi’s massive collection of films to stream and pull out three to recommend watching this week. As is usually the case, this week we have a mix of genres, ensuring that there should be something for almost everyone. Of course, these films are all available to stream for free on Tubi, no expensive subscription required.
This week on Tubi Tuesday, we’ve got an early 2000s Farrelly Brothers comedy starring Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow, a Sci-Fi action drama starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson that’s based on a bestselling book, and finally an early 80s action fantasy starring Ken Marshall.
Shallow Hal
Comedy/Romance • 1h 54m
Hal (Jack Black) is a shallow man who only dates beautiful women, thanks in part to some questionable advice his father gave him on his deathbed. After an encounter with self-help guru Tony Robbins, Hal is hypnotized into seeing people’s inner beauty reflected in their physical appearance. He soon meets Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow), a kind, sweet woman who is obese but whom Hal sees as a beautiful, slim woman. The two begin falling in love, much to the confusion of Hal’s equally shallow friend Mauricio (Jason Alexander), who can’t understand what Hal sees in her.
This is one of those films that many people online today claim has aged poorly and are offended by. I’m not one of those people. The film is absolutely loaded with fat jokes and gags that are “insensitive.” It’s a comedy, and comedies shouldn’t be sensitive. Hal and Mauricio were both shallow characters, and the film early on portrays Hal as a shallow, kind of annoying prick. Guess what? There’s a whole lot of people exactly like that today. And I don’t think having physical preferences when it comes to dating automatically makes someone shallow, either. There’s a difference between not being attracted to somebody and treating them poorly because of their appearance, and yes the Hal we meet pre-hypnosis would have absolutely treated Rosemary poorly based on her looks.
I’ve also seen folks saying that they should have cast a “plus-sized” actress for the role. And my question to the cinema Einsteins is, what would they have done during most of the film where Hal and the audience see Rosemary as thin? It’s easy for Paltrow to put on a fat suit, but an obese actress couldn’t put on a skinny suit.
The film doesn’t portray Hal’s shallowness as a positive trait, in fact it’s just the opposite. I viewed this film the same way back then when I rented it from Movie Gallery as I do now, one that has a well-intentioned meaning. That you should care more about the inner beauty of a person. Some crude jokes don’t take away from the deeper message of the movie.
If you haven’t seen it, I think it’s worth watching, assuming you can handle some “insensitive” comedy.
The Hunger Games
Action/Drama/Sci-Fi • 2h 23m
Based on the bestselling novel by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games takes place in the dystopian nation of Panem, where the wealthy Capitol controls twelve districts. Every year, each district must send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to compete in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death where only one can survive. When her younger sister is selected, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to take her place. Alongside fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), Katniss must use her survival skills and intelligence to stay alive and hopefully return home.
This one makes the list this week for a number of reasons, but the biggest two are that I like the franchise and a new entry is hitting theaters next Friday. If you’ve never seen The Hunger Games, there’s no better place to start than with the first one which is one of the better ones.
I haven’t read the book that the film is based on, so I can’t measure how faithful it is to the book or whether or not the cast fits the characters as portrayed in the book. But as a movie, I think the cast did an excellent job. Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss strikes a fine balance between being likable and a little insufferable at times, but given the world she lives in and the situation she finds herself that’s understandable.
Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks bring some excellent comedy to the film during the part where Katniss and Peeta are arriving in the Capital and preparing for the Hunger Games to begin. Donald Sutherland is also great as President Snow.
The film picks up, of course, once the Hunger Games actually begin, although I never care for alliances in movies that have situations like this. Within the same district I can see, somewhat, but why are there four or five or more people running around in a group together and also sleeping? Hello, it’s a fight to the death where only one person is supposed to be the victor… murder your group while they sleep before they have a chance to betray you and make it easier on yourself (especially when your group is supposed to be the most dangerous, and thus biggest threat to you).
While I won’t be seeing Sunrise on the Reaping in theaters, I will have to give the entire series a rewatch soon starting with this first one. So expect more Hunger Games in the weeks to come.
Krull
Action/Adventure/Fantasy • 2h 1m
Krull is a 1983 science fantasy adventure set on the planet Krull, where an evil creature known as the Beast and his army of Slayers have invaded. Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall) is preparing to marry Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony), uniting their two kingdoms against the invaders, when the Slayers attack the wedding, kill their fathers, and kidnap Lyssa. With the help of a mysterious old man named Ynyr (Freddie Jones), Colwyn sets out on a dangerous journey to rescue his bride and defeat the Beast. But to do so he must first gather an unlikely group of companions and find a legendary weapon called the Glaive, which may be the key to defeating the enemy.
This movie was a box office bomb, for whatever that means to people. I watched it for the first time recently, and I don’t see why it flopped or what problem people had with it. Does it rip off some big sci-fi, fantasy and action films of the late 70s and early 80s? Absolutely, it’s very easy to see the inspiration of Star Wars, any number of sword-and-sorcery films, and even some action sequences from Raiders of the Lost Ark, but for me all of these add to the charm.
Don’t ask me to explain why, because I don’t fully know myself, but for some reason this movie triggered flashbacks to the first time I played Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen on PS3. The two stories are nothing alike of course, and the worlds are completely different, but Krull has that same sense of adventure that Dragon’s Dogma had where you don’t know what to expect around the corner. Come to think of it, I’d like to see some good developer take the Krull setting and give us a Krull video game.
I am unfamiliar with the work of Ken Marshall, but as the star Prince Colwyn I think he did a great job. A likeable character who reminds me a bit of a cross between Ewan McGregor and Chriss Pratt (Obi-Wan and Peter Quill, if you will). The dude seems perfect for this role. I was also unfamiliar with Lysette Anthony, but good lord what a beauty she was. The plot may not make a lot of sense or whatever, but look at Lysette and that’s all the motivation the Prince needs.
The film also features a young Liam Neeson. I say young like he wasn’t in his 30s, but younger than he was of course in his starring roles. He played Kegan, one of the crew that joins Colwyn on his mission to storm the teleporting Fortress, defeat Beast, and reclaim Lyssa.
Krull has a great setting, some memorable characters, and some surprisingly gruesome and violent action scenes. I can’t believe I had never seen this before, because it’s right up my alley of things that I like. And like it I did; actually, I loved it. It’s not the grandest spectacle that has ever been put to film, but it is a highly entertaining fantasy adventure with sword-and-sorcery and science fiction elements that actually feels like an adventure.
If you only see one film from this week’s recommendations, make it Krull if you’ve never seen it before. If you have, watch it again because I probably will soon.
That’s your Tubi Tuesday for this week. Three films, no subscription required, and not one of them is going to lecture you about anything.
Tubi Tuesday runs every week here at Titanquisitor, so check back next Tuesday for three more. In the meantime, if you’ve got a Tubi hidden gem you think deserves a spotlight, let me know in the comments below.
