PONDERING ’80s PANTERA AND DONNIE DARKO

I’m socially retarded when it comes to film. Ask Axl. I’ll be at a social gathering and people will be laughing at some funny line in a legendary movie and I’ll just have no idea what’s going on and look around awkwardly. When I admit that I haven’t seen said movie people just stare at me in shock. It’s actually a pretty fun game to play (for everyone but me); ask Vince if he’s seen any particular very famous movie from the past 30 years, and 9 times out of 10 the answer is going to be “no.” If I were to make a list of movies people told me “oh my God, you HAVE to see this!” I’d have to lock myself in the Mansion for several months in a row. It’s not that I don’t like movies; I guess I just always chose to fill my time with other things [metal, baseball].

Fortunately MetalGF is in the same boat as me — though admittedly to not as severe a degree — so it works out well when we want to get a movie from Netflix to scratch off the list. The latest was Donnie Darko, a film lots of folks has said is an absolute must-see. It was enjoyable. I might use the words “pretty good” (not in a Larry David way) to describe it. As a fan of L O S T, I found the time-travel theoretical element particularly interesting. But neither MetalGF or I really saw what the big fuss is about. Definitely not a movie I’d say “OMG!!! See this movie right away!!!” as opposed to how I felt after… let’s say The Wrestler.

What do you guys all think about Donnie Darko? What am I missing? Enjoy the glam-era Pantera track “Proud to be Loud” from the film’s soundtrack as you ponder.

-VN