The Double Feature Weekly Wrap-Up, 6/17/12

Over the last weeks while watching my movie-of-the-day I've often found myself thinking "Wow, this would be a great double feature with _____". This thought was especially brought into focus when I happened to watch The Fog of War back to back with Dr. Strangelove - two films that very eerily went together. I started thinking about starting a double-feature post of the week here to pair up whatever movies I'd seen that week with a second film similar in plot, tone, style or substance to another I'd seen in the past. Think of it as you would the Netflix "if you liked this you might like...." suggestion feature. The idea stuck, and so I present to you the From The Rental Queue Double Feature Weekly Wrap-Up!

Here are my self-imposed rules.

1. No pairing of sequels. Obvious Watching Iron Man 2 with Iron Man would  be a good double feature, but that's so obvious I don't think it should count. Same with pairing it with another film in the Avengers series.
2. No pairing remakes with originals. Yes, it's tempting to pair the new Arthur with the original, but again that's too obvious.
3. No pairings with the same director or lead actor unless a REALLY persuasive case can be made.

So, without further ado, here's my double-feature pairings for the week:

• Martha Marcy May Marlene - MMMM is a story that centers around a young woman who has escaped from a cult and the psychological turmoil that follows it. Oddly the movie that stuck out to me as a good companion feature is Shame , the story of a young man searching for himself. The similarity is tonal rather than thematic - both movies leave you with a feeling of living in a dream, of struggling away from an internal abyss.
  Alternate feature - Winter's Bone
• The Fog of War and Dr. Strangelove - I watched these two movies back to back and they are honestly a perfect double feature. The Fog of War discusses the reality of a nuclear war and Dr. Strangelove is the farcical relief. As a bonus the Dr. Strangelove DVD even had an interview with Robert McNamara - awesome!
• Chronicle - A found-footage film of three teenagers who develop superpowers and the hell those powers wreak on their lives. I think Trollhunter, another found-footage film of three teenagers discovering that trolls really do exist is the perfect companion to this - I love them both. 
• Arthur - The classic story of an alcoholic rich boy forced to choose between love and money retold with Russell Brand. As tempting as it would be to pair it with the original, I'm going to go with Everything Must Go, the story of an alcoholic man forced to reevaluate his life after losing his job and wife in one day. Watch Everything Must Go first - it's better and will put you in a better position to accept the actions of Arthur. 
• Shallow Grave - The darkly comedic story of three young people in Scotland, a lot of money, and a dead body. Pair this with Fargo, a dark comedy of a very similar vein and you can't go wrong. 
• The High Cost of Living - A film about two lives intersecting after a tragic accident wonderful acted by the two leads. The whole time I was watching it I told about Another Earth, a similar story with a sci-fi twist. 
• A Little Bit of Heaven - There are two ways to go with this one. If you want to stick with the main character struggling with a terminal cancer diagnosis, go with 50/50. If you want to go with the romantic drama part about a man watching his significant other struggle with illness, watch Love and Other Drugs. But, since A Little Bit of Heaven kind of stank and both 50/50 and Love and Other Drugs were awesome, I'd just watch those two and forget Heaven - you'll be happier.

So there you go, my double feature recommendations for the week. Let me know if you like these kind of posts and I'll keep them up or think of new things to try. Thanks for reading!