New Year Round-Up: Being the Ricardos, The Matrix Resurrections, Don't Look Up, Nightmare Alley

The New Year is approaching and if you want to spend the weekend watching movies, I've got a slew of reviews for you that span genres, time periods, and all levels of absurdity. Strap in, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Being the Ricardos: As someone who grew up adoring I Love Lucy, I have very mixed feelings about this movie. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, it is definitely very Sorkinian with the dialogue and the finale flourish that was laughably over-the-top. There's a whole bit about how to interpret "cut the flowers" that is played to death and feels like something right out of The West Wing. But thankfully, this is a story about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and here, they are played by Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem. I'll confess, I was not fully on board with this casting at the beginning, but by the end, the chemistry between these two actors won me over. While the opening scenes felt like they were trying really hard to push the volatility and tempestuous romance between these two, the film gradually gave their relationship room to breathe and made it much clearer what drew these two people together and ultimately pushed them apart.

The Kidman performance is OK. I'm still not a huge fan of her American accent, and her attempting to do a Lucille Ball accent on top of that sometimes dives into caricature. However, there are moments in the movie where they recreate classic I Love Lucy episodes, and my God. In black and white, you can see how accurately the hair and makeup folk have transformed Kidman to look like Lucy, and she perfectly captures those facial expressions and physical comedy routines. When she was crushing grapes, I had to remind myself that that was actually Kidman on screen. On the other hand, while I did not think Bardem looked anything like Desi Arnaz, he absolutely sold me on his magnetic personality. The scene where he is singing Babalu in a night club and banging that drum was all I needed to buy this performance hook, line, and sinker. And the supporting performances from Nina Arianda and J.K. Simmons, who play Vivian Vance and William Frawley, are spot on, capturing some intriguing behind-the-scenes drama that I would almost prefer to be the focus of the film.

So overall, it's a mixed bag. Good performances and excellent attention to detail in terms of costumes, production design, hair, and makeup. The script is peak Sorkin, but it avoids the pitfalls of a birth-to-death biopic by taking place during one eventful week when Ball was accused of being a communist and had to deal with managing that while also filming the show. You get a lot of insight into how the show was run (with the wonderful Alia Shawkat playing Madelyn Pugh, a female writer on the show who I would have LOVED to know more about), and flashbacks into the Ricardos' romance. It's all told very effectively, albeit without much nuance. There are flashes of brilliance throughout this film, but overall, it's a fairly middle-of-the-road offering that will be of especial interest to Lucy fans or anyone who enjoys learning more about classic TV and this time period. It's light entertainment and perfect for a quick weekend watch.

The Matrix Resurrections: Do you love The Matrix and then don't care that much about the sequels? Well, this is the movie for all of us who feel that way. Director and co-writer Lana Wachowski has honed in on everything we loved so much about that original 1999 film, but updates it for everything we have learned in a post-Matrix society. It is such a meta, self-referential, twisty, Mobius-strip-like piece of art, and all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride from start to finish. 

The movie kicks off twenty years after the original, with the premise that Neo (Keanu Reeves) is back in a new version of the Matrix, with his memories suppressed by the machines, taking blue pills to keep him compliant. However, he still has faint recollections of his past, and as a successful video game designer, he has created a game called The Matrix, with characters that recall Morpheus, Trinity, and all the rest. As the movie begins, a new band of outlaws are trying to extract Neo and red pill him back into consciousness, and the movie almost feels like a shot-for-shot remake of the first film. It's all very glorious and fun, but then the action kicks into high gear and we start getting into multiple layers of Matrix-y machinations.

This movie captures all that existential angst of the original, with some added political commentary about the nature of "facts" and how people choose to believe in their own reality or cannot handle breaking out of their bubbles. The addition of Neil Patrick Harris as Neo's therapist and Jonathan Groff as Neo's business partner allows for some fun dynamics (and perhaps some questionable commentary on the point of therapy), and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II reliably crushes it as the new Morpheus who is always dressed to kill. Jessica Henwick is an excellent new cast member as Bugs, the woman who helps lead the charge to free Neo and throughout the film, you'll enjoy cameos from folks from the sequels (yes, sadly you do need to watch the entire trilogy to get yourself properly situated in this movie). There are numerous flashbacks to the prior movies and overall, it is such a loving homage to the trilogy's past while also successfully bringing this story into the 21st century. I wanted more Carrie-Ann Moss, and by golly, I got it in the third act, which became an absolute Trinity-fest. So consider this fan fully serviced. This movie may not satisfy everyone, but if you're looking for a Matrix sequel that makes the ethos of the original feel contemporary and fresh, this resurrection is what you seek. 

Don't Look Up: Much like Aaron Sorkin, Adam McKay is a filmmaker with a very distinctive style. And over time, that style has become one that I have grown to dislike. As such, this film is one that I cannot really recommend, although it does boast an incredible cast and contains a lot of promising elements that could have been excellent in the hands of a different director.

The premise is that a comet is going to hit Earth in six months and wipe out all of human existence. The astronomers who discover this (played by Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio) try to alert the American President (Meryl Streep), who is not thrilled about the timing of this discovery as the midterms are approaching and her party will lose power if they bum everyone out with this apocalyptic news. Therefore, the astronomers consult newspaper reporters and go on a morning talk show (co-hosted by Tyler Perry and a thoroughly unrecognizable Cate Blanchett) to try and get the word out via the media. However, they lack "media training" and in the segment before them, a pop star (played by a cleverly cast Ariana Grande) gets engaged to her on-again-off-again boyfriend, which the public is much more excited about than two boring scientists talking about the end of the world.

This is a movie about how the world lacks any kind of attention span particularly when it comes to scientists and their doomsday predictions. It reflects our decades-long apathy and inability to deal with all the revelations about climate change and how we are destroying our planet, or even our more recent inability to pay attention to public health experts with every new Covid variant. It's a depressing look at the way that politics, media, and science intersect, and all the barriers to getting life-saving and planet-saving information across. It's an important story, and in the hands of a different filmmaker, it could be impactfully and masterfully told. But in McKay's hands, there's a lot of smarm, corny dialogue, and supercilious posturing that makes me question, who is the audience for this? He makes movies that mock conservative right-wing people, so only liberals will watch them. But if you're a liberal, you already know all this information and what he's trying to sell you. So he'll selling a message to people who already know it, and frankly, he's not selling it any way that feels more sophisticated than a Funny or Die sketch. 

As far as I'm concerned, the true star of this film is Francine Maisler, the casting director, because she has found exactly the right actors for all these parts, either leaning into their public image, or cleverly subverting it to give you a quick giggle. But the overall plot and dialogue leaves much to be desired. Watch this movie if you want to be angry with humans and feel like we're all just screwed. But I'll bet you already feel that way, so why bother? 

Nightmare Alley: Directed by Guillermo del Toro, who co-wrote it with his wife Kim Morgan, this is exactly what you would expect from a del Toro movie. Based on a novel by William Lindsay Gresham that was previously adapted in 1947 as a film noir, this is a sumptuous work of art with a great deal of symbolism and intricate production design imbued into every frame. It looks gothic and spooky, shadowy and vivid, and an all-star cast consisting of people like Bradley Cooper, Toni Collette, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Richard Jenkins, Willem Dafoe, and more ensures that you're treated to many compelling performances. 

Set in the 1940s, this is the story of a man named Stanton "Stan" Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) who takes a job as a carny with a traveling carnival. Initially he is a man of few words, just soaking up this new world and getting to know all the other carnies and their acts. However, as he learns more about these different sideshow performers, he starts to harbor ambitions of developing his own act as a mentalist. The film follows the progress of his growing ambitions, and the greed that leads him into increasingly dangerous territory. While the script mostly telegraphs everything that happens and contains a lot of tropes (when someone flips over a tarot card in a movie like this, isn't it always going to be The Hanged Man?) it is still a fun ride and never dull. While it could have done with some judicious editing, this is an entertaining movie that has a lot to say about the cyclical nature of human existence and how our past always comes back to haunt us.

I recommend the film, but after you watch it, I highly recommend listening to this episode of WTF with Marc Maron where he interviews del Toro and discusses this film in spoilerific detail. It offers an excellent insight into del Toro's process as a filmmaker and precisely what he thought about this story and the visual aspects he wanted to bring out in its telling. When del Toro goes, "I subscribe to incompetence and greed being the forces that run this world," I chuckled and knew that this is why I enjoy watching this man's films. They may be low on subtlety but they sure as hell make up for it with visual panache and an ability to find the humanity in monsters and the monsters in humanity.

December TV Watch: The Sex Lives of College Girls, Landscapers, Hawkeye

Looking for a TV show to watch this week? Well, look no further. Whether you want an American college comedy, British drama, or a Marvel superhero series, there’s something for everyone.

The Sex Lives of College Girls: This is one of the best shows I watched this year. HBO would drop a couple of episodes every Thursday and I looked forward to them like it was Christmas morning. Created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, the show follows four young women (played by the amazing quartet of Pauline Chalamet (yes, she's Timothy's sister), Amrit Kaur, Alyah Chanelle Scott, and Renée Rapp) as they navigate their first year of college. I’ll confess, as someone who went to a women’s college and never left campus to attend a single frat party, there wasn’t a lot I could relate to in terms of this particular college experience. But setting aside all the raunchy bits that the title of the show promises, I could 100% relate to the premise of young women becoming fast friends and leaning on each other in times of trouble. This show is an embodiment of my personal motto of hos before bros and I was here for it through all ten episodes. 

Like with any Mindy Kaling show, there is oodles of plot and each one of these women is navigating some sort of intense personal crisis that is at times profound and then silly in equal measure. I don’t want to give away a single detail because the show is paced beautifully and keeps the cliffhangers coming as it doles out the twists and turns - honestly, you are SO lucky that all ten episodes are out now so you can just binge it all in one sitting rather than having to wait for each morsel like I had to. The four leads are superb and charismatic, and I would find a new reason to relate to each one of them in every episode (though we can all probably agree that I am mostly a Kimberly). The writing is whip-smart and so, so funny. One of my all-time favorite exchanges was when one of the girls is trying to think of a birthday present for a guy and suggests a journal. This suggestion is derisively shot down with the following, "A journal?! Hot guys don't write journals. They just let their thoughts fade away. That's what makes them hot." If you LOL'd while reading that, then head on over to HBO Max and start bingeing. 

Landscapers: This is a weird and moving four-part miniseries about the true story of David and Susan Edwards, a British couple that were convicted of murdering Susan’s parents and burying them in the garden. They were only caught fifteen years later in 2013 and despite their conviction, they still maintain their innocence, claiming it was manslaughter and not murder. Written by Ed Sinclair and starring the powerhouse actors Olivia Colman (Sinclair's real-life wife, a fun trivia tidbit!) and David Thewlis, this show takes an empathetic look at this mysterious couple and how they ended up in prison.

The show makes many whimsical storytelling flourishes, based on the fact that the Edwards' were big fans of classic cinema. In one episode, their romance is portrayed as a French new wave film that Truffaut would have been proud of; in another, the events of the killing play out like an old Western. Because we already know what the law and society decided about this couple, this is a story that is solely interested in what the couple themselves might have been thinking and the life experiences that could have let them to this horrible crime. With Colman’s eyes perpetually brimming, you’d be hard-pressed to not fall for the hapless Susan and understand her side of the wretched story. Ultimately, this is a character study about a truly bizarre story. It’s an interesting and compelling way to spend four hours and you will certainly have some conflicted feelings when you’re done.

Hawkeye: The most exciting thing about this show is that it is set in New York at Christmas time. So you should watch it for that reason alone. But fine, if New York and Christmas aren’t your two most favorite things in the world, I suppose you can also watch it because it’s a Marvel TV show and it’s quippy and fun with some great action sequences and the introduction of Kate Bishop (played by the great Hailee Steinfeld) to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kate is an expert archer and mixed martial artist, so she’s the natural protégé to the weathered Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) who just wants to get home to his family. And oh, if you did not watch Black Widow, you might want to get on that, because a character shows up halfway through that you may otherwise not recognize.

The show is a lot of fun, with some great Marvel gags involving a terrible Avengers musical that is playing on Broadway and Kate lamenting Hawkeye’s very poor brand recognition (as they walk through Times Square, she thinks she spots someone cosplaying as him only to have him wryly correct her that that’s Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games). There’s action galore, twists and turns, and many villains and side characters to contend with, including Marvel's first Deaf lead character, Echo (played to perfection by Alaqua Cox, who is about to embark on her own spinoff series). This show takes one of the most boring Avengers and makes him fun again, which is a service to us all. And at a crisp six episodes, it doesn’t require a massive time commitment. It’s quick and easy, delivers just enough plot and action to keep you satisfied, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. And the season finale is an absolute showstopper. I was fairly ambivalent about this series until I got to that final episode and it was like someone went hey, what would a peak Christmassy New York episode look like? The action set pieces are wild, the jokes are thick and fast, and the post-credits scene is a joy. So check it out and give it a quick binge. As Steve Rogers would say, "I could do this all daaaaaay." 

Spider-Man: No Way Home: A Raucous Joy

I know the omicron variant is spreading through the world and the last thing I should be advocating for is that people pack themselves into a crowded movie theatre to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home. But man. That is how I watched this movie, and I regret nothing. No other movie I have watched this year has been more of a boisterous crowd pleaser with a ton of surprises all the way into the third act that kept us endlessly cheering. In fact, I might need to re-watch this movie at home when we're all in lockdown again because I missed so much dialogue when the crowd was whooping away. 

The movie picks up right after the last one where Peter Parker's identity as Spider-Man has been broadcast to the whole world. So naturally, Peter and his friends are thrown into a bit of turmoil. Spider-Man is having a PR crisis, and Peter and his associates face a barrage of abuse - apparently no one in NYC believes he is their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man; instead, they think he destroys everything he touches. In a fit of despair, Peter visits Dr. Strange to see if he can cast a spell to turn back time. Obviously Strange puts the kibosh on that (can't mess with the space-time continuum dontcha know!) but they hit upon a loophole where he could just make the world forget they know Spider-Man's identity. Unfortunately, magic is a tricky thing, and he ends up causing various rifts in the multiverse that lead to people who knew Peter in other universes now showing up in this one.

What this means is that this movie is a string of cameos of villains from every iteration of Spider-Man you've seen before. There have been so many Spider-Man reboots in my lifetime, and it is has become quite the running gag about how Hollywood keeps restarting this franchise, but in a bizarre way, it feels like all those reboots were part of a cosmic plan to eventually give us this movie where all the universes unite and Tom Holland has to fight two decades' worth of villains. It's such amazing fan service, but also hilariously well-written and plotted (this script is written by Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna, and I just discovered McKenna wrote the best episode of Community, Remedial Chaos Theory...which makes a lot of sense). I've never rewatched any of the Spider-Man movies and I'm sure there are a lot of references and nuances I missed, but who cares? I was still ready to cheer with the rest of the crowd when another surprise guest would pop in from some other universe and cause some mayhem.

I'm deliberately not spoiling the best part of this film; you'll have to discover that for yourself. But in general, this movie is firing on all cylinders. Tom Holland continues to be a fabulous Spider-Man who can worry in one scene about how to save the world and then in another scene be preoccupied about his MIT college applications. Zendaya and Jacob Batalon are reliably wonderful as MJ and Ned, his girlfriend and best friend who will help him sort out this mess, while Marisa Tomei gets a LOT to do as his stalwart Aunt May. And all the surprise guest appearances are pitch perfect, a plethora of actors who are simply happy to be a part of the Marvel juggernaut and ready to ham it up and have a good time in a weird costume. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the epitome of a Marvel superhero movie. It is bursting with jokes, surprises, and some hefty emotional moments that will tug at your heartstrings until the next stunning action sequence. It deftly synthesizes two decades of Spider-Man movies and lore, and ropes in Dr. Strange to set up his 2022 movie that will feature even more mind-bending hijinks. The visual effects are superb, the stunt choreography is epic, the NYC settings are great (now that I'm dating a man from Queens, my movie excitement extends to recognizing streets and subway stations outside of Manhattan), and overall, I have no notes. This was quite simply a great time at the movie theatre that delivered exactly what it said it would and then a little bit extra. Inject it all into my veins. 

West Side Story, Wolf, & Licorice Pizza: Nip Down to the Theater

Last weekend was another busy time at the cinema. Strap in, I’ve got a musical, a weird psychological thriller, and a languid 70s nostalgia piece to tell you about. There’s something in this schizophrenic selection for everyone.

West Side Story: Directed by Steven Spielberg, an adaptation of the iconic musical that is inspired by Romeo & Juliet with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It's a slam dunk! This thing has prestige brimming through its veins and the final product is a thing of beauty. The casting is particularly spot on, with Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler acquitting themselves admirably as the star-crossed lovers (she is a better singer, but he emotes well enough to keep up), but I was far more compelled by the secondary characters of Riff (Mike Faist) and Anita (Ariana DeBose) who almost seemed to command more screen time than the leads and got the best choreography to showcase both their singing and dancing chops. And lest we forget, the magical Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the original 1961 movie, is back in this version as Doc’s wife, a neat little subversion of the original character of Doc since she is playing a Puerto Rican who married a “gringo” and therefore straddles both lines of this insane rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks.

The smartest thing Spielberg did in this adaptation was ensure the Puerto Ricans were all played by Latinx actors (what a concept). What this also means is that parts of the film are bilingual with no subtitles, forcing audiences to steep themselves in this world and truly understand there are two distinct cultures at play here. While the cops and the Irish act as expected when confronted with a Spanish speaker and demand that they “speak English,” along with other racist taunts, it’s interesting to note that even the Puerto Ricans will often stop family members from speaking in Spanish and demand they practice their English in order to assimilate. This movie is set in 1957, but it might as well be set today to reflect the attitudes that some Americas continue to have about English being the national language and that Puerto Ricans aren’t real Americans.

The look and feel of this film is predictably spectacular. Spielberg plays a lot with darkness and shadows, but the love scenes then brim with light and color. The costumes by Paul Tazewell are a riotous joy (give me all of Anita’s dresses), and the balletic choreography by Justin Peck is stunning. I am always intrigued by the juxtaposition of the violence of these alpha male gang members and the graceful and delicate twirls in their dances. If only everyone kept singing and dancing and stopped stabbing each other, this movie could be a splendid romcom instead of a dark tragedy. But ah well, I enjoyed it nonetheless. And hummed "America" for about four days straight after I was done. 

Wolf: George Mackay stars as Jacob, a young man who has species dysmorphia, a mental disorder in which a human firmly believes they are an animal. In Jacob’s case, he is convinced he is a wolf, and his desperate parents check him into a mental institution that specializes in treating this disorder. Jacob truly wants to get better, and when he first enters the facility, he does his best to contain his lupine nature. But then he meets "Wildcat" (Lily Rose-Depp), a young woman who lives in the institution but has some sort of hybrid patient-staff status, and things quickly start to unravel.

Written and directed by Nathalie Bianchine, this is a weird, visceral, and fascinating movie. I wouldn’t ever rewatch it but I was certainly compelled from start to finish during my one viewing. Whoever trained these actors on animal choreography deserves some kind of special category of Oscar because it was amazing to see how Mackay moved when he was on all fours, with his haunches jutting out in a way that made me almost believe he had morphed into a wolf. There’s a boy who thinks he’s the most adorable German Sherpherd, another who is a terrified squirrel, a woman who is a horse with the most amazing whinny, and a host of others. And in the midst of all of this is cinema’s most horrific villain, Dr. Mann (Paddy Considine). He’s the psychologist who runs this place with a brutal method of shame and cruelty that is reminiscent of the horrors of conversion therapy and the film quickly devolves into torture porn as we see what Jacob and his fellow patients will be subjected to in the name of being cured. 

The score by Stefan Wesolowski is appropriately unsettling and certain scenes will make you squirm. But overall, it is inventive and well-acted. It is an unusual look at what it means to be human, and offers up a compelling vision of what it would be like if we all just went feral and chucked it all away. Which, frankly, given how humans act these days, is becoming an increasingly tantalizing proposition.

Licorice Pizza: Oh Paul Thomas Anderson. Here is a straight white man who has been writing and directing movies for ages, and at this point, it is clear that you know what you’re going to get. This man is mostly consumed by his own worldview and nostalgia, and since most movie critics are straight white men, they eat his stuff up with a spoon. But I went into this film warily, expecting I would probably be bored stiff by its preoccupations with maleness. I was cautiously optimistic as the film is his first to actually feature a female protagonist, Alana (a role specifically written for Alana Haim), and the only other PTA movie I enjoyed was Phantom Thread because it featured two incredible performances from Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville, to balance out the tortured male genius motif from Daniel Day-Lewis. However, while I didn’t actively dislike this movie, once I left the theater, I realized that mostly all I got here was a story about a teenage boy (the very likable Cooper Hoffman, looking unsettlingly like his father, the great Philip Seymour Hoffman), and his much-older manic pixie dream girl friend (a dynamic that just seems icky given the age difference and potential illegality of a romance between the two.)

The entire thing is set in California in 1973 and it is resplendent with “vibes” of that era, including ample bralessness. Listen, I haven’t worn a bra for most of the pandemic, but it’s a definite choice to ensure your lead female actress will have her nips out for the majority of the movie, including on all promotional materials in theaters. Frankly, despite all my hopes that PTA might deliver something fresh and nuanced, the minute I saw Alana Haim in a white T-shirt on the movie poster, I knew my hopes would be dashed. There isn’t much plot but a string of vignettes as this boy goes through his life as a child actor and Alana serves as chaperone and then business partner, and is basically a woman who is aimless and needs to be rescued by the love of a good man. Because to auteurs like PTA, isn’t that the lot of all women? 

Go see this movie if you want an indulgent mood piece. And the soundtrack is stellar (plus the score is by Jonny Greenwood, who seems to be doing the score for everything these days). It’s definitely light-hearted and funny, and not as much of a slog as other PTA movies. In fact, I was deceived into thinking I liked it during the act of watching it, but the minute I left the theater I was like wait, that movie has some problems. There’s also a weird subplot involving a Japanese restaurant that is overtly racist but played for laughs, and there’s no point to it except I think PTA is still stuck in the 70s and thinks this is amusing stuff? I don’t know man. My patience has worn thin for movies like this. Can we just let women take the reins and get some fresh narratives in the cinema? I'd like to see some manic pixie dream boys for a change.

Weekend Watch: House of Gucci, The Power of the Dog, Encanto

This weekend I have yet another trifecta of deliciously different movies for you to sink your teeth into. There's animation, Western, or batshit crazy "Italian" so pick your fancy. There's plenty of entertainment up for grabs.

House of Gucci: I give you my one-word review of this film: Boof! Oh wait, does that not mean anything to you? Well you're not alone, as that is a completely made-up word that Jared Leto inexplicably decided to deploy throughout this movie in his weird supporting role as Paolo Gucci. In the lead we've got Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci, one of the heirs to the Gucci family business and fortune, and Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, the woman who marries him, has high ambitions, and (spoiler alert) will ultimately plot his murder. 

Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, and Salma Hayek round out this cast and every single person is doing their own version of what they think an Italian person sounds like. Some are more successful than others (like Lady Gaga, natch), but what with this and The Last Duel, I have become convinced that director Ridley Scott is not the man you go to if you care about accurate accent work. However, you can certainly still go to him if you want a spectacle, and that's what this film delivers. It is completely over-the-top and insane, oozing with high fashion and luxury at every turn and then the soapiest melodrama as the relationships between all these characters get convoluted and chaotic. The only thing more bonkers than this film is that it all actually happened in real life, but presumably the real-life people had more believable accents.

This is definitely a great movie to watch in the theater with an audience who knows that they've come there to experience a comedy rather than a serious drama. We laughed so much at every "Boof!" and it was a very communal experience to revel in this movie that is so terrifically bad that it is amazingly good. So watch it, and then send up a thankful prayer to "Father, Son, House of Gucci." 

The Power of the Dog: If you want some tonal whiplash, watch this movie right after House of Gucci. Written and directed by Jane Campion, this is a quiet, eerie, and deliberate Western set in 1925 Montana and tells the story of two brothers named Phil and George Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons - two great actors I would watch in anything). They are wealthy ranchers but George is more of the money man who glad-hands politicians while Phil is rude and rowdy and sticks to the ranchwork. When George falls in love with the widowed Rose (Kirsten Dunst - a cute piece of casting as she and Plemons are married in real life) and brings her home to the ranch, it sets off tensions as Phil thinks Rose is only after George's money. In the meantime, Rose's son from her previous marriage, Peter (the deliciously disturbing Kodi Smit-McPhee), has a very testy relationship with Phil, and watching how all of that unfolds makes for a creepy and compelling two hours of cinema.

This movie is a bit of a mood piece - there's not a ton of dialogue and Campion is reveling in the landscapes and feel of these wide open and lonely spaces. You will also get to see some Cumberbatch nudity, if that's a selling point that will get you to watch this film. But aesthetics aside, this movie grew on me. At first I was worried it would simply be artsy and meandering, but as the tensions thickened between these characters and their motivations became increasingly murky, the movie almost took on a fascinating horror quality as I waited for something terrible to happen. It also features an absolutely stunning score from Jonny Greenwood, who I just mentioned on this blog for his score for Spencer. Like with that movie, this music has the effect of slightly unsettling the viewer and never quite making it clear what genre of film you might be watching.

This movie is an acquired taste. But since it's on Netflix, you can easily give it a try and see whether Campion is your kind of filmmaker. To me, it was very clear that there was a woman behind the camera, making a Western that focused on interpersonal relationships and high drama without the need for gun battles and shootouts. This is a rugged and spare movie that surprisingly gets its hooks in you and I was certainly glad I got to see it.

Encanto: For a colorful and blissfully enjoyable time at the movies, you can't go wrong with this animated Disney movie about the magical Madrigal family, who live in an enchanted house in Colombia and all have special powers, except for Mirabel (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz). She never received a special gift, but she is still a chipper and lovely young woman who tries to help out her family, even if she can't do so in any superhuman way.

However, one day, their house starts to develop cracks, and it becomes clear that the magic they possessed is starting to wane. I won't go into any details, but suffice to say, Mirabel is going to be our heroine, the only person who can figure out what is wrong and how she can save the family. And the lessons that she learns and imparts to her family members are deeply resonant in that classic Disney way. The script by Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush (who also co-directed with Byron Howard) is delightful, a reminder that even people who seem hyper competent need to take a break and recharge once in a while and that there's no shame in asking for help when you need it. There is so much to unpack in terms of intergenerational parenting styles (the beautiful short film, Far From the Tree, that preceded the movie already teed up that theme), living up to family expectations, and trying to find one's purpose in life. And it is all told via funny, beautiful, whimsical animation, and of course, some fantastic songs composed by Germaine Franco and written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Yes, most of the story is told through the songs, so you had better pay attention to these rapid-fire lyrics. Honestly, I could barely catch the words myself and wondered how little kids would fare. There's enough wonder and magic on screen to distract them, but I fully bought into this film as an adult who has issues with her grandmother and subsequently left the theater feeling like oh maybe I should give Grandma a call.  For Latinx viewers, I hope this movie offers up some joyous onscreen representation, with some bilingual songs and plenty of Spanish sprinkled in throughout the film. And, if I may, there was one scene where I spent a solid minute just marveling at how good we have become at animating hair. Every strand of hair on Mirabel's head looked so thick, luxurious, and alive - I know we've done some terrible things with technology, but I'm glad the Disney animators have deployed it to such greatness to capture all the beauty a human head can possess. So watch Encanto. Whether it's the music, the animation, or the story that will tug at your heartstrings, you will fall under its spell.

November Netflix Round-Up: The Harder They Fall, Meenakshi Sundareshwar, Tick, Tick... Boom!

It has been another busy month on Netflix and there are a slew of movies awaiting your perusal. Perhaps you are happily making your way through the glut of whimsical holiday movies. But if you need a break from the mistletoe, here are some quickfire reviews of a rock musical, a Western, and a Bollywood romcom to diversify your December viewing.

Tick, Tick... Boom! Directed by Lin-Manual Miranda and written by Steven Levenson, this is an adaptation of the semi-autobiographical musical by Broadway composer Jonathan Larson. Starring Andrew Garfield as Jonathan, this is a beautiful but heart-rending story of a man who is struggling to live out his ambitions and stay true to his dreams in the harsh environs of New York City. 

The movie takes place in the week leading up to Jonathan’s thirtieth birthday and the angst is palpable. He is so close to success but in such danger of burning too many bridges before he achieves it. He has a loving girlfriend (played by Alexandra Shipp, the woman with the greatest smile on the planet), who is starting to get tired of her daily grind in this unforgiving city. He also has a best friend, Michael (Robin de Jesus), who "sold out" by giving up on acting and moving to advertising, a fact that will become increasingly problematic as the story goes on. And we will see these relationships evolve, blossom, and sour over the course of two hours. Every song in this musical is either witty or devastating and Garfield turns in an immaculate performance, capturing all the energy, passion, and devastation that Jonathan must face on his quest to greatness. 

This could be a very affirming and joyous movie, but given Larson’s early death before he ever knew how much fame he would achieve via Rent and this musical, this is a movie tinged with so much sadness. It’s a celebration of a man who would have given us so many great things, but instead we must make do with the few things we did get. Which, thankfully, are excellent. So watch Tick, Tick… Boom! and let your inner Broadway geek nerd out for a while while you experience the thrilling highs and lows of the bohemian quest to create great art. You may also notice some very familiar Broadway cameos along the way. 

The Harder They Fall: Directed by Jeymes Samuel, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Boaz Yakin, this movie is a Black Western that boasts one of the most incredible casts going around. You’ve got Idris Elba, Regina King, Jonathan Majors, Lakeith Stanfield, Zazie Beetz…the list goes on. And they’re all riding around the Wild West seeking vengeance, robbing banks, and shooting each other up. What’s not to love?

Well, apparently if you’re me, that is not enough to keep you compelled for two hours. This movie is aesthetically pleasing, with great production design (there’s a “white town” that made me laugh with the literal interpretation of its aesthetic) and excellent costumes, but plot-wise, it was a bit of a meandering mess. The trouble with having so many fantastic actors is that you want to ensure they all get time to shine. But I found my attention constantly wavering with the multitude of plots and sub-plots that ultimately didn't tie in together. In the tradition of most Westerns, it’s violent, there are a LOT of gun battles, and frankly, there’s only so much shooting a girl can take. Also, this is Samuel's feature film directorial debut and he really telegraphs a lot of moments; there are several pregnant pauses in scenes where I could immediately foretell what was going to happen next. Which can be fun, but ultimately starts to wear on you.

Watch this movie if you need some escapism and need to watch a great cast of actors whale on each other. But this is more style than substance. If you’re looking for a tight script and compelling storytelling, I would look elsewhere. 

Meenakshi Sundareshwar: It has been ages since I’ve watched a new Bollywood movie. So watching this one served as a reminder of everything that can be alternately cute and cringey about them. Directed by Vivek Soni (a Karan Johar acolyte) and starring the delightful Sanya Malhotra and Abhimanyu Dassani, this is a tale about what happens when two people named Meenakshi and Sundareshwar get hitched (via an arranged marriage,  natch) and then have to deal with the ensuing complications of being married to someone you don’t know that well.

The highlight of this movie for me is that the characters are South Indian. So while this is a Hindi movie, there are lots of random Tamil interjections throughout the film. Now of course, most of these actors are NOT South Indian, so without subtitles, I wouldn’t have understood what on earth they were saying as their pronunciation was fairly awful, but it was still a nice change from the usual North Indian fare. Apart from that detail, however, there is nothing particularly fresh or new about this plot. Sundar has to move to Bangalore right after he and Meenakshi get married, and the two of them spend a year apart, without even having consummated the marriage because of…random reasons that only make sense in Bollywood. It’s a spectacularly silly plot but the charm of the actors involved is almost enough to sell you on it.

Of course, there is a lot of regressive bullshit to wade through, and this movie does feel like it could be from a previous era, except we all know that some people in India still very much live like this. While it was painful to see a woman get married to a relative stranger and then have to move in with his family, who have very traditional ideas about a woman’s place in the household, Meenakshi does prove to be a mildly feminist upstart who could serve as a decent starting role model to any Indian girls watching this film. She is fiery and ambitious, and at one point, when told she needs to respect her elders, she declares that they need to treat her with respect too and dashes off, a sentiment that should be echoed a hell of a lot more in Indian society where old people are often treated with a deference they absolutely have not earned. So watch this movie if you want to spend a very silly but very charming two hours in the company of some multilingual lovers and their family shenanigans. Your mind won’t be blown, but it will certainly be tickled.

Thanksgiving Weekend Watch: King Richard, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Spencer

There are TOO MANY movies coming out these days. There are several on my list for Thanksgiving, but as I make my way through those, here are some reviews of the ones I’ve managed to plow my way through already, so you can consider them for your long weekend. It’s a rough job, but someone’s got to do it.

King Richard: This movie is exactly what you expected from it. Written by Zach Baylin and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, it’s a great biopic chronicling how Richard Williams (Will Smith) and his wife Brandy (Aunjanue Ellis) raised their family of five daughters and coached Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton) into becoming the tennis legends we know today. The movie does not fall into the traditional biopic pitfall of trying to tell us a sweeping story from birth to death. Instead, it hones right in on when the girls were teenagers and how Richard used to coach them and eventually finagled an introduction to Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn) who coached Venus through Juniors competitions, and then their contract with Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal) who coached both girls as they turned pro.

Sidney and Singleton are absolute stars and you have no trouble believing they are going to grow up to become tennis powerhouses. It is impossible to tear your eyes away from every swing of the racket and every game of tennis they play. The script does a wonderful job of capturing the camaraderie between these two sisters, and while it acknowledges the frustration Serena feels at being second fiddle while Venus gets to forge ahead, she is still wildly supportive and knows that she has to bide her time until it is her moment to shine. And of course, Will Smith offers up a classic performance, conveying how much this man has invested in his plan for his family, but also proving that he is first and foremost a loving father. Yes, Richard clashes with his daughters’ coaches and can have unorthodox opinions on how their careers should be managed. But his overarching ambition is to make sure his daughters are smart and happy and are able to have a proper childhood without getting burnt out like other young tennis stars who become famous too quickly.

This movie also has many insights about race and what this family had to endure in the all-white world of tennis. They faced discrimination in country clubs, but also had to battle doubters in their own neighborhood who couldn’t understand what this family was up to and their wild ambitions. Ultimately, you probably won’t be surprised by anything this movie has to say, but it tells its story compellingly, with some great actors. And, if you are a tennis lover like me, there is some spectacular tennis to behold. So it's a win-win-win.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife: I have been seeing the trailer for this movie for two years. It was meant to be released in the summer of 2020 but that all fell by the wayside when Covid hit. So it was a thrill to watch it at last and realize that the trailers simply did not do it justice. They made it seem like a much more serious enterprise, but instead, this is a very fun, engaging film with an amazing cast of child actors at the helm. 

The main heroine is McKenna Grace, who plays 12-year old Phoebe. She has moved with her mother, Callie (Carrie Coon) and brother, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) to the small town of Summerville, Oklahoma after her grandfather dies and leaves them a farm. Callie had no relationship with her father, but she is broke and the family has been evicted from their apartment, so they might as well move to this creepy farm and figure out next steps. Well, turns out things are amiss and they are about to get caught up in all manner of ghostly shenanigans thanks to an ancient Sumerian god who is looking to take over the town. And that dead grandfather? He was Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), one of the original Ghostbusters. Now that ghosts are afoot, the kids are about to find a whole lot of devices stashed around their home to help them save the planet. 

I don't remember much about the original movies from the 80s, but this iteration offers up a great time regardless of whether you're a super fan or a newbie to the franchise. Paul Rudd pops in as Phoebe's lackadaisical summer school teacher, and overall, there's simply this fun, comic energy permeating the film from start to finish, with Phoebe periodically telling some of the best/worst jokes you've ever heard in your life. It's silly, charming, and refreshing, not too scary, but still very exciting in the action sequences when everyone is chasing ghosts around a small town. If all you're looking for is a good time, this movie will absolutely deliver. What could be better for Thanksgiving?

Spencer: This movie is a mood piece. So, you already know your mileage may vary depending on how you feel about films that aren't particularly plot-driven but will absolutely steep you in emotion and make your soul stir in uncomfortable ways for two hours. Set in December 1991, this is about the three days when Princess Diana (the luminous Kristen Stewart) visited the Queen's Sandringham Estate for Christmas. This is pre-divorce but post discovering that Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles are an item, so suffice to say, things are...fraught. 

From the outset, the score by Jonny Greenwood is supremely unsettling, a strange cacophony of instruments that doesn't seem to match the prestigious and stuffy tone of the people on screen, and as the movie progresses, we quickly see that this is going to be a tale about a woman whose mental health is teetering, in a family that is renowned for their stiff upper lip cruelty. We are going to watch her unravel and come apart at the seams. But bizarrely, even though we all know how Diana's story ultimately ended, this script by Steven Knight does an extremely clever and kind thing by focusing on this specific part of her life story. It captures Diana in one of her lowest lows, but also gives us the chance to see her fight back before that final tragedy befell her. 

Kristen Stewart has to nab a Best Actress nomination for this performance - while the hair and makeup folk deserve much kudos for helping her with the physical attributes, she absolutely nails the voice and posture and Diana's general mien. This is not a loud and triumphant performance, but oh boy is it a heart wrenching portrait of a woman going through psychological hell. This movie is all about what's going through Diana's mind, but Stewart manages to make her brain visible to us through this performance. Part of that is also due to this wonderful script that I hope gets some awards love, along with the impeccable direction by Pablo Lorrain. There are a lot of unusual choices being made here and what could have been a very conventional biopic is turned into a surreal work of art through his weird and inspired directorial choices. Finally, shout out to the production design by Guy Hendrix Dyas and costume design by Jacqueline Durran (aka the costume designer I shout out the most on this blog - at this point I should take it for granted that if I love a movie's costumes, Durran is responsible.) This movie needs to be aesthetically perfect and capture the iconic look and feel of these people and places as known to the public before the film then deconstructs them into the mass of emotions and drama that the public didn't witness. So Sandringham is appropriately grand and chilly, while Diana's outfits are miraculous and familiar, while still offering up a psychological portrait of this woman who is defying convention by wearing her red coat instead of the green. 

Spencer is an odd and eerie movie. I can't promise that you will love it, but I can promise that it's not going to be what you expect. It has a singular vision that takes everything you knew about Princess Diana and makes it seem newly horrific. This movie will engage all your senses, but most of all, it will hit your empathy hard, making you feel for this woman and everything she was put through. It's a remarkable tale, and just when I thought there were no new ways to tell it, they found a way. 

The Baby-Sitters Club: Sweet & Sassy

Last year, I binged the first season of The Baby-Sitters Club and was delighted. But it was 2020 and I was bingeing all the things in a desperate effort to distract myself, so I never got around to blogging about it. Well, now the second season is on Netflix, and yet again, I was so charmed that I simply had to write a review. If you've been sleeping on this show, wake up and give it a shot. It is so worth it. 

Most women my age probably encountered the Baby-Sitters Club book series as children. I was more of a Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys person, but I do recall reading a few of these books. The premise is simple enough: Kristy (Sophie Grace) decides to start a club with her friends where they will babysit for the neighborhood kids and make money off the desperate parents looking for a night out on the town. In each episode, a different girl takes the spotlight, sharing a story of who she is and what’s going on with her family at the time, and it all adds up to a shockingly good time. Kristy has a lot going on since her mother (the ever-charming Alicia Silverstone) is in a relationship with a wealthy man (the equally charming Mark Feuerstein) and their family might have to adjust to a whole new way of life. There's Mary Anne (Malia Baker) who is biracial and lost her mother at a young age so must deal with her wildly overprotective white father (played by the always fantastic Marc Evan Jackson) and tell him that maybe she would like her hair to be done a bit differently now that she's older. There's Claudia (Momona Tamada), who is Japanese-American and has a lovely relationship with her grandma (the adorable Takayo Fischer) even if she can't quite relate to the rest of her family. Stacey (Shay Rudolph) is the new girl from New York City who seems very fancy but has a whole tale to tell about why she had to move to Stoneybrook, Connecticut. And finally, there's Dawn (played by Xochitl Gomez in season 1 and Kyndra Sanchez in season 2), a Hispanic-American who moved from Los Angeles and is all about embracing socialism and progressive causes. 

This show is deceptively amazing. It is rated G (not even PG!), which is extraordinary in this day and age, but despite being so family-friendly, it still packs in so much wisdom and modern-day sass. My favorite line from the second season was in response to someone saying another girl was so nice: "Yes, this isn't an 80s movie, coolness and cruelty are no longer synonymous!" There's also an aside about how Kristy, who is white, was crowned as a beautiful baby in the town's annual Baby Parade instead of Claudia and Maryanne, thereby signaling how "white mediocrity" triumphed over "babies of color." These girls are interesting, diverse, and fierce feminists in their own special ways, and while the things they are struggling with can be very particular to the growing pains of adolescence, the lessons they learn are applicable to anyone regardless of age. Whether it’s coping with anxiety, a chronic illness, complex interpersonal dynamics, divorce, or first love, there is a lot to digest here in terms of how to be a human and how to survive in this world. All told with pitch perfect production values and cozy scripts.

The casting on The Baby-Sitters Club is excellent and creator Rachel Shukert, along with her team of writers and directors, does a remarkable job of updating these books for a modern audience while preserving the innate charm of these characters and the setting for those who need to indulge in some nostalgia. The show is an inexpressible comfort that isn’t quite an escapist fantasy, imparting valuable lessons and making you feel less despairing of humanity. I know it might seem corny, but seriously, you won't know what you're missing until you've tried it. Underneath that chipper exterior, there lies a depth of feeling and warmth that will seep right into your bones. Now that winter is coming, isn’t that a feeling we are all desperately seeking?

Beautiful Black and White: Passing & Belfast

If, like me, you love classic cinema, you are always cautiously optimistic when a modern movie comes out that is filmed in black and white. Is it a gimmick? Yes. But is it often deployed to wondrous effect, particularly given advances in cinematography and digital film? Yes. So today I present to you two new movies that are shot in black and white for very different but equally fascinating reasons.

Passing: Written and directed by Rebecca Hall (this is her directorial debut as she joins the ranks of actresses turning into directors, a trend I fully support), based on the novel by Nella Larsen, this is a quiet but tense movie about two Black women in 1920s New York, one of whom is light-skinned enough to be “passing” as white. The movie begins when Irene (Tessa Thompson) runs into Clare (Ruth Negga) downtown at a swanky Manhattan hotel. Clare recognizes Irene and comes over to have a glorious reunion with this woman she hasn’t seen since high school. The trouble is, Clare is pretending to be white, while Irene has merely been indulging in a wild moment to see if she can “pass” in this hotel, but is otherwise a very proud Black woman who lives up in Harlem with her “dark” husband and children.

What follows is a fraught story of a tenuous friendship that is based on lies from its very foundation, and is perpetually dancing on a razor’s edge of danger and destruction. Clare is married to a racist white man (played by Alexander Skarsgard, in an inspired bit of casting for the “whitest man alive”), but her reunion with Irene reminds her of how much she misses Black culture and freely hanging out with her own people. So she keeps coming up to Harlem and starts insinuating herself into Irene’s life in increasingly problematic ways that make Irene start to question her own life. And of course, there is the constant thrum of the question of “the race problem” in America, with Irene and her husband struggling with how to help their sons deal with racial abuse casually hurled at them in school or on the streets, and whether they should leave the country altogether. 

Shooting this movie in black and white is a very literal choice - after all, it’s about the state of Black and white people in America. But the cinematography and lighting has such a lot of technical wizardry and thought behind it. In scenes where the women were “passing,” the filmmakers would flood the sets with light so that it would be difficult to ascertain the actors’ skin color. There is so much psychological and physical nuance to play with in this story, and both Thompson and Negga are incredible at capturing all the struggles these characters face, not just because of their Blackness, but also because they are women. Clare is in such a dangerous position - she technically has everything she could want because she married a rich white man, but she will be destroyed if he ever finds out her true identity. The notion that she spent her entire pregnancy in a wretched state because she had to pray her child would be born light-skinned is horrific to contemplate. This woman has made the ultimate deal with the devil and as the movie progresses, you will get to see how that deal turns out and the toll it takes on the people around her. This story may be from the 1920s, but its themes are just as relevant today where racism and colorism continue to run rampant. So settle in and watch Passing. You will have a lot of food for thought.

Belfast: Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh (another actor turned director!), this is a very personal original screenplay based on his childhood in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and the agonizing decisions his family had to make as to whether or not they would have to leave Belfast and all the people they loved. Despite the heavy subject matter and all the chaos and rioting unfolding on screen, the movie is surprisingly light and deft because it is told from the perspective of 9-year old Buddy (the wondrous Jude Hill, who is going to pick up all manner of Young Artist awards this year). Even the camera angles are often designed to show you this world from a child’s vantage point, because you’re always looking up at things or having the adults loom over you while they talk. 

Speaking of the adults, Jaime Dornan and Caitriona Balfe play Buddy’s parents, while Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench are his grandparents. That’s some all-star casting right there, and they are all magnificent, particularly Balfe who has to carry the heft of being a woman raising two sons in the middle of all this chaos while her husband only comes in every other weekend as he’s working on jobs in England and trying to make enough money to support the family. This couple is struggling and you get to see the emotional decisions and fights that are taking place as they try to protect their family amidst all the sectarian violence. They are Protestants, but they live on a street with a lot of Catholic folk that they love and consider family. However, they are increasingly being pressured to join violent Protestant gangs and the entire situation is unfathomable.

Throughout this tension, however, Buddy is just being a regular kid, struggling to do well on his homework to impress and (literally) get close to a smart girl in his class, and indulging in his love for movies, TV, and theater that heralds the future Sir Kenneth Branagh that he will become some day. At one point, there’s a scene of Buddy avidly reading a Thor comic and it made me laugh as that was a clear homage to Branagh directing the first Thor movie for Marvel, which at the time felt like an odd choice for the mostly Shakespeare-focused thespian. 

The black and white cinematography in this movie is simply sumptuous, capturing the nostalgia and beauty of this time despite all the hardship, and I don’t think any of these actors have ever looked better. It’s an odd thing to say, but I’ve never been more aware of how blue their eyes are than when I saw how clear they looked in black and white. And I love nothing more that looking at a beautiful old wrinkled face in black and white - God bless Judi Dench, but her wrinkles and un-Botox’d face have never looked lovelier on the big screen. However, this movie does periodically have color: when Buddy is at the movies watching something in glorious technicolor, or watching a theater production. The effect makes it clear that this is when his world comes alive, and no matter all the heartbreak and angst going on around him in the quotidian sufferings of mankind, he can always escape to these places to find worlds that are new and exciting and joyous. 

Ultimately, Belfast is a glorious cinematic memoir, a perfect encapsulation of why Branagh became the man he did, and a loving ode to his childhood and the people who suffered so much through the Troubles. This movie is probably the first time I have seen an insider’s account of how it felt at the time and all the religious rhetoric and human idiocy that went into the escalating tensions. The movie’s dialogue can get a little hokey in places, and Buddy’s family can often seem quite saintly in their tolerance and common sense approach to religion and other human divisions. But in our increasingly frayed and polarized times, this film is a welcome reminder that humans have always sown unnecessary discord amongst themselves, and what we really need is to move beyond that and recognize our common humanity. Stop fighting each other and go watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That’s my biggest takeaway from watching Belfast.

Let's Get Ready for Romance: Love Life & Love Hard

It's November. The weather's getting chilly, the holidays are fast approaching. It's time to snuggle up with some stories about people falling in love! If you want something insightful about modern romance and the turbulent journey towards finding "the one," I've got you covered. If you want a silly, predictable, and thoroughly delightful Christmas romcom? I've also got you covered.

Love Hard: When the preview for this movie popped up on my Netflix account, I watched ten seconds and could already predict everything that was going to happen. And I immediately knew that didn't matter and I was going to watch the shit out of this film. Which I proceeded to do, and I enjoyed every minute. I regret nothing.

This is a classic tale of a woman named Natalie (Nina Dobrev) who has had terrible luck on dates but then connects with a man named Josh on a dating app. She lives in LA, he lives all the way across the country in Lake Placid, NY, but she is texting this guy all the time, talking to him on the phone constantly, and then finally, she decides to take a leap of faith and show up at his doorstep right before Christmas so they can spend the holidays together. Well, when she shows up, it turns out he catfished her, and looks nothing like the hunky Asian in his profile pic, but is more of a regular-looking Asian (Jimmy O. Yang). So that relationship is not going to work, but she discovers that Josh used the photos of a very real man who lives in his town, a guy named Tag (Darren Barnet). Josh has known Tag since childhood, so he agrees to help Natalie woo Tag, in exchange for her pretending to his family that she really is his girlfriend for the holidays. What could go wrong?!

That plot is basically a collection of twenty romcom storylines in one go. And as you watch this movie, you'll spot loving homages to all the traditional holiday romcom tropes, including a whole scene dedicated to Love Actually and an argument about whether or not Die Hard can be classified as a Christmas movie. It's so silly but these actors are so game and charming and you can't help but be swept away in the silly sparkle of it all. You know exactly how this whole thing will turn out, but watching all the zany escapades on the road to happily ever after is a joy. And as with any Netflix production, the soundtrack is an absolute banger. In fact, the final scene featured a gorgeous song that I had never heard before but am now obsessed with, and for that reason alone, I love this movie. Hard.

Love Life: This is an anthology show about modern-day New Yorkers and the relationships they have before they finally find their "person." The first season starred Anna Kendrick as Darby Carter, while the second season stars William Jackson Harper as Marcus Watkins. I actually started watching Season 2 first, but then binged Season 1 before I finally finished the second season. Which is a very convoluted way of doing things, but I had my reasons. However, I recommend you just watch this show in order because, while Darby is not a central figure in Season 2 at all, she does occasionally have some cameos, and it's helpful to know at what stage of her life she is in as she intersects with Marcus in his journey. 

Each episode of the show focuses on a different relationship the protagonist has with another person. Most often, these are romantic relationships, and you will follow along as these people go through messy break-ups, one-night stands, meaningful long-term relationships, and lots of meaningless hookups. But some of the episodes are also about the relationships Darby or Marcus have with their friends or their family. And ultimately, this is a show about how you can't just expect the people in your life to give you everything you want without first working on yourself. 

This is a fantastic show, but if you find yourself uninterested after watching the first season, please just start watching the second season, because it gets even more profound and meaningful. Episode 9, in particular, deals with the pandemic and the unsettling loneliness that people experienced during that time. There has been a lot of storytelling about 2020 lately, but this half-hour episode of a romantic TV show perfectly encapsulated the entirety of the pandemic, from the initial paranoia and constant sanitizing, to the eerily empty streets of New York, to the social etiquette of fist bumps, masks, and social distancing, and the constant chatter about whether we're ever getting a vaccine. This is such a clever show about love and relationships and complicated interpersonal dynamics and finding yourself before you find a partner, but this one episode also served as a perfect time capsule of human experience at this fraught moment in history. 

Created by Sam Boyd, and written and directed by a slew of talented people, give this show a try. Yes, it's a mostly heteronormative and traditional view on romance. But I can guarantee there will be multiple episodes that deeply resonate with your psyche, and I also promise, you will get a happy ending, even if there are a lot of bumps along the way.

Eternals & Last Night in Soho: Thrills & Chills

This weekend, I bring you reviews of the next Marvel movie and the next original movie from Edgar Wright. Pick your poison, or if you're like me, watch them both!

Eternals: I'll tell you right now, this was not my favorite Marvel movie. I go to Marvel for a lot of comic relief and great action sequences, and this movie was only intermittently funny (mainly when Kumail Nanjiani was on screen, which really was fantastic). There was a romantic subplot with some swoony lighting and intimacy to remind you that director Chloe Zhao excels at this kind of storytelling. But then some Deviants, who are these alien monsters that are absolutely gorgeous to look at but not fun to fight, would show up and battles had to commence. 

This movie opens with several paragraphs of text to provide the back story of who the Eternals are, so I already knew this was going to be a bit beyond me. My preference for plot exposition is always show, not tell, but man, there was a lot of gobbledy gook to get through about all the different characters and their mission. Also, this movie offers up a condensed history of the human race, so you will get to see battle sequences ranging from the early Mesopotamian civilization all the way up to modern day London. The production design and special effects are as wonderful as you could expect, but it's definitely a lot of information to take in for two and a half hours.

I never got bored while watching this movie, but it's been a week since I saw it and I'm already struggling to remember much about it at all. The cast is great, and it's wonderful to see such a range of diversity in a group of superheroes. Obviously, I had a soft spot for Nanjiani as a brown superhero, Kingo, who has a whole Bollywood subplot that made me giggle. But there's also Brian Tyree Henry playing Phastos, who is the first gay Marvel superhero, and Lauren Riddloff as Makkari, the first deaf Marvel superhero. All of this makes for interesting pairings among the Eternals, and I loved that they were all being wrangled by Salma Hayek as their leader, rather than Richard Madden, who I had been conditioned to assume would be the leader as he was the only white man. But you've also got Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie, Don Lee, Lia McHugh, and Barry Keoghan rounding out this cast, and that's just the Eternals! So you can see why there's so much heavy lifting to be done plot-wise. This does allow for interesting combinations of all these characters in different scenes where they get to play off each other and throw down against aliens, but it's also a lot to keep track of.

Watch this movie for some quick and dirty traditional Marvel entertainment. But if you already know that superhero movies are not your thing, this is not the film that will change your mind. It's a great cast, but the story is a bit blah, so make your decision accordingly!

Last Night in Soho: I love Edgar Wright and will watch anything he does. So I was very excited by the trailers for this movie and had been jonesing to finally see it in theaters. And it certainly lived up to all my expectations. 

The trailer will set you up for everything you need to know but here's the plot in a nutshell. A young woman named Ellie (Thomasin McKenzie) moves to London to study at the London College of Fashion. She grew up with her grandmother and loves the music and fashion of the sixties. Shortly after moving, she starts to have incredibly vivid dreams where she is transported back to 1960s London and follows a woman named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy) as she tries to become a singer at a nightclub. At first, everything is fun and games and Ellie looks forward to falling asleep each night so she can see what dazzling adventures Sandie will get up to during her favorite time period. But Sandie's life starts to take a turn, and Ellie realizes she is now trapped in a horrific nightmare. 

You really have to experience the rest of this movie for yourself. It is such a sumptuous piece of cinema, with an incredible score, the most remarkable costumes, and bright, colorful, vivid cinematography and all manner of camera tricks and sleight of hand as you start to see Ellie and Sandie meld into one person. It's hard to explain, but take my word for it, this movie is just a delightful feast for the senses and a clever tale about the dangers of getting too caught up in nostalgia.

Of course, it's also an Edgar Wright movie, and when things take a turn in this film, they REALLY take a turn. This man did earn his stripes making horror films (though only funny horror, my preferred kind), so you can expect some jump scares and horror elements. I did not think these were extreme enough to classify this as a horror film, but depending on how much of a scaredy cat you are, your mileage may vary. But honestly, even if you can't stand horror, you should probably watch this movie anyway (you can close your eyes during the scary bits) because it's so gorgeous to look at and so inventive. So give it a shot and spend a night in Soho. You'll have a swingin' time.

Maid: The High Cost of Being Poor

I read Stephanie Land's memoir, Maid, last year and loved it. So it made sense that I had similar feelings about the Netflix series that is "inspired" by her memoir, though apparently not directly based on her life, for what I assume are convoluted legal reasons. Like the book, the show is incredible, and incredibly sad. It's important that people watch this show and/or read the book, because there is a perpetual narrative in this country about how poor people just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps, and the one thing that this story made clear to me was the number of ways in which society fails our most vulnerable citizens and throws obstacles in their path so they will never in fact be able to pick themselves up. So no, this is not a feel-good recommendation, but it's still a very hearty recommendation for an eye-opening and valuable lesson in the need for better social safety nets.

Margaret Qualley stars as Alex, a young woman who leaves her abusive boyfriend, Sean (Nick Robinson), in the middle of the night with her two-year old daughter, Maddy (Rylea Nevaeh Whittet). Over the course of ten episodes, we follow this woman's journey through government bureaucracy and dysfunctional family dynamics, as she desperately tries to find any way to earn some money so she can take care of her child, while encountering a neverending series of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. In some scenes, there is a running tally in the corner of the screen of how much money Alex currently has. This was a narrative device in the book as well, and has been effectively translated to the screen so you can literally see how this woman is living from dollar to dollar and the toll it can take when she has to put gas in her car and therefore choose if she will be eating a meal that day. When she gets a job as a maid (with carefully restricted hours, natch, so the owner won't have to give her any benefits beyond her paltry salary), we see how quickly her paycheck is used up through the simple act of buying cleaning supplies, getting gas for her car, and then having to take a ferry to get across to the house that she has to clean. When a customer unexpectedly cancels, she might not not have enough money to pay for Maddy's daycare, which means she then can't leave her kid alone to go work, which means she's stuck in this horrific grinding cycle of poverty.

Most people have an abstract notion of how it must suck to be poor. There's a lot of rhetoric of how if people just stopped buying Starbucks and avocado toast everyday, they'd have enough money to pay for everything. But Maid showcases how people who are merely looking for the bare necessities of food and shelter are constantly thwarted and beaten down by those in society who have the privilege of never knowing that grinding worry of making ends meet. Alex cleans the house of a woman named Regina (Anika Noni Rose), who is a wealthy lawyer and lives in the lap of luxury. The evolution of that relationship is wonderful, with Regina having absolutely no clue what Alex's life must be like, and slowly learning to check her assumptions and understand what happens when Alex is not in her house. It's a gradual reckoning, and it isn't perfect by any means, but it offers up one example of the kind of education in empathy that all rich people need before they realize what it means to be poor in America.

Obviously I'm an incredible fan of the writing of this show and the thought and care put into this adaptation by creator Molly Smith Metzler. But none of it would work without the scintillating acting from this cast, particularly Qualley and Andie MacDowell who plays her mother, Paula. The two of them (who are mother and daughter in real life!) play off of each other in such heartbreaking ways, and you can certainly see how Paula's struggles with her mental health and erratic life choices have weighed upon Alex, and how hard Alex is fighting to break out of this cycle before her choices end up weighing down Maddy and limiting her future. And I am already cringing when I say "choices" because the thing that this show makes so emphatically clear is how little "choice" these women have had in their lives. Each episode of the show can feel so predictable, because you'll think that things are finally improving for these characters and they have found a way to better their lot, but then they immediately take two steps back. And you have to check your impulse to blame Alex or Paula for their individual actions and instead acknowledge there is a whole social system that has let them down. They have suffered from abusive boyfriends, have not received appropriate health care or social services, and have generally been led to believe that they are less than, which makes it all the more remarkable to see how much they still accomplish and defiantly achieve every single day. 

Maid also boasts incredible production values. This is a well-shot show that is beautifully imaginative and comes up with economical and riveting ways to reflect a character's emotions or capture a mood. I certainly tried to binge this show but could only take it a a few episodes at a time with long breaks in between because it is quite painful and demoralizing to watch. And yes, the irony is not lost on me that I can't even watch a show about being poor, while millions of people have to endure that reality every waking moment. So please do watch Maid. It's an emotional slog, but from an acting and storytelling perspective, it's absolutely compelling and riveting and deserves all manner of acclaim. And when you're done, have a think about all the assumptions and preconceived notions you've been carrying around about poverty and try to be less of a terrible human. Maybe if enough of us get on the bandwagon, we can be less pretentious and ridiculous about helping people who are simply trying to help themselves. 

The Last Duel: Medieval #MeToo

I was cautiously optimistic heading into The Last Duel, because there were a number of reasons this movie was going to work for me. I left the theater satisfied, knowing that while it wasn't a perfect movie, it still hit some of my cinematic sweet spots. Let me count the ways.

1. The script. One of my absolute favorite narrative devices in TV and film is a Rashomon-style story where you see the same tale being told from the perspectives of different characters. Based on the true events depicted in the book of the same name by Eric Jager, this movie is set in medieval France and tells the story of Lady Marguerite (Jodie Comer), who is married to Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), and accuses his friend Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) of raping her. In three separate "chapters" we get each person's perspective on the events leading up to the assault, and it's an intricate and insightful look at how people view their own actions versus the actions of others, and can end up telling themselves different versions of the "truth." Matt Damon and Ben Affleck initially started writing this script themselves but thankfully realized they would need to bring a woman on board to tell Marguerite's story. So Nicole Holofcener rounds out the trio of screenwriters and you can feel her presence throughout this film whenever there's any commentary to be made about a woman's plight in the world. Which brings me to...

2. Gender politics. This movie is not subtle about its feminism. In ways that are sometimes a little grating, but given the times we live in, it seems like we can never over-emphasize the importance of women having their own autonomy. Needless to say, by the time we get to Marguerite's side of the story, you're going to have a pretty good idea of how this whole thing is going to go. Her chapter has much to say about how men are so oblivious about the way they view themselves in relation to the women in their lives, and believe they are the heroes, when they are so often the villains. There is nothing I find more disturbing in a movie than a rape scene, and in this film we get two. I was fascinated by all the subtleties between the two scenes: did Marguerite slip off her shoes or lose them while she was running away? Did she hold the bedroom door open or try to slam it shut? Did she scream for her servants once or twice? Did she protest mildly or vociferously? These two scenes aren't all that different, but those nuances are what build a damning case about what is the truth and what is a fantasy. And thanks to that Jodie Comer performance, Marguerite's perspective is searing and unrelenting.

3. The actors. Hands down, Jodie Comer is the best thing about this film. Of course, we then also have Damon and Driver who are no slouches. But unlike Comer, their accent work was quite abominable, with the two of them sounding increasingly American as the movie wore on. Also, the accents they were meant to have were British, which still makes no sense for a movie set in France, but that's Hollywood for you. Interestingly, the male actor that surprised me the most was Ben Affleck, who has a supporting role as Count Pierre. He kept that British accent going throughout, and served almost as comic relief, which was very entertaining in an otherwise heavy film. I don't know if he and Damon initially thought they were going to co-lead with Comer, but it was a wise decision on his part to take this role instead. Damon and Driver are perfect foils for each other, and as you watch their perspectives unfold, their "friendship" increasingly devolves into a petty, ugly thing, that culminates in the ultimate act of aggression.

Obviously, I think you should watch The Last Duel. Directed by Ridley Scott, it has a very Gladiator feel to it, with great care paid to production design. There's also a lot of attention paid to the costumes and armor being worn by these characters, and the elaborate hairstyles are also wondrous. However, this movie can get very anachronistic in terms of its tone and language. Having just read Matrix by Lauren Groff, a book that is meticulously researched and set in a similar time period, I did find the dialogue to be at times jarring. Forgive me if I don't buy that a fourteenth-century French knight would say "I'm broke" when discussing his finances. But I am not a medieval historian, so I'm willing to forgo those details in service of the larger story, which is compellingly told. You may not have heard of Lady Marguerite de Carrouges before this movie, but you won't forget her afterwards.

Fantastical Films: Dune & The French Dispatch

What do Dune and The French Dispatch have in common? They are both tropey fantasies that star Timothee Chalamet. I liked one and not the other, but depending on your temperament, you could easily like the other and not the one. Read on to get all the answers you seek.

Dune: Based on the novel by Frank Herbert, this is a classic science fiction fantasy about the young man who is destined to save the universe (Chalamet, natch) and all the machinations afoot to make him understand his place in the great world order. There is a ton of world-building as you need to understand the history of the planet Arrakis, which is a desert where the Empire mines a mystical substance known as “spice” that is critical to space travel. In classic human fashion, the people of Arrakis have been subjugated and ruled over by tyrants who exploited the spice trade for their own gain, but now the Emperor has declared that House Atreides will take over. Duke Leto (the beautiful Oscar Isaac) is the head of House Atreides, alongside his concubine, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), and son, Paul (Chalamet). The Duke plans on being a benevolent ruler but is well aware of all the political entanglements he will face.

Adapted for the screen by Jon Spaihts, Eric Roth, and director, Denis Villeneuve, this movie does a great job of setting up all the random families, planets, and magical powers without having someone talk at you with a list of rules for an hour. I quite enjoyed the subtle (and not-so-subtle) narrative devices employed to deliver all this exposition. But mostly, just let this movie wash over you. You’ve seen all of this before, and it feels very Star Wars. The joy is in the production and costume design and getting to watch a bunch of people run around a desert for two and a half hours. Plus, if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere and starting to get chilly, you could stand to spend some time staring at a scorching desert and vicariously baking in the warmth reflected on the big screen.

Dune is a popcorn movie. It’s not cerebral, but it’s very entertaining, with a classic Hans Zimmer score that is designed to keep you awake (or give you a headache). The actors are all having fun (though I could have definitely used more Jason Momoa and Zendaya), the sets are all spectacular, and just don’t think about it too much OK? Go be entertained, and if the dialogue is periodically unintelligible, stare at the billowy costumes for a bit and soothe yourself. Sometimes, that is the best thing you can get at the movies, and Dune fully delivers on some mindless escapism. 

The French Dispatch: I like Wes Anderson. But when I saw the trailer for this movie, I thought this might be too much Wes Anderson for me to take. And having now watched the movie, I was correct. This is the twee-est film he has created to date, and also seems to firmly establish the fact that he is just doing his own thing and either you’re in or you’re out. Sadly, I was out. But if you’re a die-hard fan (you know who you are), go ahead and lap this up with a spoon. I do not begrudge you your joy.

If you’re on the fence, here are the basics. The movie is framed as the final farewell issue of a magazine called The French Dispatch, which serves as the foreign outpost of a fictional American newspaper called the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun. What follows are a series of vignettes, which represent the articles in this issue, and serve as a not-so thinly veiled homage to The New Yorker. So Anderson gets to tell a bunch of different stories set in France about a motley crew of characters, comprised of the world’s wildest cast, including Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Benicio del Toro, Saoirse Ronan, Chalamet, Lea Seydoux, and dozens more. Seriously, if I had to name them all we would be here all night. Also, some of them are meant to be American, but the ones who are meant to be French are still doing their own accents, so YOLO.

This format means Anderson doesn't have to concern himself about plot as much and can be as stylistic as possible with his actors, sets, costumes, and dialogue. Half of the movie is also in black-and-white, with scenes occasionally being suffused in color so you can remind yourself of how much beauty goes into every frame of an Anderson picture, before he snuffs the color out again. I kept perking up at how pretty things looked but then had to settle back down when they went back to grayscale. There was a lot of interminably rambly dialogue and voiceover that had lofty ambitions of being meaningful and instead just bored me to tears. This movie was emphatically not made for me, but it is certainly visually arresting if that's your jam, and has the expected twinkly soundtrack that one expects of any Anderson movie. So try it if you're curious, but stay away if you already know that your mileage may vary. I suspect that for a lot of regular moviegoers, this movie is going to be way too cute to take your fancy.