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.