March Movies Part 2: Project Hail Mary & Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

To finish out the month, I saw two movies I had been hotly anticipating, and they both did not disappoint. Whether you're looking for uplifting apocalyptic sci-fi or hilarious apocalyptic horror, I've got you covered.

Project Hail Mary: Adapted by Drew Goddard from the 2021 novel by Andy Weir, and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, this movie is a perfect example of how book-to-screen adaptations should be filmed. I saw it with members of my book club because we just read this novel in January, and while yes, we noticed some minor things that were missing from the book, we certainly didn't think any of it mattered. Instead, I was astonished at what a faithful adaptation this was, and how adeptly it managed to convey all the science and logic of Weir's novel with cinematic flourish and aplomb. The first five minutes of this movie manage to convey information and action that take up fifty pages of the book, and I was incredibly impressed with the filmmakers' ability to condense this novel while still capturing its essence.

Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a man who wakes up from a coma in unfamiliar surroundings and gradually pieces together that he is on board a spacecraft that is in a completely different solar system from Earth. He has retrograde amnesia but keeps flashing back to memories of his life back on Earth to help him piece together who he is and what his mission is supposed to be. Turns out he was a middle-school science teacher and former academic biologist. Scientists discovered the Sun was dimming, which would lead to catastrophic consequences for all of humanity. This led to a global scientific push to investigate the phenomenon and come up with a solution. They discover that a microorganism called astrophage was eating away at the Sun and growing exponentially. Grace was recruited by a woman named Eva Stratt (Sandra Huller) to help study astrophage, and eventually, Project Hail Mary was born, a long-shot mission to study a distant star in another solar system, that seems to be infected by astrophage but is somehow not dimming like the Sun. 

You'll have to watch the movie to find out how Grace ended up on the mission, and of course, the piece de resistance of this whole tale, how he runs into an alien, Rocky (voiced and puppeteered by James Ortiz and a team of four other puppeteers), who is on the exact same mission for his people to investigate this non-dimming star and maybe help save his planet from extinction. They got the character of Rocky exactly right, and the friendship that blossoms between him and Grace is just as perfect as it is in the book.

I was a huge fan of the novel, but many members of my book club were turned off by the amount of hard science it contained. As such, this movie is perfect for folks who don't want to read all of that but still want to experience this moving, profound, and absolutely rollicking story for themselves. It has so much plot, so much heart, and the cinematography and visual effects are absolutely stunning. The actors are truly excellent (who could ever get tired of watching Ryan Gosling be both earnest and funny in space?) and the movie is Hollywood at its cinematic best. Head for this mission: it's unlike anything you've ever seen before.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come: I was a huge fan of the original Ready or Not that came out in 2019, so when I heard there was a sequel, again written by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy and directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, I knew there was no way I would miss it. The action of this film picks up exactly where we left off, and what follows is another bloody and funny horror movie, now with two plucky heroines instead of just one. What could be better?

Samara Weaving is back as Grace, a woman who married a very wealthy man, but discovered on her wedding day in the last movie that he is part of an insane family that worships the devil. She had to play a game of Hide and Seek where every family member would try to kill her before dawn, but if she survived, they would all explode in gory and spectacular fashion. So, she survived, but as this movie begins, she is in the hospital and on the verge of being arrested, because the police who showed up at the house of horrors naturally assume she is responsible for murdering all the bodies inside while she sat outside on the steps in her bloody wedding dress. Her estranged sister, Faith (Kathryn Newton) shows up at the hospital because she was still her emergency contact. Unfortunately, Grace's in-laws were not the only crazy family involved in this whole situation. They're part of a syndicate of wealthy devil-worshipping families who basically run the world. And by winning Hide and Seek, Grace has triggered a rare clause in their bylaws that means that now she and her sister will be hunted by members of all the important families in a second round of the game. If she survives till dawn, she gets to take her place among them and help to rule the world. Sweet deal, right?

It's a bonkers premise, sure, but it's executed to perfection. The cast now features folks like Elijah Wood, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nestor Carbonell, and many others, including Shawn Hatosy who is playing a rather insane character in stark contrast to his most recent role as Dr. Jack Abbot on The Pitt. And of course, our leading ladies are stellar, playing two women who have a lot of childhood trauma that they now have to somehow resolve at the same time as they are desperately trying to not get murdered. As you do. It's all very silly but very fun and if comedy horrors are your jam, this is one of the best you could experience. 

March Movies Part 1: How to Make a Killing & Hoppers

I headed back to the movie theatre and watched two very different movies this month. One is a murderous comedy that's strictly for adults, while the other is a sweet animated film that is appropriate for all ages. What are you in the mood for?

How to Make a Killing: Written and directed by John Patton Ford (who was inspired by the 1949 film, Kind Hearts and Coronets), Glen Powell stars as Becket, a young man whose mother was disowned by her eye-wateringly rich family after she slept with an unsuitable man and then insisted on keeping the baby. When the unsuitable man died, she became a single mother, who did the best she could to provide for little Becket, with absolutely no contact from any member of her family. After she died, he scrambled to make ends meet, but was then reminded that even though his mother was disowned by her family, the irrevocable nature of the family trust meant they couldn't actually disinherit her or her descendants. Which means that he could inherit a huge pile of money...provided all the other heirs in line before him were to die. I assume you can see where this is going.

When the first murder goes much more easily than he expected, Becket starts to think that maybe he could genuinely pull off this crazy scheme. Margaret Qualley stars as a femme fatale childhood friend who is the demon on his shoulder, egging him on, while Jessia Henwick stars as a new love interest who makes him want to be a better man. But murder is like a can of Pringles - one you pop, you just can't stop. While lightly comic throughout, the final tone of this movie is decidedly more ambiguous. But it's an entertaining ride, and if you enjoy that Glen Powell charisma, this movie will let you bathe in it for a crisp 105 minutes. Sometimes, that's all you want at the movies.

Hoppers: Pixar is back and better than ever. Written by Jesse Andrews and directed by Daniel Chong, this movie follows Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Piper Curda), a young girl who loves animals, but is furious that the adults around her seem to be so callous to their needs. Her grandmother is the only person who seems to understand, and together, they spent a lot of time at a local glade, quietly observing the pond life, listening to the sounds of Nature, and enjoying the contentment of that serene place. Her grandmother eventually dies, but Mabel always remembers her fondly, and as she enters into college, she continues to be a passionate advocate for Nature. Which means she frequently butts heads with Jerry Generazzo (Jon Hamm), the local mayor whose passion project is to build a beltway that will help to reduce commutes by four whole minutes! And where will a portion of that beltway cut through? The glade, of course.

Mabel is naturally indignant and determined to save her beloved glade. But the only way to do so is to re-introduce animal life into the area, since they have all mysteriously disappeared. She discovers that one of her college professors has developed "hopping" technology, that allows users to jump into a very life-life robot replica of an animal and then interact directly with animals. So, Mabel "hops" into a beaver, and sets off to convince animals to return to the glade and help her defeat Jerry.

I've barely scratched the surface here - the plot is so deliciously twisty and inventive that you really need to experience it for yourself. And like any great Pixar film, while there are cute animals and gorgeous animation to satisfy kids, there are a lot of poignant observations about seeking meaning in your life, having to regulate your emotions, and the dangers of end-stage capitalism, to make it very resonant for adults. I didn't bawl during this film, but tears definitely threatened to make an appearance at various stages. This is such a sweet, funny, and captivating movie - hop to it!

March Binges: The 'Burbs & How to Get to Heaven from Belfast

A lot of new shows have popped up recently and I've been trying to watch them all. In today's installment, I've got some recommendations if you need some silly comedies with a side of dark murder mystery. Get ready for some chuckles and major tonal shifts!

The 'Burbs: First off, this show stars Keke Palmer, so how could you go wrong? Create by Celeste Hughey and based off the 1989 movie starring Tom Hanks (that I vaguely remember watching but have no memory of), Palmer and Jack Whitehall (again, how could you resist?) play Samira and Rob, a couple that have newly moved into the idyllic suburb of Hinkley Hills. Rob grew up here, and he and Samira have now moved into his childhood home after his parents decided to retire on a cruise ship. They are city folk, but they just had a baby, so obviously, a move to suburbia and a good school district felt inevitable. Initially, Samira is going a little stir crazy at home with the baby, still on maternity leave and missing the intellectual stimulation of being a high-powered attorney. But she starts to befriend the kooky neighbors (a supporting cast that includes the likes of Paula Pell, Mark Proksch, and Julia Duffy) and begins to feel more like a part of the community. Which all comes crashing down when a mysterious man named Gary (Justin Kirk) moves into the creepy Victorian mansion on the corner and seems like he's up to no good.

The first season is only eight episodes so just let it wash over you. There's a mystery about a girl who disappeared from the Victorian mansion many years ago, who happened to be childhood best friends with Rob and his other best friend Naveen (Kapil Talwalkar). They are being awfully sus about the whole thing, so that piques Samira's interest. And of course, there's a lot of discussions of NIMBY'ism and racism with Samira being one of the few people of color in the cul-de-sac. It's all very refreshing and funny, with a genuinely intriguing mystery that you get to follow along until the end of the season. These actors are having a lot of fun, and the show is a great binge, so hop to it!

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast: This show is created by Lisa McGee, who created Derry Girls, so that was the vibe I was expecting. However, turns out this show is much more like Bad Sisters. So be aware of that before you sign up for some Irish crime comedy-drama in your life. We follow Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara (Roisin Gallagher, Sinead Keenan, and Caoilfhionn Dunne), three close friends who were all in school together as children. There was a fourth member of their group, Greta (Natasha O'Keeffe), and the unifying incident that kicks off this series is her...death. The three friends show up to her wake but quickly piece together that the circumstances surrounding this death are extremely odd. Things just snowball from there.

I'm not going to pretend I understood what was going on during this show most of the time. It is quite chaotic and while it's a comedy, it's an extremely dark one, with a lot of murder and mayhem at every turn. But, like Derry Girls, this show has a phenomenal soundtrack that really transported me to my childhood listening to the UK Top 40, and the leading ladies were just wild and entertaining enough to keep me engaged for all eight episodes. I can promise this show won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you like to watch women being silly and solving mysteries despite being slightly incompetent, this might be exactly the thing you end up watching on a lazy afternoon.

And the 2026 Oscar Goes To...

I must say, I'm hard-pressed to feel much excitement for most of the Oscar-nominated movies this year. They were a showcase of immense talent and technical expertise, but my heart simply couldn't get emotionally invested in a lot of these films. But, as is tradition, below are my thoughts on what I would pick if I were an Academy voter. If you disagree, let's fight about it in the comments!

Best Picture: Obviously, I'm going with Sinners here. Of the ten nominated films, this is the only movie that was technically brilliant, but also weird, original, and a cinematic treat from start to finish. It was a reminder of what moviemaking is supposed to be all about and why people go to the movies. It was a genre-defying crowdpleaser that still had extremely deep and impactful things to say, and shouldn't that earn a Best Picture Oscar? Unfortunately, the favorite is probably One Battle After Another, a movie that has some grand moments, but was an absolute slog as far as I was concerned. My difficulty with Paul Thomas Anderson's movies has been long documented on this blog, so let's not belabor the point any further. If I had to pick a runner-up for the award, I would go with Hamnet, a beautiful and lush adaptation that features some exquisite acting, but still managed to leave me a little cold at the end. I know I'm in the minority there, and I'd love nothing more for this little film about a strong, grieving mother to beat out the bombastic movie about an incompetent father, but sadly, the world does not revolve around my desires. Of the two foreign movies nominated in this category, I certainly would pick Sentimental Value over The Secret Agent, but I don't have much love lost over either of those films. Honestly, the Foreign Film I loved most this year was It Was Just an Accident, and I highly recommend you watch that before you watch these other two films. Of the weirder films, we've got Frankenstein and Bugonia, directed by men who certainly have a very distinctive vision. I loved Frankenstein, but not enough to give it an Oscar, while Bugonia was a fun time at the theater, but again, just a little too bizarre towards the end to warrant an award. Train Dreams is quiet, beautiful, but ultimately dull, while Marty Supreme is loud, brash, and ultimately overstays its welcome. And finally, we have F1, the obligatory, "let's nominate something people actually watched!" pick. It was a fun time, and I felt like I was racing along the track with the drivers, but did I give this movie another thought after I left the theater? Nope. So, what would I have nominated instead? Sorry, Baby and Rental Family. Now those are movies that made me tear up and chuckle and were genuinely surprising and unique and wonderful. And how about Wake Up Dead Man or Highest 2 Lowest instead of F1 if we're awarding brilliantly directed audience favorites that promise a great time at the movies? Basically, I've established that I'm starved for original screenplays that tug at my heartstrings. Hopefully 2026 will have better offerings!

Best Director: Can we please give this to Ryan Coogler for Sinners? The DGA award was unfortunately given to my arch nemesis Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another, so my hopes are low, but I shall continue to hope, because that's how I roll. And if Coogler doesn't get it, I would give it to the only woman nominated, Chloe Zhao for Hamnet. Joachim Trier is on my list of "auteurs" who make indulgent movies I don't vibe with, so I'm not awarding him for Sentimental Value. And Josh Safdie did a fine job with Marty Supreme, but he needs to get better with the editing and less precious with his material if he doesn't want to fall into my over-indulgent auteurs hit list.

Best Actress: This seems to be Jessie Buckley's to lose, and her powerful performance in Hamnet certainly deserves it; I don't begrudge her after all the phenomenal work she has put in over the years. Emma Stone already has two Oscars, so she doesn't need another for going bald in Bugonia. Kate Hudson did some wonderful work in Song Sung Blue but this is a "she's just lucky to be nominated" performance considering her competition. Renate Reinsve is an Academy darling who will probably win an Oscar soon, but this year she should just be happy to be nominated for Sentimental Value. Which leaves me with my sentimental favorite, Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. That is a harrowing movie I will never watch again, but my God she delivers a performance of a lifetime. I hope she gets the chance to showcase her talent like this again so she can be the one walking away with an Oscar in another year. 

Best Actor: Now this category presents a bit of a challenge for me. Michael B. Jordan played twins in Sinners, so surely, he deserves an award for doing double the work of the other nominees and looking fine while he was doing it? I like Wagner Moura, but I did not like The Secret Agent so I'm not giving him an Oscar for that performance. And Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't need another Oscar, and certainly not for One Battle After Another. Which leaves us with Timothee Chalamet for his visceral performance in Marty Supreme, and Ethan Hawke for his impeccably commanding performance in Blue Moon. Listen, I can't begrudge Timmy C. who has been chasing this Oscar for years (though his frontrunner status has certainly faded in recent weeks after Jordan won the Actor Award and Timmy is being derided for his unfortunate comments about ballet and opera), but how on earth does Hawke not have an Oscar already?! I have such a soft spot for Ethan Hawke, who has been delivering standout performances for years, so he's the one I would secretly give an award to. But c'mon Michael B. Let's give you your award at last!

Best Supporting Actress: Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas are both nominated for Sentimental Value. Both actresses are great, but they're not going to win the award. Amy Madigan was so brilliant and creepy in Weapons that a little part of my heart wants to secretly root for her. But Wunmi Mosaku was so fantastic in Sinners that I am more openly rooting for her. And I love Teyana Taylor with all my heart, but I don't think she had enough to do in One Battle After Another for me to give her an Oscar here. So again, rooting for Sinners, and against One Battle After Another or Sentimental Value. Are we sensing a theme?

Best Supporting Actor: Delroy Lindo's nomination for Sinners is finally his chance to win an Oscar after decades of delivering incredible performances. So, I'm wholeheartedly in the tank for him. Am I rooting for Sean Penn or Benicio del Toro's performances in One Battle After Another? Nope. How about Stellan Skarsgard in Sentimental Value? Nope! Which leaves us with Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein, a performance I did really love. But Elordi will have plenty of chances to win an Oscar later in his career, so he needs to sit down and let Lindo take the stage. 

Best Original Screenplay: This is a really interesting one because original stories are so few and far between these days that I genuinely would root for all of these scripts to win (except Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt for Sentimental Value, of course). The WGA just awarded Ryan Coogler for Sinners, so that seems to be the likely favorite. I'm rooting for him, for writing the truly genre-bending original script of Sinners. But I did love Robert Kaplow's tour-de-force script for Blue Moon, as well as the very surprising It Was Just an Accident, where writer-director Jafar Panahi manages to walk this delicate tightrope of comedy and drama that was a real joy to watch. Given everything Iran is going through right now, would it be wonderful to give Panahi this award? Yes. But does Coogler deserve his flowers? Of course.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson won the WGA award for One Battle After Another...blergh. I'm rooting for Chloe Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell for Hamnet, who managed to turn that very literary novel into a dazzling cinematic spectacle. Frankenstein was gorgeous, but the script was not particularly novel, Bugonia was too odd, Train Dreams was too boring. Fin.

Apart from these categories, I will be rooting for Ludwig Goransson to win Best Original Score for Sinners, and KPop Demon Hunters for Best Animated Film, with "Golden" winning Best Original Song. This will be the first year there will be an Oscar for Best Casting, so I'll root for Sinners to set a precedent for excellence in that category. Frankly, I might be most excited for Best Live Action Short Film, where a VERY silly and hilarious movie named Jane Austen's Period Drama is nominated. But boy I hope there are some upsets or incredible speeches during the ceremony. Otherwise, I'm not going to be very invested in any of it this year.