January Movies Part 1: Maria, Nightbitch, Juror #2

Happy New Year! January has rolled around and awards season is in full swing so I shall continue to watch all the things that have a hope of being nominated. Here are some reviews of some contenders.

Maria: Written by Steven Knight and directed by Pablo Larrain, this film completes Larrain's trilogy of notable 20th-century women that includes Jackie and Spencer. In this film, we get a biopic of renowned opera singer Maria Callas (played by Angelina Jolie), a woman who had a voice that was famous around the world. We meet her a week before her death, and the film then proceeds with a series of flashbacks highlighting key moments in Maria's life, including her impoverished childhood and subsequent rise to stardom because of her prodigious talent. Eventually, she was hobnobbing with the rich and famous, even becoming Aristotle Onassis's mistress (before and after his marriage to Jackie, so the Pablo Larrain Cinematic Universe really comes together). 

This movie is...fine. I loved Larrain's other films so I'm a little surprise by my lukewarm reaction to this one, but it struck me as being the most humdrum and "biopic-y" of the trilogy. It didn't seem to have much to say about its subject, and also it leaned on her singing as a crutch, always cutting to a performance from the past and interspersing it with the present when Maria has lost her voice and can't sing as beautifully anymore. There's only so many times I can watch that gimmick in one movie, you know? I also cannot stand opera, so perhaps I was too biased going into this film. I have previously always loved the scores in Larrain's movies and think they do a tremendous amount of scene setting, so perhaps if you are an opera afficionado, this movie has a lot more to offer you. Unfortunately, this movie could not win me over, and while Jolie does do her best with the material, she is quite obviously lip synching for the majority of the film and it all felt a bit unnecessary. Ultimately, I didn't need this tale of another tragic woman that people forgot once she couldn't give them what they wanted anymore. It's a tale as old as time.

Nightbitch: Written and directed by Marielle Heller, based on the novel by Rachel Yoder, this is certainly a fresh tale about the horrors of motherhood and the gender dynamics at play when you become a parent. I am famously childfree, and this movie does a great job of explaining exactly why that is my stance. Amy Adams plays an unnamed woman, the Mother (duh), a woman who was an artist but gave it all up to be a stay-at-home mother to her two-year-old son. Her husband (Scoot McNairy) travels a lot for work, so she usually feels like a single parent, stuck at home with her toddler, trying to keep him amused at Book Babies and Toddler Yoga, and all the other distractions, while internally she just wants to scream. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but what is novel is that suddenly, she starts turning into a dog.

Yup, I said it. It's hard to explain, so you'll just have to watch for yourself, but the metaphor is essentially that motherhood turns you into a wild animal and you have no time for niceties because you're just so consumed with the basic needs of staying alive and protecting your young. This is a movie about exalting mothers and all the shit they put up with, particularly in a patriarchal society like the United States where families don't get enough parental leave and have extremely limited childcare options which may not even be affordable when they are available. And also, where your husband can get away with doing absolutely nothing around the house or acting really put-upon when he does have to take care of his kid for a day. If you are a mother, this movie might be an excellent one to watch with your partner and then have a serious discussion about whether your household has an equitable division of labor. If you are NOT a mother, however, please do watch this movie as a reminder of how much goddamn work it is to take care of a child and whether or not this is something you genuinely want to take on in your life. Even if you are so economically privileged as to stay at home with your child while your partner works, this movie serves as a reminder that children are exhausting, and being a mother only results in losing your whole identity. Unless you turn into a Nightbitch.

Juror #2: Written by Jonathan Abrams and directed by Client Eastwood, this is a perfectly middling courtroom drama that is worth a watch on the couch if that genre is of particular interest to you. Nicholas Hoult stars as Justin, a man who is called into jury duty and then is selected for a homicide trial. However, once the trial is underway, Justin realizes he is in possession of information that could exonerate the defendant. Justin can't share this information, however, because it would put him in trouble instead. Oops.

What follows is a twisty little tale, very reminiscent of Twelve Angry Men, where you have Justin as the one juror who says "Not Guilty!" and must then try and convince his peers that the prosecution don't have enough evidence and the defendant could potentially be innocent. The prosecutor (Toni Collette), is an ambitious woman running to become the state's district attorney, while the public defender (Chris Messina), is convinced his client is innocent, but has no way to prove it. You will scoff at a lot of what's happening because it's all very Hollywood and nothing that would be allowed in real life, but hey, that's why we watch the movies right? The actors are doing fine work, but the script is hokey as hell, and honestly, the ending is a bit of a cop out. But if you enjoy this kind of drama with high stakes and genuine suspense until the very end, this is a perfectly acceptable way to spend two hours of your afternoon.

December Movies: Emilia Perez, A Complete Unknown, The Piano Lesson, Nosferatu, Babygirl

New movies have been pouring into the theaters, and onto Netflix, so I’ve been desperately catching up, since many of them are also slated to get some love during awards season. As the year winds down, dive into these films as a last hurrah to 2024!

Emilia Perez: Written and directed by Jacques Audiard, based on his own opera libretto that was loosely based on the novel Ecoute by Boris Razon, this is a very bizarre but compelling movie about a trans Mexican cartel leader named Juan "Manitas" Del Monte (played by Karla Sofia Gascon), who needs to ensure her wife (played by Selena Gomez) and children are taken care of after she receives gender-affirming surgery and starts a new life. She hires/kidnaps Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldana), a lawyer who is brilliant but has never gotten the chance to exercise her brilliance in court. Rita is initially skeptical but then agrees to take on the work of helping Manitas find the right doctor and set all the wheels into motion so that she can live as her authentic self while ensuring her family is safe. Post-transition, Manitas is now Emilia, and while she thought she could just be happy on her own as a woman, she realizes she needs something more and asks Rita to help her once again. Oh also, this entire movie is a musical, with characters constantly breaking into song, in various languages. Tonally, it’s a wild ride, but the three main actresses are delivering outstanding performances, and the plot is so twisty and engaging that I was riveted throughout. It’s a movie that’s well worth streaming because it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen before. It’s weird, but it’s quite good, and isn’t that what we all aspire to be?

A Complete Unknown: Directed by James Mangold, off a script he wrote with Jay Cocks, based on the book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald, this is a perfectly serviceable biopic that follows Bob Dylan (Timothee Chalamet) from the time he arrived in New York City in 1961 to the infamous Newport Folk Festival in 1965, when he shocked the world by playing with electric instruments. Along the way, we see the evolution of his relationship with his mentor Pete Seeger (played with a Mr. Rogers-esque kindness by Edward Norton), his romance with steadfast girlfriend Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning, playing Dylan's actual girlfriend Suze Rotolo, but Dylan requested the film not use her real name) and the tempestuous musical/romantic relationship with Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro, singing her beautiful heart out). It’s all very typical for a biopic, a genius man and his music, who has no time to be treating the women in his life well when he has all these songs to write. Blah blah. Chalamet’s performance is the truly extraordinary piece of this film, as he sings and plays guitar and harmonica, and does the world’s best Dylan impression. Give him the Oscar already. The film is 50% music, and not just Dylan’s, but a lot of Baez’s work too, which Monica Barbaro brilliantly performs and deserves her own Supporting Actor Oscar for. This movie is definitely worth it for the music and performances, but don’t go into it expecting any great revelations beyond the standard biopic fare.

The Piano Lesson: Directed by Malcolm Washington, who wrote the screenplay with Virgil Williams, adapting it from August Wilson’s play, this is the story of a piano that is sitting in the living room of a woman named Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler), and what happens when her brother, Boy Willie (John David Washington) travels up to her house to get this piano with the aim of selling it so he can buy the Mississippi farmland where their ancestors were previously enslaved. This piano has a lot of history, some of which is literally carved into its woodwork, and as the movie progresses, we slowly get the story of what this piano has been through, and also, what the members of this family have been through. Set in 1936, this is a classic tale of the African American experience on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line, and the poverty, racism, and fear, that keep impacting future generations of Black folk as they try to go about their lives. It’s also a ghost story, so be prepared for some fantastical elements you may not have necessarily expected. While Deadwyler delivers a great performance, I found it hard to really get into this film - given its play origins, it was ultimately too talky and not very cinematically compelling. I have yet to see John David Washington convince me that he’s a leading man, so again, I’d say this is a competent film, that continues Denzel Washington’s valiant plan to bring all of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle plays to the screen for a wider audience. But this particular story did not grip me as much as Fences or Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, so maybe you're better off re-watching those films.

Nosferatu: Directed by Robert Eggers, who wrote the screenplay with inspiration from the 1922 silent film of the same name and Bram Stoker's Dracula, this is your standard vampire movie about a maniacal vampire who desires a woman (in this case, Ellen, played by Lily-Rose Depp), and must therefore wreak absolute havoc on a bunch of people is his diabolical quest to get laid. Can you tell I was not the target demographic? As always, Eggers is brilliant with his artistic vision, with breathtaking production design from Craig Lathrop, costumes by Linda Muir, and cinematography from Jarin Blaschke. And I legitimately had no idea Bill Skarsgard was the one playing Nosferatu, he is so creepy and vile throughout. Nicholas Hoult is great as Thomas, Ellen’s husband who is lured to do the vampire's bidding and then must fight him to try and save his wife. But ugh, I simply did not care. It all felt like a very elaborate plot that amounted to the same old, patriarchal nonsense where a woman must suffer so the rest of us can live, and everyone is being punished for being lusty, and yada yada yada. It’s all very well done, and if you love horror movies and vampires please run to the theater. But if you suspect this is not the kind of genre film that is your jam, then I am here to tell you, you are right, there is nothing novel here that will make it your jam.

Babygirl: Written and directed by Halina Reijn, this is a deeply weird but oddly compelling film, thanks to the central performance by Nicole Kidman. She plays Romy Mathis, a brilliant and successful CEO, who is married to a dashing theater director named Jacob (Antonio Banderas) and has two nice children. Her life is all perfect on the outside, but of course, all is not well on the inside. Because in 19 years of marriage, Romy has never had an orgasm with her husband and instead has to rely on porn to get off when he’s asleep. Well now, her company has hired a young intern named Samuel (Harris Dickinson), and Romy is irresistibly pulled into an erotic liaison with him, exploring the submissive power dynamic she has never been able to share with her husband. The theater I was in was filled with people who kept laughing at the sex scenes and outlandish bits of dialogue, so I suppose you could treat this as a comedy. But really, it’s just an erotic thriller, and Kidman delivers a knockout performance. The way she portrays Romy's vulnerability and constant need to hide herself and deny her urges is wondrous, and it’s equally wondrous to see her suffering behind the icy facade she has to put on for her family and colleagues outside of the bedroom. Harris Dickinson also continues to be eminently watchable on screen, being thoroughly creepy and hot and indecipherable all at once. And special shout-out to the score by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, which was truly one of the most engaging parts of the film. This movie is well worth a watch, even if it's hard to find it compelling these days to watch another rich white woman having a breakdown. In this case though, the breakdown is masterfully portrayed.

December Binges Part 2: Interior Chinatown, The Madness, No Good Deed

It's getting colder so why bother leaving the house when your TV beckons with so much entertainment? We just got our first snowfall in NYC and I'm planning on hunkering down on the couch with a cup of cocoa as the Arctic winds rage outside. If you have similar plans, consider the following three shows to hunker down with!

Interior Chinatown: I was a big fan of the novel by Charles Yu, but now he has translated that book into this twisty and extremely meta ten-part series. Jimmy O. Yang stars as Willis Wu, an unassuming Chinese waiter who works in his uncle's restaurant in Chinatown, alongside his best friend Fatty (Ronny Chieng, playing a typically Ronny Chieng character). However, when some cops start investigating various crimes in the neighborhood, Willis is drawn into their investigations. He initially serves as a background character of this police procedural, but he then teams up with an Asian detective, Lana Lee (Chloe Bennet), who is also hustling as a supporting character in this show. As the two of them start to investigate the disappearance of Willis's brother, Johnny (Chris Pang), they further delve into what exactly is going on with their lives and what it takes for minorities to get to star in their own show.

I know that description may not make much sense, but believe me, you'll get it once you start watching this show. It serves as a meta commentary on television and who gets to be a leading actor, as well as what types of stories are allowed to air. It is confounding and perplexing at times, but if you don't think too hard about it, it's a thoroughly enjoyable ride and Yang is doing some great work as a leading man. And special shout-out to Diana Lin who plays Willis's mother and probably does the most affecting work on the series. It's an intriguing and fun show that will lead to plenty of discussion after you're done watching.

The Madness: Created by Stephen Belber, this is a show about what happens when a news anchor named Muncie Daniels (the brilliant Colman Domingo) is on vacation and then discovers the murdered corpse of his neighbor. C'mon, doesn't that rope you right in? What follows is a classic man-on-the-run thriller, almost a throwback to the 70s and 80s, where you have one lone man fighting the system as multiple conspiracies and shadowy figures abound. Except this show is firmly rooted in 2024 where a Black man goes to the police to report a crime and then has to go on the run himself as he is framed for the murder and becomes the prime suspect. Sigh.

With stalwart support from actors like Marsha Stephanie Blake, John Ortiz, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Deon Cole, and even Bradley freakin' Whitford, you will spend eight twisty episodes delving into all sorts of topics like white supremacist groups and corrupt billionaires, as well as watching Muncie try to mend various relationships and discover who he can truly count on. The story is definitely convoluted but overall, this is a pulpy engaging show that keeps up a relentless pace until the very end.

No Good Deed: Created by Liz Feldman, who also gave us the fantastic Dead to Me, this is an intriguing and wonderful show with an absolutely stacked cast. Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano star as Paul and Lydia, a Los Angeles couple looking to sell their family home. You can sense there's some tension there, and maybe Lydia is not as into this sale as Paul, but as the series unfurls, you will start to get flashbacks and bits of story to clue you into what happened in this house and why selling it might be a good idea. In the meantime, we are also following the various potential buyers from the open house, who include actors like Linda Cardellini, Luke Wilson, O-T Fagbenle, and Abbi Jacobson. All of these people have their own stories and little secrets they're carrying around, and as the show progresses, we spend time with all of them to understand what they're hiding and what they're going to eventually reveal.

I'm not giving away any more plot because this show is a comedy mystery gem that also has a great deal of heart. It has genuinely tense and ridiculous moments, and then moments of great catharsis and warmth. It's a story about couples and families, and the things people do to protect their loved ones that can sometimes just lead to driving an even bigger wedge between them. And I promise, at the end, you will get a happy ending, with only the deserving villains receiving their appropriate comeuppance. It's beautifully written and well told, the perfect miniseries for the holidays. 

December Binges Part 1: Say Nothing, A Man on the Inside, The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh

As always, I have spent much time on the couch over the past month and have been catching up on a slew of streaming shows. If you’re hibernating this month, why not fire up one of these shows to keep you engaged?

Say Nothing: Created by Joshua Zetumer, based on the nonfiction book by Patrick Radden Keefe, this is a searing miniseries about the Troubles in Northern Ireland that spans the 1960s to the 90s. The series focuses on Dolours Price (Lola Petticrew/Maxine Peake) and her sister Marian (Hazel Doupe/Helen Behan), two young women who were initially pacifists who protested for peace, but who then joined the provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and tunred to a more violent path.

This is also a story about the Disappeared, people who were suspected of being informants and were secretly killed and buried by the IRA over the years; we specifically follow the story of a widow with ten children named Jean McConville, who was suddenly taken from her family and never seen again. And this is also a story about Gerry Adams, a man who led the IRA but then went on to become a politician and the president of Sinn Fein, who tried to broker a peace deal while claiming he was never a member of the IRA. 

These stories may seem disparate, but they are interwoven and culminate in tremendous fashion in the series finale. Over nine episodes, I was captivated by this show, on the edge of my seat to see what exactly would happen next. The series showcases the Belfast Project by Boston College, which helped former IRA members, like Dolours Price, record an oral history of what they had done, so every episode winds back and forth as you see the older version of these characters re-live their past in vivid flashbacks. It’s a masterful piece of television that outlines a dark and dangerous period of history and makes it feel urgent and relevant today. 

A Man on the Inside: If you don’t want drama but a comedy that will still make you periodically tear up, creator Michael Schur has you covered. In this show (based on the 2020 Oscar-nominated documentary, The Mole Agent), Ted Danson stars as Charles, a lonely man who decides to answer a classified ad that Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada)put in the paper. Julie runs a private detective agency and has a client who wants to investigate the retirement community his mother is in; her necklace is missing, and he thinks there’s a thief in her midst. Charles seems to be a perfect candidate to pose as a new retiree in this community, so Julie hires him, trains him up on how to be a spy, and sends him in.

The supporting cast includes Stephanie Beatriz as Didi, the extremely dedicated and competent woman who runs the community, and Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Charles' daughter, Emily, who is worried about her father, but somewhat relieved that he has found a hobby. As you can imagine, Charles is not a natural spy, and his first few days at the home are a bit of a disaster as he tries to figure out how to fit in with the residents without blowing his cover. But as the days go on, he starts to find his way with this motley crew and also starts to hone his spy craft (well kind of). 

This is a beautiful show that is about old folks and how much more they have going on in their lives than Hollywood ordinarily wants to acknowledge. It also reflects the very real challenges of growing older and the strain it can put on families as they try to navigate how best to take care of their elderly relatives. It's a very funny show and has an engaging mystery element, but it's also incredibly heartfelt and sweet, so keep a box of tissues handy at all times.

The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh: If you don't want to cry at all, then settle in for a typical American sitcom about a rather atypical family. Creator Vijal Patel gives us this show about a family that moved from India to Pennsylvania. But when we first meet them, they are being interviewed by two immigration officers who are trying to figure out who burned down their neighbors' house. What follows are eight episodes of interrogations where we get their story in flashbacks.

Sindhu Vee (a comedian I absolutely adore), plays Sudha (my mother's name!), a doctor who is mad at being uprooted to the US where no hospital will even accept her medical license. Naveen Andrews plays her husband Mahesh, a man filled with bright-eyed optimism about the land of opportunity, who has a SpaceX contract and thinks he's going to make it big by launching a rocket factory in PA. They have three children, Bhanu (Sahana Srinivasan), a very horny teenager who has her sights set on the hot boy next door (Nicholas Hamilton), Kamal (Arjun Sriram), a very neurotic teenager who has somehow developed an infatuation for the mother of the hot boy next door (Megan Hilty), and Vinod (Ashwin Sakthivel), a cheerful, upbeat kid who is obsessed with the garbage truck. 

This is definitely the broadest of comedies, but it contains fun jokes about white people and Americans and the challenges of fitting in as foreigners. There's plenty of material about Indian traditions and customs, but at the end of the day, this is a pretty standard sitcom that is easy to binge through in an afternoon. If you're Indian, you may enjoy it for the representation, and if you're not Indian, maybe you'll learn something?

Holiday Movie Watch: Hot Frosty, Our Little Secret, The Merry Gentlemen, Nutcrackers

'Tis the season! Once Thanksgiving was over, I began mainlining Christmas movies on streaming platforms. If you're ready for some thoroughly mindless entertainment to put you into the holiday spirit, let's jingle all the way!

Hot Frosty: This is the movie everyone's talking about. Directed by Jerry Ciccoritti and written by Russell Hainline, this movie stars Lacey Chabert as Kathy, a lonely widow who runs the cafe in her small town. She puts a scarf around a snowman that was made for a local competition, and lo and behold, later that night, the snowman magically comes alive. And this is no pot-bellied snowman with a carrot nose. This snowman is played by Dustin Milligan and has some chiseled abs. Is this high art? No. But is every actor committed to the silliness and having a whale of a time in this movie? You bet. The supporting cast includes Craig Robinson and Joe Lo Truglio as the local sheriffs who are looking to identify this mysterious man who has appeared in town, and yes, while initially the snowman has no idea what's going on and seems to be about as mature as a toddler, he thankfully has a real quick learning curve so it's not too icky when an inevitable romance begins to brew. Pour out a mug of hot chocolate and settle in, because this is the coziest movie you're gonna watch this week.

Our Little Secret: I 100% support Linday Lohan's pivot into becoming a Netflix romcom queen. In this film, directed by Stephen Herek and written by Hailey DeDominicis, Lohan plays Avery, a woman who is visiting her boyfriend Cameron's (Jon Rudnitsky) family over the holidays. Unfortunately, Cameron's sister, Cassie (Katie Baker) brings home her boyfriend, Logan (Ian Harding). Who is, of course, Avery's ex-boyfriend. Naturally, Avery and Logan decide not to tell anyone that they used to date, which leads to many shenanigans and ruses. And of course, they're not the only one in this house harboring a secret - everyone's got something to hide, and by the end, all will be revealed. It's absolutely charming, classic holiday fare, and I thoroughly enjoyed every second. Kristin Chenoweth also stars as Cameron's snarky mother who goes around blessing everyone's heart and being the mother-in-law of their nightmares. Almost every beat is predictable, though there was one twist towards the end that I absolutely did not see coming, so I offer that up as additional enticement. But otherwise, this is the perfect movie to be watching while you put up your tree and wrap presents. Fa la la la la!

The Merry Gentlemen: Do you love the holidays but wish they involved more topless male dancing? Well, this movie, directed by Peter Sullivan and written by Marla Sokoloff, has you covered! Britt Robertson stars as Ashley, a dancer in Manhattan (she is a "Jingle Belle" which is basically just an off-brand Rockette), who gets canned for being too old, and sadly heads back to her small town for Christmas. When she gets there, she finds out that the bar her parents' own is in trouble and needs a massive cash infusion if they want tohang on to it past the holidays. So naturally, Ashley decides the only solution is so stage an all-male revue and put on performances till Christmas to raise money. One of the dudes she recruits is the local handyman, Luke (Chad Michael Murray, whose hair is particularly distracting throughout the film), as well as the local barman and some other men who can actually dance, unlike Murray, who laughably spends most of the time standing in the back of these routines with his shirt off, trying to look sexy without moving too much. Again, it's predictable and dumb, but it is full of holiday cheer and shirtless men, so what's not to like?

Nutcrackers: I need to be clear right off the bat that I did NOT like this movie so am emphatically not recommending you watch it if you want to feel some holiday uplift. But here's a short review nonetheless. Written by Leland Douglas and directed by David Gordon Green, Ben Stiller stars as Michael, a man who has to take a break from his high-powered job in Chicago to drive down to a farm in rural Ohio so he can serve as temporary guardian to his four unruly nephews after his sister and brother-in-law tragically died in a car accident. The children are out of control and Michael was somewhat estranged from his sister, so he basically just wants the social worker, played by Linda Cardellini, to quickly find foster parents for these kids so he can wash his hands of them and head back to his real life. And then of course, he spends more time with the kids, gets more entwined with the local townsfolk, and yada yada yada. This movie is mostly chaotic vibes, and the tone is weird throughout, never quite funny enough or dramatic enough, just aggressively mid. If that sounds like the kind of thing you're into, go ahead, but otherwise, stick to the three ridiculous movies I recommended above instead.

November Movies Part 5: A Real Pain, Fancy Dance, Will & Harper, Moana 2

Another theme this month has been watching movies about close relatives or friends take a trip together. If you're ready to watch some moving, funny, and/or serious movies that might make you tear up a little, settle in.

A Real Pain: Written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who also co-stars with Kieran Culkin, this is a story about two Jewish cousins from New York who head to Poland for a week-long Holocaust tour to honor their dead grandmother who survived the camps. Yes, nothing about that seems inherently funny, but David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) have a deeply complicated relationship, and as we see them interact with their guide, James (brilliantly played by Will Sharpe) and the bewildered members of their tour group, who all have their own fascinating reasons for why they are taking this tour, there is room for a lot of comedy and a lot of heart. 

It's difficult to describe this film without getting into a slew of spoilers. Everything is really about the acting and Culkin delivers an outrageously great performance that is sure to be Oscar-nominated next year. His portrayal of Benji is so hard to pin down until the very end when you finally understand the backstory for this trip and how David feels about him. The supporting cast are also incredible, alternately having to be annoyed by these weird cousins and their outbursts, and then demonstrating a kindness and compassion that is in keeping with the whole theme of their tour. 

The entire soundtrack is a beautiful series of Chopin pieces performed by pianist Tzvi Erez, and the cinematography by Michal Dymek (who is Polish) is wondrous, truly capturing the beauty of Poland as well as the more somber moments of the Holocaust tour. There isn't a moment of this film that isn't captivating and engrossing, and by the end of it, you'll wish this trip could go on for a few more days. 

Fancy Dance: Written and directed by Erica Tremblay, this is the story of Jax (Lily Gladstone), a Native American woman who is taking care of her niece, Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma after her sister has mysteriously disappeared. Jax isn't exactly a great role model, but she's a hustler and is trying to make ends meet in an effort to take care of this 13-year-old girl and pressure federal investigators to look into the disappearance of her sister. 

What follows is a sadly typical tale where Native American women get no respect and their disappearances fall into a black hole due to the complicated interplay between the tribal police and federal investigators. There is also a complicated dynamic with Jax's father (aka Roki's grandfather), who is white and now lives off the reservation with his white wife. They want to serve as Roki's guardians instead of Jax, but don't know much about the culture and are unwilling to let Roki attend the annual Oklahoma City powwow. No points for guessing whether Child Protective Services thinks that's an important consideration.

This is a sad but also beautiful movie, with a lot of dialogue in the Cayuga language, which is always a delight as Indigenous languages never get a lot of airtime in the media. The relationship between Jax and Roki is so tender and loving and the final scenes at the powwow are particularly uplifting and moving, even if everything else in this film has indicated that these two women are always going to be let down by the system. It's a powerful film about how Native American women often have to serve as their own champions, and the lengths they have to go to in order to preserve their culture and get some justice.

Will & Harper: Directed by Josh Greenbaum, this is a documentary about the actor Will Ferrell and his long-time best friend, Harper Steele. They met on the set of SNL in 1995 and were fast friends and comedic partners for 30 years, but in 2022, at the age of 61, Harper came out to her friends and undertook a gender transition. This film is about these two friends going on a long road trip across America, to red states and places that have a dangerous history of homophobia and denying trans rights, to see whether they can get past the media noise and just meet some real people, as well as explore their friendship. As you might expect, what they discover is rather heartwarming and affirming, but there's still plenty of bias and hate they have to combat along the way.

The film is quite bittersweet because while it showcases plenty of folk who accept Harper for who she is and don’t make a fuss, it also highlights the heinous transphobia in pockets of this country and also online on social media, where people feel free to spew hatred. Harper used to love long road trips and frequenting dive bars in the most isolated areas, but now, as a trans woman, she is deeply afraid of what she may encounter on such trips. While this road trip occasionally alleviates her fears, with some encounters even driving her to tears because of the love and acceptance she is given, it by no means clear that she can travel freely wherever she likes any longer. The fact that she is travelling with Ferrell provides enormous security along the way, and it is sad to see that this is a country where women, and particularly trans women, still cannot feel safe.

However, while it’s interesting to see who they meet along the way (including plenty of cameos from famous SNL folk), this is mainly a story about Will and Harper's friendship, and how these two people reconnect after one has gone through a pretty major life change. Ferrell voices his concerns about how he is expected to treat Harper now that she is a woman - can he still talk to his friend in the same way? Turns out the answer is yes. It’s a deeply sweet movie about the power of friendship and acceptance, and that while you might be ignorant and have to ask dumb questions, as long as you are thoughtful and care deeply about making sure the other person feels safe and comfortable, you can still maintain a loving and cherished friendship. The world is a big and scary place, but it's a lot less scary when you have a best friend by your side. 

Moana 2: If you're ready for some lighter entertainment, dive in for some Disney fun. Our hero Moana (who is emphatically NOT a princess) is off on another adventure, this time to discover the island of Motufetu that is under the curse of a vengeful god named Nalo who hates humans. Instead of going on a voyage accompanied solely by a pig and a chicken, this time she actually takes some of the villagers with her, including a canoe builder named Lato (voiced brilliantly by Rose Matafeo), an elderly farmer named Kele (David Fane) and a storyteller/historian named Moni (Hualalai Chung). 

Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, off a script written by Jared Bush and Miller, this movie features stunning animation and a sea voyage that is almost reminiscent of The Odyssey given the many adventures this crew has along the way. Of course, they finally do run into the demigod Maui (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who is having quite the holiday movie season), and they then team up to take on Nalo and re-connect with the people spread out on islands across the ocean.

If you love the English songs from the original Moana, unfortunately you're going to be disappointed with this sequel. Lyricists Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear don't quite nail any of the English songs, particularly when they are then juxtaposed with beautiful traditional Polynesian songs that are interspersed throughout the movie. Given how Moana is a celebration of indigenous culture, I would have been delighted if composers Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa'i gave us a soundtrack that was solely composed of Polynesian chants as that music has a way of really delving into your soul and stirring up emotion even if you can't understand the words. Nonetheless, there's a lot to enjoy about this film, and if you're looking for something bright and cheerful to head into the holidays, this movie is a solid choice at the theaters.

November Binges: The Franchise, Three Women, Disclaimer, The Penguin

The following shows have all been airing week-to-week (such a novelty in this day and age!) so I have been delighting in them in installments over the past few months. However, they are now all done, so are available to you for an epic binge if that's how you consume your entertainment. There's quite the range of genres and themes here, but all are excellent in their own way, so prepare yourself to spend a lot of time on your couch.

The Franchise: Created by Jon Brown, a man who has written for Succession and Veep, this is a biting comedy about the machinations of making a big-budget superhero film. Set on a studio lot in London, Himesh Patel stars as Daniel the much-beleaguered first assistant director on a movie called Tecto: Eye of the Storm. He has to support the neurotic German director, Eric (Daniel Bruhl), an auteur who is trying to impose his unique artistic vision on this mass market movie, with the support of his sycophantic script supervisor, Steph(Jessica Hynes). Daniel also has a brand-new third assistant director, Dag (Lolly Adefope) who joins the crew filled with wide-eyed excitement, but quickly comes to realize that showbiz is a slog. The superhero movie's protagonist, Tecto, is played by an anxious actor named Adam (Billy Magnussen), an insecure man who is desperately trying to break into the A-list, even though he knows his character is not in the top tier of superheroes in this particular franchise. His co-star, Peter (the diabolically hilarious Richard E. Grant), is a wry British actor who is just doing this for the paycheck, is an HR nightmare, and finds the whole enterprise to be inane.

Throw in the studio bigwigs and producers who are there to make money not art, and you have a recipe for delicious disaster. Every episode is scored with this pulse-pounding techno beat that ratchets up your blood pressure as Daniel and the crew try to avoid an infinite series of disasters and petty squabbles, and try to keep within budget and timelines in an increasingly futile effort to make a movie they might actually like to watch. It's a perfect commentary on the current state of filmmaking, and a thoroughly excellent British comedy.

Three Women: Based on the nonfiction book by Lisa Taddeo that told the story of the sex lives of three different American women, the first thing you should know about this show is that it is extremely racy. If you are not into explicit content, this is not the show for you, a feeling that was shared by the network that originally paid for this show, Showtime, who then did not want to air it and sold it to Starz for distribution instead. Consider yourself pre-warned. 

In this show, we follow Gia (Shailene Woodley), a sort of stand-in for the book's original author, as she's interviewing different women to write her book, but also going through some personal turmoil in her own love life. We then get three separate stories about three women - there's Lina (Betty Gilpin), a midwestern housewife in Indiana who yearns to be touched but has a thoroughly uninterested husband; Sloane (DeWanda Wise), a rich and successful event planner who has an open relationship with her handsome husband, Richard (Blair Underwood), and is always keeping an eye out for a new man or woman to recruit into their polyamorous trysts; and Maggie, a young high schooler, who has an affair with a married teacher and a few years later decides to file a formal complaint against him.

This show can be very hard to watch at times and will be quite triggering if you have any history of sexual violence or assault. But it is also an incisive and cutting portrait of how these different women navigate their sex lives, and the ramifications when they either demand or don't know how to ask for what they want. Each actress is doing phenomenal work, offering up brutally honest and wrenching performances that make you thoroughly understand why they're doing what they're doing, even if you think what they're doing is a mistake. I cannot recommend this show as a feel-good watch, but it's unlike anything I've seen on TV. I was captivated by Taddeo's book when I read it years ago, and while the show struggles to come up with a coherent narrative, it still captures the essence of her book and its attempt to navigate the complexities of being an American woman in our modern world. 

Disclaimer: Written and directed by Alfonso Cuaron, based on the novel by Renee Knight, I will have to warn you again about this show being insanely explicit. Seriously, do not watch this show if any young children (or conservative adults) are around. Once you get them out of the way, however, hunker down for a thoroughly twisty and disturbing story that unfolds with absolute precision. Cate Blanchett stars as Catherine, a successful documentary journalist who is married to Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen, in a very somber dramatic role). They have a 25-year-old son, Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who has struggled with addiction but is trying to get back on his feet. Overall, they are a typical rich British family - some problems, but nothing that money can't solve. Until a mysterious novel called The Perfect Stranger enters their life.

This novel was self-published by a retired teacher named Stephen (Kevin Kline), and the rest of this miniseries is a story about what that book is about and why Stephen is using it to destroy Catherine and her family. I am loath to give away much more information, because the whole point of this show is to watch the mystery slowly unfold and twist upon itself like a mesmerizing Mobius strip, so all I'll say is that Catherine did something in her past that involved Stephen's son, and now that event is coming back to haunt her. You will think you know what's happening for six episodes, and then the final Episode 7 will turn everything on its head. It's a remarkable and propulsive piece of storytelling that had me on the edge of my seat every week and now can have you in the throes of a manic binge for seven hours straight. Enjoy!

The Penguin: While I'm not a DC person, I have always enjoyed Christopher Nolan's Batman movies and found myself quite enjoying The Batman with Robert Pattinson in 2022. In that film, Colin Farrell had a supporting role as Oswald "Oz" Cobb, aka The Penguin, one of Batman's many nemeses, and I absolutely could not recognize him under all those prosthetics, limp, and strong Brooklyn/Gotham accent. Well now, he has his own spin-off show, and every single week, I would watch it and say, "I still can't believe that's Colin Farrell!"

This show is really firing on all cylinders. Created by Lauren LeFranc, the production design is epic, the writing is superb, offering up cliffhangers that kept me riveted throughout, and the performances by the supporting cast are excellent. There's Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, a woman who was betrayed by Oz but might team up with him again to defy her evil family. Their relationship takes many twists and turns that you can revel in for eight episodes. There's also Deirdre O'Connell as Oz's mother, Francis, a woman who has an extremely weird, almost Oedipal relationship with Oz, but also has an incredible backstory that we flesh out during those final episodes. And there's Rhenzy Feliz as Vic, a nervous young boy from the wrong side of tracks who has to team up with Oz in an emergency but then seems poised to maybe make a life for himself after all. 

This show is like watching a superhero version of The Godfather, with shifting loyalties, many betrayals, and insanely compelling characters that have many layers of evil within them that you will have to dig through. Don't forget, this is a story about a villain, and by the end of the show, you won't have any sympathy for The Penguin, but you will probably be horrifically impressed at what he has managed to accomplish. While this was meant to be a one-off miniseries, the show has done so well that it could come back for another season, and there is a teaser about what new characters we could see then. Fingers crossed, but even as a single season, it is a true delight.