January Movies Part 5: September 5

I know it's the last day of January, but I managed to squeeze in one last movie at the theater for the month, and it was such a doozy that I had to get on here and tell you all to go watch it immediately. Isn't that exciting?!

Directed by Tom Fehlbaum, who also co-wrote the Oscar-nominated original screenplay with Moritz Binder and Alex David, this movie takes place on September 5, 1972, at the Munich Olympics, when members of a terrorist organization called Black September broke into the apartment housing the Israeli team and took several coaches and athletes hostage. You might know this story from another movie, Steven Spielberg's Munich, that details the covert Israeli operation that was enacted as vengeance for this 1972 attack. But this movie is simply about the events of that one day. And more specifically, it is about the men and women of the ABC Sports television crew who were onsite to film the Olympic Games and then had to pivot to this tense and fraught news story instead.

This movie is a love letter to journalism. It's an astonishing look at a time when only one news network was broadcasting this story live and had to wrestle control of the global satellite from their competitors just to make sure their coverage could be watched by the world. John Magaro is brilliant as Geoffrey Mason, the sports producer in charge of the control room. He has no prior experience covering this type of story, but goes through a trial by fire to conduct a seamless broadcast, all the while gathering new information by the second and having to pivot to his anchors, cameramen, soundmen, and photographers, as well as the non-stop German translation provided by the poor translator, Marianne (Leonie Benesch), who had no idea what she had signed up for when she came to work that morning.

There is such an emphasis on confirming the story with sources and making sure you don't broadcast the news until you are certain they are facts. What a concept. Of course, this film does feature a heartbreaking moment where the president of ABC Sports, Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard), does let the compelling ratings overtake the need to be diligent in fact-checking. But it's wild to imagine an age when only one news channel would be broadcasting this information, and they had the awesome responsibility of ensuring 900 million viewers knew what was going on. 

It was only in moments of absolute stillness that I would realize this movie didn't have much of a soundtrack. Instead, the most consistent score is the sound of your pulse pounding in your ears as you lean forward and watch these heroic journalists jerry-rig equipment and put together an astonishingly powerful narrative to let the world know what is happening in Munich, when even the German police don't always seem to have a clue how to deal with the situation. The movie is only 94 minutes long, but it was a profound and intense 94 minutes where my heart was in my mouth, and I was utterly dazzled and awestruck by what was unfolding on the screen.

It makes no sense to me that this movie only got one Oscar nomination for its screenplay, though granted, that screenplay is certainly a masterpiece. I would have loved to see acting nominations for John Magaro and Leonie Benesch who do such incredible work here and make the audience feel immersed in all the chaos and confusion going on around them. The editing is spot on and the cinematography is excellent, featuring a lot of weird angles and shaky camerawork that constantly reinforce the sense of how this crew is having to make this story up as they go along and need to find any opportunity to film this breaking news. This is definitely going to be one of the best movies I've seen in 2025, and I urge everyone to watch it. In these trying times, we all need to remember a time when journalism was pure, and the news was something we could all depend on.

January Movies Part 4: One of Them Days, Mufasa: The Lion King, Queer, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Trying to figure out what to watch in the final days of this month? Well, whether you want some family-friendly animation, some very predictable action, or a hilarious buddy comedy, I've got you covered!

One of Them Days: Written by Syreeta Singleton and directed by Lawrence Lamont, this is a bonkers and delightful buddy comedy about what happens when two women have nine hours to make $1500 of rent money so their landlord doesn't kick them out. Dreux and Alyssa (Keke Palmer and SZA) are best friends who are in a bind because Alyssa gave their rent money to her loser boyfriend, who decided to invest that money in some random scheme instead of handing it over to the landlord. What follows is a romp across Los Angeles as these two women try to figure out how they're going to make that money back quickly. Oh, and Dreux has a very important job interview at 4pm, so they're really on a time crunch.

I won't give away more details, because the events of this film all take place in one day and you need to let each hilarious moment wash over you so you can keep giggling your way through. It's very silly and over-the-top, but Palmer and SZA are two of the most charismatic women on the planet and they have incredible chemistry. They perfectly capture what female friendship is like - you would both do anything to help each other out, but that relationship can also be a rollercoaster where sometimes you are overextending grace when your friend seems intent on making poor life decisions. It's a great movie about friendship but also just an excellent comedy brimming with one-liners (and sometimes just one-worders), that are delivered with absolute panache and relish. If you need to get away from reality and laugh yourself silly for a few hours, this movie is exactly what you need in your life.

Mufasa: The Lion King: I just revisited my 2019 review of the Lion King remake and have to say almost all of it pertains to this movie as well. Does this movie need to exist? No. Is it a pleasant way to spend an afternoon? Kind of? If you thought that 2019 film was a money grab, this movie seems even more blatantly unnecessary, but hey, to each his own. The animation is absolutely spectacular, and it is kind of fun to imagine what Mufasa and his brother, Scar, were like as young lions, and what happened to drive them apart. Timon and Pumba, who I thought were the standouts of the 2019 film, are back, but now the filmmakers have decided to really lean into their double act and offer up a lot of meta commentary that makes this whole endeavor seem even more bizarre. Also, the editing is a little painful, with us constantly going back and forth from the story of Mufasa to the present-day where Rafiki is narrating this story. It feels like something designed for the TikTok generation, where apparently no one has the patience to just watch one story all the way through without constant cuts and stitches to other things in between.

The theater I watched this movie in definitely seemed to have some issues with the sound mix, so the dialogue was often hard to make out and the song lyrics were impossible to hear. As a result, I didn't find myself particularly compelled by any of the new music. Much like my feelings on the indigenous music in Moana 2, I could have done with fewer English songs and just more traditional African singing to set the mood. If you're a Disney person, then sure, so ahead and give this movie all your time and money. But if you're looking for something compelling and engaging, this is not what you seek. 

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: I mean, let's be real. This movie is the single greatest thing you could watch this year. How could anyone not love a Wallace & Gromit movie?! If you've never watched one, hoo boy, are you in for a treat. Filmed in gorgeous, lovingly painstaking stop-motion claymation, these movies follow the adventures of a cheese-loving British inventor named Wallace and his stoic dog, Gromit. In this movie, Feathers McGraw, the villainous penguin from their second adventure, The Wrong Trousers, has returned to cause some trouble, which also involves Wallace's latest invention, a robotic garden gnome named Norbot.

This movie is only 79 minutes long, so rather than spoiling the entire thing, I'll merely beg you to watch it.  It is as charming as can be, thoroughly delightful and inventive, and is best accompanied by a steaming cup of tea and some cheese and crackers. Settle in for the coziest hour of your life. You're welcome.

Back in Action: Do you want to have a truly lazy afternoon and turn your brain off? Then welcome to this movie! Directed by Seth Gordon, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Brendan O'Brien, this is a truly silly film about a spy couple, Emily and Matt (Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx). They are presumed dead after a particularly dangerous mission and decide to settle down to have kids and be a basic, normal family. Well, fifteen years later, some events transpire, their cover is blown, and it turns out that there's some unresolved business from their final mission that has come back to haunt them. There are some twists and turns, all of which you'll see coming from a mile away, and a lot of action and stunt work, which will remind you of Diaz's heyday as one of Charlie's Angels. 

Honestly, you're probably better off rewatching the Charlie's Angels movies instead of this one, but if you're in the mood for a film that won't ask too much of your attention span and lets you laze on the couch for a little longer, then step right up! 

January Binges: Black Doves, The Sticky, Laid, St. Denis Medical

I didn't just watch a bazillion movies in January. I also watched a bazillion TV shows. So if you're looking for your next great binge, might I tempt you with the following?

Black Doves: Written and created by Joe Barton, this is a splendid show starring Keira Knightley as Helen, a deep undercover spy who happens to be married to the UK's Defense Secretary. She is in a prime position to spy on the government and pass along critical information to her handlers, who run a mysterious organization called the Black Doves. This organization is not affiliated with any government - instead, they just sell their information to the highest bidder. Talk about a spy agency that is best suited to our capitalist times. Unfortunately, when Helen has an affair and her lover is subsequently murdered, she goes off on a vengeance spree to unravel what happened to him and deliver justice. All of which is tangled up in some other plots that might involve the Chinese, the Americans, and the British.

Ben Whishaw also stars as Sam, an assassin who returns to London to help Helen in her current predicament. The two of them have a lot of history; over the course of six episodes, you will slowly piece together their backstory and watch these two figure out if they have dug themselves in way too deep or if they truly can salvage the lives they built for themselves whilst still being elite spies. It's the ultimate test of work-life balance, and the show is an incredibly dark comedy, dealing with serious themes but approaching them with a deftly comedic touch that will always prompt an unexpected laugh from you. All the events of this first season take place during Christmas, so if you're still seeking a return to the holiday cheer of December, this could be a wonderful holiday watch. Though perhaps with a little bit more gore than Santa would recommend.

The Sticky: From 2011-12, the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist took place, when 3,000 tonnes of maple syrup were found to have been stolen from Quebec's Maple Syrup Producers Reserve. This syrup was worth millions of dollars, and this theft was the most Canadian crime ever. Well now, creators Brian Donovan and Ed Herro bring us a comical series inspired by that heist that does not purport to be a true story in the slightest.

Margo Martindale stars as Ruth, a maple syrup farmer who is feuding with Leonard (Guy Nadon), the man who runs the Quebec Reserve and has imposed all manner of arduous regulations and limits on the local farmers to curb their supply and reduce how much money they can make. Ruth is struggling financially, so when she is approached by Mike (Chris Diamantopoulos) with a scheme to steal some syrup from the reserve, she reluctantly agrees. Mike is a member of a Boston crime family, desperately trying to prove himself, and he got the idea from Remy (Guillaume Cyr), the lone security guard of the Reserve who has his own reasons for lashing out against Leonard embarking on this heist. What follows is a six-episode series that is kinda silly but perfectly entertaining and will probably end with you making yourself a big stack of pancakes and waffles. Settle in for a delightful brunch!

Laid: Developed by Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna, based off an Australian series, this is a supremely weird but charming show about Ruby (the delightful Stephanie Hsu), a woman who is shocked to discover that all the people she has slept with suddenly seem to be dying. Her best friend, AJ (Zosia Mamet), is a true crime afficionado who starts to investigate what's happening and realizes that these people seem to be dying in the order in which Ruby slept with them. What follows is a desperate scramble to figure out whether this is just a coincidence, and if not, why this is happening, and what on earth can be done to stop it.

Obviously, I don't want to spoil what happens over the course of eight episodes, but let me reassure you that there is in fact a twisted logic to everything, and also a bit of a cliffhanger towards the end that was sufficiently intriguing for a second series. Ruby is an interesting lead, because she is charming but also quite terrible, a selfish woman who has to learn how to put her own neuroses aside to actually think about others for a change. Her friendship with AJ is heartwarming, though complicated, and it's fun to see the two of them banter and evolve over the course of the series. Because of the cliffhanger, you are definitely left wanting more, but the journey is well worth a watch, even if we're still waiting to get to the destination.

St. Denis Medical: Created by Erid Ledgin and Justin Spitzer, this show is currently airing on NBC as a weekly sitcom. So, I binged the first six episodes in a week but can now enjoy a weekly dose of this charming comedy every Tuesday. Set in a small hospital in Oregon, this is a mockumentary where we follow the doctors, nurses, and administrators as they deal with the daily trials and tribulations of their jobs. 

Allison Tolman is charming as Alex, a dedicated nurse who has recently been promoted and is feeling overwhelmed with her new supervisory responsibilities. Wendi McLendon-Covey plays Joyce, a former oncologist who now runs the hospital and is constantly trying to come up with ways to make the hospital more prestigious so it can make more money (alas, that's the capitalism of the American healthcare system for you). You've got David Alan Grier and Josh Lawson, as the cranky emergency physician and blustering trauma surgeon, and Mekki Leeper as a newly-minted nurse who really does not know what he's doing, while Kahyun Kim plays Serena, a confident nurse who also has a bit of a social media obsession. And if you were a fan of Superstore, you will see plenty of supporting actors from that show pop up in this one as part of the Justin Spitzer Television Universe.

It's always hard to come up with a competent network sitcom, but when you do find one that's excellent, you want to ensure it stays on TV for a good long while. So please start watching this show - I need more regular weekly comfort watches in my life and this promises to be a good one. 

January Movies Part 3: The Brutalist

What a movie. I went into this film expecting some sort of vibey, self-indulgent mess, but within a few scenes I was thoroughly captivated. And yes, it's three and a half hours long, but that runtime does not feel remotely painful. This is a movie that is thoroughly epic in scope, and that epic runtime does it justice. It feels so remarkably cheesy to say this, but this is the kind of event film that reminds me of why I love watching movies in the theater. For three and a half hours, the members of the audience and I were our own little community, experiencing this glorious movie together, and it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. To be fair, we lost a few members of our community over time - some people sitting next to me left way before intermission. But forget those losers; the rest of us were united in our awe as we watched this story unfold before our dazzled eyeballs.

Directed by Brady Corbet, who co-wrote the screenplay with his partner Mona Fastvold, this film tells the story of a Hungarian architect, Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody, who seems destined for yet another Oscar), who survived the Holocaust but was forcibly separated from his wife and orphaned niece. Immigrating to America in the hopes of a brighter future, he arrives on Ellis Island in 1947 to rebuild his life. This movie has a shot of the Statue of Liberty from a perspective I've never seen her from before, which served as my first clue that this movie was going to introduce me to a lot of new perspectives for the next few hours. Laszlo subsequently takes the bus to Philadelphia where he is reunited with his cousin, Attila (Alessandro Nivola), and his American wife, Audrey (Emma Laird). They are initially generous and give Laszlo a chance to build a life for himself, but things really kick into high gear when he meets Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), a wealthy industrialist who takes a shine to this poor Hungarian man who seems to have a genuine flair for architecture and design. The movie then proceeds to follow one long construction project that will end up revealing the innermost workings of Lazslo's mind and the corrupt nature of his benefactors. He will also be reunited with his wife, Erzsebet (Felicity Jones), and niece, Zsofia (Raffey Cassidy), who have been through their own horrors and must now adjust to life in America, where they are still treated with suspicion as foreigners and Jews.

Firstly, kudos are due to this script. I genuinely left this film believing it was a biopic; it is a testament to how brilliantly well-realized these characters are that I didn't doubt for a second that they must be actual people. There were some shocking moments that I did not anticipate, and I thought, "oh wow, are the filmmakers going to get sued by the descendants of these people for portraying them in such a negative light?" Well, turns out this movie is entirely fictional, so that will not be a concern. A significant reason for the authenticity of this film is due to the attention to detail to the brutalist architecture. Production designer Judy Becker has done a bewilderingly excellent job of researching unrealized designs of architects who died in the Holocaust and attempting to bring some version of their designs to life. And I still cannot quite believe that the main construction project that this movie spends its time on does not actually exist. There are so many details that Laszlo obsesses over in this film, and I genuinely found myself invested in all those little architectural flourishes. I was honestly thinking about planning a trip to Doylestown, Pennsylvania to visit this building - well, it's not there. Good God.

On every technical level, this movie is a marvel. I have been watching a lot of movies recently that are grainy and dark, and that aesthetic is meant to make the film seem more authentic and edgy and awards-worthy. Well, none of that here. The cinematography by Lol Crawley is stunning, and scenes are lit up perfectly and crisply and awe-inspiringly. There's an early scene where we see Laszlo's design for a library; the way the sunlight filters into the room through gauzy curtains and burnishes the warm wood of the shelves instantly makes you understand what a visionary he is and how he has created a perfect environment for lounging with a book for hours. After being imprisoned in dark concentration camps, Laszlo is obsessed with windows and light and using the environment surrounding his buildings as much as possible. I don't think I will ever be able to view brutalist architecture in the same way again - yes, on the outside it may not seem aesthetically pleasing, but the way it uses the space and light and natural surroundings is utterly captivating. In the latter half of this movie, there is a scene set in the Italian marble quarry in Carrara and boy, I have never been more besotted with a slab of marble in all my life.

The score by Daniel Blumberg is also a thing of beauty. The sweeping orchestral arrangement from the very beginning as you see Lady Liberty fully conveys the scope and majesty of this film and lets you know you're in for an incredible ride. But then there is always something slightly discordant and weird hovering at its fringes, an instrument you don't expect to hear, a tinny noise that is so out of place in the overall grandeur of what is otherwise being portrayed. It's a perfect encapsulation of everything this movie is attempting to parse out regarding Laszlo and his grand, sweeping ambitions, but all the horrible little injustices he has to constantly deal with and the many atrocities that he has had to endure continue to prick at him even as he attempts to move on with his life. He may think that he has been saved and is on to bigger and better things, but no, there's always something a little bit wrong that insistently clamors from the periphery.

Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones deliver powerhouse performances that feel real and lived in and remarkable. Their characters are put through the wringer in this film, and they approach every hurdle with determination and grit and an amazing resilience that is a testament to all the Holocaust survivors who had to continue living their lives after experiencing the most senseless devastation. And Guy Pearce is sensational, delivering a performance that initially feels like a bit of a caricature, but has this edge to it that you don't quite figure out until you get to a pivotal scene towards the end when all of his menace suddenly becomes abundantly clear. Joe Alwyn is also great as Van Buren's horrible son, Harry, a haughty and cruel man who seems to be the movie's villain until you realize how petty and prosaic his brand of evil is in comparison to his father's. 

What a movie. Every year at the Oscars we get a big song and dance about the magic of cinema, and we all roll our eyes about how Hollywood is so full of itself. But The Brutalist truly captures that magic. There is one scene where Laszlo goes to a theater that is showing black-and-white porn. I had never seen anything like that before, and it served as a reminder that the movies aren't just about grand, sweeping epics, but also about quotidian smut that people have been filming ever since film was invented. And people have been going to theaters for years to watch stuff like that before we all just retreated to the privacy of the Internet. But The Brutalist is a reminder that once in a while, we all need to leave our houses and the Internet and go to the movies, even if it's going to take up nearly four hours of our day. Because we are going to have a truly transcendental journey watching a unique, compelling, and riveting story that we never expected to see and will never see again. The Brutalist offers up an immersive, awesome experience at the cinema, and once you leave the theater, you will never look at the world around you in quite the same way ever again.

January Movies Part 2: The Fire Inside, Blitz, The Last Showgirl, Better Man

January has turned into a fiercely busy movie month for me. So gird your loins, a slew of reviews are coming your way!

The Fire Inside: Written by Barry Jenkins and directed by Rachel Morrison (who was the first woman to be nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar in 2017), this is an excellent biopic about Claressa Shields (played brilliantly by Ryan Destiny), a boxer from Flint, Michigan who overcame tremendous personal adversity to make it all the way to the London 2012 Olympics, with the help of her amazing coach, Jason Crutchfield (Bryan Tyree Henry, delivering an unsurprisingly marvelous performance, full of warmth and wisdom). I had never heard of Shields, but having now watched this film, I'm shocked that she isn't a bigger deal, considering the long list of accolades she holds and the records she has broken in her quest for athletic greatness. Of course, a significant portion of this film deals with the inherent racism and misogyny that Shields had to face, where despite winning an Olympic gold medal (oops, spoilers?), she still struggled to find sponsorship deals or endorsements, because people just don't like to see a Black woman beating people up for sport.

I find it unfathomable that this movie hasn't been in the conversation for awards this year, which perhaps speaks to the fact that #OscarsSoWhite continues to be a huge problem. While I'm ordinarily not a huge fan of biopics, this film has a tight script and captivating performances, particularly from Destiny who has to portray a woman who doesn't convey a whole lot of emotion through words, but can poignantly express herself through her stance and body language. One of the first scenes with a young Claressa involves her shying away from a hug from Jason, and that one little movement is enough to convey a world of backstory. This is a film that is content to show, not tell, and the fight sequences are also extraordinarily choreographed, conveying just how talented and remarkable this woman is in the ring. So watch this movie to learn more about a woman who ought to be a household name and to consider how far we still have to go to give women, and especially Black women, the support and encouragement they deserve.

Blitz: Written and directed by Steve McQueen, this is a movie set during the height of the World War II Blitz when London was being relentlessly bombed by the German Luftwaffe. Saoirse Ronan stars as Rita, a single mother who lives with her father and is raising her nine-year-old son, George (Elliott Heffernan), who is half-Black. She decides to send George away from the city to protect him from the bombs, but George only interprets this as gross abandonment by his mother. When he gets on the train, he tells her he hates her, which makes for a brutal parting. Halfway through his train journey, George is overcome with homesickness, and it doesn’t help that the other children are a bunch of racists who make fun of him for being Black. He jumps off the train and thus begins a long odyssey back home, where this poor boy will encounter any number of horrors. 

I can’t say I loved this film - much like the Blitz, it was relentless in its onslaught of terrible things this poor child has to witness on his journey home. But the production design is absolutely epic in scope. Most WWII movies focus on what was happening on the battlefield, but this is the first time I have felt truly immersed in what was happening on the home front and the absolutely insanity ordinary British citizens were subject to during this time. And Heffernan delivers a brilliant performance as a young child who has to grow up far too quickly, not just when it comes to dealing with the perils of war, but also the perils of racism. If this is a period of history that fascinates you, this movie is well worth a watch, but if you are already too overwhelmed by the present-day perils of 2025, give this film a miss.

The Last Showgirl: Written by Kate Gersten and directed by Gia Coppola, this movie has been rightfully earning Pamela Anderson heaps of praise for her performance as Shelly, a 57-year-old Las Vegas showgirl who has to figure out what to do with her life when she finds out the revue show she has been a part of for decades is shutting down. We get to explore her relationships with the younger women in the revue (played by Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song), who alternate between treating Shelly like a mother figure that can provide comfort or an exasperating older woman who is full of tales of when this show was more popular and prestigious. She has an ambiguous relationship with the show's producer, Eddie (a wonderful performance by Dave Bautista - the man has expressed interest in being in a romcom, and while this movie is a straight-up drama, it's easy to see how wonderful he would be if given the chance to just be a romantic leading man - make it happen Hollywood!). And there's also a great friendship with Annette (the incomparable Jamie Lee Curtis), a dancer who used to be in the revue but then got kicked out and became a chaotic cocktail waitress instead.

But putting aside all the wonderful supporting performances, Anderson truly shines in this role, as a woman who adores her job and has made it her entire identity, probably at the expense of other more crucial elements of her life. She loves to dance, and she loves being in the spotlight, and as the movie progresses, we come to see the abject cruelty that is ahead of her because this is not a career that is feasible for an older woman. She has so much talent and passion, but none of that matters when you're a 57-year-old woman in Vegas, and the gradual dissolution of her hopes and dreams seems imminent. And yet, this character is so perpetually hopeful and optimistic and such a striver. It's a wondrous thing to watch the emotions flitting across Anderson's face as she constantly has to adjust her expectations and cope and then temporarily give in to despair before she puts on her feathers and diamonds and gives a dazzling smile to the audience. It's a tour de force performance that will stick with you for a long time after you've seen it.

Better Man: I grew up in the Middle East and listened to the UK Top 40 every week, so I am well aware of who Robbie Williams is. That information is necessary, because every American person I have spoken to has said, "who is Robbie Williams?!" Which means there's a high barrier to entry for this movie, which is a biopic of the famous British pop singer, Robbie Williams, chronicling his rise to fame as a part of the boy band Take That, his subsequent move to a solo career, and the alcohol and drug addictions that plagued him along the way. Oh, and while the actor Jonno Davies is playing Williams in the movie, he is doing so via motion capture as a CGI chimpanzee. For reasons that are not super clear but essentially amount to the fact that Williams always perceived himself to be "less evolved" than other people and had a very self-deprecating image of himself, that may have led to all those addiction issues to begin with.

Listen, I'm not here to sell you on this movie. It's directed by Michael Gracey, who directed The Greatest Showman, so you can be assured there are some incredible song-and-dance numbers sprinkled throughout this film that are spectacular to behold. And if you're a fan of Williams' music, all the hits are represented, and you'll have a great time. As someone who was a fan of his music but didn't know much about his backstory, I was quite fascinated to learn about his interactions with various other famous British pop stars and the sordid behind-the-scenes machinations of his career. It's a weird little movie that is going to appeal to a fairly niche audience, and while I thought it was a perfectly entertaining way to spend two hours, I'm not going to pretend anyone else is gonna get a kick out of it, particularly if you have no idea who Robbie is. So check it out if you're a huge fan and want to bop along in your seat as a singing chimp dances to Rock DJ. If not, move along.

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.