Month: November 2020

All Movies Watched on Kanopy May—Present

Kanopy. Quality films for free.

Here are five movies I’ve loved that you can watch right now. For free!

Five Really Great Movies on Kanopy Now

  • Night Moves. I call this Kelly Reichardt’s most “commercial” film as it stars people who have also been in superhero films. But it’s still a very quiet contemplation of environmental activists.
  • Humpday. Lynn Shelton’s portrait of two guys at different phases in their lives who goad each other into dumb things is astutely observed and quite funny.
  • A Town Called Panic. If you want a good laugh, take in this animated feature from a couple of hilarious Belgians. Nutty incidents abound.
  • The Spectacular Now. Shailene Woodley on her way up, and near-peak Miles Teller, this story about a high school senior who made the transition from fun drunk to alcoholic earlier than his peers has a lot of great moments.
  • Drinking Buddies. You have to be the kind of person who likes ponderous films where not much happens, but if you are: wow! The tension is amped up in this film about brewery employees.

Good

  • The Watermelon Woman
  • Picture of Evan Rachel Wood, Callum Rennie, and Ellen Page in the film Into the Forest
  • Picture of Dominique Fishback and Tatum Marilyn Hall in Night Comes On
  • Drawing of the stars of the Hitch-Hiker: Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, and William Talman
  • A depiction of a reel of film with the faces of Matthew McConaughey, Jack Black, Keanu Reeves, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Billy Bob Thornton
  • Picture of Taysha Fuller, Irene Bedard and John Reddy in the motion picture Songs My Brothers Taught Me.

Skip

  • The Beat Beneath My Feet
  • A picture of Francisco Solorzano and Patrizia Hernandez with a sketch of NYC brownstones behind them
  • A picture of Kristen Wiig in the film Welcome to Me.
  • A picture of Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Ehle in the film A Quiet Passion

The Last Thing He Wanted: Not Great

Anne Hathaway and Rosie Perez in The Last Thing He Wanted

The Last Thing He Wanted

Directed by Dee Rees
Written by Marco Villalobos, Dee Rees

The review:

This was the kind of subpar movie where even analyzing what went wrong didn’t make it more fun. I think ultimately, not enough was revealed to the viewer to hook them in* and what results is 110 minutes of not-quite getting it and 5 minutes at the end where things are revealed. I also found the terse speech patterns of Anne Hathaway’s character to detract from, rather than add to, the film.

The verdict: Skip

Cost: Netflix monthly fee $8.99
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Or perhaps I didn’t catch the things I was supposed to catch.

Questions:

  • Would you be interested in other films that portray women journalists?
  • Where do you think this film got off track?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Ben Affleck replaced Nicolas Cage.

Other reviews of The Last Thing He Wanted:

Orange background with a white frame. Text: In a perfect world we make perfect choices. In the real world we make real choices. —The Last Thing He Wanted. Read the three sentence movie review: 3SMReviews.com

Loser is Uneven, Has Charming Bits

Mena Suvari and Jason Biggs in Loser

Loser

Directed by Amy Heckerling
Written by Amy Heckerling

The review:

This is an excellent chronicle* of not fitting in** and has a killer 2000-era soundtrack.*** While I found the performances of Jason Bigg and Mena Suvari subpar, I think this film does represent how awkward starting college in a new town can be. You might only watch this if you are Heckerling completeist or freshman-year curious, but there are some nice scenes.

The verdict: Skip

(unless motivated by the above categories)

Cost: $3.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*It’s a lesser chronicle of nuanced characters in that the bad people are very bad and the good people are very good.
**I completely related to the not fitting in plot when I first watched this as I was in the midst of not fitting in at the time.
***”Teenage Dirtbag” starts us off, and it just keeps getting better.

Questions:

  • Would this movie have worked better if the characters had some nuance?
  • What was the most memorable scene?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

In a February 2017 feature at The Ringer that interviewed Amy Heckerling and wrote about her entire career, Heckerling said that the main reason this film failed is that the studio insisted it be delivered as a PG-13 film even though it was intended by everyone else, from Heckerling to the since-departed studio executives who’d greenlit production, as an R-rated comedy. The studio said that R-rated comedies weren’t welcomed by enough audiences and forced the film to be watered down considerably. Heckerling said the movie failed because audiences could tell it was not doing what it was intended to do

(Yet another opportunity to observe that making good movies is hard!)

Other reviews of Loser:

The links are all dead. Here are some takeaways:

  • Amy Taubin, Village Voice: The most progressive, good-hearted studio film of the summer.
  • Maitlan McDonagh, TV Guide: A sweet-natured and refreshingly uncartoonlike look at the trials of an unworldly Midwestern college boy negotiating his freshman year at NYU
  • Kim Morgan, The Oregonian: The script is atypically bland for Heckerling.
I love self-loathing complaint rock you can dance to. —Loser. Read the three sentence movie review. 3SMReviews.com

The Thing I’ve Been Looking at on My Phone

Me on the morning after the election: Come on, Nevada! Let’s do it!

Me roughly seven times per day on all the days between the election and today: Come on, Nevada! And wait, what’s going on in Georgia?

Today I got up, fed the cats, listened to hear if the election had been called. It hadn’t, so I went back to sleep on the couch until Matt padded into the living room and told me that they had called it.

And I could finally, FINALLY, take the screen shot I had been hoping to take.

And Nevada still wasn’t done counting! Come on, Nevada!

Calming My Election Jitters

I broke down and bought one of those all-plastic (the main reason I was avoiding them) thread organizers. Then I treated myself to several palettes from my new favorite website Stitch Palette, where those of us who are not good at picking out colors that pop can find help.

I also included a cheat sheet in case I need to find the palette again. Plus there’s a list of colors at the bottom of each section.

I did all the thread winding and labeling while listening to election returns on NPR. But there was no news at bedtime, so I went to bed. Days later, I’m still waiting.

Hot tip for NPR. When you plan the coverage of the 2024 election, consider basing people on the West Coast, rather than the East Coast. I could do without, “It’s getting very late,” said at 8:10 p.m. While it was 11:10 p.m. in Washington D.C., on the other coast it’s nowhere close to late for anyone over the age of ten. And not everyone lives in the Eastern time zone.

All Movies Rented from Redbox July–Present

Five really great movies at Redbox right now:

There’s nothing new to report on the Redbox front. I’ve still got the problem of movies not really being released. But I do have five new recommendations for you.

(I’m not sure how regional Redbox is. Your mileage may vary.)

  • A Star is Born. (2018) One of my top films of 2018, and one of three versions of ASiB you should watch. (The others are the versions from 1937 and from 1954.)
  • Belle. Looking for a costume drama that also focuses on issues of race? This here is your film. Plus a great performance by Gugu Mbatha-Raw
  • Coach Carter. Is it basketball season again? Regardless, check out Samuel L. Jackson as a coach with high expectations for his players. Also features a young Channing Tatum.
  • Central Intelligence. A dumb comedy that is very funny with Kevin Hart as the straight man. You need to laugh? Watch this film.
  • Clueless. Amy Heckerling’s version of Emma. You can probably still get the 2020 version of Emma also.
  • Picture from movie The Assistant
  • Picture of Marsai Martin and Issa Rae stars of Little

Recommended

  • A picture of Hailee Steinfeld hugging the robot Bumblebee in the film Bumblebee
  • A picture of Alexis Rae Forlenza, Pete Davidson, and Luke David Blumm in The King of Staten Island
  • Picture of the cast of Murder on the Orient Express including Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Olivia Coleman and more.

Good

Shithouse: An Imperfect Window into Freshman Year

Cooper Raiff and Dylan Gelula in the film Shithouse

Shithouse

Directed by Cooper Raiff
Written by Cooper Raiff

The review:

Movies that capture transition periods are my favorite, especially of those that capture transitions around college,* so I greatly enjoyed watching Alex Malmquist (Cooper Raiff) struggle during his freshman year. This film is great at capturing the discomfort of not connecting,** and echoes a bit of Before Sunrise, though it also lingers a little too long in the middle. I’m also not thrilled with the ending, but enjoyed the performances*** enough to make it worth watching, though I do think the title could have been better chosen.****

The verdict: Good

Cost: $6.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Either into college or out of college. I think those times, which generally feature the loss of established support networks, leave a lot of room for drama.
**The conversations Raiff had with his stuffed animal were both amusing and painful to watch.
***Dylan Gelula is great as the RA that Cooper spends the night with. Logan Miller (whom I last saw in Love, Simon) continues his mostly odious streak as Sam, Alex’s roommate.
****The name comes from a house where a party is held. The house is named Shithouse. The scenes spent at the house were few, and I didn’t feel like the title extrapolated to the rest of the movie in a way that made it worth its use of a swear.

Questions:

  • College freshmen with full beards, do they exist? Did Cooper Raiff’s facial hair make him seem much older than a freshman?
  • Did anything about this movie seem similar to a college experience you had?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Nothing IMDB, I found a rambling interview that gave me this factoid:

Jay Duplass served as Cooper Raiff’s mentor after Raiff tweeted a screener at Duplass with the caption, “Bet you won’t click on this link!”

Other reviews of Shithouse: