It’s May 13, 2021, here on the site, but I come to you from January 1, 2022 to answer the questions What the heck happened to your posts? Did you see any movies in 2021 after May 12? Why does a smaller version of a big event still take a lot of energy? Are you a great fan of the Green Knight?
Month: May 2021
Get Real Close to Together Together
Together Together
?Directed by Nikole Beckwith?
?Written by Nikole Beckwith?
The review:
Patti Harrison* and Ed Helms** anchor this low-key, sweet comedy about a middle-aged man starting a family and the surrogate he hires. What starts as a strictly-by-the-books relationship evolves into a friendship that reveals the hard and sticky parts of both characters lives. Recently, I remarked on the lack of grownup comedies;*** this is one and well worth your time.
The verdict: Recommended.
Cost: $15.90
Where watched: The Living Room Theater! I’m fully vaccinated! First movie outing since March 7, 2020!
Consider also watching:
Further sentences:
*Who shall now be forever known by me as the Queen of the Straight-Faced Zingers.
**He’s really done some great stuff recently.
***I enjoy a lot of different comedies, but the ones where people are grounded in something like the real word and grounded in everyday humor are a rare treat.
Questions:
- It’s five years later. Where are our characters?
- What’s your favorite grownup comedy?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
The film was shot in 17 days.
(also the only one)
Other reviews of Together Together:
- Shayna Maci Warner, Paste Magazine
- Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune
Fully Vaccinated and I’m Headed to the Movies
I went to the Living Room Theaters to watch Together Together for my first official fully vaccinated outing. The movie theater hadn’t pieced together their premovie slideshow and there were no previews! It is still very early in the venturing out process.
There were two other couples in the theater with me.
The movie was exactly the right movie to break my estrangement from movie theaters. I’m looking forward to seeing more movies in the dark.
Catch up with News of the World
News of the World
?Directed by Paul Greengrass?
?Written by Paul Greengrass and Luke Davies?
The review:
Tom Hanks does his Tom Hanks thing* as he plays a Civil War veteran eking out an existence as someone who travels from town to town to read the news. Helena Zengle meets his acting standard as the white girl raised by Indians who is supposed to be returned to her family.** This movie rolls along hitting all the tense and respite places and is a good way to spend a few hours.
The verdict: Good
Cost: $1.30 via Redbox (with discount)
Where watched: at mom’s house
Consider also watching:
Further sentences:
*It’s a good thing he has going.
**Most of her performance is nonverbal, which is impressive.
Questions:
- At what point did you correctly guess the ending?
- What was the best course of action for Johanna?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
This is the fifth time Tom Hanks has played a character with the rank of captain. News of the World (Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd), Greyhound (Capt. George Krause), Sully (Capt. Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger), Captain Phillips (Capt. Richard Phillips), Saving Private Ryan (Capt. John Miller).
Other reviews of News of the World:
- Caryn James, BBC
- Fionnula Halligan, ScreenDaily
We Visit the A, B, Sea
For our date tonight, we searched out Mike Bennett’s A, B, Sea display, which I read about in the Oregonian. Each day, Bennett puts out another letter in his themed alphabet in his front yard. We were there on the nineteenth day, so could see A through S.
Matt writes postcards to his niece and nephew.
We both posed for this top-notch head-in-the-hole display.
Matt poses next to his initials: jellyfish and manta ray.
I especially liked this elephant seal.
I posed next to my initials: pelican and clownfish. Also, when we visited, there were no other people present. I think maybe families come earlier in the day.
Though no seashells were available when we stopped by, you can see that others have decorated and returned these seashells and they were added to the display.
There were postcards and stickers to take home.
It was a fun find! Thanks, Mike Bennett. After the entire alphabet appears, this will go to live at the Rogue Brewing in Newport.
Mystery Date’s Plot Should Remain a Mystery
Mystery Date
?Directed by Jonathan Wacks?
?Written by Parker Bennett, Terry Runte?
The review:
The movie that provided the first starring roles for Ethan Hawke* and Teri Polo is not one for the history books,** though its crime is being incredibly middle of the road, not terrible. It’s one of those movies that reminds me how the 80s kept going for a bit into the 90s,*** and it fits into that action/comedy slot but sprinkles in a bit of romance. I found the plotting interesting and was wondering at some point how everything would manage to come together in the end.
The verdict: Skip
(Unless Teri Polo or Ethan Hawke completist.)
Cost: HBOMax monthly charge ($12.99)
Where watched: at home
Consider watching instead:
- Something Wild
- Out of Sight
- Get Shorty
- Logan Lucky
Further sentences:
*Hawke has some signature things he falls back on at this point in his career, like looking to the side as if in heavy thought, shaking his head, and regretfully saying something. If I follow through on my hazy plan to catch up with all of Hawke’s performances, it will be interesting to see when those tics disappear.
**It didn’t, for instance, come up when Ethan Hawke was discussing his iconic roles in this (highly recommended) video.
***Teri Polo’s hair! The hair of Ethan Hawke’s mother and friends! The boxy, flowy clothing on the men!
Hasn’t aged well:
Stalking and theft! Great ways to get the girl!
The main character uses his brother’s telescope to spy on the girl he’s too scared to talk to. He later uses information he gathers to ingratiate himself with her.
The main character steals a bag of trash from the house where the girl he likes is staying. Later, he and his brother go through the trash to learn more about her. This information is used (with a bit of fun gaslighting) to convince her to go on a date.
Questions:
- What would have been the thing that finally had Geena Matthews saying, “Nope, this isn’t the guy for me”?
- What did you think of the many Asian characters in this film?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
The crazy metal band on stage at the night club is GWAR.
“Is that GWAR?” I said to myself during that very scene. This movie was interesting from a music perspective. All sorts of things one wouldn’t think would be thrown together in a movie. Songs by Sonic Youth, INXS, Seal, and Wilson Pickett. Plus GWAR. But like I said before, the 80s kept going into the 90s for a bit. There was a guitar/sax thing that was lodged deep somewhere in my psyche. Thanks to the internet, I now know that it was “Lily Was Here.” I don’t know if I ever knew the title.
Other reviews of Mystery Date:
- Rita Kemply, Washington Post
- (Great quote from this review: Hawke has a pleasant lackadaisicality about him, a way of sidling up to a punch line…)
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Keeping the Faith: The Elusive Grownup Comedy
Keeping the Faith
?Directed by Edward Norton?
?Written by Stuart Blumberg?
The review:
I watched this in the theater on its release and remembered it being a little slow.* Still, I find it to be eminently likable just from the young-religious-men shaking up the structures aspect** plus I find Jenna Elfman delightful. There were bits of not-great acting*** scattered about, but it’s a pretty even-kneeled Ben Stiller,**** Edward Norton playing the opposite of his Fight Club character and makes for a great Sunday Afternoon Movie.*****
The verdict: Good
Cost: Monthly HBOMax subscription ($12.99)
Where watched: at home
Consider also watching:
- Motherless Brooklyn (different tone, but Norton’s second time directing)
- Definitely, Maybe
- Going the Distance
Further sentences:
*Still true!
**Advantage casting your movie with a rabbi and priest: it’s a pretty clean movie, language-wise.
***By all three leads.
****He can sometimes get to manic in portraying neurosis. He did have a bit of physical comedy that had me wishing we got more physical comedy out of him. But divorced from the whole Meet the Parents thing.
*****Sunday Afternoon Movie—one that provides you with one last gasp of trouble-free weekend before the windup to the work week begins. Plus, Milos Forman has a bit part and a good speech. Also, it’s set in New York City and was released a year before 9/11.
Hasn’t aged well:
Ken Leung has a small part in this film, appearing as a salesman at the store where Norton and Stiller go to buy a Karaoke System. He does a high-energy version of “Jessie’s Girl” sung in broken English. It all rang very Long Duck Dong, and doesn’t really work.
Questions:
- Who is your favorite (now dead) actor in this film?
- Why didn’t we get more of Jenna Elfman?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
The first movie starring Edward Norton to not be rated R.
Other reviews of Keeping the Faith:
- Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Keeping the Faith
Celebrating Nineteen Years
Well. It’s our second pandemic anniversary celebration (who woulda thunk?) and so we ordered food to go yet again. From this menu we chose pork schnitzel, sugar snap peas with almond dip, asparagus panzanella, and hand rolled couscous.
I have no pictures of the food, but it was delicious and I hope to eat at this restaurant when we can eat at the restaurant.
And here we are at 19 years.
We also ordered desserts from St. Honré Bakery. They were much smaller than I imagined. They were also delicious.
New Category: Hasn’t Aged Well
My teenage years were full of many warm comments about Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (This was before Deep Blue Something’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s song .)
“Such a good film!”
“That dress! And Audrey Hepburn is so beautiful!”
“’Moon River’ is a great song!”
“It’s iconic!”
When I sat down to watch the film on VHS, I was ready to be dazzled. And I liked it just fine. That is, until Mickey Rooney made an appearance.
In the film, Rooney plays Hepburn’s landlord, who is constantly scolding her for something I forget. Maybe she’s late on the rent? Haranguing landlords fit in fine with the narrative, but the character’s name was Mr. Yunioshi, and Rooney portrayed a man with a heavy Japanese accent and exaggerated “Japanese” mannerisms.
I was horrified. And this was probably around 1992 or so? Anti-Japanese feelings were still running high. “They’re stealing our jobs” was a pretty common refrain and my family only drove cars made by U.S. manufactures. I’d grown up with racist cartoons, the whole bit. But Rooney’s antics were worse than I’d seen.
It ruined the film for me. I couldn’t believe that amid all that gushing about the classic film, not one person had added, “Oh yeah, and brace yourself for a very racist portrayal of a Japanese man.”
Those scenes still would have been bad, but at least I would have known they were coming. Why hadn’t anyone remarked on them?
While Rooney’s characterization was reflective of the early 60s, (though it’s never okay to make fun of a group of people, no matter the decade) it wasn’t reflective of the early 90s. There were still things to like about the film. Hepburn did look fabulous and “Moon River” is a great song (though a little short on lyrics, Mancini!) If only someone had given me the heads up about Rooney, Breakfast at Tiffany’s would occupy a different place in my heart.
It is because of this that I introduce a new category in my reviews: Hasn’t Aged Well.
It won’t appear all the time, because new movies haven’t yet aged. But when I watch a film and a thing or things just aren’t hitting right, I’ll alert you to them with that category. There are probably a lot of good things about the rest of the film, and you might be better able to enjoy them if you know you might be cringing in places.
I like to think of this category as the Mr. Yunioshi Memorial Category.
What’s your most memorable Hasn’t Aged Well moment?