Lean who talks about Trish for an extended period, who the main character of Red Rocket reminded me of, and in which movie showing I saw four people leave halfway through.
Note: Josh Greenbaum directed, didn’t write. Mikey isn’t probably really middle aged, but he is old for his industry.
Listen to hear me refer to the June summary as the May summary two-thirds of the time, find out why I think In the Heights was such a success, and learn why I have the same movie in both the Skip and the Good category.
Things mentioned in this post:
Created by women: In the Heights was written by Quiara Alegría Hudes, Life Partners was directed by Susanna Fogel and written by Susanna Fogel and Joni Lefkowitz, and Away We Go was written by Vendela Vida and Dave Eggers.
In this bit of audio, I run through the movies I watched in May 2021. Listen to find out what I think of ditzy women leads, how I knew that a movie wouldn’t have a bummer of an ending, and to get recommendations for several (!!!!) grownup comedies.
Things mentioned in this post:
The bummer of recording audio is that when I discover I’ve missed an entire move after I’m done recording and editing, I don’t go back and fix that.
In that vein, know that I also watched Mystery Date in May. It would have landed in the Skip category.
Created by women: Together Together (written and directed); Monster (2018) (co-written); The Forty-Year-Old Version (written & directed); Once Upon a Mattress (directed).
?Directed by Paul Greengrass?
?Written by Paul Greengrass and Luke Davies?
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.
Cost: $1.30 via Redbox (with discount)
Where watched: at mom’s house
*It’s a good thing he has going.
**Most of her performance is nonverbal, which is impressive.
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).
?Directed by Edward Norton?
?Written by Stuart Blumberg?
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.*****
Cost: Monthly HBOMax subscription ($12.99)
Where watched: at home
*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.
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.
The first movie starring Edward Norton to not be rated R.
?Directed by Orson Welles?
?Written by Sherwood King, Orson Welles?
Orson Welles does an Irish accent and takes the noir film to a bunch of sunny locals for an interesting night at the cinema.* Everyone really dug into their characters, none more so than Glenn Anders, who played his part with a sweaty dedication. There were also twists a plenty, and some dramatic visuals as befits the dude who made Citizen Kane.**
Cost: Free via TV Time app on Roku TV (But get ready to see the same commercials repeated.)
Where watched: at home
*So much sun and fun! (But that underbelly of darkness followed them, don’t worry) I loved that we seemed to be getting location shots, rather than sound stage shots.
**”This movie is awesome!” I cackled aloud near the end.
Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn told Orson Welles he would never again hire one man to produce, direct and act because he could never fire him.
Also this:
In the aquarium scene, the tanks were shot separately, enlarged, and matted in to make the sea creatures appear more monstrous and loom closer to the actors.
?Directed by Kornél Mundruczó?
?Written by Kata Wéber?
“Young mother’s home birth ends in tragedy” is a phrase that will probably have most of the potential audience saying, “Nope!” but for those of you who like sad dramas that depend more on acting than dialog, this film is for you!* The film does a great job establishing a loving relationship between the two leads so we can then watch things crumble. Vanessa Kirby is new to me** and her Best Actress Oscar Nomination is well deserved.***
Cost: Netflix monthly fee $8.99
Where watched: at home
*That’s me! If it’s you, don’t miss this!
*I apparently saw her in Hobbs & Shaw?
***Though I honestly felt the filmmakers were trying to position Ellyn Burstyn for a best supporting nomination.****
****She was good in this, but there was a weird age gap. She’s 88 (Which: !) and Vanessa Kirby is 31, which means if they are playing their ages, Burstyn would have been 57 when she gave birth to Kirby. I think an actor in her 60s would have been a better fit age-wise.
The title doesn’t appear until 30 minutes into the movie.
(This was a thing I noticed.)
?Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer?
?Written by Martin Goldsmith?
There are three reasons to watch this film and the least of the reasons is that it’s 68 minutes, so it won’t take much of your time. The other two have to do with the road trip conundrum* and the incredible performance by Ann Savage.** I can’t say I know a ton about noir, but I can say that this film is a great place to start, if you are among the noir curious.***
Cost: free from the Multnomah County Library (I even got the Criterion Collection version.)
Where watched: at home
*Though “back in the day” is often portrayed as a time when hitchhiking was a thing that everyone did, Tom Neal’s character mentions how hard it’s been for him to get a ride.
**She doesn’t appear until the movie is nearly halfway over, but man, does she make this film work.
***And like I said, 68 minutes!
The budget PRC gave director Edgar G. Ulmer for this film was so small that the 1941 Lincoln Continental V-12 convertible driven by Charles Haskell was actually Ulmer’s personal car.
?Directed by John G. Avildsen?
?Written by Sylvester Stallone?
My delighted feelings about this film stem from the fact that I grew up in the 80s and what I knew of Rocky* was not what this film was. I was ready for thuggish posturing, best of the best, underdog win-it-all and what I found was a meditation on mediocrity, a mostly sweet love story,** and a main character who knew exactly how subpar he was.*** While the writing was good**** Stallone himself wasn’t great, and that kind of sunk the movie for me.*****
(Though honestly, it’s a piece of Americana, captures an interesting period in the US (Philadelphia looks run-down and trashy and all the cars are so very big) and was much better than I thought it would be, so you should probably see it at some point.)
Cost: Free from the Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home
*I’ve never seen a single film in the franchise, but I loved Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” from Rocky III and growing up I for-sure saw a lot of ads for the movies.
**With an underdeveloped female and a “charmingly persistent” male. Neither have aged well, but I loved the mousy Adrian we began with.
***Favorite scene: Rocky is invited to fight Apollo Creed and have the chance to become the heavyweight champion of the world. His response and reasoning were exactly right and exactly not what I was expecting.
****There are some really great speeches in this film, mostly coming from Apollo Creed, but also Burgess Meredith has his day too, as does Rocky.
*****I see how he channeled all his feelings about failing as an actor into this script. The problem is, that I think he did fail as an actor; his insistence on being Rocky made for a lesser movie.******
******But this was a huge hit, so clearly many people didn’t have a problems I did with this film.
Most of the scenes of Rocky jogging through Philadelphia were shot guerrilla-style, with no permits, no equipment, and no extras. The shot where he runs past the moored boat for example, the crew were simply driving by the docks, and John G. Avildsen saw the boat, and thought it would make a good visual, so he had Sylvester Stallone simply get out of the van and run along the quays, while Avildsen himself filmed from the side door. A similar story concerns the famous shot of Rocky jogging through the food market. As he runs, the stall keepers and the people on the sidewalks can clearly be seen looking at him in bemusement. While this works in the context of the film to suggest they’re looking at Rocky, in reality, they had no idea why this man was running up and down the road being filmed from a van.
(A lot of the lore around this film makes for an ever more compelling narrative.)
?Directed by Emerald Fennell?
?Written by Emerald Fennell?
If I tell you this movie is a revenge thriller you’ll probably get a very specific picture in your mind.* But it’s not that movie at all, it’s a candy colored confection that is funny, sweet, and can spark some incredible conversations about consent and the things we tell each other.** Carey Mulligan is a chameleon, putting off and taking off personalities, and she’s backed by a talented cast.***
Cost: $1.30 from Redbox (I waited so very patiently for the $19.99 price to drop, and then had a Redbox Coupon that saved me 50¢)
Where watched: at home
*Dark, moody, angry, and either containing a ton of spattered blood throughout or at least a massive bloodbath at the end.
**Ideally things are starting to change, but this is the kind of change we need now, not eventually. Also, it will make you like a Paris Hilton song.
***Me during the opening credits: Beau Burnham is in this?!! Alison Brie! Laverne Cox! Connie Britton!
****The movie ended, the bonus features started, the bonus features ended, and I started the movie again. Then watched it for a third time the next night with Matt.
The title is a reference to Brock Turner, a Stanford University student who was convicted of sexual assault in 2016. Despite his conviction, he was referred to by some as a “promising young man.”
