Tag: Drama

Now and Then Would Have Been Better Off Sticking with Then

The review:

In 1995, Lesli Linka Glatter directed Now and Then, a coming of age movie with a lot of young actresses who then were girls but now are grown up and still fun to watch.* The plot is a little thin, and would have been better without the grown-up story, but it was a fine palate cleanser on a Friday night. Plus, it’s a good 1995 time capsule.**

The verdict: Good

(Again, we’re not talking fine wine. We’re talking house red. Or possibly Two Buck Chuck.)

Cost: Netflix monthly subscription ($8.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching/watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Gaby Hoffman is always a treat.
**And possibly a good 1970 time capsule, though that was before my time.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The movie (a.k.a. The Gaslight Addition) was actually written about a town in Indiana named Winchester, and its gaslight addition. The author of the story I. Marlene King grew up there, as did the director Robert Wise, in vastly different years. Winchester declined to have their name associated with the movie, so the name became Shelby, but later Winchester began to preserve areas mentioned in the movie.

Hostiles Does Go On

The review:

Scott Cooper’s Hostiles is full of good acting and is so very long it seemed as if a presidential administration had passed by the time I got to the last frame of the movie.* This was an interesting study of a quasi-kumbaya journey wherein an Army Captain comes to a deeper understanding of the treatment of American Indians and his part in it. I’m all for re-examining the many effects Westward Expansion/genocide had on the people who were already here, but I found this story to be mostly unbelievable.**

The verdict: Skip

Cost: Netflix subscription ($8.99/month)
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Good acting is good and all, but when the story is dragging its feet, good acting isn’t enough.
**Plus, it’s another Native American story told via the white people’s experience. Plus the body count was very high, and guess who made it to the final frame and guess who ended up dead? Plus, I didn’t believe the final arrangement of people. Not gonna work. Pretending so overlooks a lot of history.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The book Captain Blocker (Christian Bale) is reading at the beginning of the movie is Julius Caesar’s Commentarii De Bello Gallico (The Gallic War) in the original Latin. The page shown is from Book V, describing the social and economic structure of first century B.C. ancient Kent. In 55 B.C., Caesar invaded briefly the south of the England.
(Thanks, IMDB commenter who can read Latin)

Hustlers is Worth Your Dollar Bills

The review:

Lorene Scafaria has made my favorite kind of movie with Hustlers: that which seems to be about one thing, but which is, in fact, about another.* While you could get distracted (as those guys at the strip club did) by all that flesh, in Scafaria’s deft hands this is not a movie about women who remove their clothes for economic gain, it’s about women who game a system that puts them at the bottom of the billions that are made by exploiting women’s bodies. Excellent performances all around** and there’s a lot of heart in this film.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $6.70
Where watched: Studio One Theaters

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*I think it helps that it was a woman who wrote this story. Despite the various stages of undress, this was a film absent of the male gaze.
**Jennifer Lopez is such a commanding presence. The range of emotions on Constance Wu’s face was amazing. It’s great to see Mercedes Ruehl and I’m always happy when Julia Stiles is on screen.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Jennifer Lopez trained for pole dancing in preparation for the movie. She even had a detachable pole in her house.

Hot Summer Nights Gave Me What I Was Looking For

This is not a good likeness of Timothée Chalamet

The review:

Elijah Bynum gave me what I wanted with Hot Summer Nights* and also included a bonus side of 1991-era Cape Cod summer.** This is supposedly about a normal teenager who becomes a drug dealer, but really, it’s about showing how much money he and Hunter Strawberry (that was the local drug dealer’s name!) made selling drugs,*** falling in love with a girl, and making some not-great (though age-appropriate) choices. The part where I was supposed to be getting amped up came across as boring, and it’s one of those movies that I spent the next day thinking about all the things that didn’t really make sense,**** but it hooked me up with what I needed on a Friday night and thus was just fine.

The verdict: Good

(barely)

Cost: free via Kanopy, Multnomah County Library’s streaming service
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching/watching instead:

Further sentences:

*I had a hankering for a Timothée Chalamet performance, and Call Me By Your Name wasn’t handy
**Plus, I’m betting they didn’t have much money for the soundtrack so it features lesser known (a.k.a. not cliched) music of the time.
***There is not one scene of Mr. Chalamet actually dealing the large amount of drugs they were supposedly dealing
****The narrator is just the omniscient town observer, for instance. Was that just lazy writing? What about main character motivation? Why was Chalamet’s character wanting to continue to expand the business? The questions went on and on.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Part of the movie takes place around The Perfect Storm of 1991. William Fichtner (Shep), also appeared in The Perfect Storm (2000), a movie based on the true story of the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing boat that was lost at sea during the storm.

I see you, typo. But I’m not going to fix you. Never trust the grammar on the IMDB quotes page.

Annihilation Will Spark a Good Post-Movie Discussion

The review:

Alex Garland’s Annihilation is yet another quality flick, especially good for post-viewing discussion.* To say again what many are saying in all realms of life: representation does matter and I loved that women were the people doing the exploring in this movie.** It’s a visually stimulating movie with great performances; while Natalie Portman is her usual excellent self, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, Tessa Thompson and Jennifer Jason Leigh were all wonderful to watch as they explored the Shimmer.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: free from the Multnomah County Library
Where watched, at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Annihilation is good for dates early in the relationship, Garland’s previous Ex Machina is good for a more established couple.
**Number of movies I can think of where an all-woman team bands together to get things done: One. Ocean’s Eight. Number of movies where an all-man team bands together to get things done: roughly 3000.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Oscar Isaac filmed this movie and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) on adjacent studio lots. He had the same trailer for both films and would often film scenes for both movies on the same day.

The Sun is Also a Star is Not a Movie I Enjoyed (Because the Book is Better)

The review:

Ry Russo-Young’s The Sun is Also a Star is not going to get a fair review from me because I’m too close to the book.* I initially rejected the movie because the actors both look like they are well into their 20s;** when I did watch the movie the changes that were made from the book stripped a lot of what I loved from the story.*** I didn’t necessarily expect this to be amazing, but I did want it to be better than it was.****

The verdict: Skip

Cost: $1.75
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Which is excellent, and I recommend you read it immediately. It’s short. It won’t take you long. Nicola Yoon is the author.
**I’ve since found out that Yara Shahidi is actually still a teenager
***I’m usually pretty good at separating the book from the movie—they are different mediums and need different things. But this movie was left with not much after so many things changed.
****Especially because Russo-Young directed Before I Fall, which I really enjoyed.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The lead characters Natasha and Daniel are loosely based on Nicola Yoon (the author of the book the movie is based on) and her husband who are Jamaican and Korean American respectively. Neither faced the immigration issues shown in the film.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco is the First Movie You Should Watch this Month

The review:

With The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Joe Talbot creates a visually striking story studded with extraordinary performances. In this film, the city is Black people have been dispersed; the people who are still there aren’t out and about. This leaves the streets empty for contemplative skateboarding scenes* and Jimmie Fails’ upkeep of his family home which they have lost ownership of, but which he still takes care of.**

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $1.75 from Redbox
(that box has some quality stuff hidden among all the blockbusters)
Where watched: at home with Matt, who also loved it.

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*The movie isn’t as slow as I’m making it sound. Every scene is perfectly composed and builds to a tension-filled moment.
**As someone who also loves houses, even ones I don’t own, I felt every bit of Jimmy’s pain, and—as fortune’s wheel turns—his elation.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Mike Marshal, known for singing the chorus to “I Got 5 On It” and his time in the song “Rumors” with the Timex Social Club, makes a cameo appearance performing the song “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)”. The film also has a nod to his famous performance as he jokingly starts to sing “I Got 5 On It” at the end of the scene.

Little Women: the Gen X Version

The review:

Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women is my generation’s Little Women and it’s full of great performances and too much moralizing.* While everyone is batting a thousand, Claire Danes goes the extra mile, not only ugly crying, but also killing it in her deathbed scene.** I’ve never liked the bones of the story***, but this is still fun to watch.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home, in preparation for the Greta Gerwig version

Consider also watching:

  • In Her Shoes
  • The Virgin Suicides
  • Frozen
  • Sense & Sensibility

Further sentences:

*I mean, geez, I know how progressive Louisa May Alcott and her family were, but it seems like every time Marmee opens her mouth it’s to provide a mini-lecture about their advanced beliefs. My eyes were rolling.
**Pun intended. Simple words said beautifully, and the waterworks start.
***Amy. Brat with few redeeming qualities. Jo. Belongs with Laurie. Or at least a single writer. Anyone but that old guy.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

While filming, Claire Danes was carrying a candle up the stairs and her hair caught on fire.

Update: an oral history of this film’s production, provided by the New York Times. Worth reading!

The New Romantic is a Different Take on an Old Story

The review:

Carly Stone’s The New Romantic isn’t a love story and it isn’t a screed. Instead, a college newspaper columnist (Jessica Barden) skips out on dating for a different kind of experience.* Hayley Law is great** in the best friend role and Brett Dier is an amusing fellow journalist.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home, having failed to make it all the way to the theater for the movie I was planning on watching. (There was traffic)

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*One that is filmed so it’s not as titillating as it might have been.
**Will we get to see her in a starring role?

Veronica Mars Season 4 Cannot Be Accused of Fan Service

The Review:

For reasons I won’t go into, Rob Thomas cannot be accused of fan service in Veronica Mars Season Four. The eight-episode season is chock full of what made the series so beloved* while ably transporting the formerly-teen characters into full-on adults with complicated lives.** Patton Oswalt and J.K. Simmons (as a pizza delivery man, and ex-con toady to Big Dick Casablancas, respectively) are excellent additions.***

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $11.99/month via Hulu
Where watched: at home with Matt

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Wise-cracking, dark humor, solid dad/daughter relationship, a romance that is complicated, mysteries to solve, bad choices to make, good choices to make, and the wealthy/shady beachfront town of Neptune, California.
**The multitudes of trauma the characters have experienced is being dealt with in ways both healthy and unhealthy. It’s also gently lampooned in two amusing scenes: one with a bunch of true-crime enthusiasts, another with a high school student recapping previous seasons’ plot lines by asking Veronica, “did you know that…?”
***Two questions annoyed me from the first episode. 1) Why does Neptune have a police department when that was an entire subplot of season two? 2)What in the name of all that is holy has become of Logan’s vast fortune? Both of these questions could have been answered with single sentence asides (Ever since incorporation passed in 2015 the police department has taken over in the incompetent realm. And. After the lawsuit with Trina, there wasn’t much left.) Shoddy story crafting there.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

In Season 4, the professional NBA player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is a writer (S4, E6). He’s also the highest-scoring NBA player by total career regular season points scored (38,387).
(Stay focused on the show, IMDB trivia writer. He’s also a producer.)