Tag: Recommended

The Lovebirds is Packed with Laughs

The Lovebirds

The Lovebirds

  • Directed by: Michael Showalter
  • Written by: Aaron Abram, Brendan Gall

The review:

The Lovebirds pairs Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani in a hilarious movie that pushes all the comedic buttons. I think the key to this film is that Rae and Nanjiani play a couple that isn’t in sync any longer, but hasn’t moved to full-on hatred.* There are a lot of amusing fish-out-of-water setups, and the two really shine when they are improving how to be tough guys, rather than the advertising exec and documentary filmmaker that they are.**

The verdict: Recommended

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

Consider also watching:

Further sentences

*This is important. Tuning in for 90 minutes of angry people snapping at each other, no thanks. But 90 minutes of two people who disagree about a variety of things yet still respect each other leaves room for a lot of laughter.
**I laughed so very hard at this film from the first disagreement (We would win the Amazing Race) to the last one. I laughed all alone in my house the first night, and then all over again the next night when the boyfriend and I watched it together.

Questions:

  • Which of the outfits Rae and Nanjiani wore do you think provided the most humor per scene?
  • What’s another out-of-sync-couple captured on film that you enjoy?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

(also the only IMDB trivia item)
Paramount had originally planned to released the film theatrically on April 3, 2020, but decided to release it on Netflix due to the Coronavirus pandemic and widespread theater closings.

Other reviews of The Lovebirds:

The Lovebirds

The Prestige: When Two Men Just Can’t Quit

The Prestige

The review:

Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige is an engrossing battle of wills between two magicians who never say never.* During this grim battle between Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman the movie has many time jumps, a lot of schemes, tricks, and maneuvering. The final reveal, once arrived at, had me marveling that I remembered a part with a dead bird for fourteen years,** but forgot the bigger tragedy.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*It also contains two-and-a-half roles for women! (Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, and Scarlett Johansson). It’s always a joy to come across Rebecca Hall in a movie. She brings such careful feelings.
**The dead bird is the only thing I remembered about this film. This might be because Matt and I rented both this and The Illusionist (2006) and watched them the same night. I remember nothing about the other film, except that I liked this one better.

Questions:

  • In the end, which magician do you think did the most damage?
  • Which of the women in the film had it the worst?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Alfred Borden’s infant was played by one of Christopher Nolan’s children.

Other reviews:

The Prestige

Beanie Feldstein Dazzles in How to Build a Girl

How to Build a Girl

The review:

Beanie Feldstein has been on my radar since her supporting work in Neighbors 2* and I don’t think any other actress could pull off the brash (and somewhat fantasy-based) confidence of Johanna Morrigan/Dolly Wilde in Coky Giedroyc’s How to Build a Girl. This is the rock star trajectory movie** but with a teenage girl as its center*** and with the job in question rock critic, not rock star.**** While the film itself is predictable (see: rock star trajectory) that doesn’t make it any less fun.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $6.99 (a VOD price point I can afford!)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Don’t think Neighbors 2 is for you? You might reconsider when you read my list.
**Humble beginnings; early failures; early success; wild success; drinking and drugs; moment of truth; better understanding of life and their place in it.
***And having a teenage girl at the center of a music-focused movie means this is an automatic Recommended movie. There aren’t enough portrayals of girls making music.
****This brings up inevitable comparisons to the other teenage rock critic movie: Almost Famous. This is smaller in scope and more focused on the rock critic herself and not the bands she reviews.

Questions:

  • Can we have a rock star movie without the rock star trajectory, or would there not be enough plot?
  • Was there a point when you weren’t on Dolly’s side anymore? If yes, when?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

There wasn’t anything good, so I’ll tell you that Caitlain Moran wrote the screenplay and the book on which this is based. Her book How to be a Woman is incredibly funny, especially for women born around 1975, when she was born.

Other reviews:

The Half of It is a Fully Great Movie

The Half of It

The review:

Alice Wu’s charming and moving The Half of It is a 100% fully great movie, and it’s very good-ness has me wondering why it’s been 16 years since her first feature.* Things this film does well: captures the environment in “Squahamish,” Washington;** catching the small feelings of longing that aren’t quite kept hidden; being funny and poignant; starting with a situation that wasn’t a good idea, and kept getting worse, all the while not turning me away from choices made by characters. If you like subtle performances, movies about teenagers, movies about small towns, or movies with Becky Ann Baker,*** cue this movie up tonight!

The verdict: Recommended

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

Consider also watching:

Further sentences

*Saving Face was released in 2004. The time between movies directed by women can be maddening.
**Good job, New York State! You pulled off Washington’s overcast and green environment like a pro.
***Mrs. Weir in Freaks and Geeks and also Lena Dunham’s mom in Girls. She plays a high school teacher in this film.

Questions:

  • What other films can you think of that involve beginning voice-over narration tell us that things aren’t going to work out?
  • What’s your favorite small-town movie?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The opening monologue is the story told by Aristophanes in Plato’s Symposium. Aristophanes was a comedic playwright at the time of Socrates and Plato and is considered the greatest Greek comedic writer. The Symposium is a dialogue about a dinner that Socrates attends. During dinner Socrates, in typical fashion, begins to ask questions of his host and the other guests. The dialogue centers on the topic of love, each interlocutor attempts to answer the question what is love? Aristophanes’ story tells of how humans use to be whole and the gods got jealous and split us apart. We spend our lives searching for that other half. According to Aristophanes, our other half could be someone of the same or opposite gender.

Other reviews:

The Half of It

The Dark Knight Rises: The Best of the Trilogy

The Dark Knight Rises

The review:

Having given us the Batman movie everyone else loves,* Christopher Nolan gave us the Batman movie that I love with The Dark Knight Rises.** In some ways, it’s an origin story all over again, what with Bruce Wayne having to be coaxed out of retirement. And it’s one last chance for Gary Oldman”s Commissioner Gordon to be the moral center.***

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $3.99 via Redbox on demand
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*The Dark Knight
**You know why? This one is fun. And it has two women in it! I know! Plus Tom Hardy, whom everyone loves. And they got the Bane voice just right.
***Also, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in this. And he’s great!

Questions:

  • What would you say is the definitive Nolan stamp on this franchise?
  • How did Bane’s mask work, anyway?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Writer, producer, and director Christopher Nolan said that this movie’s theme deals with “pain”. For Batman Begins (2005), it was “fear”, while The Dark Knight (2008) dealt with “chaos”.

(Clearly I’m a “pain” girl.)

Other reviews:

The Dark Knight Rises

20 Feet From Stardom: Pain and Refracted Glory

20 Feet From Stardom

The review:

Morgan Neville’s 20 Feet From Stardom brings light to that visible but invisible maker of music: the backup singer. As we follow the careers of singers from the 1960s onward, we see the pleasure and pain that comes of lending your talents to music that becomes famous while only sometimes crediting your work. Given the stories of the backup singers,* this could have been a depressing catalog, but the film is celebratory and hopeful; still, it left me wondering how a woman would have captured the dismissal of such talented women.**

The verdict: Recommended

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

Further sentences:

*While Darlene Love’s story starts as gaspingly awful, she seems to have come out of it okay. Whereas Claudia Lennear’s career trajectory caused both myself and the boyfriend (who was only partially watching) to make audible noises of protest.
**”There can be only one Aretha, only one Whitney.” A lot of backup singers swinging for stardom ran into that sentiment. But why can there only be one woman, when there can be so many men?

Questions:

  • Do you think we’re yet past the “there can only be one” sentiment when it comes to women artists?
  • Which was your favorite story?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The film has been compared to the similarly themed book The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll’s Best-Kept Secret, which chronicles the stories of uncredited studio musicians.

(Pssst. It’s also a 2008 documentary: The Wrecking Crew!)

Other reviews:

20 Feet From Stardom

Twenty Years on, Memento is Worth Watching

Memento

The review:

Twenty years later, Christopher Nolan’s Memento is just as good as it was in theaters.* Aside from the puzzle-piece nature of the film, Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Joe Pantoliano are the reason this film is still so good.** It was also made just in the nick of time as devices were on the horizon that would have eliminated the need for the tattoos and the Polaroids.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: free via Kanopy the library’s streaming service
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*I remembered the backward format and the spitting-in-the-drink scene and not much else. I think this has to do with so much of my brain being taken up with trying to piece together the story.
**Whereas Following had so-so acting, Nolan gets three people who are perfect for their roles.

Questions:

  • What do you think the story with Teddy was?
  • Would you ever watch this film in chronological order?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The book that Leonard’s wife is reading, which begins, “Two years have gone by since I finished the long story.”, is Claudius the God by Robert Graves.

Memento

Queen & Slim Should be on Your To-watch List

Queen & Slim

The review:

Melina Matsoukas’s debut feature* Queen & Slim gives us a zeitgeist film that has (unfortunately) flown under most people’s radar. Daniel Kaluuya (Slim) and Jodie Turner-Smith** (Queen) begin as a couple on an awkward date, though their fates change when they are pulled over.*** What follows is a lot of different films: road trip, political story, heist, escape, love story and by the final scene the movie will have taken you on a rough and fulfilling journey.****

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $1.80 via Redbox
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*If this is any indication of what’s to come, we have a very exciting filmmaker to watch.
**In this very American story, it was interesting to hear the two leads’ British accents during the making-of bonus features.
***Even people who don’t follow the news will recognize that a plot point involving Black people and a traffic stop doesn’t bode well.
****I went in mostly blind to this film. I heard “really good!” and “women director” and didn’t look further. It’s the kind of film where people might dismiss as too sad, but there’s so much life among the sadness, I would suggest you don’t pass it by.

Questions:

  • What are your feelings about Queen and Slim being viewed as heros?
  • What was your favorite encounter the couple had on their journey?

Favorite IMDB Trivia Item:

According to the writer, the divergent world views of the two protagonists were based on the differences between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.

Other reviews:

Queen & Slim

Emma. is Period Perfect

Emma.

The review:

Autumn de Wilde’s Emma. is a dressed up in confectionery shop color, which shows off the transformation of Emma as she takes on a friend in order to add another match to her successes. Anya Taylor-Joy’s deft performance shows the evolution of Emma, ably aided by perfect supporting performances especially Mia Goth as Harriet and Johnny Flynn as Mr. Knightley.* This is not a period film where we get to know the servants as the focus is singularly on Emma’s circle, but it’s a funny film** and it has a lot of feeling in places,*** not to mention a gorgeous soundtrack.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater (last movie in the theater prior to coronovirus shutdowns.)

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Wondering who Johnny Flynn was, I found he starred in the Netflix comedy Love Sick, which I am currently enjoying quite a lot.
**Bill Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse is always good for a laugh.
***Including one point where the audience gasped aloud.

Questions:

  • What do you think is the key element of success when adapting Emma?
  • How badly do you want to visit that hat shop?

Favorite IMDB item:

The film’s title unconventionally has a period at the end. The director has stated in multiple interviews it is to signify the movie as a “period piece” set in the original era.

Other reviews:

Emma.

Homecoming is a film by Beyoncé

Homecoming A Film by Beyonce

The review:

In Homecoming, Beyoncé and Ed Burke capture the magic of Beyoncé’s 2018 Cochella performance which included a drum line, step dancing, tight choreography, a set that includes risers that look like a pyramid, and the power of Beyoncé’s music.* Interspersed with the action on stage are scenes of the planning and execution of this performance including information about why the show was delayed for a year and all of the personal physical preparation Beyoncé had to take to be ready.** This movie is for anyone who likes pageantry, anyone who likes to see how musical performances are created, and for sure, anyone who loves a drum line.***

The verdict: Recommended

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

Consider also watching:

  • 20 Feet from Stardom
  • Cabin in the Sky (though it’s from 1943 and thus racist, but the performances are great!)
  • Purple Rain
  • Dreamgirls

Further sentences:

*A true confession exposing my unfortunate proclivities to discount contributions by women and by women of color: After the first five minutes, I had the thought, “I wonder how much of this Beyoncé was around for? Did she slide in after it was all choreographed and put together?” This despite the title: Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé. Luckily for me, Beyoncé (the director!) anticipated that people might wonder such a thing and I soon realized that she was the creator of everything about this incredible performance. I’m calling out my racist and sexist thought to illustrate that I still have discounting thoughts like that, and I need to catch them when they happen.
**I love that she reported her exact weight before she gave birth to twins, and talked about the difficulties of getting her body into a specific shape in time for this performance. It was also painful to watch, and I wish we lived in a world where women could live in the bodies they have after they give birth.
***I am not a follower of Ms. Knowles’s music; I recognized two songs. This did not distract me from loving every minute of this movie.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Beyoncé was paid $8 million to perform at Coachella.
(This was the only trivia item)
(Also: good job Beyoncé)

Other reviews:

Homecoming A Film by Beyonce