Tag: Recommended

Instant Family: Byrne and Wahlberg Lead a Great Ensemble

3SMReviews: Instant Family movie review

The review:

Sean Anders’ Instant Family is a very good Sunday Afternoon Movie* and also manages to feature a lot of kids with problems without falling into the obnoxious child trope.** Movies about kids in foster care are few and far between*** and it was nice to see this human-scale comedy created by someone who has experience with the foster care system.**** Overall, this was a funny, breezy film with excellent performances by all***** and for people who have children, it’s probably that much funnier.

The verdict:

Recommended (although see all those notes below)

Cost: free from the Multnomah County Library
Where watched: At home with Matt, who also enjoyed it

Consider also watching:

  • White Oleander
  • The Blind Side (which is amusingly referenced repeatedly in this movie. I have a lot of problems with the white savior aspect, but there are things to like)
  • Annie (I can only vouch for the 1982 edition)
  • Shazam!
  • Oh! Channing Tatum plays a foster kid in Step Up! How could I have forgotten?

Further sentences:

*Sunday Afternoon Movie: A pleasant movie where things are fine by the end, which is best watched before transitioning into the preparation for the workweek ahead.
**Bratty kids=movie killer for me. They aren’t funny, they are spoiled and annoying.
***I found this list called Foster Focus’ Top Twenty-Five Foster Care Movies and the definition of “foster care” seems to include orphanages, which is not what I’m talking about.
****Director Sean Anders has adopted three children from the foster care system. That said, I am a white female who has no experience with the foster care system and I can’t speak to how “true” this tale will feel to people who have had experience. The movie also includes discussions of race and white saviorism, albeit briefly and I’m not sure how those aspects of the movie would be experienced by other people.
*****I started listing the actors who really stood out and realized I was making a list of everyone in the movie.

3SMReviews: Instant Family movie review

Disobedience: The Performances Are Not to be Missed

3SMReviews: Disobedience

The review:

Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience has an overly long sex scene,* but other than that, it’s a movie worth watching both for nuanced performances** and for a short visit to the Orthodox Jewish world of London. Rachel Weisz is fast becoming one of my favorite actors to watch and her performance as the woman who left her community but has returned for her father’s funeral is fantastic—sorrowful and resigned. This falls into the slow drama category, but becomes quite tense in places.

The verdict: Recommended

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

Consider also watching:

Further sentences

*In some alternate universe, there exists this scene filmed by a woman. I bet it doesn’t feel as gratuitous.
**Everyone is not saying very much which means more stuff needs to come through nonverbal means.

3SMReviews: Disobedience

My Life Without Me Confronts End-of-Life in a Different Way

3SMReviews: My Life Without Me movie review

The review:

I’m not sure how I missed Isabel Coixet’s My Life Without Me as I’m usually all in on anything Sarah Polley, anything Mark Ruffalo, and I’m a fan of movies that explore complexities in relationships.* Though there were times that I felt like the slower-than-usual speech patterns of Ruffalo and Polley were distracting, there was a lot to like in this film. Plus, I feel like the ratio of upper-middle class/rich people stories to grinding poverty is about 7-to-1 in the movie world, so the living situation in this was an interesting change.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: Free from Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

*But thanks to Josh Larsen’s Filmspotting recommendation, I caught up with this film!

3SMReviews: My Life Without Me

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: a Visual Delight

The review:

(L to R) Scott Pilgrim (MICHAEL CERA), Ramona Flowers (MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD), Young Neil (JOHNNY SIMMONS), Knives Chau (ELLEN WONG), Kim Pine (ALISON PILL) and Stephen Stills (MARK WEBBER) in the amazing story of one romantic slacker’s quest to power up with love: the action-comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Not having got enough of some of the Avengers, I re-watched Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World to see Brie Larson and Chris Evans before they were Captains Marvel and America and also because I fell asleep when I watched this in 2010.* While I still did drift off in a few places, I loved the visual styling of this movie and I think what Edgar Wright does well is cast leads whose quirks let them really lean in to their performances.** The quick cuts and fast pace are great, and it’s fun to see so many actors who have gone on to other great roles.

The verdict: Recommended

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

Consider also watching:

More sentences:

*It was the movie that taught me that I can no longer watch movies that start at 10 p.m.
**This movie capitalizes on all the Michael Cera things, and Wright later does the same with Ansel Elgort in Baby Driver.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie review 3SMReviews

Avengers: Endgame Has All the Feels

Avengers: Endgame movie review 3SMReviews

The review:

There are 21 reasons I happily sat through a three-hour finale of Anthony and Joe Russo’s Avengers: Endgame; at this point, this endeavor is more of a new-generation serial* than a movie. As my movie-going companion pointed out, this is almost like three separate movies: a drama, a heist, and then an action movie. I loved so much about this movie: the callbacks to the previous films; the assembly of so many characters I know and love;** the amount of gravitas; the humor; and the way everything wrapped up.

The verdict:

Recommended, assuming you’ve seen the majority of the 21 previous movies. If not, might I recommend you begin with 2008’s Iron Man?

Cost: $10.50
Where watched: Baghdad Theater with a crowd who clapped multiple times.

Additional sentences:

*You know like those short films that used to be before the main picture way before my time? That’s what this is, a serial told over a decade and in much bigger chunks.
**That said Marvel, in the future, I’d prefer more movies with female superheroes in starring roles,*** rather than just gathering them together at a(n admittedly tear-inducing) specific point in a big battle.
***I feel cheated out of Black Widow’s full story.

Avengers: Endgame movie review 3SMReviews

My Cousin Rachel: See it With a Friend

My Cousin Rachel movie review 3SMReviews.com

The review:

It’s probably best to watch Roger Mitchell’s My Cousin Rachel with a companion as there is much to discuss afterward and you might find yourself stuck with your own back and forth as to what you think the situation was. The indomitable Rachel Weisz plays the titular Rachel, and Sam Clafin* is the man who is not so sure about his cousin’s motives. Daphne Du Maurier knew how to write a shifting story, and there is much to puzzle out, plus usual historical drama perks of costumes, and furniture and life with servants.

The verdict: Recommended

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

Consider also watching:

Additional sentences:

*With English accent, because I know that some people are fans of that

My Cousin Rachel movie review 3SMReviews.com

Shazam! is Super!

Shazam! movie review 3SMReviews.com

The review:

I think the one-two punch of David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! is Asher Angel’s depiction of an abandoned kid searching for his mother plus Zachary Levi’s grown-man youthful exuberance. Add in Jack Dylan Grazer as the guy who’s super excited to suddenly be friends with a superhero and you have a sweet-natured comedy with more than the usual amount of feels.* While some plot points fall apart upon reflection, it’s an enjoyable and does not feel overly long 132 minutes.

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $8.00
Where watched: St. Johns Twin Cinema with Matt (who rarely watches films from the DCEU, but who also enjoyed it.)

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Which is not to say that some Red Shirts (a.k.a. minor characters) don’t die in some ways that might be overly gruesome and/or scary to the under 13 set.

Shazam! movie review 3SMReviews.com

T-minus 9 days. Time for a Re-watch of Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War

Though I remembered a lot about this movie, I thought it best to do a quick re-watch* before the sequel appears. It was still very, very good, and as we were watching it at home we could pause for bathroom breaks.**

My original review is here.

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

*Although with a 149-minute movie, there’s no quick re-watch.
**Inadvertently, we paused 10 seconds from halfway through the movie. For those curious, it comes during the scene where Thor, Rocket and Groot visit Eitri.

The Way He Looks: Worth Looking At

3SMReviews: The Way He Looks

The review:

For people willing to read subtitles, Daniel Ribeiro’s The Way He Looks is a teen romance treat.* Leonardo and Giovana are best friends and somewhat outcasts whose friendship is interrupted by Gabriel, an attractive new student. There’s great stuff in the shifting friendship department, the first love department, and the department of Other Teenagers Can be Really Mean.**

The verdict: Recommended

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

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*It’s one of those movies I spent a lot of time smiling through
**I did not smile through these parts.

3SMReviews: The Way He Looks

3SMReviews: Us

3SMReviews: Us

In Us, Jordan Peele has crafted a taut, creepy thriller that kept me gasping and guessing right up until the credits rolled; and then the questions rolled in.* It’s very clear that Peele is not a detail-oriented filmmaker, he’s all about the craft and the theme, which is fine.** It’s worth seeing because it’s a movie to watch now and also because the performances all around are tremendous.***

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: $5.00
Where watched: Hollywood Theatre with S. North

*This also happened with Get Out. I loved it. And then I had questions because some things didn’t hang together. In this film there were even more questions and much of it didn’t hang together afterward.
**And I mean that, really. Normally when I have this many things to pick apart, it’s a sign that a movie has failed. In this case I was thoroughly entertained at the theater and am happy to accept the movie as metaphor.
***It’s one thing to turn in an excellent performance, it’s another thing to craft a second similar-but-different character. And every single person did this.

3SMReviews: Us