Tag: Woman Director

Someone Great: Not So Great.

Or: There’s a Difference Between a Romantic Comedy and a Comedy

(That difference, as you might guess, is the presence of romance.)

Someone Great movie review

The review:

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson has crafted a nice duel portrait of (1)female friendship and (2)the end of a relationship, and there are things to like about Someone Great.* But it doesn’t really have a lot going for it, and it pretty easily slid into that category of movie I recommend for people to watch when they have the flu. There were way too many flashback—all more or less framed in the same way—and I think the forgettable title name** sets the stage for the forgettable nature of the movie.***

The verdict:

Skip. Unless perhaps you have the flu?

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

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*The easy friendship between Gina Rodriguez, DeWanda Wise, and Brittany Snow, the montage of getting ready to go out, the zany last day scenario.
**True story: I made all the visuals for this post using the name Someone Like You, which is a 2001 Ashley Judd comedy that I found forgettable, but which is based on a book called Animal Husbandry which is a MUCH better title and which I quite liked.
**It’s another one of those movies called “romantic comedies” but which is not actually a romantic comedy, but a comedic female friendship movie. Ibiza (also a Netflix film) was similar, except it did have some romance. This was all breakup, no romance. I’m all for comedic female friendship movies. But don’t call them romantic comedies.

Someone Great movie review

It Had to be You: A Rom-com About Not Wanting to Get Married

It Had to Be You movie review

The review:

As a person in a long-term relationship who does not want to be married, I was interested in Sasha Gordon’s It Had to Be You, a romantic comedy about a woman who freaks out when her boyfriend proposes. Cristin Miloti is laugh-out-loud funny in parts of this film and there’s a lot of sadness, what with all the trying to figure out what to do with a relationship where two people want different things. I could feel the movie hitting its beats* and I still found that watching it was a good way to spend my Sunday evening time.

The verdict: Good

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

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Which isn’t great, but is much better than the movie not hitting its beats and me wondering when this endless film will be over.

Unicorn Store: Brie Larson is a steely candy confection

The review:

Unicorn Store is Brie Larson’s directorial debut, and much like Chris Evans’ directorial debut, it’s fine way to pass the time. Larson walks the line between steely and fantastical and Samuel L. Jackson looks like he is having a lot of fun. It’s also required viewing for people who are fans of whimsical costuming as it is packed full of candy-colored couture.

The verdict: Good

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

Consider also watching*:

  • Other Avengers with directorial debuts**:
    • Before We Go (Metascore 31, Chris Evans)
    • Sympathy for Deliciousness (Metascore 44, Mark Ruffalo)
    • Miles Ahead (Metascore 64, Don Cheadle)
    • Shelter (Metascore 43, Paul Bettany)
    • Of note: the Metascore for The Unicorn store is 45.

The caveats:

*Note that I can only vouch for the film I’ve watched. Report back to me if you have something to stay about the others.
**That would make a fun bar trivia question. Which of the Avengers have directed movies? Of course, you would have to define who the Avengers are.

Unicorn Store quote

3SMReviews: All About Nina

3SMReviews: All About Nina

Eva Vives takes a chance in All About Nina, giving us a character who, being female, is easily slotted into that female-dominated category of “unlikable.” Mary Elizabeth Winstead gives it her all as Nina, a stand-up comedian ready to take a chance to leap to success, while also trying not to let her demons get the worst of her. While the movie eventually illuminates the source of Nina’s demons, there wasn’t enough along the way to have me rooting for her,* plus Common (playing love interest Rafe) drove me batty with his line delivery.**

Verdict: Skip, unless you want to do a compare/contrast

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

Consider watching instead:

*This is actually a great movie to watch as a contrast to Can You Ever Forgive Me?, who also has an unlikable protagonist, but one I was rooting for from the beginning despite not knowing, or ever knowing what shaped her into that very prickly person.
**Abusive, stalker ex-guy she slept with, Joe is played by Chace Crawford, who I spent time with while watching Gossip Girl. This movie also has a treasure trove of recognizable actors I don’t see much of: Camryn Manheim, Jay Mohr, Mindy Sterling, Beau Bridges.

3SMReviews: All About Nina
This quotes comes from possibly the most delightful scene. But one scene does not a good movie make.

3SMReviews: The Kindergarten Teacher

3SMReviews: The Kindergarten Teacher

Settle in for some pleasantly uncomfortable observations of a woman going off the rails. Director Sara Colangelo slowly turns up the heat in the Kindergarten Teacher and things grow increasingly uncomfortable as the excellent Maggie Gyllenhaal’s interest in her talented five-year-old student grows. There’s no explosion of violence, or anger, or much of anything; what makes this uncomfortable is how things that are only a little off kilter build to become something that is verboten.*

Verdict: Good

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($7.99)
Where watched: at home

*I feel like I need to add a disclaimer. At no time is the child abused, or in danger. He’s a victim of liking too much, which gets out of control.

3SMReviews: Captain Marvel

3SMReviews: Captain Marvel

Brie Larson has played a lot of characters who put their heads down and get through things; her turn in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel continues that line. The plot of this film is like one of those “scrambler”-type carnival rides* but in a coherent way. You also get origin stories of many things, a woman casting off the mantle that was put on her so she can find her own power and a cat named Goose.**

Verdict: Good

Cost: $11.00
Where watched: McMenamins Baghdad Theater with Matt. (There were multiple points where we clapped. I love the Baghdad.)

*This is where we are—*woosh*— no this is where we are—*woosh*—no really we’re over here—*woosh*—but maybe we’re here?
**And the classic Marvel intro has been restyled as a tribute to Stan Lee. I was not emotionally prepared, and was momentarily overcome. You’ve been warned.

Consider also watching some other great Brie Larson performances: Room, Short Term 12, The Spectacular Now (that’s a tiny role, but I like that movie for its depiction of a teenage alcoholic.)

3SMReviews: Sleeping with Other People

3SMReviews: Sleeping with Other People

Goddamn, do I love Leslye Headland’s Sleeping with Other People, which is kind of When Harry Met Sally in present day with much more discussion of sex. Alison Brie elevates everything she is in and Jason Sudeikis succeeds with his “Hey, I can really do this acting thing, not just comedy!” It’s a witty and sex-positive and blatant film about coupling and love.*

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($7.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching: When Harry Met Sally, Some Kind of Wonderful, Clueless, 13 Going on 30, Friends with Kids, Love and Basketball, What’s Your Number?, What If (I could apparently go on, as this happens to be one of my favorite sub-genres of romantic comedy.)

*I’m still giving the Dirty DJ scene the side-eye though.

3SMReviews: American Honey

3SMReviews: American Honey

In Andrea Arnold’s American Honey we get a meander across America via a white van full of underprivileged, tattooed youth selling magazine subscriptions.* Star’s (Sasha Lane**) good heart shines through, cutting through the layers of poverty, scraping, and fighting to get a handhold up to the place where you can start pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. This long, uncomfortable*** film is worth watching and will stick with me for a very long time.

Verdict: Recommended

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

*All of these kids need a lot of interventions, probably starting with access to any amount of unconditional love.
**Who recently caught my eye in the Miseducation of Cameron Post and was also the love interest in Hearts Beat Loud
***Two hours and forty minutes of me feeling every ounce of my middle-class privilege. Plus the conflicting feelings of Shia LaBeouf’s skeevieness vs. me kind of rooting for him.

A thing my middle-class self and this lot have in common: love of music. This was my favorite scene of the movie. Stuff that advances the plot is happening while the song is playing, and the van sing-along that develops parallels many of my adolescent times with friends in a car.

3SMReviews: The Matrix

3SMReviews: The Matrix

My 1999 self watched the Wachowski’s The Matrix in the theater and what my 2019 self recalls about that movie is the feeling of a massive shrug. Having just re-watched the film as my 2019 self, I can say I’m not quite sure what my 1999 self was thinking* because WOW there is a lot to like about this film. It is still setting the standard for Sci-Fi visuals, Keanu Reeves’ performance isn’t nearly as wooden as I was remembering, and it has a strong female character (Carrie-Anne Moss) who is a great fighter.**

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: free from the Multnomah County library
Where watched: at home, in preparation for Filmspotting’s 9 from 99 discussion.

Consider also watching: Looper, Moon

*And really, this goes for all aspects of my 1999 self, not just pertaining to this movie. I thought it was weird I remembered not one thing about the film, so much so that I wondered if maybe I hadn’t actually watched it. But no, there it was listed in the 1999 journal. I watched it on June 23. I wrote nothing about the movie in the entry from that day.
**Though alas, she exists only for the male lead. That “I love you” scene was probably the weakest one of the movie. Also, props for a somewhat diverse cast to support that male lead.

3SMReviews: The Edge of Seventeen

3SMReviews: The Edge of Seventeen

Kelly Fremon Craig’s excellent The Edge of Seventeen has popped up on Netflix and this review is here to convince you to watch the film. Nadine (played by the incredibly talented Hailee Steinfeld) has a life that isn’t hard at all,* and yet it’s very hard.** This film does three things very well: it captures female adolescent angst like few films do; it contains hilarious and (to me at least) familiar depictions of awkward flirting, and oh, my goodness, it is funny.

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($7.99)
Where watched: at home. And it was good enough to draw the boyfriend in.

*She lives in a nice house, has a middle-class level of resources, and a best friend.
**She’s the kind of girl who powers through a world that doesn’t operate the way she does, her father died and left her to navigate the world alone, and her best friend just started dating her older brother, whom she cannot stand.