Category: Three Sentence Movie Reviews

Which Timothée Chalamet Film Should You Watch?

“In other news, I’ve been watching Homeland, and who should show up but your friend, the wee Timothée Chalamet.”

Text from my friend S. North.
Timothée Chalamet in Lady Bird

He’s the guy who had me memorizing the Unicode for é (Alt+0233), he’s an actor who has up and come, he’s the person you might be pronouncing his name incorrectly. (It’s TEE-MO-TAY SHALL-AH-MAY, though apparently he also answers to TIM-O-THEE.)

Maybe you’ve seen his curly head, lean body, and sharp features in a variety of places, or you’ve heard a variety of people (young girls, older girls, directors, actors) gushing about him.

Or maybe you haven’t?

For more about Timothée Chalamet, including a breakdown of his roles, read on.

Background:

Chalamet grew up in New York City, though the family spent their summers in France. A variety of his family members worked or work in theater, film, and television. (His mother was a Broadway dancer.) He started acting early, and attended the Fiorello H. Laguardia High School of Music & Art & Performing Arts and landed a few choice movie roles while in high school. After graduation there were more roles that were even choicer; between those roles and his good looks, he’s everywhere.

Chalamet (whose father is French) has also grown into an internet-heartthrob phenomenon. His haircuts are breaking news stories, he’s been hailed as the ‘new Brando’ and more than 61,000 people follow an Instagram account that Photoshops his face onto famous artworks.

TimeOut

Maybe you’ve decided it’s time to watch some Timothée Chalamet movies. But which one?

The movie you can’t watch:

Let’s talk about the film you aren’t going to watch. That would be A Rainy Day in New York which was shelved by Amazon after the combination of Woody Allen and #MeToo became too much. Chalamet and other stars donated their salaries to various charities.

Who knows if this is one of the insufferable Woody Allen films, or one of the magical ones. In the meantime, here’s a photo.

Timothée Chalamet A Rainy Day in New York

Movies with just a little Chalamet:

Men, Women, & Children

This isn’t a good film and I don’t recommend it. If you are watching it for Mr. Chalemet, you will see him for approximately 15 seconds. He’s a football player.

The cast list tricked me into thinking he had a bigger role because he’s listed seventh, but I see what they did. They put all the adults first, and then alphabetized the teenagers by last name which put him at the top of that list above Olivia Crocicchia, Kaitlyn Dever, Ansel Elgort, Elena Kampouris, and Travis Tope, all of who had plot arcs. And yes, that was already too many plot arcs for one film, but there are even more plot arcs with the five adults in the film.

Should you watch this: Nope.

Read the review

Hostiles

If you are looking for Mr. Chalamet in this film, he can be found in a bit role in the first 15 minutes as Private Philippe DeJardin. After that, you’d better be in it for Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, and some very deliberate filmmaking.

Should you watch this: Maybe.

  • How do you feel about very slow films?

Read the review

Intersteller

One of a few “young” roles, here he plays Tom (15 years). Tom is Matthew McConaughey’s son and Casey Afflack portrays him later in the film. You can watch the a clip below. I didn’t rewatch Intersteller for this list, but I suspect there isn’t a ton more of him in this film.

Should you watch this? If you are up for it.

  • Though for Nolan reasons, not Chalamet reasons.

Read the review

Lady Bird

2017 was a big year for Chalamet because he was in four films. This was my introduction to him, playing Kyle Scheible, the boy Saoirse Ronan is into after the thing with Lucas Hedges falls apart.

I recall some bit of press where Timothée Chalamet commented that he hopes that no one thinks he is anything like this character; it’s easy to see why. Kyle Scheible is exactly the type of boy where nothing good can come of being attracted to him, but attracted you are.

Total Chalamet screen time is about 15 minutes or so. But this movie, my favorite of 2017, is so good, it’s worth watching.

Should you watch this? Yep. For all the reasons.

Read the review

Miss Stevens

I found this quiet little drama on Kanopy earlier this year and I loved it. I was all in on Miss Stevens and her weekend at the state drama competition.

Billy is Chalamet’s character, and we get to see him do a monologue and also make things difficult for Miss Stevens. This is the film where he probably has the most screen time of his not-starring turns.

Should you watch this? Maybe.

  • What’s your tolerance for quiet indie dramas?

Read the review

Little Women

I would work with Greta on anything. I’m just totally in awe of her. I like working with filmmakers who are ten times smarter than me. Also I get to be the square to the circle of Saoirse Ronan’s affections again.

As quoted in TimeOut

While I could see that a lot of women might want to grow up to play Jo in Little Women, and a few would love to sink their teeth into Amy, I doubt that many men grow up pining to be Laurie. But they should!

Chalamet’s Laurie is all rolling puppy, which makes him a great twin for Saoirse Ronan’s constant motion. He excels as the younger Laurie, though I think Christian Bale has more gravitas as the older Laurie. T.C. may be 25, but he comes across as younger.

But between the 1995 version and the 2019 version you’ve got a great range of Lauries.

Should you watch this? Of course!

  • It’s an movie I love, while hating the source material.

Read the review

Movies with a lot of Chalamet

Here’s where the starring roles come in.

One and Two

Timothée Chalamet and Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper in Mad Men) play siblings with supernatural abilities. While this is a good vehicle for Chalemet (and Shipkin,) it is the most boring film I’ve watched in years.

Should you watch this? Nope.

  • Maybe if you are a completist, have the flu, and there’s nothing else?

Read the review

Hot Summer Nights

In this film, young Timothée plays young Daniel, who is banished to Cape Cod for the summer. There, he orchestrates a scheme with Emory Cohen (who was so very good in Brooklyn) that gets out of hand.

This is not a good movie, but I watched it because it was set in the 1990s on Cape Cod and because I like to watch Timothée Chalamet fall in love on screen.

Should you watch this? Nope.

  • It’s not good, especially if you aren’t interested in movies set in the 90s on Cape Cod.

Read the review

The King

HAL is the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but Hal in the King is the man who would be King Henry V.

In this film, adapted from Shakespeare’s Henry V parts I and II by Joel Edgerton and David Michôd, we get to see Chalamet go from disfavored son and drunkard to king with gravitas.

At 2 hours 20 minutes, it’s a little too long, but it’s nearly all Chalamet all the time.

Should you watch this? Yes.

  • If you are going for maximum Chalamet time.
  • Also, if you like Shakespeare adaptations.

Read the review

Beautiful Boy

Co-starring with Steve Carell, Beautiful Boy is the twin stories of Nic and David Sheff. Nic is mired in drug addiction and David is doing his best to help his son.

Timothée Chalamet conveys all the drug abuse feelings, though he never slides into that scuzzy, wasted, burnt-out look of chronic abusers.

Should you watch this?

  • How burnt out are you with drug abuse narratives?
  • Does knowing two stars of the Office are playing serious roles motivate or hinder your interest?

Read the review

Call Me by Your Name

As someone who grew up in a time when the few men who played gay men onscreen were always asked, “But you’re not gay, right?” I’m glad I live in a time when two guys can play men in love without the details of the personal sexual preferences discussed.

In this film, Timothée Chalamet plays Elio, the only son of wealthy academics who summer in the most gorgeous of places: Northern Italy. Armie Hammer is Oliver, the graduate student who comes to live with the family for the summer.

The boy and the man fall in love. It’s a slow film, but full of so many delightful moments and gorgeous scenery that I don’t mind watching it multiple times.

Should you watch this? Yes!

  • This is the reigning über Chalamet.
  • And why wouldn’t you want to spend a summer in Italy watching two guys fall in love?
  • Plus, I suspect in 10–15 years the age difference will be too creepy (it’s 17 and 24 in the book; the actors were 19 and 31)

Read the review

Movies I haven’t seen:

The Adderall Diaries
He plays Teenage Stephen. I’m guessing he’s not in it a ton.

Worst Friends
Same deal. Young Sam doesn’t seem like a good use of my movie-watching time.

Love the Coopers
He’s listed sixth on the cast lineup, but I couldn’t get excited enough to watch this film with a Metascore of 31.

Supposedly coming in 2020:

  • The French Dispatch. Wes Anderson!
  • Dune. Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Much online chatter about this. We shall see if this turns me from someone who eyerolls at any mention of Dune into a fan.

Questions:

  • If you haven’t yet seen Chalamet, what’s keeping you?
  • If you have, what’s your favorite of his performances?

One and Two is a Story Missing a Story

One and Two

The review:

While Andrew Droz Palermo’s work as a cinematographer for A Ghost Story should be celebrated, the same cannot be said of the directing skills on display in One and Two which is a movie so boring that I couldn’t even find anything to hate about it.* This is a film that shouldn’t be bothered with as the unexplained stuff is never explained, or even hinted at,** the time period is unclear for much of the film, and the ending doesn’t give any clues about the future. The only possible reason to watch this film is to see what Kiernan Shipka and Timothée Chalamet make of their roles.***

The verdict: Skip

Cost: $3.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*I don’t remember the last time I’ve been so bored by a movie.
**We know the kids have powers, we know their father fears these powers, we don’t know where the powers come from, what causes the father to fear, how or if the mother’s illness is connected to the powers, or how that massive wall got built.
***Chalamet gets to emote a lot, which I think he enjoys. Shipka brings her ability to puzzle through and push against things. I quite like this vibe, which was present when she played Sally Draper in Mad Men and I’m curious if this is her thing, or if she does other things in other roles. Perhaps I will check out the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Questions:

  • Is it worth it to you to watch the movie just for the performances? Why or why not?
  • How do you think that wall got built?
  • How useful do you think the siblings’ powers would be?

Other reviews:

One and Two

Men, Women & Children is Worth Missing

Men, Women & Children

The review:

Men, Women & Children continues to prove that I love Jason Reitman when paired with Diablo Cody’s writing, and not so much any other time.* Which is not to say I didn’t enjoy watching this film; I spent my time trying to figure out why this was such a bad movie.** This movie is populated with actors I adore*** yet it was a terrible, terrible film.

The verdict: Skip

Cost: free via Hoopla, the library’s lesser streaming service. 13 Going on 30 is on there now. Watch that instead.
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

  • The Meyerowitz Stories (Serious Adam Sandler!)
  • Laggies (More Kaitlyn Dever!)
  • The Ice Storm (really brutal Ang Lee!)
  • Boogie Nights (Porn stars! But through Paul Thomas Anderson’s lens)

Further sentences:

*Juno I love. Young Adult I love. Tully I adore (and why haven’t you watched it yet?) Up in the Air left me cold. Granted, I still need to see Thank You for Smoking, Labor Day, and The Front Runner to have a clear picture, but so far non-Cody-written films aren’t winning.
**My verdict: it might be a book-to-movie problem. It’s certainly a too-many-characters problem. With about ten character arcs, people get flattened to one personality point. Because the movie is about sex and the internet, every single character interaction save one couple has to do with sex. Ansel Elgort and Kaitlyn Dever were my two favorite characters because their interactions had nuance. (And they had nothing to do with sex.) As someone who is interested in depictions of sex in film and books, this was fascinating. Update! I read the first section of the book on which the film was based to see if the characters were more well rounded. They were not and the dialogue was wooden. This was not a book-to-movie-problem, the story wins in no formats. (Though maybe interpretive dance?)
***Rosemarie DeWitt! Judy Greer! Emma Thompson! Jennifer Garner! Kaitlyn Dever! Serious Adam Sandler!

Questions:

  • Have you seen this? Did you find anything redeeming?
  • What do you think the key to a good ensemble cast movie is?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Writer, producer, and director Jason Reitman felt so much of the acting in this movie was based on reactions to texts, chats, and photos that using dummy screens with no text would not suffice. The production team had to create very realistic-looking versions of popular websites, all on their own tightly controlled software, with which the actors and actresses could interact in real time. According to Reitman, they spent “the same amount of budget on creating the digital world as we did creating the physical one. People know what Facebook looks like better than they do a hotel lobby, you stare at it all day, so it had to be convincing.”

I did think this was one aspect that the movie did well.

Men, Women & Children

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

Lady Macbeth: Great Acting; Good Scenery

Lady Macbeth

The review:

William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth is a great opportunity for Florence Pugh to dazzle you with her acting, and for Ari Wegner to dazzle you with his cinematography. It was one of those movies where early on I didn’t go for a plot turn,* and thus didn’t believe the rest of the movie was possible. It was also fairly unpleasant subject matter** which made for a tedious viewing experience punctuated with great sweeping views of the English landscape.

The verdict: Skip

Unless watching for Florence Pugh’s acting.

Cost: Free via Kanopy, the library streaming service
Where watched: at home.

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*And worse, the turn in plot had me asking, “Did a man direct this film?” He did, as it turned out, but a woman wrote it.
**To be fair, they gave me fair warning with the title. It’s not like Mr. Macbeth was a cheery cruise ship director-type. And I read a synopsis of the 1865 novella the movie is based on,*** and this seems to be a much briefer portrait.
***Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov.

Questions:

  • Did I miss a switch from revulsion to attraction? Did you see it?
  • What do you think happened after the film ended?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

iFeatures is a joint collaboration between the BBC and the BFI. Every year, they produce three feature films for £350,000 as a springboard for first-time directors. Lady Macbeth (2016) was chosen out of over 300 applicants.

It looks like Oldroyd hasn’t directed anything since, which is too bad. I would be willing to watch something else he directed.

Lady Macbeth

Dark Victory is a 1939 Weepie

Dark Victory

The review:

Edmund Goulding provides a great canvas to show off Bette Davis’s range in Dark Victory.* Davis, aside from cycling through the stages of grief, makes a wealthy socialite a sympathetic character while wooing George Brent, a reserved and quiet doctor who knows he doesn’t know enough about brain tumors to be of any help.** This is a solid capsule of its time from the lack of information given to the patient, to the copious amounts of cigarette smoking.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free via TV Land Feature Films (which didn’t have ads for the first film I watched, but now does. Tricky!)
Where watched: at home.

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*It’s a weepie, though removed enough from its time and place that I did not weep.
**This is the first time I’ve seen Ronald Reagan in a movie. I didn’t recognize him when he faced the camera, he was only identifiable in profile. Also of note. Humphrey Bogart is hardly in this .

Questions:

  • If you had a terminal brain tumor, would you want to know? Why or why not?
  • Did it seem like there was a big age difference between Bette Davis (Judith) and George Brent (Dr. Steele)? IMDB tells me they are only four years apart.
  • Does the name Dr. Frederick Steele sound kind of bodice-rippery?

Favorite IMDB Trivia Items:

The scene in Dr. Steele’s office where Judith can’t light her cigarette, and then a few minutes later she can’t light Dr. Steele’s, was devised by Edmund Goulding. He explained, “When Bette Davis can’t light her own cigarette, you know something is seriously wrong with her.”

When the band is packing up and Judith tips them to play a song, she gives the singer a $50 bill and they immediately jump to it. Adjusting for inflation, this is the equivalent of about $900.

Dark Victory

Jezebel is Full of Range (and an Epidemic)

Jezebel

The review:

William Wyler’s Jezebel is an excellent movie for showing off Bette Davis’s range. Aside from Davis, it’s fun to watch Fay Bainter as the ever worried, silent-suffering Aunt Belle Massey as well as to see 1850s New Orleans society mores.* I wasn’t fully convinced by the transformation,*** but was all in on the journey to get there.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free via TV Time Feature Films which is a Roku Channel that has TONS of old movies!
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences

*I thought I was headed in for a film full of shaming and was delighted to discover a more nuanced narrative.**
**Less delightful: the many “happy slaves” portrayed in this movie. That element has not aged well.
***I also wasn’t convinced that I was supposed to be convinced.

Questions:

  • Was Julie’s transformation complete, or was she still working an angle?
  • What other 1930s films do you enjoy? Filmspotting recently did a starter pack.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Fay Bainter became the first actor to receive nominations in the Lead and Supporting acting categories, being nominated for Best Actress for White Banners (1938) and for Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938).

(I also enjoyed her as the mom in State Fair!)

Jezebel

“Modern Love” in Movies

David Bowie’s “Modern Love” is a bright, peppy song about that has enough repetitive parts that anyone can sing along to the backing vocals, even if they aren’t sure what the song is actually about.

Two articles have two different takes:

“The bright communal joy of ‘Modern Love’ masks a spiritually empty view of life, in which work is the last religion standing. As such, it was a song made for its times.”

Pushing Ahead of the Dame

Then there’s this:

“‘Modern Love’ is about the struggle to find solace in love and religion. David was never one to openly admit too much about his songs, but the title is a phrase occasionally used in gay circles about homosexual love. His spoken opening line, ‘I know when to go out, and when to stay in,’ indicating that he knows when it’s acceptable to admit that I’m bisexual or gay or not because later he sings, ‘never gonna fall for Modern Love.’”

Jon Kutner

Is it a song about work? Or about a certain kind of love? What do you think?

The video is a straight concert video. As Pushing Ahead of the Dame notes: “It was a rock video as tour commercial—don’t miss the giant inflated crescent moon! the horn section wearing pith helmets! Coming to your town next month!”

The song is fun for Karaoke and shines in movies. I’m surprised it hasn’t been used more. Here are four movies improved by “Modern Love”

The Way He Looks

In this sweet film about Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo), a teenager who is blind, who finds his world upended when Gabriel (Fabio Audi) shows up in his life.

At one point, Leonardo attends a party where “Modern Love” is playing in the background.

Read the review.

Adventureland

James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has his summer all planned out: college graduation then Europe with his friends. Alas, the plans fall through and he ends up working at a broken-down amusement park running the carnie games.

Early on, as “Modern Love” plays, he’s doing a bad job calling the Derby Race when Bill Hader gives him advice: “Take it to a 10.” Kristen Wiig does her scene stealing thing in the background.

Read the review.

Frances Ha

In Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha (my top movie of 2013) Greta Gerwig is adrift in her 20s. She would be irritating, if she wasn’t so darn likable. And also, it helps that she’s a character on screen, not your actual friend.

“Modern Love” furthers our love of her character, as she leaps and dances as she runs through the streets of Manhattan on the way to her new apartment in Chinatown. (Her roomates are the very cute Lev (Adam Driver) and Benji (Michael Zegan)

Read the review.

Sleeping With Other People

Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie are a couple who have pledged to be friends and only friends. They do their best in scene after scene, but it becomes apparent to everyone around them that this cannot continue.

“Modern Love” appears when the two attend the birthday party of a friend’s child. They have ingested a specific substance that guarantees they will have a little remove from a teeming horde of kids. When the party seems to be going south, Alison Brie steps in to teach the kids a dance. Movie magic: the kids pick up the dance from the first beat. When she loses focus, Sudeikis steps in with free dancing, while other characters make the point that this platonic thing cannot last much longer. It’s a joyous scene from start to finish.

Read the review.

Questions:

  • Have you seen all of these films? Which one do you think best uses the strengths of the song?
  • What scene in a film would be improved with “Modern Love” added to it?