Lean who talks about Trish for an extended period, who the main character of Red Rocket reminded me of, and in which movie showing I saw four people leave halfway through.
Note: Josh Greenbaum directed, didn’t write. Mikey isn’t probably really middle aged, but he is old for his industry.
In this bit of audio, I run through the movies I watched in May 2021. Listen to find out what I think of ditzy women leads, how I knew that a movie wouldn’t have a bummer of an ending, and to get recommendations for several (!!!!) grownup comedies.
Things mentioned in this post:
The bummer of recording audio is that when I discover I’ve missed an entire move after I’m done recording and editing, I don’t go back and fix that.
In that vein, know that I also watched Mystery Date in May. It would have landed in the Skip category.
Created by women: Together Together (written and directed); Monster (2018) (co-written); The Forty-Year-Old Version (written & directed); Once Upon a Mattress (directed).
?Directed by Nikole Beckwith?
?Written by Nikole Beckwith?
Patti Harrison* and Ed Helms** anchor this low-key, sweet comedy about a middle-aged man starting a family and the surrogate he hires. What starts as a strictly-by-the-books relationship evolves into a friendship that reveals the hard and sticky parts of both characters lives. Recently, I remarked on the lack of grownup comedies;*** this is one and well worth your time.
Cost: $15.90
Where watched: The Living Room Theater! I’m fully vaccinated! First movie outing since March 7, 2020!
*Who shall now be forever known by me as the Queen of the Straight-Faced Zingers.
**He’s really done some great stuff recently.
***I enjoy a lot of different comedies, but the ones where people are grounded in something like the real word and grounded in everyday humor are a rare treat.
The film was shot in 17 days.
(also the only one)
Other reviews of Together Together:
?Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer?
?Written by Martin Goldsmith?
There are three reasons to watch this film and the least of the reasons is that it’s 68 minutes, so it won’t take much of your time. The other two have to do with the road trip conundrum* and the incredible performance by Ann Savage.** I can’t say I know a ton about noir, but I can say that this film is a great place to start, if you are among the noir curious.***
Cost: free from the Multnomah County Library (I even got the Criterion Collection version.)
Where watched: at home
*Though “back in the day” is often portrayed as a time when hitchhiking was a thing that everyone did, Tom Neal’s character mentions how hard it’s been for him to get a ride.
**She doesn’t appear until the movie is nearly halfway over, but man, does she make this film work.
***And like I said, 68 minutes!
The budget PRC gave director Edgar G. Ulmer for this film was so small that the 1941 Lincoln Continental V-12 convertible driven by Charles Haskell was actually Ulmer’s personal car.
?Directed by Emerald Fennell?
?Written by Emerald Fennell?
If I tell you this movie is a revenge thriller you’ll probably get a very specific picture in your mind.* But it’s not that movie at all, it’s a candy colored confection that is funny, sweet, and can spark some incredible conversations about consent and the things we tell each other.** Carey Mulligan is a chameleon, putting off and taking off personalities, and she’s backed by a talented cast.***
Cost: $1.30 from Redbox (I waited so very patiently for the $19.99 price to drop, and then had a Redbox Coupon that saved me 50¢)
Where watched: at home
*Dark, moody, angry, and either containing a ton of spattered blood throughout or at least a massive bloodbath at the end.
**Ideally things are starting to change, but this is the kind of change we need now, not eventually. Also, it will make you like a Paris Hilton song.
***Me during the opening credits: Beau Burnham is in this?!! Alison Brie! Laverne Cox! Connie Britton!
****The movie ended, the bonus features started, the bonus features ended, and I started the movie again. Then watched it for a third time the next night with Matt.
The title is a reference to Brock Turner, a Stanford University student who was convicted of sexual assault in 2016. Despite his conviction, he was referred to by some as a “promising young man.”
?Directed by Shaka King?
?Written by Will Berson & Shaka King?
I first learned about Fred Hampton in Ava DuVerney’s 13th and so I knew how this film was going to end.* But it was interesting to watch Daniel Kaluuya’s evolution of Hampton as he gained skills as well as the dance between LaKeith Stanfield and Jessie Plemons as FBI informant and agent.** I would have liked Dominique Fishback to have a bigger role, but she was great with what she was given in this movie that’s gonna kick you in the stomach right before the credits roll.***
Cost: I paid Matt $6.00. He’s the one paying the HBOMax fee ($12.99)
Where watched: at home
*Not well for Fred Hampton.
**It’s interesting how we forgive the FBI for their many sins, but so often the Black Panthers are portrayed as the lawless party.
***If there’s an award for best after-movie text on screen, this film will sweep that category.
With both LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya receiving Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor, Judas and the Black Messiah becomes the first film to have multiple black performers nominated in this category for the same film.
Directed by Eliza Hittman
Written by Eliza Hittman
Eliza Hittman takes us on a journey worthy of an epic poem* so a young woman can get a procedure that should be available to her in her own small town. On the way, we see how rules to “protect”** women actually end up putting them in more danger, the things women sacrifice for other women, and a quiet, perfect performance by Sidney Flanigan. By the time you get to the scene where the phrase “never, rarely, sometimes, always” is used, you will never forget the order of the words in this very wordy title.
Cost: HBOMax monthly fee of ($12.99) (Still living off the WW84 purchase)
Where watched: at home
*It’s interesting to see how little of Flanigan’s life we learn about before the journey begins in earnest and how the sparse details we do find paint a vivid picture.
**But we know why those rules are passed and it has nothing to do with protection and everything to do with control.
Prior to this film, Sidney Flanigan worked as a janitor.
Directed by Radha Blank
Written by Radha Blank
Despite decades of “girl power” and versions of “leaning in” there are still a lot of spaces that aren’t available to women.* Radha Blank explores a couple of them** in this film that is both humorous*** and can really kick you in the solar plexus. Having Radha Blank on screen would probably be enough of a win,**** but she delivers a story that a lot of people would be better off having taken the time to watch.
Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home
*There are the obvious ones, like pro baseball and pro football, and the less obvious ones like film criticism and, hey, the music industry, where talented women have to trade on something other than just their talent to achieve fame (and even then the gatekeeping is fierce.) I’m thinking of 20 Feet From Stardom, where there already was an Aretha, so there was no need to promote other talented Black female singers. I’m thinking of all the women singers who had the voice, but their looks were deemed to be not good enough by the men who control the recording companies. How many Taylor Swifts do we not hear from because they aren’t as attractive as she is?
**Hip hop music, where she reinvents herself as RadhaMUSPRime, and theater, where her play is finally being produced by a major (read: white) theater.
***Some of her rhymes are giggle inducing.
****She does not fall into gatekeepers’ standards of beauty.
Cinematographer Eric Branco explained that he actually showed up to the interview with a bag full of street photography books (Bruce Davidson, Matt Weber, Saul Leiter, Gordon Parks, Henri Cartier-Bresson) for the director. From the beginning, Radha wanted the footage to be shot on black and white 35mm film.
Directed by George Miller
Written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nico Lathouris
If you, like me, held off from watching this 2015 film because you hadn’t seen the other Mad Max movies, worry not because you’ll catch on right away.* What makes this better than a lot of films that try to be like this is that 1) it’s got a great story at its core with a lot of humanity and 2) the inventive set design combined with its never stop never stopping pace means this movie is a sensory treat. Populated with a lot of actors who are known for, you know, acting** and not just being action movie stars this is the one action film you should watch this year.***
Cost: HBOMax monthly fee ($12.99) (We’re still living off our month we signed up for due to WW84.)
Where watched: at home
*It’s an action film, after all, so the nuance is not great.
**Charlize Theron! Tom Hardy! Nicolas Hoult! Zoe Kravitz! Riley Keough!
***Assuming you didn’t watch it back in 2015, like I should have.
Editor Margaret Sixel, is married to director George Miller. When she asked why he thought she should take on this project, as she had never edited an action film before, Miller replied, “Because if a guy did it, it would look like every other action movie.” Sixel’s work paid off; she received an Academy Award for Best Editing.
Also this gem:
The cake-decorating company Wilton makes a decorative “Color Mist” in silver that is meant to be sprayed onto baked goods to give them a silver sheen. Before May 2015, the Amazon listing for this product contained a few pages of reviews only from bakers opining on the quality of the product when used as intended (on cakes). After the release of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), both the comments section and FAQ on the Amazon listing were filled with comments from users posting as though they were War Boys or Immortan Joe “reviewing” the product that the War Boys spray onto their mouths before going into battle. As of mid-June 2015, there were nineteen pages of Mad Max-related “reviews” of the Wilton product on Amazon.
Directed by George C. Wolfe
Written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Despite the title, this is really the story of Levee (Chadwick Boseman), the trumpet player in Ma Rainey’s band, but Viola Davis is a commanding presence all on her own.* As the hot day gets hotter and the recording session drags on, a lot of stories spool out of Rainy, Levee, and the other band members. It’s a film full of hard truths, great performances, an atmosphere that can’t be beat,** and a couple good punches in the gut, like any great story should have.***
Cost: Netflix monthly fee $8.99
Where watched: at home
*I’d love to see both Boseman and Davis get a slew of awards nominations for their work on this film.
**From the sweat on the musicians in the recording studio to the tent revival to the stage performance this movie brings all the details.
***It’s a solid play-to-screenplay adaptation, too.
Denzel Washington, who produced this film, had been a mentor to Chadwick Boseman since his college years. When Denzel Washington received his 2019 AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, Boseman recounted that he was one of nine of Phylicia Rashad’s Howard University acting students for whom Washington paid the full summer-program tuition at the British Academy of Dramatic Acting in Oxford.
