Movie Diary
Although Mr. & Mrs. Smith coming out at the height of the Brad/Jen/Angelina business was certainly a bigger media circus and in some ways seemed to enhance the movie's appeal to the public, the real life drama around Don't Worry Darling involving more medium-sized stars seemed messier and weirder, and kind of more of a distraction from the movie's strengths. I will say, I liked Olivia Wilde's direction and the more surreal, jarring moments, it was an impressive move from the conventional comedy of Booksmart to an artier drama, and I think Florence Pugh is just one of the best actresses of her generation, I think the movie could've fallen apart with a different lead. That said, I didn't like the big reveal as much as other people seemed to, I was a little disappointed, like "Oh, that's what's really going on? Boring." Harry Styles was definitely the weakest link of the leads, but I liked him in the role, I think he was a better fit for the character than Shia LaBeouf would've been.
b) My Policeman
Harry Styles gives a better, more nuanced performance in My Policeman than in Don't Worry Darling, but it's not a better movie, poignant but also a little maudlin and one-note. At this point it feels like Styles is destined to follow in the footsteps of pop stars like Justin Timberlake or Beyonce in proving that the kind of pop star charisma that works in a concert or music video context doesn't necessarily carry over into film.
Last month I criticized Jake Lacy's performance in "A Friend of the Family" and suggested that he was a little out of his depth with the darker roles he was getting after "The White Lotus." But I have to hand it to him, he was absolutely perfect in Significant Other and really pulled a difficult role off. I don't want to say too much about the plot of this horror movie, which is about a young couple hiking in the woods, because it's better to just experience the plot as it goes, but I'd highly recommend it, it took a somewhat familiar premise in some really fun, novel directions. Unfortunately it feels like there's no worse place to have your movie exclusively streaming that Paramount+ in terms of getting people to see it or talk about it.
Wendell & Wild is the new Netflix movie from Henry Selick, who directed classics of the stop-motion animation genre like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, and James and the Giant Peach. Visually, I didn't think it looked as impressive as some of his previous work, but it was a fun flick, I enjoyed the reunion of Key and Peele as the voice actors of the title characters.
e) Meet Cute
In Meet Cute, Kaley Cuoco's character discovers a time machine in a tanning bed at a beauty salon, and decides to use it to experience her first date with Pete Davidson's character over and over. So it's kind of a derivative romcom take on the whole Groundhog Day timeloop genre with a side of Hot Tub Time Machine (and a dash of the mystical cloning spa from "Living With Yourself"). And it feels sort of like a quickie feature that could've been shot in a few days in a handful of locations in the same neighborhood. But I liked it, it took a few fun turns, the Uncle Charlie part was really unexpected and ridiculous and was kind of the point where the movie won me over. Pete Davidson was fine in a role that didn't demand too much of him, and Kaley Cuoco used the same dark comedy range that was revealed so well by "The Flight Attendant."
f) The Princess
Joey King plays the titular unnamed medieval princess in The Princess who wakes up a castle tower where she's been taken captive and put in a wedding dress to be forcibly married to the guy who's seized her father's throne, Julius. But she's been training for battle her whole life and basically instantly begins outsmarting and slaughtering her captors, and working her way to Julius and his henchwoman Moira (Olga Kurylenko with a fucking whip). It's a completely absurd Die Hard-in-a-castle action movie, and I think my wife would've preferred if it was maybe 10% less ridiculous, but I thought it kicked ass. It's the kind of thing that I wish was a big box office hit these days and not a sparsely promoted Hulu original movie.
It's certainly a little risible that Peter Farrelly is continuing to do earnest historical dramedies after the success of Green Book, but The Greatest Beer Run Ever certainly feels like a more appropriate story for him to tackle. I mean, he could've had Harry and Lloyd taking beer into a warzone instead of Zac Efron with a mustache. A charming little movie, but still felt like it fell short a bit of what it was going for. And it's not a good time to praise Bill Murray given the stories that have come out lately, but I will say, this was one of his most surprising performances where it actually felt like he disappeared into a character convincingly instead of just playing a guy who looks and sounds like Bill Murray.
h) Do Revenge
This was a fun Mean Girls meets Strangers On A Train thing where two high school girls agree to get revenge on each other's bullies for them, I feel like director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (who created the underrated MTV series "Sweet/Vicious") has great things in her future. I don't think the twist towards the end entirely worked logically but I liked how unexpected it was.
I liked the first two movies in David Gordon Greene's Halloween trilogy well enough that I thought maybe people were being dramatic and nitpicky when they talked about hating Halloween Ends. But it pretty much is as bad as people said, the Rohan Campbell character was just such a total misfire on every level, the ending didn't really work. It all felt like Green and Danny McBride were trying to subvert the conventions of the franchise and swing for a big ending and just totally botched it.
I didn't hear a thing about this movie when it came out 2 years ago, but apparently it's started to gain a cult following since then. I thought that the first 20 minutes were great and that the ending was pretty cool, but there was a long stretch in the middle where I started to really lose interest, despite the presence of Stephen Root.
My kids and I liked this well enough. But they watched it once and didn't return to it, unlike all the other Despicable Me and Minions movies that got played in this house many times, maybe they're just outgrowing this stuff but it felt like one of the weaker entries in the franchise.
The only full-length filmed CCR concert, of their 1970 show in London, sat unreleased for 50 years, so it's awesome to finally see it. The companion live album kicks ass, I compared it to the other existing live albums and it just sounds a little sharper and more revved up, and the footage is pretty great, they were a pretty tight live band. Since the concert was only 40 minutes, the first half of the movie is a little mini-bio of the band narrated by Jeff Bridges, which works structurally, I think it's better than if they were just cutting back and forth between the documentary stuff and the concert.
m) Call Jane
I already reviewed this for Consequence, I kind of feel bad that this movie really seemed to get absolutely no traction. Granted, it's an awkward year to release a relatively upbeat movie about pre-Roe abortion activists, but I think it's a movie really worth seeing, and Eleanor Koski was standout supporting player.
n) The Munsters
Another one I reviewed for Consequence, not great but Richard Brake was awesome, wish he could've gotten more screentime.
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on Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 11:25 AM.
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