Is This Thing On?

Last night I went to the Broadway to see Is This Thing On? and, even though it is very predictable, there was enough humor and pathos to keep me invested.  Alex Novak (Will Arnett) is a middle-aged man who has recently separated from his wife Tess (Laura Dern) after years of growing apart and is now struggling with how to co-parent his sons Felix (Blake Kane) and Jude (Calvin Knegten) and maintain relationships with the couple's shared friends Balls (Bradley Cooper), Christine (Andra Day), Stephen (Sean Hayes), and Geoffrey (Scott Icenogle).  After an especially tense evening with Tess and their friends, he decides to get a drink but, when he doesn't have the money to pay the cover charge at a comedy club, he puts his name down for open mic night in order to get in free.  He uses his divorce as inspiration for his routine and, because he gets a few laughs, he soon has the confidence to perform regularly and finds catharsis and a new lease on life.  Meanwhile, Tess begins coaching volleyball after retiring from playing on the national team years ago to have a family.  Complications ensue when Alex and Tess start to see each other in a different light after years of taking each other for granted.  I enjoyed the dynamic handheld camerawork, particularly during the comedy routines, and the naturalistic sound design, especially in a scene at a birthday party between Alex and Balls, because they really add to the authenticity of the narrative.  The performances from both Arnett and Dern are incredibly poignant and I loved their interactions as a couple who have lost themselves but somehow find their way back to each other (they have tremendous chemistry) because they feel so honest.  I also loved Cooper as the goofy best friend because he is a perfect foil to Arnett.  Finally, I found this to be very heartwarming but it is also quite funny, especially when Alex and Tess try to hide that they are breaking up from their friends in an early scene and then conceal that they are back together in a later one.  I enjoyed this charming take on divorce and would definitely recommend it.

Note:  When I first saw the trailer, the plot reminded me of how the comedian John Bishop got his start (which he talked about on The Graham Norton Show).  It turns out that the character of Alex is loosely based on his experiences and that he is also an executive producer.

Father Mother Sister Brother

I am a huge fan of Jim Jarmusch as a director and Adam Driver as an actor (their first collaboration, Paterson, is one of my very favorite comfort watches) so I was excited to see Father Mother Sister Brother at the Broadway with my nephew last night.  I thoroughly enjoyed this gentle exploration of complicated family relationships.  Siblings Jeff (Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik) travel to visit their eccentric and reclusive father (Tom Waits) because they believe he is lonely and are worried about how he is supporting himself after the death of their mother.  It is revealed that Jeff has been secretly helping his father financially, perhaps to the detriment of his own marriage which is now over, but his father's situation may not be what it seems.  Sisters Timothea (Cate Blanchett) and Lileth (Vicky Krieps) arrive for their annual visit to have afternoon tea with their mother (Charlotte Rampling).  Their interactions, which appear overly polite and genteel on the surface, are fraught with tension because they are all hiding the true circumstances of their lives.  Twins Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat) reunite after the mysterious death of their parents to go though their apartment and are surprised by some of their belongings.  All three narratives in this anthology have a similar theme about loving a family member without really knowing them but there are also quite a few recurring motifs that connect them (I was especially struck by all of the long awkward silences because I think that this is something most people have experienced with family members).  Jarmusch is known for his observational storytelling and this might be his most subtle (and most affecting) film yet.  I particularly loved the changing landscape outside of father's window, the overhead views of mother's flawless tea table, and the use of mirrors in the twins's apartment because these perfectly composed shots show the audience, rather than tell them, that things are not necessarily how they appear.  I also loved all of the performances because every actor uses minute changes in body language and facial expressions to convey what their character is feeling instead of dialogue and I found this to be riveting (Blanchett is absolutely heartbreaking when Timothea tries to compose herself in a bathroom mirror).  This might not be for everyone but I loved it and recommend it to fans of the director.

No Other Choice

Last night my nephew and I saw No Other Choice at the Broadway and we both loved this hilarious dark comedy!  Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun) is living an affluent lifestyle with his wife Lee Mi-ri (Son Ye-jin), teenage son Yoo Si-won (Kim Woo-seung), and neurodivergent daughter Yoo Ri-won (Choi So-yul) until he is fired from his job at Solar Paper after an American company buys it out.  He assures his wife that he will find another job within three months but after more than a year of unemployment she gets a job as a dental hygienist and the family is forced to cut back on all of their activities, including cello lessons for their daughter who is considered a prodigy, put their house on the market, and re-home their two beloved dogs.  Man-su finally gets an interview with Moon Paper but he is devastated when the job is given to Choi Seon-chul (Park Hee-soon) so he attempts to kill him.  However, when he realizes that the job might not go to him even if Seon-chul is removed, Man-su forms an ingenious plan to find all of the other more qualified candidates and plots to kill them, as well.  Absolute mayhem ensues but Man-su believes that he has no other choice.  I laughed out loud at all of Man-su's bumbling attempts to get rid of the competition, especially a long drawn-out sequence with his rival Goo Beom-mo (Lee Sung-min), but it is even more compelling to watch him get better and better at it.  I absolutely loved Lee Byung-hun's brilliant performance because he nails the physical comedy but he also imbues the character with a desperation that is palpable.  I also enjoyed Kim Woo-seung's multilayered performance, especially the moving scene in which she comes to the conclusion that her husband had no other choice but to do what he did.  As funny as this is, it is also a biting satire condemning corporations for discarding loyal workers, particularly in favor of automation, in the pursuit of a better bottom line and I found the commentary on late stage capitalism to be very thought-provoking.  Finally, the color palette, the dynamic camerawork, and intriguing transitions between scenes make this a visually striking movie.  I highly recommend it!

We Bury the Dead

I am a big fan of Daisy Ridley so I was excited to see her new movie We Bury the Dead last night.  While it does have some unsettling sequences involving zombies, I really liked the exploration of grief and things left unresolved when a loved one dies even more.  After a catastrophic military experiment conducted by the U.S. leaves the entire population of Tasmania dead in an instant, volunteers are needed to help retrieve and bury all of the bodies.  There are rumors that some of the dead are waking up so Ava (Ridley) volunteers hoping to find her husband Mitch (Matt Whelan), who was on a work retreat at a resort on the southern tip of the island, because they parted on bad terms.  She enlists the help of Clay (Brenton Thwaites), another member of the body retrieval team, and has a sinister encounter with Riley (Mark Coles Smith), an officer in the Australian Army, as she makes the dangerous journey to the resort while flashbacks detail her deteriorating relationship with Mitch.  She eventually finds Mitch's body but realizes that she must make peace with herself rather than with him.  This is a new and interesting take on the zombie genre because the ones who wake up are those who have unfinished business and I especially loved a scene in which a father wakes up in order to bury his family.  It is a meditative character study rather than an action thriller but the design of the zombies is incredibly unnerving, especially the disconcerting sounds they make as they become reanimated, and there are some tense moments when Ava encounters several of the zombies (as well as some moving moments with a few of them).  Ridley gives a haunting performance (she is often the only one on screen) because she is able to effectively convey so many different emotions with just a nuanced change in expression.  There are a few odd tonal shifts throughout but I enjoyed this and definitely recommend seeking it out (it seems to be flying under the radar because I could only find one theater screening it near me).

Note:  It seems like all of the best post-apocalyptic movies are set in Australia (especially the Mad Max franchise).

Marty Supreme

There has been so much hype for Marty Supreme but I did not share everyone's enthusiasm for it.  I reluctantly agreed to see it last night at the Broadway with my nephew (who did share everyone's enthusiasm) and I was very surprised by how much I liked it.  Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet) is a fast-talking hustler who wants to be the world's best table tennis player even though the U.S. does not support the sport and he must resort to performing half-time shows for the Harlem Globetrotters with the reigning champion Bela Kletzki (Geza Rohrig).  He finds a way to get to a competition in London where he easily defeats Bela but is humiliated by Koto Endo (Koto Kawaguchi), a player from Japan, in the finals and incurs a fine from the International Table Tennis Association for running up a bill at the Ritz Hotel.  Back home, he is desperate to get the money to pay his fine and get to Tokyo for the World Championships and a chance at a rematch with Endo.  However, he has a series of misadventures with his uncle Murray (Larry "Ratso" Sloman), his childhood friend Rachel (Odessa A'zion), Rachel's husband Ira (Emory Cohen), his friend Wally (Tyler, the Creator), a mobster (Abel Ferrara) and his dog, a homicidal farmer (Penn Gillette), a would-be business partner (Luke Manley), a retired actress hoping to make a comeback (Gwyneth Paltrow), and her businessman husband (Kevin O'Leary).  Marty eventually makes it to Tokyo but he finally learns what is most important.  I was hesitant to see this because I found the character to be very abrasive in the trailers but I actually really enjoyed Marty's arc.  I also didn't think table tennis would be a very compelling subject but, even though it does feature in the narrative, most of the movie involves all of the increasingly absurd situations Marty finds himself in as he tries to get the money he needs and the action moves at a frenetic pace (I was never bored during the long runtime).  Chalamet has been getting a lot of attention for his performance and, while he does do a great job disappearing into the role, I don't think it is the best one this year (Michael B. Jordan is much more impressive in Sinners) nor do I think it is even his best (he blew me away in Dune: Part Two).  I liked this a lot more than I thought I would but I definitely prefer both Good Time and Uncut Gems (they are similar to this but the stakes are much higher for the characters) from the Safdie brothers.

Note:  This is set in the 1950s and features meticulous period verisimilitude in the production design and costumes so I found all of the 1980s music to be a strange choice.

Favorite Movies of 2025

I was able to see 160 new releases in the theater in 2025 (which is definitely a record for me) and a lot of them were with my nephew who has become a great movie buddy!  Despite the fact that it has been a lackluster year for movies, in my opinion, I still found it very difficult to rank the top five on my annual list of favorites (the top three are pretty much interchangeable at this point) and I had to choose the next five from a list of twenty that could have been included.  As always, my list is very eclectic because I base it on how much I enjoyed watching each movie rather than on the critical response or box office performance.  So, without further ado, here are the movies I loved in 2025 (click the title to read my original commentary).

10.  Nuremberg

One of the most powerful movies I saw this year was Nuremberg.  It takes place during the trial of the former Nazi high command with a focus on the relationship that develops between military psychologist Douglas Kelley, played by Rami Malek, and Hermann Goring, played by Russell Crowe, when the former is tasked with determining if the latter is fit to stand trial.  It is absolutely riveting with brilliant performances from Malek and Crowe, particularly when their characters interact with each other because they each think that they are manipulating the other.  The rest of the cast is also outstanding, especially Michael Shannon when his character interrogates Goring on the stand, Leo Woodall when his character tries to convince Kelley to use confidential information to convict Goring, and John Slattery whenever his character berates Kelley for his lapses in military protocol (he is the source of much comic relief).  I loved the verisimilitude in the production design, especially in the recreation of the courtroom, and in the costumes because Goring is known for wearing light blue military uniforms of his own design.  This is thrilling and entertaining but it is also an important movie for everyone to see right now.

9.  Bugonia

I am a huge fan of Yorgos Lanthimos and I really loved his latest black comedy Bugonia.  It is a wild ride in which a conspiracy theorist, played by Jesse Plemons, kidnaps the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, played by Emma Stone, because he thinks that she is an alien intent on destroying the environment.  Plemons and Stone give phenomenal performances because he imbues his character with a sadness that makes him sympathetic despite the fact that what he is doing is wrong and she portrays her character as cold, arrogant, and unethical yet you also sympathize with her because of her mistreatment.  This movie is at its best when the two of them interact, especially a conversation they have about bees, because they are both absolutely convinced that that their version of the truth is correct in an age when it has become increasingly difficult to ascertain the truth.  There are many other thought-provoking themes to unpack, such as environmentalism, capitalism, and trauma, but I think the message about misinformation is the most powerful.  It is totally bonkers by the time it gets to the third act but it is definitely a movie that I am still thinking about!

8.  Sentimental Value

The movie Sentimental Value is a brilliant exploration of the power of art to heal, one of my favorite themes.  It features compelling performances from Stellan Skarsgard and Renate Reinsve (one of her best) as a father and daughter who reconcile after many years of estrangement when Gustav, a celebrated director, writes a screenplay that is ostensibly about his mother but is actually based on Nora, a TV and stage actress, as a way to show her that he has always been a part of her life even when he was absent.  I particularly loved the scene in which Gustav first offers Nora the role because there is so much raw emotion simmering under the surface during their seemingly polite conversation (is so riveting) as well as the juxtaposition between the way Nora and a Hollywood actress (Elle Fanning) read from the script because it is shows that it was obviously written for Nora.  I also loved the use of the house in which both Gustav and Nora grew up as a metaphor for all of the memories that keep them trapped in a dysfunctional relationship, especially when it is remodeled to represent the possibility of a fresh start.  I found this to be incredibly moving and I really loved it.

7.  It Was Just An Accident

It Was Just An Accident is one of the most thought-provoking movies I saw this year!  Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) hears the distinct sound of a prosthetic leg and recognizes the man as the sadistic guard who tormented him while he was blindfolded in an Iranian prison.  He kidnaps him but, because he needs to be sure that he has the right man before he can bring himself to kill him, he enlists several other prisoners for confirmation.  The man is eventually identified as the guard but they argue over what to do with him leading to a bit of comic relief before an intense confrontation that gave me chills.  Writer/Director Jafar Panahi was himself once a political prisoner who was mistreated by his captors and you can definitely feel the weight of his own moral dilemma about justice and revenge through the disparate reactions of his characters.  I laughed out loud multiple times at the absurdity of the situation but I was blown away by the aforementioned powerful ending.  All of the performances are incredibly compelling but I was particularly struck by Mariam Afshari's rage-filled monologue as a woman who wants nothing more than to move on with her life after a traumatic experience but slowly realizes that she can't.  I think this movie is brilliant and definitely worthy of the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year!

6.  Wicked: For Good

Seeing Wicked: For Good was so much fun!  I really love the stage musical and, after seeing Elphaba become the Wicked Witch of the West in order to fulfill her destiny in the first movie, I really enjoyed seeing Glinda's journey to become Glinda the Good in this one.  Ariana Grande gives a stellar performance with both her acting and her singing, especially in the songs "I Couldn't Be Happier," "I'm Not That Girl (Reprise)," and "For Good" (the scene that follows this song brought me to tears), and I think she will be in strong contention for all of the Best Supporting Actress awards this season.  Cynthia Erivo's rendition of "No Good Deed" is absolutely amazing, Jonathan Bailey's portrayal of Fiyero's inner conflict is very affecting (his duet of "As Long As You're Mine" with Erivo is one of my favorite scenes in the movie), and, even though her singing is not great, Michelle Yeoh is fun to watch as the villain Madame Morrible.  It is not quite the spectacle the first movie is (there are not as many big choreographed numbers) but I loved the theme of friendship, the expanded world-building (especially Elphaba's tree house hideaway), the production design, and the costumes (particularly Glinda's bubble dress).  I was nervous about dividing the narrative into two movies but this exceeded all of my expectations!

5.  Sorry, Baby

I really liked quite a few of the movies I saw at Sundance this year but if I had to pick a favorite it would definitely be Sorry, Baby.  It is a meditative, but often very funny, character study about how Agnes survives a traumatic experience and I found the non-linear timeline to be incredibly compelling because the audience sees the effect before the cause.  It is a stunning debut for Eva Victor (who wrote, directed, and starred) and I was particularly impressed by a powerful scene which features a long tracking shot following Agnes walking to her professor's house, then a static shot of the house showing the passage of time, followed by another tracking shot of Agnes leaving the house and walking back to her car.  Both the direction and the performance are brilliant because you can see that something devastating has happened by just the change in body language alone.  I also loved a powerful monologue about living in a world where bad things happen (it is such a turning point) and the juxtaposition between Agnes and her best friend Lydie (Naomi Ackie).  I loved this movie and have not been able to stop thinking about it!

4.  One Battle After Another

There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of One Battle After Another and, fortunately, it was all real!  It is an incredible spectacle with lots of twists and turns that kept me completely engaged and fantastic action set pieces that kept me on the edge of my seat, especially a suspenseful chase sequence involving three cars on an undulating road in the desert because you never know where the cars are in relation to each other.  It also kept me laughing out loud, particularly the hilarious interactions between Leonardo DiCaprio, as a former revolutionary on the run, and Benicio del Toro, as his daughter's karate sensei.  As funny as this is, the relationship between DiCaprio's character and his teenage daughter, played by Chase Infiniti, is really touching and the message about fighting for social justice is very powerful.  DiCaprio is always great and Sean Penn really leans into his character's villainy in one of his best performances but I was especially impressed with Infiniti because she delivers on both the emotion and physicality of the role.  This is one of Paul Thomas Anderson's most entertaining (and accessible) movies and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

3.  Hamnet

My favorite play by William Shakespeare is Hamlet (I loved teaching it to my British literature students) so I was incredibly eager to see Hamnet, a fictionalized version of how he came to write his most famous play.  To say that I loved it would be an understatement!  As previously mentioned, the power of art to heal is a favorite theme of mine and I had so many tears in my eyes by the end of this movie!  Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley give amazing performances, especially in the scenes where Will processes his grief over his son Hamnet's death by writing and rehearsing the play and the scene where Agnes finds understanding during the performance of it (I love how the communal experience of seeing a play is portrayed).  The decision to have two brothers play Hamnet and Hamlet on stage (Jacobi and Noah Jupe, respectively) is absolutely brilliant and I think Jacobi gives one of the best performances I have ever seen from a child.  The visuals, featuring bucolic locations, are gorgeous and the score by Max Richter is incredibly moving.  I loved everything about this movie and, now that I have read the book by Maggie O'Farrell, I think it is a lovely adaptation.

2.  Sinners

I was absolutely blown away by the movie Sinners and seeing it was an incredible experience that I still think about.  I particularly loved the slow build-up in the narrative because you really get to know all of the characters and what they have experienced as marginalized people in America, particularly the oppression of Black people in the south during the Jim Crow era.  I loved the use of vampires as a metaphor for assimilation and the juxtaposition between the threat from them and from the KKK is incredibly thought-provoking.  I also really loved the way that music is portrayed as a way to connect the stories from generations in the past to those in the future, particularly a blues performance of "I Lied to You" by Miles Caton that was shot in one take and an Irish jig called "Rocky Road to Dublin" performed by Jack O'Connell (both gave me goosebumps).  In addition to those two performances, I was incredibly impressed by Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as Elijah "Smoke" and Elias "Stack" Moore because each brother is very distinct.  The cinematography, costume design, production design, sound design (especially the memory of a lynching), and score are incredibly immersive and it is one of the most thematically rich movies I have ever seen.

1.  Frankenstein

I love the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (I also loved teaching this to my British literature students) so Guellermo del Toro's adaptation was one of my most anticipated movies of 2025.  It definitely did not disappoint!  It is a bold retelling and, even though I am usually a purist when it comes to adaptations of literature, I think the changes from the novel add to the narrative rather than detract from it and I especially loved the more sympathetic depiction of the Creature.  I was impressed by the performances from Oscar Isaac as Frankenstein because his portrayal of a man consumed by obsession is extremely compelling and by Mia Goth as Elizabeth because she is very effective as the moral compass of the story but I was absolutely blown away by Jacob Elordi as the Creature.  I loved his physicality as a being with an imposing stature but the development of a newborn as well as his haunting portrayal of both innocence and rage.  I also really enjoyed all of the Gothic elements used in the production design and the Baroque-inspired score by Alexandre Desplat.  I have always loved this story but I found the movie to be especially moving and I absolutely loved it!

Honorable Mentions: The Phoenician Scheme, F1, Black Bag, Eddington, and The Ballad of Wallis Island.

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Yesterday my whole family went to see Avatar: Fire and Ash together and it was a lot of fun (we almost filled an entire row).  The movie is a dazzling spectacle but it is definitely my least favorite in the series.  The Sully family, including Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), their son Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), adopted daughter Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and adopted human son Spider (Jack Champion), are still mourning the death of Neteyem (Jamie Flatters) when Jake decides that Spider should be taken back to the human base on Pandora.  They travel with a group of Wind Traders to get there but the convoy is attacked by the Mangkwan, a violent tribe of Na'vi led by Varang (Oona Chaplin), and the family is separated.  Spider's oxygen mask malfunctions which causes him to asphyxiate so Kiri accesses her mysterious connection to Eywa to revive him and, in so doing, she gives him the power to breathe Pandora's atmosphere.  Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who is still hunting for Jake, wants to use Spider's newfound ability to find a way for all humans to breathe on Pandora and forms an alliance with Varang and the Mangkwan to capture them both.  Captain Mick Scoresby (Brendan Cowell), a whaler working with the RDA (Resource Development Administration), decides to hunt the Tulkin when they gather for a mating ritual and, because biologist Ian Garvin (Jemaine Clement) disagrees with this plan, he helps Jake and Spider escape from Quaritch so that they can stop the slaughter.  An epic battle ensues in which Neytiri must trust Spider, Jake must allow Lo'ak to fight with him, the Tulkin must follow the exiled Payakan into battle, and Kiri must explore her connection with Eywa more fully.  The visuals are absolutely stunning and I loved the expanded world-building on Pandora with the introduction of new tribes of Na'vi (the Mangkwan are especially intriguing) as well as new creatures.  The action sequences are exhilarating and they kept me invested during the long runtime.  I particularly loved the set pieces involving the aerial attack on the Wind Traders by Varang and the Mangkwan and the underwater attack on Scoresby and the rest of the RDA fleet by the Tulkin.  However, the narrative and themes are disappointingly repetitive because they are the same as those in Avatar: The Way of Water, just on a bigger scale. Varang is an incredibly compelling villain and I think that her motivation should have been explored more fully rather than continuing with Quaritch as the main antagonist.  This is certainly worth seeing on the biggest screen possible (our giant IMAX theater was almost completely full) but the ambiguous fates of several characters do not inspire confidence that the story will evolve in the next two planned sequels.

Note:  This was my final theatrical release of the year.  My list of favorites is coming soon!

The Housemaid

Yesterday my nephew and I went to a matinee of The Housemaid and I thought it was really fun and entertaining.  Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) is desperate for a live-in position as a maid for a wealthy couple, Nina and Andrew Winchester (Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar, respectively), because she needs employment and housing as a condition of her parole (a fact which she omits from her resume).  She is excited when she is offered the job because the Winchesters have the perfect house and seem like the perfect couple but she is surprised when Nina's behavior becomes increasingly unhinged, particularly when Nina gaslights Millie about several requests after she complies.  Andrew continually apologizes for Nina and Millie feels sympathy for his situation after she learns from Nina's friends that she has a history of mental illness.  She eventually begins an affair with Andrew but soon discovers that things are not what they seem in the Winchester house.  This is a very twisty psychological thriller and, even though I predicted one of the twists, I was very surprised by several others (I haven't read the best-selling novel by Freida McFadden upon which this is based). I loved Seyfried's over the top performance, Sklenar's steamy and diabolical one, and Elizabeth Perkins's brief appearance as Andrew's imperious mother, but they all make Sweeney seem very bland in comparison (even Indiana Elle, as Nina and Andrew's young daughter CeCe, has more charisma than Sweeney).  Sweeney notwithstanding, this is definitely a guilty pleasure full of secrets and sex that is best seen with a big crowd (there were lots of book club girlies in our audience) and I recommend it as such.

Note:  The needle drops are so on the nose (especially one by Kelly Clarkson and the final one by Taylor Swift) that I frequently laughed out loud when they began playing!

Ella McCay

I was intrigued by the trailer and impressed by the cast for Ella McCay so my nephew and I went to see it at a matinee yesterday.  I didn't hate it as much as most other people seem to but I really expected to like it a lot more than I did.  Ella McCay (Emma Mackey) is a young and idealistic lieutenant governor of an unnamed state.  She desperately wants to improve the lives of the people she serves but her earnest and no-nonsense style has made her very unpopular with lawmakers.  When the popular governor, Bill Moore (Albert Brooks), is offered a presidential cabinet position, he resigns and she succeeds him.  Her first priority is to pass a bill benefiting mothers and children but she is plagued by a scandal involving her duplicitous husband Ryan (Jack Lowdon), the sudden reappearance of her estranged father Eddie (Woody Harrelson) who repeatedly cheated on her mother Claire (Rebecca Hall), and concern for her neurodivergent brother Casey (Spike Fearn) after the end of his relationship with his girlfriend Susan (Aya Edebiri).  With the help of her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her driver Nash (Kumail Nanjiani), and her secretary Estelle (Julie Kavner), she ultimately finds a different way to do some good.  With such a stellar cast, I did really enjoy the performances.  Mackey, especially, is incredibly appealing and is very effective in her portrayal of a wide range of emotions (although she is less effective in portraying the 16-year-old version of her character in flashbacks).  I especially loved her interactions with Curtis (the highlight of the movie for me).  However, there are way too many underdeveloped characters to keep track of with lots of different subplots that happen very randomly (the pacing is incredibly chaotic).  It is very episodic with brief flashes of humor but it is definitely not as funny as I thought it would be (I only laughed a couple of times).  Finally, the resolutions to the main conflicts are rushed and not necessarily earned (especially the one involving Casey and Susan).  Unfortunately, this is a mess and I wouldn't recommend it.

Sense and Sensibility

I love Ang Lee's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen so I was really happy to see it last night during its limited run in theaters to mark its 30th anniversary (what?).  The Dashwood sisters, Elinor (Emma Thompson) and Marianne (Kate Winslet), experience a sudden change in fortune after their father dies and leaves his estate to their older half-brother John (James Fleet).  This impacts their marriage prospects when the sensible Elinor silently pines for Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant), who is expected to marry well by his mother, and the passionate Marianne is swept up (literally) in a romance with the dashing John Willoughby (Greg Wise), who needs a wealthy wife after he is cut off by his family for his indiscretions.  They ultimately find happiness when they balance reason with emotion.  Elinor finally reveals her feelings to Edward when he is free to propose and Marianne finds the value in real love, rather than impetuous infatuation, with Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman).  To be sure, I love the biting critique of the often transactional nature of marriage but I think this movie is hilarious.  I regularly heard the rest of the audience laughing along with me during my favorite scenes, including when Fanny Dashwood (Harriet Walter) subtly convinces her husband not to give his sisters any portion of their father's estate, when Marianne tries to get Edward to read with more feeling, when Sir John Middleton (Robert Hardy) and Mrs. Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs) learn that Elinor loves someone whose name begins with F, when Mrs. Dashwood (Gemma Jones), Marianne, and Margaret (Emilie Francois) all end up crying in their rooms so Elinor sits on the stairs with a cup of tea, whenever Mr. Palmer (Hugh Laurie) shows disdain for his wife Charlotte (Imelda Staunton), when Fanny attacks Lucy Steele (Imogen Stubbs) after she learns of her engagement to Edward, and when Elinor starts crying when she learns that Edward has not married Lucy. I love the witty dialogue (the screenplay was written by Thompson), the beautiful locations, the evocative score (including the "sad songs" Marianne sings), the Regency costumes (I am a big fan of empire waists but I especially love how buttoned up Edward always appears because it shows his repression), and the performances from the entire cast (although Thompson gives my favorite one).  I watch my copy of this all of the time (it is definitely one of my comfort watches) but I am so glad that I got to see it on the big screen again!  There are two more opportunities to see it (December 16 and 17) and I highly recommend getting a ticket!

Note:  Last weekend I saw movie adaptations of novels by Stephen King and Jane Austen and I loved both of them.  That's how I roll.

The Shining

Stephen King famously dislikes Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of his 1977 novel The Shining but I think it is a cinematic masterpiece and was thrilled when I learned that it was coming back to theaters in honor of its 45th anniversary (what?).  I have seen it on the big screen several times but experiencing it in IMAX last night was absolutely epic!  Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) takes a job as the winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in the remote mountains of Colorado with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) because he is desperate to escape from his troubled past and hopes to find the time and solitude to work on his novel.  Once they arrive, the cook Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) recognizes that Danny has a strong psychic ability he calls "shining" and warns him that the hotel also has a "shine" because of its violent past.  Danny begins having frightening visions about the former inhabitants of the hotel but Jack seems to feel at home with these malevolent ghosts.  When a severe winter storm cuts them off from the outside world, Jack has a compete psychotic break causing him to attack his family.  I have always found this movie to be incredibly unsettling (the book is scarier but the movie creates an escalating tension that is almost unbearable) and the IMAX format makes the sense of unease even more immersive.  The long tracking shots following Wendy and Danny though the empty hotel are even more disconcerting because it really feels like you are there with them and the sound design, including Danny's Big Wheel traveling across different floor surfaces, ice cubes rattling in Jack's glass, the echo of the typewriter in the cavernous lobby, and the staccato beating of a heart, is even more menacing because it is all around you.  Nicholson's performance is iconic but I have always thought that Duvall's (or Kubrick's) interpretation of Wendy is less effective because it is very weak and passive.  However, in this format her fear is absolutely visceral (it makes Jack's behavior seem even more terrifying) and I couldn't look away.  Even though it wasn't filmed specifically for IMAX, seeing it this way was definitely my favorite viewing experience and I highly recommend it!

Hamnet

I love the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare (it was my favorite thing to teach to my British literature students) so I have been eagerly anticipating Hamnet, a fictional account of how Shakespeare came to write his most famous play, for what seems like forever.  My nephew and I were finally able to see it last night at the Broadway and to say that I loved it would be an understatement (he loved it, too).  William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) is working as a Latin tutor for the Hathaway family when he becomes enamored with the oldest daughter Agnes (Jessie Buckley).  Her late mother, who was believed to be a forest witch, passed down her knowledge of herbal lore so she feels most at home in nature and is influenced by the portents she sees there.  She falls in love with Will for his storytelling and, despite objections from both of their families, they marry and eventually have Susanna (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) and twins Judith (Olivia Lynes) and Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe).  Seeing that Will is unhappy working as an apprentice glove maker with his father, Agnes encourages him to go to London where he can pursue his writing but, when he finds success, she refuses to move there with him because of concern for Judith's health.  She had a difficult birth with Judith and, since she has visions of only two children at her deathbed, she is fiercely protective of her.  However, when she is struck by a fever, Agnes does everything to nurse her back to health but Hamnet succumbs.  Both Agnes and Will are devastated by his death but she is extremely resentful of the fact the he was not there to say goodbye to Hamnet and their marriage suffers.  When she learns of his new play, Hamlet, she travels to London with her brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn) to see it.  She realizes that it is a tribute to her son and is incredibly moved by a scene between the Ghost of Hamlet's father (played by Will) and Hamlet (Noah Jupe).  The power of art to heal is a favorite theme of mine and I had so many tears in my eyes by the end of this movie!  Buckley gives a brilliant performance because she is absolutely feral in her portrayal of motherhood and I especially loved a powerful scene in which she slowly comes to understand the connection between Hamlet and her son.  Mescal is also devastating in the scenes where he processes his grief, particularly when his actors are rehearsing the play and when he writes Hamlet's soliloquy.  I loved seeing callbacks to earlier moments in their lives within the play, such as the forest backdrop and the fencing scene between Hamlet and Laertes, and the choice to have two brothers play Hamnet and Hamlet on stage is absolutely inspired (Jacobi gives one of the best performances I have ever seen from a child).  The visuals, featuring bucolic locations, are gorgeous and the score is incredibly moving. I loved everything about this and I highly recommend it!

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

Yesterday I went with my sister and brother-in-law, the biggest Quentin Tarantino fans in the world, to see Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, which combines Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2 into one movie as Tarantino originally intended, and it was seriously awesome!  A former assassin known as the Bride (Uma Thurman), code name Black Mamba, awakens after a four year coma resulting from a massacre that killed everyone else, including her unborn child, at her wedding rehearsal.  She vows to find and kill Bill (David Carradine), code name Snake Charmer, her jealous former lover and mentor, and four members of his Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, including Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox), code name Copperhead, O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), code name Cottonmouth, Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), code name California Mountain Snake, and Budd (Michael Madsen), code name Sidewinder, for betraying her.  This is a brilliant revenge thriller that pays homage to low-budget exploitation films popular in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly martial arts films and spaghetti westerns, and features highly stylized action sequences.  I especially love the fight choreography in the showdown at the House of Blue Leaves in which the Bride battles O-Ren Ishii's second lieutenant Sofia Fatale (Julie Dreyfus), her Japanese schoolgirl bodyguard Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama), the entire Yakuza gang she leads known as the Crazy 88, and then the assassin herself with the samurai sword made for her by Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba) while wearing the iconic yellow tracksuit (inspired by the one worn by Bruce Lee in Game of Death) because it is so hilariously hyperviolent with flying limbs and blood gushing everywhere (it is expanded and all of it is shown in glorious color in this version).  I also love the shot composition in the black and white sequence during the massacre at Two Pines (it reminded me of the final shot in The Searchers) and the use of Japanese anime for O-Ren Ishii's backstory (it is also expanded in this version and it is very cool).  All of the music is fantastic but my favorite is "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Nancy Sinatra, which is used during the opening credits, because it immediately sets the tone for the Bride's story.  Thurman gives an epic performance as a woman who is seeking vengeance but also trying to reconcile what was done to her because she is equally adept in the action sequences and in the more emotional scenes with Bill.  Finally, I definitely prefer this version over the two-part one because the pacing is much improved, the deletion of one scene makes a later revelation even more powerful, and the expansion of several scenes adds to the context (not to mention the fact that watching this all afternoon was an incredible theatrical experience).  I highly recommend checking this out while it is in theaters (our screening was completely sold out) because it is a total blast!

Wake Up Dead Man

The second movie in the double feature with my nephew last night was Wake Up Dead Man.  I am a huge fan of this franchise and I think this installment is my favorite because, where Knives Out and Glass Onion are indictments against inherited wealth and celebrity culture, respectively, this one takes aim at organized religion and, even though it has a darker tone, it also very moving because faith is proven to be more powerful than corruption.  Reverend Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor) is a young and idealistic priest with a violent past who is sent to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude in upstate New York as punishment for hitting a deacon.  The small parish is led by the radicalized Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin) who antagonizes all but a few eccentric members of his dwindling congregation, including the devout Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close) who assists him, the recovering alcoholic Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church) who works as groundskeeper, the bitter Vera Draven (Kerry Washington) who replaced her father as Wicks's lawyer, the failed right-wing politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack) who now espouses his rhetoric online, the conspiracy-obsessed best-selling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott) who is writing a book about Wicks, the local doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner) whose wife has recently left him, and the disabled cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny) who is hoping (and paying) for a miracle from Wicks. Jud is determined to serve the congregation with love and mercy rather than fear and judgement and this often brings him into conflict with Wicks so, when Wicks is stabbed to death in an alcove in the middle of the Good Friday service, he is the most obvious suspect.  Police Chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) eventually calls in Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to solve the seemingly impossible crime because everyone is revealed to have a motive but it appears that no one had the opportunity.  There are lots of twists and turns and, as always, it subverts expectations multiple times.  I especially loved the push and pull between reason personified by Blanc and faith represented by Jud because both are eventually needed to solve the mystery.  Craig is as entertaining as ever and both Close and Brolin give standout performances from the ensemble but O'Connor is absolutely brilliant as a flawed character who ultimately embodies what is good about religion.  Finally, I loved how the theme of good and evil is emphasized by the clever use of light and shadow in the cinematography.  I loved this continuation of the series and I hope Rian Johnson continues making them!

Note:  My only complaint is that the song "Wake Up Dead Man" by U2 is not used during the credits like the song "Glass Onion" by the Beatles is used in the previous movie.  I had to play it for my nephew on the drive home.

Eternity

Last night I had another double feature, this time with my nephew, and we began with Eternity which we both enjoyed.  After Larry (Miles Teller) and Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), a couple who has been married for 65 years, die one after the other, they find themselves in an afterlife where they have one week in a so-called "junction" to decide where, and with whom, they want to spend eternity. They each have the help of an afterlife coordinator, Anna (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) for Larry and Ryan (John Early) for Joan, and a variety of options to choose from.  However, complications ensue when Luke (Callum Turner), Joan's first husband who died in the Korean War shortly after their marriage, appears and reveals that he has been waiting for her in the junction for the past 67 years.  Joan is now faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and the man she was denied a life with.  Her decision isn't made any easier when both men, rather amusingly, turn it into a competition for her love.  Even though this features a really clever and intriguing premise, I think it goes on much too long and I found it really annoying that the rules painstakingly established within the afterlife are broken, not once but twice, to advance the plot.  However, I liked all of the performances, especially those of Early and Randolph because they are hilarious, and the world-building, particularly the exhibition hall and advertisements promoting the options for places in which to spend eternity (my favorite was the Weimar Republic without the Nazis) and the archives of memories which look like museum exhibits.  I didn't love this but it is a lot of fun and I recommend it to fans of romantic comedies.

Sentimental Value

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway yesterday was Sentimental Value.  I have been looking forward to this ever since it won the Grand Prix at Cannes earlier this year and I was definitely not disappointed.  Nora Borg (Renate Reinsve) is a stage and television actress in Norway who, along with her sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), is dismayed when her estranged father, celebrated director Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgard), reappears in her life after the death of her mother.  He is hoping to make a comeback with an autobiographical movie about his mother featuring a script written specifically for Nora.  She is angry with her father for abandoning her and turns down the role thinking that he is only using her to get financing.  When Hollywood actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) becomes enamored with him after seeing a retrospective of his work at the Deauville Film Festival, he offers her the role instead and they begin rehearsals in the house, which has been in his family for generations, where key moments in the script actually happened.  Rachel eventually realizes that she cannot do justice to the role because she has no connection to the character.  Nora finally reads the script and recognizes that the character is actually based on her and that her father wrote it as a way to reconcile with her.  This features incredibly powerful performances from Skarsgard and Reinsve and I was especially impressed by the scene in which Gustav first offers Nora the role because there is so much raw emotion simmering under the surface during their seemingly polite conversation (it is absolutely riveting).  Fanning is also great and I loved the juxtaposition between how Rachel delivers a line from the script in English and how Nora delivers the same line in Norwegian because it is immediately apparent that the role was written for the latter.  The house in which Gustav, Nora, and Agnes grew up is used as a character to represent all of the memories that keep them in a dysfunctional relationship and it is remodeled throughout the narrative to depict the possibility of a fresh start.  This is a brilliant exploration of the power of art to heal and I highly recommend it.

Rental Family

Yesterday I spent most of the day at the Broadway watching movies with all of the other retired people!  My double feature started with Rental Family and I really loved it.  Phillip Vandarploeug (Brendan Fraser) is a lonely American actor living in Tokyo, Japan.  He struggles to find work (his biggest success has been playing a superhero in a toothpaste commercial) and to find a connection (he spends his evenings wistfully watching people in the apartments opposite his through the window).  His agent sends him on a job playing a "sad American" and he is disconcerted to realize that he has been hired to play a mourner at a funeral by a company that provides people to serve as family members, friends, colleagues, or other significant people for personal, social, or emotional reasons.  Shinji (Takehiro Hira), the owner of the company, offers him more work and, because he needs the money, he reluctantly agrees and plays a groom for a young woman who wants to appease her traditional parents and a friend to an antisocial young man who wants someone to play video games with him.  However, when he plays a reporter interviewing a retired actor (Akira Emoto) suffering from dementia and the estranged father of a young girl (Shannon Mahina Gorman) whose mother (Shino Shinozaki) wants to get her into a good school, he forms an emotional bond with both of them which eventually becomes problematic.  This has a beautiful message about the importance of feeling seen and there were several times when I had tears in my eyes.  I also loved the subplots involving the owner Shinji and another employee of the company (Mari Yamamoto) because they reveal the loneliness that has become endemic in society today.  Fraser gives a lovely and sensitive performance that never feels manipulative (in my opinion it is better than his performance in The Whale) and I loved his interactions with Emoto (particularly when Phillip stages a "jailbreak" because it is hilarious).  This is a gentle and touching movie that will make you laugh and cry and I highly recommend it.

Sisu: Road to Revenge

Last night I went to see Sisu: Road to Revenge and I had a great time (at one point someone in the audience cheered out loud).  I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed the first movie (it is incredibly violent but also wildly entertaining and strangely satisfying) and this one amps up the carnage!  After World War II, Finland is forced to cede territory to the Soviet Union as part of the peace agreement and this displaces many, including the legendary ex-commando Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila). He crosses the border in order to find his former house and dismantles it board by board so he can transport it and rebuild it in Finland.  However, Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang), the Red Army soldier responsible for killing his wife and children during the war, is ordered by the KGB to find him and finish the job.  Absolute mayhem ensues but, this time, Korpi has a worthy opponent.  He must fight soldiers on tanks, motorcycles, planes, and a moving train (this occurs after he has been brutally tortured) before an epic confrontation with Draganov involving hand-to-hand combat (and several available items such as a fork, a shovel, and a ballistic missile).  The action is even more exciting and unrelenting (I especially loved a scene where he uses dynamite to catapult a tank that he has commandeered over a Soviet checkpoint) but also even more implausible (his truck is forced over a cliff into the water and he is able to use the boards from his house to build a makeshift raft).  As with the first movie, the violence is interspersed with some incredibly moving moments and Tommila gives another brilliant performance in which his physicality communicates the narrative (this time there is no dialogue with an amusing callback to the earlier movie).  If you are a fan of Sisu, buckle up because this is an even wilder ride and I highly recommend it (if you can handle the gore).

Jay Kelly

Last night I went to see Jay Kelly at the Broadway.  I am a big fan of director Noah Baumbach and I really enjoyed it.  Jay Kelly (George Clooney) is a famous movie star with a 35 year career in Hollywood who has an existential crisis and questions whether it has been worth the cost of all of his important relationships.  He spontaneously decides to travel to Europe, ostensibly for a tribute at a film festival but really to spend time with his youngest daughter Daisy (Grace Edwards) who is on a trip with friends.  This forces members of his entourage, including his manager Ron (Adam Sandler), his publicist Liz (Laura Dern), and others, to leave their families on short notice to travel with him.  He has a series of misadventures on a train, including an incident with a German cyclist (Lars Eidinger) that goes viral, and reminisces, through flashbacks, about important people who are no longer in his life, including Peter (Jim Broadbent), the director who gave him his first big break, Timothy (Billy Crudup), a friend who blames him for stealing a role meant for him, Jessica (Riley Keough), his oldest daughter who feels abandoned by him, and Daphne (Eve Hewson), an actress with whom he had an ill-fated affair.  When he gets to the film festival, his daughter, who is angry at being followed, refuses to attend, his father (Stacy Keach), who he reluctantly invited, decides to go home early, and most of his entourage, who all have other responsibilities, abandon him.  His only support is Ron, who is paid to be there, and, even though the audience at the festival is visibly moved by a retrospective of his work, he finally realizes what he has lost.  This is a bit bloated with lots of underdeveloped characters to keep track of but I really liked the message about what truly matters in life which is shown through the juxtaposition between Jay and Ben (Patrick Wilson), a less famous actor who arrives at the festival with his wife (Isla Fisher) and other family members, as well as between Jay and Ron, who ultimately resigns in order to be with his wife (Greta Gerwig) and family.  This is a powerful portrait of a man who comes to regret his choices but it is also incredibly funny (I especially loved a running bit about a rider that stipulates having cheesecake on all of Jay's movie sets and at his appearances and another one in which he whines about being alone while having staff members cater to him).  Clooney is at his very best as Jay (a stand-in for himself?) and, even though I am not a big fan of Sandler, I was quite impressed with his performance as Ron.  I also loved Eidinger, who is absolutely deranged as the cyclist, and Alba Rohrwacher, who is hilarious as a fawning festival committee member.  You can probably wait to watch this on Netflix but I definitely recommend checking it out when it begins streaming on December 5.

Wicked Double Feature

Yesterday my sister, my nephew, and I went to a Wicked and Wicked: For Good double feature and it was so much fun!  I am glad that I got to see the first movie on the big screen again before the new one because, in my opinion, both of them form one cohesive narrative.  I think Wicked tells Elphaba's story (a misunderstood young woman learns how to control her magic and becomes the Wicked Witch of the West to fulfill her destiny) and Wicked: For Good tells Glinda's story (a popular young woman realizes that she doesn't need magic and becomes Glinda the Good to fulfill her destiny).  I was initially a bit concerned when it was announced that the stage musical was being divided into two movies because I think the second act is weaker than the first but Wicked: For Good definitely improves upon the source material with additions (of songs and scenes) that deepen the relationships between the characters.  I do think the movie gets off to a slow start with an expanded version of "Every Day More Wicked" (which includes reprises from many of the songs in the first movie) but I really loved the new songs "No Place Like Home" and "The Girl in the Bubble" and the expanded version of "Wonderful" because they add to the characterizations of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), Glinda (Ariana Grande), and the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), respectively.  I also liked the addition of a scene between Nessarose (Marissa Bode) and Boq (Ethan Slater) because it shows her control over him, the wedding scene between Glinda and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) with cuts to Elphaba because it is so powerful, and several scenes with the animals because they emphasize Elphaba's motivation.  I was impressed with how the filmmakers portrayed Nessarose's enchanted shoes as well as how Dorothy (Bethany Weaver), the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion (Colman Domingo) are depicted.  My favorite scenes were definitely the duet of "As Long as You're Mine" between Elphaba and Fiyero and the confrontation between Elphaba and Glinda at Dorothy's farmhouse after the tornado (the audience cheered during both of them).  As I previously mentioned, this movie focuses more on Glinda and Grande does a brilliant job portraying her journey.  Her acting is as exceptional as her singing, especially in "I Couldn't Be Happier," "I'm Not That Girl (Reprise)," and "For Good" (the scene that follows this song brought me to tears).  Erivo's performance of "No Good Deed" is absolutely amazing (I had chills), Bailey's portrayal of Fiyero's inner conflict is very affecting, and, even though her singing is not great, Michelle Yeoh is fun to watch as the villain Madame Morrible.  It is not as big a spectacle as the first movie (there are few big choreographed numbers) but I enjoyed the world-building, particularly Elphaba's tree house hideaway, the production design, and the costumes.  I really loved this (my sister and I are already talking about seeing it again) and highly recommend it!

Note:  My sister made us pink and green hoodies (my sister and nephew had pink ones and I had a green one) with the logo embroidered on them.  We got lots of comments!