Sooooo, how ya doin?

Nov 04, 2020

"This ain't no democracy.
Yes, it is.
No, it ain't. This is the United States of James Carter.
I'm the president, I'm the emperor, I'm the king.
I'm Michael Jackson, you Tito.
Your ass belongs to me."

PINNED: this newsletter is supposed to be a friendly recapping of the movies in, and coming to, theaters. But things be real weird right now. So until that changes in earnest, I'll either be suggesting old favorites to revisit, pointing out recent flicks you may have missed or calling out notable new VOD / streaming options.

I'm sure you've done enough reading recently. So let's just get to the distractions, I mean movies, shall we?

This Week's Theme: moods.

I've got a movies here for well, maybe not all of them, but some of them!

Are you feeling... like you need some LOVE in your life, but with a touch of that dark reality we can't escape? Cool. Peep Spontaneous.

Are you feeling... that POLITICAL wave and you wanna ride that motherfucker to the messy end? Cool. Open your eyes and ears to The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Are you feeling... in need of something that makes our current bonkers reality somehow (inexplicably) feel less BONKERS? Cool. Watch Butt Boy (you read that correctly).

SPONTANEOUS
(2020)

Teenagedom is one of the hardest of the "doms" (not that kind), but it's also one of the most fun. You're experiencing lots of new stuff for the first time, the future is all possibilities, but your emotions are also often running real high, so high that sometimes you feel like you could just explode. And well, Spontaneous takes that notion quite literally.

See, teenagers start blowing up at a high school which causes a fair amount of alarm amongst the parentals and youths alike (but apparently not enough to cancel the prom). The two leads, Katherine Langford (13 Reasons Why) and Charlie Plummer (Lean on Pete) start a romance during this odd time, because what the hell do they have to lose if they could be the walls' new paint at any moment? And while the trailer focuses on the sarcasm and cheeky concept, you should expect quite a bit more heart (and darkness) than it belies.

Note: this is a premium VOD release (i.e. it would have been in theaters if not for "the bullshit") so it's $10 vs a normal four buck rental.

Give It a Shot If: you appreciate your love stories with a bit of snark and self-awareness / really liked Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

Details: 98% on RT (46 reviews)
R, 1 hrs 42 mins, Paramount

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
(2020)

Do you enjoy the talkie walkies? Nope, I don't mean the handheld devices you use to communicate over long distances. I mean talkie walkies - aka the genre ushered into existence by Aaron Sorkin productions (see: The West Wing, Newsroom etc.).

Now "talkie walkies" isn't technically an actual genre, but it should be! It's that distinct. Because I bet that upon learning this is a Sorkin written / directed film, you can't help but hear Sacha Baron-Cohen spitting off some witticism to Jeremy Strong (pullin' a full 180 from his Kendall character in Succession) in the above image, as they click their heels across that marble floor. What are they talking about? The trial of which they're apart, probably (they're 2 of the 7), or maybe the social dynamics of hopscotch or something else just as ridiculously unrelated, idk; Sorkin loves his asides almost as much as he loves being a sesquipedalian writer (<-- definitely had to Thesaurus that word into existence).

I make fun, but I really did enjoy The West Wing and how it took a fictional situation, but layered on fact based elements to give it a real world context. The Trial of the Chicago 7 looks to do kind of the opposite - take the actual trial of Vietnam war protesters, accused of inciting a riot at the 1968 Democratic convention and layering on some Sorkin"ness," to make the story palatable to a wider audience.

Now, as you can see below, reviews are most certainly positive, but I think it bears clarifying that the "timely nature" of the movie (read: many see parallels to today) certainly ups the films' recommendation score. I'm not trying to say the reviews are wrong, just consider them in context.

Give It a Shot If: you've been political doomscrolling the last 24 hours and you still. can't. get. enough.

Details: 91% on RT (254 reviews)
R, 2 hrs 9 mins, Netflix

BUTT BOY
(2020)

I'm sure you're similar to me in that you keep hearing about how you couldn't write something crazier than the events of 2020.

Challenge. Accepted.

"Detective Fox loves work and alcohol. After going to AA, his sponsor, Chip, becomes the main suspect in his investigation of a missing kid. Fox also starts to believe that people are disappearing up Chip's butt."

I just love this (official!) logline. It somehow reads as the most normal and insane thing at exactly the same time.

And that combination of straightforward oddity is what you should expect here. That is to say, this movie takes a massively ridiculous premise quite seriously. I mean, what would you do if you suspected someone was killing children by absorbing them into their anal cavity? You'd first question reality, then friggen try and stop them, wouldn't you?! At least I hope you would. Sure, it'd get messy, and you might strain to get people to believe you, butt you'd push through! Lucky for you, you're not the one having to battle a booty based baddy, it's Fox, the noir styled detective trying to get his *ahem* shit together.

Look, I know this all sounds quite silly, but when you title your film Butt Boy, have the premise that you have and still get a NY Times Critic's Pick? The film can't be that much of a stinker, now can it?

Give It a Shot If: you want to take a short vacation in Bizarroland.

Details: 70% on RT (57 reviews)
R, 1 hr 39 mins, Epic Pictures

Highlights

Farewell Amor - An Angolan family reunites in the US, 17 years after the husband / father left to find a better life for them. The couple has grown distant in nearly two decades and the daughter doesn't know her father, but dance helps them reconnect. RT score real good.

What Lies Below - a daughter returns from camp to find her mother dating a hawty who may be creeping on her, is also a fish and out to get them. But wait. The weirdest part is the movie doesn't look as terrible as it sounds?!

Songbird - A movie where Covid (23!) has created the real bullshit. And two young lovers are just tryin to make it through! Stars AJ Kappa from the TV show Riverdale.

What's In Theaters +

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