How's the eggnog?

Dec 23, 2020

"It's good, it's good...
...it's good."

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.

As movie makers tend to do, they left a lot of their movies for the end of the year. Luckily for you, they left some of their best.

Of the eight(!!) options to stream at home or experience in theaters, only one currently has a rotten rating - it's George Clooney's. But look, the guy is 59 and busy with twins, ok? Plus, they're not that bad, they're just not amazing.

And because there are so many, I tried to keep it (kinda) tight on descriptions. Still links to reviews, details and trailers - in fact, you can click on the big images to watch 'em all in a row.

Until next week.

STREAMING AT HOME

Soul: Pixar makes very good movies. This is, as some goofballs may say, another one. Be prepared to laugh and cry as is common with Pixar's best (and this is apparently one of them). Soul is unique in that it stars the animation studio's first black lead character (and director!), voiced by Jamie Foxx who plays a jazz teacher / artist who faces a question about what it is to live. His partner in exploring what it means to be, is Tina Fey who inhabits a soul who has no interest in merging with a body.

Watch On: Disney +
Trailer | PG | 1 hr 40 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (Certified Fresh)

Sylvie's Love: the second movie this week to deal with Jazz. It's a classic romance movie set in the late 50's starring Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha (who had previously only produced movies). The characters meet, things get sparky, even though Tessa's character is engaged. Time passes, they lose touch, until... they meet again one day. Looks to be earnest in all the best ways. Including being a romantic movie starring black leads set in an era when that would've been hard to imagine.

Watch On: Amazon Prime
Trailer | PG-13 | 1 hr 58 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (Certified Fresh)

The Midnight Sky: George Clooney directs (and stars in!) a sci-fi post-apocalyptic movie where he's a lone scientist in the Arctic trying to warn a group of astronauts that they're mission back to earth (after seeing if one of Jupiter's moons is habitable) is to be aborted because of some of crazy shit that went down on the blue planet. Except he isn't alone. There's a young girl who that accompanies him on his quest. Reviews aren't great, but they're not terrible. It's just a miss for some, maybe it won't be for you!

Watch On: Netflix
Trailer | PG-13 | 2 hrs 2 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 54% (Certified Fresh)

Wonder Woman 1984: probably the "biggest" of all the movies being released in that it's the most collectively anticipated. Which makes sense, because Wonder Woman was a H.I.T. hit. It gave the recent DC universe a legitimately good movie. Its forthright and endearing feel was in contrast to the darker and goofier stuff that came before it. Diana is back in the age of neon and so is Chris Pine as Steve Rogers (if you get annoyed at how, just remember, WW uses a truth lasso. So. Ya know, chill). Reviews aren't quite as good as the first, but Kristen Wiig plays a cheetah woman. Don't know bout y'all, but that's an automatic yes for me.

Watch On: HBO MAX
Trailer | PG-13 | 1 hr 58 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 74% (Certified Fresh)

ONLY IN THEATERS

Promising Young Woman: the movie I'm most excited about across both streaming and theatrical releases. Carey Mulligan exacts revenge on men (and those who enable some of their awful behavior) after an event derails her time as a med student. It looks intense, darkly funny, complicated, fresh as fuck and most importantly, needed.

Trailer | R | 1 hr 53 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (Certified Fresh)

News of the World: Tom Hanks in the most Tom Hanks role - a morally sound traveling newspaper man who ends up looking after a young girl as they travel across the post Civil War west. It's directed by Paul Greengrass who did three of the Bourne movies and Captain Phillips (also starring Hanks). These may seem like pejoratives although they're not meant to be, but expect a slow"ish" western dad-flick. A satisfying one.

Trailer | PG-13 | 1 hr 58 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 85% (Certified Fresh)

One Night in Miami: four icons who are also black (Muhammad Ali, Malcom X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown) discuss their roles in the civil rights movement of the 60's. It's fiction"ish" in that they were all there, but what was discussed is not known to this level of detail. First movie to be directed by Regina King and it's supposed be real good.

Trailer | R | 1 hr 50 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (Certified Fresh)

Pinocchio: an Italian adaptation of the classic (also) Italian novel. It's supposed to be a faithful retelling, and has some pretty dope prosthetics (see: the non CGI pinocchio). It looks somewhat weird, in a sort of Tim Burton way. Stars Roberto Benigni as Gepetto. A heads up that the American release is dubbed from the original Italian.

Trailer | PG-13 | 2 hrs 5 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 87%

Note: Wonder Woman 1984 is also in theaters.

Highlights

The White Tiger - second trailer. Dark comedy"ish," India set story of a driver who works for a rich couple, but a betrayal sets him on a different path. Looks like it could be pretty rad.

The Little Things - Denzel Washington and Rami Malek are cops who end up working on a case to catch a murderer, which may (or may not!) be Jared Leto.

Palmer - Justin Timberlake drama where he's a former high school standout athlete turned 12 year prison attendee who ends up caring for a unique kid in his rural home town.

Coming 2 America - Eddie Murphy finally made a sequel to the classic comedy. Originally a theatrical release, Amazon bought it from Paramount.

What's In Theaters +

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