TBD

Feb 17, 2021

"Dishes are done, maaaan."

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.

Nothing to see here!

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WHO RUN THE WORLD?

(from top, left to right)

Nomadland: If you're an Oscar junky, you should watch Nomadland for the fact alone that it'll be a strong contender for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. But for everyone else, you should watch if you're interested in a treatise on people who live outside what most would consider "normal." I use quotes since normal is generally a crappy word to describe much, because even though it literally means to do what is expected, it also has a moral connotation. If you ain't normal, you ain't right. That's hogwash. Because who cares what other people think? Ok, we all do, to some extent. But the people highlighted in Nomadland probably would care less than most. As I imagine it gets easier to stop caring what the rest of society thinks when you're living outside of it.

Nomadland's director, Chloé Zhao, is actually well known for making movies that highlight people who live on the periphery. She got noticed for 2018's The Rider, which like Nomadland, uses actors who are actively living the situations they portray in the film. While she does that again here, casting real life nomads, Zhao hired Frances McDormand to portray the woman who meets these wanderers as she tries to find the next phase of her life - due to the death of her husband and being wiped out financially by the great recession. She'll learn what's it like to be "houseless" vs homeless, and the good and bad that comes with it.

Maybe not a warning, but expectation setting that the movie will be a bit different from your average flick. It'll be more about sitting in the world presented to you rather than big plot movements. But just because it may not be a normal movie, doesn't mean it won't be a good one.

Watch On: Hulu
Trailer | R | 1 hr 48 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (Certified Fressshh)

Barb & Star go to Vista Del Mar: I can't tell you if you're going to like this movie. I mean, I can't really do that with any movie, but this one is especially difficult. Because, as I mentioned last week, what one person may find funny, another will find the analogical equivalent of trimming their eyelashes with a chainsaw. I was wrong in my guess that (most) critics would dislike B & S. Woo hoo! And I guess I was going off the somewhat recent distaste for character / costume comedies - ie most Will Ferrell movies. More popular have been movies like last year's Palm Springs, where fairly average people are generally stuck in absurd situations and the funny builds off that. But Kristen Wiig (Starbara) and her Bridesmaids writing partner Annie Mumolo (just Barb) said F that S and went full wig and mid-west accent.

Plot? I mean, assume it'll be extremely absurd (including talking crabs and dance numbers), but it starts with two friends from Nebraska that have never been outside... Nebraska - hell, that's a (cruel) joke right there. They, very excitedly, take their first trip down to the home of the infamous (and numerous!) Florida Man. Also known as, Florida. The movie almost seems kinda like a gonzo Ted Lasso buddy-movie, if that makes any sense??

In short, I think you should ask yourself, do you wanna get weird?

Watch On: Premium VOD
Trailer | PG-13 | 1 hr 46 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
Note: it's a premium ($20) rental at the moment

Saint Maud: Devotion to one's religion can take many forms and have infinite origins. Saint Maud focuses on the former and only alludes to the latter while following a hospice care nurse Maud (Morfydd Clark) who becomes infatuated and preoccupied with her charge, a dying, yet still vibrantly alive artist stricken with lymphoma. While the fading woman, Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), is focused on enjoying what time she has left via partying, drinking, taking lovers, Maude is obsessed because she sees the woman as potentially losing her soul. How thoughtful of her. But when these cares come from a young woman who steps on glass to show her devotion to her creator, one might be right to be a bit circumspect.

Now, Saint Maud is indeed a horror movie, but you should think of it more in the slow build / psychological vein with a strong atmospheric sense. Less The Conjuring and more Midsommar, (although Maud differs greatly from that movie in run-time). Reviewers commented a lot on how the creep factor worms its way in as well as how impressive that it's the writer / director's first movie (Rose Glass).

Watch On: EPIX (you can get a two week trial for $0.99)
Trailer | PG | 1 hr 24 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (Certified Fressshh)

I Care A Lot: Sharp, in all its meanings, seems like a good word to describe this movie: sharp dialogue, sharp style and... sharp knives. Everything about the movie looks crisp and put together. Which might be a part of the point. On the surface, things seem to be going according to a plan. Problem is, whose plan? That would be Rosamund Pike's character, Marla, who is a conservator that cares, in the most legalize sense of the word, for people who've been deemed incompetent by the state. Seems like a nice person. She is a not a nice person. In reality, Marla is manipulating the system, and her elderly charges, to lawfully steal from them.

But in a situation somewhat akin to The Wolf of Wall Street, it's very possible you end up liking Marla a bit (while disliking her in parallel). Actually, it might be more of a Killing Eve situation. Because beyond the dope clothes, it's not often we get to see "nasty women" doing pretty despicable stuff where, posterity be damned, we kinda still like em? That's been the case for men for deeeecades. Plus, once the equally nasty men come into the picture, namely the awesome Peter Dinklage, who are somehow friends with Marla's latest take (Dianne Wiest), I wouldn't expect her to back down.

I also wouldn't expect that this a movie that's going to make you feel good about the world. But it may be that it makes you feel kinda bad, in a good sorta way...

Watch On: Netflix
Trailer | PG | 1 hr 58 mins
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (Certified Fressshh)

Highlights

Cruella - Disney doin the live action treatment to 101 Dalmatians with an origin story for Ms De Vil (side note: I was today years old when I realized her last name is actually just Devil, I mean... 🤦‍♂️)

Pixie - Irish dark comedy looking caper flick starring Olivia Cooke (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl / Sound of Metal) who's trying to peace out of her little town, but things ain't goin her way. Solid early reviews. Note: out in two weeks

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell - trailer on the early life of Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Smalls.

Zack Snyder's Justice League - the trailer for the "Zack Snyder Cut," which isn't a cut, so much as a mini-reshoot turning the hero fest into a four hour (!!) series, er movie? Btw, here are the first and second trailers for the original version if you'd like to do a side-by-side.

What's In Theaters +

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