We have to stop meeting like this

Oct 21, 2021

PINNED: this newsletter started as a way to highlight movies coming to theaters (see: the name). Then, "the bullshit" happened. And I started featuring movies in theaters, VOD or streaming (see: the +). Point is, if there's a movie worth checking out, you'll probably find it here.

I screwed up last week. I inexplicably forgot to include the new Scream trailer in the "Trailers!" section. I also forgot to include the trailer for Home Sweet Home Alone - aka Home Alone 6. Six?!?! Yeah dude, six.

Sorry for the mixup.

But honestly, based on the trailers, we all might be better off watching the originals? 😐

Also, Wes Anderson's next movie, The French Dispatch, delayed like so many others, is having a limited release this weekend. I'm going to hold on on a full feature until next weekend when it's released "wide" so everyone can partake if they so choose. But if you're in NY or LA, you can probably find a spot to check it out (but I'd plan to book early, ie now, as those screenings may sell out).

Also, Netflix's western, The Harder They Fall is getting some limited action this weekend too, but it's streaming on Nov 3rd, so I'm gonna wait on that one too.

Extra Credit Movies: Couple documentaries if you're keen. One about Jacques Cousteau called Becoming Cousteau. It's in limited theaters.

The other is Introducing, Selma Blair (yes, that one) It's about her struggles with MS. It's on the Discovery+ streaming platform.

Both have great reviews.

DUNE
Trying to encapsulate Dune, especially with a single image, is hard. So I went with the obvious and most attention grabbing choice - the giant sandworms. Now, if you're unfamiliar with the 1965 Frank Herbet novel this movie is based on, you might associate giant sandworms with Beetlejuice, like I used to. But then I read Dune, and became one of the lucky ones.

Lucky because unlike many, I'm not rushing to finish the book before I see this film adaptation. Lucky also simply because I actually read the damn thing. It's fantastic. It still felt fresh more than fifty years after its publication and it's depth and sense of place are stellar. But it's not what you'd call an easy book. There's world building, it deals with politics, large themes around environmentalism, humanity, religion and it doesn't necessarily feed you emotional attachment. But what makes the book great also makes it somewhat difficult to pare down (sensing a theme?). Which means it has had this silly word oft attached to it - "unfilmable." And I don't know, because I'm not one, but that almost seems like a challenge to a filmmaker.

Thankfully one of the best working right now, Denis Villeneuve, said come at me bro (metaphorically of course) and decided to give Herbet's story another shot on the big screen (David Lynch made a version in 1984). And I honestly don't know who's more of a fit for the task; Villeneuve's last two movies were amazing sci-fi efforts Arrival and Bladerunner 2049.

But if you're coming at this completely unaware, the above really doesn't matter much now, does it? Hell, it might've even scared you. You just want to know if this expensive ass looking sci-fi movie is gonna be cool or not. Now, I could try and give you plot points to add context to all that epic-ness you've seen in the trailers, but as you're now well aware, shit is complicated. I'd say more important than exposition is to note that reviews are really quite great. They say Villeneuve is deliberate in his approach, allowing the story to build (the movie is 2 hrs 35 mins), that the scale is pretty insane and it's quite faithful to the source material (a good thing). They say the movie benefits also from its great cast.

Speaking of, one detail worth mentioning is that Timothée Chalamet plays the lead character, Paul (I know, super future sounding name). It's basically his journey as he deals with some wild shenanigans involving emperors, oppressed people, almost magical abilities, the (as mentioned) giant sandworms, and a highly coveted substance which turns people's eyes blue once they've been exposed long enough. As well as destiny, of course.

I'll add here, as I'm not sure if there's any great time to let you know. This is only the first half of the story. If *ahem*when this does well (fan speaking there), they'll hopefully get the green light for the second part. Which, for the unlucky amongst us, will should give time to complete the novel version. ;)

And I strongly encourage you, if you do see the movie, to watch it in theaters. Out of any movie released in theaters this year, I think this might benefit the most out of a big screen.

Vibe: EH-PIC

Out Thursday Night
Watch Theaters & HBO Max
The Trailer | 2 hrs 35 mins | PG-13 | 🍅: 85%

RON'S GONE WRONG

TECHNOLOGY!

The above could be read as a frightening warning or a joyful celebration. It's kind of all a matter of perspective. I mean, I'm devising this newsletter on a device that four hundred years ago would have gotten me burned at the stake and my body cast into a shallow ditch after I was declared a heretic. And yet now I can watch its glowing screen from anywhere in the world and the only thing people will care about is if I'm hogging too much of the wifi.

But even if our modern culture is at a point where there's a collective acceptance of technology, or maybe ambivalence, there's still a lot of thoughts like, "But I just know my phone is constantly listening to and logging every thing I say" (note: it is not, and if you really think it is, WHY ARE YOU STILL USING IT?!). Add to that people's fears around "screen time" and general anxiety about the irrational desire to always buy the latest and most expensive tech, and you basically get one half of Ron's Gone Wrong. But jesus, that's a heavy half.

The other half? A buddy movie with a broken bumbling robot (voiced by Zach Galigianakis) and the lonely boy he'll help form connections with real live people - right after the two form their own! Phew, needed that. Cuz as much as we may want to have some thematic throughlines in our animated movies, we still need some ridiculous slapstick humor intertwined. Don't we? Serious question. You tell me.

But what I will tell you, is that reviews say that while all that heady message stuff gets a bit jumbled, in part because you have a commercial product criticizing commercialism, overall the film seems to work quite well. Maybe not quite as well as another recent entry in the "is tech making us less connected" genre, The Mitchell's vs The Machines, but something that should entertain both you and the littles.

Fun Fact: Olivia Coleman, who voiced the villain (was she the villain?) in The Mitchell's vs The Machines also uses her voice talents here, and apparently to great comedic effect (she plays the grandmother).

Vibe: zany adventure fun, combined with hyper-topical cultural critiques

Out Friday
Watch Theaters Only
The Trailer | 1 hr 47 mins | PG | 🍅: 87%

(called out from top, left to right)

We've had a look at Robert Pattinson as Batman, but this is a legit full trailer. Lots of people are saying it looks like a horror movie. Don't know if I'd go that far, but Marvel this ain't.

Olivia Coleman again?! Hell yes. As directed by Maggie Gyllehaal in The Lost Daughter (based on the book). A psychological drama concerning motherhood.

If that looks like Lucille Ball in the black and white photo, that's because it is. But now as a character in a movie (Being the Ricardos) as portrayed by Nicole Kidman.

The Tender Bar is a movie directed by George Clooney about Ben Affleck as an influential uncle in a family coming of age story - he also happens to be a bar tender (get it?).

What's In Theaters +

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