Dry"ish" January 🍸🤷♂️
After some heavy binging, studios lighten up a bit, but not completely of course
In This Week’s Edition: Netflix has Schitt’s Creek star Daniel Levy’s first feature | yet another potential hit for horror producers Jason Blum and James Wan
Movie Quote of the Week 🎬 💬
“Yikes! I did it again!”
hint: the ticketing agent in the scene is played by Ally Sheedy, another John Hughes favorite of this featured movie’s producer
THINK THOUGHTS 💭
The first weekend of the year is almost always light on new movies. That’s in large part because all the Oscar bait and holiday movies are still prominent at the box office. But streaming does offer a new opportunity and Netflix is looking to capitalize with a solid looking effort from Daniel Levy, the co-creator of Schitt’s Creek.
But not everyone wants to stay at home or see a movie where the focus is on yet another “performance for the ages” (not mocking, I love good acting. Ok, mocking a little, but with love) which is why it seems horror is starting to carve out a little niche in early January (see: last year’s M3GAN which was released on the same weekend).
Personally I’m still catching up on the massive amount of films that were released last month. I haven’t gotten around to highlighting any of the movies I had to cover far more briefly than I would’ve liked in the past few weeks, but I will say I was able to watch Poor Things recently and damn did I like that one a lot. Also caught Leave the World Behind aaaaand liked it less so. Solid acting, and some decent tension, but mostly a pass for me. If you think Poor Things looks too weird, I implore you to give it a shot anyway. It is indeed weird in some respects but that will hopefully evolve into a nice wrapping as you watch rather than being a jarring distraction, allowing you to take in all the awesomeness the movie contains.
I did highlight a “best of” list from one of NPR’s film critics in Newsy Bits 👾, which should serve as a great catch up list if you’re needing one. The Academy Awards are a couple months away so you do have time if you’re a completist. Although the Golden Globes are this weekend - yes, they still exist after a year off TV screens and now with a new backer - but very unclear if anyone will watch, attend (although Taylor Swift is going soooo) or more importantly, care.
What about you, any particular standouts in movies this year?
NEWSY BITS 👾
2023 Box Office Lessons: Audiences Sought Comfort, Skipped Spectacle (Full Article): a medium length read on the last year in movies. The narrative they craft, as usual for these types of things, is pretty forced, but it delves into what performed well at the box (Barbie, Super Mario Bros.) and what didn’t (superhero movies and “legacy” franchises like Indiana Jones) as well as the potential “why” of it all - which is unprovable of course, and exactly why these articles persist from year to year - The New York Times
NPR film critic Bob Mondello's top films of 2023 (Full Article): I know I often lament ranking movies, but I do often like Mondello’s thoughts on films, so figured I’d share. Plus, he kinda doesn’t rank, he just lists a bunch he likes - can also serve as your likely Oscar best picture watch list TL;DR Oppenheimer, Maestro, Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things, American Fiction, Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse, The Boy and the Heron, Past Lives, All of Us Strangers, Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall, The Trial, Scrapper, May December, The Holdovers, Theater Camp, Barbie - NPR
EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE(S) 📝
He Went That Way - Euphoria / Saltburn star Jacob Elordi has been in some very high profile and successful shows / movies lately. This isn’t likely to be one of them. As the reviews on his sorta buddy road trip thriller movie where Elordi abducts Zachary Quinto (Spock in the recent Star Trek movies), playing a caretaker to a famous monkey, are not very good at all. Playing in Limited Theaters Friday (VOD next Friday)
The Bricklayer - honestly, it doesn’t look all that dissimilar to Denzel Washington’s The Equalizer movies, except Washington is preternaturally charismatic and watchable, while Aaron Eckhart is… a bit less so. Although to be fair, The Equalizer movies likely did have a much bigger budget. But regardless, the reviews on this action filler aren’t likely to be anything but confirmation of what you already know by watching the trailer. Playing in Limited Theaters & VOD streaming Friday
NOTABLE NEW RELEASES 🎟 & 📺
If you haven’t watched Schitt’s Creek (the hit show co-created by Good Grief writer, director, producer, star Daniel Levy) there’s a good chance you’ve at least heard about it - likely from someone quite forcefully, to the point of awkwardness, sputtering into your ear that you MUST watch this show. just get through the first season and I PROMISE you will absolutely LOVE IT. Ok ok, jesus, I believe you, now please remove your surprisingly strong and tightly gripped meat hook from my shoulder and never enter my personal space like that again without being invited? Thx k bye.
And while that show was indeed hilarious satire (see! I told you! I friggen told you! ….what the hell?! exit my newsletter already you interloping swine), there were plenty of endearing moments - often between Levy’s David! and his on-screen partner Patrick (Noah Reid) - which foretold the earnestness Levy looks to be bringing to his first feature (he previously directed episodes of Schitt’s Creek).
But earnest dooooes kinda fit when you’re delving into the death of a husband (Luke Evans). However, earnest doesn’t necessarily mean you should expect only sadness and morose vibes, just that this is a bit of a feelings heavy movie which may range from unresolved anger to cathartic laughter. Emotions which will be talked about with, and drawn out by, two best friends to Levy’s character, played by Ruth Negga and Himesh Patel, as they traverse London and travel to Paris after Levy learns some unexpected news.
This centering on friends looks to expand the movie to be not just about siloed grieving, but more about how the process often happens in real life, with one’s community in tow, carrying some of the mourner’s weight. Which reviews say generally results in a better, if still fairly glossy and surface, movie that might help you come down from the holidays softly, albeit with a few tears.
I’m crying already!! …can you just like eat glass already? *ahem* sorry, that was mean. Let me make it up to you with a little bit (of) Alexis.
Out: Friday
Where: Netflix
Details: 1 hr 40 mins | R | 🍅: 73%
You could be forgiven for balking at the premise of Night Swim, on account of the fact that like many a horror film, it’s based on a relatively simple hook. One that upon on initial diagnosis - oh noez! a haunted pool! - would seem an easy problem to solve. I.e. stay out of and away from the god damn pool! 🏊 👎
But ah, therein lies the work. It’s the job of the filmmakers to build a plausible story about why the people at the center of the story either become trapped or willingly decide to stick around.
Horror movies of yore would often toss off plausibility faster than they did a teen’s bikini, but today’s scary movies usually work to make you care about the people they're going to terrorize and potentially slaughter. Awww, how sweet of them. 🤗 It’s partly why you’ve seen “legit” actors (e.g. Ethan Hawke, Toni Collette, Daniel Kaluuya, Elisabeth Moss, Lupita Nyong’o) flock to the genre, because they actually get to, well, act. Ok, that and the potential to make a shit ton of money. Because horror king Jason Blum, producer of what feels like 80% of modern horror movies (Paranormal Activity, Get Out, Sinister, The Black Phone, the Halloween reboot and plenty more), ushered in a model of bringing in good talent on the cheap, but with huge upside if the movie does well at the box office.
Which is likely why you have Kerry Condon, recently nominated for an Oscar for her performance in 2022’s The Banshees of Inisherin, and Wyatt Russell (yes Kurt Russell’s son) who is on a bit of a tear lately with his appearances in shows Under the Banner of Heaven and the Godzilla / King Kong based Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, stepping in to portray a couple trying to make a new life after Russell’s character has to retire early from his baseball career (the pool will potentially help with his recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis).
Now that was a lot of words, and I still haven’t gotten to the most important part - is it scary? Well for some people it’ll be inherently terrifying because swimming is inherently terrifying. But for those of us who generally don’t ponder death as we do the breaststroke, I can’t say for certain. Though for what it’s worth, the movie was also produced by the other modern horror king, James Wan, who created horror franchises Saw and The Conjuring (fun fact, Blum’s and Wan’s companies just merged).
At the very least, there’s a solid chance you’ll at least momentarily reconsider closing your eyes during your next game of Marco Polo.
Out: Friday
Where: Theaters
Details: 1 hr 38 mins | PG-13 | 🍅: TBD
TRAILERS! ⏯ “What’s old is still old…”
Mean Girls - What’s old is still old… but that doesn’t *ahem* mean the youngins ever stopped liking The Plastics. Which is why we have a musical version - although you still wouldn’t know it from watching the trailers, even after three of them - of the 2004 classic Mean Girls.
The First Omen - What’s old is still old… but you that doesn’t mean you can’t still make a new prequel to a movie like 1976’s horror hit The Omen.