Now Playing. Um, everything?
Both because there are lots of movies, also because this is late!
THE QUOTE đŹ đŹ
âJust checking.
Everything all right?
Yep. Two corpses. Everythingâs fine.â
hint: the movie released with multiple randomized endings
THINK THOUGHTS đ
Latham, itâs Friday evening, what the hell? Shouldnât you be watching movies instead of writing about them?!
Correct assessment!
But Iâve been traveling this whole week and apparently time isnât infinite. Who knew! But Iâm not about to let that break my near 10 year streak of publishing a newsletter every Wednesday Thursday Friday? Week. Letâs go with week.
Plus, there are actually a lot of great, and varied options out there, from smart action, to family drama and reimagined classics.
So enjoy. And Iâll be back at you in a week five days.
NEWSY BITS đŸ
Nearly Half Of LGBTQ TV Characters Are Canceled, GLAAD Finds: âA Dangerous Precedentâ - without digging too deep into this data, I want to think this is an ebb and a flow that happened because certain shoes got cancelled vs a any sort of large cultural shift. More data over time will give a better indication (though who wants to wait?). - Deadline
âGremlins 3â Joins Warner Bros. 2027 Slate, With Steven Spielberg Exec Producing, Chris Columbus Directing - Unsolicited advice to Spielberg and Columbus from me. Donât fuck it up! - Deadline
NOTABLE NEW RELEASE(S) đ & đș
Predator: Badlands
I said it when the full trailer came out and yet it bears repeating. Badlands looks badass. Turns outâŠ
âthe most fun Predator since the original.â - from the Empire review of Predator: Badlands
Itâs a continuation of director Dan Trachtenbergâs winning streak which started with his first movie, Ten Cloverfield Lane, and has not yet abated through his now three Predator movies - reviving the very much languishing property. The dude just seems to know how to make a damn good movie.
He also knows when audience could use a nice little twist, which is exactly what he does with Badlands, but turning the Predator into the hero. But maybe more pertinent, and poetic, is that heâs also prey. Which, of course, was the name of Tractenbergâs first Predator movie that came out on Hulu during âthe bullshit.â
Oh, and yes, that is Elle Fanning, but instead of some human being hunted by the Predator (his name is Dek btw), sheâs a âsynthetic,â who teams up with him to well, survive. And if that word feels familiar, thatâs because itâs from the world of Alien, which has cross pollinated before with the Predator franchise.
Next up for Trachtenberg? Maybe Alien vs Predator, but like, actually good?
One can hope!
Out: Now
Where: Movie Theaters
Details: 1 hr 47 mins | R | đ : 85%
Frankenstein
Monster and man.
But whoâs the real monsterâŠ
I think you probably know the answer. But that doesnât mean it wonât be fun to watch director Guillermo del Toro put his gothic touch on Mary Shelleyâs enduring story with Euphoria breakout Jacob âIâm in literally everythingâ Elordi and Oscar âYeah, me too kinda. But Iâm no longer the hot new thing. Which is kinda weird, cuz I was, but I guess we all get old? Ok, whatever this is a really long middle name.â Isaac.
Itâs also a sort of âlast hurrahâ per del Toro in his mission to make monster movies not suck. Youâve done well sir. Now go forth and make whatever you desire.
Out: Now
Where: Netflix
Details: 2 hrs 29 mins | R | đ : 86%
Die My Love
Famous actors are generally famous because theyâve done very broad, very easily likable stuff.
But theyâre also that second word, âactors.â And they generally got into the game because, well, they like to act. And sometimes they choose movies not to sustain their fame or mortgage payments, but to stoke and maintain their passion for their craft.
Die My Love is very much the latter. Which, if youâre unaware and you come to this movie only to see Edward Cullen from Twilight have a hot make out sesh with Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, youâre probably going to be miserable.
I mean, they might suck face a lilâ bit, but then they might spit angrily in each otherâs faces. And not in the fun way (editorâs note: the âfun way??â). Since this is a movie about Jennifer Lawrence as a mother going through it. âItâ meant in the broadest spectrum and also all the colored minutia contained within. âItâ does include postpartum depression, as well as a hunger for sex that canât be met due to a number of factors, including societal expectations of women and mothers and what they should be, just plain being a mother and her husband (Robert Pattinson), who doesnât seem to understand what she needs. So canât give her what she wants.
Which is a good god damn lay.
Is that too much fucking ask? Donât answer though, because thatâs a rhetorical question posed by both Lawrenceâs character and more thematically by director Lynne Ramsay, who doesnât necessarily make those fame making movies. But she does make movies famous people want to be in.
And often with good reason, because critics say Lawrence is able to do some of the best work sheâs done. Which might make the movie harder and easier to watch at the same time. Things are complicated!1
Out: Now
Where: Movie Theaters
Details: 1 hr 58 mins | R | đ : 78%
Sentimental Value
The title for this film in Norwegian is Affeksjonsverdi. Which very much looks like I had a âmomentâ and thrashed on my keyboard, never bothering to delete the consequences.
Itâs a weird thing to tell you, unless I tack on the fact Sentimental Value, aka Affeksjonsverdi, is from Norwegian director Joachim Trier who has made other insightful movies, like The Worst Person in the World (which also starred Renate Reinsve), about âthe human condition.â Which, really, is just a pretentious way of saying, âdealing with all the bullshit of being an alive human person.â
Itâs something weâre all very familiar with, and yet maybe Norwegianâs just know more about it than the rest of us, or itâs Trier who has a unique ability to take a seemingly simple story about an estranged father and his daughter(s) coming together through his decision to make of a movie about their life, and turn it into something that critics say is deeply affecting, cathartic and because life contains multitudes, funny and sweet at the same time.
Reinsve plays one of the daughters and Stellan SkarsgĂ„rd her director father, who has cast Elle Fanning (editorâs note: leave some for the rest of us!) in the role of his fictional daughter.
Itâs the movie the least people will watch this weekend, and yet itâs likely the movie that might speak to the experiences of the most people. Funny how that works.
Out: Now
Where: Movie Theaters
Details: 1 hr 58 mins | R | đ : 97%
Nuremberg
Is there anything more Oscar-baity than dubya dubya two? I mean, maybe Leo v Bear, but otherwise, I canât thinking of anything.
Is it because it harkens back to a time when we knew what ârightâ was? Or maybe thereâs a sense of patriotism that even the most anti-nationalistic citizen canât resist because everyone was fighting the epitome of evil, zee Nazis.
Whatever it is, itâs film fodder that has won many an actor an Oscar. And I doubt itâll win Russell Crowe his second, but it is possible he gets his fourth nomination at least for playing Hermann Göring, a high ranking Nazi official and head of the Luftwaffe, the German air force.
Göring was one of a number of captured Germans who were put on trial at the Nuremberg prison, hence the name The Nuremberg Trials. Those military folks, so efficient.
Thought whether itâs the time period increasingly being farther from the present, or a sense of âbeen there, done that,â there hasnât been a standout WW II movie in a while and this doesnât seem to change that. It basically looks like a more serious A Few Good Men where itâs about mind games and big speeches in the courtroom. Which certain people will love and plenty others will scowl out.
Including Nazis.
Out: Now
Where: Movie Theaters
Details: 1 hr 58 mins | R | đ : 68%
EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE(S) đ
In Your Dreams - itâs Netflixâs next animated feature, though it probably wonât reach KPop Demon Hunters level (it wonât). But it still looks like a cute little story about a sibling duo taking on the dream as their parents divorce, with reviews saying it is a solid effort with decent, if not striking or unique animation, and a potent enough moral in its story. Streaming on Netflix Now
Christy - it almost feels inevitable that Sydney Sweeney, known in part for her looks, would take a âgrittyâ role where sheâs able to physically inhabit a character by morphing her body, like so many other actors before her. Here she plays real life boxer, Christy Martin, who became the sports first big female star. The reviews say Sweeney does well enough, but the movie is a bit rote on the overall, *ahem* hitting beats youâll see come. But hey, so did lots of Rocky movies. Playing in Theaters Now
Sarahâs Oil - a religious-ish story about Sarah Rector a girl who was granted a plot of land by the government, on account of her ancestry, that turned out to be oil rich, which turned Rector very rich. Not many reviews, but a few say it does well enough at depicting a positive story in difficult circumstances (and very tough times). Playing in Limited Theaters Now
THE TRAILERS âŻ
Scream 7 - boo! Oh, youâre not scared? Because you were expecting it? Letâs hope thatâs not the case here.
Michael - the long gestating Michael Jackson biopic (if you couldnât tell from the title, the font, the everything).
H is for Hawk - a daughter connects with her dad over birds, but her dad dies, so she connects with a bird to connect with, herself?
Oh. What. Fun. - Michelle Pfeiffer is a fed up mother and takes action to get her recognition.
Song Sung Blues - likely the only movie ever to be made about a Neil Diamond cover band.
Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair - it says it right there in the title. Itâs Kill Bill. Both of âem. In one move.Cuz they kinda always were.
also rhetrorical!