Things are about to get awkward.

But the real question is, what kind of awkward do you want?

Jan 26, 2023

“I’m not going to be ignored, Dan.”

Did you see the list of Oscar nominations (here’s how to watch them all) that came out earlier this week? Do you care? I mean, I’m sure you care a little. You are reading a newsletter about movies after all. Seeing as I follow the stuff quite closely, I wasn’t entirely surprised with anything (woo hoo for my slightly more beloved Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Banshees of Inisherin and Tár - though as always, there are so many good movies / performances that don’t even get nominated) but there are always a few “hm” moments where someone was either nominated or not. You also might recall that even though I track things like the Academy Awards I am not their #1 fan. Beyond the un-necessary ranking, the actual affair is a bit drab and self-important. But I’m not the first or even the millionth to say that. So instead of going on about it, how about I fill in a few wholes I created over the past few weeks in movies that, in my never-ending (literally?) quest to keep you informed of things to watch, I should’ve told you about. Some of them (though not all) just so happen to be nominated for Oscars, so it does kind of tie together thematically. Ever so important these days.

All Quiet on the Western Front - a German take on the classic novel and apparently holds up to the 1930 Best Picture winner. This was also nominated for Best Picture so a fairly big omission by me1.

Living - I kept meaning to share this lovely looking remake of the classic Kurosawa film about an older gentleman (Bill Nighy in an Oscar nominated performance) who after getting a terminal diagnosis seeks out what it is to “truly live.” Hence the title.

Corsage - I don’t believe this was nominated, but no matter, it looks positively fresh and exciting, even though it’s set in the stodgiest of times (old time-y Austria), but sees a woman try and escape her time and place with a very modern attitude.

Alice, Darling - another film I couldn’t quite figure out when to feature based on its release, but it’s an interesting (and well reviewed) movie about a woman (Anna Kendrick) in an abusive relationship and how she escapes it with the help of her friends.

Broker - a great looking Korean drama (starring Sang Kang-Ho from Parasite) about a group who sell orphaned infants and a young mother who becomes involved with them after initially trying to sell her baby.

The Quiet Girl - a Scottish (it’s in Gaelic) movie that has nearly a 100% RT score and is about a young girl who has a troubled home life so she is fostered by an older couple who then rediscovers her voice, and some other things.

Note: a reader and fellow writer, pointed our that while Avatar: The Way of Water has indeed done “well” in its box office haul, it is important to look at the numbers through a comparable lens. I.e. inflation is real and comparing a movie from 2009 (or 1938) and a movie from 2022 is not fair. M.G. sums it up quite well, so I suggest you read his post on the topic. And while it doesn’t mean I can rescind my “I was wrong” mea culpa, it does add some good context.

Extra Credit Movie(s):

Maybe I Do - You’re2 not going to watch this. But I don’t want you to blame me when you see a bunch of famous faces on streaming and go, “um, why the hell didn’t I know about this movie?” And while Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, William H. Macy, Susan Sarandon are very famous and also very good actors, it doesn’t mean the movie is going to be good. And it probably isn’t. But that’s just fine. Opening in Limited Theaters this weekend, but expect on streaming imminently.

Not even The Emoji Movie used an emoji in its title, so it’s a stretch, but if you were to rename You People in emojis, I feel like 😬😬😬😬😬😬 would be fitting. Cuz I’m pretty sure that’s the face most people will be making during the entire movie. It’s basically a dual-sided race and religious version of Meet the Parents - but toss in a heavy dash of the Sidney Poitier classic, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

Regardless, as the yutes say, this movie is pure cringe. But intentionally so. Not sure you’d expect anything less when you learn it’s directed by Kenya Barris (creator of the show Black-ish) and was co-written by Barris and star Jonah Hill. Barris and Hill basically made that sequence in Get Out where Daniel Kaluuya meets Allison Williams’ parents and Williams’ dad (Bradley Whitford), unsolicited, broadcasts that he would’ve voted for Obama for a third term, into an entire movie. Except they removed the whole lobotomy 🧠 thing and flipped it a bit and made the movie more about a Black father (Eddie Murphy) trying to make his son in law to be uncomfortable by showing how not Black he (Hill) is.

Thing is, reviews say that while it does address a lot of the racial, religious, generational things well enough, it doesn’t quite make them funny enough. And that even though Murphy and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (who plays Hill’s mom) are the highlights, the sort of “one note” situations eventually become tiresome well before the eventual happy-yay ending.

But seeing as the amount of movies that tackle these issues are basically this one and…. *crickets* it seems fair to give it a shot if you’re keen on some 😬 inducing comedy with a bit of commentary.

Out: Friday

Where: Netflix

1 hr 57 mins | R | 🍅: 39%

Watch the Trailer

Do you want to get weird? …….!!!

No.

I mean, do. you. want. to. get. weeeeeird. As in the “I’m not sure I should be watching what I’m watching” or “I kinda feel icky after that” kinda weird. Because that’s what you’re getting into if you get yourself into a theater this weekend and watch Brandon Cronenberg’s new one. ……?? Ah yes, “Cronenberg.” It should sound familiar, because you may know Brandon’s father David, who has made a lot of weird movies of his own (see: The Fly, Scanners, Crash (not that one), the recent Crimes of the Future). Side note: I’d absolutely love to know what they talk about at dinner, “so to get the best shots of blood spurting you just have to place the camera….” There are some other names you might be familiar with too, namely Alexander Skarsgård, but also Mia Goth, who has a bit of a run recently with X and Pearl.

But “weird” is more what gets talked about, not necessarily what the movie is about. The best weird movies use their oddities to push thoughts and notions, if merely in an unconventional way. Take Infinity Pool for example. It’s set in a fictional country where the rich vacation in part because if they commit a crime they’re sentenced to death, but wait, they can get out of it by paying the authorities to create a clone which they kill in the rich person’s stead. But since it is a clone, it’s an exact copy of the person, feelings, memories and all. I.e. they sit and watch themselves die.

…….

Huh indeed. Reviews say that while it initially may seem like another White Lotus or Triangle of Sadness skewering of the rich, Cronenberg goes into different territory of sussing out ideas around identity, power, humanity and more.

But to get to those ideas you’ll sit through (NON-PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD) drug filled orgies, gruesome deaths, adult breast feeding, dom / sub degradation scenarios and - I can’t tell if this is only in the NC-17 version that was recently shown at Sundance or the theatrical R rated version - but there is a closeup shot of an ejaculating penis. I say this not to shock you, but to prepare you.

Because "weird,” as we all know, is quite relative.

Out: Friday

Where: Limited Theaters

1 hr 40 mins | R | 🍅: 87%

Watch the Trailer

Look, I can’t tell you how to live your life. For example, I can’t tell you that the only way you should watch Shotgun Wedding, the new rom-action-com starring J. Lo and Josh Duhamel that looks kinda-sorta like that The Lost City movie with Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock from last year - except probably less good - is to get your lover, hookup, rando off the street (stay safe kids!) or crew of raggity taggity friends together on a couch and get a lil tipsy3, get a lil cozy, turn down the lights, turn your expectations down even lower and just like fucking go with it maaaaan.

But I can tell you that if you go into this expecting something along the lines of a “good movie,” you’re likely to come out with more regret than the person who goes into a marriage expecting never to fight, hear their partner fart or think about driving into traffic just one time during their time together with their babe, hun, boo bear, or any other pet name that can be used to convey love and affection or sound like daggers in verbal form, all depending on the tone.

And hey, it’s just fine that movies like these exist. J.Lo works very hard and I’m sure Josh Duhamel is a swell enough guy. And I can appreciate the double entendre title, even if it’s more of a heh than a haha situation. Because sometimes when they’re “bad,” movies like this are kinda great. Hell, one of my favorite movies of all time is Just Friends, which critically is a dud. But to me? It’s my forever boo bear. And I’m never letting it go.

So go on, YDY4.

Out: Friday

Where: Prime Video

1 hr 57 mins | R | 🍅: 37%

Watch the Trailer