#119in2019

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Joker

It’s hard to write a movie review for a movie that everyone already has an opinion about (whether they’ve even seen the film or not). And I know that comes off as very “boo hoo, pity me, the poor movie reviewer who saw this movie for free and now has to WRITE WORDS about it for fun” but listen, there’s some real pressure here. Todd Phillips’ vision of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) and his descent into madness at the hands of a cruel and violent world is nominated for 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, and even though as a society it feels like we’re kind of over the Oscars, they are also somehow still Very Important all at the same time. So is this film a gritty, IMPORTANT, timely warning of the dangers of a man pushed too far? Or is it a sad power trip that encourages an all too common sense of entitlement and violence amongst the men who are presumably most likely to resonate with its message? Well...

Honestly? Fucking neither. It’s shot beautifully (how could it not be when Todd Phillips is just trying to do everything Martin Scorsese would do, but a little less well) and Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is truly, singularly committed and brilliant. But Phoenix is suffering from the same problem as Rami Malek and his incredible performance as Freddie Mercury last year - the movie each man is at the center of (in spite of their incredible acting) is not nearly as clever or interesting as it wants to be or could have been. 

Some thoughts:

Arthur is certainly a man in pain in a world that doesn’t really care about him. Gotham is a tense, struggling city, and all the people Arthur encounters treat him with disdain or cruelty. To me, this is less an issue of the moral decay or lawless attitudes of the city, and more about the ways in which poverty poisons people’s lives and souls. This movie depicts class warfare in a way that feels garish and cartoonish, which would be appropriate and possibly kind of cool if it weren’t trying to take everything VeRy SeRiOuSlY. 

He’s isolated, depressed, full of rage, and everyone thinks he’s creepy - sure, random coworker, hand him a gun, that checks out.

Also, the movie places us in a weird position almost from the start, because Arthur can’t help that he has brain damage and a disability (his laughter) that makes people uncomfortable. But we’re also supposed to...feel bad for him? understand his frustration? when he gets fired for bringing a gun to a children’s hospital. I don’t think the film necessarily positions us to sympathize with Arthur by the end of the film, but it doesn’t not do that either. 

If a man you don’t know walks outside your gate with a clown nose on, you turn and run.

If a man you don’t know puts his thumbs in your mouth, you DEFINITELY turn and run.

One interesting thing that I did ruminate on for quite awhile - Arthur never harms any people of color. Zazie Beetz and Brian Tyree Henry both have interesting supporting roles and are true highlights of the film, and they manage to escape their encounters with Arthur relatively unscathed (albeit disturbed). Let it be said, Arthur only punches up, not down.

A big part of the reason why I say the movie isn’t as clever as it thinks is the lack of engagement with all of the big, nasty themes running through it. A lot of big thematic punchlines are left unexamined, and I’m sorry, just pointing out LOOK AT THIS THING THAT EXISTS is not the same as engaging with it. This is like the Ready Player One approach to social justice issues, or if that phrase is too triggering how about simple fucking human decency, and it rings hollow. For example, two police officers heavily imply that Arthur’s mother (Frances Conroy) is to blame for the violence she and Arthur suffered at the hands of an abusive boyfriend. Is Phillips’ script trying to comment on victim blaming and rape culture here? Based on Arthur’s reaction to the news, I would say no. Or how about the social worker Arthur goes to for counseling saying her department is being shut down due to budget cuts. Is Phillips trying to interrogate the lack of infrastructure in place for mental health support or any other social safety net meant to enhance the public welfare? Well, considering people who have a mental illness are more likely to be the victim of a violent crime than to perpetrate one, I’d say again, no. 

When this thing gets bloody, it gets REAL BLOODY. I was prepared, kind of, but it still turned my stomach.

I’m unsure how to feel about Arthur’s appearance on the talk show - the southern belle accent, the dancing, the makeup - it all feels very camp, very queer coded villainy in a way that feels regressive rather than a loving homage to theater and film history. 

In fact, describing anything about this movie as loving feels impossible. Even the beautiful cinematography and the effective score - it all feels like it’s born out of spite and ugliness. Like someone dared Todd Phillips to make the most anti of antihero movies, and he wrote the script by fear pissing the words into a snow bank. 

Did I Cry? Um yeah, no. 

From a structural standpoint, the beats are solid and the tension is tight. It builds and builds until Arthur’s face-off against the late night talk show host (Robert De Niro) who was once his hero until he brutally mocked Arthur on his show. It’s the climax of the film, the pot that boils over, the match lighting the gasoline, and I was so tense I thought I was going to cry and then....I wasn’t. The balloon popped too early for me, the scene verged into something so over-the-top that I completely lost any sense of narrative tension for the rest of the movie. 

Which brings us to the ending, that shit-eating-grin-ain’t-i-a-stinker ending. If it undermines everything that came before it, I feel like well what was the point? And if it doesn’t, I feel like well what was the point? You can only play with ambiguity so much before the audience either gets bored or gets mad. Also, I’m gonna have a real hard fucking time if this movie that ends like an episode of Scooby Doo wins a Best Picture Oscar.

The performances are all top notch, but I found this a deeply unpleasant movie watching experience that feels like a very expensive meal at a fancy restaurant. The ingredients are all there, but throwing them all together in very small quantities and dressing them up with pretty garnishes doesn’t necessarily leave anyone feeling satisfied or full of anything but the potential for what could have been. 

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Charlie’s Angels (2019)

You may have heard some kerfuffle about this movie grossly underperforming at the box office, and writer/director/actor Elizabeth Banks blaming this on men not going to see female-led action movies and then men who DO go see female-led action movies firing back by saying this just didn’t look like a very GOOD female-led action movie. Blah blah blah outrage news cycle. I was already on board to see this from the moment I saw Kristen Stewart just like, existing (what? She’s like the patron saint of my people. I’m only a human queer woman, guys, I can’t help it). So was this an unfortunate “get woke, go broke” mess or an unfairly maligned feminist wave that we should all be riding? Well...

Eh, somewhere in the middle. There are certainly glimmers of brilliance that I appreciated and didn’t feel pandering, but felt more like moments that only happen in movies or television when someone new gets a seat at the table and is allowed to share their perspective. But this is no feminist war cry, a la Mad Max: Fury Road, and will go down in history as a fairly forgettable rehash of a story we’ve seen before.

Plot summary (not that you really need one) - Jane (Ella Balinska) and Sabina (Kristen Stewart) are both agents working for the Townsend Agency, a private group of lady spies who have all been brought together by the mysterious Charlie and who have handlers designated Bosley. One of the Bosleys, Patrick Stewart, is retiring, but is pulled back into the fold when a mole in the operation tries to sabotage the latest mission - protecting Elena (Naomi Scott), a whistleblower at a prominent energy company whose latest invention has the potential to be weaponized. Jane and Sabina are tasked with stealing the invention, protecting Elena, and figuring out who the mole is before it’s too late!  This is all basically an excuse for them to travel to exotic locales, wear lots of fabulous clothes and less fabulous wigs, and for queer women to lust after KStew being a winking club girl, a jockey, a tennis instructor, and an all-around disaster gay. 

Some thoughts:

I never saw the early 2000s movies (part 1 or 2) but they were very formative for me because I did a school presentation in 8th grade that was a song about the rock cycle set to the tune of Destiny’s Child’s “Independent Women Part 1″ so. That’s about as deep as my relationship to Charlie’s Angels goes. 

Maybe this is extremely petty of me, but Elena’s shitty boss, Peter Fleming, (Nat Faxon) has some of the worst teeth I’ve ever seen in a Hollywood movie. And I’m not saying that to be mean, just - I took a look at his IMDB, and he’s a character actor who’s done a lot of TV work, lots of comedy, lots of voice stuff. It looks like he’s been working steadily since 2002 at least, and I just...fix your teeth dude! I cannot even IMAGINE a world in which a woman in Hollywood could hope to get consistent, steady work with teeth like that. And that’s how you know the patriarchy is real, y’all.

Elena is so brave to be a whistleblower. The world needs more whistleblowers.

Everything KStew wears is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I think watching this movie might be the gayest 2 hours of my life, and I’m including the day I literally got married to a woman.

I can honestly say it made me emotional to see international deals being brokered not for guns or money, but for birth control pills and tampons. Just showing the importance of access to reproductive health care for women (and trans men and nb folks) is a detail I would never expect in a big budget action movie, and it was one of those moments that would never have occurred onscreen if this movie wasn’t written, produced, directed, and all around made by and for women. 

Jane having an emotional breakdown is so important. So frequently, women of color, especially black women, are portrayed as hard, unfeeling, and incapable of feeling pain in order to be perceived as Strong Female CharactersTM. But that feeds into a long and racist history of minimizing black people’s pain in order to excuse abusing and oppressing them. It’s not often that you get to see a black female character like Jane who is competent, smart, physically strong and intimidating, who is also allowed to be emotionally vulnerable and show real sadness and fear and intimacy. This moment honestly shocked me in the best way and was one of the biggest highlights of the film (and it’s another one I’m not sure would have existed without being a film created and executed by women). 

One of the highlights of the movie is the villains - each of them that get revealed are having a great deal of fun and brining a lot of life to their characters in different, unique ways. I have to say this is the most fun I’ve had watching bad guys be bad guys in recent memory.

In spite of the catastrophic Macguffin at the center of all the action, the final act feels underwhelming and like the stakes are very small. The script does everything it can to make the conflict feel personal, but I dunno, the entire final showdown just left me feeling a bit cold and distracted. 

Did I Cry? No, there’s not quite enough heart at the core of this to really tug on my easily activated cry reflex.

Overall, I’ve seen better and I’ve seen worse. The characters are fun and distinct, and the three main Angels are certainly having a rollicking good time, so that’s always fun to watch. But the script is kinda weak, and the jet-setting all feels rather ho-hum. If you prefer your badass lady spies WITHOUT a heaping helping of gross male gaze, this is certainly the right film for you! But when it comes to actually destroying the patriarchy, it all feels a little bubblegum to me. 

If you liked this review, please consider reblogging or subscribing to my Patreon! For as low as $1, you can access bonus content and movie reviews, or even request that I review any movie of your choice.

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Little Women (2019)

This was my 119th movie in 2019 - goal accomplished! And what a way to send off the year, with Greta Gerwig’s second film and her excellent follow-up to 2017’s Lady Bird. There have been something like seventeen adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women, so the question here is really, why is this version necessary when all these others exist? Well...

For one, because Gerwig’s script takes all the classic character archetypes and removes their sanctimonious preaching to replace it with nuance and care. She keeps all the same story beats from the original but there’s something magical about the way she imbues each sister with life and their own dreams. I was never a huge Little Women fan as a girl growing up, but if I had this version to latch onto, I think I would have been.

Some thoughts:

Our tone is set immediately by the publisher telling Jo that if the main character is a girl, she needs to be either married or dead by the end of the story - either one is fine, it’s all the same. 

At first I was a little off-put by the framing narrative and the jumping around in time, but as the film went on it became a more and more powerful tool. 

I think the reason I appreciate Gerwig’s care and distinct voice within this adaptation so much is because this is the first adaptation of Little Women that actually makes sense to me. Each of the March sisters have their own distinct personality and that really shines through here - even Beth gets to be a little bit more than just “the sick one.”

That being said, Emma Watson does not give off maternal vibes to me AT ALL as Meg. 

I think Jo and Laurie are the ultimate ship that never was. The combination of Saorsie Ronan and Timothee Chalamet and Greta Gerwig is so magical as to be intoxicating. I can rarely think of two people onscreen who have better chemistry than these two. 

The costumes are just INCREDIBLE. So rich and detailed and every single outfit is perfectly made for the character. I would kill to wear like 90% of these dresses.

There is one Very Good fluffy white dog that belongs to Aunt March (Meryl Streep). 

Speaking of, Meryl is obviously fantastic in this role,  but like you needed me to tell you that. Breaking News: Meryl Streep is good at acting! But she does inject some real pathos into what could otherwise just be a crotchety old woman. Frankly, I hate that Aunt March gets so much crap because she’s right, marriage is an economic proposition, and that message is not lost on Amy (Florence Pugh, who is having a HELL of a great year), who gives a big speech about it to Laurie. They’re not wrong, y’all, and I don’t think Aunt March should be so demonized because of it.

And in regards to Amy - the longest love letter I could write to this adaptation is on behalf of Amy. Normally it’s easy to hate Amy, but I honestly love her here? A big part of that is Florence Pugh just being a likeable performer, but her annoying little sister behavior feels real and not artificially annoying. Plus, this is the only time I’ve ever actually understood how she could possibly have ended up with Laurie. Basically, Amy really shines in this version and might be my favorite March sister....except for burning Jo’s manuscript. That’s literally unforgivable.

Timothee Chalamet is a surprisingly great physical comedian - he’s got a Buster Keaton kind of thing going on here. Damn that kid is talented, it just hardly seems fair that he’s so so good while he’s still this young. 

I don’t know why, but Wife and I both burst out laughing when we saw that Bob Odenkirk was playing their dad. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bob Odenkirk! But that casting felt very off to me.

Did I Cry? You know it, but you know what’s absolutely bonkers? I didn’t cry when Beth died! Not even a little! But the aftereffects that ripple outward from that really got me. Jo’s big speech from the trailer about women having minds and souls as well as just hearts was incredibly affecting, and once the crying started there it didn’t really stop. 

More than anything, I loved the ending and its ambiguous nature. This screenplay makes me want to kiss Greta Gerwig on the mouth and I’m not ashamed to say it. 

I’m gushing because I wanted it to be good and it’s so much better than good. I’ll never have kids, but I’m going to make damn sure all of my honorary nieces and nephews watch this film so they can have dreams of their own, whatever form those may take.

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My 119 in 2019 (goal achieved)

I did it! I achieved my goal of #119in2019 and I wanted to take this time to reflect on my cinematic journey over the past 365 days.

Here are the absolute worst films I saw this year in which I hated every second and wanted to die. These are in chronological order rather than rank but honestly I think everyone knows CATS was an unholy abomination that no mortal eyes should be forced to witness.

Green Book

The Prodigy

Ruben Brandt, Collector

The Beach Bum

Little

Ma

The Lion King

The Kitchen

Last Christmas

CATS

Here are my favorite/the best films I saw this year. I couldn’t stick to just 10! These ARE ranked, roughly, and usually are a combination of technically astonishing while also being entertaining, engaging, and rich in emotion and complexity. This year it was particularly about standout acting performances and incredible screenplays for me.

Parasite

Rocketman

The Farewell

Booksmart

Little Women

Honey Boy

They Shall Not Grow Old

John Wick 3

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood

Knives Out

Ready or Not

And here are the movies I thought I was gonna like only ok but actually loved beyond belief. They may not be the BEST, but they were among the most entertaining and endearing that I saw all year - the sleeper hits, if you will. Real salt of the earth stuff that you can happily spend a Saturday night with from Redbox. These are ranked in order of how surprised I was that I loved them this much.

Fighting With My Family

The Peanut Butter Falcon

Teen Spirit

Stan and Ollie

Captive State

Hail Satan?

The Current War Director’s Cut

Shazam!

Hustlers

The Dead Don’t Die

Long Shot

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Doctor Sleep

Ford v Ferrari

Blinded By The Light

And finally, here is the list of all 119 movies I viewed in theaters along with links to all the reviews I’ve published (I know I’m behind but let’s just say I’m happy to be showing 2019 the door and starting fresh in 2020). Thank you to everyone who read, followed, liked, reblogged, subscribed, or otherwise helped with this journey. I love you all - here’s to #120in2020!

Aquaman - seen 01/01/2019 with Owl Friend

Escape Room - seen 01/03/2019 with Wife

Vice - seen 01/05/2019 with Wife and Owl Friend

Second Act - seen 01/07/2019 with Wife

Bumblebee - seen 01/09/2019 with Sleepy Gay and Pug Girl

The Upside - seen 01/13/2019 with Wife

If Beale Street Could Talk - seen 01/13/2019 with Wife

Glass - seen 01/17/2019 with Wife, Sleepy Gay, Pug Girl, and Owl Friend

They Shall Not Grow Old - seen 01/21/2019 with Owl Friend

Green Book - seen 01/31/2019 solo

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part  - seen 02/09/2019 solo

What Men Want - seen 02/10/2019 with Sleepy Gay and Owl Friend

Miss Bala - seen 02/10/2019 with Sleepy Gay and Owl Friend

Happy Death Day 2U - seen 02/16/2019 with Wife, Pug Girl, Sleepy Gay, and Owl Friend

The Prodigy - seen 02/17/2019 with Wife, Owl Friend, and Sleepy Gay

Isn't It Romantic? - seen 02/17/2019 with Wife, Owl Friend, and Sleepy Gay

Stan and Ollie - seen 02/18/2019 with Owl Friend

Greta - seen 02/28/2019 with Wife

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - seen 03/03/2019 solo

Captain Marvel - seen 03/07/2019 with Wife, Pug Girl, The Photographer, Sleepy Gay, and Owl Friend

Apollo 11 - seen 03/13/2019 solo

Climax - seen 03/14/2019 with Wife

Five Feet Apart - seen 03/16/2019 with Wife

Captive State - seen 03/17/2019 with Sleepy Gay and Owl Friend

Fighting With My Family - seen 03/17/2019 with Sleepy Gay and Owl Friend

Us - seen 03/21/2019 with Wife and Sleepy Gay

Ruben Brandt, Collector - seen 03/22/2019 with Mom

Gloria Bell - seen 03/24/2019 with Mom, Dad, Aunt, and Uncle

Cruel Intentions - seen 03/30/2019 with Wife

Dumbo - seen 04/01/2019 solo

Pet Sematary - seen 04/04/2019 with Wife

Shazam! - seen 04/07/2019 with Owl Friend and Sleepy Gay

The Best of Enemies - seen o4/09/2019 with Wife

The Beach Bum - seen 04/11/2019 with Wife

Little - seen 04/13/2019 with Wife

Hellboy - seen 04/15/2019 with Sleepy Gay

After - seen 04/20/2019 with Owl Friend

Amazing Grace - seen 04/20/2019

Teen Spirit - seen 04/21/2019 with Wife

Avengers Endgame - seen 04/25/2019 with Wife, Pug Girl, The Photographer, Owl Friend, Sleepy Gay, The Writer, and the AMC Queen

Wild Nights with Emily - seen 04/27/2019 with Wife and Mother-In-Law

The Curse of La Llorona - seen 04/27/2019 with Wife and Wife BFF

The Intruder - seen 05/13/2019 with Wife

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu - seen 05/16/2019 with Wife

Poms - seen 05/18/2019 solo

The Sun is Also a Star - seen 05/18/2019 with Wife

John Wick 3 - seen 05/20/2019 with Pug Girl

Hail Satan? - seen 05/22/2019 with Wife

Brightburn - seen 05/24/2019 with Wife

Booksmart - seen 05/26/2019 with Wife, Pug Girl, The Photographer, Sleepy Gay, Owl Friend, The Reader, and The Lawyer

Long Shot - seen 05/28/2019 with Wife

Rocketetman - seen 05/31/2019 with Pug Girl, Sleepy Gay, and Owl Friend

Ma - seen 06/01/2019 with Wife

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - seen 06/02/2019 with Sleepy Gay

The Secret Life of Pets 2 - seen 06/08/2019 solo

Dark Phoenix - seen 06/09/2019 with Sleepy Gay and Pug Girl

Men in Black International - seen 06/15/2019 with Wife, Mom, and Dad

Aladdin (2019) - seen 06/19/2019 with The Reader

Child's Play (2019) - seen 06/20/2019 with Wife

Toy Story 4 - seen 06/21/2019 with Wife, Sleepy Gay, and Owl Friend

The Dead Don't Die - seen 06/22/2019 with Wife and Sleepy Gay

Shaft (2019) - seen 06/23/2019 solo

Late Night - seen 06/24/2019 with Wife

Annabelle Comes Home - seen 06/27/2019

Yesterday - seen 06/29/2019

Spider-Man: Far From Home - seen 07/02/2019 with Wife, Mom, and Dad

Midsommar - seen 07/04/2019 with Wife and Wedding Planner

Crawl - seen 07/11/2019 with Wife

Stuber - seen 07/14/2019 with Sleepy Gay and Pug Girl

The Art of Self Defense - seen 07/20/2019 with Wife

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood - seen 07/26/2019 with Wife and Sleepy Gay

The Lion King (2019) - seen 07/31/2019 with Pug Girl

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw - seen 08/04/2019 with Sleepy Gay

The Farewell - seen 08/04/2019 with Wife

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - seen 08/08/2019 with Wife

The Kitchen - seen 08/12/2019 with Owl Friend

Them That Follow - seen 08/13/2019 with Wife

Blinded by the Light - seen 08/16/2019 with Wife

Good Boys - seen 08/17/2019 with Wife

Ready or Not - seen 08/21/2019 with Wife

47 Meters Down: Uncaged - seen 08/31/2019 with The Scribe

IT Chapter Two - seen 09/06/2019 with Wife

Brittany Runs a Marathon - seen 09/16/2019 with The Reader

Hustlers - seen 09/18/2019 with Wife, Owl Friend, Sleepy Gay, and The Scribe

Ad Astra - seen 09/23/2019 with Pug Girl

Judy - seen 09/26/2019 with Wife

The Goldfinch - seen 09/28/2019 solo

Dora and the Lost City of Gold - seen 10/01/2019 solo

The Peanut Butter Falcon - seen 10/05/2019 with Wife

Joker - seen 10/10/2019 with The Writer

The Addams Family (2019) - seen 10/13/2019 with Wife

Gemini Man - seen 10/15/2019 with Pug Girl

Zombieland: Double Tap - seen 10/17/2019 with Pug Girl, Owl Friend, and Sleepy Gay

Jexi - seen 10/18/2019 with Wife

Abominable - seen 10/20/2019 solo

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil - seen 10/25/2019 with Mom and Dad

Countdown - seen 10/28/2019 with Wife and Sleepy Gay

Jesus is King - seen 10/29/2019 solo

The Current War Director's Cut - seen 10/29/2019 solo

Parasite - seen 11/01/2019 with Wife

The Lighthouse - seen 11/02/2019 with Wife

Doctor Sleep - seen 11/07/2019 with Wife and Pug Girl

JoJo Rabbit - seen 11/10/2019 solo

Last Christmas - seen 11/11/2019 with Wife

Ford v Ferrari - seen 11/16/2019 solo

The Good Liar - seen 11/16/2019 with Wife

Frozen 2 - seen 11/21/2019 with Wife

Charlie's Angels (2019) - seen 11/24/2019 solo

Knives Out - seen 11/27/2019 with Wife

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - seen 12/01/2019 with Wife

Dark Waters - seen 12/10/2019 with Sleepy Gay and Owl Friend

Honey Boy - seen 12/11/2019 with Wife

Black Christmas (2019) - seen 12/12/2019 with Wife

Jumanji: The Next Level - seen 12/13/2019 with Wife

21 Bridges - seen 12/14/2019 with Mom and Dad

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - seen 12/19/2019 solo

Bombshell - seen 12/21/2019 with Dad and Uncle

CATS - seen 12/22/2019 with Wife

Uncut Gems - seen 12/24/2019 with Wife and Mom (GOAL ACHIEVED)

Little Women (2019) - seen 12/25/2019 with Wife and Mom

Patreon Exclusive #1 - Mandy - seen 02/18/2019, reviewed for Wes

Patreon Exclusive #2 - Roma - seen 02/22/2019

Patreon Exclusive #3 - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - seen 06/08/2019, reviewed for Wes

Patreon Exclusive #4 - Sophie's Choice - seen 06/09/2019, reviewed for Chad

Patreon Exclusive #5 - Grey Gardens - seen 06/30/2019, reviewed for Chad

Patreon Exclusive #6 - Love Story - seen 08/26/2019, reviewed for Chad

Patreon Exclusive #7 - Brand on the Brain! - seen 09/30/2019, reviewed for Chad

Patreon Exclusive #8 - Cruising - seen 10/20/2019, reviewed for Chad

Patreon Exlusive #9 - Enter the Void - seen 11/26/2019, reviewed for Chad

Patreon Exclusive #10 - Annie (1982) - seen 12/5/2019, reviewed for Jess

Patreon Exclusive #11 - The Christmas Shoes - seen 12/20/2019, reviewed for Chad

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Hail Satan?

Remember when I said I was behind on reviews? Ok, so I saw this on my birthday back in May. But given the spirit of the Halloween season, it felt appropriate to release this review now. In case you’re wondering, no, I would not normally have picked a documentary about Satanists to celebrate the day of my birth (although we did get free popcorn, so that made it more festive). Director Penny Lane made this film in an attempt to illuminate the inner workings of the organization The Satanic Temple, and the film contains interviews with many members of TST like Lucien Greaves, as well as former members like Jex Blackmore who feel TST doesn’t act radically enough to fulfill its goals. If you’re anything like me, you might be thinking that sounds a little intense and what exactly are TST’s goals anyway? *gulps nervously* Well...

Namely, the separation of church and state, egalitarianism, and social justice. Basically this film gives you a crash course in the 6-year-old religion (yes, it is registered with the government as an official religion), The Satanic Temple, and the ways in which it uses its status as a religious body to call out hypocrisy and unconstitutional privileging of one religion (*cough*YOU KNOW WHICH RELIGION*cough*) over others in these our United States. Oh, and they’re not big on like, literal Satan. They don’t worship a former angel called the Morning Star OR a red guy with horns or anything like that. It’s all about the literary Satan as a metaphor for rebellion against tyranny. Because there’s so much of a learning curve for most people watching the documentary, Lane spends a lot of it explaining what TST isn’t before she’s able to dig into what it is. I think this is necessary, but sometimes it feels like the thread of TST’s message gets lost a bit.

Some thoughts:

First and foremost, the documentary doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. On the one hand it seems to be treating the subject matter extremely tongue-in-cheek or maybe even slightly mocking (think Toddlers and Tiaras) but then it engages with a lot of the issues that The Satanic Temple stands for in a thoughtful, insightful way. There’s certainly a shift that takes place from the beginning to the end of the film, and in some ways the ambivalence fits. You’re never 100% sure what to make of Lucien Greaves or his band of merry mischief-makers. This is probably because The Satanic Temple, like any other religious organization, acts as an umbrella that welcomes a whole host of people who may be drawn to different aspects of the organization’s mission. 

The music cues are a big part of what makes the tone feel slippery - they mostly act as aural cues signaling that this is all satire or maybe Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Fun fact - TST’s Satanism is NOT the same as Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, which was started in the 60s but is not political and is mostly just about rationality but also magic? They also believe in the metaphorical Satan as a symbol of rebellion but their whole vibe is pretty different.

Probably the most surprising and interesting concept of TST to me is the belief that because Satan confronted God as an oppressor, activism therefore expresses the Satanic faith. If you’re not participating in political activism to demand social justice and equality, you’re not being a good Satanist. 

“I was a zesty little atheist” is definitely my favorite line. 

Lane made the film as a response to most people’s perception of Satanism that rose out of the Satanic Panic of the 80s/90s. TST feels there has never been a public reckoning or apology for the way Satanists were portrayed and demonized during this time - all the while, this projection of horrifying sins like child sexual abuse and violence has been buried in Christian churches for centuries.

Some people might ask, so if they’re not down with God or a higher power of any kind, why not just be an atheist? But as one of the church members says, “Atheism is just defining what you’re not.” These are folks who want to be a part of a humanist movement, who want to engage in human connection and make their community and society a better place. It’s hard not to respect that!

One of the biggest sections of the documentary centers around TST’s fight to remove 10 Commandments statues that were erected outside of a couple of states’ Capitol buildings on the grounds that it was a violation of the 1st Amendment. You probably recall that their solution was to simply erect a giant statue of their main man Baphomet (see the movie poster above) with two little children flanking him right next to the 10 Commandments statues. Because that’s equality! Their legal fight for religious freedom and equality actually succeeded in Oklahoma and the fight is ongoing in Arkansas. But the part that really blew my mind was that Cecil B Demille promoted these specific 10 Commandments monuments in connection with the promotion of the Ten Commandments movie, which I did not know and just..........if that isn’t the most American thing I’ve ever heard. Government-sanctioned religious practice based on a Hollywood-based promotion to ensure a movie makes as much money as possible. 

Lucien Greaves’ phone case says “Fuck Donald Trump” and that just made me really happy.

The film isn’t without cause for criticism though - Lane purposefully avoided showcasing some criticism from external factions of Satanists of TST’s goals and methods, or much turmoil within the church itself. The most that’s discussed is about the Detroit chapter’s split from the church as a whole - Jex Blackmore, the Detroit chapter’s leader, is portrayed as a rogue agent because she incited violence at a church gathering by saying “execute the President.” Jex gets her fair share of screen time, but the film doesn’t quite commit to interrogating or investigating the criticisms of TST, valid or not. 

Did I Cry? No, but boy did I learn a lot.

This is a pretty engaging, eye-opening film, and it’s more educational than I was expecting. I’d encourage everyone to watch it simply to learn more about The Satanic Temple and their values, which include compassion, justice, bodily autonomy, scientific accountability, and freedom. Turns out, more of us are probably Satanists than we thought. 

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Us

The first horror movie most of us see is a mirror. A you that is not you is staring back...and those of us who played Bloody Mary as kids know that sometimes, if you concentrate hard enough, that you that’s not you almost looks like they’re moving independently. It’s just a trick of the light, the mind. But what if it wasn’t? What if the you that’s not you managed to break free? That’s the question writer-director Jordan Peele asks in his follow up to the game changing Get Out. This time, it’s Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke caught in the center of Peele’s web, where there seems to be hidden nightmares just behind every wall and window in sunny Santa Cruz on a family vacation that takes a turn. Peele’s working under an enormous amount of pressure to create something even remotely as remarkable as Get Out, so the real question is does he manage to meet such mighty expectations? Well...

Not every film can be the mind-expanding commentary on racial tension in post-Obama America that Get Out was - so even though Us isn’t going to be the most talked-about movie of the year, it still packs plenty of punch, and the audience gets the treat of seeing Peele’s directorial style begin to take shape into something unique and almost magical. I’ll try to avoid spoilers because this is a movie that deserves to be seen with an open mind and heart - much of the joy of Peele’s writing is slowly unraveling the unnerving mystery at the heart of whatever fucked up thing is going on. In this case, it’s the story of the Wilson family - mom Adelaide (Nyong’o), dad Gabe (Duke), daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph), and son Jason (Evan Alex). They’re at the family beach house where Adelaide experienced a childhood trauma, getting lost inside a funhouse down at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. When she emerged from the fun house, she stopped speaking for an indeterminate amount of time due to her PTSD. As that long ago trauma begins to resurface, adult Adelaide is snappish and on edge with her family until her worst fears come true - someone is trying to get into their house. And those someones look exactly like each member of the family.

Some thoughts:

I love the VHS covers surrounding the TV that young Adelaide (Madison Curry) is watching. The ones I caught were C.H.U.D, The Right Stuff, The Goonies, Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Man With Two Brains. Some excellent clues right from the get go about where Peele is getting his influences.

Visually, the film is a treat. I can’t wait to go back and rewatch it to look for all the instances of mirrors and reflections sprinkled throughout. The framing, the staging, the lighting - Peele is a master of building tension, allowing the camera to linger slooooowly up the side of a car when we KNOW someone is going to be looking back at us through the window, or placing two equally focused Lupita Nyong’os in the foreground and background of a long monologue. Not to mention how many scenes are, frankly, bright for a horror movie. Scenes on the beach, in the middle of the day, or in a brightly lit house - it would be easy to rob all the tension once we’re back in the light, but the uncanny, unnerving staging of these scenes lends a sense of terrifying truth-is-stranger-than-fiction gut reactions. 

Whistling is just the scariest sound in the world.

Lupita carries a great deal of the film, and the difference between Adelaide and her double, Red, is astonishing. The way her body moves as Red is almost alien, and the dynamic between Adelaide and her family is subtly perfect, especially in light of the film’s ending. Truly a masterful performance.

Winston Duke and Elisabeth Moss are tied for runner up as the most delightful to watch. Duke is going peak dad, complete with bad puns and college sweatshirt, and it’s just a joy. Moss, as a boozy neighbor to the Wilsons, is bitterly hilarious, but her double is really the shining performance in terms of pure creepiness. 

The “twist,” if you want to call it that, is easily guessed, but that doesn’t make it less interesting. I know Peele is a purposeful writer and director, and I’m curious about all the metaphors and small details I might have missed especially concerning the twist. I will be eagerly devouring articles about this movie probably for the next few weeks.

Like, I’m wondering about the rabbits. They kept making me think of a magician - when he pulls the rabbit out of the hat, he doesn’t conjure the rabbit out of nothing. The rabbit exists, just beyond our perception, until it’s revealed. But I’m sure there’s more to it than that!

I enjoyed the retro Twilight Zone vibe a great deal - it’s all Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets The Strangers meets a zombie apocalypse. Tense, terrific fun that has you looking in the dark for shadows that may or may not be moving. 

This is a tense, fun, engaging movie that focuses more on the classic beats of the horror genre than the twisty, genre-bending Get Out. For fans of Peele’s work and smart horror in general, this is a more than worthy follow-up, even if it is lighter on the sociopolitical themes that made Get Out such a powerhouse. 

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Knives Out

I’ve been vibrating with anticipation from the moment I saw the first trailer for Knives Out, a star-studded classic whodunnit from Rian Johnson. The premise is simple - Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer in peak jovial grandpa mode) has made his fortune writing murder mystery novels that the world loves, and is the patriarch of a sniping, backbiting family who all feel entitled to a piece of that fortune. The morning after Harlan’s 85th birthday party, he is found dead in an apparent suicide - but his nurse and best friend Marta (Ana de Armas, who steals the show) knows there is more to the story. A private investigator named Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has been hired to unravel the mystery of the case, and in the course of his investigation he discovers that everyone in the family is a suspect.

 I love a good murder mystery, and this one had lots of elements that looked like they would add up to a rollicking good time - Chris Evans playing against type as a trust fund asshole; Daniel Craig doing his best Belles, Bourbon, and Bullets murder mystery dinner theater accent; two massive and Very Good German Shepherds; and more twists and turns than a pretzel on a rollercoaster. Plus there’s that thing where it has a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 94% audience rating. All that adds up to some sky-high expectations for this pulpy mystery to give you a couple of hours of respite from your most aggravating relatives over a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Does it actually deliver on what it promises? Well...

This is one of the rare cases this year where my expectations were this high and were still exceeded. Johnson’s script is tight, the actors are all having the time of their lives, and the mystery is clever and even manages to retain a sense of real human emotion and tragedy at its core. Do not miss out on the chance to see this one in theaters with a live audience that gasps and laughs and, like my theater, even applauds when it’s all over. 

Some thoughts:

So often the victim at the center of a murder mystery is just a means to an end, or an asshole that you don’t really feel that sad about. But one of the best decisions made in this script is to make Harlan feel like a real person with real relationships. His friendship with Marta is sweet and feels like it’s built on genuine respect and love. In spite of their age difference, you feel a true kinship between them - the rest of the family goes on and on about how they consider Marta family and will “take care of her” with Harlan’s money, but Harlan is the only one who treats her like a real person. You feel his loss acutely at the center of the film, and it makes solving the mystery feel all the more urgent.

That being said, Harlan’s sense of decor in the house is fucking terrifying, all these dolls and figurines are made of straight up nightmares.

Ana de Armas is really the center of the whole film, and her performance here is off-the-charts. She’s vulnerable, earnest, conniving, put-upon, terrified, and resolute in equal measure, and just a real delight to watch onscreen. And her character’s incredible plot device of never being able to tell a lie without puking is inspired. 

Keep that in mind - if you are sensitive to vomit, please be warned there is quite a bit of it in the film and it can get REALLY gross in places.

Marta’s other main purpose is to act as a counterpoint to all the WASPy awfulness of this rich, entitled family. If you have to spend any time around racist relatives this holiday weekend (and I specifically mean the casual microaggression type of racism) you’ll definitely empathize with Marta as each member of the Thrombey family says some variation of “You’re from ___, right?” and lists a different country.

The film’s greatest asset is the cast - you don’t get better ensembles than this. Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Riki Lindhome, and Toni Collette are the adult generation, squabbling over their pieces of the Thrombey publishing empire and shit-talking each other’s kids. Then there’s Chris Evans, Jaeden Martell, and Katherine Langford as the younger generation, each their own brand of insufferable - one’s a trust fund layabout in a Beemer, one’s an alt-right prep school punk, and one’s a bra-burning Sarah Lawrence peak white feminist. Each and every one of these actors is given a distinct, interesting piece of the mystery to sink their teeth into, and each character brings something new and different to the table. The first sequence of questioning from Blanc feels like a ballet, with each character lying and flashbacks revealing the truth in an elegant, twisting dance. The sum is so much greater than the parts, and it helps that everyone looks like they’re really having fun. 

None more so than Chris Evans though, who doesn’t show up until about 45 minutes in, but when he does, things really kick into high gear. His delivery of scathing sarcastic retorts is downright gleeful, and I would like to petition the universe to always ensure that he is wearing this kind of New England chic with thick wooly sweaters and camel driving coats and intricately patterned scarves. That’s one Boston boy who can wear the HELL out of a cable knit, and it’s a joy (for many reasons) to watch.

Even with a cast this great, the movie only works because the script is tight and the mystery is interesting. There are lots of fun little call-backs and payoffs to earlier lines - this is one of the few movies this year I actually want to go see twice in the theaters just to catch things that I may have missed the first time. 

Did I Cry? I did not, but I felt a definite sadness every time Marta looked at the large portrait of Harlan, because I could feel her missing him. 

This movie is seriously a goddamn delight. Go see it immediately and just let yourself be taken on the ride - there are few films this year I’ve flat-out enjoyed more.

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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

First thing’s first - this is not a movie about Mister Rogers. It’s also not not a movie about Mister Rogers. Let me back up.

If you’re looking for a movie about the life and philosophy of Fred Rogers, I would recommend last year’s phenomenal documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? full of archival footage and interviews with Rogers’ loved ones and coworkers and those whose lives were touched by him. But A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is more about the Mister Rogers effect - what it looks like when that brilliant, blinding empathy and compassion is focused on you. So does this bait and switch actually tell us anything new about Mister Rogers or his legacy? Does it give us anything we couldn’t glean simply from visiting Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood? Well...

I’m not sure. In many ways, this feels like a blander, less introspective version of the documentary. But in terms of narrative, it’s a striking one about the power of empathy and compassion in a cynical world.

The movie is based on a true story, stemming from Tom Junod’s 1998 profile of Fred Rogers published in Esquire magazine when print journalism still did things like pay people to write 10,000 word profiles of important figures. The original article is worth a read, but for the purposes of the movie, a lot of narrative has been invented or maybe extrapolated (I don’t know Tom Junod’s life). The film  is framed as an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood about Mister Rogers’ new friend, Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys). Lloyd is a journalist writing a profile about Mister Rogers. He’s a new father, and he has immense daddy issues with his own alcoholic father (Chris Cooper). Gradually, he and Mister Rogers become friends. That’s it - that’s the whole movie. 

Some thoughts:

Obviously, the first thing everyone is thinking about regarding this movie is Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers. Is it even possible for someone so iconic in his own right to play a fellow icon? I can report that T-Hanks never disappeared into the role for me - it was always incredibly obvious that I was not watching Mister Rogers, but Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers. He is speaking purposefully and gently and kindly, but it just sounds like Tom Hanks being purposeful, gentle, and kind. That may be distracting to some folks. However, for me and Wife, it works perfectly because Tom Hanks is the only person in the world who I react to in a similar way to the way I react to Mister Rogers. No one else could have played the role, in my opinion.

The 1998 setting is executed pretty perfectly, particularly in some 1998 wedding fashion that really took my breath away. The little lace arm warmer things! Wowie wow.

Also you know it’s 1998 because a print journalist can support a wife and a kid as the sole breadwinner and afford a primo NYC apartment. So good job really building the setting, guys!

It’s fascinating (and a little disheartening) to see the way in which other adults have such a hard time dealing with Mister Rogers. He’s like an alien because he is so slow and kind and patient, and grown-ups don’t know what to do with that. It’s fundamentally incompatible with capitalism, the world of business, and particularly show business. 

My favorite line comes from Fred Rogers’ wife, Joanne (Maryann Plunkett) who says that she doesn’t like to use the world “saint” to describe Fred because that implies what he does is unattainable, when in fact he works incredibly hard to attain it - to just be Mister Rogers - every single day.

Maybe it’s just me and my debilitating fear of puppets (King Friday especially) but the dream sequences Lloyd has in which he’s trapped in the middle of a taping of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood are frankly terrifying.

Because the movie is framed as an episode of the show, there are lots of transition scenes involving miniatures of New York City and Pittsburgh, PA. The miniature work is so nostalgic and charming, and lends a nice sense of childlike wonder.

Fun facts: Fred Rogers’ widow, Joanne, appears as an extra during the Chinese restaurant scene. So does the actor who played Mr. McFeely (David Newell). Also Joanne acted as an extensive consultant on the film and stated that Tom Hanks was the only person who could have played her late husband. She even gave him a number of Mister Rogers’ neckties to wear in the film. 

Did I Cry? Literally every single time Tom Hanks was onscreen playing Mr. Rogers, I cried. It was Pavlovian. There is a scene of intense fourth-wall breaking that made me blubber like a tiny baby. 

When people are treated with unrelenting compassion, empathy, and grace, the effects are profound. Lloyd’s slow transformation over the course of the film is easy to understand in the face of such consistent, purposeful goodness. This film makes it look effortless (even while acknowledging that it IS work), but with Marielle Heller’s incredible direction and Tom Hanks’ earnest performance, it feels like a butterfly creating a hurricane. The smallest actions can have the most radical effects - imagine the radical change you could enact, we could all enact, if we were as empathetic and patient as Mister Rogers with everyone, including ourselves. 

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