My theater had an issue with it and had to cancel the showing so went over to another one for the wild robot…sad
Bummer, but there are definitely worse fates than being diverted to The Wild Robot. Hope you liked that one.
We Live in Time (2024)
I had been pretty non-plussed by the trailer for this one; “looks like a replacement-level cancer movie” (not a spoiler, beyond just the trailer it’s also in the text of the movie within about the first five minutes) became my go-to thought when I would encounter the movie in discussions. However, I do very much like both Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, and when the reviews came in surprisingly strong, I knew it at least deserved for me to give it a shot. Still, I’m the cynical sort, so I went in with a mental framework on the order of: “are they just throwing two hot and charismatic stars at a very basic tragic circumstance and hoping that’s enough, or is there a unique point to this otherwise?” The bad news is that it’s the former. The good news is that I probably sold short just how solid that outcome could still be, because this was a very worthwhile viewing.
Beyond being really high-level talents on their own, Garfield and Pugh have electric chemistry throughout this film. You believe in every dynamic of their relationship instantly. And every time they’re asked on to deliver an emotional moment, they sell the hell out of it. Where I expected this movie to aggressively slap tears out of the audience, I really didn’t cry too much. Basically, for me anyway, it amounted to a stray tear here or there, and even at that there was a mix of those tears showing up in both happy and sad moments. It’s not THAT much of a tearjerker, all things considered.
It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but if you’re ready to endure some emotions it’s well worth your while. Firmly in the upper half of the theatrical releases I’ve seen in 2024.
3.5/5
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Wild robot was fine, nothing special imo
Woman of the Hour (2024)
So, you know how basically every Anna Kendrick movie since Pitch Perfect falls under “almost works” or “barely works”? Basically the acting equivalent of the George Clooney directorial career. Well…I’d say that pattern remained consistent here in this starring role that also doubled as her directorial debut. It is slow getting in; the groundwork it lays isn’t particularly interesting or especially well done. However, the major scenes that this movie hangs its hat on absolutely work, and will give me enough positive memories from the movie overall to hold it in decent regard.
I think the proper ending scene of this movie absolutely works. This is “abundance of caution” spoiler-tagging, you’re probably fine to click: as you will frequently see in based-on-a-true-story films, it gives text that speaks to the aftermath of the movie’s ending, which at first seemed fine. And then it kept going. And then I found myself going, “Well geez, this stuff is so interesting that maybe they should have made a movie about all of this.” Gave off big impressions of the movie being ruthlessly cut down to keep the story in a narrower window than perhaps it deserved. I don’t know. That was bittersweet.
Still, on balance this lands in the positive. Glad I watched. It’s on Netflix now.
3/5
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Glad I watched this too.
At first I was very hooked and impressed. The opening is great and the pacing seemed perfect. There are several directing and editing decisions that had me thinking this would be at least a 4/5. But there’s ultimately not a big enough culmination of events, and the final scene resolves everything without a sense of climax. I get the sense that this would have been better if they’d taken more dramatic license to make the whole thing take place during the episode of the Dating Game.
3/5
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From a directing standpoint, I did very much like the shot from through the transparent roof while a murder happened, complete with loud ambient sound that drowned out a heinous act of violence going down.
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That’s a good one.
I also liked the shot that kept pulling back as it transitioned between three different locations.
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It is a beautiful film.
Susperia (1977): I don’t even know how to begin to describe this one, completely bonkers, wildly colorful. I need to watch more Argento movies, this dude has an amazing style and he gives zero fucks.
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Have you seen Tenebrae?
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Was able to catch this last night, thought it was really good, 4 or 4.5
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No, I want to catch Inferno next and then I’ll check that one out.
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MaXXXine is streaming on Max
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This provides a great opportunity for people to fire that movie up, and then two hours later say, “Oh.”
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I was going to ask, is it any good …
Your mileage may vary, but I think it was clearly the weakest installment of the Maxine trilogy and the only one of the three that I considered to be a full-on below-average movie. It has a good trailer; I thought that transplanting Maxine into what basically appeared to be a GTA: Vice City world was potentially a perfect fit. But then I sat through the movie.
But sometimes I rip on movies that other people here like, so don’t take my word for it.
I thought it was fine, entertaining enough