Frozen II, 01 January 2020, Regal Riverside 16
I have serious concerns about the line of succession in Arendelle.
The Report, 02 January 2020, streamed via Amazon Prime
Okay, guys, like, I think I might like Adam Driver now. How did he make Google searches look intense?
Paddington 2, 03 January 2020, streamed via HBO Now
A movie this perfect should not exist. Also, possibly the best acting Hugh Grant has ever done?
Elektra, 04 January 2020, streamed via HBO Now
I had no idea Will Yun Lee was in this! Egads! Anyway, this movie isn’t great, but Jennifer Garner sure throws herself into it.
Marriage Story, 09 January 2020, streamed via Netflix
Laura Dern always looks like she's twenty-seven feet of legs. Anyway, this is 100% one of those scripts that reads like the writer(s) wrote it for theatre first: all expository monologues punctuated with flashes of absurd reality. (I know it was written as a movie, but the feel is pretty distinct.) It is so theatre-y it makes me want to take up stage managing again.
Abominable, 10 January 2020, Blu-ray via Redbox
This is just such a lovely movie--and kind of a nice break from the usual, “Girl feels isolated, girl finds monster, girl helps monster accept itself.” There’s friendship! There’s silliness! There’s gorgeous magical things, and also a critique of capitalism! <3
Away We Go, 10 January 2020, DVD via Netflix
This movie kind of resisted engagement at the beginning, but by the time they got to Montreal, I was pretty into it. Also, Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski, y’all.
Missing Link, 11 January 2020, DVD via Redbox
Holy crap, this was a STOP-MOTION movie? That’s kind of staggering--it’s bright and goofy enough that I totally assumed it was the usual CGI.
Gemini Man, 15 January 2020, Blu-ray via Redbox
I prefer Will Smith to pretty much every marquee dude out there, but didn’t Bruce Willis already do this story? I mean, essentially.
The Lion King (2019), 15 January 2020, Blu-ray via Redbox
I mean, this is gorgeous, but why does it exist?
The Lighthouse (2019), 16 January 2020, DVD via Redbox
Real talk: Though I have no beef with the actors, I was 0% interested in #TheLighthouse. It got an Oscar nom for cinematography, though, so I legit watched it with the volume turned WAY down. And it IS well shot, but so much of the imagery is claustrophobic and gross (purposefully), I kind of wish it wasn’t so clear? Anyway, Willem Dafoe is perhaps his Willem Dafoe-iest when filmed in black and white, isn’t he? Sparkly Cedric (I forgot this dude’s name and decided not to look it up) seems to be doing a passable job, but his movie mustache makes him look like he’s an old-timey villain that ties ladies to train tracks.
Knives Out, 17 January 2020, UA Breckenridge 12
I feel like #KnivesOut was specifically constructed to satisfy my inner Chekhov. Seriously, like, every single supposedly offhand remark paid off, as far as I could see.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, 18 January 2020, Hot Springs 8 VIP Cinema
#StarWars IX is some beautiful, beautiful trash that I've decided I will not closely consider for a very long time.
1917, 18 January 2020, Hot Springs 8 VIP Cinema
#1917 is pure, delicious camera flex, and also the most stressful two hours any moviegoer could endure.
Little Women, 19 January 2020, AMC Central City Classic 10
Congratulations to Greta Gerwig for somehow getting Chalamet to mostly sound like he doesn't his spend free time tossing off in an opium haze. ALSO, dang, this was so well done. #LittleWomen 2019 is the closest I've ever been to believing that Friedrich is a legit match for Jo.
The Irishman, 20 January 2020, Streamed via Netflix
Why is this movie 3½ hours long? And seriously, though obviously the movie is remarkably well done, it’s not like the world needed another deep dive into the relationship between the mafia and American labor unions a few decades ago. THAT SAID, yeah, the interplay between Frank and Hoffa is fascinating, and the last hour is pretty great. It just takes forever to get there.
Pain and Glory (Dolor y Gloria), 21 January 2020, DVD via Redbox
Man, maybe my memory is faulty, but grizzled Antonio Banderas is waaaay more interesting than polished young Antonio Banderas. And in an awesome rabbit hole, parts of the film are an actor monologuing from the protag’s memoirs, and the protag is actually a stand-in for the Almodovar, the writer/director, HOW DEEP COULD THIS GO. Spoilers: The flashbacks are a movie the protag wrote! Y’ALL.
Star Trek VIII: First Contact, 24 January 2020, streamed via CBS All Access
So I decided to go on a Borg backstory binge to prep for the new Picard series, and here we are. And lemme tell you, after the Locutus of Borg thing was only two darn episodes, I was THRILLED to see it come up again.
Star Trek: Nemesis, 25 January 2020, streamed via Crackle
Holy crap, the Picard clone is TOM HARDY?!
Parasite, 28 January 2020, streamed via Amazon
About an hour and a half into the movie, I paused to spoil myself so that I could avoid the gory stuff. But up until that point, it’s pretty amazing. I legit want all the fanfic about Ki-jung because I may love her. And kind of SPOILERy thing about #Parasite for horror lightweights like me: The real gore happens the day after the basement flood.
On to February and the Oscar scramble!
1 comment:
we just watched The Lighthouse from redbox last night. I co-sign your review entirely. the mix between mundane life-on-a-rock and intense interpersonal drama stuff was sorta interesting. but yeah. mainly a meh narrative.
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