What Men Want (2019)

Despite dismal reviews Jack and I didn't hate this silly story of a woman who can suddenly read men's minds, using it to help her career in her male-dominated sports agency workplace. It's a remake of What Women Want (2000).

Taraji P. Henson (last blogged for Hidden Figures) and singer Erykah Badu (she does not sing in this movie as far as I remember) head the huge cast as Ali and the voodoo queen Sister, respectively. Badu is very funny, verbally and visually--maybe the best thing in the movie. Props to Josh Brener (with 42 acting credits he's best known to me as Big Head on 46 episodes of Silicon Valley) as Ali's assistant and confidant. Tracy Morgan (most recently in these pages for Top Five) has some funny bits as the father of a top athlete, and iconic actor Richard Roundtree (John Shaft in Shaft (1971) and all its sequels, among 152 credits, including a new Shaft (2019)) is Ali's understanding father.

Adam Shankman (helmed Rock of Ages) directs from a script co-written by Tina Gordon (co-wrote Drumline (2002)), Peter Huyck, and Alex Gregory (this is Huyuck and Gregory's second feature but they've written lots of TV including 146 episodes of Late Show with David Letterman 1996-97). The story is credited to Gordon and Jas Waters (staff writer on This Is Us).

I'm enjoying the peppy score by Brian Tyler (scored Crazy Rich Asians) and you can, too, on Apple Music or Spotify. A few other songs are listed here.

Dismal, I tell ya. Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 45%, hate it even less than its audiences at 36. Should you want to stream it, it'll be available in May 2019.

Wildlife (2018)

Jack and I didn't love this Spirit Award nominated movie about an unhappy 1950's couple from the point of view of their teenage son, even though we agreed that Carey Mulligan's (last blogged for Mudbound) performance is noteworthy and the cinematography is beautiful. It's just that their discord and, especially, bad parenting bothered us. When those things are shown with humor we're almost always fine with it, but there are no intentional laughs in this picture. Jake Gyllenhaal (most recently in these pages for Okja) is reliably good as the husband and so is Ed Oxenbould as their son.

Paul Dano, making his directing debut, co-wrote the script with his domestic partner Zoe Kazan (most recently in these pages for writing Ruby Sparks, her screenwriting debut), adapted from the 1990 novel by Richard Ford.

I can't find online the soundtrack by composer David Lang (he scored Youth, in which Dano played a part).

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, perhaps less sensitive, are in opposition to us, averaging 94%, and their audience average is 73%. We streamed it about two weeks ago on Amazon Prime.

The Upside (2017)

Jack and I liked this remake of the French movie about a wealthy, refined, quadriplegic White man and his impoverished, pushy, Black caretaker. We loved the original, Intouchables, in 2012.

Bryan Cranston (last blogged for Isle of Dogs) is good in everything and does great things here as Phillip. Having seen only two of Kevin Hart's 85 credits (small parts in Little Fockers and Top Five), I can't say with certainty that this is his first dramatic role, but I can say that he plays Dell very well without constant jokes (don't worry, he's still funny). Nicole Kidman (most recently in these pages for Destroyer) is Phillip's no-nonsense assistant and Aja Naomi King (last blogged for The Birth of a Nation) is Dell's baby mama.

Director Neil Burger (introduced in the blog in Limitless) works from the script by Jon Hartmere (new to me) who adapted the other screenplay which was adapted from a memoir by a White Algerian caretaker for a White Frenchman.

Rob Simonsen (last blogged for The Front Runner) gives us nice music which can be streamed from Apple Music and Spotify.

Ooh, the critics hated this one, averaging a mean 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, while its audiences agree with us, coming in at 86%. Oh well. It may still be on big screens (we saw it two weeks ago) but is estimated to come to your streaming services in April 2019.

Capernaum (Capharnaüm - 2018)

Liz and I both found fascinating this story of a street smart 12-ish boy in Lebanon, raised in crime, yet with a strong moral code and survival instinct for himself and his siblings. The movie opens with him in court, suing his parents for having him and "too many" other children, but that's not really what it's about. Its overriding theme is that everyone needs "papers," i.e. documentation, no matter where they live, and kids have to grow up fast. The title translates to Chaos.

Nominated for the foreign film Oscar, Golden Globe, and Critics Choice Awards, among others, the movie also won three at Cannes and had one more nomination.

The movie proudly uses non-professional actors, headed up by young Zain Al Rafeea as Zain, Yordanos Shiferaw as Ethiopian refugee Rahil, and Boluwatife Treasure Bankole (a girl) as Rahil's son Yonas, a beautiful and mostly placid toddler. In fact all three are easy on the eyes. Here's a spoiler-free article about the casting and more.

This is the fourth feature for director/co-writer Nadine Labaki, working on this script with co-writers Jihad Hojeily (he co-wrote three of Labaki's previous projects) and Michelle Keserwany in her first outing. Screenplay "collaborators" are Georges Khabbaz (wrote two others, not Labaki's) and Khaled (or K.) Mouzanar, Nadaki's husband, who composed the music and is one of the producers.

While watching I wondered if the cinematographer was nominated for the wonderful images. Yes, Christopher Aoun is, but not any of the awards I track on this page of the blog.

As I write, I'm streaming Mouzanar's soundtrack (he composed one of her others) on Apple Music. It's also available on Spotify and likely other sites.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are currently at 86 and its audiences at 77. I recommend this wholeheartedly.

Destroyer (2018)

Jack and I really liked this thriller about a dissolute Los Angeles detective reopening one of her old cases. Nicole Kidman is fabulous as the lead Erin Bell, with the body language of a hard life; her gray hair, red eyes, and cracked lips the exact opposite of her most recently blogged role in Boy Erased (in that one she was coiffed, manicured, and costumed to a T) or even her secretive soccer mom in the miniseries Big Little Lies. Her partner Chris is well played by Sebastian Stan (last blogged for Avengers: Infinity War). Speaking of hair, I liked his fade. I'm a big fan of Tatiana Maslany (most recently in Woman in Gold) who contributes as Petra. It's a big cast, and I won't go too deep, but Bradley Whitford's (last blogged for Get Out) cameo as an arrogant rich bastard is good fun. Scoot McNairy (most recently in these pages for Gone Girl and was also in all 40 episodes of Halt and Catch Fire) is good as Erin's ex-husband, as is Toby Huss (also in all of Halt and Catch Fire) as a friend on the force.

This is the third feature for director Karyn Kusama (helmed four episodes of Halt and Catch Fire and some other TV). She works from a script by writing partners Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (wrote Kusama's other two, Crazy/Beautiful (2001), and more). Kusama and Kidman have been nominated for a number of awards for this project, three of which are on my running list.

Some people have described this role for Kidman as "brave." It's my position that "brave" is code for female (mostly) actors allowing themselves to play unattractive characters. Isn't that what acting is all about??!!

The thrilling music is by Theodore Shapiro (last blogged for A Simple Favor) and can be streamed on Spotify and Apple Music. There are a bunch of songs, too, and you can listen to clips of some of them here.

MPMS, or Motion-Picture-Motion-Sickness sufferers may be occasionally stricken, so don't sit near the screen.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 71%, aren't big fans of this movie, though more than its audiences at 56%. Whatever. Jack and I think you should see it just for Kidman's performance.

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

Jack and I took our granddaughters, 3 and 4 years old, to this. They liked it a lot, though the younger one said it was too loud. I was not transfixed, though I laughed here and there and did not see the first one.

Lots of voice talent, led by Chris Pratt (last blogged for Avengers: Infinity War) as Emmett, Elizabeth Banks (most recently in Love & Mercy) as Lucy, Will Arnett (after I wrote about him in The Secret World of Arietty, I've seen him in 35 episodes of Up All Night, nine of 30 Rock, 14 of Flaked which I loved, completed 76 of Arrested Development, and a few Lego movies and videos) reprising his role as Batman, and Tiffany Haddish (first time in these pages was for Girls Trip a year ago) as Whatevra.

Apparently Will Ferrell (last blogged for The House) and young Jadon Sand (new to me) were in a live action segment in the last movie. They're joined this time by even younger Brooklynn Prince (star of The Florida Project) and Maya Rudolph (since My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea I've seen her in all eight episodes of Forever and seven of The Good Place, among her many credits).

Mark Mothersbaugh (most recently in these pages for scoring Brad's Status) composed the original music and the soundtrack can be streamed from the usual outlets, including Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. Here, too, is a web page with a list and videos of all the songs that are sung.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are assembling on the plus side, averaging 84 and 82% respectively.

Cold War (Zimna wojna - 2018)

Ann, Jack, and I loved this sad love story about musicians/performers in mostly communist Europe from 1949-1964. Ironically it made me happy, not because of the star-crossedness of the lovers but because of the magnificent Oscar-nominated cinematography, the tight editing, and the inclusion of two of my favorite genres of music: jazz ballads and female choirs singing Slavic folk songs. More on that in a moment.

Tomasz Kot and Joanna Kulig are Wiktor and Zula, named for and based in part on the parents of director/co-writer Pawel Pawlikowski (profiled in Ida, winner of the Foreign Film Oscar in 2015). Kulig (she looks a lot like a young version of Swedish actress Liv Ullmann) was also in Ida, though I didn't mention it, and Kot is new to me.

Pawlikowski co-wrote the screenplay with Janusz Glowacki and "with the collaboration of" Piotr Borkowski. In addition to his parents, Pawlikowski drew inspiration from an actual Polish folk music ensemble. He is nominated for the Best Director Oscar and the movie is up for Best Foreign Film at those awards in three weeks. More nominations and awards are in my list.

Besides the Academy Award nomination for cinematographer Lucasz Zal (he was nominated for shooting Ida) he is nominated for this movie by his peers in the American Society of Cinematographers. The movie is in black and white with stunning effects of tone and is in the aspect ratio of 1.37:1, with wide black letterbox strips on the sides. For comparison's sake, old school TVs were 1.33:1 (4:3), modern widescreen TVs are 1.78:1 (16:9), and most theatres display 2.35:1 (21:9).

Pianist Marcin Masecki is credited with arranging all the "jazz musics & songs" as well as playing most of them. I particularly liked the brass harmonies in the jazz combo. And there's one sequence of a close-up of what have to be his hands playing a difficult classical piece (maybe the Chopin) panning slowly up to Kot's face. Like I said at the beginning: tight editing!

The leitmotif of the movie is the folk song Dwa Serduska, which translates to two hearts. It's sung several times in the movie, including by the folk ensemble and jazz versions in Polish and French. As for the rest of the soundtrack, Apple Music has failed me this time, publishing only three songs, though they're good ones: Kulig singing jazz versions of Two Hearts in Polish and French and another ballad in French. To hear just the jazz ballad, go to this YouTube link. The choir version from the original ensemble, not the movie, can be heard on this link. For the rest of the music, try this spotify playlist (not every song is exactly as in the movie, but they're close). For a change, imdb has what looks like a complete list of the songs. Then, after seeing it, you may want to read about the music in this Vulture article.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are heated up on this one, averaging a deserved 94% and its audiences are close behind at 85.

We the Animals (2018)

Jack and I really liked this story of a boy and his family, struggling with racism, poverty, the parents' volatile relationship, and growing up (the three tight-knit bi-racial boys are pre-teens, all played by acting newcomers). The leader in Spirit Awards nominations with five, the movie is based on the 2011 debut novel by Justin Torres. The screenplay is co-written by Daniel Kitrosser and director Jeremiah Zagar, the latter who also won the NEXT Innovator Award at Sundance for this movie, which has creative drawings and animation mixed in with the live action.

The narrator, Jonah, is nine, and is played to perfection by Evan Rosado. His older brothers are Josiah Gabriel and Isaiah Kristian. Sheila Vand (she's been in a few things I've seen, including Argo and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) is their loving but undependable mother and Raúl Castillo (I know him best as Nick the bartender in ten episodes of Atypical) is Spirit-nominated as their mercurial father.

We streamed the movie on Prime Video, but, even at home, the wildly swinging camera moves (running after the boys, for example) caused me to move back farther from the screen to avoid Motion-Picture-Motion-Sickness or MPMS. Here's my running list.

This is composer Nick Zammuto's second movie (the first was a documentary) and you can stream the exciting soundtrack on his own website, Apple Music, and Spotify.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics love this as much as the festivals, with an average of 91%. Audiences are a bit less enthusiastic at 78.

Nancy (2018)

Jack and I enjoyed streaming this story of an unstable 30-something woman who believes she was kidnapped as a child and seeks out the bereaved couple. Winner of last year's Sundance Screenwriting Award and nominated for two Spirit Awards (see my list here), it was in last Monday's Watching email newsletter from the New York Times.

Andrea Riseborough and Steve Buscemi (both last blogged for The Death of Stalin) are terrific as the numbed-out protagonist and the guarded man who lost his child, respectively. J. Smith-Cameron (she's been in a lot of things I've seen, notably twelve episodes of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Mighty Aphrodite (1995), the First Wives Club (1996), In & Out (1997), You Can Count on Me (2000), thirty episodes of Rectify, three of Divorce, and one of Mozart in the Jungle) is marvelous and Spirit Award-nominated for playing the hopeful mother. Ann Dowd (most recently in these pages for American Animals) and John Leguizamo (last blogged for The Infiltrator) make brief but noteworthy appearances, too.

Director/writer Christina Choe makes her feature debut and is Spirit-nominated for Best First Screenplay. She really keeps us guessing,

Peter Raeburn's (new to me) eerie score is available on spotify, Apple Music, and more.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 86% and its audiences 69. You can rent this on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu and YouTube.