Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020)

This well done, understated drama about teenage girls crossing state lines for a legal abortion has wins and nominations from Sundance and other film festivals. It stars Sidney Flanigan as Autumn––the pregnant one––and Talia Ryder as her cousin and best friend Skylar. Théodore Pellerin plays the guy they meet at the bus station and singer Sharon Van Etten has a cameo as Autumn's mother.

Director/writer Eliza Hittman has two features under her belt and Flanigan makes her film debut, while Ryder makes her feature film debut. Pellerin is best known to us for playing Cody in all ten episodes of On Becoming a God in Central Florida.

The dreamy soundtrack by Julia Holter is streaming from soundcloud as I type.

Cinematographer Hélène Louvart adds to the understatement with her muted tones. She was last blogged for Pina.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average is 99%, rating it "always," while its audiences come in at "rarely" or 20. Jack and I thought it was good.

Reelgood says you can stream this on HBO or HBO Max, as we did the end of July, or rent from a few other places.

Tenet (2020)

Jack and I did not enjoy this time travel drama. I can't even tell you what it's about. The most interesting part is that we saw it in a cinema during the pandemic––see below. Jack said, "It was like watching someone play a video game you don't understand." And I just space out when the space-time continuum is breached. It had good special effects, as I recall, but to what end?

Plenty of star power is in front of director/writer Christopher Nolan's camera: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, and many more.

The soundtrack by Ludwig Göransson is available on Apple Music and other outlets.

Nolan was last blogged for Dunkirk, Washington (son of Denzel) for BlacKkKlansman, Pattinson for The Lighthouse, Caine for Going in Style, Branagh for Murder on the Orient Express, and Göransson for Black Panther.

On September 20, 2020, with nine millennial friends, we booked a private screening at a local theatre. It came to about $11 per person. The room had 46 seats and they allowed 23 people. Eleven seemed just right. Spread out by household, we wore masks throughout, unless we were actively eating or drinking. We scheduled it for right after opening on a Sunday so as to have the room as sanitary as possible. Too bad we didn't like the movie very much. Oh, and it's two and a half hours long. 

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences liked it better than we did, averaging 71 and 76%, respectively.

If I haven't put you off too much, Rotten Tomatoes says you can buy it from Fandango or Vudu, but it's not yet available to rent or stream elsewhere.

The last movie we saw live was Downhill on February 20. I would consider doing the private screening thing again if only something I want to see would be offered.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019 - Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)

I loved this languid, magnificently photographed story of an 18th century French woman hired to paint a recalcitrant bride. Director/writer Céline Sciamma won Best Screenplay and Queer Palm at Cannes and was nominated for the Palme d'Or (Parasite won), among many honors.

Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel give wonderful performances as the painter and her subject, and Sciamma wrote the role of the bride specifically for her ex-lover Haenel. Valeria Golino has a few scenes as the mother of the bride. Golino is best known for being the love interest in Rain Man (1988).

An actual painter, Hélène Delmaire, created the paintings and her hands are shown in close up, even though she is left handed and Merlant is not. A touring exhibition was scheduled but I doubt it happened with the pandemic situation.

The glorious photography by Claire Mathon takes place in the west-northwest region of Brittany in France as well as a striking chateau near Paris, available (sometime, I hope) for tours and described here.

The score is credited to Para One and Arthur Simonini. I found only one track online.

I chose this to watch on my birthday in mid-September. Jack contentedly snoozed next to me on the couch as I reveled in it for 122 minutes. Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are in accord with me, averaging 98 and 92%, respectively.

I've been using reelgood.com to find where to stream movies, but I'll save you the trouble––it's on Hulu, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

Emma. (2020)

We liked this adaptation of the Jane Austen novel, starring Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role, Johnny Flynn as Mr. Knightley, Mia Goth as Harriet, and Callum Turner as Frank, with a nice cameo by Bill Nighy as Emma's father.

Autumn de Wilde directs (her feature debut) from the screenplay adaptation by Eleanor Catton (ditto). De Wilde explained that the period at the end of the title is there because it's a period film.

As I write I'm streaming the soundtrack by Isobel Waller-Bridge (sister of Phoebe) and David Schweitzer on Apple Music and you can find it on YouTube if you wish.

Marvelous costumes are de rigeur for such a period piece and Alexandra Byrne takes credit here.

After I wrote about Taylor-Joy for Thoroughbreds she made a big impact starring in The Queen's Gambit. Nighy was last blogged for The Bookshop and Byrne for Mary Queen of Scots, in which I correctly predicted her forthcoming Oscar nomination.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are warmer, averaging 87%, than its audiences at 72. We enjoyed it in mid-July, 2020.

Check ReelGood for streaming opportunities.

Irresistible (2020)

As fans of Steve Carell and Jon Stewart, Jack and I liked this story of a small-town Wisconsin mayoral election thrust into the national spotlight by a Democratic strategist. Director/writer Stewart cast Carell along with Chris Cooper, Rose Byrne, and dozens more.

The story is partly inspired by the 2017 special election in Georgia's 6th congressional district. Avoid spoilers before seeing it!

Bryce Dessner of The National composed the original score, heard between curated songs, but I can't find any of it online for our listening pleasure.

Carell was last blogged for Welcome to Marwen, Stewart for Rosewater, Cooper for Little Women, Byrne for Juliet, Naked, and Dessner for The Two Popes.

We do not agree with Rotten Tomatoes' audiences, averaging 66%, and especially not with its critics at 40.

If you're not put off by those numbers, check ReelGood for rental opportunities. We streamed it in late June, 2020.

On the Rocks (2020)

We greatly enjoyed this comedy about Laura, played by Rashida Jones, teaming up with her charming divorced father Felix, played by Bill Murray, to try to catch her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans) in an affair. Jenny Slate is very funny as a school mom who shares TMI, and Barbara Bain has a nice cameo as Murray's mother. The little girls who play Laura and Dean's daughters are adorable, too.

Directed and written by Sofia Coppola, its wry story is boosted by lush settings of wealthy New York City.

Jones was last blogged for Celeste and Jesse Forever, Murray for The Dead Don't Die, Slate for The Polka King, and Coppola for The Beguiled. Wayans was amazing in Requiem for a Dream (2000), but mostly has done slapstick schtick since then. Until now.

The band Phoenix is credited with the soundtrack, but I can find online only the song Identical (listen here).

We're with Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 86%, and not its audiences at a scant 50, who may have been put off by Coppola's languid style.

Jack and I streamed this on Apple TV+ on November 20.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Jack says this is bound to get Oscar nominations. A huge distinguished cast, mostly men, leads this excellent drama which centers on the actual 1968 trial but has plenty of background, both recreated and in archival footage. I wept at the riot scenes that took place before the Democratic National Convention that year.

Sacha Baron Cohen doesn't exactly go against type to play Abbie Hoffman, since Hoffman was a loud-mouthed iconoclast. Cohen's performance here is riveting. And the rest of the cast are no slouches either: Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin, Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden, Mark Rylance as William Kunstler, John Carroll Lynch as David Dellinger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Richard Schultz, Frank Langella as Judge Julius Hoffman, and so many more.

Aaron Sorkin, no stranger to courtroom drama, directs and writes. I noticed that the dialogue is not the usual Sorkin rapid-fire, but, instead, is at a more normal pace. A number of instances of poetic license also differ from history.

As I write I'm listening to the soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton on Apple Music and it can also be found on Spotify and more.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new winner of the Producers Plethora Prize. Forty-three producers listed on imdb. Here's the running list. The plethora may have to do with the fact that the project had been in development for over thirteen years before this year's release, with Steven Spielberg attached to direct and many other actors attached to star.

Cohen was last blogged for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Redmayne for The Danish Girl (Oscar nominated), Rylance for Dunkirk, Lynch for Private Life, Gordon-Levitt for Knives Out, Langella for Captain Fantastic, Sorkin for Molly's Game, and Pemberton for Yesterday. Strong won an Emmy earlier this year for Succession, and was also good in Molly's Game, the series Masters of Sex, and The Big Short, among others.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences agree with us, averaging 90 and 91%, respectively.

We streamed this Netflix original on November 18 and were glued to the couch for the entire 129 minutes.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

More outrageous cringing as Borat, in new disguises, tricks politicians and others into saying and doing regrettable things. This is mostly just for fans of creator Sacha Baron Cohen's over-the-top, profane humor, and is a sequel to Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006). 24 year old Maria Bakalova is fully up to the task of committing to play Borat's crazed daughter. Tom Hanks, Mike Pence, and Rudy Giuliani are among the celebrities on screen.

Eight writers may be a new record for a screenplay, but, up to now, I haven't been counting. The director is Jason Woliner, making his feature debut after a number of shorts and TV episodes. His headshot on imdb is of a young boy. 

Fun fact: when Borat is supposedly speaking in the Kazakh language, it's actually Hebrew, according to this article. When his daughter speaks, it's her native Bulgarian, and the Kazakh premier speaks his native Romanian, proving that American audiences (present company included) don't know languages.

As usual, Sacha's brother Erran Baron Cohen provides the score, and here's his website, from which you can stream a number of his tracks.

Both Cohens were last blogged for The Brothers Grimsby. This is Bakalova's American film debut and she now has three projects in progress.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 86%, are not as put off as its audiences at 67.

We streamed this on Amazon Prime on November 10.