Swan Song (2021)

Jack and I really liked this science fiction tale of a terminally ill man who has the opportunity to send his clone to his family so they don't have to suffer from his loss. Naturally, Mahershala Ali is fabulous as the lead, as are Naomie Harris as his wife, Awkwafina as another patient, and Glenn Close as the scientist developing the clones. I really liked her high-collared white blouses.

The multi-dimensional story is director/writer Benjamin Cleary's feature debut (after writing six shorts and directing four of them). The music by Jay Wadley can be streamed on Apple Music and probably elsewhere. Since I was moved to mention the wardrobe, here's a shout out to costume designer Cynthia Ann Summers.

Ali was last blogged for Green Book (he won the Oscar for it), Harris for Moonlight (she was nominated and Ali won for that, too), Awkwafina for Raya and the Last Dragon, Close for Cruella, and Wadley for I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Summers has many credits and a few wins and nominations.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences feel little need for duplication with averages of 79 and 76%, respectively. We found it clever and moving.

Not to be confused with the totally different Swan Song that we saw last fall (and also loved), it is an Apple TV+ original and we watched it on that platform on May 17.

I Want You Back (2022)

Despite the comedic talents of Jenny Slate and Charlie Day, we liked this somewhat less than the critics. The two star as friends who enlist each other to win back the paramours who dumped them, played by Scott Eastwood and Gina Rodriguez, respectively. The two leads and their two "straight men" are great and we're fans but I guess the concept of these desperate adults was a little off-putting. Manny Jacinto has a nice bit as Rodriguez' new boyfriend.

Jason Orley directs from a script by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger with music by Siddhartha Khosla.

Slate was last blogged for On the Rocks, Day for The Hollars, and Rodriguez for Kajillionaire, Eastwood was covered in Gran Torino. Jacinto was hilarious in all fifty episodes of The Good Place and earnest in all eight of Nine Perfect Strangers–this character is an amalgam of the two–among his dozens of credits. Orley directed one other feature and a TV special. The writing team of Aptaker and Berger have four Emmy nominations for producing the series This Is Us and co-wrote fourteen episodes, among their many TV works. Khosla has three Emmy nominations for scoring This Is Us and scored ten of Only Murders in the Building as well as several other Aptaker/Berger projects and much more.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are reconciled with an 87% average and its audiences, at 72, are on the fence as we are. We watched it on May 5 on Prime Video.

Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)

Jack and I loved this comedic animated memoir of growing up in NASA's Houston neighborhood in the summer of 1969. The music and social mores are spot on, clearly told from the perspective of someone who was there (director/writer Richard Linklater was born in 1961 and the movie's hero Stan is about eight years old), and complemented by archival footage of actual events.

Jack Black narrates as grown up Stan and Milo Coy provides young Stan's voice, with Lee Eddy and Bill Wise as his parents.

I'm grateful to the person who assembled this playlist on Apple Music of every song in the movie except one (the Season of the Witch cover by Vanilla Fudge), in the absence of a credited composer.

Linklater was last blogged for Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and Black for Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot. Coy makes his debut here and Eddy and Wise have lots of experience (Wise was in Linklater's Boyhood) but are new to me, as are most of the cast.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics aren't over the moon, but flying high with a 90% average, and its audiences in the jet stream at 82.

We watched it on April 26 on Netflix.

I’m with Lucy (2002)

Jack and I enjoyed this cute rom-com about a New York woman, beginning with her wedding and flashing back to five blind dates, jumping back and forth from date to date, until we find out at the end which guy she picked. Monica Potter is adorable as Lucy (with perfect hair and lip gloss in nearly every scene) and her dates are John Hannah, Gael Garcia Bernal, Anthony LaPaglia, Henry Thomas, and David Boreanaz, with Julianne Nicholson as Lucy's friend and Craig Bierko in a cameo at the beginning. Also making appearances are Julie Christie and Harold Ramis as her parents.

Director Jon Sherman works (twenty years ago!) from a script by Eric Pomerance. I never watched How I Met Your Mother but the concept sounds like that. The music by Stephen Endelman isn't available online.

Bernal was last blogged for Coco, Christie for The Company You Keep, and Sherman for They/Them/Us. I know Potter best for her 21 episodes of Boston Legal (2004-05) and 103 of Parenthood (2010-15); Hannah for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and Sliding Doors (1998); and LaPaglia for Empire Records (1995), 18 episodes of Murder One (1996-97), and Lantana (2001). Thomas played little Elliott in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and is also known for Gangs of New York (2002) and four episodes of Better Things (2017) which is one of my favorite series, running for five seasons from 2016-22. Boreanaz is known for the serieses Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Bones (2005-17), neither of which I watched. I like Nicholson in everything, notably Seeing Other People (2004), Puccini for Beginners (2006), twelve episodes of Master of Sex (2013-14), seven of Mare of Easttown (2021), and I, Tonya. I remember liking Bierko in Cinderella Man (2005) and fifteen episodes of Boston Legal (2006-07). Then Harold Ramis (1944-2014), better known as the director/writer of Meatballs (1979), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), and Groundhog Day (1993), also acted in the latter three. All of the above have many other roles to their credit.

This was Pomerance's feature debut after writing two series episodes and he has no newer credits. Endelman has done much composing before and after this movie, including one of my all-time favorites, Flirting with Disaster (1996).

This was not favorably reviewed on Rotten Tomatoes with few details. Nonetheless, we were entertained, and watched it April 13 on Prime Video.

Together (2021)

This mockumentary about a bickering London couple in COVID lockdown has a few laughs but isn't really a comedy, despite what Hulu says, and Jack and I didn't much like it. We picked it because we do like Sharon Horgan and James McAvoy, and their acting is first rate, so we are still fans.

Co-directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin in a ten day shoot, its screenplay is by Dennis Kelly and the music is by Paul Englishby. The soundtrack isn't available online but here are some of his tracks.

Don't confuse this with the wonderful Together Together which I wrote about last year.

Horgan was profiled in Game Night. McAvoy was last blogged for The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them and Daldry for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Martin was second unit director on twelve episodes of The Crown (2016-17) and associate director on two other features. Kelly has written for some series, features, and TV movies and Englishby has scored dozens of TV episodes and TV movies and a few features, including Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are on the verge of separating with a 71% average and its audiences have already moved out, averaging 57.

We watched it on May 13 with our Hulu subscription.

Future Weather (2012)

Jack and I loved this story of a brainy 13 year old environmentalist forced to live with her grandmother when her mother takes off. Perla Haney-Jardine is terrific as the impassioned Lauderee (LAW-der-ray), as are Amy Madigan as her grandmother Greta/Gigi, Lili Taylor as her supportive science teacher Ms. Marcovi, and Marin Ireland as her free spirit mother Tanya.

Director/writer Jenny Deller fleshed out her three minute short Save the Future (2009) into this, her feature debut.

No composer is credited but here is a song list. It was shot around Philadelphia and some scenes may cause sufferers of Motion Picture Motion Sickness to move farther from the screen.

Taylor was last blogged for Being Flynn. Jardine's credits include Kill Bill: Vol.2 (2004) when she was seven, another Kill Bill in 2011, young Lisa in Steve Jobs, and a small part in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood. Madigan was Oscar nominated for Twice in a Lifetime (1986) and is also known for Field of Dreams (1989), Pollock (2000) which starred her husband Ed Harris, and Gone Baby Gone (2007). Ireland is best known to me for five episodes of Mildred Pierce (2011), five of Homeland (2011-12), and three of Masters of Sex (2014).

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are sunny, averaging 93%, while its audiences are stormy at 55. Let the sun shine!

If you couldn't attend the recent tenth anniversary screening, you can rent it on iTunes, Prime, etc.

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019)

Deservedly nominated for the International Feature Oscar, this delightful movie is about a slacker in urban Bhutan who is sent to the country's most remote mountain village to teach the children there. Directed and written by Pawo Choyning Dorji in his feature directorial debut, the cast is almost entirely inexperienced actors, featuring Sherab Dorji as our hero Ugyen and young Pam Zem as Pam Zem, the adorable school spokesperson.

Cinematographer Jigme Tenzing is not new to his role and brings gorgeous photography, exteriors and interiors, to the screen.

Bhutan celebrates Gross National Happiness values, which include that every child has a right to be taught, and that is made clear in the script. The village of Lunana really is the most remote in the country. The crew required 65 mules and constant use of solar power for the shoot.

In the brief tooth brushing scene, most of the villagers had never brushed their teeth before.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are hot for teacher with a 100% average. Don't let its audiences' 77% keep you from these studies.

You can rent it on iTunes, Prime, etc.