White Noise (2022)

This weird stream of consciousness movie about a 1980s Ohio family has its moments (see below) but didn't really do it for us, despite the talents of Greta Gerwig and Adam Driver playing a couple named Babette and Jack. Obviously we had to watch it. Don Cheadle plays a fellow professor of Driver's.

Noah Baumbach, Gerwig's life partner, directs and adapted the screenplay from the "acclaimed"1985 Don DeLillo novel which this Babette and Jack each tried unsuccessfully to read at the time, decades before we met.

There is lots of dialogue, somewhat stilted, and a subplot involving an "airborne toxic event."

This movie is not for everyone. Two hours and sixteen minutes of it was way too long for us. But here are two of the aforementioned moments: a dual/duel lecture (Driver and Cheadle in the same college classroom alternating teaching, intercut with a train/truck crash) and the credits sequence, during which all the characters dance in the colorful supermarket, with the credits carefully placed so as not to block the view of the dancers. And here is that final sequence, over seven minutes long, with the song by LCD Soundsystem, and without the lettering.

The ever-reliable composer Danny Elfman's score can be streamed on Apple Music and here is a list of songs. Production designer Jess Gonchor has been nominated by his peers for an award for period film in the Art Directors Guild. I liked the hair (Mia Neal heads up the hair department), with Driver's receding hairline and Gerwig's huge perm.

Gerwig was last blogged for acting in Isle of Dogs, Driver for House of Gucci, Cheadle for Avengers: Infinity War, Baumbach for Marriage Story, Elfman for Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, and Gonchor for Little Women, which Gerwig directed. Neal won an Oscar for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, among other accolades.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' noise is subdued--their average of 64% is tempered with raves--and its audiences have gone silent at 32.

We watched it on Netflix on January 11.

Corsage (2022)

This fictionalized story of Empress/Kaiserin Elizabeth of Austria struggling with aging and body image in the late 1800s was also not my favorite, despite its being Austria's submission for the Foreign Language Oscar and the multi-lingual Vicky Krieps' having quite a few nominations and wins for the lead. I kept looking for a corsage (flowers pinned to clothing) but found out later that director/writer Marie Kreutzer meant it to mean corset (a boned, laced undergarment that gives the wearer a small waist), many of which appear in the movie. Some translation sites, however, say that a corsage (or ansteckbukett in German) is a form-fitting but not laced bodice and a korsett is a corset so I don't know why it wasn't called Korsett.

The soundtrack by Camille is not available online. Also featured are at least two anachronistic songs, Help Me Make It Through the Night and As Tears Go By.

Period drama costumes are always fun, and these are credited to Monika Buttinger. Apparently Krieps wore some of the corsets longer than she needed to, as method acting. Apparently the vain Empress had a 16" waist and I did the math when the tape measure read 41 centimeters, as I recall.

Krieps was last blogged for Bergman Island. Kreutzer is new to me but not to filmmaking. The movie's reception has been tarnished by child pornography charges against Florian Teichtmeister, the actor who plays the Emperor/Kaiser, and his trial is February 8.

Like the previous blog post, there is a dance during the credits.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics aren't holding in the stomachs with an average of 86%, while its audiences are breathing less freely at 61. I watched it on January 13 with my screener from the Independent Feature Project. I haven't found a date when it will be available for streaming.

Emily the Criminal (2022)

Jack and I loved this nail-biter in which Aubrey Plaza, in the title role, joins a group of scammers in order to pay off her student debt and gets deeper and deeper into fraud. With Theo Rossi as her recruiter and Gina Gershon in a cameo, it kept us on the figurative edges of our seats the whole time. Emily is a bad-ass and fun to watch.

This is the feature debut of director/writer John Patton Ford, made after one short film in 2010. Student debt was one of the reasons it took him so long to get back to movies.

Composer Nathan Halpern has dozens of score credits and several albums to his name, but the album isn't available to stream. I did find about 4½ exciting minutes on YouTube. And here's a list of some of the songs.

Plaza was last blogged for Spin Me Round and Gershon for Killer Joe. Although Rossi and Halpern have dozens of credits, they're not familiar to me.

This movie is racking up lots of wins and nominations, including for the Spirit Awards first feature, first screenplay, best lead for Plaza, and best supporting for Rossi (the Independent Feature Project Spirit Awards no longer divides the acting categories by gender); Directors Guild best first feature; National Board of Review Top Ten Independent Films, and more.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average is a righteous 94%, while its audiences' 79 is slightly crooked.

We rented it on January 3, but it's now available on Netflix with a subscription.

The Fabelmans (2022)

Carina, Deb, Ann, and I loved this coming-of-age story of a boy/young man, his love of movies, and his family despite its excessive length of 2 ½ hours. Michelle Williams and Paul Dano are exceptional as the parents, as is Gabriel LaBelle as teenage Sammy, based on director/co-writer Steven Spielberg's growing up in the mid-century. Nice to see Seth Rogen as Uncle Bennie in the large cast, as well as Judd Hirsch, Jeannie Berlin, and Robin Bartlett as the elder generation, and a cameo by David Lynch right at the end.

Spielberg's co-writer is Tony Kushner and the composer is John Williams, whose soundtrack can be streamed on Apple Music and elsewhere. They, along with wonderful cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, are frequent Spielberg collaborators.

The many trivia factoids include that the word spiel and fable both mean story. If you follow the above trivia link and haven't yet seen the movie, you should stop before reading the spoiler section.

As of this writing, the movie has won 22 awards and has 197 nominations, including Screen Actors Guild  ensemble and supporting male for Dano, as well as six nominations from AARP's Movies for Grownups.

Williams, who was robbed by SAG, was last blogged for All the Money in the World, after which she was terrific as dancer Gwen Verdon in the Fosse/Verdon miniseries. Dano was most recently in these pages for acting in Okja; Spielberg, Kushner, and Kaminski for West Side Story; Rogen for An American Pickle; Hirsch for The Meyerowitz Stories; Berlin for Café Society,;Bartlett for The Glass Castle; and Williams for the short Dear Basketball.

Lynch is an acclaimed director, known for the series Twin Peaks and Oscar-nominated for The Elephant Man (1980), Blue Velvet (1986), and Mulholland Dr, (2001).

Rotten Tomatoes' critics loved it too, averaging 92% to its audiences' 82.

We rented it on January 8. Sorry, Mr. Spielberg, but some of us really need the pause button, especially when a movie is this long!

Tangled (2010)

I'm pretty sure I saw this animated musical retelling of Rapunzel in 2010 when it was new and loved it, I think, even though in one post I declared I had not seen it at all. Since I just noticed that it was not on the blog I must rectify that error! Mandy Moore sings and voices the lead role, heading up a large and noteworthy cast.

Co-directors are Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, working from a script by Dan Fogelman adapted, of course, from the fairy tale by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm AKA the Brothers Grimm.

The score by Alan Menken, including songs, can be streamed on Apple Music.

Moore was last blogged for Romance & Cigarettes in 2005, Howard for Encanto in 2022, Fogelman for The Guilt Trip in 2012, and Menken for Aladdin in 2019.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences have smoothed their hair with averages of 89 and 87%, respectively.

Women Talking (2022)

Jack and I liked this powerful ensemble piece about women in a remote religious colony who must decide what to do about their repeated sexual abuse by the men of the colony. Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Frances McDormand, and the teens Kate Hallett and Liv McNeil are all exceptional in the drama, as well as Ben Whishaw, the only man whose face we see.

Director/screenwriter Sarah Polley adapted the 2018 novel by Miriam Toews, who was raised a Mennonite in Manitoba, Canada. Toews based her book on actual events from 2005-9 at the Manitoba Colony, a remote Mennonite community in Bolivia. I had no idea it was supposed to be contemporary until one scene about halfway through when the women briefly have visitors from the outside world. Soon after the movie begins, these words are on the screen: "What follows is an act of female imagination." I won't be the last to compare it to the jury drama 12 Angry Men.

Hildur Guðnadóttir's urgent score can be streamed on Apple Music and probably elsewhere.

Mara was last blogged for Nightmare Alley, Buckley for The Lost Daughter, Foy for First Man, Whishaw for The Personal History of David Copperfield, Polley for Take This Waltz, and Guðnadóttir for Tár

Two-time Tony winner Ivey has 76 screen credits and McCarthy has 148. McLeod, with eleven, looks a bit familiar to me, too, but I can't say why. This is the screen debut for Hallett and McNeil.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are not silent, averaging 90 and 86%, respectively.

A couple of years ago I joined the Independent Feature Project, specifically so that I could stream their Spirit Awards nominees. This is nominated for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, as well as winning the Robert Altman Award which goes to an ensemble cast, director, and casting director. It has quite a few other nominations and wins already and will no doubt make an appearance at the Oscars on March 12. 

Anyway, we were able to stream it on January 6, before its theatrical release, because of my IFP membership. Track your local art house's listings to see this on a big screen.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

Amy, Jack, and I loved this thriller as our yearly Christmas day movie tradition. Daniel Craig reprises his role as Southern-accented detective Benoit Blanc and is joined this time by a fun ensemble including Ed Norton, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., and Janelle Monáe.

Rian Johnson once again directs and wrote the clever screenplay, with his brother Nathan Johnson composing the music, as he did last time. The score can be streamed on Apple Music.

The sparkling cinematography by Steve Yedlin, gorgeous production design by Rick Heinrichs, and imaginative wardrobe by Jenny Eagan all contribute to the high production values of the picture.

Craig, Rian Johnson, and Yedlin were last blogged for the first Knives Out, Norton for Isle of Dogs, Bautista for Stuber, Hudson for Marshall, Hahn for Private Life, Odom for One Night in Miami, Monáe for Harriet, and Nathan Johnson for Nightmare Alley.

Heinrichs, Oscar winner for Sleepy Hollow (1999), and nominated for A Series of Unfortunate Events (2005) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2007), also designed sets for Dumbo and was nominated for the latter by his peers in the Art Directors Guild, among other accolades. Eagan was nominated by her peers in the Costume Designers Guild for this one (awards on February 27), Widows, and the miniseries Olive Kitteridge, and won for the original Knives Out, as well as more nominations.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences aren't tearing up at this with averages of 92 and 93%.

We streamed it on, you guessed it, December 25, on Netflix.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

Jack and I loved, and Amy did not, this dark tragi-comedy wherein a long friendship ends when one man, Colm, decides he no longer likes the other, Pádraic (PAW-rik). And then stuff happens. It begins in April 1923, about seven weeks before the end of the Irish Civil War, on their small island off the Irish coast.

Brendan Gleeson is an accomplished fiddle player and performs his own tunes as the angry Colm. Colin Farrell is wonderful, too, as the befuddled Pádraic who is devoted to his menagerie of animals, especially his donkey Jenny. Strong support comes from Kerry Condon as Pádraic's sister Siobhan and Barry Keoghan as Dominic, a young man from the village. 

Director/writer Martin McDonagh, all four leading actors, and most of the rest of the cast are Irish-born. McDonagh instructed composer Carter Burwell that there should be no Irish traditional music in the score. That was left to Gleeson and his band in some of the pub scenes. Burwell's thoughtful 33 minute score can be streamed on Apple Music and probably elsewhere. Ben Davis is behind the camera for the lovely photography, all shot in Ireland.

Because Gleeson and Farrell starred as friends and colleagues in In Bruges (2008) with McDonagh directing, we were under the impression this would be a sequel. It is certainly not.

I found these tidbits of trivia fascinating, including that Farrell's character's name Pádraic Súilleabháin would be Patrick Sullivan in English--the longer name is in Gaelic.

Gleeson was last blogged for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Farrell for After Yang, Keoghan for American Animals, McDonagh and Davis for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Burwell (who scored Three Billboards) for Catherine Called Birdy.

After I too-briefly mentioned Condon for The Last Station, she was in Three Billboards and 18 episodes of Better Call Saul, among many credits.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are shrieking happily with Jack and me, averaging 97%, while its audiences, at 76, are more reserved.

We watched it with our subscription to HBO Max on December 23.

Decision to Leave (Heojil kyolshim - 2022)

I liked this beautifully photographed Korean thriller, which is on many top ten lists and is somehow both languid and stirring. Park Hae-il plays a driven, insomniac detective, Lee Jung-hyung is his lovely (in every way) wife, and Tang Wei is the beautiful, mysterious widow of the murder victim in the detective's case. She says several times, "I am Chinese so my Korean is insufficient," and the actress is indeed Chinese. Pay attention, because there's a lot of detailed dialogue in the subtitles.

Director Park Chan-wook works from a script co-written by him and Chung Seo-kyung. The widow utters the words "decision to leave" about 2/3 of the way through. The composer's name, listed as Cho Young-wuk in the movie, has a myriad of English spellings on imdb, and the last track of his evocative score, repeated for over an hour as far as I can tell, can be streamed on YouTube under the name Joe and the Soundtrackings.

Cinematographer Kim Ji-yong's gorgeous images include lots of mirrors and inventive framing. You'll have plenty of time to appreciate the images in its 2:18 running time.

None of the filmmakers above has made an appearance in this blog, though all are accomplished. Tang starred in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution (2007), which I did see when it was new.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics have decided to stay, averaging 94%, and its audiences, at 88, are mostly lingering as well.

I watched it on Amazon Prime Video on December 17.

The Good Boss (Buen Patrón - 2021)

Amy and I liked this workplace satire, in which Javier Bardem runs his family's industrial scale factory in central Spain. She said, "It kept you interested the whole time though it wasn’t about very much." Things do heat up in the second half. Bardem's character tries so hard to be a people-pleaser but it seldom works out the way he wants. Almudena Amor makes a nice feature debut as Liliana AKA "the tall one." 

Fernando León de Aranoa directs from his own screenplay, and the movie is racking up nominations and awards around the globe. Zeltia Montes' jaunty score can be streamed on Apple Music and elsewhere.

Bardem was last blogged for Being the Ricardos. De Aranoa and Montes have piled up plenty of nominations and awards between them, though this is the babetteflix debut for both.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences love their nice chief, averaging 92 and 86%, respectively.

We rented it on iTunes/Apple TV on December 22.