Flora and Son (2023)

Jack and I enjoyed this story of a divorced Irish woman who finds common ground in music with her rebellious teenage son. Eve Hewson is terrific as the headstrong Flora as is Oren Kinland as her son Max. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is her teacher and Jack Reynor Max's father.

The latest offering from acclaimed Irish director/writer John Carney, this has some laughs, clever camera gags in Gordon-Levitt's scenes, and lots of nice musical sequences in several genres.

Carney and Gary Clark are credited with the soundtrack, available on Apple Music. Much of it has vocals so I have to skip past them while I write so I can compose sentences, but, as I said, the music is good. Hewson and Gordon-Levitt sing and play well.

Carney, Reynor, and Clark were last blogged for Sing Street and Gordon-Levitt for The Trial of the Chicago 7. Hewson is the daughter of U2 front man Bono (trivia: his real name is Paul Hewson) and can boast playing Becka in all ten episodes of Bad Sisters and James Gandolfini's daughter in Enough Said (though I didn't mention her) among her dozens of credits. This is Kinlan's feature debut.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are singing its praises, averaging 94%, while its audiences are backup at 86. We streamed it on Apple TV on October 11 after being bombarded with the trailer every time we booted up the device.

Past Lives (2022)

I loved this dreamy story of a South Korean woman who, after immigrating to the US at 12 and leaving behind her childhood sweetheart, gets a chance to see him again as adults. With magnificent cinematography and wonderful Seoul and New York locations, it features an understated performance by Greta Lee in the lead with support from Teo Yoo and John Magaro.

Director/writer Celine Song is already racking up festival nominations with this, her feature debut after one TV movie. The music by Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen (of the band Grizzly Bear) is available to stream on Apple Music and elsewhere. We can thank Shabier Kirchner for the lovely photography.

Magaro was last blogged for Showing Up, Grizzly Bear for Blue Valentine and Kirchner for Bull. Notable credits in Lee's long resume include two episodes of High Maintenance, five of New Girl, nine of Inside Amy Schumer, fourteen of Russian Doll, and sixteen and counting of The Morning Show. Yoo was in Decision to Leave, though I failed to mention him.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are living it up with averages of 98 and 92%, respectively. I rented it on Apple TV/iTunes October 3.

On the Count of Three (2021)

Jack and I both liked this dark dramedy about two young men, friends since childhood, making a suicide pact. Jerrod Carmichael, who directed, stars with Christopher Abbott, and the supporting cast includes funny people Tiffany Haddish and J.B. Smoove, neither of whom makes a joke here. Still good, though! 

Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch's screenplay does have plenty of laughs, often when we least expect them.

Oscar-nominated composer Owen Pallett provides the score, which is nowhere to be found online. I did find this playlist of songs from the movie on Spotify, however.

Abbott was last blogged for Black Bear, Haddish for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Smoove for Spider-Man: Far from Home, and Pallett for Her, which is what earned that and other nominations. Interestingly, the Her soundtrack, which was not available when I blogged about it over nine years ago, is online now and I'm listening to it as I type. 

Carmichael is no newbie to acting, with roles in a number of movies and TV, including 32 episodes of his The Carmichael Show, which I haven't seen. On the Count of Three is his directorial debut. Katcher was a co-writer on all 32 episodes of The Carmichael Show and Katcher and Welch co-created and co-wrote all 30 episodes of Ramy, which I have seen.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics counted all the way up to an average of 85%, with its audiences at 81. We saw it on Hulu with our subscription on October 6. You can also rent it on the usual platforms.

Barbie (2023)

Yep, Jack and I both loved it. A tongue-in-cheek bubble gum fantasy with feminist underpinnings, this story of the iconic doll(s) going on adventures is definitely fun for all ages. The massive cast is led by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as the main Barbie and Ken, with extra Barbies and Kens played by Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Dua Lipa, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, John Cena, and so many more. More star power comes from America Ferrera, Michael Cera, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, and Helen Mirren as the narrator, just to name a few.

Greta Gerwig directs with a practiced hand from a script by her and (her life partner) Noah Baumbach. Ferrera’s monologue in the second act is so good I made a note to mention it. They made sure of the accuracy of the Barbie history, too, with the clothes and accessories and other dolls.

I'm currently streaming Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt's original score on Apple Music and there's an album of songs available there. I'm sure they're streaming elsewhere, too. The candy-colored photography is by Rodrigo Prieto.

When we started watching the wonderful series Sex Education (now in its final season on Netflix) in 2019, we were taken by Emma Mackey's (here's a photo) resemblance to Margot Robbie, so I wasn't surprised to learn that Mackey would be in this movie. Ncuti Gatwa and Connor Swindells (in this photo Swindells is bottom left and Gatwa next to him) are also major players in that series and here they are in Barbieland.

As we were getting ready to rent it, I saw that, for an extra $5, not only could we watch it again later, but we would also get over 45 minutes of extras. So we now own the movie and those extras: terrific short subjects going into depth on the cast, production design (thanks to Sarah Greenwood and her team), wardrobe (by Jacqueline Durran), makeup and hair (too many to name), and choreography (Jennifer White).

I assiduously avoided reading about the movie until we could watch it. Here's an article I saved and enjoyed two months later.

Robbie was last blogged for Asteroid City, Gosling for First Man, Rae for Vengeance, McKinnon for Bombshell, Ben-Adir for One Night in Miami, Cena for Blockers, Cera for Molly's Game, Ferrell for Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, Mirren for The Duke, Gerwig for Little Women, Baumbach for White Noise, Greenwood for Darkest Hour, and Durran for Cyrano. Perlman was covered in I'll See You in My Dreams before being mentioned for making a cameo in You People.

Nef was new to me until I saw her this week in the penultimate episode of the terrifying, stranger-than fiction, climate change series Extrapolations (Apple TV) and Lipa is a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter making her feature debut. Liu's dozens of credits include 66 episodes of the hilarious Kim's Convenience (we haven't seen his Marvel action movie). Ferrera is best known for 103 episodes of Superstore and 85 of Ugly Betty and voicing in the How To Train Your Dragon movies (one and two). Ronson and Wyatt won an Oscar and more for writing Shallow for A Star Is Born, Ronson also wrote Uptown Funk for Bruno Mars and produced Amy Winehouse's Back to Black album and lots of other hits. This is the second feature score for Ronson and the first for Wyatt, who is the frontman of the band Miike Snow. White has been main choreographer on four other features and movement coach for Elizabeth Olsen on three Avengers movies and the WandaVision series.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 88 and 83% respectively, aren't playing around. But I suspect my readers have already decided whether they'll see it or not, as we did on September 26 on Apple TV/iTunes.

Call Jane (2022)

Jack, Amy, Travis, and I really liked this story of a 1968 woman who discovers a collective that helps women in need get abortions. Timely now, it's based on a real network of 60s Chicago activists who all called themselves Jane. Elizabeth Banks leads a fine cast that includes Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina, Kate Mara, and more. Grace Edwards plays Banks' teenage daughter.

A teaching companion to Happening, which I saw three weeks earlier, this one is slightly more hopeful. Phyllis Nagy directs from a screenplay by Hayley Schore & Roshan Sethi.

The score by Isabella Summers doesn't seem to be available online, but, as usual for twentieth century period pieces, we two boomers loved the lots of fun songs accompanying the movie. Here's a list.

With 36 producers, it doesn't win my Producers Plethora Prize, but it does make the list.

Banks was last blogged for Lovely, Still, Weaver for Chappie, Messina for Air, and Mara for Women Talking. Edwards was part of the huge cast of Asteroid City. Nagy makes her feature film directing debut  after writing and directing a TV movie and writing Carol. Schore & Sethi co-created a TV show (The Resident--haven't seen it) and it's a screenwriting debut for Schore and the second picture for Sethi. 

Rotten Tomatoes critics and audiences are using their phones, averaging 82 and 87%, respectively. We watched it on Hulu September 12. It's also available to rent if you don't have Hulu.

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)

Jack and I found this uneven but with plenty of laughs as wealthy girls plan their lavish coming-of-age parties (way more important to them than the Jewish religious ceremonies) while navigating teen drama. It's a family affair, with Adam Sandler's daughter Sunny playing the protagonist Stacy, Adam as her laid-back indulgent father (and not the lead role), another daughter Sadie Sandler as Stacy's sister Ronnie, and their mother Jackie Sandler as the mother of Stacy's best friend Lydia, who is played by Samantha Lorraine.

As she did in Uncut Gems, Idina Menzel plays Sandler's wife and Sarah Sherman is hilarious as the unhinged rabbi. The cast is enormous and includes appearances by Jackie Hoffman and Luis Guzmán.

Directed by Sammi Cohen from a script by Alison Peck, based on Fiona Rosenbloom's 2005 young adult novel, the movie is, as previously noted, pretty funny. The filmmakers were able to add diversity to the cast with character names such as Lydia Rodriguez Katz and Kym Chang Cohen.

Amanda Yamate and Este Haim are credited with the 17 minute soundtrack, streaming on Apple Music and, no doubt, elsewhere. Imdb lists 39 songs. Apple Music also has a two hour+ playlist with 32 of the songs plus the short soundtrack. 

Adam Sandler was last blogged for Hustle, Menzel for Uncut Gems, Guzmán for Keanu, and Haim for co-scoring Cha Cha Real Smooth. Sunny Sandler has had parts in twenty-one features (including Hustle), Sadie has had twenty, and Jackie has over three dozen. Sherman is best known for twenty episodes of Saturday Night Live. I'm a big fan of Hoffman's and some of my favorites of her work are Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), Garden State (2004), (four episodes of) The New Normal, Birdman, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, (three episodes of) The Marvelous Mrs, Maisel, and (fifteen episodes of) Only Murders in the Building (which we finished last night!). 

Cohen has one other feature and several TV shows and shorts to her credit. This is Peck's third feature and Yamate's fourth.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics RSVPed yes enthusiastically with an average of 91%, while its audiences had some no-shows at 61. Apparently it is Adam Sandler's highest rated movie. We watched it on Netflix September 4.

No Hard Feelings (2023)

We enjoyed this raunchy, slapstick comedy in which Jennifer Lawrence's Maddie, who desperately needs to make a buck, answers an ad from parents who want someone to "date" their naive son the summer before college. Lawrence and Andrew Barth Feldman, who plays the son, are close to the 32 and 19 year old ages of their characters.

Laura Benanti and Matthew Broderick are hilarious as the helicopter parents as is Natalie Morales as Maddie's friend, supported by a cast with too many noteworthy players to mention.

Directed by Gene Stupnitsky from a script co-written by him and John Phillips, the pace flags a bit here and there but not enough to matter. A real Craigslist ad inspired the movie and Lawrence was Stupnitsky's first choice to play Maddie. And in one pivotal scene, she did not use a body double nor CGI. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.

I'm streaming the soundtrack by Mychael Danna and Jessica Rose Weiss on Apple Music as I type. In addition there are plenty of great songs, listed here, including a version of Hall & Oates' Maneater, sung on camera by Feldman, whose credits include the title role of Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway when he was 16.

Lawrence was last blogged for Causeway, Morales for Language Lessons, Stupnitsky for his directing debut Good Boys, and Danna for The Addams Family (animated-2019). Though I've mentioned Broderick's cameos in Rules Don't Apply and Manchester by the Sea, I last wrote about my favorites of his film work in Tower Heist. Besides stage work, Feldman has been in two other features, including White Noise, which we did not like. Benanti has had dozens of movie and TV roles, one Tony win, and five more nominations to her credit. She's also a talented impressionist and appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert quite a few times as Melania Trump. This is Phillips' second screenplay (he wrote the first on his own). Weiss has worked on many projects as composer, co-composer, and various positions in the music department.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are hard on this, averaging 71%, while its audiences' average of 87 demonstrates that they're feeling it. Jack and I rented it on August 29 on iTunes/Apple TV.