The Taste of Things (2023)

I enjoyed this delicious story of 1889 French cook Eugénie and her gourmet employer Dodin. Juliette Binoche is delightful as the inscrutable Eugénie, preparing, sometimes with Dodin's help, gorgeous meals for the household and its guests. Benoît Magimel, with whom Binoche has a daughter from their five years of marriage, plays Dodin.

Director Anh Hung Tran adapted Marcel Rouff's 1924 novel La vie et la passion de Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet (The Life and Passion of Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet) into the screenplay. The character of Dodin-Bouffant was apparently inspired by the famous gourmet Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1926).

Because I watched it on a long flight–with distractions–I don't remember noticing that there was no composer and almost no music. Later I did find the song from the end credits, Méditation de Thaïs by Jules Massenet, arranged for piano and performed by Andrew von Oeyen. Here's an article explaining why Tran didn't use music.

French chef Pierre Gagnaire has a cameo and worked as culinary director (single card credit for Direction gastronomique) and there's a whole cuisine department not credited on imdb.

Watching it on my iPad with sunlight shining into the plane's cabin somewhat reduced my appreciation of the cinematography by Jonathan Ricquebourg and the glorious locations of the Chateau du Raguin in Maine-et-Loire, France, but they are lauded.

Binoche was last blogged for Non-Fiction. Magimel and Ricquebourg are new to me, despite dozens of credits for each. This is Tran's sixth picture but I haven't seen any, though a couple were on my list.

Nominated for 26 awards and winner of seven more, including 2023 Best Director at Cannes, the movie was eaten up by Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 97%, while its audiences got full sooner at 76.

This is going on my running list of food movies as #33. Binoche also starred in #15 Chocolat (2000). 

This can be rented from Apple TV and elsewhere but I had to buy it in order to download and watch it in airplane mode on July 31.

Coup de Chance (2023)

Woody Allen's 50th feature (this time in French) is a dramedy about Fanny, a young married woman who runs into handsome former classmate Alain and it's dependably watchable. Somehow Lou de Laâge as Fanny manages the classic Allen stutter, even in a language not his own. Niels Schneider is Alain and Melvil Poupaud is Fanny's controlling husband Jean. Coup de chance translates to stroke of luck in English.

As mentioned in these pages, I have some guilt feelings about supporting Allen's work but have such a nostalgic attraction that I go ahead and keep watching. He did say in a recent interview that this will be his last (I've seen all but one).

As usual, no composer is credited but there's a fun jazz playlist of six songs, available on spotify.

Vittorio Storaro provides the beautiful cinematography, shot entirely in Paris and environs, with the luxurious homes and wardrobe I've come to expect from an Allen joint.

Allen and Storaro were last blogged for A Rainy Day in New York and the French actors are new to me.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are somewhat lucky, averaging 82 and 81%, respectively. I downloaded it from Apple TV and watched it on a long plane ride on August 5, and now it can be rented.

Thelma (2024)

We loved this story of a feisty nonagenarian on a quest to get her money back after being scammed. Nonagenarian June Squibb is wonderful in the title role, as are Parker Posey and Clark Gregg as her hilariously anxious daughter and son-in-law, as well as Fred Hechinger as their son, devoted to his grandma, Richard Roundtree as Thelma's fellow retirement community resident, and many more. 

Josh Margolin directs from his own script, based on his grandmother Thelma, who is, according to the internet, still alive at 103, and her apartment was used as movie Thelma's apartment. Don't leave or turn off the movie before the credits are over because the real Thelma is on screen then!

Nick Chuba's exciting music on Apple Music underscores the caper aspect of the movie.

Squibb was last blogged for The Humans, Posey for Columbus, Gregg for The Avengers, and Roundtree for Moving On (Thelma was his final movie before his death in October, 2023). Hechinger, Margolin, and Chuba are new to me and this is Margolin's feature debut after directing one short.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' hearts have been stolen, averaging a near perfect 99%, and its audiences aren't far behind at 83. We rented it on July 23, as soon as it became available.

Ezra (2023)

Jack and I loved this moving and sometimes funny story of Max and his ex-wife Jenna who frequently disagree on how to parent their son on the autism spectrum. Bobby Cannavale and Rose Byrne, real life partners, play powerful advocates for Ezra, played by William A. Fitzgerald, now 15. Lots of star power in supporting roles, including Robert DeNiro as the boy's grandfather, Rainn Wilson, Vera Farmiga, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Tony Goldwyn, who plays the ex-wife's boyfriend, directs from a script by Tony Spiridakis. The latter has a son on the autism spectrum and Goldwyn is Spiridakis' son's godfather.

As I write I'm streaming Carlos Rafael Rivera's 25 minute soundtrack on Apple Music and thinking about the tears I cried at the emotion in the movie. Did I mention that it's moving?

Do stick around for the extras during the credits. I won't tell you what celebrities are in it because that would be a spoiler.

Cannavale was last blogged for Blonde, Byrne for Irresistible, De Niro for Killers of the Flower Moon, Wilson for Jerry & Marge Go Large, Farmiga for The Front Runner, Goldberg for Babes, and Goldwyn for acting in King Richard.

Fitzgerald makes his debut and here's an article about him from his hometown newspaper. If my math is correct, this is the fifth feature directed by Goldwyn and I loved A Walk on the Moon (1999), Someone Like You (2001), and The Last Kiss (2006). He's also directed dozens of TV episodes. Spiridakis is new to me, and Rivera scored seven episodes of The Queen's Gambit, eight of Lessons in Chemistry, and 27 of Hacks.

Rotten Tomatoes's critics, averaging 70%, are way less attentive than we and its audiences, whose average was 92. We rented it on July 16.

Babes (2024)

I eagerly looked forward to and we loved this profane buddy picture about best friends in New York. Eden (Ilana Glazer) is happily single and Dawn (Michelle Buteau), who is married, goes into labor with her second child in the first two minutes of the movie, before the credits. I just watched the whole labor sequence again and it's hilarious and over the top. Great support from Stephan James, Hasan Minhaj, John Carroll Lynch, Oliver Platt, and Whoopi Goldberg, just to name a few.

Director Pamela Adlon works from a snappy script by Glazer and Josh Rabinowitz (the latter plays the server in the labor sequence).

I can't locate online any tracks from the score by Jay Lifton and Ryan Miller but there are 25 songs, all of which are listed here.

James was last blogged for If Beale Street Could Talk, Lynch for The Trial of the Chicago 7, Platt for Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Goldberg for The Color Purple musical remake, and Miller (a member of the band Guster) for How It Ends.

Glazer's acting is best known to me for 76 episodes of Broad City and eight of The Afterparty and she was in Rough Night (2017), which I saw but apparently forgot to write about. Buteau, who was in Always Be My Maybe, though I didn't mention her, is a talented stand-up comedian, was a member of the ensemble in 29 episodes of the remake of The First Wives Club, and starred in (and created) all eight episodes of Survival of the Thickest. This is Minhaj's first time on these pages, despite a long resume that includes Rough Night, The Spy Who Dumped Me, No Hard Feelings, eight episodes of The Daily Show, and four of The Morning Show.

Adlon makes her feature directing debut after directing 44 episodes of her wonderful series Better Things, now available on Hulu and Disney+ with subscriptions and rentable elsewhere. Glazer's writing credits include one other feature and 63 episodes of Broad City, which she co-created. This is also Rabinowitz's feature screenwriting debut and Lifton is new to me despite many credits.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are swaddled and pacified with an 88% average and its critics are only slightly crankier at 79. When it arrived on Apple TV, the only way to see it then was to buy it, and I was so excited that I bought it within days on July 6. Now you can rent it there or from Amazon Prime. 

I'm intentionally posting this and Am I OK? the same day, as both are feminist buddy pictures--this being very New York and the other very Los Angeles.

Am I OK? (2022)

As Tig Notaro fans, we were eager to see her feature directorial debut about quirky millennial best friends/roommates: self-absorbed Lucy (Dakota Johnson) and practical Jane (Sonoya Mizuno), fighting and making up and dealing with big life changes, and we enjoyed it, though the still of Johnson weeping is a bit off-putting, especially since it's a dramedy. Notaro has a funny cameo in the second act in an intentionally terrible wig.

Notaro co-directs this buddy picture with her wife Stephanie Allynne (also a directorial debut) from a script by Lauren Pomerantz.

Craig Wedren is credited with the soundtrack (none of his tracks for this picture is available online) with additional music by Annie Clark, which is the birth name of the artist known as St. Vincent, and who happens to BFFs with Johnson. All 23 songs, the last written and performed by Clark, are listed here.

Johnson was last blogged for Cha Cha Real Smooth (and shot this back to back to back with it and The Lost Daughter), Mizuno for Crazy Rich Asians, Notaro for acting in Together Together, and Wedren for A Futile and Stupid Gesture. This is also a feature directorial debut for Pomerantz, who is credited with writing 825 episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and twenty of SNL, among others. I've heard of Clark/St. Vincent, but do not know her work.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are more than OK, averaging 81% while its audiences are a bit less so with 65. Jack and I streamed it on MAX (formerly known as HBO) with our subscription on July 1.

I'm intentionally posting this and Babes the same day, as both are feminist buddy pictures--this being very Los Angeles and the other very New York.

The Idea of You (2024)

Jack and I enjoyed this fluffy story of a September-May relationship (she's 40, he's 24) with Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine playing a single mom and a boy band front man. It's not deep but the acting is good, including supporting roles by Reid Scott and Annie Mumolo, along with a cameo by Perry Mattfeld.

Michael Showalter directs and he and Jennifer Westfeldt adapted Robinne Lee's 2017 novel (in which the age gap was, I think, a little bigger).

30 minutes of Siddhartha Khosla's soundtrack can be streamed on Apple Music. There's another playlist which includes songs sung by Galitzine fronting August Moon, the fictional band in the movie. Neither includes Dance Hall Days by Wang Chung, which I enjoyed hearing again after all these years.

Hathaway and production designer Amy Williams collaborated on choosing the art displayed in Hathaway's gallery.

Hathaway was last blogged for Armageddon Time, Mumolo for Joy Ride, Showalter for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Westfeldt for Friends with Kids, and Khosla for I Want You Back. Galitzine's resumé includes playing the handsome high school football player in Bottoms, though I failed to mention him in that post. Though Scott has dozens of credits, I know him best from 65 episodes of Veep, three of Black-ish, and twelve of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Williams is no stranger to the business. And I mention Mattfeld because Jack and I particularly liked her work starring in 52 episodes of the thriller In the Dark,

Rotten Tomatoes' critics like the idea of this, averaging 81%, while its audiences are looking around for another idea at 66. We streamed it on June 25 on Prime with our subscription and it's also rentable.