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.

Holler (2020)

Jack and I liked this story of a young woman who, with her brother, joins a scrap metal crew in rural Ohio to pay for college. Jessica Barden and Gus Halper are very good as the siblings, as well as Becky Ann Baker as a kindly aunt-like figure and Pamela Adlon as their mother.

Writer/director Nicole Nicole Riegel fleshed out her 2016 short film into this feature debut, which was nominated for the Best First Feature Spirit Award and more. I have a running list of this year's nominees and winners of selected awards, as if you didn't know.

Here's a fascinating interview with Riegel from NPR to listen to or read.

As I write I'm streaming the lovely Appalachian-tinged music by Gene Back on Apple Music.

Cinematographer Dustin Lane shot it on location in southern Ohio, with a lot of jiggly hand-held camera movements, forcing me to move to a chair farther from the screen in our home screening room (I don't mind, it is my second favorite chair). That's what I and other sufferers of Motion Picture Motion Sickness need to do in such cases. I also have an alphabetical list of some of the strongest inducers of MPMS. 

Baker was last blogged for The Half of It. Barden, who is British (her American accent is very good) has been in dozens of movies and TV episodes, including three of Better Things, created by and starring Adlon. Halper has been in five episodes of Dickinson and other shows. Adlon's hundreds of credits started with Grease 2 (1982) (she was 16 when it was released) and she has won several Emmy awards for voicing Bobby Hill and others in King of the Hill, writing and producing the series Louie, and for acting in Better Things, which I love.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are hollerin' in the holler with an average of 92%, while its audiences are using their inside voices with 76.

We streamed it on Showtime March 29.

Best Sellers (2021)

I didn't hate this fluffy tale of a young woman who inherits her family's failing publishing company and its cranky author, who is its last chance for survival. Aubrey Plaza and Michael Caine are good fun, especially the latter as he gets to ham it up. Caine, 89, has said this is his last movie.

Full disclosure, I saw it on an airplane seven weeks ago so I remember little. Director Lina Roessler works from a script by Anthony Grieco, in feature debuts for both, after both worked as actors.

Paul Leonard-Morgan's soundtrack is available on Apple Music and here's a list of songs.

Plaza was last blogged for Black Bear, Caine for Tenet, and Leonard-Morgan for Limitless.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences place this firmly in the remainders bin, with averages of 52 and 44%, respectively.

Because I (and Rotten Tomatoes) have damned it with faint praise, you're probably unlikely to try to watch it, but if you're a fan of the two leads, you can find it for rent on various platforms. I watched it February 18.