Ghostlight (2023)

Jack and I both loved this moving story of a taciturn construction worker reeling from a tragedy and joining a community theatre group. Keith Kupferer is joined by his real life wife Tara Mallen and their daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer, playing his wife and daughter, and all are terrific, as are Dolly De Leon as a petite hot-tempered actress and the rest of the cast of the play within the movie.

Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson co-direct from a script by O'Sullivan. The details of the tragedy are doled out very slowly and carefully. In an interview O'Sullivan called Tara and Keith "Chicago theatre legends."

Composer Quinn Tsan's twenty tracks can be streamed on Apple Music and probably elsewhere, and is accompanied in the movie by these songs.

This sleeper has six wins and nineteen other nominations, both here and abroad. Apparently the term ghostlight refers to a light left on in an empty theatre, but I didn't hear it uttered in the movie.

O'Sullivan (as screenwriter), Thompson, and Tsan were last blogged for Saint Francis–this is O'Sullivan's feature directing debut. The Mallen-Kupferer family is new to me but not to the craft: Keith has been acting for thirty years, Tara fifteen, and Katherine eight (her age is not published anywhere but I'd guess she's about high school age now). De Leon's dozens of credits include Jackpot! but I didn't recognize her.

 

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are all lit up, averaging 99 and 92%, respectively. On February 4 we took advantage of our Independent Feature Project streaming privileges (this had two Spirit Award nominations), but it's now available for rent and on Hulu and Disney+ with a subscription.

The Fabulous Four (2024)

Though it's not very good, I downloaded this fluffy chick flick about female boomers gathering for one of their weddings, and enjoyed it on a long airplane ride last month. It has some laughs, lots of star power with Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and great production values and wardrobe. Bruce Greenwood makes an appearance in the second act. I see in the credits that Midler's daughter Sophie von Haselberg plays Amanda but I don't remember her character and I don't plan to watch it again to check who she was. In her smiling headshot, though, she looks just like her mama.

Jocelyn Moorhouse directs, from a script by Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly, and cast Midler as her usual brash narcissistic character, but Mullally's character is way more unhinged and, surprisingly, she is the singer in the group, not Midler, though Midler sings for a minute in one number. Singer Michael Bolton has a cameo as himself in act three.

I'm streaming the lighthearted score by David Hirschfelder with my subscription to Apple Music (his son Sam is credited on the musics apps but not on imdb). With 45 producers, this movie is in second place in my Producers Plethora Prize. And since I mentioned production values, shout out to production designer Catherine Smith and costume designer Marie Schley.

Midler was last blogged for Coastal Elites, Sarandon for 3 Generations, Mullally for Smashed, Greenwood for The Post, and Moorhouse and David Hirschfelder for The Dressmaker. Ralph is best known to me for 65 episodes of Abbott Elementary (with an Emmy) but she has been working steadily since the mid 1970s, including on Sister Act 2 (1993). She can sing too, but she didn't in this movie. This is Smith's first time heading her department on a feature, though she has some TV on her resume, including 41 episodes of Transparent and all eight of Lessons in Chemistry. Schley worked on four other features and has plenty of TV costume experience, including 42 of Transparent.

The far-from-fabulous 25% average from critics on Rotten Tomatoes kept me from watching this when it first came out, but now I'll go along with its audiences' 71%. I downloaded it for that plane ride on February 11 from Paramount+ with our subscription, but it's also now available for rent.

Hard Truths (2024)

Marianne Jean-Baptiste's character Pansy, a relentlessly argumentative Englishwoman of Jamaican heritage, may send some viewers screaming from the room, but Jack and I liked the latest from notable director/writer Mike Leigh and actually laughed at some of her antics. Jean-Baptiste is ably supported by Michele Austin as Pansy's sister, David Webber and Tuwaine Barrett as Pansy's long-suffering husband and son, and more.

The movie has 26 wins and 56 other nominations (none from Oscar) as of this writing. Nineteen of the wins are for Jean-Baptiste's performance and the rest are for Leigh's screenplay and Austin's performance.

I am streaming Gary Yershon's lovely (albeit brief) score on Spotify since it isn't available with our subscription to Apple Music. Oh, and after the movie I craved chicken, rice, and plantains. 

Leigh and Yershon were last blogged for Mr. Turner. Early in her career, Jean-Baptiste made a splash in Leigh's Secrets & Lies (1996) and I have seen and enjoyed her in a number of other projects. Austin was in Secrets & Lies and Leigh's Another Year, among others. I didn't recognize Webber, but his credits include a role in Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. Barrett is new to me.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics did not run screaming from the room (a line I once heard attributed to Frank Zappa's music, of which I'm a big fan) with their 95% average, and its audiences stayed in their seats as well, averaging 81. We streamed it on January 29 with our Independent Feature Project privileges but it's now available to rent on the major platforms.

Babygirl (2024)

Jack and I liked this explicit movie about a successful woman executive with a sex addiction. Nicole Kidman can choose any role she wants and she goes all out in this one. Conan O'Brien called it his favorite of the year at the Oscars the other night (it had no nominations there but plenty elsewhere) and made a funny joke about Antonio Banderas playing the husband. Harris Dickinson plays the sexy intern at her company.

Director/writer Halina Reijn keeps the pace up and the moody music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, supplemented by plenty of songs, uses heavy breathing as percussion from time to time and is streamable on Apple Music.

Kidman was last blogged for Being the Ricardos and Banderas for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Dickinson, a former model, has experience as an actor. His malleable face––the contrast between serious and smiling is remarkable––is evident in a short TikTok video with other models (I don't have a TikTok account but was able to watch it from this link).

This is Reijn's third feature after dozens of credits as an actress, with wins and nominations for both. De Veer scored fourteen episodes of The White Lotus and more.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are smiling weakly with a 76% average but its critics are not at 48. We rented it on January 31 and you can, too.

Millers in Marriage (2024)

I loved director/writer/star Edward Burns' latest, about three 50-something siblings dealing with relationships and careers. Jack enjoyed it but not as much as I––he said, "Are we supposed to like any of these people?" Burns assembled a star-studded cast: Morena Baccarin, Benjamin Bratt, Brian d’Arcy James, Minnie Driver, Julianna Margulies (who plays one sister of Burns' character), Gretchen Mol (the other sister), Campbell Scott, and Patrick Wilson.

The words "champagne problems" are uttered in the movie, and the characters are certainly well-off, which may repel some viewers, but I enjoyed the sumptuous sets by production designer Jason Singleton and the locations in New Jersey.

This is where I would write about the music, but there's nothing online––no composer, no list of songs, only two crew members who worked on music clearance. And because we streamed it over three months ago with membership in the Independent Feature Project, I can't remember the music.

Burns was last blogged for The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Baccarin for Deadpool 2, Bratt for Coco, d'Arcy James for Sisters, Driver for Beyond the Lights, Margulies for City Island, and Wilson for The Founder.

Mol had some buzz in Manchester by the Sea (2016) and was terrific in 53 episodes of Boardwalk Empire (2010-14) and eight of Mozart in the Jungle (2015). Her long resume also includes Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and the title role in The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). Scott is best known for Big Night (1996), Roger Dodger (2002), and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and I recall liking him in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) and The Spanish Prisoner (1997). He's currently more active than that list would imply. Singleton is new to me.

November 22, 2024 is when we watched it. I jotted a few notes at the time but waited to finish until the rest of you could see it, and it can now be purchased ($9.99 on Apple, 19.99 on the others). Maybe after a while it'll be rentable. Rotten Tomatoes' critics are heading for a separation with a 58% average, but its audiences want to renew their vows at 98.

Nickel Boys (2024)

Jack and I both really appreciated (it's difficult to say we "liked" it) this nominated movie about a young Black man in 1960s Florida whose promising future comes to a halt when he's sent to a brutal, racist reform school. The main cast is Ethan Herisse as Elwood, Brandon Wilson as his friend Turner, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Elwood's grandmother (in real life she is 31 years older than he), Hamish Linklater as a nasty "teacher" at the Nickel Academy, and Luke Tennie as another inmate, Griff. Daveed Diggs makes a cameo as the adult Elwood.

RaMell Ross directs and co-wrote the script with Joslyn Barnes, based on the 2019 book by Colson Whitehead. Whitehead based his book on a true, cruel and abusive reform school, The Florida School for Boys, also known as the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, in the Florida panhandle from 1900-2011. The book won a Pulitzer the following year. The Oscar nominations are for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, among its 38 wins and 170 other nominations so far. 

While watching I made a note it has "weird music" by Alex Somers and Scott Alario, which I'm now streaming on Apple Music. Some of the tracks are intentionally staticky.

Director of Photography Jomo Fray is nominated by his peers in the American Society of Cinematographers for a Spotlight Award, as well as eight wins and 33 other nominations, all for this movie. I had read in advance that the movie was shot from Elwood's point of view (so audiences see his face only in reflections), but after about an hour of the 2:20 running time, the POV changes to more typical views.

Ellis-Taylor was last blogged (as Aunjanue Ellis) for King Richard, Linklater for Magic in the Moonlight, and Somers for Causeway. Herisse has been in three other movies and a handful of shorts and TV episodes. Wilson was in The Way Back as one of the basketball players, among his credits, and Tennie's resume includes 22 episodes of the series Shrinking in the role of Sean. This is Ross's second feature and the first was a documentary. Barnes has written or co-written two other features (scripted), and Alario scored Ross's documentary. This is Fray's seventh feature.

Rotten Tomatoes' audiences are happy to pay dollars with an average of 90% while its audiences are keeping their change at 75. We watched it on a streamer from the Independent Feature Project on January 8. It is currently still in live theatres and is supposed to stream in the spring on MGM+ and Prime. 

Sing Sing (2023)

Jack and I loved this movie, based on a true story, about inmates at the titular New York prison who find joy in a theatre group. The reliable Colman Domingo shines as John "Divine G" Whitfield as does Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin playing himself. Paul Raci plays Brent Buell, the kind director of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, and most of the other cast are literally ex-convicts playing versions of themselves, except for Sean San Jose (he plays Mike Mike), who is Domingo's real life friend. In an early scene, the actor asking for Divine G's autograph is the real John "Divine G" Whitfield.

Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley, filmmaking partners, wrote the script for Kwedar to direct (apparently the partners alternate who gets directing credit), based on John H. Richardson 2005 Esquire article The Sing Sing Follies (you can read the article here, but wait until after you watch the movie) and Buell's prison play Breakin' the Mummy's Code. Story credit goes to Bentley, Kwedar, Maclin, and Whitfield.

Bryce Dessner's score can be streamed on Apple Music, as can the Oscar-nominated song Like a Bird. Oscar has also nominated Domingo and the screenplay story writers. As of today, the movie has 57 wins and 178 other nominations.

Domingo was last blogged for Drive-Away Dolls, Raci for his Oscar-nominated role of the kindly therapist in The Sound of Metal, and Dessner for A Good Person. Maclin and Whitfield make their feature debuts and San Jose has been in a handful of other projects. Kwedar and Bentley have written and directed two other features with another scheduled to open this year.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are averaging a liberated 97%. We watched it on a streamer from the Independent Feature Project Spirit Awards (anyone can join and I am a member) on January 18 but now it's available to rent. Everyone who worked on the movie received the same pay and was offered ownership depending on which phases they participated in: development, pre-production, production, post-production, and promotion. So when you rent it, you will be helping to pay the actual independent filmmakers.