Twisters (2024)

Jack and I really liked this sequel to the 1996 tornado chasing original, this time starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, Maura Tierney, and dozens more. 

Director Lee Isaac Chung keeps it tight, working from a screenplay by Mark L. Smith, story by Joseph Kosinski, and characters created by Michael Crichton & Anne-Marie Martin.

Benjamin Wallfisch's exciting score can be streamed on Apple Music, though you will probably better remember the kick-ass country songs, available on Apple Music's official playlist.

Enormous visual effects and stunt departments were utilized and we're hoping that, after The Fall Guy brought attention to it, stunts get their own Oscar category.

I recommend the trivia list on imdb. Here are a few. Due to delays from COVID and the writers' strike, some scenes were shot just a few months before the July release and post production was still working in June. The references to the Wizard of Oz in the first movie (storm vehicles called Dorothy I-IV) and this one (theirs were called Lion, Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Wizard) inspired a credit that reads, "The Wizard of Oz is still licensed by Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc." The word "twister" is never uttered in this movie. And I don't need to tell you not to click on the spoiler section of the trivia, do I?

Powell was last blogged for Hit Man, Ramos for Dumb Money, Tierney for Beautiful Boy, Chung for Minari (he was Oscar-nominated), Smith for The Midnight Sky, and Wallfisch for Blade Runner 2049. Edgar-Jones starred in all twelve episodes of Normal People, Kosinski is better known as the director of Top Gun: Maverick, and Crichton and Martin (now ex-spouses) wrote the first Twister script.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics were not blown away by this one, averaging 75%, but its audiences were, at 91. Stick around for scenes at the end of the first round of credits. We rented this on Apple TV on August 16.

Molli and Max in the Future (2023)

We enjoyed this silly sci-fi low budget rom-com with snappy dialog starring Zosia Mamet and Aristotle Athari meeting each other repeatedly in the distant future. If you liked Mamet's Shoshanna in the series Girls, you will love her in this. Director/writer Michael Lukk Litwak makes his feature debut and admittedly based the idea on When Harry Met Sally (1989).

Alex Winkler's alternately trippy and jazzy score can be streamed on Apple Music. I'm going to try to remember to listen to it again.

Mamet was last blogged for The Boy Downstairs and I did not recognize Athari, despite his 20 episodes of Saturday Night Live in 2021-22 and two of Hacks this year. This is Winkler's fourth feature after dozens of shorts, videos, and TV shows.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are eagerly looking ahead to this with a 98% average, while its audiences are a few steps behind at 89.

Jack and I watched it on Prime with our subscription way back on August 10. You can also rent it on Apple TV.

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.