Good on Paper (2021)

Unlike many critics, Jack and I fully enjoyed this story of a frustrated 30-something comedian/actress who decides to go against instinct to hang out with a guy she meets on a plane. Iliza Schlesinger is a working stand-up comic who developed a true story into this screenplay and plays the lead role of Andrea. Margaret Cho, a hilarious stand-up/actress in her own right, plays Andrea's best friend and Ryan Hansen, in fake teeth and a chubby suit, is the hapless plane-mate. I spotted two Orange Is the New Black alumni: Beth Dover, who plays goth Leslie in this movie, and Matt McGorry as Andrea's cousin Brett.

Kimmy Gatewood directs from Schlesinger's script which co-mingles footage of her comedy shows, telling the story, with the dramatization.

The soundtrack by Jonathan Sanford isn't available online but you can listen to some of his music on his soundcloud page. Here's more info on him and the songs featured in the movie.

Schlesinger was in Pieces of a Woman, but it must have been a small part because I failed to mention her. Here's her website. Cho is a brilliant, raunchy comedian and you should grab any chance to see her do anything. She's one of the main reasons we chose to watch this. Here's Cho's site. Among many other credits, Hansen was in the ensemble for twenty episodes of Party Down (2009-10) which Jack and I really liked streaming last year. Dover was prison administrator Linda on OITNB and McGorry was a prison guard on that show, as well as one of the ensemble in How to Get Away with Murder.

Gatewood makes her feature directorial debut after acting in a bunch of TV, including 29 episodes of GLOW as Stacey and six of Atypical as Coach Crowley, and directing a few short films and TV episodes. Sanford is new to me but has scored a handful of projects.

As I said above, Rotten Tomatoes's critics are bad on paper, averaging 52%, and its audiences even worse at 38. Nonetheless, we had a lot of laughs watching it on Netflix July 8.

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)

A spectacular music documentary, this is about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, held 100 miles south of Woodstock the same summer. Musician Questlove, AKA Ahmir-Khalib Thompson (born in 1971), was chosen to direct after some of the producers unearthed 45 hours of footage from the basement of Hal Tulchin (1926-2017), the filmmaker who shot the original event. 

You will see historical footage interspersed with the performances (listed below) and the subtitle is derived from the seminal 1970 Gil-Scott Heron poem and song (listen here) The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. The festival's location was, at the time, called Mount Morris Park and is now Marcus Garvey Park, in memory of the Jamaican political activist.

Executive producers Jon Kamen and Dave Sirulnick first became aware of the festival when making What Happened, Miss Simone? Both documentaries opened the Sundance Film Festival. Further reading (Variety article and New York Times article) and listening (NPR story) are available.

Jack and I were coming of age in 1969 and the music is very special to us both. I'm sure not all of Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are as old as we are, but they share our sunny outlook, averaging 99 and 98%, respectively.

Made for Hulu, this is playing in a few live movie theatres at the moment, as well. We're not quite ready to go back to live mingling, so we sent a small donation to our favorite art house in lieu of tickets after we watched it July 10.

There's a bonus at the end of the credits, so don't leave your seat before you see it.

The festival took place on six Sundays from June 29-August 24, 1969 (Woodstock was August 15-18) with performers including:

The 5th Dimension

Ray Barretto

The Chambers Brothers

The Edwin Hawkins Singers

Mahalia Jackson

B.B. King

Gladys Knight & the Pips

Abbey Lincoln & Max Roach

Moms Mabley

Herbie Mann

Hugh Masakela

Babatunde Olatunji

David Ruffin

Mongo Santamaria

Nina Simone

Sly and the Family Stone

The Staple Singers

Cal Tjader

Stevie Wonder.

The movie includes archival and/or current appearances by 

Redd Foxx

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Jesse Jackson

Mayor John Lindsay

Lin-Manuel Miranda and his father Luis

Chris Rock

and more.

In the Heights (2021)

I loved this so much that I watched it again (in segments because it's too long at 2:23) and I almost never do that. Jack liked it too, despite its length. Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony-winning musical has been transformed for the big screen with Busby Berkeley-type choreography, drone shots, and an overall good time. Anthony Ramos steps in for Miranda as Usnavi and Corey Hawkins for Christopher Jackson as Benny. Melissa Barrera is Vanessa, Leslie Grace is Nina, Jimmy Smits is her father Kevin, and Olga Merediz, who was Tony-nominated for Abuela Claudia, fills the role again here. All of them sing with spirit and precision. The three salon ladies are played for laughs by Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz, and Dascha Polanco. Miranda and Jackson are seen as competing ice treat sellers (the Piragüero and Mr. Softee).

Jon M. Chu directs from Quiara Alegria Hudes' screenplay, based on the musical stage play with music, lyrics, and concept by Miranda and book by Hudes. The score is also credited to Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman.

Special mention of cinematographer Alice Brooks and choreographer Christopher Scott. And where did they find the dancers in the swimming pool scene whose shoulders popped out like that??

Just a few trivia items: at one point Kevin is on the phone and the hold music is an instrumental of You'll Be Back from Hamilton. In the song 96,000, the original 2008 lyric was "Donald Trump and I are on the links and he's my caddy." Now he sings Tiger Woods. And filming for Steven Spielberg's adaptation of West Side Story took place just a few blocks away in New York.

Ramos, Miranda, and Jackson were last blogged for Hamilton, Hawkins for Straight Outta Compton, Smits for Mother and Child, Rubin-Vega for Jack Goes Boating, and Chu for Crazy Rich Asians. Barrera is best known to me for playing Lyn (the wild sister) in 22 episodes of Vida. Grace is a singer/songwriter making her acting debut. Beatriz is the hilarious Rosa Diaz in 153 episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, among her many credits, and Polanco played Daya in 89 of Orange Is the New Black as well as Beatrice in four of Russian Doll, to name a few. This is the feature film debut for Hudes, Lacamoire, and Sherman. Brooks shot Queen Bees and Scott choreographed Now You See Me 2, though I failed to mention them.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are averaging high 95 and 94. The movie is playing in bricks and mortar theatres but, after much discussion, we streamed it on HBO Max on June 30. It would certainly benefit from the big screen, though, if you are willing to go there. Otherwise, donate in lieu of tickets!

Whether you watch it at home or away, stay tuned for the final bonus song after the credits.

Queen Bees (2021)

Fluffy, yes. Silly, uh-huh. Qualifies for a Lifetime movie, okay. But we still enjoyed this tale of a smart, prickly, elderly woman who has to stay in a senior independent living facility while her house is under repair. I looked up the ages of all the stars so you don't have to. I'm a big Ellen Burstyn (89) fan and she does no wrong in the lead as Helen. Ann-Margret's (80) Margot isn't far from her usual ditzy characters, Jane Curtin (73) is pretty funny as "mean girl with a medical alert bracelet" Janet, and Loretta Devine (at 71, the youngster of the group) is the nicest one as Sally. The principal men in the cast are James Caan (81) and Christopher Lloyd (82), and everyone is just fine.

Michael Lembeck directs from a script by Donald Martin, based on a story by Harrison Powell. 

The New York Times called Walter Murphy's score "saccharine," and I can't disagree, though the Times did not pan the movie overall. The soundtrack isn't available online anyway. 

I loved Burstyn's outfits and the terrific wardrobe is thanks to Cynthia Flynt.

Burstyn was last blogged for Pieces of a Woman, Ann-Margret for Going in Style, Curtin for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and Caan for Elf.

Devine has nearly two hundred credits, from Waiting to Exhale (1995) and Crash (2004) to 81 episodes of Boston Public (2000-2004) to 22 of Grey's Anatomy (2005-2103) to 145 of Doc McStuffins (2012-2020), just to name a few. Lloyd, who also appeared in Going in Style, is, of course, best known for playing Jim in 84 episodes of Taxi (1978-1983) and Doc Brown in all three Back to the Future movies (1985, 1989, 1990), from his much longer list of roles.  

Lembeck did a lot of acting in the 1970s-90s and moved to directing after that, mostly TV episodes. I'm not familiar with any of Martin's dozens of credits, and Powell has four other producing credits. Murphy scored Ted and its sequel and wrote the 1976 hit A Fifth of Beethoven. Flynt has done costumes for a couple of dozen projects including A League of Their Own (1992).

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average is a stinging 50% but its audiences are more royal at 87.

We paid full fare to rent this on iTunes on June 23. I recommend waiting until it's free and watch it for a date night, either for boomers or those who are close to some.