Ticket to Paradise (2022)

Fluffy and fun, this light entertainment won us over with Julia Roberts and George Clooney as sniping ex-spouses reluctantly joining forces to try to prevent their daughter from making what they agree would be a mistake. Kaitlyn Dever is the sensible daughter and Billie Lourd is her boozy best friend Wren. Male eye candy (besides Clooney) is provided by Maxime Bouttier as Gede (pronounced G'day) and Lucas Bravo as Paul.

Directed by Ol Parker and co-written by him and Daniel Pipski, it mixes witty dialogue with rom-com tropes and the gorgeous sets and locations in Bali and Australia are a joy to behold, as shot by Ole Bratt Birkeland.

Lorne Balfe's score can be streamed on Apple Music and probably elsewhere, and there are also lots of songs, some of which are listed here.

Don't miss the outtakes during the end credits and I appreciated (after watching this movie) this fun spoiler-ridden discussion of the production.

Roberts was last blogged for Ben Is Back, Clooney for The Midnight Sky, Dever for Outside In, and Parker for writing The Second Best Marigold Hotel after directing and writing both Mamma Mias, though I gave short shrift to the first and maybe I didn't see the second? 

Balfe was most recently in these pages for scoring Belfast. Lourd, Carrie Fisher's daughter, was in Booksmart with Dever; Bouttier, a former model, is new to me; and I know Bravo from twenty episodes of Emily in Paris. This is Pipski's screenwriting debut and Birkeland shot Judy, though I failed to mention him in the post, which is almost as short as the one I wrote for Mamma Mia.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are ready to exchange their tickets, with an average of 57%, while its audiences are joining us in paradise with an 87% average. It's still playing in a few theatres but we rented it on Apple TV/iTunes November 22.

See How They Run (2022)

Jack and I enjoyed this meta murder mystery that takes place during the 1953 London long-running stage production of the murder mystery, The Mousetrap. With its many nods to Agatha Christie (who wrote The Mousetrap novel), it features Sam Rockwell with a slight English accent as Inspector Stoppard, Saorise Ronan as eager rookie Constable Stalker, Adrien Brody as annoying Hollywood director Kopernick, and David Oyelowo as the screenwriter, among others.

Tom George directs from the script by Mark Chappell and Daniel Pemberton's jaunty score can be streamed on Apple Music and, no doubt, elsewhere.

Rockwell was last blogged for The Best of Enemies, Ronan for Little Women, Brody for The French Dispatch, Oyelowo for The Midnight Sky, and Pemberton for Being the Ricardos

This is George's feature directing debut after some television and Chappell's second feature screenplay, also after TV–I loved the series Flaked that Chappell created and wrote most.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are but trotting with middling averages of 75 and 69%, respectively. We liked it better than that and watched it on HBO Max November 11.

Bros (2022)

Although I'm not a big Billy Eichner fan, I was eager to see, and we didn't hate, this story about a commitment-averse "Cis White Gay Man" embarking on a relationship with another of the same description, played by Luke Macfarlane, in a send-up of Hallmark movies (here called Hallheart) and most every Meg Ryan movie.

The term Cis White Gay Man is a line in the script, co-written by Eichner and director Nicholas Stoller. Recently I had to explain to one of my readers the definition of cis, so read this if you need to.

Marc Shaiman's short and Hallmark-y score can be found on Apple Music, but some of those songs are included on this longer list of enjoyable hits from the soundtrack.

Earlier this year we saw, and liked Fire Island, also a rom-com about cis white gay men finding love, so I've been distressed to read many declarations that Bros is the first major motion picture all about gay men, or words to that effect. Apparently the distinction is that Fire Island, a Searchlight production, went straight to Hulu, and Bros, a Universal Pictures joint, was in theatres before streaming (and credits the powerhouse Judd Apatow as one of its producers). Hmph.

At one point, when the main characters are arguing, Macfarlane calls Eichner "relentless," which may describe why I sometimes don't love Eichner's loud-talking characters, such as in the serieses Billy on the Street and Difficult People, neither of which I could get through. I've also seen him in 16 episodes of Parks and Recreation and eight of Friends from College, but I liked those.

Macfarlane is best known to me as Scotty in 89 episodes of Brothers & Sisters. Stoller was last blogged for co-writing The Muppets after writing and directing Get Him to the Greek and Shaiman is profiled in Mary Poppins Returns.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' and audiences' averages are a familial 88 and 90%, respectively. Not for the whole family, though. It has a hard (you should excuse the expression) R rating. We watched it on Apple TV November 2.

Don’t Worry Darling (2022)

Jack and I didn't hate this story of "Victory," a colorful, lush 50s-style settlement in the California desert. I didn't think too hard while watching it and settled into the gorgeous cinematography, dazzling wardrobe, and now-laughable (to us, anyway) gender stereotypes. But the plot thickens as Florence Pugh's Alice begins to question reality. Harry Styles plays her loving husband Jack and Olivia Wilde is a knowing, helpful neighbor.

Wilde also directs, her second time behind the camera, from a screenplay by Katie Silberman.

John Powell's spooky original score, available on Apple Music, suggests that all is not as glossy as it seems, while the songs, some of which are also on Apple Music, and many of which we could hum along to, set the mood of a happy time.

Cinematographer Matthew Libatique channels Busby Berkeley with overhead shots of dancers in circles, as well as a rich palette of mid-century Palm Springs and Los Angeles interiors and locations. Arianne Phillips' costumes are fabulous.

Some years ago, Jack and I saw the play Maple and Vine with Molly and Craig in San Francisco, and Craig was distressed by the satire in which a modern couple has willingly given up their lives for the 50s lifestyle, but I found it creative. In this one, however, it's not clear how the folks ended up at Victory. You won't be faulted for thinking of Stepford Wives (2004) and The Truman Show (1998).

The production and release of the movie was rife with rumors about the possible feud between Wilde and Pugh and about the confirmed romantic liaison between Wilde and Styles, among others. And a process server interrupted Wilde as she was introducing the movie at a festival in April by handing her custody papers from her ex-fiance Jason Sudeikis, the father of their two children (Sudeikis did not condone the way papers were served). But there is much to consider in the movie itself. Here is a spoiler-filled analysis.

Pugh was mentioned but not profiled in my blog post on Little Women, for which she was Oscar-nominated, and Styles was blogged for Dunkirk. Wilde directed Booksmart and was in these pages for acting in Third Person plus mentions in The Change-Up and a cameo in How It Ends. Silberman was last blogged for co-writing Booksmart and Libatique for shooting A Star Is Born. Phillips designed the costumes for Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are plenty worried, averaging a scant 38%, while its audiences are more relaxed, coming in at 74. We rented it on Apple TV on October 26 and it's now also free with subscription to HBO Max.

Fun Mom Dinner (2017)

A bit uneven but yes, it's fun. Toni Collette, Bridget Everett, Molly Shannon, and Katie Aselton are preschool moms whose night goes awry and the men in their lives are played by Rob Huebel, Adam Scott, and Adam Levine. There's some slapstick (to be expected with the presence of bawdy Everett) but also thoughtfulness.

Directed by Alethea Jones from a script by Julie Rudd, whose husband Paul Rudd has a cameo, it's a pleasant way to spend slightly less than an hour and a half.

I don't remember the music by Julian Wass, but here's a list of the songs, twelve of which are available on this compilation on Spotify.

Collette was last blogged for Nightmare Alley, Everett for Patti Cake$ (I also loved her in five episodes of Inside Amy Schumer and her starring role in the series Somebody Somewhere), Shannon for Spin Me Round, and Wass for Other People.

This is Jones' feature directorial debut, with plenty of TV episodes, including two of Dead to me, before and after this project. Rudd has not had any other scripts produced so far.

Sent back to the kitchen by Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 32%, and audiences at 35, Jack and I still did not hate it. We watched it on Netflix at a hotel when our baseball game was rained out October 13.

Vengeance (2022)

Jack and I liked a lot this dark comedy about a New York writer and would-be podcaster who goes to Texas to pursue a story about a woman he hooked up with briefly who has since turned up dead. B. J. Novak stars, directs, and wrote the script and is ably backed by, among others, Boyd Holbrook and J. Smith-Cameron as relatives of the deceased, Ashton Kutcher as a mysterious music producer, and Issa Rae as the podcast producer.

The neo-Western score by Billie Eilish's brother Finneas O'Connell can be streamed on Apple Music and probably elsewhere.

This is Novak's feature film directing and writing debut (though he wrote and directed several episodes of The Office and The Mindy Project, to name a few) and he was last blogged for acting in The Founder. Holbrook was last in these pages for Logan, Smith-Cameron for Nancy (she's best known for 29 episodes of Succession), Kutcher for Annie, and Rae for Coastal Elites.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average of 81% and its audiences' of 86 reflect our satisfaction with this one. We streamed it on September 21 with our subscription to Peacock but it's also available to rent on Amazon and Apple TV.

Funny Pages (2022)

We liked this story of a high school senior who writes and illustrates dirty (AKA underground) comics and doesn't want to go to college, to his parents' dismay. Daniel Zolghadri plays Robert and his parents are Maria Dizzia and Josh Pais. The part of Robert's best friend Miles was written for Miles Emanuel (more on that in a moment). Matthew Maher is featured as an unbalanced character and Louise Lasser makes a cameo as the Pharmacy Lady (in a wheelchair). I have to guess that naming our protagonist Robert is an homage to underground comic artist R. Crumb, whose first name is actually Robert and whose style is appropriated.

Owen Kline, the 31 year old son of Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline, makes his feature directing/writing/co-editing debut after a few shorts. I often quote from the scene in which he played Jeff Daniels' son in The Squid and the Whale (2005) (it's at the end of this clip). Apparently, in real life, Kline was working at a video store twelve years ago and 11 year old Emanuel came in to rent a Bergman film and they stayed in touch.

No composer is credited. I put in my notes that there were twelve songs and today I found this playlist of five on Spotify. Since it's been almost seven weeks since I saw it, and no soundtrack items are listed on imdb, I can't verify if the five songs were actually in the movie.

Another interesting bit of trivia is that, although Zolghadri is right-handed, Kline, who's a lefty, insisted that the character draw with his left and Kline was the hand double for the close-ups.

Pais was last blogged for Going in Style and Maher for It's Kind of a Funny Story, though both have had plenty of work since then. Zolghadri was in Eighth Grade and more. Though her name is new to these pages, Dizzia's many credits include Rachel Getting Married, Martha Marcy May Marlene, While We're Young, Going in Style, and 18 episodes of Orange Is the New Black. This is Emanuel's second feature acting gig. Lasser is best known for the title role in 325 episodes of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976-77) and has dozens of other credits, though only a few lately.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics smiled with an average of 82%, while its audiences remained straight faced at 47.  However, festival attendees at the 2022 Cannes Festival gave it a three minute standing ovation.

We rented it on Apple TV/iTunes on September 15.

The Woman Who Ran (2020)

This quiet South Korean movie shows one woman visiting three friends, one at a time, and they talk. Reviewers loved it but I was not transported. It's been a long time since I watched it and, at the time, I jotted "who was it about" and "very short" (it's 1:17 long). Even though I've read some reviews, such as this from the New York Times, I'm still not sure who ran or why. Most reviews are full of spoilers but there's not much to spoil here because it's a mood piece.

Kim Min-hee is the main character, although the movie starts with the camera lingering on one of the friends tending a chicken coop (hence "who was it about"). Hong Sang-soo directed, wrote, produced, scored, and edited. Hong has made one other appearance in this blog, for Night and Day, which was two and a half times longer--much too long.

As I mentioned, Rotten Tomatoes' critics give it a full 100%, while its audiences are jogging away at 55. I rented it on Apple TV on September 8.