A Man Called Otto (2022)

This remake of a Swedish movie, with Tom Hanks in the cranky title role, is very good, though arguably not as good as the 2015 original, A Man Called Ove, which I described as funny and moving. Hanks' version leans heavily into moving with a little comic relief, especially from Mariana Treviño as his relentless neighbor Marisol.

The cast of dozens includes Truman Hanks, Tom's 27 year old son with Rita Wilson, playing the young Otto in flashbacks. Truman doesn't resemble his father as much as his half brother Colin, but Colin is 45 and too old for the part.

Mark Forster directs from the screenplay adaptation by David Magee. I would've preferred more laughter and fewer tears, but maybe that was my mood that day. 

Jackpot on the music! Thomas Newman is one of my favorite soundtrack composers and his score can be streamed on Apple Music, including a song sung by Wilson, who serves as one of the producers.

Hanks was last blogged for Elvis, Magee for Mary Poppins Returns, and Newman for Let Them All Talk.

Forster's previous work includes Monster's Ball (2001), Finding Neverland (2004), Stranger Than Fiction (2006), and The Kite Runner (2007). I loved the last two. He also directed Quantum of Solace but I didn't mention anyone besides the actors in that post which was among the first of this blog in the fall of 2008.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 69%, label this mediocre, while its audiences, at 97, proclaim it wonderful. We streamed it on Netflix on May 6.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021)

Jack and I really liked this sweet animated story of the tiny anthropomorphic shell being filmed in his home for a documentary by a human while yearning for his missing family members. Drawn from a trilogy of online short films, all versions feature co-writer Jenny Slate as Marcel's voice and were directed and co-written by Dean Fleischer Camp, who plays the documentarian in the flesh this time. Isabella Rossellini provides the voice of Nana Connie and there's a cameo that I think I'll let you find out for yourself because revealing it ahead of time might be a spoiler.

Nick Paley is another co-writer of the screenplay and has "story by" credit, along with Slate, Camp, and Elisabeth Holm.

The nice music by Disasterpeace is available on Apple Music and probably elsewhere. The three original videos can be streamed on YouTube (One, Two, Three).

Slate was last blogged for acting in Everything Everywhere All at Once and this is her first screenplay. Rossellini was previously in these pages for The Zigzag Kid and Holm for Landline, which starred Slate. This is Camp's acting and feature directing debut and Paley's first released feature screenplay.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are all laced up, averaging 98 and 90%, respectively. We watched it on April 25 and it can be streamed on Showtime or Paramount+ or you can rent it from the usual outlets.

Babylon (2022)

Three hours and nine minutes is too long for most movies and this one is an unrelenting mess with frenetic scenes of orgies and other debauchery, set in late 1920s Hollywood. The trivia is fascinating, with Margot Robbie's flamboyant starlet inspired by Clara Bow and others, and Brad Pitt's movie star based on John Gilbert and more, but watching the whole thing is quite a task. So glad Jack and I were alone in our house so we could catcall at the screen and take several breaks. Diego Calva is arguably the protagonist, as a young man with dreams of moviemaking, aided and abetted by a cast of hundreds, plus the rear end of an elephant making an explosive appearance towards the beginning (I was warned about that one in advance). No animals were harmed in the making of this movie.

I'm not sorry to have seen it but ... it's a lot. 

The good news is that there are some wonderful big band numbers, with some of the players having plotlines. Chazelle's musical collaborator Justin Hurwitz' Oscar-nominated score can be streamed on Apple Music. That album, too, is unusually long, clocking at over an hour and a half, and mostly doesn't include these songs.

More good news: Florencia Martin's production design and Mary Zophres' costumes were deservedly nominated for Academy Awards, with 41 wins and 144 other nominations listed on imdb.

Robbie was last blogged for Amsterdam, Pitt for Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood which shares some thematic elements but is way way better, Chazelle and Hurwitz for First Man, Martin for Blonde, and Zophres for La La Land which earned her another nomination.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are pretty much in tune with us, averaging 56 and 52%, respectively. Jack and I watched it on April 16 with our subscription to Paramount+. If you're curious and have the time to spend, it also can be rented on Prime or Vudu.

Linoleum (2022)

We're big fans of comedian Jim Gaffigan and loved seeing his range in this sci-fi dramedy about the former host of a kids' science TV show trying to make sense of his life after his job and marriage crumble. Rhea Seehorn is also great as his wife with supporting strength from Katelyn Nacon, Gabriel Rush, Amy Hargreaves, and a cameo by Tony Shaloub. Gaffigan also plays his dour father in flashbacks and two of his own five children are in it, too.

Director/writer Colin West was nominated for the South by Southwest Grand Jury Award among other honors. Be ready for a twist at the end, explained in this SPOILER-ridden link.

I was pleased to see the soundtrack by Mark Hadley on Apple Music and am enjoying it as I type.

Though the story is set in Ohio, it was shot in upstate New York during COVID lockdown.

Gaffigan was last blogged for Luca, Hargreaves for They/Them/Us, and Shaloub for Final Portrait. Seehorn is best known for 61 episodes of Better Call Saul, though she's been working for 25 years in movies and TV. Nacon has a number of credits, as does Rush, the latter's including Moonrise Kingdom and one episode of Better Call Saul.

This is West's third feature and Hadley's fourth, working together on the last two, as well as several short films for each.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics aren't floored but they liked it, averaging 80%, almost as much as its audiences at 89.

We waited impatiently for this to stream and finally rented it on Apple TV/iTunes on April 14.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)

Jack and I liked a lot this light story of a widowed British cleaning lady who follows her obsession with a Dior dress to the City of Lights. Lesley Manville is adorable (and Golden Globe-nominated) as the sweet but determined title character, Isabelle Huppert is always reliable, this time as the inflexible director, and handsome Lucas Bravo gives a warm interpretation of the company's accountant.

Director/screenwriter Anthony Fabian adapted the screenplay from Paul Gallico's 1958 novel Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris along with co-writers Carroll Cartwright, Keith Thompson, and Olivia Hetreed.

Rael Jones' lilting soundtrack is available on Apple Music.

Costume designer Jenny Beavan won awards from British Independent Film Awards and Online Association of Female Film Critics and was nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA (British equivalent of the Oscars), and her peers in the Costume Designers Guild, among other honors.

The movie was shot during COVID lockdown but release was delayed due to uncertainty of open theatres.

Manville was last blogged for Phantom Thread (ironically as the cold director of an English couture house), Huppert for Elle, Bravo for Ticket to Paradise, Fabian for his debut Skin, Cartwright for What Maisie Knew, Thompson for The Sapphires, and Beavan for Cruella, which earned her her third Oscar win (she had eight other nominations, not including this one). Hetreed shared a couple of nominations for this one and was nominated for a BAFTA for adapting the screenplay of The Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003). 

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are in Louvre (sorry!) with this movie, averaging 94 and 93%. We streamed it on March 7 (it was on my radar since it first opened theatrically last fall) with our Peacock subscription. It's also available with a subscription to Prime and can be rented or bought on Apple TV or Vudu (whatever that is?).

The Eternal Daughter (2021)

Jack and I were not big fans of what some have called a "gothic mystery" in which Tilda Swinton plays both "middle-aged" filmmaker Julie and her elderly mother Rosalind, visiting a hotel where Rosalind lived as a child. Swinton's own dog Louis is featured. There's a twist at the end.

Joanna Hogg directs from her own original screenplay and the staging is fine. The movie earned a handful of nominations and was chosen as one of the Top Ten Movies of 2022 by the National Board of Review.

No composer is credited and only six songs are listed anywhere I can find.

Swinton was last blogged for The French Dispatch. I haven't seen any of Hogg's previous work.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are forever relating to this with a 95% average but we are more in line with its audiences at 43. We rented on Apple TV/iTunes on March 10 but now it's apparently available only for purchase on Apple TV, Prime, and Vudu.