Mean Girls (2024)

Jack and I both like musicals and this one is good fun with high production values. The enormous cast is led by Angourie Rice as the new girl in high school Cady and Reneé Rapp as Regina, the meanest girl of them all. Cady's friends are Auli'i Cravalho as Janis and Jaquel Spivey as Damian and Regina's posse is Bebe Wood as Gretchen who tries so hard and Avantika as the dim-witted Karen (that's her character's name, not her stereotype!). Some of the adults making appearances are Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, and Jon Hamm as teachers, Busy Philipps as Regina's mom, Jenna Fischer as Cady's mom, musician Megan Thee Stallion as herself, and Lindsay Lohan in a cameo as the Mathletes moderator.

It's co-directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. and written by Fey, based on her stage musical, based on her 2004 film, based on Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes. We saw the touring company on stage in 2019.

Fey's husband Jeff Richmond composed the music for both the stage musical and this film one, but not the 2004 version. The soundtrack on Apple Music is all songs with lyrics, so I'm not streaming it as I write. We did, however, listen to it after we watched the movie weeks ago.

If you watch it now, look at Fischer's arms. She apparently broke her shoulder before shooting some scenes and couldn't move her right arm. Fey and Richmond's daughter Alice Richmond, now 19, made some of the art. 

Rice was last blogged for The Beguiled, Cravalho for the TV series Rise, Fey for acting in Soul, Hamm for Top Gun: Maverick, and Fischer for Brad's Status. 

I enjoyed Rapp's acting in all 20 episodes of The Sex Lives of College Girls. She's a singer/dancer in her own right, too, with albums and music videos. This is Spivey's feature debut after his Tony nomination for the lead in A Strange Loop on Broadway. Wood and Avantika have plenty of credits but are new to me. Meadows, best known for 182 episodes of Saturday Night Live in the 1990s, has been in a bunch of movies and hundreds of TV episodes. My favorites of Philipps' roles are 102 episodes of Cougar Town and 22 of Girls5eva. And if you didn't know, Lohan starred as Cady in the 2004 Mean Girls.

Jayne makes her feature directing debut and it's the second time around for her husband Perez. Fey's writing career is extensive and almost all TV except for the first Mean Girls. This is Richmond's second feature, after Baby Mama (2008), co-starring Fey, and he's written music for many of Fey's TV projects.

Rotten Tomatoes audiences are meaner than we are, averaging 62%, and its critics are only slightly nicer at 70.  We streamed the movie on Paramount+ on March 22, but it's now available on most streamers, including Prime and Apple TV.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Jack and I enjoyed many parts of this animated sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, particularly the rescue in "Mumbattan" and the old school POWs and BAMs but, unlike the public at large (see below), we liked the first chapter more. Returning from the previous movie are the voices of Shameik Moore as Miles, Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen, Brian Tyree Henry as Jeff, Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker, Mahershala Ali as Aaron, and many more in the cast of hundreds.

Co-directors are Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, working from a script by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Dave Callaham. All but Lord are new to the Spider-Verse series. At one point when the story focused on Miles' and Gwen's relationship, I called it a rom-comic.

I'm still digging Daniel Pemberton's new score, streaming on Apple Music and elsewhere.

Noticeably missing from this Marvel movie are a Stan Lee (1922-2019) cameo and a full bonus scene after the credits. We see only the words TO BE CONTINUED before the credits (and the third movie is in production now with the same directors and writers).

Lord and Pemberton were last blogged for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Powers for Soul, and Callaham for Wonder Woman 1984. This is the feature directing debut for Dos Santos, after some action TV episodes and shorts, and the directing debut, period, for Thompson. Miller has written or co-written several other movies and TV shows, including The Afterparty, which he created.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are spinning with joy, averaging 95 and 94%. We watched it on Netflix March 26.

Dumb Money (2023)

Jack and I liked a lot this frantic fictionalization of the GameStop 2020 stock market phenomenon (more in a moment)--frantic because some of the action takes place online with busy, loud, multi-screen reactions. The big ensemble includes Paul Dano, well cast as determined financial analyst Keith Gill, as is Pete Davidson as his loose cannon brother Kevin. The hedge fund guys (the 1% we love to hate) include Seth Rogen (so good at acting so anxious), Vincent D'Onofrio, and Nick Offerman. Some of the "little guy" investors are Talia Ryder as a college student, America Ferrera as a nurse, and Anthony Ramos as a GameStop branch employee. My top ten are rounded out by Shailene Woodley and Olivia Thirlby as the supportive wives of Keith Gill and Rogen's character Steve Cohen.

Director Craig Gillespie keeps up the pace from the script by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, based on Ben Mezrich's 2021 book The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees. The action is firmly set during lockdown with most of the characters observing safe pandemic practices, though not all.

Here's a brief summary, though I am no expert. Correct me on any details by writing to babetteflix at gmail. GameStop, still in existence now, is a retail chain selling "consoles, collectibles, video games, and more." Just before the pandemic, people on Wall Street Bets, described by Stephen Colbert as "a popular, juvenile, foul-mouthed Reddit page," noticed that hedge funds were short selling GameStop, essentially betting (big) for the stock to fail. Those users, inspired by Keith Gill, launched a coordinated buying spree, which is called a short squeeze, and drove up the share price, costing those 1% guys a LOT. Here's a Wikipedia article with more detail.

I'm streaming Will Bates' soundtrack on Apple Music. There are some rap and other songs on that album as well. Here's a song list. After the movie Jack and I listened to the long version of White Stripes' Seven Nation Army, which plays over the credits.

More trivia. The real Ken Griffin, played by Offerman, spent a little of his enormous wealth on legal fees trying very hard to prevent this movie from being made. He even sued afterwards but couldn't stop it. Speaking of lawsuits, the Winklevoss twins Tyler and Cameron, whose case against Mark Zuckerberg over the creation of Facebook is depicted in The Social Network, are among the executive producers of this movie. And, lastly, The Social Network and this one are both based on books by Ben Mezrich.

Dano and Rogen were last blogged for The Fabelmans, Davidson for The King of Staten Island, D'Onofrio for Jurassic World, Offerman for Frances Ferguson, Ryder for Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Ferrera for Barbie, Ramos for In the Heights, Woodley for Ferrari, Thirlby for Being Flynn (though she was one of the many in Oppenheimer), Gillespie for Cruella, and Bates for Another Earth. This is the feature debut for Blum and Angelo, both of whom were staff writers for Orange Is the New Black.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are happy to spend some smart time on this, averaging 84 and 86%. We watched it on Netflix on March 20.

Perfect Days (2023)

Deb, Angela, and I loved this languid tale of a Tokyo public toilet cleaner contentedly living his well-ordered life. Some things do happen but this is not for the impatient. Some of the movie's seven wins and 35 other nominations have gone to star Koji Yakusho and others to German director Wim Wenders, the first non-Japanese director to helm an Oscar-nominated Japanese language movie.

The screenplay was co-written by Wenders and Takuma Takasaki. No composer is credited but our hero listens to audio cassettes of 70s and 80s American and British music (here's one list, including the ad hoc title track of Lou Reed's Perfect Day).

The nine public toilets in the movie are architecturally and sometimes technologically fascinating. Apparently they were built to welcome people to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Obviously, the games were delayed but the restrooms are still standing. An executive with the company Uniqlo spearheaded the idea of making a documentary about the buildings, and Wenders was one of the directors contacted. Wenders decided to make a fiction feature instead.

The second item on my list of Rules for movies and television is that the Eiffel Tower is visible in nearly every shot of Paris. Further down is Big Ben, London Bridge, and/or Buckingham Palace and the guards for London. In this movie, Tokyo's Skytree tower is ubiquitous.

Wenders was last blogged for Pina and this is the second feature for Takasaki. Yakusho's resume includes Tampopo (1985), Shall We Dance (1996), and Babel (2006).

Rotten Tomatoes' critics reviews are practically flawless, averaging 96% and its audiences are close at 90. Not St. Patrick's Day fare, but we rented it on March 17 anyway.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)

I forgot to write about this silly movie about brothers who unwittingly bring wild con-women to their sister's destination wedding, but I remember that Jack and I thought it was pretty funny eight years ago. Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick, and Aubrey Plaza star. The latter two are always good and we're big fans.

Jake Szymanski directs from a script by Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O'Brien and the music is by Jeff Cardoni. The internet reminds me that the movie is raunchy.

Efron was blogged (the following year) for The Greatest Showman, Kendrick in 2018 for A Simple Favor, Plaza early last year for Emily the Criminal, and Cohen and O'Brien in 2017 for The House. Devine's many credits include both Pitch Perfect movies and twenty episodes of Modern Family. Szymanski directed all eight episodes of Jury Duty, among other projects and Cardoni's long resume includes scoring 52 (out of 53) episodes of Silicon Valley.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are at the kids' table with a 39% average, while its audiences leave during the reception at 51. We saw it back then in a bricks and mortar theatre, but now you can rent it.

When I discover I've forgotten to write about something I like to put it in the blog anyway. Just a wee touch of OCD.

Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

Despite its fair to poor reviews, Jack and I really liked Ethan Coen's comedic caper about two lesbian best friends, one shy and the other cheerfully oversexed, who drive someone's car to Florida and are chased by hoodlums. Geraldine Viswanathan and Margaret Qualley are adorable as the odd couple Marian and Jamie and Beanie Feldstein is hilarious as Jamie's ex. Supporting roles include Pedro Pascal as a collector, Joey Slotnick as a goon, Colman Domingo as the goon's boss, and Matt Damon as a senator. Miley Cyrus appears in an uncredited cameo and I couldn't believe that the flashback of the senator with Cyrus was not a digitally altered Damon but a completely different actor, Jordan Zatawski (here's his photo).

Coen, who usually co-directs and co-writes with his brother Joel, takes the helm by himself, working from a script he co-wrote with his wife Tricia Cooke.

Carter Burwell's score, plus some songs, can be streamed on Apple Music and some of the many songs are available on an Apple playlist

Coen solo directed one other movie, a documentary. He was last blogged for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Viswanathan for Bad Education, Qualley for Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, Feldstein for The Humans, and Pascal for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent before winning the SAG award and more for starring in nine episodes of The Last of Us. Slotnick was last in these pages for They/Them/Us, Domingo for The Color Purple, Damon for Oppenheimer, and Burwell for The Banshees of Inisherin. 

Cyrus, who has a million music videos to her credit, has been in eight other movies, starting with Big Fish (2003) at age ten. The Coen brothers usually edit their movies under a pseudonym but Cooke edits this one under her own name after almost two dozen other editing credits. This is her feature screenwriting debut.

As noted above, Rotten Tomatoes' critics are in the back seat with an average of 64%, while its audiences are looking for another ride at 36. We rented it on March 13 on Apple TV. It's R-rated for sexual situations and Coen-level cartoonish violence.

Monster (2023)

As expected, I loved the latest by Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda AKA Kore-eda Hirokazu. In three distinct acts, each from a different character's perspective, the viewer can't be sure who is truly the "monster" in this story about a mother, her son, his friend, and their interactions with their fifth grade schoolteacher. I have ideas and will be glad to discuss them in private. Koreeda always does wonderful and sensitive work with children and those who love them.

The seminal Japanese movie Rashomon (1950), which I haven’t seen, is one of the most cited examples of telling the same story from different points of view.

Monster's principal cast is Sakura Andô as the mother Saori, Soya Kurokawa as her son Minato, Hinata Hiiragi as his friend Yori, and Eita Nagayama as the teacher Hori.

Screenwriter Yûji Sakamoto based the story on some of his own childhood experiences.

36 minutes of the music by Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023) is available on Apple Music and the movie is dedicated to him. He and Koreeda are among my favorite filmmakers, period. 

The movie was shot on location in the Suwa region of Nagano Prefecture in mid 2022, with about 700 local elementary school students acting as extras. One of the many things I learned in my 2019 trip to Japan is that the Japanese customarily bow in greeting, but, when apologizing, they bow more deeply. Watch for that.

Ando was last blogged for Shoplifters, Koreeda for Broker, and Ryuichi Sakamoto for The Revenant. Kurokawa, now 13, has done a little TV and this is his first feature. Hiiragi, now 12, has been in one other feature and a bunch of TV episodes. Nagayama has been a busy actor since his 2001 debut, with dozens of features and episodes, and this is Yuji Sakamoto's seventh feature.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are hugely behind this, averaging 96 and 92%. I rented it on Apple TV on March 13 in Japanese with English subtitles but you can watch it dubbed into English if that's your preference.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Our friend Judy, who worked on this animated installment of the franchise, recommended we see the Oscar-winning 2018 movie before its 2023 sequel. In it, teenage Miles Morales navigates his world with his new spidery powers, interacting with family and friends and other Spider-Man iterations. It's a mashup of animated genres, with some lifelike characters, some abstract, big BAMs, slo-mo sequences, very funny bits, lots of action, and much more, 

So many voice actors! Here are the main ones: Shameik Moore as Miles, Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy, Brian Tyree Henry as Miles' dad Jefferson, Mahershala Ali as Miles' uncle Aaron, Lily Tomlin as Aunt May, Liev Schreiber as Kingpin, Kathryn Hahn as Doc Ock, and the various Spideys: Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker, John Mulaney as Spider-Ham, Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker, Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir, and Chris Pine as Peter Parker. Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee (1922-2018) makes his usual cameo as himself. Johnson's Parker/Spider-Man owes a little to Deadpool (that's a link to my post on the sequel).

Co-directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman work from a script by Phil Lord and Rothman, with story by Lord. 

I loved the techno music by Daniel Pemberton, streaming on Apple Music, and a jillion songs, fifteen of which are on an Apple Music playlist. Spidey Bells (A Hero's Lament), a song parody of Jingle Bells, is sung by Pine over the end credits.

Moore was last blogged for Dope, Steinfeld for The Edge of Seventeen, Henry for Causeway, Ali for Swan Song, Tomlin for Moving On, Schreiber for A Rainy Day in New York, Hahn for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Johnson for Jurassic World, Cage for The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Pine for Wonder Woman 1984, Lee for Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Pemberton for Ferrari.

This is Mulaney's first feature (two more after it) but he's more famous as a very funny comedian and episodic TV actor. Glenn is best known for 44 episodes of Orange Is the New Black and has done lots of TV, both animated and live action. Persichetti makes his directing debut after working in the animation department for a number of projects. Ramsey worked in art departments, directed one other feature and some TV episodes. Rothman also makes a directing debut but has written other things, including being head writer for 455 episodes of Late Show with David Letterman, and Lord has co-written a few other movies and TV episodes, most, but not all, animated.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are happily spinning, with averages of 97 and 94%. There's a third chapter in production right now. We plan to see the current/second one soon and rented this on Apple TV March 9. Be sure to stay in the room for the post-credits bonus which, Judy tells me, foresees the next movie.

Milestone alert! With Elemental, I have now watched and written about 1501 movies since September 3, 2008. There are 23 other movies posted on the blog that I saw before that date (and today I have five in draft mode awaiting my attention).

Elemental (2023)

Jack and I enjoyed this Oscar-nominated Pixar animated feature, about the elements, with anthropomorphized fire and water becoming close despite the dangers of touching each other. Leah Lewis and Mamadou Athie provide the voices of the star-crossed lovers Ember and Wade, respectively. Support comes from Ronnie Del Carmen and Shila Ommi as Ember's parents Bernie and Cinder, Catherine O'Hara as Brook (another water), and Wendi McLendon-Covey as Gale, representing the element air. Earth gets short shrift here.

Director Peter Sohn drew upon his family history of immigrating from Korea to the Bronx and opening a small family business. The script writers are John Hoberg, Kat Likkel, and Brenda Hsueh, and the story credit goes to them and Sohn.

As usual, I'm streaming the soundtrack as I write, this time by Thomas Newman, one of my faves. He used a lot of East Indian themes and instruments and it's a fun listen. It's on Apple Music, Spotify, and probably others.

Lewis was last blogged for The Half of It, Athie for The Front Runner, McLendon-Covey for Hello, My Name Is Doris, O'Hara for Temple Grandin, and Newman for A Man Called Otto.

Del Carmen has worked at Pixar for 24 years, as a writer (Inside Out, more), artist (Coco, Up, Ratatouille, more), and voice actor on this, Inside Out, Soul, and one other. Ommi is new to me.

Sohn directed one other feature after voice acting and working in the art department for dozens of projects. This is the feature screenwriting debut of all three writers, who started off in television. Hoberg and Likkel, who are married to each other, co-wrote lots of TV episodes, including ten of My Name Is Earl and one of Better Off Ted (both are among our favorites). Likkel also worked on three episodes of Rugrats (another fave) and Hsueh's resume includes one of The Afterparty.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are dog paddling, averaging only 73%, but its audiences are burning up at 93. We streamed it on Disney+ (they own Pixar now) on March 8 after one of our granddaughters said she liked it.

Ferrari (2023)

We expected to like this story of the Italian auto designer more than we did. It has great action sequences on the race courses, magnificent vintage cars, gorgeous locations, and beautiful cinematography indoors and out, but is overly melodramatic elsewhere. Adam Driver tries his best as Enzo Ferrari but is hampered by the pacing and emotional script. Penelope Cruz got a number of nominations as his impassioned wife and Shailene Woodley doesn't have enough to do as his mistress. Actor Patrick Dempsey, in real life a racecar driver and owner of a motorsport company, plays driver Piero Taruffi. Some of Dempsey's signature full head of hair actually fell out later after the combination of hair bleach and tight helmets. One can assume that his subsequent buzzcat has grown out by now.

Director Michael Mann worked on getting this made for thirty years. The script is credited to Troy Kennedy Martin (1932-2009) with additional literary material by Mann and David Rayfiel (according to the Writers Guild, not the credits), adapted from automobile journalist Brock Yates' (1933-2016) 1991 biography Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine. Yates' 2004 book Against Death and Time, about the Mille Miglia race, is also cited as inspiration.

Daniel Pemberton's score can be streamed from Apple Music, and Erik Messerschmidt's glorious photography was shot entirely in Italy.

Thanks to Production Designer Maria Djurkovic's work, the movie's 1957 setting earned it a nomination for Best Time Capsule Award in this year's AARP Movies for Grownups Awards. Maestro won that award and the other nominees were Oppenheimer, Priscilla, and Rustin.

I like numbers. And sometimes the numbers of producers get so high that I acknowledge them. This is the new leader of the Producers Plethora Prize, speeding past the previous winner's 43 with a staggering total of 53 producers.

Driver was last blogged for White Noise, Cruz for Official Competition, Woodley for Snowden, Mann for Public Enemies, Pemberton for Amsterdam, and Messerschmidt for Mank. Dempsey is best known for his 247 episodes of Grey's Anatomy as Derek Shepherd AKA McDreamy, but has had dozens and dozens of other roles.

Kennedy Martin's credits include the screenplay for a 1969 version of The Italian Job, which was the basis of the 2003 iteration (with the Mini Coopers). Yates founded the actual Cannonball Run race and then wrote the script for the 1981 movie.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences aren't racing to see this, with averages of 72 and 74%, despite Richard Brody of the New Yorker picking this as one of last year's best (here's his spoiler-filled review, which I read today--I never read reviews in advance, especially in the New Yorker). We rented it on February 22 on Apple TV.

What Happens Later (2023)

Not the first time Jack and I have ignored bad reviews but usually we're rewarded. I really wanted to love this rom-com but ... meh. Meg Ryan directs, stars, co-wrote, and co-produces a story about ex-lovers who get snowed in at a midwest airport decades after they broke up. David Duchovny is her co-star, a tightly wound Bill in contrast to her Willa, an aging hippie with flowing hair and wardrobe, crystals, etc. The pacing is strange––it jumps back and forth from some pretty good jokes to their bickering to their enjoying each other. My not liking her character didn't help.

Ryan's co-writer is Kirk Lynn, and the script is adapted from Steven Dietz' 2008 play Shooting Star. Bill's character says he suffers from anticipatory anxiety. I looked it up and it's a real thing. One description says it's "bleeding before you are cut."

David Boman's score, occasionally verging on syrupy, is on Apple Music. The movie was shot in Bentonville, Arkansas, at both the Northwest Arkansas National Airport and the Crystal Bridges Museum. We did like the sets.

Duchovny was last blogged for You People (panned by critics but we liked it a lot). Some of my favorites of Ryan's many acting credits are the obvious: When Harry Met Sally (1989), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), and You've Got Mail (1998), and the not so obvious When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) and French Kiss (1995). I mentioned her briefly in my post about the remake of The Women, which went on to earn her a shared nomination for Worst Actress in the 2009 Razzie Awards. This is her second directing gig and feature screenwriting debut for her and Lynn. 

Rotten Tomatoes' critics don't much care what happens later with a 49% average and its audiences hated it at 28. We rented it on Apple TV on March 5.

Poor Things (2023)

Unrelentingly weird but I loved it. A mad scientist reanimates a dead woman with a baby's brain and she matures––sort of a coming of age story. Jack liked it, somewhat less enthusiastically. Emma Stone is terrific as the woman Bella, as are Willem Dafoe as the scientist, Ramy Youssef as the scientist's protegé, and Mark Ruffalo as a randy lawyer. Stone and Ruffalo have two of the movie's eleven Oscar nominations among its 97 wins and 394 other nominations. Other characters I enjoyed include Hanna Schygulla and Jerrod Carmichael as passengers on a ship and Christopher Abbott at the end.

Yup, nominated for Best Picture. All but one of the Oscar nominations for this movie are joined by nominations from the guilds and unions of the specialties: Screen Actors, Directors, Producers, Composers, Cinematographers, Makeup and Hair, Costume Designers, Production Designers, and Editors.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos (nominated) works from Tony McNamara's (nominated, but not by the Writers Guild) screenplay based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray.

The enjoyably strange music by Jerskin Fendrix (nominated) can be streamed on Apple Music. Fendrix has a cameo as a Lisbon restaurant musician.

Director of Photography Robbie Ryan (nominated) liberally shoots with wide angle and fish eye lens as he did in The Favourite.

The Makeup nominees Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, and Josh Weston, had their work cut out for them with Dafoe's crazy Elephant Man prosthetics. Holly Waddington's (nominated) costumes are gorgeous

The nominated Production Design team of James Price, Shona Heath, and Zsuzsa Mihalek won the Art Directors Guild prize for Fantasy film. and the Editing nomination of Yorgos Mavropsaridis adds up to eleven.

As most of my readers know, I watch the entire credit sequence of every movie. I enjoy prolonging the vibe with the music, as well as reading about the locations and music and getting rewarded with an occasional bonus (known as Crazy Credits on imdb). The bad news is that the main closing credits are practically unreadable. The good news is that they are framing some spectacular photographs. I particularly loved the ones of the ship's set design with inlaid wood on the walls and mosaics on the floors.

Stone and McNamara were last blogged for Cruella, Dafoe Nightmare Alley, Ruffalo for Avengers: Infinity War, Carmichael and Abbott for On the Count of Three, and Lanthimos and Ryan for The Favourite. I liked all 29 episodes of Youssef's series Ramy about Egyptian immigrants in New York. Hanna Schygulla, now 80, is a venerable German actress and I think I probably have seen her work. This is Fendrix's debut.

Stacey has nominations and wins for The Favourite and Cruella, Coulier won Oscars for The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Iron Lady, Weston did good work on The Eternal Daughter, Elvis, and Bohemian Rhapsody. Waddington was costume designer for Ginger & Rosa and War Horse. James Price worked on Judy, Mihalek worked on Down by Love (2003), Argo (2004), and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Mavropsaridis was nominated for editing The Favourite. Heath is new to me. All the others have many credits besides the ones I named here.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are richly with me, averaging 92%, while its audiences are a bit less well off at 79. The first day it was available, February 27, I bought it from Apple TV, only because it's not available for rent quite yet. It's still in theatres and I'm sure it will be rentable very soon.

There are some fun featurettes on the Rotten Tomatoes link above. Check them out if you like.

Now I have seen and written about all ten Best Picture Oscar nominees. I liked all of them a lot and can't pick a favorite!

Zone of Interest (2023)

Whew, this is chilling. In World War II, a German family lives an idyllic life in a beautiful estate with gardens, a swimming pool, and servants. The catch? It shares a wall with Auschwitz, the attentive father/husband is its Commandant, and the sounds of deadly machinery, gunshots, and screaming victims permeate every scene. No wonder it's nominated for the Best Sound Design Oscar, as well as (burying the lede) Best Picture, Best International Film, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, among its 53 wins and 152 other nominations.

Christian Friedel plays Commandant Rudolf Höss as a faithful Nazi and Sandra Hüller is his busy wife managing their five children and everything needed to keep the house running.

Director Jonathan Glazer loosely adapted Martin Amis' 2014 novel into this screenplay. I recommend this spoiler-filled article to be read after seeing the movie. Its main headlines, however, are that Höss was a real person and the Zone of Interest was truly the place from which Krakow residents were relocated when Auschwitz was built.

The soundtrack by Mica Levi has not been released but I found three of her clips on YouTube: one, two, three. Lukasz Zal provides the lush cinematography. The movie's audience never sees the horror of the concentration camp but we can't not hear it.

Hüller was last blogged for Anatomy of a Fall, Glazer for Under the Skin, Levi for Zola, and Zal for Ida.

Friedel was top billed as The Teacher who narrated The White Ribbon but I failed to mention him.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are fascinated, with an average of 93%, while its audiences' attentions wander at 78. I rented it the first day it was available to do so, on February 20.

Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet lehdet - 2023)

Yes, it's slow, it's in Finnish with subtitles, and my Finnish friend Maija didn't like it, but I enjoyed the cringey dry humor in this story of two lonely people, one a woman diligently working hand to mouth and the other a blue collar worker who repeatedly gets fired because of his drinking. Not for everyone, but the movie has eight wins, including the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, and fifty other nominations.

Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatenen play the introverted leads who don't talk to each other much, but each has a confidante so we know what they're thinking. Aki Kaurismäki directs from his original script.

No composer is credited. The songs range from karaoke (they meet at a karaoke bar) to classical to pop to traditional and more. In one scene they go to a theatre and watch the zombie comedy The Dead Don’t Die.

Cinematographer Timo Salminen provides the photography ranging from drab to lush.

Kaurismäki was last blogged for Le Havre and the others are new to me.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are falling for this (as I did) with a 97% average, but its audiences (like Maija) are not, at 58. I rented it on Apple TV/iTunes on February 16.

Priscilla (2023)

I'm a big fan of director/writer Sofia Coppola and was eager to watch her bio-pic of Elvis Presley's wife from 1959 to 1973. We liked it a lot. Coppola's pacing is never quick but I never care. Diminutive Cailee Spaeny is fully able to portray the beautiful title character from ages 14 to 28 and tall Jacob Elordi makes a good Elvis. 

Coppola based her screenplay on the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley (who acts as an executive producer) and Sandra Harmon.

The soundtrack, attributed to the band Phoenix (fronted by Coppola's husband Thomas Mars), contains a long list of songs by musicians who are not Elvis Presley nor Phoenix. According to co-music supervisor (with Phoenix) Randall Poster, the anonymous company that owns the rights to Elvis' songs was unwilling to permit their use. The songs used in the movie, however, are good fun, especially for those of us who remember when they were new. Here's that soundtrack on Apple Music.

Coppola and Phoenix were last blogged for On the Rocks, Spaeny for On the Basis of Sex, and Elordi for Saltburn. Presley has been a producer on a number of other projects, more than half of which were about her late husband. Poster has worked on hundreds of projects and is one of the most prolific music supervisors in the business.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are all shook up at 84% but its audiences have suspicious minds, averaging a scant 64. We rented it on February 3, but you can now also stream it on Max with a subscription.

All of Us Strangers (2023)

Much lauded but not so beloved by Jack and me. A reclusive writer meets a mysterious man, they hook up, the writer visits his parents who have been dead for 25 years and look just as they did then, and other stuff happens. As I recall, it's pretty, but we were not captivated. 

Andrew Scott is the tortured writer, Paul Mescal the attractive stranger, and Claire Foy and Jamie Bell the warm parents.

Directed and written by Andrew Haigh, based on the 1987 novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada, this has 22 wins and 100 other nominations so far. The scenes with the parents are shot in Haigh's own childhood home in Croydon in South London.

Composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch's ethereal soundtrack can be streamed on Apple Music and probably elsewhere.

Scott was last blogged for Catherine Called Birdy, Mescal for Aftersun, Foy for Women Talking, Bell for Rocketman, Haigh for 45 Years, and Levienaise-Farrouch for Living.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are well acquainted, averaging 96 and 92%. We saw it on January 10 on a screener from the Independent Feature Project because I'm a voting member for the Spirit Awards, which were last night. It's a fun show and is now streaming on YouTube but I haven't watched it yet.

I waited to write this until the rest of you could see it, though I haven't given you much encouragement to do so. It's just arrived on Hulu and for rent.

A Thousand and One (2023)

Ann and I really liked this drama about Inez, a strong willed 20-something ex-con, who kidnaps her six year old son Terry from the foster system to raise him herself in mid-1990s Harlem. Teyana Taylor is terrific as Inez and is ably backed by William Catlett as Lucky, and the trio of boys playing Terry: Aaron Kingsley Adetola (at age 6), Aven Courtney (13), and Josiah Cross (17). 

Director/writer A.V. Rockwell was born and raised in Queens and was about Inez's age in the 90s. The movie won Sundance's Grand Jury Prize early last year for Rockwell, co-producer Lena Waithe, and more. Some very sad trivia: an unhinged and unhoused stand-in on this movie stalked Rockwell, causing her to take out a restraining order, and two months later the stand-in murdered Michael Latt, a close friend of Rockwell's and the son of the founding director of Sundance Institute's Feature Film Program, Michelle Satter.

I'm streaming the nice soundtrack by Gary Gunn on Apple Music as I write.

News clips of Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg keep us grounded as to what year it is as the characters age and the neighborhood changes. Apparently director of photography Eric Yue used analog film for the first half to reproduce gritty Harlem of the time.

By the way, 1001 is an apartment number in the movie, but I don't remember anyone saying it out loud, either as a thousand and one or ten-oh-one.

Taylor is a musician with dozens of music videos and a few movies to her credit, none of which I've seen. Catlett has plenty of credits as well, but is also new to me, as are Adetola, Courtney, and Cross (the latter had a small part in King Richard). Rockwell makes her feature debut after a dozen shorts and a little more. This is Gunn's sixth feature and Yue's fifth.

A large number of Rotten Tomatoes' critics loved this, adding up to 97%, with its audiences subtracting a bit at 85. It is on the list of Barack Obama's favorite movies of 2023. We streamed it on Prime with a subscription on January 31.

The Color Purple (2023)

Jack and I really liked this spectacular musical about a young Black woman in the first half of the 20th century, the terrible abuse she suffers most of her life, and the healing effects of her relationships with other women. The enormous cast features Fantasia Barrino in the lead as Celie, Danielle Brooks as (and Oscar nominated for) her free-spirited sister-in-law Sofia, Colman Domingo as Celie's awful husband named Mister, Taraji P. Henson as performer Shug, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi as teenage Celie, Halle Bailey as teenage Nettie (Celie's sister), David Alan Grier as the preacher, and Louis Gossett, Jr. as Mister's father. Ciara plays adult Nettie and Gabriella Wilson (H.E.R.) plays Squeak. I enjoyed Jon Batiste's cameo as a, what else?, piano player. Deon Cole is a very funny comedian but I did not recognize him as Celie's sour father.

Ghanaian director Blitz Bazawule works from a script by Marcus Gardley, based on Marsha Norman's 2005 musical stage play and Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize winning 1982 epistolary (written letters) novel. Steven Spielberg's 1985 film adaptation of the novel raised some eyebrows at the time, as it was written and directed by white men, and it's not credited as a source, but he is listed as a producer here. Whoopi Goldberg, who starred as Celie in the previous movie, has a cameo here.

Kris Bowers' half hour instrumental soundtrack is available on Apple Music. But what you'll remember are the songs with lyrics, available on that platform and elsewhere (listen here). Thanks to Dan Lausten for the glorious cinematography.

Domingo was last blogged for Rustin, Henson for The Best of Enemies, Batiste for Soul, Cole for You People, Goldberg for Luck, Bowers for King Richard, and Lausten for Nightmare Alley.

Barrino, the 2004 American Idol winner, played Celie on Broadway in 2007 and in the 2010 US national tour. Juilliard graduate Brooks, best known for 89 episodes of Orange Is the New Black, has been in several other features and lots of TV, and made her (Tony-nominated) Broadway debut as Sofia in the 2015 revival. This is Mpasi's debut. 

I watched a few of Bailey's 53 episodes of Grown-ish and she, Ciara, and H.E.R. are established musical stars, though the latter two hardly get to sing at all in this picture. Grier is best known for 124 episodes of In Living Color, and his long resumé includes thirteen of Bad Teacher, and the TV movie The Wiz Live! Gossett's hundreds of credits include his Oscar win for An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). 

This is Bazawule's third feature and Gardley's first after some TV episodes.

This movie has over a hundred nominations, but Rotten Tomatoes' audiences are more vivid, at 95%, than its critics at 83. We rented it on Apple TV January 30.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

We enjoyed this musical about a poor boy hoping to win riches in a chocolatier's lottery with strings attached. Jack loves rewatching old movies and my M.O. is to watch new ones. But I was stuck in bed for a few days (much better now, thanks!) and he suggested I see this in preparation for the upcoming remake with Timothée Chalamet.

Peter Ostrum, who plays the boy Charlie, was 14 in 1971. Gene Wilder (1933-2016) and Jack Albertson (1907-1981) are Wonka the chocolatier and Charlie's grandpa, respectively.

Mel Stuart (1928-2012) directs from a script by Roald Dahl (1916-1990) adapted from Dahl's 1964 children's book. The script was later tweaked, to Dahl's disapproval, by an uncredited David Seltzer.

The music by Leslie Bricusse (1931-2021) and Anthony Newley (1931-1999) got three Oscar nominations. The soundtrack is available on Apple Music and, no doubt, elsewhere. When Amy was a toddler in LA, we used to listen in the car to a Michael Feinstein audio cassette of kids' songs that included Pure Imagination, from this movie. Over and over (but I didn't get tired of it!). And we boomers remember Sammy Davis Jr.'s cover of The Candy Man.

This was Ostrum's only acting credit. Some of Wilder's best work is in The Producers (1967), Young Frankenstein (1974), Blazing Saddles (1974), Silver Streak (1976), and Stir Crazy (1980). Albertson is best known for The Subject Was Roses (1968). six episodes of Mister Ed (1961-64), 88 of Chico and the Man (as The Man) (1974-78), and hundreds more, many of which predate my awareness. Mel Stuart was not on my radar.

Many of prolific novelist Dahl's books have been adapted for the stage and screen. This was his fourth and final screenplay, after You Only Live Twice (1967), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), and The Road Builder (1971). Seltzer is new to me.

I'm a longtime fan of Bricusse and Newley, especially their stage musicals Stop the World – I Want to Get off (1961), The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (1965), and Doctor Dolittle (1967). Bricusse also co-scored Victor/Victoria (1982) for the big screen and later the stage, among others. Newley was better known as an actor and singer than as a composer.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are sweet on this, averaging 92 and 87%, respectively. We streamed it on Max with a subscription on January 27.

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Martin Scorsese's latest is very good but disturbing, especially when we know it's based on the true stories of Osage Native Americans in 1920s Oklahoma whose oil-rich land was gradually stolen by white people via murderous and deceptive means. Leonardo DiCaprio is the "aw shucks" lead Earnest and Lily Gladstone his Osage love interest, with Robert De Niro as the evil mastermind. Jesse Plemons and John Lithgow (who said he would work craft services just to be in a Scorsese joint) are among the enormous cast--I estimate in the neighborhood of 300.

Director/co-writer Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth based their screenplay on the long-researched 2017 book by David Grann.

This is Robbie Robertson's final movie soundtrack, and he earned one of the movie's ten Oscar nominations. He died at age 80 in July, so was alive for the Cannes premiere but not the full releases in October. He had some Native American in his genes and the music, available on Apple Music, is wonderful. There are also lots of songs in the movie.

No doubt the handful of famous musicians appearing on screen were thrilled to collaborate with Scorsese and Robertson. They include Jason Isbell (country/rock), Sturgill Simpson (country), Charlie Musselwhite (blues), Jack White (rock), and Pete Yorn (pop/rock), whose brother Rick Yorn served as an executive producer of this and more, many directed by Scorsese.

Rodrigo Prieto is nominated for the beautiful photography. The other nominations are Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Gladstone, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro, Costume Design (Jacqueline West), Production Design (Jack Fisk AKA Mr. Sissy Spacek), Editing, and Original Song (Whashazhe: A Song for My People by Scott George and performed by Osage Tribal Singers––listen here).

Scorsese and Robertson were last blogged for Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band, DiCaprio for Don't Look Up, Gladstone for Certain Women, De Niro for Amsterdam, Plemons for The Power of the Dog, Lithgow for Bombshell, Roth for Dune, Grann for providing the book for The Old Man & the Gun, Prieto for Barbie, West for Water for Elephants, and Fisk for The Master.

Jack called this "the latest episode in the series White People Are Awful." Yes, many of us are.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics send bouquets with their 93% average, while its audiences are wilting just a bit at 84. It's very long, clocking in at 3:26, three minutes shorter than The Irishman. Although it was first offered to Netflix, it was distributed by and streams on Apple TV, where we watched it January 20.

Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute - 2023)

Angela and I really liked this story of a woman accused of her husband's murder in the French Alps and so does the Academy with five Oscar nominations, including lead actress Sandra Hüller, whose German stoicism belies her pain. Young Milo Machado Graner is also wonderful as their nine year old son Daniel and Swann Arlaud and Samuel Theis are talented and easy on the eyes as Vincent the lawyer and Samuel the husband, respectively.

Some have opined that Justine Triet's Best Director nomination is the reason Greta Gerwig was snubbed this year (because they can't nominate two women?). But Triet's leadership, as well as the nominated Original Screenplay by her and Arthur Harari are, indeed, worthy. This movie's other two Oscar nominations are for Best Picture and Editing. I should mention that it also won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year. France's César Award nominations were just announced and this got eleven.

No composer is credited and only five songs are listed for the soundtrack. A cover by the Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band of 50 Cent's rap tune P.I.M.P. is played over and over. Listen here to the cover. I'm laughing now because I didn't realize Snoop Dogg did a remix of the original (watch here) and Daniel's dog is named Snoop! Apparently the filmmakers thought that all viewers would recognize the song and know its misogynistic lyrics. We didn't. Okay Boomers.

Hüller's character Sandra is a German woman living in France with her French husband and their French-speaking son. Sandra's English is better than her French so the movie is about half in English. Of course there are subtitles for the French lines. Captioning for the English words was essential for me, especially in the opening scene when P.I.M.P. is played very loudly (an important plot point), and I couldn't have made out the dialog without captions.

Hüller, who is actually German, was last blogged for I'm Your Man. This is Graner's third feature after some TV. Arlaud, with almost a hundred credits, and Theis, with a few dozen, are new to me. Triet has directed five other features and co-wrote three. Harari co-wrote one of Triet's other features, starred in another, and directed/wrote two more of his own.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are not plummeting with their averages of 96 and 91%. Ann and I rented it January 28 on Apple TV.

Moving On (2022)

Jack and I were in the mood not to think too much and liked this story of two, dare I say, elderly women, Jane Fonda (now 86) and Lily Tomlin (84), grieving their friend's death and getting back at the widower, Malcolm McDowell (80). Richard Roundtree, who died at 81 in October, has a nice part.

Director Paul Weitz wrote the mostly fluffy script. The score, not available online, is credited to Paul Croteau and Amanda Delores Patricia Jones. Here's a list of songs.

After a bit I realized why Fonda looked so strange to me: it wasn't her all-white hair––it was her oddly thick, oddly dark eyebrows. She had her own makeup artist, David DeLeon, who has been nominated for his work on Grace and Frankie, among his credits.

Fonda was last blogged for Luck, Tomlin and Weitz for Grandma, and Roundtree for the remake of Shaft. McDowell's 60 year career includes If... (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Artist, 40 episodes of Franklin & Bash, 34 of Mozart in the Jungle, and playing Rupert Murdoch in Bombshell. This is Croteau's feature debut after dozens of TV gigs. Jones has nine features under her belt, as well as dozens of shorts and TV episodes, including 22 of A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences aren't going anywhere with their averages of 75 and 70%. We streamed it on Hulu with our subscription on January 21.

Oppenheimer (2023)

Jack and I loved this thirteen-time Oscar nominated masterpiece about the creator of the atomic bomb. The massive cast (nearly 150 by my count) is headed by Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., and Emily Blunt, all deservedly nominated for their roles as Robert Oppenheimer, Kitty Oppenheimer, and Lewis Strauss, respectively. It's been said that Downey put aside his usual charisma for his role of Oppenheimer's antagonist. Matt Damon and Florence Pugh bring their talents and you will recognize many other faces on the screen. Apparently, director Christopher Nolan intentionally chose known actors for many roles to help the audience keep them sorted.

Nolan's screenplay is adapted from the 2005 book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, and Nolan is nominated in both categories as well as producer for the Best Picture nomination.

We even enjoyed the fission/fusion flame sequences, despite their resemblance to what we hated in Tree of Life years ago. The big difference is that here they made sense and were shorter.

I'm streaming Ludwig Göransson's ethereal score on Apple Music as I type and remembering Hoyte Van Hoytema's stunning photography of New Mexico, Switzerland, Princeton University, and the Millennium Biltmore Hotel lobby in Los Angeles. Both men are also nominated and here are the rest: Ruth De Jong's Production Design, Ellen Mirojnick's Costume Design, Editing, Sound, and Makeup and Hair. Thirteen is this year's top number of nominations. 

A few trivia items: Different kinds of film stock were used, including 70mm and the first ever black and white IMAX, made by Kodak. Apparently the real Lewis Strauss was an investment banker who helped finance Kodak in its early days. Also some real scientists were on set as extras. My favorite idea from the previous link is that usually extras are thinking about lunch but these were thinking about the geopolitical implications of nuclear arms. There are so many trivia items on imdb that I couldn't get through them all, but most are fascinating. Hard-core fans can scroll the entire list and watch this New York Times short of Nolan narrating the opening scene.

Murphy was last blogged for The Party, Downey for Avengers: Infinity War, Blunt for Mary Poppins Returns, Damon for Air, Pugh for A Good Person, Nolan for Tenet, Göransson for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Van Hoytema for Dunkirk. 

This is the first Oscar nomination for both De Jong and Mirojnick. The former's credits include nominations from her peers in the Art Directors Guild for Inherent Vice and Manchester by the Sea. Mirojnick was nominated by her Costume Designers Guild peers for Unfaithful (2003), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the TV movie Behind the Candelabra, The Greatest Showman, and an episode of Bridgerton, among her many achievements.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are blowing up at 93 and 91%. We rented it January 3 on iTunes/Apple TV, but it can be watched on Peacock with a subscription, starting February 16. 

Rustin (2023)

We also loved this terrific bio-pic of Bayard Rustin (Bayard-pic?), in which Colman Domingo kills it as (and is Oscar-nominated for) the closeted yet confidently flamboyant civil rights activist who helped organize Martin Luther King's 1963 March on Washington. The large cast includes Aml Ameen as MLK, Glynn Turman as A. Philip Randolph, Chris Rock as Roy Wilkins, CCH Pounder as Dr. Ann Hedgeman, Audra McDonald as Ella Baker, Jeffrey Wright as Adam Clayton Powell, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Mahalia Jackson.

George C. Wolfe directs from a screenplay by Julian Breece (who also wrote the story) and Dustin Lance Black. Breece has been working on it since 2015 with much research but an earlier iteration fell through. Wolfe and Black joined later. 

Branford Marsalis' jazzy soundtrack is playing on Apple Music as I write. There's also a wonderful playlist available of popular songs from the era played during the movie. I read that Randolph was particularly excited to play Jackson, but the soundtrack lists Tonya Boyd-Cannon as the singer of her songs.

Shout out to the makeup department heads Quintessence Patterson and Beverly Jo Pryor for Domingo's dental prosthetics.

This is the first non-documentary feature for Michelle and Barack Obama's production company Higher Ground.

Domingo was last blogged for Zola; Turman, Wolfe, and Marsalis for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; Rock for Amsterdam; Pounder for Avatar; McDonald for Respect; Wright for American Fiction; Randolph for The Holdovers; and Black for J. Edgar after he won an Oscar for writing Milk.

Ameen is new to me despite a small part in Beyond the Lights and Boyd-Cannon apparently ranked on the TV show The Voice but you can't prove it by me. Breece makes his feature debut here. Patterson has dozens of credits in her career of twenty years and counting. Pryor has been working for thirty and her resumé includes Ali (2001), Something New (2006), The Butler, Selma, Straight Outta Compton, and Hidden Figures.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are not protesting with their averages of 85 and 86%, respectively, though we would rate it higher. Jack and I watched it on Netflix on January 9.

Maestro (2023)

For our Christmas day viewing pleasure, Jack, Amy, and I enjoyed this interpretation of composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein. Bradley Cooper, who stars, co-wrote, and directs, portrays the musician as driven, narcissistic, and flamboyantly romantic, from his central relationship with his wife Felicia Montealegre to his male side pieces (closeted, as one had to be in the 1940s and beyond). Carey Mulligan gives us a multi-layered Montealegre heading up the enormous cast, which also includes Sarah Silverman as Bernstein's sister Shirley. As pointed out by several reviewers, some supporting characters' names are said so quickly that you might not know to whom they're referring, for example, composer Aaron Copland, choreographer Jerome Robbins, and comedic musical duo Betty Comden and Adolph Green. 

Josh Singer co-wrote the screenplay with Cooper, the latter of whom has been working on this project for years, including developing a love of conducting at a young age.

I'm streaming the soundtrack, released on the venerable classical record label Deutsche Grammophon, on Apple Music. All of the music is written by Bernstein. The scene in the church with the chorus is one of many breathtaking interludes. One seven minute track of Bernstein's Mass takes me back to college when I sang in a performance of it. I would have liked to have heard more of West Side Story, though.

Matthew Libatique's beautiful cinematography suggests the eras: black and white 4:3 (like an old school television) slowly turning to color and the screen becoming wider as time and technology march on.

With Bernstein's long and accomplished life, it's impossible (and preferable not) to put in every detail, and I must compliment film editor Michelle Tesoro for the blending of eras. She has quite a few nominations for this work already.

Some haters have criticized Cooper's large nose prosthesis. Bernstein's real-life children have no problem with it, and one analyst suggests that it is the same size as Bernstein's nose, but on Cooper's face it looks much bigger. Speaking of the Bernstein progeny, each is played as an adult by a relative of another star: Maya Hawke (daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke) as daughter Jamie Bernstein, Sam Nivola (son of Alessandro) as Alexander Bernstein, and Alexa Swinton (distant cousin of Tilda) as Nina Bernstein.

Cooper was last blogged for his directing and co-writing debut A Star Is Born and for acting in Licorice Pizza, Mulligan for Saltburn, Silverman for Battle of the Sexes, Singer for First Man, Libatique for Don't Worry Darling, and Hawke for Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood. I don't remember Nivola in White Noise but I did watch Swinton's 17 episodes of And Just Like That as Rose/Rock Goldenblatt. Tesoro's credits include On The Basis of Sex and seven episodes of The Queen's Gambit, all of which included some flashbacks and -forwards.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are in tune with a 79% average but its audiences are about to walk out at 62. We watched it on Netflix as our annual Christmas day movie.

Saltburn (2023)

This psychological thriller about Oliver, a 2006 scholarship student at Oxford, befriending the wealthy Felix, held our attention as it got more and more intense. I don't think Amy would recommend it, but Jack and I have more of a taste for sick and twisted, which can make us laugh. Barry Keoghan is already racking up nominations as Oliver, as is Rosamund Pike as Felix's over-the-top mother. Jacob Elordi is the handsome Felix, Alison Oliver is his sister Venetia, and Richard E. Grant is their patient father. Carey Mulligan makes a cameo as "Poor Dear Pamela."

This is the second feature directed and written by Emerald Fennell and it is powerful. 

Apple Music has the score by Anthony Willis with the London Contemporary Orchestra. It also has a playlist of songs aired during the movie. The letterboxed, richly saturated, beautiful cinematography is thanks to Linus Sandgren.

Keoghan was last blogged for The Banshees of Inisherin for which he was Oscar-nominated, Pike for I Care a Lot, Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Mulligan for She Said, Fennell and Willis for Promising Young Woman (which starred Mulligan), and Sandgren for La La Land for which he won his Oscar. Elordi is new to me but I am compelled to mention that he plays Elvis in the movie Priscilla, which is on my watch list. Alison Oliver makes her feature debut after twelve episodes of Conversations with Friends and a couple of other credits.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences aren't scalding, with averages of 71 and 79%. We watched it on Prime on December 23.

Somewhere in Queens (2022)

We loved Ray Romano's directing debut, a dramedy in which he plays a man whose son's basketball achievements are more important to the father than to the son. With Laurie Metcalf as the wife/mother, Jennifer Esposito as a sexy neighbor, Jacob Ward as the son, and what rogerebert.com calls a stacked cast of East Coast character actors (the one most familiar to me was Jon Manfrellotti who plays Petey).

Romano co-wrote the layered script with Mark Stegemann and they elicit plenty of laughs, some cringes, and some sweet and sad moments. The Italian heritage of the family is central and the big family scenes provide both humor and pathos. The basketball games are fun, too.

I'm streaming Mark Orton's lovely soundtrack on Apple Music and here's a list of the songs played in the movie.

Romano was last mentioned in these pages for Bad Education, and blogged more fully in The Big Sick, Metcalf for Lady Bird, and Orton for The Holdovers. This is Ward's feature debut. Manfrellotti was in Romano's serieses Everybody Loves Raymond and Men of a Certain Age, among others. Stegemann's credits include writing jobs, including executive story editor, on 54 episodes of Scrubs, and four each of Men of a Certain Age and Raising Hope, to mention a few.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences have found themselves averaging 90 and 92%. Jack and I watched it December 15 on Hulu.

May December (2023)

Jack and I liked this cringey story of a woman raising a family with the man she raped when he was in middle school and the actress shadowing her to prepare for playing her in a movie. With terrific performances by the three leads, many uncomfortable laughs, and an occasionally overwrought score, it is a critic's darling, with 30 wins and 136 other nominations as of today.

 

Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman are wonderful in the roles of the housewife Gracie and the actress Elizabeth, and Charles Melton is no slouch as the husband Joe. All of his 18 wins and all but one of his 39 nominations are for that role.

Todd Haynes directs from a screenplay by Samy Burch with the story by her and Alex Mechanik. Apparently Portman first brought the script to Haynes, and all of her fourteen nominations for this movie are for the leading role, while Moore is nominated (28 times, plus one win) for supporting.

It's loosely based on the 1990s tabloid headlines of Mary Kay Letourneau, a Seattle teacher who had an affair with student Vili Fualaau, and had his child when he was 13 and she was 35. Here's a thorough description of the actual Letourneau case. Like Letourneau, Gracie went to jail, and she and Joe married as soon as possible to raise their children together. Gracie and Joe are shown to be a boring suburban couple who barely acknowledge their horrifying past, and the laughs often come from the incongruity of the two.

The soundtrack, available on Apple Music and elsewhere, combines original tracks by Marcelo Zarvos with tunes by Michel Legrand written for The Go Between (1971), and its intensity belying the mundane action on screen is one thing that had us and many audiences laughing.

Portman was last blogged for narrating Dolphin Reef and for acting in Annihilation, Moore for Suburbicon, Haynes for Wonderstruck, Zarvos for The Best of Enemies, and Legrand for The Guardians. Melton is new to me and this is the feature debut for Burch and Mechanik.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' and audiences' gap of averages 90 and 68% mirror the 22 age gap between the characters. It's definitely worth seeing. We streamed it on Netflix on December 12.

Bottoms (2023)

Amy, Jack, and I enjoyed this slapstick story of two high school girls, each other's only friend, who, with no training, form a self-defense club to try to lose their virginity to other girls--hopefully their popular crushes. We agreed that it's cartoon crazy with just the right amount of insanity.

Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri star as PJ and Josie, Kaia Gerber plays PJ's crush Brittany, Havana Rose Liu is Josie's crush Isabel, and Ruby Cruz is Hazel, another outsider trying to get in. Punkie Johnson has a cameo as a former babysitter and former NFL player Marshawn Lynch is funny as a teacher, apparently improvising most of his lines.

It's directed by Emma Seligman from a script by her and Sennott. Sennott and Edebiri were NYU roommates (class of 2017) and Seligman was a classmate and good friend.

As I write I'm listening to the exciting soundtrack by Leo Birenberg and Charlie XCX on Apple Music. Only a few songs are on this list.

Sennott and Seligman were last blogged for Shiva Baby. Edebiri, best known for her award-winning 18 episodes of The Bear, has also been in six episodes of Dickinson, two of Abbott Elementary, and the movies How It Ends and Theater Camp, though I failed to mention her. Kaia Gerber, who looks a lot like her mother Cindy Crawford, played a starlet in Babylon, and I didn't blog about her either. Liu is new to me, Cruz was in six episodes of Mare of Easttown, and Johnson is best known for 43 episodes of Saturday Night Live, but has dozens of other credits. Lynch has just a few other acting credits but has two nominations so far for this one.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are putting this one at the top with averages of 90 and 89%. We rented it December 24 on Apple TV/iTunes.

Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game (2022)

Jack and I were captivated. This is based on the true story of Roger Sharpe, a young writer who loves the game. Set in the mid 1970s, Mike Faist plays him in his twenties doing the work to end a New York City ban on the machines and Dennis Boutsikaris narrates as Sharpe in the future. Crystal Reed plays the love interest.

Directed and written by brothers Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg in their feature debut, it mixes time periods, the history of pinball, and the personal story of the guy with the big mustache. Not sure whether to credit the mustache to the makeup department head Doria Riker or the hair department head Aaron Saucier so I'll shout out to them both.

Rob Barbato is credited with the soundtrack, which has not been released, as far as I can tell. Six other songs of the era are played.

Barbato was last blogged for The Eyes of Tammy Faye (speaking of makeup). We saw Faist on Broadway playing Connor in Dear Evan Hansen and then he co-starred as Riff in the newest reboot of West Side Story, though I failed to mention him. Some highlights of Boutsikaris' fifty year career (he's 71) include *batteries not included (1987), Money Monster, and fifteen episodes of Better Call Saul. Reed was apparently in Crazy, Stupid Love, though I don't remember her, and I've seen none of her other credits, nor have I seen any of Riker's. Saucier has worked on dozens of features and TV episodes.

This movie hit the jackpot with Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 95 and 92%. We rented it on iTunes/Apple TV on November 28 but it's now streaming on Hulu with a subscription.

*Fooled ya. The title of the movie has an asterisk in it.

Milestone alert! Technically, I missed the exact milestone when I got behind in my posting. American Fiction was the 1500th movie to be summarized on the blog since September 3, 2008 and this is 1502. There are currently five in draft mode and we're going to spend three hours watching Oppenheimer today.

American Fiction (2023)

Jack, Amy, and I loved this dramedy about an erudite and prickly Black novelist/professor who, frustrated with racism in the publishing world, picks a corny pen name, writes an absurd book entirely made up of Black stereotypes, and is horrified that it is widely praised. We laughed, we cringed, and I even shed a tear or two at some family and interpersonal drama. 

Jeffrey Wright is perfectly cast as Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, smart and angry. In fact, every actor is fantastic, including Tracee Ellis Ross as his hilarious sister, Sterling K. Brown as their brother, Leslie Uggams as their mother, John Ortiz as Monk's agent, Issa Rae as another writer, and Erika Alexander as a neighbor.

Cord Jefferson makes his directing debut and feature screenwriting debut, based on Percival Everett's 2001 novel Erasure. The movie strays from typical A-Z narrative from time to time.

All aspects of the movie are on many short lists for Oscars this year (29 wins and 104 other nominations so far), including its soundtrack by Laura Karpman, with help from Patrice Rushen on piano and Elena Pinderhughes singing one track. I'm streaming it now on Apple Music. Here's a list of other songs played during the movie.

Wright was last blogged for The Public, Ross for The High Note, Brown for Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul, Uggams for Deadpool 2, Ortiz for Nostalgia, Rae for Barbie, and Karpman for The Beguiled. Jefferson has written or co-written 196 episodes of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore (no stranger to satirizing Black stereotypes and racism), twelve of The Good Place, and more. Rushen is a Grammy-nominated jazz pianist and vocalist.

This is a best seller for Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 92 and 97%, respectively. As a voting member of the Film Independent Spirit Awards, I have permission to stream the nominees, so we watched it December 30. As far as I know, that's the only way to stream it for now but it's expected to be available in a month or two. I'm posting about it today (before movies I watched between November and now) because those of you who do go to bricks and mortar movie theatres can see it right now. Definitely do see it!