Sinners (2025), The Substance (2024), and Death Becomes Her (1992)

I don't like horror but we saw these due to critical acclaim and more. Because I'm so far behind in blogging, I'm combining them. Read on...

I didn't really know what we were getting into with Sinners. We liked it a lot in the beginning. It started with identical twins Smoke and Stack, both played by Michael B. Jordan, returning home to 1932 Mississippi to start a juke joint. Good story of Black people getting by in the racist pre-WWII south, with wonderful music. Jordan does a great job, though the only way I could tell apart the two characters was by their hats. Kudos also to actor Delroy Lindo, actor-singers Miles Caton, Jayme Lawson, Hailee Steinfeld, Lola Kirke, and more.

About halfway through, it turns extremely gory and my enjoyment waned. Jack was eagerly waiting for bluesman Buddy Guy to appear, which he does after the two hour mark (the movie is 2:17 long) in a pivotal role. And Jack liked the whole thing better than I did.

Ryan Coogler directs from his original screenplay.

I'm currently streaming Ludwig Göransson's instrumental score on Apple Music, which is terrific, as is the playlist of songs. We also greatly appreciated the cinematography by Autumn Durald Arkapaw as well as the special effects throughout. Isn't it a miracle that one actor can play identical twins in the same scenes?

After we watched it, Amy and Travis did, too. They like horror movies a lot but proclaimed this the worst movie they ever saw! Later she said it "didn't go off the rails enough."

Jordan was last blogged for Just Mercy, Lindo for Da 5 Bloods, Steinfeld for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Kirke for the TV series Mozart in the Jungle, which I wrote about in two posts (one, two), Coogler and Arkapaw for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Göransson for Oppenheimer. This is Caton's screen debut and Lawson's first mention in these pages, though she was in The Woman King, among others in her brief resume.

Speaking of acclaim, Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are blessing it with averages of 97 and 96%, respectively. We rented it on June 8.

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After Amy repeatedly urged us to watch The Substance, we did. She loved it and said it's funny. We did have some laughs at the ridiculous exploitation of it all: Demi Moore plays an aging TV aerobics star who uses a drug to create a younger version of herself played by Margaret Qualley. Dennis Quaid is the over-the-top producer of the TV show. 

With so many close-ups of tits and ass (sorry, did I offend you there?), I assumed the director and/or writer to be a man. I was wrong. The movie was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and Coralie Fargeat was nominated both for Directing and Original Screenplay.

The score by Raffertie is available to stream on Apple Music and is putting me in the mood to write about the parts I liked. Like Sinners, I was with it until one particularly violent scene in act three and it did, indeed, go off the rails after that. Just not my cup of tea (remember Get Out? That cup of tea was just fine).

Moore was last blogged for Another Happy Day, Qualley for Kinds of Kindness, and Quaid for Truth. Fargeat has directed one other feature and Raffertie has scored four.

Not quite as hooked as the Oscar voters, Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 89% and its audiences 75. We rented it on July 8

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In the spring, after buying tickets to see the Broadway musical adaptation of Death Becomes Her, we rented the movie on May 10 and enjoyed it. It's a slapstick tale of a narcissistic actress and her envious writer friend, and their ingesting a drug to halt their aging. Uh-huh. This is another reason I was inspired to pack these three movies into one post. 

Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn are the combatants, with Streep hamming it up to the max as the actress, and Bruce Willis as the man they both want.

Robert Zemeckis directs from a screenplay by Martin Donovan and David Koepp. Unlike The Substance, there's no blood--it's all very cartoonish, with heads turning backwards and holes in torsos (as shown in one poster). Alan Silvestri's soundtrack is available on Apple Music.

Streep was last blogged for Don't Look Up, Hawn for Snatched, Willis for Rock the Kasbah, Zemeckis and Silvestri for Welcome to Marwen, and Koepp for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Donovan wrote or co-wrote six other features and a bunch of TV episodes.

The musical stage show, which we saw in June, is good fun, with at least one stunt double getting her own curtain call after a priceless interpretive dance of falling down the stairs. The show won the Tony for Costume Design and was nominated for seven more.

Despite being somewhat of a cult favorite, the movie did not do well in theatres, dying at Rotten Tomatoes' critics' 58% average and only slightly breathing with audiences' 62.

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. 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Yes, there are battles, but they're sci-fi and cartoony––it's a Marvel joint, after all––so Jack and I sat through the 2:42 run time to appreciate the magnificent wardrobe and colorful cinematography in a story about the mythical country protecting itself from new foes. This sequel begins with the death and funeral of King T'Challa, presumably because the filmmakers and others are mourning the untimely death of Chadwick Boseman, who played T'Challa in the first Black Panther.

Angela Bassett has a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nod for returning as T'Challa's mother. Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, and Martin Freeman are among those reappearing, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus adding her usual comic relief.

Ryan Coogler directs from the script co-written by him and Joe Robert Cole and Ludwig Göransson's score, available on Apple Music and elsewhere, includes some contemporary songs mixed in with the traditional soundtrack

Ruth Carter's gorgeous wardrobe is Oscar-nominated along with Makeup/Hair, Visual Effects, and Original Song. Autumn Durald Arkapaw is the talented director of photography.

Bassett was last blogged for Soul; Wright for Small Axe; Gurira for Avengers: Infinity War; Nyong'o, Freeman, Coogler, Cole, and Carter for Black Panther; Louis-Dreyfus for You People, and Göransson for Tenet. Arkapaw has shot eight other features and lots of shorts and TV work in her fifteen year career.

Rotten Tomatoes' audiences are forever loyal, averaging 94%, while its critics might leave a bit sooner at 84.

Marvel Cinematic Universe movies traditionally have at least one bonus scene at the very end, so the faithful do not leave or turn it off when the technical credits are onscreen. This has an important one at 2:31 but the last bonus, simply a card at 2:42 that says BLACK PANTHER WILL RETURN, is a disappointing copout. The opening MCI flipping comics pages are another tribute to Boseman.

We watched it with our Disney+ subscription on February 1, the afternoon of the first day it streamed there. One of the many benefits of watching at home is that I can pause to read credits, when the music and locations listings are at the end. Every streaming platform is a little different but they all shrink the viewing window to offer another show when the credits are rolling, which causes me to curse as I fumble the remote. Not surprisingly, the Disney site crashed around 7pm on the movie's first day, just as I was cursing and fumbling. I watched the credits days later, and rewatched them just now.

Tenet (2020)

Jack and I did not enjoy this time travel drama. I can't even tell you what it's about. The most interesting part is that we saw it in a cinema during the pandemic––see below. Jack said, "It was like watching someone play a video game you don't understand." And I just space out when the space-time continuum is breached. It had good special effects, as I recall, but to what end?

Plenty of star power is in front of director/writer Christopher Nolan's camera: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, and many more.

The soundtrack by Ludwig Göransson is available on Apple Music and other outlets.

Nolan was last blogged for Dunkirk, Washington (son of Denzel) for BlacKkKlansman, Pattinson for The Lighthouse, Caine for Going in Style, Branagh for Murder on the Orient Express, and Göransson for Black Panther.

On September 20, 2020, with nine millennial friends, we booked a private screening at a local theatre. It came to about $11 per person. The room had 46 seats and they allowed 23 people. Eleven seemed just right. Spread out by household, we wore masks throughout, unless we were actively eating or drinking. We scheduled it for right after opening on a Sunday so as to have the room as sanitary as possible. Too bad we didn't like the movie very much. Oh, and it's two and a half hours long. 

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences liked it better than we did, averaging 71 and 76%, respectively.

If I haven't put you off too much, Rotten Tomatoes says you can buy it from Fandango or Vudu, but it's not yet available to rent or stream elsewhere.

The last movie we saw live was Downhill on February 20. I would consider doing the private screening thing again if only something I want to see would be offered.

Black Panther (2018)

Jack and I agree with the public that this is a very good sci-fi action movie, wherein the king of a technologically advanced African nation struggles with bad guys. It's groundbreaking in its cultural representation of actors of color, including some bad ass women. The nation, Wakanda, is fictitious and, according to a map in the very first scene, is somewhere near Uganda

Chadwick Boseman (last blogged for the title role in Marshall) takes on the title role as King T'Challa/Black Panther, Lupita Nyong'o (most recently in Queen of Katwe) is his love interest Nakia, and Michael B. Jordan (last in these pages for Creed) is one of the main nemeses Killmonger, and I must add that the latter two have fantastic hairdos (his and hers). Kicking butt with Nakia are Danai Gurira (I failed to mention her feature debut in the excellent The Visitor and have not seen her other work) as General Okoye and Letitia Wright (new to me) as T'Challa's brainy sister Shuri. We also have Angela Bassett (most recently in Chi-Raq) as T'Challa's and Shuri's mother, Sterling K. Brown (also in Marshall) as N'Jobu in flashback, and Forest Whitaker (last in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as Zuri. Alex Hibbert (the little boy named Little in Moonlight and six episodes of Showtime's The Chi) has a cameo at the end for a hot minute.

The two main white guys are Martin Freeman (most recently in these pages for Whiskey Tango Foxtrot), who supplies some of the comic relief, and Andy Serkis (last in Rise of the Planet of the Apes), who does not amuse as the smuggler Klaue (AKA Klaw) with the "arm cannon." Isaach De Bankolé (covered in Calvary) may or may not have any lines (I just don't remember) as the nattily dressed official with a big plate in his lower lip. There are well over a hundred in the cast, including Daniel Kaluuya (star of Get Out), so I can't go into them all.

Director Ryan Coogler (last helmed Creed) co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole (two episodes of The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016 and one other I haven't seen).

Rachel Morrison, whom I neglected to mention shooting Sound of My Voice, Fruitvale Station, Cake, Dope, and Mudbound, made history as the first Oscar-nominated woman cinematographer for the latter, provides the images here, some of which are literally dark. Don't worry, it lightens up after a while. Like many action movies, this is probably better on a big screen. We did forgo the 3D screening but chose IMAX when we saw it last week.

The costumes, credited to Ruth Carter (also styled Chi-Raq), are spectacular. Here's a discussion of them and some more pictures.

Ludwig Göransson, who scored Coogler's Creed gives us an exciting soundtrack with lots of drums and other African influences and you can stream it for an hour (with commercials) from this youtube link.

Still averaging 97% from critics and 79 from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie boasts the 5th best all time opening weekend and has grossed over $500 million in its third week of release.

Two things we look forward to in Marvel movies (I just learned that MCU means the Marvel Comics Universe) are Stan Lee's cameo (this time it's in the Korean casino) and the bonus scene at the very end (in addition, this time, to one towards the beginning of the credits). Don't miss them. The movie is two and a quarter hours long so plan your beverage intake accordingly.

Creed (2015)

We skipped this when it was out the first time, saw it after the award season began, and are baffled that Sylvester Stallone was nominated for this corny sequel to the Rocky franchise. The only other time his name appears in the blog is a nomination for the Worst Director of 2011 for The Expendables, which we also avoided.

This is director Ryan Coogler's sophomore picture--his first, Fruitvale Station was fantastic, and also starred Michael B. Jordan. Tessa Thompson (last blogged in Selma) makes an appearance on screen and singing some cool songs, including Grip and Breathe, as does Claire Huxtable, er, Phylicia Rashad.

Composer Ludwig Göransson (most recently in these pages for Top Five) updates the Rocky theme, among other music.

Jack and I saw this three weeks ago and are at odds with Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 94 and 92%. But they probably saw it because they wanted to, not because they felt obligated.

Top Five (2014)

Jack and I loved this story of a comedian trying to be taken seriously as an actor after getting sober. Sounds serious, doesn't it? But with Chris Rock starring, writing, and directing, we laughed plenty, and not only at the dirty jokes. This is Rock's third time in the three-job position, after Head of State (2003) and I Think I Love My Wife (2007), unless you count the documentary Good Hair, and he had no co-writers this time. In addition to the above, his stand-up, and his stint on SNL, I also liked Rock's acting in Nurse Betty (2000), Down to Earth (2001), and The Longest Yard (2005). Rosario Dawson (last blogged in Trance) is great as the reporter with the edgy hairdo. We have supporting star power from J.B. Smoove (most recently in Clear History), Gabrielle Union (last in these pages in Cadillac Records), Tracy Morgan (best known for 139 episodes of 30 Rock, he had a cameo in The Other Guys), Romany Malco (The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Blades of Glory (2007), Baby Mama (2008), No Ordinary Family (2010-11), and 38 episodes of Weeds (2005-12)), and Cedric the Entertainer (Larry Crowne). And then the cameos: Jerry Seinfeld, Whoopi Goldberg, Adam Sandler, DMX (don't worry if you won't recognize the rapper--he is introduced), Charlie Rose, and many more. Seinfeld is particularly funny. Oh, and don't miss Ben Vereen asking for money in a short appearance.

The title refers to Rock's Andre Allen and other characters listing their top five hip-hop music acts (most go past five), and they talk of many artists, musical and otherwise, e.g. Kanye West, Jay Z, Tyler Perry. As it happens, Kanye and Jay Z are among the producers.

Ludwig Göransson (We're the Millers) is credited with the soundtrack but you're more likely to remember the hip-hop, discussed in detail on this link, with videos.

Don't just take our word for it, Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 90% and audiences 75. It was fourth at the box office, so should play for a while, in between the Oscar hopefuls.

We're the Millers (2013)

We expected to like it some but laughed a lot all the way through at this farce about four losers pretending to be a clean-cut family to score a big payday importing marijuana from Mexico. Jason Sudeikis (last blogged in The Campaign) leads the pack as the small-time weed dealer, then he recruits his neighbor who happens to be a stripper, played by Jennifer Aniston (last in Wanderlust), then a local runaway played by Emma Roberts (last in The Art of Getting By), and lastly a naive teenager whose parents are away, played by Will Poulter who is now 20 years old. When he was ten he was wonderful in Son of Rambow (he's on the left in this photo), and, by the way, he's 100% British but his character Kenny in We're the Millers is 100% American. Kenny, being the sweet boy he is, doesn't get a makeover like the others do. More laughs are provided by supporting cast members Nick Offerman (last in Smashed), Kathryn Hahn (also in Wanderlust), and Ed Helms (last in Jeff, Who Lives at Home).

We were pleasantly surprised that a script with four writers (it was begun by the writing team of Bob Fisher & Steve Faber (Wedding Crashers (2005)) and then continued by Sean Anders & John Morris (Hot Tub Time Machine)) could turn out as well as this one. That's a credit to the cast and to director Rawson Marshall Thurber (I didn't see Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) nor The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2008)). He's no relation to humorist James Thurber--I checked with sources who know.

There are two collaborators on the soundtrack--Ludwig Göransson (most recently blogged for composing Fruitvale Station) and Theodore Shapiro (last for The Campaign)--plus the usual long list of songs.

Critics are not as enthusiastic as we are, averaging 47% on rottentomatoes to audiences' 76, but the studio must be happy that it was fourth at the box office last weekend in its fifth week of release.

There isn't exactly a bonus but a blooper reel at the end credits is pretty funny and includes a musical gag. This is R-rated (for sexual innuendo, language, drug material, and brief nudity played for laughs) lightweight entertainment, with almost no violence (though some is threatened) and a satisfying ending.

Fruitvale Station (2013)

This powerful story, which really happened, of a young black man who was shot by transit police on January 1, 2009 will leave you sad and angry. It deservedly won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance last winter and another prize at Cannes in May for director/writer Ryan Coogler's first feature. Michael B. Jordan (I know him best as Haddie's boyfriend Alex on 16 episodes of Parenthood) shines as Oscar Grant, who keeps sliding back down a slippery slope as he tries to make good in his life. Octavia Spencer (last blogged in Smashed) is wonderful as Oscar's loving but frustrated mother, and she also co-produced (with actor Forest Whitaker and others), calling upon her friend, author Kathryn Stockett (The Help), to help fund this project. Melonie Diaz has a distinctive look that I recognized from Be Kind Rewind (2008), Hamlet 2, and others, and also gives us love and frustration as Oscar's baby mama Sophina. Mention must be made of the adorable Ariana Neal as their daughter Tatiana. Neal's self-assuredness may be explained by the fact that she's been singing in front of audiences since she was 5 and can't be more than 9 in this movie.

The University of Southern California is rightfully proud of its eight graduates who collaborated on this movie (article), including Coogler, Whitaker, and composer Ludwig Göransson (his first feature but he's been working for a while, notable on the TV serieses New Girl, Community, and Happy Endings). Here's an article about him with videos and a link where you can listen to a lot of his work on a loop. And imdb has provided this list of songs.

For fellow sufferers of MPMS, or Motion Picture Motion Sickness, you're in luck. Since this was released this week, in August, chances are excellent that you'll be able to watch it on DVD before further awards start piling up. On the big screen, in a theatre with not a lot of rows, I had to avert my eyes frequently, more and more as time went on, to keep from getting nauseated.

That said, this is worth seeing. The Bay Area Rapid Transit Authority is to be congratulated for taking responsibility and for allowing the filmmakers to shoot in the actual Fruitvale Station in Oakland.