2024 movies

Current Mini Reviews (KILL, SORRY/NOT SORRY, TOUCH, SOUND OF HOPE, FLY ME TO THE MOON, DESCENDANTS 4)

| Rachel's Reviews

Hi friends! I hope you are all doing well and surviving this heat. I’m excited because I finally broke my rough patch and enjoyed some movies for a change! I did a live stream where I talked about what I’ve been watching both stage and screen you might enjoy.

But here are some mini reviews of what I’ve been watching

FLY ME TO THE MOON

Lately it seems like we are getting a lot of movies that are sold as rom-coms and look like rom-coms but when I actually watch them they are at best rom-com adjacent. Such is the case with Fly Me to the Moon which is more historical fiction drama than it is a romantic comedy. That said, I still found it charming and in the tradition of October Sky and Hidden Figures this was entertaining NASA story (although both of those are more accurate where this is more whimsical.)

Nevertheless, it’s all very slick and well made with 2 stars selling the material quite well (even if they don’t have incredible chemistry together but it’s not really a rom-com so that’s fine.) Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson are both charismatic leads and Woody Harrelson, Ray Romano and Jim Rash give strong supporting work. The script could definitely be tighter but it was all charming enough for me to stay engaged and recommend the film.

Smile Worthy

TOUCH-

New from Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur is an endearing little film called Touch, which many will compare to last year’s popular Past Lives. This tells the story of an older man that tries to find his lost love in Japan after the two were separated after meeting in London years ago. We see the reunion happen at the start of the pandemic in March of 2020 (which added an interesting layer to everything) and also see the younger versions of the characters meet and fall in love. Kōki and Palmi Kormakur are stunning as Young Miko and Kristófer and they have excellent chemistry but Egill Ólafsson is also good as the older Kristófer.

This is essentially a character piece so it’s the performances that matter most but like I said the atmosphere of the pandemic added a layer of uncertainty and urgency to everything that is happening. I also appreciate it didn’t have the cheating (or fear of cheating) element that made me so nervous watching Past Lives. This is simply about 2 good people falling in love when they are young and reconnecting when they are older. It’s simple and yet quite profound. A definite recommendation.

Smile Worthy


DESCENDANTS: THE RISE OF RED-

If you have been following me for a while you know I’m a big of a defender of the DCOM or Disney Channel Original Movie. In fact you could say I’m a defender of TV Movies in general but especially when they involve music I’m usually pretty easy to please. In fact, recently the DCOMS or Disney Original Movies as they are now being named have been some of the best films Disney has been producing. Prom Pact was one of my favorite movies of 2023 and The Slumber Party, The Naughty Nine, and World’s Best were all really solid little movies from last year. You can listen to Stanford and myself rank all the Disney movies of 2023 here.

Anyway, it is with this unique experience I was actually pretty excited for the latest Descendants movie to come out Descendants: The Rise of Red and it ended up being a mixed bag. Overall I did enjoy it and fans of the series will be satisfied but it was a definite step down in quality from the previous 3 and one could feel the loss of previous director and choreographer Kenny Ortega. You can’t replace a legend like him easily and all the musical sequences felt by-the-numbers and bland (the highlight of the series is the water dance from the second film. It has never been topped!) This one also has a mostly new cast with Kylie Cantrall and Malia Baker as Queen of Hearts and Cinderella’s daughters respectively. It’s nice we get Brandy and Paolo Montalban back as Cinderella and Charming and Rita Ora giving a dishy performance as the evil Queen of Hearts.

The plot in Descendants 4 does get convoluted as all time travel stories do but I appreciate that both girls came to understand their mothers better and feel more humanity towards them. I also loved a moment where they paid tribute to Cameron Boyce’s character Carlos that was very sweet. All in all this was fun enough but definitely the weakest of the franchise.

Mild Smile Worthy

SOUND OF HOPE: THE STORY OF POSSUM TROT-

Similar to the DCOM I have also been more positive than many critics of the films distributed by Angel Studios. In fact, I’ve recommended all of them to varying degrees.  Of course, this does not mean I agree with all of their positions politically or think the films are perfect but they have all entertained me enough to recommend. Now they have their latest Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot and it might be the best one yet. In fact, it ended up as one of my favorite films of the year so far.

In the film they tell the story of a congregation in Possum Trot, Texas that decide to adopt and foster all the needy children around them, which ends up being 77 children in total. What I loved about this movie is how messy it was. There were no miracles from God making the kids angelic or the parents perfect because of what they are trying to do. In fact, it’s more a faith-based film in the sense of a community more than it is actually about God or Jesus in any way. These are flawed people who are trying and often failing to do the right thing for these children. I found the whole thing to be incredibly moving and absorbing. The acting is also excellent with Nika King leading as the reverend’s wife who starts adopting the children and Demetirus Grosse as her husband. Elizabeth Mitchell is also excellent as the world-weary social worker.

I know some will avoid Sound of Hope because of the involvement of the Daily Wire and I think that is a real shame because the filmmaking team have made a quality film that deserves to be seen. I balled my eyes out!

Smile Worthy

KILL-

Any follower of my reviews knows I have been a big fan of Indian cinema for a long time so when I heard the buzz about Kill coming out of festivals I knew I had to see it. I thought it would be similar Jawan that I saw last year and enjoyed (both are Indian action movies set on a train) but this proved to be quite different and one of the more memorable movie-viewing experiences of 2024. It definitely won’t be for everyone but if you love raw visceral action you need to see Kill.

The film has a thin plot of Amrit (Lakshya) going after his fiancé Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) who is being forced into a marriage from a rival gang. Then the 2 gangs fight it out over the course of 105 minutes creating quite the bloody gruesome experience. One of the most effective parts of the action is the sound mix that heightens every kick and blow. You feel every rib crack and knuckle break making everything all the more brutal.

Kill might be the most violent movie I’ve ever seen and I honestly did feel exhausted by it after a while but I can’t deny that it does what it is trying to do extremely well. Every fight is an experience and it never lets up for a minute. If you like action have to see it!

Smile Worthy


SORRY/NOT SORRY-

When I heard about the new documentary Sorry/Not Sorry I knew I had to check it out. Having interviewed one of its subjects before, Jen Kirkman, I knew a little bit about her story and wanted to learn more. She is one of a group of women (3 profiled in the film) that spoke out against comedian Louis C.K. in 2017 and the documentary explores the failure of the #metoo movement to actually do anything to help women or punish erroring men as long as they have the most modicum amount of introspection. It’s pretty pathetic really.

In fact, Louis C.K. is now viewed as some kind of martyr to cancel culture by some which is crazy because he was barely canceled at all. As soon as 2022 he won a Grammy and recently sold out arenas like Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile it is the women who called out his behavior that have been effectively canceled. What money and power will get you is scary in 2024…

Anyway, Sorry/Not Sorry is an eye opening condemnation of the #metoo movement and an insightful look at all we as a culture are willing to excuse if it sold the right way.

Smile Worthy

Make sure you check out the patreon for perks, exclusive reviews and to be part of our monthly events and watch alongs. Find out more here.

Am I a Horror Person?… Reviews of MAXXXINE and WHAT YOU WISH FOR

| Rachel's Reviews

Here’s a confession. I’ve never really liked the feeling of being scared. The panic, the insecurity. I understand why some would enjoy the jolt of such an experience but it’s just never been for me. This is why I do not enjoy haunted houses or similar experiences where they try to startle me or make me uncomfortable. With this understanding for years I assumed I’m not a horror movie person. I don’t like being scared therefore I must not like horror movies.. right?

Here’s the thing I’ve learned over the last few years…

Most horror movies aren’t scary…

At least not in the haunted house variety I referred to above. I don’t think I will ever be in the torture porn, demonic possession brand of horror but a lot in the genre are about people facing tense situations and finding a way out of it. In a way the final girls or guys are often your classic underdogs that you root for as they go about their story. There often is a sense of victory at the end over whatever evil it is they have been fighting against over the course of the film. It’s exciting!

I imagine I will always be choosy about what horror films I watch and review but it has been enlightening to learn there are different sides to every genre and to myself and my movie tastes. I hope that you reading push yourself beyond your comfort zones every now and then and keep life thrilling.

So that’s a long preamble to reviews of 2 recent horror films! I’ve been disappointed by so much this summer but happy to say enjoyed both of these horror films. So here goes:

WHAT YOU WISH FOR-

First up we have the under-the-radar little thriller called What You Wish For. This will no doubt be compared to The Menu (which I also loved) but I think this nails the ending a little better. However, fans of The Menu will certainly enjoy this food-related horror story.

In this film we have Nicholas Stahl playing Ryan a chef who is flown in by an exclusive company that hosts food events for the super rich that are shrouded in mystery. Ryan is in massive gambling debt so he’s inclined to do whatever the company asks of him but as he begins to prepare the meal things get more…complicated.

I am sure there will be some people who can’t go where What You Wish For wants them to go but the location was sufficiently secluded, the people were believably immoral and the pacing and tension by director Nicholas Tomnay was built so well I was totally in from frame one. Stahl is also very good as our leading man getting more desperate by the minute but he’s also pretty slippery in how petty and cynical he can be. It’s a captivating performance that anchors everything and I hope he gets more work from this film.

The supporting cast is also excellent and the screenplay delights with every gory and shocking turn that I of course won’t spoil for you. What You Wish For is definitely an underrated gem of the year, and I highly recommend it. You can rent it on amazon or other streamers (ad) here

Smile Worthy

MAXXXINE-

One of the reasons I have been pushed to diving into horror lately is a lot of our interesting auteur filmmakers are working in the genre. Whether it be Robert Eggers, Jordan Peele or others and you are missing a lot of compelling artists by cutting yourself off from the brand of storytelling. One such voice is Ti West and he recently finished off his bold trilogy of films with Maxxxine. Previously he had X and Pearl and in particular Pearl was close to masterpiece-level moviemaking with an incredible performance in all 3 from Mia Goth.

Now we have Maxxine and this is the most classic horror movie of the group with gruesome kills and a mystery Night Stalker element that guides the plot. What it lacks in originality, however, it makes up for in style and characters. Goth is great once again as Maxine who is trying to make the leap from adult film star to a mainstream horror film called The Puritan II. Elizabeth Debicki chews up the scenery as a cynical movie director and Kevin Bacon is a ton of fun as a shady detective.

Maxine will do anything to achieve fame and the movie becomes both a commentary on such ambition but also on how Hollywood uses her to their own greedy goals. It’s like the reverse La La Land in many ways or at least the darker side of such dream-making. The film also looks gorgeous and captures 1985 perfectly.

The screenplay for Maxxxine is not perfect and I started to get a little bored as it meanders through its second act. The big reveal is underwhelming making the ending less satisfying than you’d hope for but I still think it is overall a compelling character piece with a performance and look that can’t be beat. If you can handle some gory scenes I recommend watching the entire Pearl trilogy and finishing it off with Maxxxine.

Smile Worthy

Also neither of these movies are “scary”…

Make sure you check out the patreon for perks, exclusive reviews and to be part of our monthly events and watch alongs. Find out more here.

Current Mini Reviews (THE BIKERIDERS, HORIZON, KINDS OF KINDNESS, THE IMAGINARY, DESPICABLE ME 4)

| Rachel's Reviews

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a nice summer and I certainly hope you are enjoying summer movies more than I am. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately but I have just not been enjoying what Hollywood has been offering. I liked Inside Out 2, Hit Man and a few indies but not much more than that. Hopefully July will be better but sometimes we as critics go through rough patches but they are usually followed by good stretches where we like everything. Fingers crossed.

Today I have 5 reviews and all 5 I didn’t enjoy much 🙁  Like I said it happens sometimes. All I can do is be honest and hope you understand.

THE BIKERIDERS-

Probably my favorite of the 5 is The Bikeriders from director Jeff Nichols. He has a lot of style in his filmmaking and brings out mostly good performances from his actors. I just wish the screenplay was on that level. Austin Butler and Tom Hardy put in compelling work as members of a motorcycle gang in 1960s Illinois. Mike Faist is completely wasted as a journalist writing about the gang but it’s more a movie about a series of incidents than an actual story. Various rivalries are revealed and bloody fights happen but there’s no narrative thrust to the events so it all feels taxing and repetitive after a while.

Also I thought Jodie Comer was miscast in the role. You can tell that she is British trying to do midwestern and the whole performance felt like a caricature not an authentic woman I was interested in. This was especially obvious when compared to Butler and because she was the narrator of the piece. The Bikeriders is nicely shot and like I said, there are some good performances but it all feels forgettable in the end.

Frown Worthy

HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA-

Kevin Costner’s new project Horizon: An American Saga was always going to be a tough sell for me. I’m not the biggest western fan and multi-part epic saga western didn’t have much to intrigue me. Still, it was filmed here in Utah and when somebody self-finances a project like this I like to at least give it a shot. Unfortunately my misgivings were correct and this feels more self-indulgent than impressive. Despite being 3 hours Horizon feels fractured, stuffed with unlikable characters I didn’t care about or want to know more about and no desire to see what is going to happen in Chapter 2.

It’s too bad because the film starts out strong with a raid on the settlement that is visceral and captivating but it keeps switching stories before the audience can become attached to a narrative or set of characters. I was joking on twitter that this is similar to rom-coms like Valentines Day that tells so many stories but none of them could hold a movie on their own or are interesting to the audience. I guess at least Utah looks nice so there’s that but it’s all surprisingly forgettable for a saga.

Frown Worthy

KINDS OF KINDNESS-

Certain filmmakers make their reputation on being edgy and challenging and if left unchecked can end up producing the most pretentious self-indulgent films that become unbearable. This is certainly the case for supposed auteur Yorgos Lanthimos. I’ve never been a big fan of his style but his latest Kinds of Kindness pushed me over the edge. I can’t think of when I’ve had a more miserable time at the theater and for what? You’ve got me with what he’s trying to say.

The film has 3 featurettes- all 3 with the same cast including Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons. Lanthimos manages to convince his actors to do anything no matter how ridiculous or exploitative but he forgets to make it matter or palatable. The first short is the best with the third being morally confusing in I guess an attempt at satire. Emma Stone’s character in that one is drugged and raped by her husband and she is made to feel the bad one for abandoning her daughter. It’s a problem when satire is asked to do so much heavy lifting to make a moral work in a story. Also all 3 stories have cannibalism and cults which feels so try-hard if you ask me.

Like I said, the whole experience is unbearable and I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

Frown Worthy

THE IMAGINARY-

In a way I feel sorry for the folks at Studio Ponoc. They started as a follow-up to Studio Ghibli- made from former animators of the illustrious studio. The problem is no animated studio can really compete with Ghibli especially when Miyazaki has started making movies. In fact, he just won an Oscar for his latest The Boy and the Heron. Unfortunately you can feel this rivalry rand failure to compete with in Ponoc’s latest film The Imaginary. While it does have some pleasing animation the story and characters feel completely derivative and lacking in originality.

It’s so strange that there have been 3 movies this year about imaginary friends and none of them have been good. The idea in this one is a young girl has an imaginary friend who get separated from his child and needs to be rescued. We’ve seen this time and again in everything from If to Monsters Inc to Inside Out. It all feels played out and bland. Nobody will remember this movie as it oddly lacks imagination about imaginary friends… Weird how that keeps happening?

Frown Worthy

DESPICABLE ME 4-

Finally we have the latest from Illumination’s money franchise Despicable Me 4. I don’t know if they have just worn me down but I actually liked the last Minions movie Minions: Rise of Gru. In particular a scene where the minions fly a plane is peak minions and may be the best moment of the entire franchise. Now we have the 6th film in the franchise and there are some laughs. I think minions are best when they capture a silent movie comedy- the broader and sillier the better. That’s why the scene when they are flying the plane is so funny- it’s silly where the regular Minions movie tried too hard to be shocking, full of lewd humor. It was not for me.

This latest entry has its moments that made me chuckle. For example a scene where the villain tries to get a credit card reader to accept his card at the gas station is very funny. I also enjoyed a repeated gag where one of the minions is stuck in a vending machine and can’t get out. The girls are also cute as always and this time they have a new baby brother in the mix who was cute and provided some laughs with the awkward Gru trying to watch over him.

Still, the screenplay needs far more of these moments and less of tedious subplots that aren’t funny or engaging. For example, we think we are getting the main villain plot with a cockroach man but the movie moves away from this story for a long section about Poppy and her heist on the school. We also get subplots with Lucy trying to learn how to color hair with disastrous consequences. It’s just all over the place and not consistently funny enough to work.

Also the reunion at the end I suppose is sentimental for fans but it seemed a little much to ask us to wain nostalgia for Scarlet Overkill and  other unmemorable previous villains. Despicable Me 4 isn’t the worst of the franchise but it also isn’t very satisfying or funny enough.

Frown Worthy

Make sure you check out the patreon for perks, exclusive reviews and to be part of our monthly events and watch alongs. Find out more here. 

A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE (Review) or Shhhh… This is Movie is Stupid

| Rachel's Reviews

I feel like I should start out this review by saying I was a big fan of the 2 previous A Quiet Place movies. You can read my reviews here and here. They did a great job establishing atmosphere and creating compelling characters I could breathe with for the moment. However, they are not movies that bode well when examined under a critical eye. The aliens and their sound issues don’t make much sense especially with how distracted they would be by nature, animals, and everything else. Humans would actually fall pretty low on the sound levels when it comes to their daily normal interactions and talking.

It is for these reasons I was actually looking forward to a prequel for the films in A Quiet Place: Day One. My hope was they might help explain more about these aliens and how they came to figure out that sound was their trigger. I was particularly intrigued when they had a quality actress like Lupita Nyong’o on board and Michael Sarnoski writing and directing who was the man behind the compelling film Pig from a few years ago.

Unfortunately those expectations were ill-founded because A Quiet Place: Day One proved to be another disappointment from 2024. Not only is it a rinse and repeat of the previous 2 films except in New York City but it literally provides none of the backstory the title promises. Everyone immediately knows to be quiet and it is blasted from a helicopter in the sky. So Nyong’o’ s character Sam has to make it to the water in order to be saved because the creatures can’t swim. That’s it. That’s the story. That’s all the insight we gain. Everyone immediately knows how to handle the creatures and that they can’t swim or tolerate sound. I was left gobsmacked thinking ‘why does this movie need to exist?’ It does nothing different than the previous 2 and I can just watch those if I need an A Quiet Place fix.

Nyong’o is good and does what she can with the material and Joseph Quinn is fine but one can’t help but wonder why the aliens aren’t distracted by the noise from all the rats and birds in New York City? I would think they would be making plenty compared to the relatively small noise from a human. The whole thing is really quiet stupid when you think about it but the truth is I shouldn’t be thinking about it because the movie should do something compelling to keep my mind from wandering. It shouldn’t be the same movie we’ve already gotten twice before! I guess the cat is great.

Unfortunately A Quiet Place: Day One is a day you can skip.

Frown Worthy

Make sure you check out the patreon for perks, exclusive reviews and to be part of our monthly events and watch alongs. Find out more here. 

CURRENT MINI REVIEWS 6/21 (ULTRAMAN: RISING, FIREBRAND, BRATS, THE BEACH BOYS)

| Rachel's Reviews

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well. I have been crazy busy this month with my normal responsibilities plus I have taken on 2 part-time temporary jobs at Canyon School District, which has been a big learning experience (very positive!)

I have had the chance to catch a few new releases as well as the very disappointing 3rd season of Bridgerton. I will be writing more about that in the future (my reviews of season 1 and 2 (as well as Queen Charlotte) are some of my favorite pieces for this site. In the meantime, please listen to the breakdown with my friends on Hallmarkies Podcast 

But let’s talk about what else I have been watching:

ULTRAMAN: RISING

While I wasn’t crazy about Godzilla x Kong this has been an exciting time for kaiju movies with Godzilla Minus One being one of the best ever and now we have an animated offering in Ultraman: Rising.

In this film we have a know-it-all baseball player Ken who is sent back to Tokyo when his Mother dies and he ends up taking over for his father who is Ultraman. Along the way he comes to forgive his parents and save the city along the way.

This is a very kid-friendly version of a kaiju story with none of the monsters feeling particularly scary. In fact, one looks like an adorable little baby kaiju.

Where Ultraman: Rising shines most is in its action scenes. The animation is truly hypnotic and mesmerizing. It’s just shame it is on Netflix because I would have loved to have seen it on a big screen. Nevertheless, you can watch this with your entire family and they will love it. It’s got that right mixture of action and heart.

Smile Worthy

FIREBRAND-

I love me some period piece drama and a pretty good entry is just being released last week called Firebrand. It tells the story of Henry VIII’s final wife Kathryn Parr who despite having written 3 books is the wife that is known the least about. Alicia Vikander is always great in these type of roles and she is here. Parr proves to be a fascinating character who seems to be the smartest person in any room at any moment.

As good as she is in the role, Vikander is upstaged by Jude Law as Henry in a captivating performance. He’s nearly unrecognizable with the makeup and clothes and yet he captures the mania and savagery of this man. He also looks so much like the famous painting of Henry you so often see.

Some will find Firebrand a little boring as there isn’t much action or excitement but if you like historical character pieces you’ll enjoy this one. I certainly did.

Smile Worthy

BRATS

If the new documentary Brats works at all it is because of the captivating characters being interviewed more than the filmmaking involved. As a film fan it’s hard to not be interested in what has happened to these once 20-somethings now they are 30 years older.

That said, the filmmaking by Andrew McCarthy could be better. He asks his subjects the same questions repeatedly and they all have basically the same responses to how being in the Brat Pack changed their lives. As it is it’s fine. It just could have been more interesting if the interviewer asked more interesting questions.

Frown Worthy

THE BEACH BOYS

Another documentary that’s a bit of a mixed bag but enjoyable enough is The Beach Boys which is available on Disney Plus. I’m a big sucker for rags-to-riches docs on famous people and that’s basically what you get here. We see how each member of the iconic band dealt with fame and how they came up with so many of their memorable songs.

Where the documentary starts to lose me is in all the quotes they have with fans and other performers that seemed to have nothing to do with the band. It’s confusing why they didn’t have John Stamos on the doc if they were going this approach as he actually played with The Beach Boys. I didn’t really care what most of these famous people had to say about the songs especially when their reactions were basic generic reactions anyone could have.

Still, if you are fan of The Beach Boys give this documentary some of your time you’ll enjoy it.

Smile Worthy

So there you have it. Everything I’ve been watching lately

Make sure you check out the patreon for perks, exclusive reviews and to be part of our monthly events and watch alongs. Find out more here. 

BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE (Review) or Bad Directors? Whatcha You Goona Do?

| Rachel's Reviews

BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE

I’m not sure what I expected from my first exposure to the Bad Boys franchise but what I got in Bad Boys: Ride or Die was definitely different. Whether it is in keeping with the rest of the franchise I’ll obviously leave for others to determine (my friends who are fans seem very happy with it so I guess so?)

I suppose I was anticipating a lot of action and pithy banter between our two leads. What I got instead was a lot of shouting, an existential crisis with a near-death afterlife experience and only momentary action that was shot in the most bizarre ways. When it leans into the friendship dynamic it can be quite enjoyable but most of the rest of the movie felt tonally discombobulated with one of the most predictable plots of the year.

 

In particular if you don’t know a character is a villain within the first 5 minutes of meeting him then you need to watch more movies. Some of the humor works like a sequence involving a Reba McEntire song but a lot of it falls flat and then the same joke that didn’t work the first time is repeated multiple times. Why are skittles so funny in this world?

Like I said, the movie should be saved by the action but it was shot in the strangest ways that took me out of the movie. For example, the director decides to shoot major action from a first person shooter perspective like we are all the sudden playing Grand Theft Auto instead of watching a movie. I’ve been told this was a stylistic choice for this movie and not a part of the franchise but it made the entire scene feel artificial; thereby taking away any stakes that might have been there.

Again, Bad Boys: Ride or Die was my introduction to this franchise so take my response with a grain of salt. If you enjoyed it I’m happy for you. I gave it a shot but it wasn’t for me. Oh well. On to the next Summer blockbuster.

Frown Worthy

Make sure you check out the patreon for perks, exclusive reviews and to be part of our monthly events and watch alongs. Find out more here.

TUESDAY Review or I’m Glad the Death Bird Metaphor Movie Moved You…

| Rachel's Reviews

Film and film criticism is such an interesting world to be a part of. We all share in a communal experience watching a film together, often times notepad and pen in hand getting ready to write our reviews. But so frequently we leave that theater having had such radically different reactions to what we have just seen. In particular lately, I seem to have taken some kind of grumpy potion because I have hardly liked anything that has been presented to me on the big or small screen. Even my beloved Bridgerton was disappointing this morning. Sigh…

I say all this because my response to the latest from distributor A24, Tuesday, was decidedly more negative than nearly all the other critics that I saw it with. Artpiece films are always going to be somewhat divisive but in this case it seems to be me divided against everyone else I know. This fact doesn’t change my opinion. Of course. But it is always fascinating to wonder why I didn’t appreciate what was moving to so many others.

The film in question, Tuesday, is directed and written by Daina O. Pusić and it tells the story of a young lady named Tuesday who finds out that she is going to die in a quite literal way from a giant macaw that symbolizes Death. Her Mother Zora who seems quite distanced from Tuesday (Lola Petticrew) at the beginning doesn’t want to accept this prophecy and does whatever she can to remove the bird (or death) from their home.

There are a lot of reasons why this particular metaphor didn’t work well for me. To begin with the main point is rather pedestrian and obvious. Death sucks. We all get that. Nobody likes it. So, having this grim reaper in the form of a bird doesn’t really ask any new or insightful questions to that basic hard life fact. The closest it gets is a brief conversation about the afterlife and if God exists but this script quickly moves on from such insight to more declarative statements about how death is a reality. Yep…

Then we have lots of scenes of the bird in various phases throughout the the film. He’s big. He’s small. He’s in Tuesdays’ ear canal. He’s eaten by Zora (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and then regurgitated back up (a lot of gagging in the film.) None of this transformation of the bird makes the central questions more interesting or the story more compelling. It’s just more bird scenes.

Did I mention I’m not much of a bird person? This is why I didn’t love The Boy and the Heron as much as most- even though I did recommend that film. It just wasn’t a favorite of mine aesthetically or story-wise. Here we are given far less story and even more creepy bird scenes.

The whole thing just felt incredibly pretentious, heavy-handed, repetitive, and annoying. I also felt Tuesday being disabled was a bit of the sacrificial lamb being offered up so the Mom could live her big full life plot and that didn’t sit quite right with me. It wasn’t as bad but it had tinges of Me Before You in it (a film I abhor.) Couldn’t they have made Tuesday more grounded and their relationship more complex? It might have been more interesting to have Tuesday be the one surviving with Zora being the one sick or dying? What would our Death bird have to say in that situation? (I’m not sure much of anything insightful but it at least would feel more fresh and unique.)

Like I said, seemingly everyone else I know loved this and it resonated quite deeply with them so maybe I’m just dead inside and a bird is going to visit me soon? I have no idea but if it does it’s been real, and I hope it makes my family gag less than Zora does in this film… We can all hope.

Frown Worthy

Make sure you check out the patreon for perks, exclusive reviews and to be part of our monthly events and watch alongs. Find out more here. 

INSIDE OUT 2 Review or How a Messy Movie About Feelings Still Brings All the Feels… (Pixar 49)

| Rachel's Reviews

On paper I have a lot of problems with Inside Out 2. It really is a movie that shouldn’t work as well as it does and yet the magic of film I walked away having enjoyed my experience- almost in spite of itself. If you are someone who is skeptical of what it has to offer I would encourage you to give it a shot. It may be messy and imperfect but what from Pixar isn’t these days? Overall it may have enough heart and charm to win you over like it did me. Here are some of my thoughts:

We begin Inside Out 2 with Riley starting puberty at 13. This would be late for most girls these days with typical window being 8-13 in America. She honestly might be having questions of why these changes weren’t happening to her sooner like with Margaret in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret who was 11 in that film. It certainly seems unlikely that she wouldn’t have had any signs like body odor or a puberty button emotion-wise by 13.

Anyway, Riley’s dive into puberty happens at the same time as her transition to high school and the hockey camp for the high school. I guess this high school doesn’t have a JV hockey team because it seems like her one shot to playing is with this older high school players. Riley also finds out her two best friends aren’t attending her high school. It seems unlikely that this would be new information to her as high school attendance is usually determined by geography so I don’t know why Riley is just finding this out attending the camp but whatever.

She is now forced to decide between her old friends and tastes and ingratiating herself with the new older girls. This invites our new characters of Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui. I think anxiety, embarrassment and fear are pretty redundant in the world of emotions but again whatever.

I am not the biggest fan of the use of Anxiety in this film as the primary villain. It takes over the other emotions literally putting them in a jar and sending them to emotions jail. We’ve spent so much time in America telling kids and adults that anxiety is natural and part of human experience. Treating it as a villain makes me uncomfortable.

That said, there are some relatable aspects to Riley’s arc. I remember the stress of having to pick between different groups of friends as a young teen. Also knowing you’d been not picked by former friends is hurtful and hard. All the friends stuff is just hard at that time in life.

Also I really liked how they had the core emotions going on a journey to rescue Riley’s Sense of Self. While you could argue this is just repeating the arc Joy took in the first film it was a different enough wrinkle to get me invested. I also like that Sadness is asked to lead in a very meaningful way that I appreciated.

In addition, the humor in Inside Out 2 worked well with Lewis Black leading the show once again as Anger. Tony Hale and Liza Lapira also fit in seamlessly as the new Fear and Disgust respectively.

One of my favorite moments of the film is when Joy realizes that human beings simply don’t feel as much joy the older they get. It’s sad but absolutely true. I groaned a little bit when they all the sudden have Anxiety in the minds of all the characters like the Parents when they didn’t have them in the original films. But again whatever. It’s not a perfect film but it did have enough emotion from Joy and Riley to win me over.

Of course, the animation is always lovely from Pixar and the music by Andrea Datzman is a lovely homage to what Michael Giacchino did in the first film.

Fortunately kids aren’t going into a Pixar film for a clinically accurate depiction of anxiety, puberty or any other mental health condition they might experience. What I do think it can help with is start a discussion about what Riley is experiencing and the good and not so good decisions she makes along the way. Also what Joy learns about letting Riley make those choices and not hiding the bad experiences in the back and pretending like they don’t exist.

I don’t know if any mental health allegory would be perfect and if it was it probably wouldn’t be something we’d want to watch. As is, Inside Out 2 has a big heart and enough moving moments to win over this critic.

Smile Worthy

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Current Mini Reviews 6/1 (YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA, BARBIE AND STACIE TO THE RESCUE, JIM HENSON: IDEA MAN, BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY)

| Rachel's Reviews

Hey everyone! I hope you are doing well! I have another diverse and interesting group of new films to tell you about. I’ve been a contrarian of late on a lot of the big releases so it’s nice to have a group of movies I overall enjoyed. Let’s talk about them:

JIM HENSON: IDEA MAN-

I’m a huge Muppets fan. In fact, I just finished up my 7th year of Muppet May on my channel and the final entry is a new documentary about Jim Henson entitled Jim Henson: Idea Man and it’s a wonderful celeb bi0-doc about the creator of the Muppets. As a big Muppet fan I must say most of the information in the documentary wasn’t new to me but I still enjoyed hearing it again and all the archival and new interviews with Jim’s friends and family (I think 4 out of 5 of his children were interviewed.)

There actually have been several good Muppets documentaries including I Am Big Bird and Street Gang about Sesame Street. Both of which I’ve reviewed for Muppet May.

Smile Worthy

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA-

If you are new to my reviews you might not know that I am an avid swimmer and have even completed over 15 open water swims in my lifetime. There is nothing better than being in the water trying to get to that finish line! Several years ago I read a wonderful book about female open water swimming pioneers that was highly entertaining called The Great Swim (ad) One of those women profiled in the book is Gertrude or Trudy Ederle who was the first woman to cross the English Channel in 1926. Her story is thrilling show of determination and grit and I was thrilled when I saw that Disney was making a movie about her story.

Swimming is a hard sport to make cinematic because unlike a basketball or running the athlete’s face isn’t visible because it is in the water. This is particularly difficult in an open water event which takes many hours. How does the director keep interest with so little happening to the athlete in question?

It’s tricky but director Joachim Ranning meets the challenge by carefully setting the framework of the risks of Trudy’s swim and having enough side characters (even her Mother in New York waiting at the radio station to hear news) to build tension through them. Jerry Bruckheimer produced the fim in and in many ways it has that 90s feel-good picture approach to it. It’s got a nice message, about appealing people and makes you want to go out and finish whatever goal you’ve been sitting on.

I also loved the tiny lap pool they found hidden away in a boiler room in New York City. I’m not sure if that was a set or not but it was very convincing and cool. The dialogue was a little clunky at times but it reminded me of Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken or even Rudy in its old-fashioned charm.

Smile Worthy

BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY-

I guess this is just the week for sweet documentaries about icons of public television because we have one on Jim Henson and one on LeVar Burton and his program Reading Rainbow. It’s called Butterfly in the Sky and it is another sweet documentary that fans of the show like myself will really enjoy.

Reading Rainbow ran for many years and it sought to introduce kids to great stories and encourage overall reading. It was neat to get the backstory on how Burton was hired, what books they chose and why and the writing of the iconic theme song. They also have a lot of interviews with now grown kids who read stories on the show and celeb fans who were influenced by the show. This is not groundbreaking film like Won’t You Be My Neighbor was but it’s a pleasant watch on Netflix I’d recommend.

Smile Worthy

BARBIE & STACIE TO THE RESCUE-

If you don’t follow my youtube channel you might not realize I have been reviewing the Barbie movies for many years. I still have 4 more to go but I recently caught up with the latest entry Barbie & Stacie to the Rescue. Like most of the Netflix Barbie movies it’s a serviceable entertainment for little kids but these latest instalments have lost some of the moxie and ambitious storytelling of the early part of the series.

In this 43rd entry in the series we have Barbie becoming a hot air balloon pilot and her sister Stacie wanting to help her as co-pilot but she is too young. Sister Skipper is also there with her own attitude and problems. It’s fine and pleasant enough but just to give you an idea of the change in ambition here’s the plot summary for To the Rescue:

In contrast here is the plot for Barbie: Fairytopia:

And I get it. It’s probably ridiculous for me a grown woman to be complaining about the simplicity of animated Barbie movies but nobody else is going to point it out so why not me? The animation is better in these Barbie movies but like so much in streaming ends up as pale imitations of what once was.

Frown Worthy

Make sure you check out the patreon for perks, exclusive reviews and to be part of our monthly events and watch alongs. Find out more here.