"You see it though, right? You see how making Dr Pepper a girl, you've ruined the essence of the character by taking away the thing..."
Film can inspire great empathy. It gives the watcher a point of view and a way to look at the world that might not be their own. You just have to let it do the work. You have to be open to those new ways of thinking You have to be receptive that this experience is based in reality even if it's not the reality present in your own life. I used to be unreceptive to anything that wasn't a part of the canon. I revered this fabled and vaulted list, this list of white, straight, cisgendered men was the end all be all of film for me. I avoided filmmakers like Spike Lee and John Singleton who popped up occasionally on that list because they made "black" films. I thought of it as being respectful, "Th
The Vast of Night takes place in the late 1950s in Cayuga, New Mexico, a small town near the Mexican border. A sound comes across the airwaves and Fay, the switchboard operator, and Everett, the night time DJ, team up to investigate while nearly everyone else in town is off enjoying the high school basketball game. Soon, come the reports of strange things in the sky and other weird happenings. Is it the Soviet invasion or is it an invasion of a different kind? The film stars Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz, Bruce Davis, Cheyenne Barton, Gregory Peyron, Ingrid Fease, Brandon Stewart, and Gail Cronauer. It is directed by Andrew Patterson and written by James Montague and Craig W. Sanger. The f
The Trip to Greece is the fourth such outing by comedian/actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. Just as in the first three editions, Coogan and Brydon are playing fictionalized versions of themselves on a cross country tour of hotels and restaurants for The Observer, a paper in London. In this trip to Greece, they actually start in Turkey in order to take the route Odysseus makes in the Odyssey from Troy to Ithaca. There's a lot of food, a lot of laughs and a bit of drama along the way. It stars Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Claire Keelan, Rebecca Johnson, Marta Barrio, Tim Leach, Cordelia Bugeja, and Kareem Alkabbani. The film is directed by Michael Winterbottom and the dialogue is improvised by
The Lovebirds is about a couple who are at a turning point in their relationship where they have to decide to break up or stay together. Fate intervenes and they are thrown into a situation where they could be suspects in a murder investigation and have to put together the clues to clear their names and decide the ultimate fate of their relationship. It stars Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani, Paul Sparks, Anna Camp, Kyle Bornheimer, Jaren Mitchell, Betsy Borrego, Mahdi Cocci, Adrene Ward-Hammond, and Moses Storm. It is directed by Michael Showalter and written by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall with a story by Martin Gero. It is streaming exclusively on Netflix. I haven't seen a new comedy in a long
To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (What a ridiculously unwieldy title that is!) is a sequel to the YA novel adaptation, To All the Boys I've Loved Before. This one begins with Lara Jean and Peter safely and securely infatuated with each other. That is until Lara Jean gets a response to the one letter her sister sent that hasn't had a reply. Enter the dreamy and sensitive, John Ambrose. It wouldn't have been as big of a deal if the man himself hadn't come back into Lara Jean's life, but now Lara Jean has to choose, the artist or the jock. It stars Lana Condor, Noah Centineo, Jordan Fisher, Anna Cathcart, Janel Parrish, Ross Butler, Madeleine Arthur, Emilija Baranac, Trezzo Mahoro, Sarayu
Dangerous Lies is about young couple, Katie and Adam, who have fallen on hard financial times. Katie is a caregiver for an elderly man, Leonard, who dies suddenly and a will appears, naming Katie sole heir of all of Leonard's assets. Of course, this windfall comes with some big baggage as Katie and Adam's lives unfurl around them. It stars Camila Mendes, Jessie T. Usher, Cam Gigandet, Michael P. Northey, Sasha Alexander, Jamie Chung, and Elliott Gould. It is directed by Michael M. Scott and written by David Golden. It is streaming exclusively on Netflix. I was pretty disappointed by Dangerous Lies. It's because Dangerous Lies is not particularly interesting. Made by two filmmakers who have c
Spaceship Earth is a documentary about the controversial experiment to build a biosphere and have eight humans try to exist on only what is inside in order to see if it is a viable option for space colonization. It is directed by Matt Wolf. The film is streaming exclusively on Hulu. I love a story of people getting together and getting things done. I especially love stories about idealists. Spaceship Earth is more than a story about a two-year experiment, it's about the people who believe in the project even nearly thirty years later they continue their attempts at developing sustainability. This is an intriguing story in that the idealists held onto their ideals, but are still incredibly pr
How to Build a Girl is based on the novel of the same name. It's about Johanna Morrigan who wants so desperately to get out of her current status in life. She's a very good writer and decides to enter a magazine submission contest. Despite her submission not being about a rock group her tenacity and talent get her in. Johanna enters the world of rock 'n roll at full tilt and lets the fame go to her head so much she has to look at who she's become and decide if that's who she really wants to be. It stars Beanie Feldstein, Paddy Considine, Laurie Kynaston, Sarah Solemani, Chris O'Dowd, Joanna Scanlon, Arinze Kenny, Ziggy Heath, Tadhg Murphy, Bobby Schofield, Frank Dillane, Hammad Animashaun, A
CONTENT NOTE: All the Bright Places deals frankly with mental health, suicide, eating disorders and grief. All the Bright Places is a drama about Violet who is still grieving for her sister lost in a car accident the previous year and Finch, a noted "freak," who tries to get Violet to come out of her shell. Though, Finch isn't being completely honest with himself about his own mental health and is in no real position to be helping others. Tragedy ensues. It stars Elle Fanning, Justice Smith, Alexandra Shipp, Kelli O'Hara, Lamar Johnson, Virginia Gardner, Felix Mallard, Sofia Hasmik, Chris Grace, Luke Wilson, and Keegan-Michael Key. It is directed by Brett Haley and written by Liz Hannah and
All Day and a Night is a drama split into multiple timelines covering the events of Jahkor's young life. The first timeline is him serving his prison term after being sentenced to life for murder, the second timeline is his childhood being given different parental styles by his father, mother, and grandmother. The third timeline is the period of life leading up to his decision to kill. The timelines weave in and out to give a sense of who Jahkor is as a person, why he may have committed his crime, and the socio-economic factors that made his stint in jail an inevitable conclusion. It stars Ashton Sanders, Isaiah John, Kelly Jenrette, Shakira Ja'nai Paye, Regina Taylor, Christopher Meyer, Jal
Big Time Adolescence is about Mo, short for Monroe, who continues a friendship with his older sister's ex-boyfriend Zeke after they've broken up. Eventually, Mo starts wanting to spend time with people his own age who he lets use him for his connection to drugs and alcohol. The two worlds clash and Mo finds himself growing up very quickly. It stars Griffin Gluck, Jon Cryer, Julia Murney, Emily Arlook, Thomas Barbusca, Oona Laurence, Sydney Sweeney, Machine Gun Kelly, and Pete Davidson. It is written and directed by Jason Orley. The film is exclusively streaming on Hulu. Based on his public persona and most of the roles I've seen him in, Pete Davidson seems like exactly the kind of guy Zeke i
Bad Education is based on the largest public school embezzlement case in history. It follows Dr. Frank Tassone, the superintendent of the Roslyn School District who attempts to cover up the extent of the embezzlement while also having an affair. It also follows Pam Glucken who's forced to take the fall for the scheme at first. It stars Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Geraldine Vishwanathan, Ray Romano, Rafael Casal, Jeremy Shamos, Jimmy Tatro, Alex Wolff, Hari Dhillon, Ray Abruzzo, Annaleigh Ashford, Stephen Spinella, and Pat Healy. It's directed by Cory Finley and written by Mike Makowsky. Educators in the United States are criminally underpaid. As the child of two educators I can say that as
The Half of It is about Ellie Chu, a senior in high school who has a thriving essay writing business, and because of it, is asked to write a love letter. Paul Munsky, the dopey jock, wants to woo Aster Flores with the letter because he thinks he's in love with her. It turns out, Ellie's infatuated with Aster, too. The film stars Leah Lewis, Daniel Deimer, Alexxis Lemire, Collin Chou, Wolfgang Novogratz, Enrique Murciano, Catherine Curtin, and Becky Ann Baker. It is written and directed by Alice Wu. This film is streaming exclusively on Netflix. I was charmed by The Half of It. I could have just as easily been rolling my eyes at it. It has the very familiar conceit of Cyrano de Bergerac. A sh