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May 2, 2024

Let’s Get Reel

Shrouded in darkness

April 8 was quite a momentous day for the nation. Hopefully, dear readers, you were able to catch even the minute of glimpses. A thunderhead came over the skies as our beloved moon fell into orbit, just transiting our sun. That star became like obsidian to some, varying degrees of shade for others. Vacationing in Indiana, I was able to witness ninety-eight percent coverage from the comfort of a lake house, bloody Mary in hand. Although not complete totality, the sight was beautiful just the same. Sudden shadows and birdsong transfixed me as the extremely waning crescent hung above us; an eerie experience indeed, but gorgeous as well.

Nostalgia kick

Youth is fleeting and time is short. In my forty-odd years on this planet, one thing has become painfully obvious. We were weird in our past and new generations will find unique ways to be weird too. In the hyper-fast capitalist machine that is entertainment, exploiting eccentricity in order to make by the numbers content has been a time-honored trade. Pushing all the familiar buttons, every studio hopes to get the same flavors from old formulas without understanding how them functions. And you think taking a movie like Road House would at least inspire a filmmaker to be bold and daring.

Summer is here?

Recent fluctuations in temperature and barometric pressure makes this question inevitable. What really is this season? At time of writing, we have experienced multiple ebbs and flows in heat and cool. Multiplexes, however, have been in a cold spell with nothing of note gracing their screens. Usually blockbuster season isn’t until May, so it was a surprise to see what very well may be the biggest movie of the year drop in Dune: Part Two.

The snub of the year

A complete tragedy; that is the phrase you hear when someone or something is overlooked for accolades. Awards, of any kind, are fickle and subjective. Prizes for art have always felt a bit stranger: what makes this piece better than that? Critics have brought up some under-appreciated films recently, some of which I agree. Past Lives was one of my favorites of last year but earned some Oscar nods. May December only got one. Priscilla and Fallen Leaves both got a big goose egg. My recommendation this week though; this was criminal.

Serial thrillers

Greetings all, we are about to head into another month with still no movies to choose from. The theaters have been inundated with schlock. All of this done, presumably, pull focus onto Oscar pics before the big ceremony. The strikes in Hollywood have started to show their consequences. Luckily, streaming has been picking up the slack with prestige miniseries, harkening back to the days when network television would break up the monotony of their scripted dramas and sitcoms. So, let’s liven this very strange season shall we?

Something old, something new

Nice weather, huh? This meteorological turbulence sends me for a loop, no matter how many times I have been through it. Just the perils of living in the Chicagoland area, I guess. When this happens, my first thought is turning to more comfortable activities. Good food and warm tea; another pastime crops up in the form of older movies. And given the time of year, I yearn for warmer months and films that reflect those seasons. Enter La piscine.

False idols

Due to the massive winter storm and deep freeze, it is unfortunate to say that I was not able to go out to the theaters of late. My plan was to present to you another group of films, now that Oscar season is in full swing. A silver lining has come in the form of various steaming services. Your television can be your cinema. This is especially so if your screen is big enough to resemble a theater. Who needs the multiplex? Here are a couple of films for your consideration.

Ripped from the Headlines

Here is hoping you had a wonderful Christmas and your New Year is bright with possibilities. How does one create the opportunity for the kind of growth and change? Sometimes out of painful experiences we can be free to heal and move forward. Others continue to wallow in those feelings in order to function. This may seem like a rather heavy introduction, but it only fitting to ponder this when sitting down to watch Netflix’s May December.

Christmas may be a little bit more

What, exactly, is a Christmas movie? The definition has gone through some transmutations. Traditionalists rail against ever adding new works to this cultural canon. No Die Hard or The Nightmare Before Christmas for you! I am not a particular fan of these two; however, movies like this are a kind of prism with which many shades are noticeable. Some see joy, others feel melancholy. A Charlie Brown Christmas has endured because of this dichotomy. This is where The Holdovers is nestled in.

Cold-blooded

The Killer comes to us from cinema’s Enfant Terriblé, David Fincher. Gone are the more elegant trapping of 2020’s Mank, also on Netflix. Although this could have used some black and white.

Obscured histories

Some people may be really mad about what I am about to write, put off by what is considered sacred.

But as we well know, even our idols are human; nobody’s perfect. In theaters, Priscilla comes to us from writer/director Sophia Coppola, just a little over a year after Baz Luhrmann’s rapturous bedazzled send-up to the King.

Booking programs

To paraphrase Jane Austen, there is no greater enjoyment like reading.

Of course, she never lived to see the age of moving pictures on large screens nor the advent of cathode rays and LED.

Scary tales and short stories

The last flashes of summer have given way to a chill that can only mean one thing; autumn is upon us. And as we settle into darker nights, our collective screens reflect a certain mood. Whether at home or in a theater, we seek out movies to give pause and even a slight tingle down our spine. Well, Disney Plus has just the ticket for you then.

Locales Exoticós

As we enter the spookiest month of the year, the most horrifying prospect has been less films to go see. However, as of this deadline, the Writers’ Guild has come to an interim agreement with the five major studios. Great news! This doesn’t affect films that have been delayed, so we will have to wait to see Paul Atreides ride that sand worm. Looking at you, Warner Bros. Regardless some studios are still putting out movies this fall. Here are a couple that may pique your interest.

Festival notes

Hope you all had a great Labor Day. As I write this, cold rains stream down my window. This grand harbinger of Autumn is a far cry from the canals in Italy, which were a balmy 84 degrees. The Lido was a bit spare at the Venice Film Festival due to the Actors’ and Writers’ Strike. However, some films managed to break through. New features premiered by Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater and the final film by William Friedkin made their debuts. Netflix made a big splash due to a lack of big studio presence. Both Bradley Cooper’s Maestro and David Fincher’s The Killer lead the way; both of which I plan to look into later this year.

Many happy returns

As the unsettling feeling that summer is ending creeps in, some promise of new media comes with it. Although there haven’t been many good choices at the theater, television and streaming has been picking up the slack.

Late bloomers

We hit the pinnacle of culture in 2023, it would seem. The double feature media event has landed and still going strong in theaters. What else is there to look for forward to? As the actors and writers strike, studios keep threatening to pull titles off the fall and winter slate. I hope this is just conjecture in the tabloids, not an actual possibility; finally when things are looking up.

Don’t make ‘em like they used to

Two months down for the summer and we are finally getting some real blockbusters. As I write this, the actors guild SAG-AFTRA is on strike. Halting any future film plans, next year may not fare better than this one. A lot of crashing and burning has been going on. Low returns and attendance have CEOs scrambling. A warning was already on its way before the pandemic that a sea change was coming. Streaming can host more content than multiplexes can ever match. If the theatrical experience has any hope of thriving, it needs to bend to the will of the public and make some drastic changes. Let’s look at two such examples recently.

Art is in the house

Hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July. Now that the summer is in full swing, the multiplex has been finding it hard keeping interest up. Recent blockbusters have gone bust from the Fast franchise to Marvel. Studios seem hellbent on hurtling down this well-worn road, with little heed to what audiences are saying with their dollars. But can theaters continue on this trajectory as well? Hopefully managers will see that counter-programing might be the only thing keeping them afloat. Here are some recent examples that might hold your attention on those silver screens.

Not so super

Dog days usually come at the end of the summer, not at the beginning. The studios seem to have this all turned around as most of the fare in theaters have been lackluster. For all that we were promised for a big return, the five majors haven’t really given much to write home about it. In an attempt to wait out until more interesting films are released, I perused the streaming services to catch up on previous material I had messed over the past few months. And let’s answer a question that is starting to plague me more and more: Do we really need superhero movies anymore?

Short subjects

In a recent article in The Hollywood Reporter, it was confirmed that Martin Scorsese’s latest film is going to be three hours and twenty-six minutes. For those who screened it in Cannes, I hope they took a long bathroom break and refrained from fluids. Running times have inflated even more than studio budgets of late. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer movie is three hours, which I plan to review next month. The question remains: can we still get smaller films made in the climate of spectacle? Have no fear, those still exist if one is willing to seek them out.

Nostalgia trips

Have you ever listened to a song and been transported to another time in your life? The pull of memory is one of the most powerful tools on which media thrives. Every thirty years, a new phase is rehashed with goals of reeling generations with wistful longing. The allure of our past youth shoved in our faces in hopes of attaining our attention and our wallets. Some, though, are created by those who remember it and want to reflect on as we would but in art. While conglomerates utilize it in more shameless ways. Let’s sort through some of these.

Girl power

As we head past spring showers into May flowers, the plethora of entertainment options start to widen. Even with the impending writers’ strike in Hollywood, enough material is in the can so as to stem any hiatus. Summer movie season is just around the corner. However, before that glut of cinematic cheese clogs up the multiplex, let’s look at some smaller films. These entries offer us some new perspectives as well as fresh takes on old stories from a female perspective.

Dashed plan

In the wild transition that is Chicagoland weather, we have gone through many a season over the last couple weeks. The calendar says it is April, but the barometer has been early autumn, late winter and, briefly, June. Despite tempestuous climate changes, the multiplex has been on a relative flatline. All the major releases worth seeing don’t come out until May. In an attempt to spare you (as well as myself) the review of Beau Is Afraid, the vote went to streaming.

Being productive

With recent reports out of Hollywood, studios may very well have run out of ideas. True, real films don’t come from producers but from writers and directors with actual vision that get snatched up from festivals and the like. But the news of Disney remaking Moana in live action after only seven years and WB reimagining Harry Potter as a streaming series has me reeling.

Speak evil

True crime as a genre is having a bit of a moment. It isn’t as if this form of entertainment ever really goes away. But the tidal wave is hitting its crest. Netflix’s Dahmer seems to be a tipping point in terms of wondering where the line is in terms of exploiting murderers as entertainment while dragging victims’ families through the mud. Can we talk about horrifying real topics with double digit body counts without feeling exploited. Enter Hulu’s Boston Strangler.

Old dogs, new tricks

There are times as a critic when media that is currently available is subpar. In lulls, you just have to wade through it and hope for the best. As much as the public might think that we just love to eviscerate, it is just soul-crushing as you see wasted potential. These all can’t be award winners though.

Lost in translations

With a spate of disappointing releases in theaters, nothing displeases me more than to tell you all not to head out. Theaters are hurting for business at this moment and it pains me to say that. Hopefully I will have more choices in the following issue for your next trip. For now, that same cinematic experience can be had on television these days. Whether you peruse cable or streaming those big stars and grand production values haven’t been sacrificed.

Falling in love again

As we enter the bleak midwinter (at least mid by Chicagoland standards), my task of searching out good romantic content for this review has been daunting. It took me a while to come to the conclusion you see before you. Maybe it was the lack of love in my own life but perhaps the absolute dreck studio and steaming services have on hand. Every time an ad for Shotgun Wedding came on, my eye rolls became a sort of neurological tick. Upon looking at my rack of Blu-rays, a spark reminded me what made be fall in love with love stories in the first place. Here are some older and possibly overlooked gems for your V-day viewing.