The Perfect Neighbor

The body cam tells the tale.

Movie: The Perfect Neighbor

Running Time: 1:36

Nominated for: Best Documentary Feature

How I watched: Netflix

When it had me: The trailer

When it lost me: The reality

What systems does it challenge: Racism, White Women's Tears

This was a truly heart-breaking documentary (not unusual) about a nosy white lady neighbor who hates all the black children who play near her apartment and spends all of her days planning on how to ruin everything for them. She's absolutely disgusting.

What's unusual about this doc is that the cops in it are on the side of the children and most of the documentary is shown through the dash cams and body cams of the police who are repeatedly called out to the neighborhood.

It's well told and very upsetting.

Jurassic World: Rebirth

This is fine. Everything's fine.

Movie: Jurassic World: Rebirth

Running Time: 2:14

Nominated for: Visual Effects

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Sleeping T-Rex

When it lost me: Probably some stupid choices

What systems does it challenge: Dinosaur Resurrection! aka unchecked ego disguised as progress

Guys, I don't know. I saw this back in summer. I enjoyed it more than the last couple of Jurassic World movies. It felt like it got back to basics; just a ragtag group, on an island, running from dinosaurs. There were some decent set pieces with a sleeping T-Rex and inside a convenience store. I don't need it to be more.

The family in the movie had some annoying dynamics going on. The boyfriend was like a vestigial tail; totally useless and in the way. But Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali are a good trio.

I was just reminded of the beginning of the movie where dinosaurs get loose because a stupid, stupid scientist (I knew there were stupid choices!) carelessly drops a snickers wrapper too close to the containment door vent and it gets sucked in. And previously, a stupid, stupid engineer had designed a containment door with a vent that is big enough to forcefully suck things in but no grate to keep contaminants out. And when it does suck things in, it obviously results in total failure and all the dinosaurs can get free. It's like Galen Erso designed it this way on purpose because he wanted the rebels to free the dinosaurs. sigh.

But otherwise, mostly a good time.

Cutting Through Rocks

Me, trying to recenter after learning of new horrors.

Movie: Cutting Through Rocks

Running Time: 1:35

Nominated for: Documentary Feature

How I watched: Slipstream via LACMA

When it had me: Charming main character

When it lost me: It didn't

What systems does it challenge: Patriarchy, Oppressive Religion

First off, this was not an easy documentary to find. It had ONE screening in local theaters and that happened to be right in the middle of the Super Bowl. Are you kidding me? I had a house full of guests so that didn't work. Then I found out it would be streaming on Docplay, a streaming service that I was all ready to sign up for and then cancel.

However, that changed again, and I ended up finding that LACMA was hosting online screenings of it. I had to register and sign in on a certain day and finally got to watch it. Thanks, LACMA.

Now I have watched it and I HATE THE WORLD!

It takes place in a village in northern Iran where Sara is a completely unconventional woman. Her father had no sons for years so he taught Sara to ride a motorcycle and build things and dress however she wanted and think for herself.

Her marriage doesn't last so she becomes a divorcee with her own home and works as the village midwife and runs for office on the village council. So far, it's great. I love everything about her. She helps married women to become part owners in their own homes, she encourages girls to stay in school and not marry as children and she advocates for child brides who want a divorce.

Can you guess what happens next? Yeah, they come for her. And they do it in the wildest and most unexpected way! I was infuriated and terrified and sitting on the edge of my seat. Since the film is hard to find, I'll tell you what happened at the end of the review but don't want to spoil it for those of you who want to check it out.

The film has many beautiful shots woven throughout and captures such a rich tapestry of emotional states of the various women and children involved. It does offer some hope even thought I'm just completely angry about all patriarchies at the moment. Well worth the watch.

Spoilers ahead....

Turn Back now....

Sara gets charged with having an indecent home and is under investigation. Her home is searched for hours and she has to visit a doctor to determine whether or not she is really a woman! What the actual fuck? And it's not just a genital check. It's long interviews asking why her voice isn't feminine and why she isn't more polite and when she plans to get married again. The judge then reviews all the materials and HE GETS TO DECIDE whether or not she needs GENDER REASSIGNMENT SURGERY. I'm absolutely dying. There is no end to the ways they find to torture women. I'm livid. Apparently this is how they punish gay people in Iran. 

The judge rules that she can stay a woman but cautions that she better get married soon. Out of the students that Sara spoke to 17 of them get married off by their families and only five are trying to focus on their studies. Sara decides she has to be more patient and not push for such big changes but she isn't quitting. Good for her. Now I'm going to go crash out.

Diane Warren: Relentless

Movie: Diane Warren: Relentless

Running Time: 1:32

Nominated for: Original Song

How I watched: Prime

When it had me: She's so chaotic!

When it lost me: Some ableism

What systems does it challenge: Ableism, for me. Not sure for the film maker

I know Diane Warren because she gets nominated for an Oscar every time she writes a song for a movie. When she writes something it's usually for some interesting, small, out of the way film that would never have gotten noticed by the Academy otherwise. Year after year she shows up to the Awards and then goes home empty handed. Seventeen nominations, zero wins!

So this year, they made a whole documentary about her with her own original song attached and she is STILL not going to win because she is up against K-Pop Demon Hunters and Sinners.

What I learned watching the doc is that she is also responsible for the entire soundtrack of my teen years. She has 9 number one hits and 33 top ten hits! It's mind boggling.

Also? She is completely chaotic and quite clearly neurodivergent. But everyone in the doc talks about how peculiar and quirky she is so I figured no one has bothered to question how her brain works. Then halfway through they casually mention her autism. It really bothered me that they know she is autistic but they constantly exclaim over how hyper focused she is or how socially awkward she is or how she is so strange for prioritizing career over personal life. She is who she is and we know exactly why she has "quirks" and she is wildly successful besides. It just felt unnecessary to present her in that way.

The doc felt very spontaneous with one scene where Diane wants to show off a shed where she wrote songs as a teen but they obviously didn't plan it in advance because the door falls off the shed and they can't get inside. I like the honesty of leaving that in. It also felt padded in places, like they didn't quite have enough but I give it credit for really teaching me some things.

Thankfully Diane has won an honorary award from the Academy for her work over the years. It meant a lot to her and it will make it easier for me to watch her lose again this year.

Avatar: Fire and Ash

New witch just dropped!

Movie: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Running Time: 3:17

Nominated for: Visual Effects, Costumes

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Nope

When it lost me: The first Avatar

What systems does it challenge: Militarized Colonization and/or indigenous people's sovereignty.

How is this nominated for costumes when the costumes are all CGI? I realize someone had to design them but it's like we are trivializing the entire act of bringing the costumes to life. It seems kinda fishy to me. 

Anyway, three hours and 17 minutes is too long. You know how I feel.

Jake Sully continues to bring his culture to the Na'vi which means more guns and emotional unavailability.

Jake Sully continues to ask Na'vi to trust him and then immediately gets them all killed or their homes destroyed.

The white saviorism is uncomfortable.

Good news! I did meet another witch! I was hoping I would but they kept everything she did a mystery so I didn't learn any new tricks.

The visuals are beautiful, like the screensavers they use to sell TVs at Costco.

The dialog is stiff and unnatural. The visual effects even seemed spotty and not that great. Did we just have an off screening?

The action and pacing of the film actually move along pretty well. It carries forward logically from one scene to the next with a good balance of action and reflection. Look, this is a bare minimum kind of compliment but I actually see a lot of films that don't manage this.

How many times will James Cameron be allowed to make this movie? I think his plans include about 7 right now...am I really going to have to do this four more times???

Major Upside: there are some really cute CGI otters!

The Alabama Solution

Movie: The Alabama Solution

Running Time: 1:54

Nominated for: Best Documentary Feature

How I watched: HBO Max

When it had me: Phones in prison?

When it lost me: It did not

What systems does it challenge: Prison Industrial Complex 

Another heart breaker. This one covers the Alabama prison system which is both overcrowded and understaffed. It also keeps its inmates in unsafe conditions and uses them as a form of slave labor. 

Due to the understaffing, phones have become ubiquitous in prison and the inmates have finally found a way to communicate with the outside world and document some of the injustices that are a regular part of their daily life.

I'm inspired by the inmates who spend their time educating themselves on the law and on activism and fighting for their rights to be treated as humans. And I'm mortified by stories of men who have been behind bars for more than three decades. I can't imagine how I could build a life for myself in a place like that. How do you put one foot in front of the other with any kind of sanity when it's pretty clear you're never getting out?

These brave men have documented the many violations, abuses and crimes of the guards and are filing suit against the whole system. The movie points out that the state of Alabama has never done anything to protect the rights of people of color unless the federal government has required them to do so. The governor of that state takes offense that they are asking for federal assistance with this and insists it will require an "Alabama Solution" rather than a federal one, hence the title.

I wish I could tell you that at the end of two hours it's all worked out but it's s fight that will have to be maintained for quite some time, I fear.

The Ugly Stepsister

This girl was not so hopeless. She just needed confidence!

Movie: The Ugly Stepsister

Running Time: 1:45 (Nice!)

Nominated for: Make Up & Hairstyling

How I watched: Hulu

When it had me: Right Away

When it lost me: Body horror made me look away but didn't lose me

What systems does it challenge: Beauty standards

The Ugly Stepsister is a retelling of Cinderella that centers Elvira, one of the stepsisters. Elvira is awkward with a childish hairstyle and braces (which I didn't know were invented in the early 1800s!) and naively dreams of the Prince whose poetry she obsesses over.

I love this clear-eyed look at the bones of the Cinderella story. The marriage of the stepmother is a desperate attempt to gain a financial means to care for herself and her two daughters. Women can't have jobs or property; their only hope is to marry rich and the only way to do that is to be attractive, pleasant and obedient. Once her new husband dies the clock is ticking again and this time they set their hopes on the seemingly hopeless Elvira to go from ugly duckling to swan and save the family.

Elvira is likable from the start and the horror escalates as we watch her use increasingly gruesome and torturous tactics to improve her marketability. She becomes harsh and mean, yes, but she is in constant agony thanks to everything from breaking and resetting bones to a dietary tapeworm. Through it all she imagines a beautiful outcome of love between her and the Prince and I think we stick with her because of this stubborn optimism (even though it is revealed that the Prince is a douchebag.)

Cinderella has her own love interest and is also mean to Elvira and there is also the younger sister (who has big nonbinary vibes) who wisely hides when she gets her period so she can stay out of the fray and just hang out with the horses. The stepmother is all in, essentially prostituting herself for whatever favors and scraps she can negotiate.

All of these women are shrinking, altering and hiding themselves in order to survive through the only means offered to them; dependency on men. The men are hardly even present in the film until we get to the ball and they circle like horny sharks looking for prey. The women are like exotic animals that have been brought out for show. It's exaggerated but also completely realistic and that's the real horror.

We know how the story ends. This is a first time director from Norway, Emilie Blichfeldt, and she does some really subtle and wonderful storytelling especially at the end. As Elvira (now almost monstrous from her backfired attempts at "improvement") and her young sister escape, Elvira is giggling from the absurdity of the moment and it might be the first genuine joy we see her experience in the whole film. In the midst of her tragedy it feels reassuring. Her sister then tells her that have to get to the border by nightfall. We have no idea where they are going but it seems they have a plan and we are left with hope that they have freed themselves from the shallow world of competing beauty.

I enjoyed this far more than The Substance as a commentary on beauty expectations for women.

K-Pop Demon Hunters

Serious about snackies!

Movie: K-Pop Demon Hunters

Running Time: 1:39

Nominated for: Animated Feature, Best Original Song

How I watched: Netflix

When it had me: Cute characters

When it lost me: Honmoon?

What systems does it challenge: Demonology

This movie dives right in and gets down to business. I appreciate that it doesn't waste any time on complex exposition. Even so, I didn't know what in the world a honmoon was or what they were saying or what it meant until I looked it up only moments ago. 

The main characters are so adorable and relatable. They are serious about their jobs, both as popstars and demon hunters, but they also value their snacks and couch rotting time. They are attracted to cute boys and also know a red flag when they see one. 

The music is catchy and fun and it rolls right along to a conclusion that was maybe a bit too easy to pull off. I like the message that our own scars and dark thoughts are a bigger threat to us than others who are fighting their own battles with shame.

The costumes of the demons are pretty great and I genuinely fell in love with the bird and the tiger! All in all, much better than I expected.

The Lost Bus

This is actually not from the movie. The blue wall in the distant left half of the frame is my house, surrounded by so much fire. I don't know how it survived. I don't know how we got so lucky. I'm grateful every day. Thanks to our neighbor for this most disturbing photo.

Movie: The Lost Bus

Running Time: 2:09

Nominated for: Visual Effects

How I watched: Apple TV

When it had me: I remember Paradise!

When it lost me: Fire, obvs

What systems does it challenge: Climate Change and Failures of leadership

Live Reviewing The Lost Bus (aka typing as I watch so I don't feel alone):

We are starting on the power lines above the city. Same, Paradise.

(I went to school at Chico State so I have history with Paradise. I know people from there. I used to watch Sunsets over the canyon. I shopped in the many antique shops. I dated a gay man from there. Anyway, enough about me.)

Warning about wind gusts up to 80mph! Same, Paradise.

They are setting up Matthew McConaghey's character as having ALL the bad luck. Sick mom, dying dog, not a good dad. And a lot of little annoyances that aren't going to matter soon.

Neglected power lines and dry grass! Same, Paradise.

Also? My aunt lived in Magalia and lost her home in this fire. She had all of the Victorian era tin type photos of our ancestors. 

They just said "Paradise is eight miles away. I don't think it's a problem." But they are wrong! This fire is so fast moving its like multiple fires at once. Same, Paradise.

25 minutes in and I'm fighting tears! I should be drinking!

I can't believe they are attempting air support in these winds. Ah, it's not working.

I vehemently hate the Cal Fire team making decisions. Not because they've done anything wrong per se. But the team we had never ordered evacuations and I've never felt more betrayed by anything.

This is giving me a chance to try breathing techniques and self soothing tips that I have learned to deal with the feelings that come up. Exposure therapy! And you know what? The techniques are working.

Oh no! The evacuation orders won't send! That's the worst!

This dude didn't want to pick up stranded kids because his 15 year old is home with a stomach bug! Get it together, Kevin! This teacher is so calm; I can't tell if she is super profesh or just in denial (I know I was!) Bus driver is either an idiot or smarter than everyone. We'll see, I guess.

Being stuck in a car trying to escape a fire is a major fear of mine! I'm so grateful that when we left there was no traffic. Forty minutes after we left it got really bad.

Every man for himself. Shit!

Power company hasn't shut off the power lines properly. Same, Paradise!

Being separated from your family during an evacuation would be the most terrifying thing. This bus is off-roading and everything! I feel traumatized; imagine these children!

They just made the call to cease all firefighting and I lost it! "Despite our best efforts, this community is facing the full force of the fire alone." Same, Paradise.

They are using a little bit of a Sam Raimi fire POV cam, making it look like the fire is hunting them.

My whole body wants to lock up when I think of these poor people following evacuation orders and then being overtaken by the fire. Cars burning; people running through the trees trying to go faster than a massive out of control fire. No one should have to perish in such a state of absolute terror. I want to go back in time and do something to ease their pain. Why can't I do that?

Spoiler alert: the bus made it out. I can't help but wonder if the bus would have been fine if the drive had just followed the initial evacuation route. Probably not, but who knows? They survived. I survived.

The movie is so-so. It's not an artistic masterpiece but the acting is good and you stay fearful for everyone involved and therefore invested. That's all I can say.

Now I'm going to go watch Olympic figure skaters and feel joy again.

Come See Me In The Good Light

Movie: Come See Me In The Good Light

Running Time: 1:44

Nominated for: Documentary Feature

How I watched: Apple TV

When it had me: Broken Mailboxes

When it lost me: I tapped out to deal with emotions a couple of times

What systems does it challenge: Death

Poet Andrea Gibson faces a terminal cancer diagnosis with grace, honesty, love and creative self expression.

It is heart-breaking, life affirming, thoughtful and exquisitely painful. I think I learned some things about humanity. Or maybe I just needed a reminder.

It felt so sacred that I have very little to say about it. It's a tough but beautiful watch.

Zootopia 2

Why do I feel like I should like this world more than I do?

Movie: Zootopia 2

Running Time: 1:50

Nominated for: Animated Feature

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Fortune Feimster!

When it lost me: Nah

What systems does it challenge: Colonialism

Disney's two favorite cops are back to teach us about the evil, ugliness and lies of colonialism and genocide!

I can't even get away from this when I watch an animated kids movie? Ok, fine. It's a good thing. I mean, it's super-relevant and it's the right message, so let's go.

All our favorite characters are back and some new ones are added in. Most notable is Fortune Feimster who is an eager beaver that talks about threesomes and four-ways. (I can't make this up, you guys.) She is a shot of adrenaline to the movie and so much fun. This movie also introduces reptiles via a snake played by Ke Huy Quan. This led me to questions about how all the animals of Zootopia source their food, but let's not linger on that too much.

Despite the comedy and cute animals, I had a tough time with the messaging. Nick Wild, the fox, makes the point that a cause is not worth dying for but no one else in the movie seems to agree with him. I spend every day worrying about who (else) is going to have to die to get our country back on track so I'd like a better answer than, "You, Autumn, if you ever really cared about anything." But that's just too much of a look into my own mind at the moment.

Conversely, there is a message that no one person should shoulder the burden of a cause alone so you simply have to pick up the baton for a while and have faith that someday we'll all get there. It just might take generations. I guess that makes me feel better?

Overall, this was a good time and they are already hinting at number 3!

Arco

So colorful!

Movie: Arco

Running Time: 1:29

Nominated for: Animated Feature

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Gorgeous Vision of the Future

When it lost me: Almost lost me to fire

What systems does it challenge: Neglecting children, Irresponsible time travel

Arco is a delightful, adventurous journey for a couple of ten year old characters. One is from the regular future (2075) and one from the super future (date not disclosed) and he needs to get back home. The animation depicts a lot of beautiful nature scenes and so many rainbows that you really expect it to be more gay than it is.

There are a trio of wacky characters that pop up and seem like they are straight out of a Scooby Doo episode. They are voiced by Will Ferrel, Andy Samburg and Flea; hilarious weirdos that add a fun storyline.

There is a massive forest fire that starts to overtake a town in the movie and that caused me to cry for a little while. Fire trauma is real and you can't just get past it, you gotta go through it one little trigger at a time. (I am NOT looking forward to watching The Lost Bus!)

The film is chock full lessons. The importance of listening to your kids, supporting those you care about, creative expression, memory, kindness to animals. There's a ton in there but it all feels organic and not forced. I credit good writing to pull that off. Arco was a very enjoyable afternoon at the movies!

Sirat

These two don't belong here!

Movie: Sirat

Running Time: 1:55

Nominated for: International Feature

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Uncool dad looking for cool daughter

When it lost me: Too much explosiveness

What systems does it challenge: War 

This is a hard movie to review! I'm already intimidated. How do I tell you things and not give too much away?

Okay. Deep breath.

Sirat is about a middle aged dad and his tween son who go looking for an adult daughter that hasn't been responding. She's maybe kind of a wild child so they are looking among counter culture rave-goers in Morocco. 

They circulate through the crowds of dancers, hippies and drug users with photos of the missing woman. They are completely out of place but still essentially welcome. The thinnest of leads is offered to them; no one has seen her but perhaps she will go to the next rave.

After an army arrives, they face a split second decision to follow the army's orders or flee into the desert with rave goers. They choose to follow these random people into the desert in order to hopefully find the next rave and the daughter. I've explained all of this to say, this moment of choice was done so well. You feel the urgency, the weight and the woeful lack of time to really think through your actions. And this choice dictates everything that comes after.

The sense of danger and tension and dread in this film builds with a ferocious intensity. The acting is strong from all parties. The cinematography is both beautiful and disorienting. The sound is oppressive at times and always feeding into your anxiety about what's to come. 

The movie masters dread, terror, shock and despair throughout its second and third acts. It's really impressively handled. 

Until the end. Some may find it was compelling all the way through but for me they tried to hit the same note a few too many times and it took on a note of absurdity that overshadowed the drama. It's a shame to end that way after so much really great work. Still it's a compelling and astounding film.

The Voice of Hind Rajab

May there be a beautiful afterlife for this soul.

Movie: The Voice of Hind Rajab

Running Time: 1:29

Nominated for: Best International Feature

How I watched: Landmark Cinemas

When it had me: A six year old needs help!

When it lost me: It didn't

What systems does it challenge: Genocide, Extremist Zionism

I left the theatre grappling with the cruelty of the moment. How are we as humans so unforgivably cruel? How can the government of Israel all agree that it is worth it to use a tank to kill a six year old girl who loves the beach? How can the American right stand by and cheer while a five year old in a bunny hat is abducted, transported and detained for being from another area on a map? How can allegiance to one group, one ideal, one fantasy, fill you with enough hate to want children to suffer? How did Nazis round up children and send them to be shot, gassed, starved, stacked like cord wood? How did border patrol steal babies from their parents, lock them up and then essentially auction them off? How do pedophiles and their traffickers even exist?

sigh. 

I'm having a REALLY hard time with all of this.

This movie was interesting because it felt like a documentary. It uses the actual audio files of the child, Hind, as she called for help while being attacked by the Israeli army. Actors are reenacting the real life call center workers who talked to her and tried to coordinate her rescue. Whether it is a doc with dramatizations or a drama with documentary aspects, it is a powerful choice to blur these lines.

The story is gut wrenching but I didn't feel like they were trying to make it sad for me. They didn't have to. They only have to tell it exactly as it happened. I'm glad they understood that.

This was a hard one that I assume most people will want to skip but I think sitting with this child's story for 89 minutes will help me to remember the very real lives that are lost when nations and ideologies become more centered than they should be.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Rose Byrne at her most disheveled and what I look like (or hope to?) everyday.

Movie: If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Running Time: 1:53

Nominated for: Lead Actress

How I watched: Prime

When it had me: Ominous stakes in first scene

When it lost me: I stayed confused but not lost

What systems does it challenge: Modern Motherhood aka Parenting Without A Village

First off, they did it to me again. For a Comedy/Drama, I definitely expected more laughs than I got. This movie is a fever dream of mother panic. I watched it with another mom and when we did find laughs they were the uneasy chuckles you get from recognition of really hard times.

This movie nails the isolation that moms feel when times are tough, the self doubt, the exhaustion, desperation and disassociation. I read the whole thing as a very exaggerated depiction of what it feels like in those moments where you are another and you have to be a mother but you literally feel like you CAN'T do the job.

There is a medical affliction impacting the child in the movie. As much as I could see my own parental challenges magnified in the movie, I feel for moms of high needs children or kids with grave illnesses who sit down to this movie. The triggers are everywhere and Mary Bronstein*, the writer and director, does not hold back. 

It is tense and uncomfortable throughout. The stakes are high and only seem to get more impossible. Rose Byrne is incredible, wrenching sympathy and solidarity from you even as she repeatedly demonstrates that she may not be worthy of it. Conan O'Brien and ASAP Rocky are both unexpected and great in their own non-supporting roles. 

I spent the whole time wondering what on earth was happening but heavily invested in the journey nonetheless.

*Mary Bronstein is married to Ronald Bronstein a writer, director, producer who produced Marty Supreme this year. They have worked with both Safdie brothers and apparently all four of them make films that feel like panic attacks.

Blue Moon

Also, Lorenz Hart was short!

Movie: Blue Moon

Running Time: 1:40

Nominated for: Leading Actor

How I watched: Prime

When it had me: How did he die at 48?

When it lost me: It's presented as a stage play

What systems does it challenge: Conformity

Ethan Hawke plays Lorenz Hart, seen here as a tragic creative who can't find acceptance because he can't practice conformity. He is bisexual (actually omnisexual, as he asserts all writers must be) refusing to conform to either acceptable heterosexuality or artistic homosexuality. He wants to write about deep, complex topics that challenge an audience and can't be seduced into the more comforting, mindless entertainment that audiences are craving, (like Oklahoma!). He's too bawdy, too needy, too satirical, too much in seemingly so many ways. I liked his character.

The whole movie was presented like it was a play. One set, minimal setups, a handful of characters and a very small feel overall. In addition to the somewhat claustrophobic feel, the acting style felt a bit affected. The actors were ready to perform on a big stage instead of a studio set. I understood the choice but I don't think I preferred the outcome.

Ethan Hawke does a good job delivering wit and moroseness in equal turns. Margaret Qualley brings charm and false modesty and a piano player treats us to more Rodgers and Hart music than we realized we knew.

The movie left me with questions about Lorenz Hart and I appreciate being left with more curiosity than boredom.

Song Sung Blue

Low cut man blouses and hair that waves in the wind! Look out!

Movie: Song Sung Blue

Running Time: 2:13

Nominated for: Best Leading Actress

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Unexpected Story Turn

When it lost me: Neil Diamond Songs!

What systems does it challenge: Unsure, it really just tells a story

Instead of talking about Song Sung Blue, I want to reflect on my category above, listed as "What systems does it challenge?"

I added that category a couple of years ago because it felt like a topic that was coming up in every review. At first I thought it really wasn't going to work as a general question for every movie. Not every movie sets out to be a work of activism or make a lofty statement. But as time went on, I found it more applicable than not. In fact, in cases where I was struggling with how to review a film, it is this question that often brings clarity where before I was feeling uncertain. 

All of that being said, I can't think of an answer for that question for Song Sung Blue and I think that explains why I feel so tepid about this film.

This film is upbeat and charming. Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman play real life tribute performers that amass a pretty good following. They sing Neil Diamond songs. (I am NOT a Neil Diamond fan so I'm already needing to be won over.)

There is a big left turn in their lives and careers after an accident. I didn't see it coming and it definitely reinvigorated my interest in the film. At its heart, it's essentially a family drama. They face challenges with midwestern fortitude and cute accents and for the most part I'd say it's a feel good flick. Why is it so long if it's a feel good flick? Good question. As always, I object to it.

This movie just rolled off of me, like proverbially water off a duck. It was completely inoffensive and well made but nothing sunk in or stuck in any noteworthy way. Kate Hudson was good in this role but I don't think the odds are with her in this race at all. She does her own singing in the film, which honestly she made look so easy that I don't think I'm giving her enough credit for the feat.

If you ignore the real life son of the main character and his complaints, there is nothing wrong with this movie. I just think I'm conditioned to watch movies that are taking some kind of stand, especially at this time of year. 

If you like singing and charm and movies that aren't too heavy, go check this out!

Weapons

Run, kids, run!

Movie: Weapons

Running Time: 2:09

Nominated for: Best Supporting Actress

How I watched: AMC x 2

When it had me: Initial Mystery

When it lost me: It did not

What systems does it challenge: Lack of community

Weapons is about a town where a whole classroom full of children go missing overnight. They simply get up and run outside and vanish. There is grief and searching and blaming and raging but no one gets any closer to the truth for the first month.

Amy Madigan plays Aunt Gladys in Weapons and became a cultural icon doing so. She could be the merciless mastermind behind a town's suffering but also a sweet befuddled old lady who I swear will remind you of at least one relative you knew as a kid. She was so great she got nominated for a horror film! That is usually a rare occurrence for the Oscars but as the nation slips further into fascism, it seems that horror has found a more prominent place in our collective hearts.

What's really great in this movie is the story telling style. We follow one character at time and learn their piece of the puzzle. I think there are five perspectives that we follow and slowly each of the stories begins to interconnect with the other characters and a broader picture begins to form.

They took that trope in horror films where everyone is so scared but if they just talked to each other and shared what they knew they might be able to work together to get out alive, and expanded it to be the whole movie and it works beautifully. I was so engaged in the mystery I forgot to be frightened. (I told my kid it wasn't that scary so they watched it and disagreed with me whole-heartedly!)

The depiction of the supernatural is so mysterious and specific and diabolical. I love how creepy the vibes are throughout. The ending is too gruesome for most viewers I know but it is a very satisfying watch for me from start to finish.