May December
SimilarAli: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Billy Elliot (2000), Brazil (1985), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Fargo (1996), M*A*S*H (1970), Mars Attacks! (1996), Monster (2003), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Oldboy (2003), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Stalker (1979), Talk to Her (2002), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Tin Drum (1979), Volver (2006), Wonder Boys (2000),
Watch afterAnatomy of a Fall (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Leave the World Behind (2023), Napoleon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Saltburn (2023), Thanksgiving (2023),
In such films as Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Velvet Goldmine and I’m Not There, filmmaker Todd Haynes has taken the stories of famous people and utilized what we know—or think we know—about them to explore ideas about celebrity and our all-consuming need to render their often-complex stories into straightforward narratives. That strange compulsion to explain, understand, and commodify the lives of real people is at the heart of his latest work, May December, and it certainly seems to have sparked something in him because the end result is the strongest work that he has done in quite some time. Continue Reading →
Theater Camp
SimilarBend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Muriel's Wedding (1994), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Paris Can Wait (2016), Shrek (2001), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Stranger Than Paradise (1984),
StarringDavid Rasche,
For decades, the great American institution of summer camp has been fodder for cinema, and for good reason. A group of hormonal teenagers put together in an artificial environment is the perfect recipe for drama, with the gorgeous backdrop of the outdoors. Continue Reading →
Spirited
Watch afterBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022),
StudioApple Studios,
It’s rare to watch a film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol that turns you into a Scrooge by the end of it. Apple TV+ pulls it off with their modern, social media-age take on the holiday standard with a bloated musical comedy that features zero memorable musical numbers or laugh-out-loud moments. Continue Reading →
Am I Ok?
SimilarA Real Young Girl (1976), Copying Beethoven (2006), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), The Holiday (2006),
(This review is part of our coverage of the 2022 Sundance Festival) Continue Reading →
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window
At this point, the wine-soaked citizen detective has become its own genre. Adaptations of boilerplate mysteries like The Girl on the Train and The Woman in the Window give plenty of fodder for Netflix’s newest series: The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window starring Kristen Bell as the titular Woman. Of course, spoofs and parodies are all well and good. Considering that Netflix also produced Woman in the Window, though, this newest feels a bit like having your cake and eating it too. Continue Reading →
The Shrink Next Door
SimilarAlias Grace, The Bride of Habaek,
StudioMRC,
If I were to tell you that Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd were starring in a comedic miniseries about a hapless, neurotic man whose entire life is taken over by his overbearing psychiatrist, you’d be forgiven for assuming that (a) Ferrell plays the psychiatrist and Rudd his patient, and (b) it’d be a pretty funny movie. In fact, the opposite is true: Rudd, in a rare villainous role, is the doctor, and the series, Apple TV+’s The Shrink Next Door, isn’t particularly funny. Oh, there are some amusing moments, but they’re more likely to elicit laughs of the uncomfortable kind, as the viewer is torn between sympathizing with its protagonist and wanting desperately to shake some sense into him Continue Reading →
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “May you live in interesting times,” understand this: we’re living in them right now. It’s a historically awful time of racial unrest, an ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, and a global pandemic that’s coldly highlighted how little many of us care about our fellow humans. Optimism is in very limited supply at the moment, and so we cling to the little things that give us joy, and a reason to keep going the next day. Things like Lil Nas X’s Twitter feed, or Ted Lasso, or Lady Gaga branded Oreo cookies. Things like Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar, which in better times might have made barely a blip on the pop culture radar, but right now feels like a cool drink of water on a very hot day, and is a cult hit in the making. Continue Reading →