Janet Planet
SimilarA Beautiful Mind (2001), A Real Young Girl (1976), Antonia's Line (1995), Awakenings (1990),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Boys Don't Cry (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), City of God (2002), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Copying Beethoven (2006), Desert Hearts (1985), Frida (2002), Italian for Beginners (2000), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Michael (1996), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Monster (2003), My Life Without Me (2003), Mystic River (2003), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), Sleepless in Seattle (1993),
Strange Days (1995) The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) The Piano (1993), The Queen (2006), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022) Dune (2021), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), Interstellar (2014),
Oppenheimer (2023) Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), Top Gun: Maverick (2022),
Janet Planet captures a girl caught in her mother’s orbit in the summer of 1991 as she struggles with what to make of the people who enter her mother’s life (friends, boyfriends, strangers) and what to make of herself. It’s also a brutal and empathetic reminder that of all the possible ages to be, 11 might be the worst, and in Janet Planet, 11-year-old Lacy would be the first to agree.
As desperate as adults are to regress to a world before endless Zoom meetings and the monotony of laundry, it’s easy for us to forget how utterly powerless you are at 11. It’s an age where adults still control nearly every facet of your life, and you bear constant witness to their bad decisions with no ability to either help or remove yourself from the situation.
“Every moment of my life is hell,” Lacy tells her mom, Janet, and if you’re honest with yourself about what being 11 actually felt like, you know it’s the most acceptable of hyperboles. But Lacy, observant and thoughtful, shows the kind of understanding I never did at that age when she adds, “But I don’t think it’ll last, though.” Creating moments of clear-sighted vulnerability like that is what playwright and now first-time director Annie Baker does best. Continue Reading →
Heart of Stone
SimilarAliens (1986), Armageddon (1998), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Code of Silence (1985), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Dr. No (1962), Face/Off (1997), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964),
Live and Let Die (1973) Men in Black II (2002), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), North by Northwest (1959), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Terminator Salvation (2009), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977),
Watch afterBarbie (2023) Elemental (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Meg 2: The Trench (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), The Flash (2023),
In the 2023 sea of action movies, setting yourself apart from others becomes increasingly hard. John Wick: Chapter 4, Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part 1, Extraction 2, and more have sparked an action cinema revival. It’s a rebirth that I am incredibly grateful for, certainly. Continue Reading →
Death on the Nile
Studio20th Century Studios,
Even if you’re not familiar with Agatha Christie’s vast body of works—she wrote sixty-six detective novels alone—you’ve probably heard of Hercule Poirot. He’s the world’s most famous literary detective, next to Sherlock Holmes. Death on the Nile marks Kenneth Branagh’s second outing directing one of Christie’s Poirot stories and starring as the mustachioed detective himself, following 2017’s tepidly received Murder on the Orient Express. Dogged by COVID-19 delays and scandals surrounding star Armie Hammer, Death on the Nile sometimes feels like it’s scrambling to justify its own existence, and only half-succeeds. Continue Reading →