5. I Love You, but I'm Not *In* Love with You
These are the movies that I know are great, they’re objectively wonderful movies, and if you were to ask me about them, I would say “oh yeah, that’s a great movie.” But for whatever reason, I didn’t fall in love with them, and that’s most likely a “me” problem.
Antlers
I find it increasingly difficult to deal with depressing horror movies, and this one is depressing from the jump – a tragic nightmare from start to finish. We know something terrible is going on with the father and his two sons, but we’re not sure exactly what until the movie slowly reveals it to us through the investigations of the younger son’s concerned teacher. I found myself torn between wanting someone to find out what was happening and help them and wanting people to just leave them alone because no one could understand or accept the truth, much less be of any help. But of course when people go missing or turn up dead, that can’t be left alone. The end of this movie is truly heartbreaking and I’m glad it actually ends on a note of terror rather than hope. I just don’t see myself watching this again any time soon. (Available to rent on most streaming services.)
Drive My Car
This is a great movie. Well written, well acted, well constructed, a perfectly wonderful film. But it is THREE HOURS LONG. I’ve nothing at all against a three-hour movie, but this is not an epic three hours or an action-packed three hours; it’s a CONTEMPLATIVE three hours and that is very hard for me to fully connect with. There’s no way to trim it down without ruining what makes it great, but this was a TOUGH sit-through. Kudos to everyone involved and I look forward to seeing if it lives up to all the awards buzz, but this movie wore me out. I do wonder what I would have made of it if I were more familiar with the Chekhov play at its center. (Still in some theaters.)
The Eternals
There’s lots of wonderful substance here. It’s beautifully filmed, the special effects for the various powers of the characters are gorgeous, and I’m very much here for the diverse cast (especially Gemma Chan as basically the main character). I love the third-act reversal and the dilemma of whether to let millions die so that billions more can be born. It’s very different from what we’ve come to expect from a Marvel movie … until it isn’t. On top of this, there were just too many characters — so many that most of them don’t even get to *be* characters until the second half of the movie. That said, I wish more of these superhero movies took swings like this. (Still in some theaters.)
The Last Duel
My least favorite trope in all of storytelling is the “but was it *actually* rape” storyline, but some writers and filmmakers can manage to pull it off (see Mario Bava’s FOUR TIMES THAT NIGHT and Thomas Vinterberg’s THE HUNT). This movie was fairly well done, but I’m afraid I just wasn’t that into it until we got the woman’s perspective (which is the theme song to my relationship to most movies and television these days). This was an interesting project to be Matt Damon’s and Ben Affleck’s first time writing together since GOOD WILL HUNTING, and it’s fun to see these long-time BFFs play guys who can’t stand each other. But this is Jodi Comer’s show and the movie is far less interesting when she’s not the focus. (Available to rent on most streaming services.)
Licorice Pizza
The trailer did nothing for me, and in fact, made me afraid this would be the worst kind of manic pixie dream girl story, that the whole thing would center on the axis of how hot Alana Haim is, and — worst — that it would romanticize a relationship between a 25-year-old woman and a 15-year-old boy. The actual film is of course much more nuanced and I ended up liking quite a lot of it. It was made for a fairly specific demographic that I’m not a part of, though, which I think is why I didn’t connect with it the way others have. But it’s still objectively a very good movie and it has some genuinely great moments. I do, however, find it fascinating what some filmmakers get a pass on from critics and Film Twitter that others get the shit dragged out of them for — some get to do nostalgia, some don’t; some get to explore the nuance in transgressive relationships, some don’t. Something I love about Paul Thomas Anderson, though, is the impression I get that he doesn’t much care which side of that divide he’s on and makes what he wants to make regardless. Also, hurray for normal-looking people in movies, especially movies set in California. (Still in theaters.)
No Sudden Move
This reminded me a smidge of one of the Ocean’s movies, with lots of twists and reversals and surprise loyalties, but where those movies are light and fun, this is much more dark and dour and (for me) less enjoyable. It’s also really hard to describe, as it starts as one thing (a hostage robbery situation) and soon becomes something else. The cast is amazing, as you would expect from a Soderbergh film, with some of his regulars (Cheadle, Damon, del Toro) and loads of other familiar faces (David Harbour, Jon Hamm, Ray Liotta). I also loved seeing Brendan Fraser again in what I think was the beginning of his renaissance. If anything is “wrong” with this, it’s that there’s maybe *too much* story jammed in and it’s hard to remember it all except a vague notion of twists and turns. (Streaming on HBOMax.)
Red Rocket
This is genuinely great, but I simply cannot love it the way I do Sean Baker’s previous films. I was moved by TANGERINE. I was moved by THE FLORIDA PROJECT. I was incensed by this movie. It is set in 2016 and there are deliberate callbacks to the presidential campaign (though thankfully they are limited to a few background TV clips and literally no one in this movie actually talks politics). And whether it was intentional or not, the main character Mikey has a lot in common with the person who won that election. Every interaction with another human being is all about what will benefit him, every seemingly decent thing he does for someone is ultimately for his own benefit, and he says whatever he needs to say (compliments, small talk, promises) to make himself look better and get whatever he wants from the other person. This movie is great, but I kind of hated it. It did, however, compel me to listen to all of N’Sync’s “No Strings Attached.” Strawberry’s cover of “Bye, Bye, Bye” is legit. (Still in theaters.)
The Suicide Squad
There’s nothing wrong with this at all, and I know a lot of people love it. I love many parts of it. I never saw the other Suicide Squad movie, so I don’t have anything to compare it to. There is so much good stuff here – I especially love the opening fakeout – and so many fun characters (Ratcatcher II and her dad Taika Waititi were the absolute best). But while I love Harley Quinn in this, I love her so much more when a woman writes her (see BIRDS OF PREY). Her line to that guy about the “absolutely beautiful monster between [his] legs” is where I checked out for a minute, thinking “yeah, that was definitely written by a dude.” Also, I appreciate the heck out of the way they take that giant starfish down, but that was almost too much for me – even though we don’t ultimately see a ton of it, the implications had me squirming well after the movie ended. Which I guess was the idea, but still. It was A Lot. (Streaming on HBOMax and available to rent on most streaming services.)
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