May 28, 2021
It’s Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to Summer, and with that, the kickoff to the Summer movie season. We have two major films opening today – Cruella, which I covered in last week’s post, which you can find here in case you missed it, and another “quiet” movie about a family battling alien monsters with supersonic hearing, which I will cover in more detail this week. Let’s jump into part two.
The Sure Things – Well, At Least I Liked Them
Most of the movies I’m covering in this two part preview are ones that haven’t been released yet, so I haven’t had a chance to see them yet. But there are four movies that I was able to catch at virtual film festivals that are either out now, or will be out soon.
- The Dry is an Australian mystery film, based on the best-selling debut novel by Jane Harper. Native Australian Eric Bana plays an investigator who travels back to his hometown after a childhood friend dies under mysterious circumstances. While he is there, we learn about their troubling childhood and an unresolved mystery when a friend of theirs was murdered while they were teenagers. I liked this film for a few reasons. First, it’s rare that we get an authentic movie set in Australian that doesn’t overdo it with unrealistic accents. Second, films that employ flashbacks as a narrative device are sometimes ineffective, but I thought it worked really well here to help the story unfold naturally, as well as demonstrate the motivations of the main characters. If you like good old-fashioned suspense mysteries, this is a good one to check out. The Dry is available to rent on demand now.
- Together Together is a platonic (not romantic) comedy that I covered in this piece on my favorite films at Sundance. Patti Harrison plays a surrogate mother for a single man, portrayed by Ed Helms. He gets a little too involved in all aspects of the baby preparation process, which makes for some funny moments, but the winning part of this movie is the chemistry between the two actors, and the excellent choice the filmmaker made in how the story unfolds. Most relationship comedies would deliver a third act that you’ve seen countless times before, but I thought the ending was bold and wonderful. Together Together is available to rent on demand now.
- CODA is currently sitting at the top of my list of favorite films of 2021. The big winner at Sundance and one that I also covered in my post about the festival here, CODA is a winning family comedy-drama that will pull at your heartstrings, all while giving you some funny moments. It’s the story of Ruby, the daughter of two deaf parents and sister of a deaf brother (CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults), who helps her parents run their fishing business in Gloucester, Massachusetts. While bearing the burden of helping her family as translator in all aspects of their life, she deals with the typical drama of a teenage girl. She meets a boy she likes, she has demands on her time, and most importantly, discovers a love for singing, which naturally causes friction with her family. When I wrote about this film previously, I described it as the definition of a “crowd-pleaser”, so I recommend this one very highly. CODA premieres in theaters and on Apple TV+ on August 13th. The other big winner at Sundance is one I also recommend if you like music documentaries. The story of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival is a fascinating time capsule of a music festival featuring some of the biggest names in the business at the time, including Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Sly and the Family Stone. Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) premieres in theaters and on Hulu on July 2nd.
Three Promising Films Coming Soon
Unlike the last group of recommendations, these three movies are ones that I know very little about, except some combination of the actors, directors, or plot points. So, consider me intrigued at this point, but the jury is still out if these will be any good.
- Reminiscence – Hugh Jackman stars as a man who offers his clients an unusual service – the ability to relive any memory of their choice. When a client’s memories implicate a woman he is in love with, things get complicated. I think Jackman is a good actor, so that has me intrigued, as well as Rebecca Ferguson (very good in the Mission: Impossible films) and Thandie Newton (probably the best part of the Westworld TV series) in the supporting cast. Speaking of Westworld, this movie was written and directed by Lisa Joy, the co-creator of Westworld, so that seals it for me as a movie with promise. Reminiscence premieres in theaters and on HBO Max on August 20th.
- The Protégé – Action star Maggie Q plays the title character as a contract killer out to avenge the death of her mentor (Samuel L. Jackson) and in the process ends up in a fun cat and mouse game with another skilled killer, played by Michael Keaton. The premise and the cast sound promising for this one, but in the back of my mind, I’m thinking of the disappointing Ava, last year’s bland contract killer film with Jessica Chastain. We’ll see about this one. The Protégé premieres in theaters on August 20th.
- The Card Counter – You know I’m a sucker for a good movie with poker in the plotline, so I’m intrigued by this one, starring Oscar Isaac. He plays a gambler who simultaneously meets a young man trying to exact revenge on a common enemy of theirs from the past, all while trying to win the World Series of Poker. This movie was written and directed by Paul Schrader, a legend in the business whose credits include writing Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. The Card Counter premieres in theaters on September 10th.
In the Mood for a Jump Scare or Two? – A Quiet Place Part II
I could probably spend a thousand words describing the winding path this sequel to the 2018 blockbuster has taken to finally open today in theaters. The film actually premiered in March of 2020 right before the studio pulled the plug on the official release when the world shut down, so very few people have seen it. Many false starts later, we’re finally getting it where a monster movie belongs – in a dark theater where the sounds and scares have the maximum impact. Speaking of which, I just saw Spiral: From the Book of Saw (pretty good movie, albeit with some squeamish gory scenes) in the theater and the previews featured both A Quiet Place Part II and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (which I covered last week), and let me tell you – these movies look scary and fun. And those jump scares hit so much better in the theater. In A Quiet Place Part II, Emily Blunt stars as the survivor of the first film, dodging alien monsters and trying to stay alive with her three young kids. Writer-director John Krasinski makes an appearance in this film, and it looks like we get a flashback to how the crisis with the aliens started, which looks great. Recall that the first movie jumped straight into the post-apocalyptic world. Joining Blunt in the sequel is Cillian Murphy, who plays a fellow survivor. Let’s get back to the theater, because movies are back! A Quiet Place Part II is now in theaters and premieres on Paramount+ on July 12th.
A Somber Anniversary – Worth
I have had this movie on my radar ever since I read the reviews following its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, over a year ago. Its acquisition and distribution were upended by the pandemic and it was only recently picked up by Netflix to premiere in September, corresponding with the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Worth is based on the book, What is Life Worth?, written by Kenneth Feinberg, who spent three years as the Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Feinberg reportedly struggled with the task, as one could expect. Looking at the title of his book, how do you put a price tag on someone’s life and how do you determine a “fair” formula for distributing billions of dollars to the grieving families? Michael Keaton stars as Feinberg, alongside Stanley Tucci and Amy Ryan. The premise of this movie sounds fascinating, so I am very hopeful that it is well done. Worth premieres in September (on a date to be announced) on Netflix.
The Return of Matt Damon – Stillwater
Matt Damon has certainly had an interesting decade in his movie choices. For every hit (The Martian, Ford v. Ferrari), you get some misses (like Suburbicon) or odd choices that just didn’t work (Downsizing, a film I actually kind of liked that just suffered from really bad marketing). He has three movies on the way in the next twelve months, including Stillwater, a family drama where he is front and center. The trailer for this movie was just released and Damon is sporting a goatee and a rich accent as an oil worker from Stillwater, Oklahoma who travels to France when his daughter is imprisoned for murder while studying abroad. The plot of Stillwater feels a lot like the Amanda Knox story, and that’s probably ok – it can still be a compelling movie. I’m a little worried that this could be an overwrought melodrama (let’s just say the accent has me concerned), but I’m hopeful it’s good. Stillwater was co-written and directed by Tom McCarthy, who directed 2015’s Best Picture winner Spotlight. Stillwater premieres in theaters on July 30th.
The Man Just Keeps on Working – No Sudden Move
If there is one person in the entertainment industry who was more productive during quarantine than Taylor Swift, I think it has to be Steven Soderbergh. He finished editing and released Let Them All Talk, a pretty good movie with Meryl Streep, Candace Bergen and Dianne Wiest, and now apparently has completed another film. No Sudden Move is a crime thriller set in 1950s Detroit and features an ensemble cast including Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, Ray Liotta and Jon Hamm. Soderbergh is a notorious fast worker and someone who doesn’t stop at just making movies – he’s dabbled in television, has been known to re-edit classic films to give them a different vision, and is currently tinkering with re-editing some of his older pictures that he was never completely satisfied with. Plus, the man consumes more movies, television and literature than anyone on Earth, meticulously keeping a journal that he releases on his website at the end of each year. I’ve liked an awful lot of his movies and we’re going to dive deeper into the best of his work in a few months when No Sudden Move premieres on HBO Max on July 1st.
Behind the Scenes of Legends in the Studio – The Beatles: Get Back
Spoiler alert: In April 1970, The Beatles broke up. The actual breakup was ugly and sudden, but the water was boiling long before McCartney announced his departure from the band, effectively cementing The Beatles dissolution. In 1969, the band spent months in Abbey Road studios recording in front of cameras capturing the footage for a planned television special. It eventually turned into a film documentary, Let It Be, that showcased not only the behind the scenes aspects of the recording process, but the fractures in the relationships of the band members. The audio and film footage was shelved as everyone was disappointed with how the process unfolded. Producer George Martin convinced the band to go back into the studio for one last hurrah, and that turned out to be Abbey Road, a masterpiece and probably my favorite album by The Beatles. Producer Phil Spector (yikes!) was brought in to pick up the pieces of the Let It Be sessions and get it released. What the world ended up hearing in May of 1970 was overproduced schlocky orchestral strings ruining some beautiful music. Let It Be ended up being a coda on a remarkable career by The Fab Four. Side note: The much better Let It Be…Naked, released in 2003, strips out the overproduction from Spector, leaving us with the true essence of the songs.
While the film Let It Be was released in 1970, it’s almost impossible to find now, and that’s probably ok, since it largely showcased the infighting and had less focus on the music. And that brings us to one of my most anticipated films of the year. Legendary director Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame) combed through over 50 hours of video and over 100 hours of audio to create a new look at the Let It Be sessions. Reportedly, The Beatles: Get Back will not shy away from the drama that occurred in the studio, but will also include the happier moments the band members experienced during their recording sessions. And for a bonus, it will include the full concert that the band performed on the rooftop of the Apple building at the end of one of their recording days – this would be the last time that they played together publicly. I can’t wait for this one and it should be fantastic to see it on the big screen. The Beatles: Get Back premieres in theaters on August 27th.
That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed this two part preview of what is shaping up to be a fun Summer Movie Season and that you found some good options to check out. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe here.