The Monthly Movie Report – March 2024

March 29, 2024

Spring is here!  Ha!  If you live in New England, you know that this is actually the time between “False Spring” and “Real Spring” or when  we get a resurgence of Winter temperatures and massive downpours, creating what we affectionately call Mud Season.  As I am starting this week’s blog it is absolutely POURING here in Connecticut and I decided to find some happy music to put me in a better mood.  What else does one do on such an occasion but turn on Disney+ and fire up The Eras Tour?  Thank you Taylor Swift for bringing 3 ½ hours of joy into my dreary day.  Ok, onto this week’s main event.

We are now a quarter of the way through 2024 and the movie year is off to a…..well, slow start.  Granted, we’ve had one masterpiece released (more on that later) but the theatrical box-office and quality of the releases so far haven’t lived up to 2023.  It’s not as bad as 2020 or 2021, but still not great.  That’s ok, though.  There are still a number of promising titles we have to look forward to, along with some great films that we haven’t even heard about that will inevitably resonate with audiences.  For example, the host of my favorite movie podcast recently pointed out that a year ago we hadn’t even heard of Anatomy of a Fall, one of the best movies of 2023.  So, keep hope alive!  Let’s cover some of the new releases I’ve managed to see so far this year, beginning with an inspiring story starring one of the best living actors.

Brilliance on Display – One Life

Three years after a shocking Oscar win as Best Actor for The Father, Sir Anthony Hopkins demonstrated that he doesn’t need to consider retirement anytime soon as he shines in his new film One Life.  The 86 year-old legend stars in the true story of Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker who led the efforts to rescue almost 700 children from Czechoslovakia during the early days of World War II.  Winton partnered with a number of advocates for the refugees who were facing certain death as the Nazis prepared to invade their country.  The film is told through two timelines.  During the rescue operation, Winton is played by Johnny Flynn, which also features a wonderful performance by Helena Bonham Carter as Winton’s mother who helps the rescue efforts from England.  The second timeline takes place in the 1980s where Hopkins plays the elder Winton as he reflects on his experience saving the children and regrets about those left behind.  During this time, his story is picked up by a BBC television show that invites him to the episode where they tell his story.  You may have seen a clip of the actual video of this show over the years, as it is one of those viral videos that will tug at your heart and the recreated version in One Life does the same.  The film is a little schmaltzy, but when you consider the real-life events that inspired the story and with Hopkins’ wonderful performance, it’s still a very good movie.  One Life is now playing in theaters and should be available to rent on demand in April. 

Feel Good Stories Inspired by Real Life – Suncoast and Scrambled

Not quite “true stories,” but these next two films were inspired by real-life events of the directors.  First up is Suncoast, about a family in Florida dealing with a family illness that causes stress between teenager Doris (Nico Parker, in a strong performance) and her mother Kristine (Laura Linney, very good as always).  Doris’s brother suffered a brain injury, from which he will likely never recover.  When he is hospitalized in a nearby facility, Doris and her mother soon encounter right-to-life activists protesting the decisions surrounding the care of Terri Schiavo, who is also a resident there.  The film doesn’t overplay Schiavo’s real-life story, except as a vehicle for Doris to connect with one of the activists, played by Woody Harrelson, and for her to contemplate what is “fair” for someone who is terminally ill vs. the family burdened with caring for them.  Coupled with that is the usual mother-daughter conflict of a teenager trying to find herself.  Suncoast was written and directed by Laura Chinn, based on her own experience growing up, and is a nice family story with very good performances from the lead actors.  Suncoast is now streaming on Hulu.

Next up is Scrambled, a film that you probably never heard of, but I’m going to recommend based on the talents of Leah McKendrick, who wrote and directed the picture, in addition to playing the lead role.  She stars as Nellie, a woman in her mid-30s, who has never figured out her life.  Her career and relationships have been stuck in neutral for years, and after her latest break-up, she decides to freeze her eggs in case she ever wants to have children.  The film (based on McKendrick’s actual experience) takes us on the difficult journey she goes through, with plenty of humor as she reconnects with old boyfriends to see if she somehow overlooked “the one,” deals with all of her friends getting married and having kids, and feeling pressure from her family who wonder what the hell she is doing with her life.  This isn’t the kind of film I would normally try, but after reading the early positive reviews, I decided to take a chance on it, and I’m glad I did.  A few times a year I stumble upon a gem out of nowhere, and 2024’s first entry is Scrambled, featuring a talented writer, director and actress who has a bright future in Hollywood.  I’m excited to see what McKendrick does next.  Scrambled is now available to rent on demand.

For the Action Fan – The Beekeeper

OK, it’s not John Wick.  No one is saying that.  The Keanu Reeves franchise is the elite action franchise we all love and deserve.  But if you like those kinds of movies and don’t take the plot too seriously, you may have fun with the ultimate popcorn action movie, The Beekeeper.  Jason Statham (who has been in many action films) stars as the titular character living a quiet life on a farm raising bees.  When the owner of the farm is scammed out of her life savings by some evil tech-bros, Statham calls on his training and experience as a contract assassin to exact revenge.  The Beekeeper features a number of delicious supporting performances (Jeremy Irons, Minnie Driver, and Josh Hutcherson as the chief tech-bro), some ridiculous plot twists, a few (maybe?) veiled political messages, and (what we’re really here for) outstanding action sequences.  Don’t think too hard about this one and watch it for what it is.  The Beekeeper is now available to rent on demand and will be streaming on MGM+ on April 19^th.  

This Movie is MESSED up – Immaculate

It hasn’t been the greatest year for horror movies.  Usually, we get at least a few good ones early in the year, but 2024 has been pretty weak.  Night Swim, about a haunted pool (you read that right) and Imaginary, about a girl’s imaginary friend that might be possessing her stuffed bear (you also read that one right), were laughably bad.  Speaking of awful movies to start the year, I never got around to seeing the universally-panned Madame Web.  My daughter and I had plans to see it, but something came up and we had to cancel.  To be clear, we were going solely to mock it.  Perhaps we’ll watch it when it shows up on Netflix later this year.  And I strongly advise you to skip Argylle the spy “comedy” (quotes are needed when a comedy is not actually funny) that wastes way too many talented actors on a half-baked story too silly to take seriously.

With that in mind, there was a recent horror release that may not be great, but I think was pretty good.  Now, a word of caution before we proceed.  If you don’t like deranged horror movies and get easily grossed out, you might want to skip this one.  But if you are a horror movie sicko (raises hand), here are the details of Immaculate.  Red-hot star Sydney Sweeney stars as a nun who takes up residence at a convent in Italy to commit her life to serving God and helping care for the older nuns who live there.  As she becomes acquainted with the other nuns and the priests running the facility, she begins to realize that something sinister may be happening.  She is then swept up into a plot that has miraculous undertones (the hint is in the title of the movie), but could just be the work of the deranged people running the facility.  The plot of Immaculate goes way off the rails in the third act and features a bonkers ending that might be too disturbing for the average viewer, but that’s what we love about horror movies.  Immaculate is now playing in theaters.

A Throwback Noir – Love Lies Bleeding

Let’s go back in time to 1989, before cell phones, before the internet, back to a simpler time. We’re going to travel to New Mexico where you can taste the dirt and grime of a small town that has clearly seen better days.  Our leading character is Lou (short for Louise), played by Kristen Stewart, once again demonstrating that she can play almost any role.  If you saw her as Princess Diana in Spencer, you might not believe it’s the same actress in Love Lies Bleeding.  Lou manages a gym and falls for the new girl in town, Jackie, an aspiring bodybuilder played by Katy O’Brian in a breakout performance.  Literally – she just signed on for the next Mission: Impossible film.  Jackie gets a job at the local gun range owned by Lou’s dad, played by Ed Harris in a fully-committed performance as the local tough guy.  As Lou and Jackie’s relationship deepens, an incident occurs which threatens to tear their relationship apart and put Lou’s life in jeopardy.

Love Lies Bleeding is part thriller, part noir crime-drama, and part romance.  Director Rose Glass also wrote the story and has delivered an excellent film that keeps you guessing throughout the third act as to what will happen.  Now, there is a side plot with Jackie training (naturally and unnaturally) for a bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas that might be distracting for some viewers.  Also, there are a few story choices that Glass made that didn’t quite work for me, particularly one fantastical sequence at the end that took me out of the movie for a minute.  But it didn’t ruin it.  I get what Glass was going for.  There is a little violence and sex in this one, so buyer beware if that is a concern, but overall I was really impressed with this film, particularly the performances of Stewart and O’Brien.  Love Lies Bleeding is now playing in theaters.

A Doc for my Fellow 1980s Kids – The Greatest Night in Pop

I had my reservations when I fired up The Greatest Night in Pop, a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of We are the World, the all-star song recorded in 1985 to benefit world hunger relief efforts.  My concern was that this would be another in a long list of forgettable Netflix documentaries that you have on in the background, but quickly forget about after it’s over.  I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked this one, with a few moments still resonating with me after watching it several weeks ago. 

Most people remember the song and the iconic video, but the documentary uses archival footage and contemporary interviews to show us how the project unfolded from start to finish.  The ringleader of the effort was Lionel Richie, who is also clearly the captain of this film – his voice is predominantly featured throughout and he is one of the movie’s producers, so there is probably some bias underlying the film.  That’s ok, though.  This isn’t hard-hitting journalism.  Richie tells us how he thought of the idea, co-wrote the song with Michael Jackson and recruited Quincy Jones to assemble the singers and musicians to gather at a recording studio after the American Music Awards, taking advantage of so many of them being in town on the same night. 

Maybe it’s because I’m a child of the MTV generation, but I found the behind-the-scenes footage and drama fascinating.  Stevie Wonder showing up after weeks of not responding to Jackson and Richie to help write the song and thinking that they were going to write the song that night.  In fact, the song was basically done – they just needed to herd the cats, arrange the vocals, and record the damn thing, which lasted all night long (see what I did there?).  Stevie then decided they should insert some Swahili chants into the song (prompting country singer Waylon Jennings to walk out with an emphatic “Fuck this”) until someone pointed out that they don’t actually speak Swahili in Ethiopia.  Huey Lewis stepping up to deliver a great solo line when Prince didn’t show up.  Madonna (as big a star as Jackson in 1985) somehow not being invited over Cyndi Lauper, who overcame imposter syndrome to deliver her memorable part.  Bob Dylan feeling anxious while singing a solo line in front of so many musicians fawning over him and Stevie helping him through it.  So many iconic moments, but also one baffling one.

What the hell was Dan Aykroyd doing there?  Was someone just like, “Well, he was in The Blues Brothers, so he’s technically a singer?”  I imagine he was at the AMAs and ended up in a limo after the show with a bunch of people thinking he was going to a bar and it ended up at the studio and he thought, “Yeah, I can pull this off.”  It felt like when Kramer was at the Tonys as a seat-filler and got swept up to the stage when the people he was sitting with were announced as the winners.  The funniest thing?  On the single, everyone was listed alphabetically, so Aykroyd is listed first.  Freaking hysterical.  Speaking of which, I checked out the latest installment of the franchise he co-created 40 years ago, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.  It was pretty good.  Nothing groundbreaking, but you get some fan service with a number of your favorites from the original (Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts), as well as the family at the center of the last film (2021’s Ghostbusters Afterlife) led by Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd.  You can predict the plot points a mile away, but there are some fun laughs and exciting sequences to keep you entertained.  The Greatest Night in Pop is now streaming on Netflix and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is now playing in theaters.

The Year’s First Masterpiece – Dune: Part Two

The Oscar race starts now.  Nope, it’s never too early.  Director Denis Villeneuve returns with the sequel to 2021’s Dune, which completes the story told in Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel.  The first film was one of my favorites of that year and won six Oscars, all in the technical categories.  Somehow Villeneuve was not nominated for Best Director but Kenneth Branagh was for the subpar Belfast (what are we even doing here?).  But, I digress.

Part Two picks up right after the events of the first film where Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) have joined up with the Fremen following the attack on their family and death of Paul’s father.  What transpires over the next (almost) three hours is a wondrous experience across the world that Villeneuve has crafted to tell a story about family, political warfare, religion, and love.  The cast is LOADED.  Chalamet is fantastic, really coming into his own as a leading man.  Up next for him is starring as Bob Dylan.  Yup, he’s up for it.  Zendaya plays Paul’s love interest and their chemistry is wonderful.  Rounding out the cast – Javier Bardem (hysterical), Josh Brolin, Florence Pugh, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Austin Butler (terrifying), and the legendary Christopher Walken.  You can tell everyone wanted to be in on this movie because they knew it would be a high-quality production and they didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity. 

The film also features INCREDIBLE special effects that look brilliant (and not like green screen CGI crap), sound design that will pierce your brain, and a score from the master Hans Zimmer that further enhances the brilliant images from Villeneuve’s filmmaking team.  Oh yeah, sandworms.  We saw glimpses of them in part one, but in this new installment, we see the immense scope of these creatures.  The scene with Paul riding one for the first time will take your breath away.

When I wrote about my admiration for the first film three years ago, I mentioned that I knew very little about Dune.  I never read any of the books.  I saw the 1984 adaptation directed by David Lynch (only to complete my viewing of his filmography.  It was so-so.  Mulholland Drive is such a masterpiece – just had to get that in there.)  Anyway, I point this out because if you are hesitant to jump into a world that might be perceived as “weird sci-fi,” I’ll remind you that a little film about jedis and “the force” with wookies, jawas, and lightsabers, might have seemed weird the first time you watched it.  Give it a chance, because in March 2025, we may be talking about the coronation of Denis Villeneuve as another one of our great living filmmakers.  Dune: Part Two is now playing in theaters.  See it on the big screen!

One More Thing

I was hesitant to write about this topic this week as I have been mostly staying in the movie lane, but I reminded myself that this blog can be cathartic at times.  I received some bad news a few days ago when I learned that a former co-worker passed away from brain cancer.  It was a shock to a number of us as we didn’t even know he was sick.  I left the company five years ago, he left not too long after and had landed a great position at another company.  Like most work friendships, after you stop working together, you drift apart….

Getting the news was a kick in the stomach.  I’m part of a text thread with some old work friends and we were all feeling the same way – just gutted.  We worked side by side for about four years, through some really challenging times, as part of an extended team that excelled when we were all working collaboratively.  I look back at my last few years with that company with fondness, despite the stress and bullshit.  We were a team that thrived from working hard, sharing a lot of laughs and relishing in a successful outcome.  He was one of the smartest people I worked with and taught me a ton about our business and the broader market.  He was about my age, had a wonderful family, lived a good life, worked hard, ate well, exercised – the usual things you strive to do in your life.  It just sucks.  I’m heartbroken for his family and his close friends that will feel the loss more than his work friends from a few years ago.  It was a sad reminder that life is too fucking short, it’s usually not fair and we have to continue to embrace every day (and everyone in our lives) as the blessing that it is.  Thanks for indulging a brief detour.

I’ll be back next month for more thoughts on the world of movies.  Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe below.