With new streaming services added to the mix thanks to some Black Friday deals, more of my free time over Thanksgiving was spent checking out some new shows rather than movies, but I still carved out some time (see what I did there?).
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – I suppose I fooled myself into thinking that the third installment of this fun murder mystery films series was going to be its last, but there still may be a future for Benoit Blanc! This time around, he stumbles into the devout, albeit a little creepy, congregation at a church trying to solve the impossible murder of their mean and nasty preist, Monsignor Wicks. At the heart of the mystery, and perhaps guilty party, is former boxer turned preist, Reverend Duplencity. But honestly, despite his past, he seems to pure in his new life to ever be capable of something like that. And it’s clear Blanc feels the same way. The rest of the parishioners, however, all have their quirks. I think my friend and I worked through every cast member as the killer and we were still ultimately wrong. As I said before, I am notoriously bad at guessing things like this, but I’d like to think that Rian Johnson is cleverer than most. This was another great entry, and I sincerely hope that they don’t run out of ideas for this world yet!
Eternity – This rom-com set in the world of fantasy slaps viewers with a real dilemma. If you were in Joan’s shoes, who would you choose to spend eternity with? The man you were married to and built a life with for 65 years, or the extremely handsome soldier taken too soon? At first, the choice seems rather simple. I myself made a choice early on in the film, very confident I wouldn’t be swayed, but I did find myself wavering back and forth between the two as things progressed. Just because someone isn’t perfect for you, doesn’t mean they aren’t perfect for someone else. Elizabeth Olsen shines in this film as the exasperated Joan, sagged with making the most difficult decision of her afterlife. Also, many of the films laughs came from the supporting turn of Oscar-winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph. This was a special film that is worth checking out.
Fairyland – I had really wanted to watch this memoir adaptation back when it had it’s 2023 premiere at Sundance, but sadly it was an in-person only offering. Cut to two years later and it finally got it’s official release with virtually no advertising for it. A crime. Although there are plenty of popular stories out there covering the AIDS crisis, this film starts back much earlier Alysia’s life. We first meet her when she learns of her mother’s passing in a car accident. Soon after, her and her father move to San Fransico where he starts to live his life as a gay man, which he’d previously deprived himself of. At one point he tells a young Alysia that he loved her mother so much that he could never be with another woman. And while his love for her might be true, this is clearly his true self. All throughout her childhood she spent in rooms rented out by all sorts of characters. Some of whom she reamined close with, while others flitted in and out in a drug-fueled haze. It’s only when Alysia is older does she realize more about her father. This drama is not for the easily teary, but it’s definitely worth a view.