You know, for still being in the throws of a pandemic, there are still lots of new movies coming out (that you can watch in the comfort of your own home, of course). I for one, am taking advantage of all of these new releases when I can!
I Care A Lot – Do not watch this if you are expecting someone to become the good guy. That just really doesn’t happen here. It’s a battle of the bad guys, even if there is a little bit of retribution by the end. Marla is an ice queen who’s taking advantage of the elderly. She picks her victims based on how much they have, no family, and just the slightest hint at a health problem. Marla then teams up with a shady physician to get the ball rolling. That ball being legal guardianship. Then she swoops in and swindles these people for all their worth. Marla is on the fast track to becoming rich, until she picks the wrong woman to dupe. Jennifer Peterson in fact does have family. Involved with the Russian mafia at that! Her son, Roman, wants his mother back and thus begins a battle of tit for tat between him and Marla. The dialogue in this film is delicious, and star turns from Dianne Wiest and Rosamund Pike. No one can play icy indifference quite as well as she can. Definitely give this new Netflix film a watch!
Nomadland – I must say, I hesitated to watch this movie. Yes, it’s getting love everywhere and is bound for a handful of Oscar nominations, but the premise just sounded a bit barren and sad. Boy was I wrong! And I was so happy to be wrong because this movie was a delight to watch, and so engaging from start to finish. Fern is a woman who’s life has been taken from her. First her husband passes, then, her job gets taken away, and pretty soon, so does the zip code for Empire, Nevada. This leaves Fern with a pretty supped up van that she travels around the country in looking for work. She’ll get seasonal jobs at some pretty interesting places as well as make some very good friends. It’s clear Fern has a lot of people looking out for her and they want her to settle in with them, but she’s taken with the nomad lifestyle. Frances McDormand is just magnetic as Fern, as well as all the other non-actors she interacts with on her journey. Another must-watch!
Fear of Rain – Good grief. This quite possibly was worse than Ma, and I sort of didn’t think that would be possible. Rain is schizophrenic and suffers from both auditory and visual hallucinations. Her mother and father are both as supportive as possible, but it’s clear in parts they are strained. Not long after her last hospital stay, with the threat of institutionalization on the horizon, Rain is confident her creepy neighbor, and also teacher, is hiding a missing child in her home. The rest of the movie is spent with half-assed attempts at looking for the girl, along with trying to figure out if a nice, cute boy is real or not. He also just keeps noting that they “are both a little weird,” until he figures out about her mental illness. I will give the film credit for one clever twist, but otherwise, this movie was such a mess it was laughable in parts. Hard pass.
Blithe Spirit – I am told the original Blithe Spirit was much better, but truthfully I’ll never watch it. That means I have nothing to compare it to! With that being said, this comedy was rather mediocre. Perhaps I don’t get British humor as much as I thought I did, but I only found myself chuckling a small handful of times throughout the events of the film. Charles is suffering from extreme writers block for a screenplay he’s been tapped for, so in hopes of inspiration, he hires a medium to learn some of the tricks of the trade. Turns out, she knows her stuff, because soon, Charles’ dead ex-wife, Elvira, is back from the dead. Well, sort of. She’s still a ghost, and one that only he can see. When Elvira learns that Charles loves his new wife, Ruth, and doesn’t plan to reunite with her, she makes it her mission to bring Charles over to her realm so they can be together forever. It’s a real shame that I couldn’t find more laughs in this because I think Dan Stevens in a comedic role is genius, and you’d think with Isla Fisher and Leslie Mann flanking him that something would stick, but sadly it just fell short.
Lars and the Real Girl – It’s been well over a decade since I’ve seen this gem of an indie film, and I’m so glad I chose to watch it again. In my eyes, it’s as close to perfect as something can get! Lars is a painfully shy man who has trouble interacting with anyone, let alone his brother and very loving sister-in-law. One day, Lars gets a girlfriend, Bianca, who happens to be a sex doll. Naturally, everyone is thrown by the presence of Bianca, but Lars treats her as being so real that eventually others start to roll with it. A town psychologist also encourages going along with it because obviously Lars is using her to cope with his emotions and anxieties. Towards the end, in a row with his sister in law, Karin, she argues that people do care about Lars because of how they treat Bianca. You just want to reach out and hug Ryan Gosling’s Lars (even though he wouldn’t like it), and then he throws in these perfect comedic moments. Nothing in this film is overdone or outlandish, and for that, it shines with this truly bizarre premise. If you’ve got HBO Max, then freaking watch his already!