I feel like the recurring theme this year is that I just have not been doing enough damage on the weekends as I have been intending to. Maybe my age is finally catching up with me? Either way, disappointed in myself, but not in what I did manage to see.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You – Apparently, this movie is being sold as a comedy. I don’t know if the people in charge of that label actually watched this movie, but I’m here to tell you it’s not. Unless you think caretaker burnout is a hoot. Because that’s what this is. It’s a look at one woman’s reactions and navigation in the midst of caregiver burnout. I did also hear that it’s being compared to Uncut Gems, which from an anxiety-inducing standpoint, is 100 percent accurate. Linda is a parent who has been responsible for taking care of her young duaghter’s eating disorder while also maintaining her career as a therapist. On top of that, her bedroom ceiling gets a huge hole in it, meaning Linda and her daughter are holed up in a motel for who knows how long, and any time her husband calls it’s to either nag or criticize her. The clear sign for me this was about caregiver burnout is when she yells at her own therapist/co-worker that she just wants someone to tell her what to do. Despite all of the stressors in this movie, I really liked it. Makes me more sad I wasn’t able to catch this at Sundance this year!
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t – It’s unreal knwoing that ten years have passed since the last Now You See Me Movie has come out. What’s more impressive in that gap is that everyone from the originals films are taking part! I won’t get into specifics, but I internally clapped like a giddy school girl on a few of them. This time around, the four horsemen, estranged for quite some time, are gathered for a new and elaborate trick after a new trio of magicians pretend to be them a recent show. Atlas is the first to meet this new group, but they are all on board when they learn they are trying to steal a diamond from a very bad lady (Rosamund Pike!). Along the way they meet up with Jack, Henley, and Merritt, who are all instrumental in making their elaborate final trick go off without a hitch. Sometimes the complexities of their tricks go over my head, but I do like that they try to explain them. The twist at the end I only wised up to just before the reveal, so I hope I’m not just slow to the punch compared to wider audiences. All in all, this was a joy to come back to, and I hope it’s not the end of the adventures with the original cast.
The Woman in Cabin 10 – A busy schedule means I didn’t get to check out this new Netflix adaptation of Ruth Ware’s popular novel of the same name. I did find it helpful that the sequel just came out earlier this year because it got me marginally more familiar with this world again after almost ten years. With that being said, there were some stark differences in the film compared to the book. For instance, Lo is a successful journalist, rather than a travel writer, and her ex, Ben Morgan, plays a much more redeemable character. I understand that these changes were definitely necessary to make a movie like the one they were trying to sell more palatable to your average movie-watcher, but all in all it just felt like so much of this film was disjointed. Despite its pretty all-star cast, they couldn’t help such a choppy script. And it seems like critics agree with me. I only hope it doesn’t prevent future projects from getting made off of her work! As long as they set out to do a better job of it, at least.