I made a valiant effort this weekend to squeeze in a couple of movies a day, and was almost as successful as I was hoping to be. Sadly, sleep got the better of me last night and I only made it through 30 minutes of The Tender Bar. Look out for that next weekend. In the meantime, check out what made the cut!
The 355 – Oof. This was quite a disappointment. When you’ve got an action flick with stars like Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, Penelope Cruz, Sebastian Stan, and Edgar Ramirez, you’re expecting something epic! All we got instead was a very mediocre flick with some seriously frustrating plot points. If you check in with me at the end of the year, I might not even be able to tell you if I actually saw this movie. That’s how forgettable it was. If you want a badass action flick with a woman at the forefront, look no further than Atomic Blonde. Charlize Theron could have kicked all of these ladies asses, at least when it comes to plot.
The Outsiders – About a month ago, the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly brought to my attention that this classic came out about 39 years ago and it was getting the 4K treatment on HBO Max. As I was reading through the interview, they mentioned that in 2005, a more robust version of the film was released. Now, I don’t even remember the last time I had watched this film, but the article had me itching to get me hands on the extended version. So this weekend, I did just that! I haven’t read the book in over 15 years, so my memory is a little hazy on specific scenes, but from what I could tell, this was a pretty faithful adaptation of the book. It’s still crazy to me how many certified movie stars were a part of this.
See For Me – While technically I saw this home invasion thriller last year during the Tribeca Film Festival, it’s new for everyone else. I also knew that my sister and good friend would get a kick out of it, so that’s what we spent part of Saturday night watching! Sophie is blind and has essentially just arrived at her latest bougie cat-sitting gig. Only thing is, in the middle of the night a trio of bad guys stop by to steal a butt-ton of money from a safe inside the house. Using an app that her mother recommended, Sophie tries her hardest to get out of a host of bad situations. She’s not totally innocent, but it was a really fun thriller to see again.
The Kid Detective – After a lot of unnecessary convincing, we added this awesome mystery to our Saturday night viewing schedule. Adam Brody plays the titular “Kid Detective,” Abe Applebaum, who started up his own detective agency as a child. All of that went to bust though when his secretary, and the mayor’s daughter, went missing. Since then, Abe has grown up to be a bit of a mess. His luck starts to turn around when he’s asked to investigate a murder by the deceased’s girlfriend. The two work together to start piecing clues together, and things from Abe’s past start coming into focus. The twists at the end continue to surprise me, and I urge you to watch this if you haven’t already.
Petite Maman – This film was lauded back during the higher tiered spots on the festival circuit, and I can understand why. Nelly is a small child who just lost her grandmother. While her and her mother go to the house to clean it out, her mother ends up leaving early, leaving Nelly and her father to finish up. While she does help out, she spends a lot of time in the woods where she comes across a girl named Marion who looks remarkably similar to her and is the same age. The two bond over building a hut in the woods, but once Nelly visits Marion’s house, she realizes that Marion is the younger version of her mother. At first, she is sufficiently freaked out, but decides to spend more and more time with her while she can. This movie is an amazing take on how a child can deal with grief without dragging the storyline out to the point of exhaustion. I hope other filmmakers take note!