Now that Barbenheimer has passed, the end of the month went by with a fizzle and nothing new in theaters I felt was worth checking out. Instead, I went with some newer rentals I’ve had on hand for a little while and also some old, very popular franchise staples.
Showing Up – Although this film got me with a good trailer, incredible cast, and the same director of First Cow, almost nothing about this new drama held my interest. It focused on the almost totally mundane life of sculptor, Lizzy, her passive-aggressive relationship with her landlord and fellow artist, Jo, and getting ready for a small upcoming show. Lizzy just has extremely awkward relationships with everyone in her life, but she becomes fiercely protective over a bird she gets forced into looking over after her cat attacked it. I was introduced to the director’s “slow cinema” technique, and my god am I not a fan. I’m sure this is for somebody, but sadly it wasn’t for me.
Biosphere – Well this little independent film was completely strange and one hundred percent unexpected. I saw that Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown were living in a small domed structure together and that was really all the convincing I needed. What I learned was that Duplass’ character, Billy, was the president for a short time and likely to blame for the predicament he and his old friend Ray find themselves in. That predicament being that they are the last two people on earth, all because of decisions Billy made as president. So sure, some correlations to what could very much happen to all of us someday sooner rather than later. But then this movie takes another wild and bizarre turn. A fish, and then subsequently Billy, are undergoing intersex changes (look it up like I did), and that just presents a whole slew of unexpected turns. It was mildly disturbing, but in a way that was also fairly fascinating.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers – Look. I am lumping the first two segments of this extremely popular trilogy together because I’m sure almost everyone out there knows what happens. And you might be mad when I sum it up as simply as they are on a nine hour quest to destroy an evil ring. That’s it. That’s the plot. Lots of really grand things happen within the six hours that I’ve seen so far, but at this point no one that important has died. The second film was made significantly more interesting because I got to watch it outside while its score was being performed by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Very cool! I basically forgot they were playing until the crowd would randomly start clapping, and then I remembered how insanely talented these people are. If you have a chance to see a movie this way, I recommend trying it out at least once in your life.