Thoughts on 5 Films

1. Roofman - I wasn't really looking forward to this but then I saw that Derek Cianfrance directed it and WHAT??!! I'm instantly interested. My husband actually remembers this crazy story, but I definitely don't. It's the real-life story of a man who was hiding from the law after escaping prison, so he hid in a Toys-R-Us for months. I like the way this story is told from his perspective - showing his humanity and vulnerability instead of painting him as just a criminal. It makes sense that Cianfrance would take this story on - it is a tragic love story in the end. He becomes involved with one of the employees and becomes an important person in her life and her two teenage daughters, and obviously, there is no way for that to end well. Channing Tatum is a great casting choice for this - he doesn't take himself too seriously, has great comedic timing, and creates a truly loveable character here. I appreciate him in more comedic roles, but he does a great job with the serious parts in this too. He has great chemistry with Kirsten Dunst. And there's a great supporting cast too - Peter Dinklage, Juno Temple, Uzo Aduba, Ben Mendelsohn AND Melonie Diaz (how she didn't become a much bigger star after A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is beyond me. She's such a good actress!). I just think this is a cute movie that has some memorable moments and it's an interesting true story. 

2. F1 - I'm sorry, but it's HILARIOUS that this movie, about F1, stars a 62 year old man. I actually looked it up out of curiosity and the oldest F1 driver is 43 - that's still a 20 year difference. But most are mid 20s - early 30s and there's a REASON for that. They try to show Brad Pitt "training" for this challenge (he's the first one up! Running!), but you can't train for aging - and a natural part of aging is that your motor skills and reaction times start to slow down. And that's really the only important thing you need to have in order to drive a car - you need to fit in the car and be able to react quickly. I'm not saying he might not still be able to race cars! But as a part of a billion dollar sport? No. My mom's husband (about the same age as Pitt) still plays hockey! And soccer! But they are for over 40 leagues because that makes sense! It's just so stupid. Aside from the stupidity, I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I think Joseph Kosinski is really making a name for himself in directing big budget action movies that focus on character development & storytelling while also getting those big spectacle moments. I rarely say this about a film with a runtime of 2 1/2 hours, but this zips by. It had my attention from beginning to end and aside from the actual racing it doesn't feel like there's any filler. And as someone who thinks racing cars is a dumb sport, the car racing is intense and interesting. The rules for F1 make absolutely no sense (and they even admit that in the movie), but it makes for a fun experience (I mean, I would never watch an actual F1 race, but I get why people do after watching this). I do feel like this movie is basically Ted Lasso but for car racing (he's harassed by a reporter, he has to "think outside the box" to win, he's an American in Europe etc.), but it works. I don't want to oversell it - it's a 3 star movie, but I was expecting to hate it. And as much as I DON'T WANT TO LIKE BRAD PITT ANYMORE (I believe Jolie 100%), he's such a fucking superstar it's hard to hate him. A true movie star. It's so fucking annoying. Damson Idris is set to be a star, as well. They have great chemistry together in this love/hate partnership. And Kerry Condon as the love interest is excellent - and I love that her role is a lot bigger than *just* the love interest. Overall, I was entertained. Although if it were 40 minutes shorter, I might have LOVED it. 

3. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Story - This is one of the most fucking boring movies I've seen all year. And I was not expecting that. I like this cast a lot - Josh O'Connor, Jeremy Renner, Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack (hot!), Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Wright, Kerry Washington, Glenn Close, etc.,  - and I liked the first two movies (maybe not as much as others, though, I rated them both 3.5 stars). But this gives absolutely no point in hiring all these actors and then giving them nothing to do. This is O'Connor's film, and maybe one strong scene from Close. But otherwise, I couldn't even tell you who the rest of them are or why they are in this movie. There's also...no....mystery? It's clear how it's all going to play out and I never once questioned myself. And this has a completely different vibe than the first two - it's extremely serious and all the religious stuff just draaaagggss. It's so boring and mind-numbing. I don't understand Rian's thought process on making this one without considering that making the first two "fun" is the whole reason people wanted to see more of these films. He's done something that hasn't been done in a long time - created a detective character that you can build an entire franchise on (there's not many - Sherlock, Lupin, Poroit...that's it? I guess you can argue Bond? He's a detective of sorts - but none of those are recent characters). And yet, this is the story he wants to tell for the third movie? It doesn't make sense. I couldn't even make it through the whole thing in one sitting. I stopped it with 20 minutes left to go and then it took me days to force myself to finish those last 20 minutes. Jeffrey Wright's line delivery of "little punk bitch" is the best part of the whole movie. 

4. One Battle After Another - I can't say that I loved this. I wanted to, but I just don't think there's a lot of substance here. I've LOVED some Paul Thomas Anderson movies (The Master, There Will Be Blood, and Inherent Vice), but I haven't even liked his last two (Phantom Thread, Licorice Pizza). And it's not that I didn't like this, it's good...but the fact that it might sweep the Oscars this year is kind of crazy. The script is very bloated. It feels long and everything is spelled out for the audience over and over again. The biggest problem for me, though, is that everyone feels like they're in a different movie - the only tangible characters are Leo's and Chase Infinity. The rest are overdone. I like Teyana Taylor, but she's not even in this enough to matter and people are talking Oscars?? Make it make sense! I usually include Sean Penn as one of the best living actors (even though I'm wary on him as a person), and he definitely created a very specific villainous character here but it didn't match what anyone else was doing. I also love Benicio del Toro - but I don't think he's given much to do. It's just weird to me that these are considered Oscar contenders (are we giving Benicio an Oscar nom for a 2 second dance? Because that's his only memorable moment. If you want to give him an Oscar nom, at least make it for The Phoenician Scheme! That actually required much more from him as an actor.). I do think Leo is great - and it feels like a different role for him and he nails it. I like Chase Infinity, too, but as soon as she appears I said out loud "wait, is she supposed to be a teenager? She looks 25." and then proceeded to look it up, and yes, she is, in fact, 25 years old. Aside from the mismatched cast, I do like the actual movie. Some of the scenes are great, and funnier than I was expecting. It's a fun ride, and it feels like the stakes are high. I just don't see how this is the best of the best. 

5. Jay Kelly - Another snoozefest! Who the fuck gives a shit about a multi-millionaire aging mega celebrity having a mid-life crisis? Like, truly? I like George Clooney, but this is just an exercise in narcissism that is on another level. The life of a wealthy white male actor is, like, the least interesting focal point for a film in 2025 that I can think of. I don't always like Noah Baumbach films. He has a LOT of 3 star movies (Marriage Story and The Squid and the Whale are 3.5 stars). I think he's a better writer than he is a director. Usually he's very detailed and his stories feel personal. But I actively disliked everything about this movie. I particularly hate when actors do "acting" scenes because they are usually terrible (the only recent good ones are Emma Stone in La La Land and Margot Robbie in Babylon). George is not a good enough actor to pull this off. And again, I like George Clooney - I grew up watching E.R. and my best friend had the biggest crush on him. We would watch One Fine Day and From Dusk Till Dawn on repeat, but he's never really "acted" - he's always just George Clooney. And this is the MOST George Clooney he's ever been - there's even an ending that shows a reel of his acting resume that I think we're supposed to be emotional about. It's so fucking dumb. The film is also full of nepobabies - Eve Hewson, Riley Keough, Laura Dern, the Sandler daughter (I don't know which one is which), and Emily Mortimer's daughter (side note - Mortimer actually co-wrote this, which honestly makes me think a little less of her. Also, another side note, I just found another nepobaby connection - the kid from the latest season of The White Lotus is Mortimer's son!), which just makes me have even less sympathy for everyone. Also, the casting of Charlie Rowe and Louis Partridge as a younger version of Clooney and Billy Crudup is probably the worst casting I've seen all year - and they are both AWFUL in the flashback scenes. Like, pure fucking torture. There's a whole scene in which George rides a train with the normies to be more relatable - it's so fucking pretentious. I was just basically screaming "fuck off" during every single scene.