
Last week I came down with Covid and was too feverish to work for a few days, so I just watched movies.
I’m still catching up on other work, so instead of a full newsletter, here’s the movies I saw and actually managed to finish while my brain was simmering.
The Paper (Netflix)
Michael Keaton working at a NY newspaper. If you want to see that, you’ll love this movie like I did.
It’s super-frenetic and constantly moving. Actually it felt a lot like Birdman before Birdman, especially since it’s starring… Birdman.
It’s a Ron Howard movie, with an all-star cast supporting Keaton (Marissa Tomei, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Randy Quaid, etc) & lots of recognizable crew names in the opening credits too. The dialogue is sharp and funny throughout, with lots of colorful characters populating the newsroom. But if that’s not doing it for you, there’s so much energy and movement that it’s just hard to get bored.
Living in Oblivion (Amazon)
A film about filmmaking – specifically, low-budget filmmaking.
If you’re like me you’ll find it very relatable, funny, and engaging. It has an inventive story structure that (surprisingly) works for this film. For a very indie movie, it has a great cast of familiar faces like Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Peter Dinklage, and more.
Witness for the Prosecution (Tubi)
From 1957, but it’s a Billy Wilder picture, so it holds up. The central character, a lawyer played so well by Charles Laughton, is so charismatic and fun to watch, he carries the film. It actually made me wish this film was part of a series of procedurals starring that character. Oh well.
Knocked Up (Netflix)
Judd Apatow’s follow up to The 40 Year Old Virgin, and the movie that cemented him and Seth Rogen as the most bankable people in comedy for years.
Man, it holds up great. Now that I’m older, I appreciate the writing more. The fights the couples get in feel so real, where you could easily take either partner’s position. And the story balances laughs with heart perfectly. Plus almost all of the minor characters went on to have much bigger careers.
Unfortunately, it seems like this type of movie doesn’t get made anymore (a $25M comedy with heart). Comedy films in general seem to have totally dropped off in the past 10 years or so. Sad.
📺 TV: Devs (Hulu)
Alex Garland created this mini-series. I’m a huge fan of his, and although this show started promising, it slowly dropped off for me. It was beautiful and atmospheric, and I made it to the end, but the premise just started feeling silly by halfway through the show.
Had a similar experience with another sci-fi show, Outer Range (Amazon). The show got me hooked, then just started getting ridiculous and too slowly plotted.
💬 Quote: You graduate from film school and move to Hollywood. Hollywood tells you, ‘We’re not the place for you to make films,’ so you decide you have to make a film yourself. – Barry Jenkins
That’s it for this week.
Let’s make some movies.
-Kent
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