[I review the movie "Leave the World Behind," which just dropped on Netflix today, as well as "May December," and "Quiz Lady"]
It's that time of year - busy, busy, busy. And there is no time to get to the movie theatre, even if there were some good films out there (there kind of aren't). But here are some theatre worthy films you can watch at home. Grab your favorite adult beverage and take a breather! Enjoy!
Leave the World Behind (2023)
A vacation from hell. Oh, and the end of the world as we know it.
Amanda Sanford (Julia Roberts) hates people, which is kind of funny since she manages customer relations for an advertising firm. She decides to take the family away from the city to a rental on Long Island for a little vacation to "leave the world behind." Her husband, Clay (Ethan Hawke), is a professor and has a bit more faith in people than Amanda. They have two children, Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) and Archie (Charlie Evans).
The house is massive and gorgeous, but it's odd that there is no cell connectivity and the TV and wi-fi aren't working either, which is a real problem for Rose, who is obsessed with TV, especially the show "Friends." She just needs to see the last episode to see how it ends.
Uh, oh - the vacation has not started out well. Being cut off from the outside world and that ominous music says some bad stuff is going to happen. And it does.
The next day the family goes to the beach and a huge tanker washes up onto the beach in a spectacular scene, and then, later that night, G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter, Ruth (Myha'la), show up at the house. Scott tells Amanda and Clay that he is the owner of the house and that a blackout in the city has forced them to return. They ask to spend the night. Amanda is skeptical but Clay is okay with it.
With no Internet or TV, they are all isolated, so the next day, Clay goes into town to try to find out what is going on and G.H. goes next door, only to find the house destroyed. Then airplanes start falling from the sky, Clay has some strange experiences going into town and the deer on the property are acting menacingly (and let me tell you, I have had personal experience with aggressive deer. It's scary). When Amanda and Clay try to go back to the City and encounter a pile-up of self-driving cars blocking the road (another spectacular scene and not a very good advert for Tesla), they realize they can't get to the City and return to the house. What the heck is going on? Finally, G.H. shares that he thinks there is some kind of government conspiracy at foot...but, uh, it's way worse than that!
Welcome to the world of apocalyptic horror.
When a movie starts out with ominous music, you know you are in for some serious stuff and this is two-and-a-half hours of serious stuff.
Adapted from the book by Rumaan Alam by Sam Esmail and directed by Esmail, this is a taut thriller about people in jeopardy, stuck together in a house, and the crazy stuff that can happen while the world is going to hell around them. It reminded me a bit of the recent film "Knock on the Cabin," though this film is more psychological in nature, examining family dynamics, prejudices, inhumanity and our dependence on technology. My only criticism is that the film didn't need to be so long, but you will want to see how it plays out. And since you are at home, you can always take a break (Thank you, Netflix, but can't avoid the irony).
It's a star-studded cast.
I have been a fan of Julia Roberts since the get-go. She is an accomplished actress who doesn't seem to have aged at all since "Pretty Woman." Here she eschews the rom-com genre for the thriller genre, but there actually is some romance. Well, sort of. She and the handsome and talented Ali have a bit of a thing. Ethan Hawke has some juicy scenes and Kevin Bacon has a small, but pivotal role, as a survivalist. Also fun fact, Michelle and Barack Obama are two of the executive producers.
With all of the terrible things going on in the world right now, why would you want to watch a scary film about the end of the world?
Well, it's a riveting film, with first rate production values, and I for one, find it comforting to know that things in the world could be a lot worse!
Rosy the Reviewer says...a taut doomsday thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. What would YOU do if the end of the world was near? (Netflix)
May December (2023)
A speculation into what Mary Kay Letourneau's life and marriage might have looked like after the scandal?
Remember the Mary Kay Letourneau scandal? If not, perhaps you were too young when it happened or living in Antarctica, so to bring you up to speed, it involved a married middle school teacher in her 30's who had an affair with her 12-year-old student, if you can call that an affair. Actually, it was deemed child rape and she went to prison but got out early after agreeing to never see the kid again. Wait. There's more. She was caught with him again, went back to prison where she gave birth! Wait, wait. There's still more. THEY EVENTUALLY GOT MARRIED! If ever there was an instance of truth being stranger than fiction, this is it.
So this film is based on that story...but with some twists.
In this version, it's the same sort of scandal that Letourneau was involved in, but this time it's Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton), who are now married, living in Savannah and it's 20 years since le scandale. The two met when Gracie was working in a pet store and Joe worked there after school. She was 37 and he was 13. They supposedly got it on in the stock room and were caught. A film version is planned about their story and they are approached by Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman), an actress who is best known for playing a TV veterinarian. Now she is going to play Gracie in a movie about Joe and Gracie.
Elizabeth wants to observe Gracie's life for research for her role and Gracie lets her, because she wants Elizabeth to "get it right." She also might want Elizabeth to see that they are just regular folks. After all, despite the age difference and the scandal, here she is, a wife, a mother and a baker and Joe raises Monarch butterflies. What's not to like? But there are cracks in the idyllic scenario. Joe talks on FB to a mysterious person he seems to like and Gracie shows herself to perhaps not be completely stable.
It's a strange little tale that wonders what the everyday life of someone like Mary Kay Letourneau might have been like after a huge viral scandal and what regrets might a much younger husband seduced by an much older woman have?
And then there is Elizabeth. She has toiled in television, but now wants to prove herself as a serious actress in an indie film that is going to be made about Gracie and Joe. Elizabeth also turns out to have some issues. Elizabeth visits said stock room in the pet store and in a very cringey scene re-enacts what might have gone on in there. What an actor won't do for her craft! Elizabeth also interviews other people involved, especially Gracie's ex-husband who still can't understand what a 37-year-old woman saw in a 7th grader. I'm with him. And why did the 13 year-old get involved with Gracie? "She saw me."
Though the film is about a tabloid scandal, the film, written by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, is also a commentary on such tabloid scandals, our fascination with sex, crime and celebrity. "Dateline," and "20/20" are perfect examples. No one probably remembers that both started out as legit news shows like "60 Minutes," but changed course when it became apparent that true crime and scandal attracted more viewers. We are voracious consumers of that kind of content. The film also kind of makes fun of the lengths actors will go to inhabit their roles.
And that's what makes this an odd, but fascinating, little film.
Despite the subject matter, it's actually kind of funny in a dark way and it makes no judgment. Yes, Gracie was convicted of child rape and went to prison, but she doesn't appear to regret any of it or feel bad about herself, and her life has gone on. She married Joe, they live in a nice house, they have children who are getting ready for college and it all just seems so...normal. But it's not. It's a "Dateline" life.
Moore and Portman are serious actresses who have proven themselves. Both have Best Leading Actress Oscars under their belts, Portman for "Black Swan" and Moore for "Still Alice." And to add to this movie's credentials, director Todd Haynes has an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for "Far From Heaven (also starring Moore)" and countless other nominations and awards over the years for directing and writing. I am a fan of his films. They embody time and place, mood and beauty. And this is his fifth collaboration with Moore, which started in 1995 with "Safe." Melton, best known for the TV show "Riverdale," doesn't have a whole lot to do but I think that's the point. As Gracie's husband, who married her before he was out of his teenage years, he has missed a lot in life and doesn't seem to have a whole lot to do either, raising Monarch butterflies, not withstanding. He is now a husband whose wife tells him what to do.
Rosy the Reviewer says...a strange but fascinating little film starring actresses at the top of their game. (Netflix)
Quiz Lady (2023)
Two estranged sisters - Anne (Awkwafina) and Jennie (Sandra Oh) - come together to help pay off their mother's gambling debt.
Yes, it's a comedy and a funny one with Sandra Oh as you have never seen her, hamming it up as a ne're do well and, Awkwafina, taking the lead as a smart but awkward reclusive woman hooked on a game show. Though comedian Awkwafina had been around for several years doing her stand-up and acting in some films, it was her comic star-turn in "Crazy Rich Asians" that gave her film career a boost and now she is a hot commodity.
Anne and Jennie grew up in a troubled household. Jennie, ten years older than Anne, coped by being a bad girl; Anne coped by being a quiet good girl and by watching a nightly game show called "Can't Stop the Quiz" hosted by Terry McTeer (think "Jeopardy" and Alex Trebek except with Will Ferrell and a nutty charades component).
Now as adults, the sisters have each gone their own way. Anne works as an accountant in a cubicle jungle and Jennie, well, not sure what Jennie has been up to, but it's not good. They come together when their mother goes missing from her nursing home and Jennie gloms onto Anne. Jennie appears to be living in her car and has been up to no good and needs a place to stay. And when Anne's dog, Linguini, is kidnapped by some bad guys, the sisters also learn their mother owes the bad guys money and they are keeping the dog until Anne pays up.
Meanwhile, Jennie films Anne getting all of the answers right while watching "Can't Stop the Quiz" and posts it on social media. It goes viral and Anne starts getting recognized as "The Quiz Lady." And Jennie gets the idea that Anne needs to get on that show so they can make the money they need to pay their mother's debt. But this is not an easy task as Anne has social anxiety. So Jennie kidnaps Anne by putting her in the trunk of her car and, well, it's all very funny as they make their way from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and try to get Anne on the show.
Jason Schwartzman plays a smarmy, self-important long-time winner on the show who is about to become the all-time champion and Anne would love to unseat him if she could just get over her fears. Wait! Jennie has the answer. Drugs! Just imagine "Jeopardy" contestants on the show doing psychedelics. Well, now you don't have to imagine. You can see for yourself.
I was never a huge Sandra Oh fan but now I am. She is very funny here, and Will Ferrell brings a warmth to his character as game show host, McTeer, as he advises Anne to not worry about winning so much as savoring the experience and creating memories.
Written by Jen D'Angelo and directed by Jessica Yu, this is a sort of buddy movie but has the sweetness of the sister bond as flashbacks reveal what they went through together growing up and just what Jenny did to look out for her little sister.
Rosy the Reviewer says...a very funny but also sweet film about sisterly love. (Hulu)
Thanks for reading!
