One Battle After Another – 7.7

A propulsive story of domestic revolution that is eerily prescient in Trump’s America. Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti (as the young Willa) are beyond superb and the action scenes and cast of thousands are directed seamlessly. The hole in the middle, though, is Leonardo DiCaprio, never my favorite actor. We don’t care for his goofball character and ultimately wonder why all the fuss is being made over him. The plot, with its strong echoes of realism, goes off the rails near the end, but by that time we have enjoyed quite a ride.

Fall Theater ’25

Let’s Love  Three hilarious playlets by Ethan Coen (of the Coen brothers) that are so wonderfully raunchy the evening would more appropriately have been called “Let’s Have Sex.” Aubrey Plaza is merely the best of a fine crew of actors, while a delicious off-Broadway troubadour serenades between sets. The humor comes from each character’s own hangups, and everyone gets a happy ending. Or at least sex.

This Much I Know Brilliantly conceived, staged, directed and acted, the story was an intellectual challenge that I failed. Framed by a psychology lecture on how the mind works (thinks? decides?), three distinct stories were interweaved by three actors playing multiple parts, even shifting mid-sentence. The result was a puzzle I kept waiting to piece together, at the expense of emotional connection.

Are the Bennet Girls Ok?  A peppery adaptation of the most-loved novel in the English language, with period costumes, contemporary mannerisms and a cast of eight women to one man. The very woke casting gave the show a somewhat amateurish feel, but it didn’t detract from everyone’s fun.

Tartuffe  Another informal production, this one inside an UES townhouse, could be called Moliere on Ham and Cheese. The style was slapstick, the rhyming dialogue hard to hear, the plot a relic. The absence of the star, Andre De Shields as Tartuffe, only added to the silliness.

Little Bear Ridge Road Laurie Metcalf’s brilliant portrayal of a crotchety Idaho spinster unfortunately ran up against co-star Micah Stock’s aggressively unpleasant gay crybaby nephew. James’s love for Stock’s Ethan defied credulity, as did the ambiguous story ending. Still, there was Laurie Metcalf.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – 6

Like looking at a favorite old scrapbook. No problems were introduced without quickly apparent solutions that enabled one and all to live happily ever after (at least until further collapse of the British Empire).

Highest 2 Lowest – 5

A clunky movie. Denzel Washington was neither believable nor interesting as a record company executive (think Berry Gordy), and we had to watch him the entire movie. A rare misfire by Spike Lee, based on a Kurosawa film that wasn’t that great to begin with.

Thursday Murder Club – 5

A faithful re-creation for the screen of Richard Osman’s charming novel, unfortunately without its charm. Too much plot, too little air for the characters to breathe, and too recognizable actors in the roles, with Pierce Brosnan especially out of place.

Top Ten 2024

Year after year I say it wasn’t a great year for movies, and the fact that I can’t find ten titles for this list reinforce that view for 2024. On the other hand, the industry’s policy of withholding prestige films until December makes it hard to catch up with everything, and there are two possible nominees, The Brutalist and The Seed and the Sacred Fig, that are still on our to-watch list.
1. Green Border. This documentary-like story of refugees trying to reach Europe made you feel and made you think like no other movie this year. The characters were vivid and compelling, their plight all too realistic, the plot unceasingly gripping.
2. A Complete Unknown. Great music, Timothee Chalamet’s Dylan, supporting work by Monica Barbara and Elle Fanning all combined to make this the most enjoyable film of the year.
3. The Apprentice. Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong’s Oscar-worthy performances unfortunately captured the Donald Trump we now know too well and a New York of ’70s we still remember.
4. Emilia Perez. An inventively audacious film that is gentle, sweet, violent and thought-provoking, all at once, with top performances by four leading ladies. And music.
5. The Bikeriders. A portrait of a time and place  and subset of people, redneck South, with the great Jodi Comer setting the tone.
6. Sing Sing. A feel-good play within a play by Colman Domingo and actual prisoners.
7. Evil Does Not Exist. A moody, ambiguous, elegiac look at Japanese culture and man’s relationship with nature by the auteur Hamaguchi.
8. A Real Pain. Jesse Eisenberg, not Kieran Culkin, is the standout in this very personal story.
9. Anora. The first half hour aside, Sean Baker’s film was funny, sad and original, amazingly acted and deftly directed. Why not in the top five? That first half hour.

A Complete Unknown – 8

The music alone makes this one of the most enjoyable films of this or any year. Hardly five minutes go by without another song, and it’s usually a great song we know and love, and it’s integral to the story. The actors do the vocals themselves, which makes it all more real, and they are good, especially Monica Barbaro, who looks great and hits the high, silver notes that made Joan Baez. A “complete unknown,” Bob Dylan can be played many ways, as Todd Haynes has shown, and Timothee Chalamet’s version is as good as any. We don’t learn much of anything about Dylan–he writes compulsively, he’s insensitive/rude to others, he lives in a bubble–but we feel his music. When Bob and Joan duetted on “It Ain’t Me Babe,” I broke down. And then there is “Like A Rolling Stone.” The movie wasn’t perfect: it was histrionic too often, notably in the Allen Lomax character. But he didn’t sing. That was Bob. And Joan and Johnny and Pete. And they were great.

Janet Planet – 5.5

As with her (much better) plays, Annie Baker’s film debut consists of people talking, and figuring themselves out. Unfortunately, all they talk about is their relationships, none of which are that interesting. This is sort of an Inside Out 2 but with sort of grownups.

Inside Out 2 – 6

Our 7-year-old granddaughter said she enjoyed it, although the jokes were coming faster than we could easily catch. I think I liked the first film better, but that may be because the early teenage years just aren’t fun for anyone.

Touch – 7

A lovely, gentle romance between a charming and gorgeous Icelandic man and a lovely and demure Japanese woman, told through flashbacks to 1969 London from a 2020 present. Besides whetting my appetite for Japanese cuisine, the film almost made me nostalgic for the days of Covid lockdown.