Apollo 13: Survival (2024)

Really well-done documentary using archived footage and recordings of the Apollo 13 mission. Despite knowing how this turned out, it was a nail-biter. Truly inspiring work by all involved: the calm heads and on-the-fly problem solving were incredible.

My one complaint would be that, although I appreciated getting the insight of how the Lovell family got through the waiting and praying for Jim's safe return, it felt like that portion of the story got farm more screen time than was necessary. I was more interested in the actual "thing" than the emotional impact for those on the ground.

B

The Skin of the Wolf (2018)

A trapper lives alone in an abandoned town high in the mountains. We don't get any backstory about why the town is empty nor how he came to be there. He gets paid per wolf pelt by the nearest inhabited town for keeping it safe from the predators. When it's suggested that he get married to relieve the loneliness, he agrees and pays a local businessman for his eldest daughter. Though they seem to be making a go of things, it's eventually disclosed that she's pregnant with another man's child and sickly. When the trapper angrily returns her body to the businessman, demanding repayment for the deceit, the businessman offers up his younger daughter. She is not nearly as companionable as her sister was.

The mood here is fantastic. You feel the solitude and the way that the wilderness can feel like a prison, especially without any let-up from the constant drudgery and lack of empathy from one's partner. But it wound up feeling so unnecessarily empty. Could they have "made it" if she'd been encouraged to attempt a true partnership? If she (or anyone) had helped him with social niceties and taught him how to be compassionate, could things have turned out better? I think that the fact that she had a "way out" provided by her father, she never really considered trying to make it work, but instead had the mindset that if it didn't get better on its own, she'd just make it stop.

Trigger warning for those with misophonia: mute any scene in which this guy is eating.

C+

Mothers' Instinct (2024)

In the 1960s, Céline and Alice are living parallel lives right next door to each other in an upper middle class suburb. They're both stay-at-home moms to their 8-year-old sons (who also happen to be best friends) and have suit-wearing husbands. They get together for dinner and throw parties for each other's birthdays.

When Céline's son dies in a fall that Alice is seconds too late to prevent, things get understandably dark. As Céline becomes more and more interested in spending time with Alice's son, Alice sees danger and worries about her son's safety. Is Alice giving in to paranoia bred of her own guilt? Or is she perceiving actual threat masquerading as depression?

This was a capable (though rather muted) thriller right up until the last act, when things get almost silly. 

C+

Sinners (2025)

Twins Smoke & Stack come back to their hometown to open a juke joint which will cater to the black community. They buy an old farm building and are assured by the good ol' boy who sells it to them that they'll be left alone because the Ku Klux Klan doesn't exist anymore. They spend the day putting together a staff and fixing up the place and boy... when it opens, it's absolutely magnificent. The twins' cousin Sammie is a natural on the guitar and has a distinctive low pitch, perfect for singing the blues (and attracting vampires).

I was not looking forward to this movie, but it didn't take long to win me over. It was bursting with life and love of music. There is one scene in particular that wowed both of us: like a hallucinatory history of black music before our eyes, somehow not gimmicky, just wondrous. But it's the final scene, decades into the future, that elevates this a few notches by reminding us of the beauty and excitement that preceded the horror. What a perfect to way to wrap up a story or a life.

B+

Taylor Swift: Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020)

I put this on my list right after watching The Eras Tour documentary, which featured songs from her Folklore album with which I had little familiarity. Once again, it's fascinating to hear musicians chat about music with each other. We get stories about inspiration, process and collaboration and are reminded again of Swift's major talent.

This was shot in the middle of the pandemic, which makes it a smaller-scale endeavor, but that works out just fine. The no-frills approach allows us to simply focus on the stories and the music.

B