It (2017)

My first moviepass movie! So exciting.

It got so much right about what it was like to be a kid in general (running from the dark, averting your eyes so as not to see the scary thing you're just sure is there) and an ‘80s kid in particular (leering men weren’t discouraged, the utter freedom of the days is almost terrifying in retrospect). This is well-done horror that is almost fit for 12 year olds to see. Yeah, there’s a lot of cussing, but if they're living in the world they’re hearing that from their friends -- if not their parents -- already.

The most terrifying elements are the real-world horrors: bullies threatening physical violence, emotional humiliations from bored/cruel peers, and the manipulations of parents. The clown is scary, sure, but it’s such fantasy that it’s unlikely to follow anyone out of the theater.

B

Wild Tales (2015)

Six vignettes about extreme reactions to personal slights/attacks. Three are quite good, two are OK, and only one is not good at all. Regardless, they’re all pretty short so, even if you’re not into something, it’ll be over soon.

B-

Wonder Woman (2017)

This is a pretty great superhero movie, starting with a fantastic sequence of Diana’s home island and the women with whom she shares it. There’s a throwback vibe to everything -- there’s no blood but lots of rappelling & slashing & when Diana and Steve finally hook up, it’s a kiss and fade to black scenario -- all of which I actually appreciated. This is the kind of movie you are excited for your kids to see.

But all of the above means that it’s a definite family film. There’s no dark angsty stuff here which, again, is fine. Just know going in that there's going to be less gravitas than a Harry Potter movie. Thumbs up, but I’d give Doctor Strange the nod for best recent superhero movie.

B

The Quiet Man (1952)

John Wayne returns to the Irish village of his birth after emigrating to America with his mother when he was small. He immediately sets his eyes on fiery Maureen O’Hara. Problem is that “the Yank” set himself at odds with her brother by buying adjoining land the brother hoped to obtain himself.

This is a spirited movie with a trove of charming locals and an intense love story between two well-matched people. But… there was also a distasteful “women as property” vibe going on. I started to watch a Kirk Douglas movie called The Indian Fighter a couple of weeks back and couldn’t get more than 20 minutes in due to the rape-y vibe (an Indian woman is ogled while bathing in a creek then grabbed and forcibly kissed without consent), all played as good-natured "boys will be boys" behavior. The same vibe -- though maybe a bit softer -- was in this movie as well. At one point O’Hara is pulled off a train and dragged home (sometimes literally) on foot for 5 miles with a kick in the pants serving as punctuation while villagers chased along to watch the show. At one point a woman even offers Wayne a “good stick to beat the lovely lady.” I mean, I get that this may be a picture of a certain place at a certain time, but finding humor in the misogyny was impossible.

B

Cold Souls (2009)

Paul Giamatti is playing “Paul Giamatti” as he struggles with finding a character he’s rehearsing. He hears about Soul Storage and thinks it may be the answer to his ennui. Basically, most of the soul is extracted and stored so that one can get on with living life without the pesky weight and potential darkness of a soul. But soullessness can be its own kind of pressure. Good thing there’s a soul catalogue through which you can rent the soul of anonymous donors!

This is a pretty out-there concept. In the words of Stefan: this movie has it all: soul-smuggling, shady contracts, misplacements and so. much. angst. That’s not to say it isn’t good and, as a matter of fact, I think it is. But there’s no resolution (how could there really be?) so it remains an interesting concept without a destination.

C+

Grandma (2015)

Lily Tomlin is an aging lesbian poet still grieving the loss of her longtime partner more than a year ago. When her granddaughter shows up asking for cash to get an abortion, they spend the day trying to scrape it together.

The story is fine. Tomlin is quite good. But the girl who plays the granddaughter is a void of personality, bringing absolutely nothing to the table except fistfuls of curly blonde hair. When the bulk of a movie is two women, both of them should be able to hold their own.

C-

Sausage Party (2016)

The food in the grocery store live in anticipation of being chosen by the gods (shoppers) to be taken to paradise (home to be devoured). Only when a jar of honey mustard is returned because it was bought in error do the products find out the truth: carnage awaits them on the other side of the glass doors.

It’s silly and fast-moving, but also pretty profane. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the film a hard “R” which is bordering on insane for a film starring animated food.

C+

Shock Corridor (1963)

Newspaper man chasing a Pulitzer goes undercover in a mental hospital to find out who murdered one of its patients. But he winds up going crazy himself because, you know...crazy is catching?

This film was downright hilarious in its portrayals of different mental afflictions (not to mention the profession of stripping). For example: in one scene our hero walks into a room -- door locks behind him -- and it’s full of women, one of whom is aggressively singing “My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean” at him. He assesses the situation and hisses, “Nymphos!” as they surround him and take him down. 

Ridiculous now, but it probably came off as groundbreaking in its day.

C-

The Purge: Election Year (2016)

I haven’t seen the first two Purge movies and it didn’t seem to matter at all.

Senator is running for President on an “Abolish the Purge” platform as she lost her entire family to Purge night -- when everything’s legal including murder -- 18 years earlier. So, of course, the powers that be want her gone. This was a lot less horrifying than I expected and a bit more silly too. Though there was decent tension in a few scenes, mostly I just thought "meh."

C+

Jackson (2016)

A sobering documentary concerning the rights of women in Mississippi as a whole and in Jackson in particular. They’ve got one clinic performing abortions left in the state and it’s constantly subjected to picketing and hostile legislation. We get to hear from both sides of the issue: doctors and staff at the clinic and those who run the Crisis Pregnancy Center in town. The CPC positions itself in lower income neighborhoods and does what it can to dissuade women from getting abortions and from using birth control.

We also watch as April Jackson, a 24-year old with 4 children and pregnant with her fifth, chooses to follow the CPC’s recommendations. By the end of the film she has five kids, two jobs, no man in her life, and twins on the way. I'm truly not sure whether she actually chose to keep her fifth child or if she was just suckered in by the "kindness" shown her while at the center. To be fair, the CPC did follow up with her by bringing a travel crib and food... but would she even need those things if she had access to reliable and free birth control?

B-

Ginger & Rosa (2013)

Inseparable best friends are becoming young ladies in ‘60s London and facing the truth that they may be very different people.

Ginger is finding meaning in protesting the bomb while Rosa is much more interested in her sexuality. This is a believable, if bleak and emotionally draining, portrait of two women transitioning from childhood to womanhood.

B-

Train to Busan (2016)

Busy father reluctantly agrees to accompany his daughter on a visit to her mother’s home by train.

...And it turns out to be a zombie movie, which means we’ve pretty much seen this before. Zombies chase humans. Some humans get bitten and become zombies and some don’t. If you’re into the genre, this is a pretty good entry with some exciting/inventive sequences. But it also felt like it went on way longer than it needed to.

B

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Other than Peter finally meeting his dad (Kurt Russell, a pretty great choice), this was just more of the same. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely means it's not a must-see. I did appreciate that both Zebulon and Yondu got believably redemptive storylines. But, honestly, I would've been pretty happy just watching Baby Groot's adorable face for a couple of hours.

You know what? It's fine.

B-

Omar (2014)

Three Palestinian friends decide to run a resistance mission (one plans, one drives, one shoots an occupying Israeli officer). We follow Omar, the driver, as he’s caught, imprisoned, tortured, and then released on the condition that he deliver the shooter to them. Omar is still a loyal resister and only wants to get out to see his love Nadia and to warn his friends about what the Israelis know or at least of what they think they know.

There’s a lot going on in this movie and it threatens to devolve into a simple jealousy/revenge plot, but winds up being so much better than that. I was truly moved and surprised -- so much so that I actually did a little research online afterward to make sure that the meaning I'd derived was the meaning intended.

A-