The Kid (1921)

Chaplin's Tramp happens across a baby whose mother intended to leave with a wealthy family. The Tramp is moved by the note begging that the child be loved and cared for, so he does just that -- even though he has barely enough for himself.

What a charming little movie! Jackie Coogan as the Kid is almost unbelievably good. The pair seemed like they were having a fantastic time. I'm not much of a Chaplin fan, but this one is really worth the watch; even with some heavy-handed themes, it's mostly a delight.

B+

Duck Butter (2018)

There is one terrific segment in this film and, unfortunately, it happens right at the beginning. Naima (Alia Shawkat) shows up for her first day of acting in a Duplass Brothers movie. She struggles to "go with the flow" and gets a gentle dressing-down by Jay & Mark when she attempts to blame her castmates for her own rough work.

The bulk of the story concerns Naima and Sergio, the singer/songwriter she just met at a bar, deciding to fast-track their relationship by spending the next 24 hours together while staying awake. It's charming at first, but doesn't take long to become oppressive. I didn't want to be with them.

C

Private Life (2018)

A NY couple in their 40s are trying to have a child after years of putting it off. It's been going on so long that their friends and family are finding it difficult to continue being supportive, and it's likewise taking a real toll on their relationship. In short: not a fun situation and not a fun movie.

I almost turned it off after the first ten minutes because it seemed like it was going to be a real slog... and, while I kept it on, my gut was right. This was not an easy movie to watch. It's hard to believe that so many people put themselves through this -- it must be so frustrating and humiliating. The fact that no one in the fertility doctor's waiting room was ever smiling started to make a lot of sense halfway through this.

I get it -- it seemed well-done -- but it also was just so depressing.

B-

The Bookshop (2018)

A young widow decides to fulfill her dream of opening a bookshop and has found a long-vacant fixer-upper in a small English town that seems to be just the place for her endeavor. The one obstacle to her success is a doozy, though: the town's grand dame has other plans for the building.

Though quiet, this story was just my kind of thing. The politely sinister machinations were brutal -- not just because of their effect, but more due to the casualness in which they were enacted. Add in Bill Nighy as a reclusive avid reader and I'm sold.

B

Dumplin' (2018)

It's pageant season, which causes Willowdean to miss her much-loved aunt even more keenly since it this time of year shines a spotlight on her differences with her mother -- director (and past winner) of Miss Teen Bluebonnet. When Will (Dumplin' to her mother) discovers that her aunt wanted to compete in the pageant but never did, she decides to compete herself as a form of protest. Soon, there are a couple of more unconventional girls following her lead.

I wouldn't really say that this movie is good, but it is definitely feel-good. I enjoyed the messages the story delivered, even as I rolled my eyes at a couple of plot points as "wouldn't ever happen." The thing is: they should happen, so I'll get on board. As a big girl with disapproving parents but seemingly loads of confidence who happened to have bagged a pretty cute/non-big boy herself, there was definitely a sense of familiarity with the lead's story.

Also, a plot that references Dolly Parton as much as this one does is just "good people."

B

Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)

Angie is pregnant from a one-night stand. But when she goes to the father for help, he doesn't even remember her. Still, he's determined to do the right thing -- and both of them agree that the "right thing" is an abortion, despite it being illegal.

This started out quite strong and was completely different than what I was expecting from the video cover (left). They're struggling to come up with cash for a scary thing, literally running around with a stranger, bonding despite themselves. But then the movie takes a weird turn into bickering comedy and undid all of the powerful work that had gone before.

C+

Holiday in the Wild (2019)

I almost turned this off 10 minutes in -- it felt like a cheap Hallmark Movie-type of thing. Kate (Kristin Davis) gets dumped by her husband literally minutes after their son leaves for college, but she decides to go ahead with the safari she'd planned for their second honeymoon alone.

Though Kate planned a high-end, pampered type of trip, she quickly decides to ditch that for pitching in at an elephant sanctuary. Although it felt low-rent and Davis's acting hasn't improved since Sex and the City, I can't deny that there was really something to this film. I was charmed and inspired by the "it's never too late to change your life" message.

B

Adrift (2018)

Tami is a 23-year-old free spirit who left home the minute she graduated high school and has been traveling where and however she can since then. While in Tahiti, she meets sailor Richard and they are soon inseparable. When he gets a job sailing a yacht to San Diego, Tami agrees to sail with him but, soon into the voyage, they're caught in a hurricane. The storm disables the boat and sweeps Richard overboard.

I'm going to spoil a huge thing right now: though Tami is able to find and rescue the severely injured Richard and spends the next month caring for him, that's all a fantasy. He wasn't rescued. And, in the final moments of the film, we are shown Tami having the same conversations we've already seen her share with Richard -- but, this time, we see the actuality: he's not there. She's talking to the air. What the hell was the point of that? The story is miraculous without any "Fight Club"-style shenanigans.

B-

Book Club (2018)

Four long-time friends have been in a book club together for decades. When "Fifty Shades of Grey" is selected as the month's read, it wakes them each up in different ways.

It's a lazy, but likable, trifle.

C

You Were Never Really Here (2018)

Joaquin Phoenix grew up in an abusive household, saw some shit in the war, and is -- as a result -- pretty messed up. He's kind of like a fat Joker. Nowadays, he's a hired gun and his latest job is to find the young daughter of a senator who is being held as an underage sex worker.

There are a lot of flashbacks and dreamlike sequences and very little dialogue. Too much style on top of a pretty ugly story makes for a movie that's not really worth anyone's time. Except for one tiny bit that will probably stick with me: when one of the bad guys is dying a slow bleeding-out death, he reaches out to grasp his killer's hand. This human need for comfort felt so out of place in a movie that didn't seem to have a grip on how real people behave.

D

The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter (2018)

Buck Ferguson, "star" of hunting videos, is taking his son out on a weekend hunting trip. Along with them is Buck's longtime cameraman Don, who has no idea about what is appropriate conversation for a 12-year-old kid.

There is a lot of charm here, particularly coming from Josh Brolin's Buck. His desire to connect with his son is palpable, as is his regret at letting his marriage fall apart. But Buck's pathos is not enough to save this movie from its own bad decisions -- most glaring of which is making Don such a dumbass.

C+

Killing Gunther (2017)

A hit man puts together a squad of assassins and hires a documentary team to film their takedown of Gunther, the best hit man in the world. It's silly and fun, but everything needed to be ratcheted up a few notches to really make this work.

C+

Serenity (2019)

Baker Dill is a damaged man who's started a new life as a fisherman with a boat for hire. He lives in a small town where everyone knows everything, including that his new client beats his wife. They also seem very invested in whether he will focus on the fish or her request that he kill the client.

It's very, very stupid. The stiff acting and weird town dynamic sort of get explained away by the twist of a conceit, but that doesn't make this a good film. It just makes it a poorly-executed, if sort of interesting, idea.

C-

We Are Your Friends (2015)

Aspiring DJ Cole and the same friends he's had since childhood are living in a kind of in-between state, hoping Cole will make it big and take the crew along. When Cole steps outside to smoke and winds up sharing a joint with a well-known DJ, he gets his foot in the door and a possible chance at getting heard.

I'm not sure if this is a great movie, but it sure felt great to me. There were a few scenes with animations and voice-over to explain how the body reacts to beat-driven music, and I don't know. It just really worked. But it wasn't just the music scenes that grabbed me -- it was also the recognition of that time in life when you realize you've got to make a change, but you don't like the options in front of you. The film captured that perfectly.

And, man. The festival scene. I'm not a dancer, but I was involuntarily moving -- just one of the crowd of fans bouncing along to Cole's beats.

A-

American Factory (2019)

A couple of years after a large OH factory closes, a Chinese auto glass company arrives to breathe new life into it and the community.

This is a fair look at the differences between Chinese and American values and it caused my perspective to shift several times while I was viewing. At first I was with the Chinese: they were coming with jobs and trust and training -- but when I heard them saying the Americans are slow and have "fat fingers" I winced a bit but felt more "yeah... fair" than "what the hell!?" Comparatively, our insistence on higher wages for less work does seem weird and undeserved.

But then I realized that the Chinese workers who work overtime and spend so much time away from their families don't do so because of work ethic: they do so because there's no choice. I also remembered that American factories were similarly run before we passed laws to protect worker interest and force safety measures. The Chinese are not superior: they have simply prioritized profit over quality of life.

It's the rare film that truly gives voice to all of those involved. I sympathized with almost everyone.

B+

Ma (2019)

Sue Ann was a high school outcast 25+ years ago, but has finally infiltrated the "cool clique" by opening up her home as party central for teens. Flashbacks are used effectively to inform us of what made "Ma" who she is today, but it ultimately felt far too slight. I was never really invested in these inch-deep characters.

C