7th Heaven (1928)

A poor woman is rescued from a beating by a sewer worker. When the police want to take her away for being destitute, the two pretend to be married and then have to keep up the pretense until the authorities conduct a visit to confirm they're living together. But, by then, they've become contented roommates and have maybe even fallen in love.

That's cute and I wish the story had stopped there. But nope -- he has to go to war and get injured, she has to work in a munitions factory and fight off advances, then he has to come home after being reported dead, which is happy! But, dangit, he's blind now. It's too long by at least 30 minutes and has enough story for two movies.

C

The Nice Guys (2016)

I don't know what was wrong with us in 2016 when we originally saw this in the theater, but this time around it was a hit. Gosling and Crowe are a fantastic duo, so maybe it was a case of dialogue being missed due to audience reactions? I really have no idea. 

Though I still think it's unusual to have brutality and  hilarity sharing scenes, this time I was much more receptive to it and even appreciated it. Rather than having the fun spoiled by blood, the violence was mitigated by comedy.

B+

The Idea of You (2024)

After a meet-cute at Coachella, Hayes (24, member of a boy band) and Solene (40, gallery owner, single mom) start a whirlwind romance. They try to be discreet, but it's eventually plastered all over the net and wreaking havoc in Solene's day-to-day -- as well as her teenage daughter's.

This is most interesting as a reminder that our culture is extremely hard on celebrities. Privacy isn't a given for them and watching them navigate the paparazzi, onlookers, and the constant opinions of online commenters was kind of heartbreaking. But, despite that good content, I never really bought Solene truly falling for the extremely vanilla Hayes.

C+

The Takedown (2022)

Mismatched pair of cops have to work together despite their wildly different methods. It's both too light (infantile jokes and predictable storyline) and too adult (graphic content and violence) to be a hit with any audience. An absolute misfire that felt like a chore to finish.

D+

Air (2023)

In the early '80s, Nike was known as a running shoe and that was about it. The brand was barely in the conversation for the NBA and were fairly resigned to that status quo -- allocating a tiny budget for player endorsements. But then their talent scout Sonny Vaccaro went off-script to pursue Michael Jordan, despite MJ's disdain for the brand.

Just a solid, well-told story. Often funny and absolutely always interesting.

B

High Life (2019)

A young man and his infant daughter are the sole survivors of a deep space mission. We learn in flashback that the experimental mission was populated with criminals, making it doubly dangerous. The woman in charge was conducting reproductive experiments -- often against the rest of the crew's wishes -- and I was never quite sure whether her experiments were sanctioned or if she was just a weird perv.

There was so much that I didn't understand and the bouncing back and forth in time willy-nilly didn't help. It took me nearly a week to get through this joyless slog.

D+

Alone (2020)

Grieving woman is moving across the country alone and gets spooked when the same car that recklessly caused a near collision seems to be following her. Eventually her fears prove warranted when she winds up locked in a cabin basement deep in the woods. She's a fighter, though.

This is competent, but nothing here is new. There isn't a single sequence that stood out as "OK, that was pretty good."

C-