The Commitments (1991)

Jimmy Rabbitte has ambition -- he's so sure he's going to hit it big, he often practices being interviewed about his success. And when he hears Deco drunkenly singing at a wedding, he knows he's found the lead singer for a working class soul band. To almost everyone's surprise, the band turns out to be pretty dang good, thanks in no small part to Jimmy "The Lips" Fagan, who claims to have traveled the states, playing with most of the big acts (including Elvis).

Gary and I saw this in the theater back in 1991 and we bought the CD soundtrack soon after, it's that good. As we lost Glen Hansard this week and this was his first role, we decided to rewatch. We were both happy to find that it holds up as a joyful tribute to the power of music as escape and inspiration.

B+

Fall (2022)

In order to pull her best friend back from the deep grief she's been in since becoming a widow, Hunter convinces Becky to climb to the top of a 2000-ft television tower in the middle of the desert. They get stuck up there.

I had zero expectations of this film since I was only watching it in order to laugh along with this week's "How Did This Get Made," but it surprised me by being truly terrifying. This definitely had more to do with my extreme fear of heights than the script or acting, but the special effects were good enough that I felt that fear in my stomach. Not a good movie, but it's got some really decent trickery.

C

The Dink (2026)

Dustin, once a promising tennis player, has been disappointing his father since he broke his wrist in a loss to Andy Roddick as a teen. Now he's just stagnating as an instructor at his father's club, getting his kicks from banning people who annoy him. After a wrist injury, his doctor prescribes pickleball as rehabilitation and he can't help but enjoy himself because it's fun. The fact that the sport brings Candace into his orbit is also a benefit.

Though charming for a while, it's just so obvious where things are going that it can't help but peter out by the halfway mark. I think it would've benefited from being unafraid to just lean into the cringe or add a gross-out moment or two but, instead, it's far too mild to ever really pay off. Aaron Chen stands out just doing his Aaron Chen thing.

C+

American Graffiti (1973)

Curt and Steve are scheduled to leave for college tomorrow, but tonight is all about cruising and hanging out one last time. We follow four storylines:

1. Steve and girlfriend Laurie, the very much in-love "it" couple, as they contemplate breaking up to avoid the whole long-distance thing
2. Curt, the promising young man who isn't sure he's ready to leave, despite the fact that he's got a scholarship
3. Terry, the awkward friend who's entrusted with Steve's car, making it actually possible he could score tonight
4. John, the cool guy with the fastest car in town, tricked into driving around all night with someone's kid sister

Mostly, this is all feel-good vibes tied together by a great soundtrack and Wolfman Jack's distinctive voice that can be heard from everyone's car radio.

B

The Apartment (1960)

Though just a cog at his company, C.C. Baxter has stumbled onto a shortcut to the top: allowing executives to use his nearby apartment for extramarital entertaining. The problem is that it's become less of an "allow" situation and more of a "can't refuse" one, making it very difficult for him to get a full night's sleep. The arrangement gets even more inconvenient when Baxter finds one of the women passed out on his bed.

Despite the tawdry set-up, there's a real hopefulness to this. TCM's Mank had a quote from Lemmon saying that Billy Wilder grew a rose in a garbage pail with this one. I couldn't have said it better myself.

A-

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

When Gary and I first got married, we bought of those huge "sit on the floor" console TVs for like $10 at a garage sale. One of the tubes was bad, so everything we watched had a pinkish hue and that's how I originally saw this film. All of the underwater missile scenes were impossible to decipher because it came over as just an unbroken wash of mauve. This viewing was much more interesting!

Great tension in this story about a handful of men in a Russian submarine executing their plan to defect to the United States. They have to hope that the Americans are smart enough to realize this while the Russians (including the bulk of the men on board their own craft) are kept in the dark. They're also having to deal with an on-board saboteur! Luckily, Jack Ryan's figured it all out. Now, will the American brass listen?

Though the special effects look a bit silly now, everything else still works pretty well. I did, however, get a little tired of the repetitive scenes that boiled down to Jack arguing that his gut is telling him they're defecting only to be slapped down by his superiors with the "too risky" argument. 

And wow -- Alec Baldwin was such a pretty young man.

B-

Asteroid City (2023)

A playwright is working on a story about a small town in the desert hosting a kind of nationwide science fair that turns into a quarantine. We get scenes about the writing, the backstage happenings, and the play itself. I was disoriented for quite some time, but then I finally stopped trying to understand what was what and the frustration melted away.

It's your basic Wes Anderson nonsense: visually impressive with prevailing twee.

C+

The Candidate (1972)

Bill McKay, though son of a former governor, has no political ambitions but is hand-picked by a strategist to run for senate. Rather than winning, the goal is to simply shake up the race, giving McKay freedom to be bold. Welp, boldness works a lot better than expected.

The acting is strong and the pseudo-documentary style works, but it's too dated to be anything other than a time capsule at this point. What was probably groundbreaking and audacious when it came out simply cannot retain that now that we're so used to unqualified, unpolished everymen running for office and winning.

C+

Merrily We Roll Along (2025)

A three-way friendship told in reverse: we see the sad end, then the growing apart, eventually working ourselves back to the joyful dependence on each other only to end on the first time the three were ever together. And I simply did not think it worked. I couldn't be devastated by the breakup of a friendship between bitter, angry people I've never met. 

Maybe it could've been saved by some catchy songs, but -- alas -- this has none, which really surprised me since it's Sondheim. I mean, sure, I'll probably always remember the oft-repeated time jump title tune (Nineteen Seventy-Twooooooooo!), but I don't really want to.

C

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Though it's full of over-the-top personalities -- a hypochondriac television writer, an ex-addict flitting from job to job, a happy husband who nonetheless cheats with his wife's sister, boozy, elderly ex-showbiz parents who can't stop recounting their glory days -- it's also grounded in realism. None of these people seem like fictions, just unsatisfied and unsure.

Even though I was frustrated at the messiness of these lives and annoyed with their dissatisfaction, it's still a hopeful film. Yes, it's worth it to pursue happiness because, every once in a while, we catch it.

A-

Thrashin' (1986)

Corey is a meathead who has two things going for him: his physique and his skateboard skillz. His friends -- aka the "Ramp Locals" -- run afoul of the L.A. group "The Daggers" when they come to town to participate in a pool competition and the gnarliest downhill board race THE L.A. MASSACRE. The Daggers take an instant dislike to Corey because he's a threat competition-wise and he's got eyes for Chrissy, who turns out to be the sister of Tommy Hook, leader of The Daggers.

The skating sequences makes this almost watchable. Almost.

D-

Vertical Limit (2000)

I saw this movie within a couple of years of its release and, somehow, I rated it a "B" back then. I'd love to be able to put myself back into the simple mindset of the girl who could like this piece of shit -- she must have had a handle on finding the positive.

Anyway, this is terribly stupid. I think a good 25% of the dialogue is coughing.

D

Against All Odds (1984)

Jeff Bridges plays a footballer who's upset at being released from his contract, but his skeevy buddy has a job for him: track down the girlfriend who left him. Bridges is pretty and when he finds the girlfriend, she's pretty too so they get pretty naked together.

There's some big conspiracy with the team owners and the team lawyers and bookies and shaving points and everyone's involved (including the girlfriend) and people die... just why did it need to be so complicated? We could've stuck with underworld asshole tasks his friend with finding his girlfriend and they fall in love. Instead, it gets all convoluted and lost me completely.

D+

Companion (2025)

Iris is uneasy about the weekend that she and Josh are going to spend with two other couples. Turns out she has good reason to be nervous as she's an AI companion bot who's treated as "less-than" by some of the guests. Although Iris's status is spoiled by the poster, I didn't know anything else about this going in, and that's exactly how this should be watched. 

This was not only surprising, but entertaining as hell. Though I'm not sure how long it's going to live in my memory, I was impressed.

B+

Project Hail Mary (2026)

The storytelling structure is brilliant: the lone survivor of a deep space mission awakes without memories, so we're learning along with him what needs to be done and how he got there. The earth scenes are full of information and tension, but also a lot of collaborative fun. Seeing all of these people from different nations working on a common goal while understanding the gravity and urgency of their task -- that's the stuff.

Less successful, for me, were the actual space scenes. Everything up there felt borderline cartoony and dumbed-down. Sure, I laughed at "fist my bump" and I understand that a cute animated sidekick opens it up to family viewing, but we spent too much time in silly-mode.

C+

The Drama (2026)

Emma and Charlie are about a week out from their wedding when they're swapping "what's the worst thing you've ever done" stories with their friends. Emma's answer sends her maid of honor into a rage and Charlie into a tailspin. 

This really worked for me, mostly because it felt so original. Where do we draw the line? Why do we struggle so much with extending second chances in real life while giving it freely in the abstract to ex-convicts, etc.? But, if nothing else, this works as a screed against big weddings -- so many moving parts and so much expense means that postponing or calling it off becomes nearly impossible.

B+