My Old School (2022)

Brandon Lee was immediately marked out as odd when he enrolled in school as a 16-year-old. He dressed oddly, could explain advanced concepts that his classmates hadn't grasped, and just looked older than everyone else. These differences were explained away by his upbringing: traveling the world with his mother the opera singer meant his education was a more worldly one. Or it could be that this was just his second time at bat.

It's definitely different from anything I've ever seen before: it's a documentary involving the actual classmates and teachers, a good portion is animated, and the main subject delivers his tale in his own words, but with actor Alan Cumming lip syncing them because "Brandon" doesn't want to show his own face. Although I give it props for its offbeat telling, I found the story just weird rather than captivating -- like listening to gossip about people I don't know. I honestly got a little bored.

C+

A Private Life (2025)

Though obviously a successful psychiatrist, Lillian seems to be annoyed with humanity in general and is living a solitary life. Her son (a new father) only gets her attention when she needs something from him, which is also the experience of her ex-husband. After a patient dies from suicide, she learns that the patient's husband holds Lillian responsible and soon becomes convinced that it wasn't suicide.

This plays very much like a thriller, but that's obviously because we're seeing everything through Lillian's eyes. She feels threatened -- paranoid -- and very stuck in the life she's curated for herself. As she investigates the death of this patient, she can't help but re-engage with the world outside of her work and home. When all is said and done, she's still herself, but she's also an upgraded version of that person, no longer stuck. I thought it was brilliant.

A-

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026)

Picks right up where the last one ended. Even though Grace "won" by surviving her wedding night in the first film, she's not free until she does it again. This time, she's dodging representatives from the remaining family dynasties that control the entire world. She's also got her estranged sister by her side and the same bloody wedding dress on her back.

It obviously had a BIGGER BLOODIER mandate which, along with the pampered elites forced to fight, kept things fun. But it also just felt like another trip to the well and that's never gonna be as refreshing as the first time. I also have a quibble with the rules changing: survive 'til dawn and you're free! Oh, unless you actually DO survive, in which case you gotta keep fighting.

C+

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