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-