September 26, 2023

THE BEASTS - $9.99 Sale / TBD Rental

The Beasts premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and then took Europe by storm, winning 9 Goyas (Spain’s Oscars) including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Denis Ménochet). It won the César Award (French Oscars) for Best Foreign Film. But it arrived in the US on July 28th with little fanfare. Here’s your chance to catch up on one of the best films of the year. Set in the Galician countryside, it follows a French couple settled in a small village seeking to connect with nature, growing and selling their own eco-friendly crops and rehabilitating abandoned properties so they can be reinhabited. Their presence arouses hostility from a few of their neighbors, and things get ugly.

BLUE BEETLE - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental

First…the good. Blue Beetle is to be commended for featuring a Latino family at its core. And lead Xolo Maridueña gives a star-making performance as Jamie Reyes/Blue Beetle. Now…the bad. With a domestic box-office gross of $68M and a worldwide total of $121M, the film is the lowest grossing in the DCEU’s history. This one definitely feels like a victim of superhero fatigue. We’ll see how THE MARVELS and AQUAMAN do later in the year, but the genre definitely feels like it needs a refresh.

DREAMIN’ WILD - $14.99 Sale / TBD Rental

A music biopic that follows the lives of singer-musician brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson, Dreamin’ Wild is directed by producer turned director Bill Pohlad, who previously helmed The Brian Wilson/Beach Boys biopic LOVE & MERCY. Pohlad is the son of late billionaire Carl Pohlad, who owned the Minnesota Twins until his death in 2009. Bill Pohlad has produced such films as BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, THE TREE OF LIFE, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, and WILD, so it’s nice when children of billionaires use their money to make great art! Dreamin’ Wild might not quite be great art, but it got generally positive reviews and has a talented cast. Well worth checking out.

GRAN TURISMO - $24.99 Sale / $19.99 Rental

BASED ON A TRUE STORY!! Sony desperately wanted audiences to know this is not just a video game adaptation. This is your story, video game player! This could have been you! The film tells the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenage Gran Turismo player who became a professional race car driver. Critics were mixed/positive, though most agreed the racing scenes were thrillingly staged. Audiences approved, giving the film an A Cinemascore. But it never really broke out, even with minimal competition in the late summer. Should do very well on PVOD.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 3 - $29.99 Sale / $24.99 Rental

The Big Fat Greek Wedding movies are often ridiculed. Any goodwill leftover from the original 2002 blockbuster has been overwhelmed by eye-rolls and sneering. But here’s the thing. We need ‘take my mom to the movies’ movies. Moms don’t want superhero movies or killer nuns. They want to see Nia Vardalos bring her family to Greece and confront the refugee crisis (that’s what this movie is about, right?). But seriously, we need more mom movies, not less.

September 27, 2023

THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR - Netflix

Wes Anderson’s second film of the year is actually a series of short films. Adapted from the stories of Roald Dahl, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar will be released Wednesday, followed by THE SWAN on Thursday, THE RATCATCHER on Friday, and POISON on Saturday. So much Wes Anderson! We’re excited to see how the director handles the source material, as it seems like a very good fit. Reviews out of Venice, where the film world premiered, were glowing. Could Anderson get some Oscar traction in the shorts category?

September 29, 2023

FLORA AND SON - Apple TV+

A new John Carney film is always cause for celebration. His last film, SING STREET, is one of the most underrated films of the 2010s. Seriously…if you haven’t seen Sing Street, make it a priority. It’s fantastic. Flora and Son may not reach the heights of his previous work, but it sounds like Carney continues his streak of winning music-themed stories. Starring Eve Hewson (daughter of U2’s Bono!), Jack Reynor, Orén Kinlan and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the songs in the film reportedly produced a "spontaneous clap-a-long and rapturous standing ovation" during its first screening at Sundance this year.

MEG 2: THE TRENCH - Max

A success at the worldwide box-office, Meg 2: The Trench was a letdown quality-wise. Here’s the thing…we get it. You can’t use real sharks in these movies. But the sharks in the Meg movies (and really, all shark movies nowadays) just feel cartoonish. There’s nothing scary about something you know is not there. JAWS famously withheld showing the shark until later in the film. But when you saw it…it was scary. It felt tactile. Does it look 100% real? No. But it looks like it’s there, because it is! We want scary shark movies, but we are in a shark movie crisis.

REPTILE - Netflix

The EXCESS BAGGAGE reunion we were all clamoring for, Reptile adds Justin Timberlake to that potent pairing. The film premiered earlier this month at the Toronto Film Festival, and unfortunately, it did not go over very well. It currently has a 51 Metacritic score. Not encouraging, but we’ll still give it a shot. Benecio del Toro is always interesting, and we’ll be rooting for Alicia Silverstone no matter how many comebacks she attempts. Still…a Netflix movie shot in Georgia…blah.

SISU - Starz

Something that’s definitely not blah is Sisu. Sisu is a Finnish concept described as stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience and hardiness. It is held by Finns to express their national character. Sisu the movie, released in the spring, is a gory action thriller that is bound to have a cult following for years to come. Set in Finnish Lapland during World War II, the film follows a former legendary Finnish commando and gold prospector who attempts to secure his gold and defend himself from a German death squad led by a brutal SS officer. If that sounds like your thing…this movie is definitely your thing.

Happy Streaming Everyone!

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