Quarantine movie reviews part 2

The Apartment (1960)

I typically have trouble getting into movies made before I was born at all, let alone something from 1960. But wow....this film is just perfect. I've seen it listed often among the all time greats. Jack Lemmon is wonderful. Young Shirley Maclaine is just a doll. It's funny but also sad but also romantic. I never use this term, but it was just enchanting. And it has one of the best endings ever.

American Honey (2016)

When an over 2 and a half hour movie I watch on my phone captivates me the whole way through that's impressive. How has Sasha Lane not been in EVERYTHING since this? 

Lost Girls (2020)

A Netflix movie where Amy Ryan investigates the disappearance of one of her daughters. Thomasin McKenzie from Jojo Rabbit is in it. I wasn't into it.

Holly Slept Over (2020)

A married couple invites the wife's college roommate (Nathalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones) to visit. Then the husband tries to have a threesome. It actually has some funny stuff in it, but it's also tame (they cut away from the threesome....pfff...c'mon be a real sex comedy).

Sergio (2020)

Netflix movie about a UN diplomat during the Iraq war. Nothing in it is that compelling. But Ana de Armas pops up from time to time.

The Night Clerk (2020)

Ana de Armas again. Although Tye Sheridan is the titular lead, who is on the spectrum and toes the line between creepy and harmless. Sheridan burst out with some great performances in films like Mud, then got a little sidetracked with X-Men duty.  But he's back in stride here, in what is overall a pretty dandy little thriller, albeit with a too quick ending. Ana is lovely as a character who is a bit of a fantasy. 

Batman: The Killing Joke (2016)

Once again I just could not get into an animated superhero movie. Fans didn't really like this either though. 

Galveston (2018)

Pretty solid small town crime thriller, with the always excellent Ben Foster and another terrific performance by Elle Fanning. 

Monty Python's The Life of Brian (1979)

Plenty of laughs, but I would put this one a notch or two below something like Holy Grail. 

Meatballs (1979)

Bill Murray's first kinda big movie. He gives this summer camp movie some charm, but it's really not that funny, and it's telling that NOBODY else in this cast went on to do anything. 

Hunt For The Wilderpeople (2016)

Is Taika Waititi seriously one of my favorite directors? This was the one he made before Ragnarok, and it's outstanding. The kid from Deadpool 2 is way better in this. It's a really funny movie  but also heartfelt. 

I Love You, Daddy (2017)

Randomly found this one. This was the Louis CK movie that he stars in and wrote and directed, which got shelved after his, uh, masturbatory preferences became public knowledge. Frankly the movie has plenty of uncomfortable material in it even without the outside stuff. It's clearly Louis trying to do his own version of Woody Allen's Manhattan, right down to the black and white. It's hard to mask the creep factor of John Malkovich and Chloe Moretz hooking up. 

The Aftermath (2019)

So that's how a seemingly Oscar-baity war drama with Keira Knightley not only got released in the spring but also got almost no release on top of it. It's really dull, with a preposterous and poorly written love triangle. Even Keira isn't up to her usual standards here.

The Last Picture Show (1971)

Another older classic that I really liked. This is a slice of life of a small Texas town. Kind of interesting that this was a 1971 movie looking back nostalgically at the 1950s. You get a young Jeff Bridges, young Cybil Shepard(😍), and wow even younger Cloris Leachman could get it (and she did win an Oscar for this). 

Drillbit Taylor (2008)

Pretty lame comedy where Owen Wilson is a deadbeat who gets hired by some kids to protect them from bullies. Wilson is okay, but the kids are just not likeable at all. 

Shakespeare In Love (1998)

So now 22 years later I can officially say that, no, this did not deserve best picture over Saving Private Ryan. But it's a decent movie. Gwyneth is actually solid (and weirdly looks prettier as a fake guy...must be the short hair), and the cast has a lot of highlights. Ben Affleck is funny as a pompous actor.

Support The Girls (2018)

Regina Hall manages a chain restaurant (waitresses including my gal Haley Lu Richardson). I thought this would be a little bit like Waiting but it's nowhere near as comedically driven. It's okay. It's nice seeing Hall in a lead for once. 

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Yeah I'm sorry, I don't get this one. It's just not funny. I liked the music and I liked the car chases. But I don't think I ever laughed. 

Color Out Of Space (2020)

A strange little horror movie starring Nicolas Cage, in  which a meteorite crashes at his farm house and begins to alter his family's DNA. The movie is a little like Annihilation, but not nearly as good. It takes an extremely long time to get going,  but it does pay off with some legit creepy body horror. And Cage gets to let loose in fine fashion. 

Dragged Across Concrete (2019)

A damn solid, harsh cop drama with Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn. It takes its  time at 2 1/2 hours but uses that extra time to give you just that little extra with the characters. And there is a sequence with Jennifer Carpenter that is just rattling. 

Bad Education (2020)

Hugh Jackman as a school superintendent who oversaw a huge embezzlement scheme. It's just okay, but it does feature one of Jackman's better non-Wolverine performances.

Onward (2020)

The first Pixar movie I didn't see in theaters thanks to COVID. It's not one of their best though. It's a passable adventure, but it doesn't have those usual memorable Pixar characters.