Sorry to Bother You (2018)

  Like if Spike Lee and Michael Gondry had a surreal, socially-conscious baby.

Cassius Green (LaKeith Stanfield) needs money desperately so he joins a telemarketing company, only to discover that he has an innate skill at salesmanship.  His rising success puts him at odds with the rest of the workers, who are trying to start a union, and with his girlfriend (Tessa Thompson), an artist and social activist.  The new position opens doors for Cassius and his new client, WorryFree, a mega-corporation run by Steve Lift (Armie Hammer).  He is content to bury his morals under a pile of cash until the true secret of WorryFree is revealed.

The twist in this is not remotely what I thought it was going to be.  It's way more insane.  The incredible cast of Stanfield and Thompson, Steven Yeun, Danny Glover, Terry Crews, and voice acting from David Cross and Patton Oswalt grounds it and keeps it a comedy and not a joke.  

I remember this being very critically acclaimed when it came out and I am happy to say that it lives up to the hype.  It's streaming on Kanopy right now but my library card expired so I watched it on LookMovie2.  

Cat People (1942)

  This is considered a horror movie and I guess it counts, since it does lean into to the supernatural aspect.  But it's not scary.  You could show this to kids and they'd probably be bored.

Oliver (Kent Smith) meets Irena (Simone Simon) at the zoo and begins pursuing her romantically.  They seem made for each other until Irena confesses that she believes she is descended from the Cat People, Serbian witches who were able to shapeshift into panthers if they felt strong emotions like desire, anger, or jealousy.  Out of fear for Oliver's life, Irena refuses to consummate the marriage, so he suggests she visit a psychiatrist, Dr. Judd (Tom Conway), who tells her it's all in her head.  Meanwhile, Oliver confesses his frustrations to his co-worker, Alice (Jane Randolph), who in turn confesses that she's always loved him.  Irena sees them out together and strong emotions are indeed felt.

It has good atmospherics but the sympathies are all wrong.  We're meant to be on Oliver's side as he deals with a mentally ill bride that won't fuck him, and fear for Alice the homewrecker's safety as she is stalked across town.  But in 2026, we are #TeamPanther.  Get his ass, Irena.  It's currently showing on the Criterion Channel with its much trashier (but very fun) 80s remake of the same name.

Educating Rita (1983)

  The rom-com streak continues. 

Susan White (Julie Waters) is a hairdresser looking to better herself. She's not sure what she wants, except More.  So she decides to call herself Rita and begins taking lessons in literature from a Cambridge professor, Dr. Frank Bryant (Michael Caine), a disillusioned alcoholic. 

I was concerned this was going to be a gross Pygmalion story, kind of a modern My Fair Lady, but thankfully, it is not.  Waters is very good as Susan née Rita, channeling the vulnerability and desperation of seeing a life you don't want rolling out in front of you.  Caine is fine.  He's given better and worse performances.  There's a subplot about Bryant's girlfriend cheating on him with his friend that's clearly meant to be funny but comes off as tone-deaf.  The whole thing could have been cut and it would have changed nothing.

This is not available for streaming without a VPN, unfortunately, but it's surprisingly good for it's age so keep an eye out while you're sailing the Bay, matey, yarr.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Happy Father's Day!  Here's a completely unrelated movie.  This is one of my friend Bethany's favorite movies.  It's consistently rated as one of the best comedies ever made but I had never gotten around to watching it until this weekend.

Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) share a car from Chicago to New York and dislike each other immensely.  Over the next twelve years, they continue to run into each other, slowly growing to something approaching friendship.

It was nice to see Carrie Fisher again, even if it was just a supporting role.  I don't think this will ever be my favorite, but I didn't hate it.  The dialogue is still very funny and pretty timeless, which is great.  Obviously, it's a little overshadowed by the death of Rob Reiner but I think that will fade in time.  Crystal and Ryan are believable as characters and have solid platonic chemistry.  Really, the only detriment is that it's so iconic, it felt like a retread because it's been quoted, parodied, and referenced so many times.

This comes up perennially on streaming services but it's currently not on offer.  Keep an eye out though.

The Perils of Pauline (1947)

  Content warning:  small instance of blackface, yellowface, and brownface, general old-timey racism

Pearl White (Betty Hutton) wants to quit her job as a sweatshop seamstress and become an actress.  She impresses Julia Gibbs (Constance Collier) who is an actress with a small, traveling troupe and gets an audition with the troupe leader, Michael Farrington (John Lund).  Farrington thinks Pearl is too much for the stage, that she doesn't have the chops or the temperament to be a truly great dramatic actress.  In a huff, Pearl quits, followed by Julia, who gets a small part in the nascent silent film industry.  But a dick-ish director's prank pisses Pearl off and she storms through several sets, impressing the director with her fearlessness.  Her career takes off as the lead in an action adventure serial, "The Perils of Pauline."

This is a fictionalized account of the real Pearl White, who starred in a 1914 serial of the same name.  And fun fact!  They used several of the original serial's actors in either walk-on or one-line cameos.  Love that. 

Considering that the original serial was remade in 1933 (with a different plot), then had this film made about the making of it in 1947, and then had another remake in 1967, it feels weirdly obscure.  I had never heard of Pearl White or her serials, but now I feel like I should hunt them down if only to know what the fuss was about.

It reminded me a lot of Funny Girl, in that both feature a woman succeeding and a man being a sensitive little bitch about his fragile masculinity but Pauline actually has the leg up since Mike gets over himself by the end.  And despite some very dated choices, this doesn't feel as out-of-touch as it could have.  I think it's because it is also looking back, trying to document a very specific moment in time.  It's a little more melodramatic than I personally like but Hutton is so charismatic, I didn't even mind.  I'm really glad I found this.  It's in the public domain so you can find it a bunch of places, including Wikipedia, but I watched it on Amazon Prime.

The Actress (1953)

  A Spencer Tracy deep cut.

Seventeen-year-old Ruth Gordon Jones (Jean Simmons) has only one desire:  to be an actress like her heroine, Hazel Dawn (Kay Williams).  But Ruth's father (Spencer Tracy) is adamant that she will get a real job, like P.E. teacher, and stop fooling around.

Considering the cast and pedigree of this movie (directed by George Cukor from the memoir of actress Ruth Gordon), it's odd that it seems to have fallen by the wayside.  This was a bitch to find.  It's not streaming on any service and wasn't even available to rent.  I had to go to LookMovie2 to find it.  That being said, the overall feel is maudlin and a little hammy, if I'm honest.  Still, it's worth tracking down for Tracy's performance.  Nobody played gruff-curmudgeon-with-a-heart-of-gold like him.  And it's the debut film of Anthony Perkins.  

Daughters of the Dust (1991)

  Content warning:  reference to sexual assault, reference to mass suicide

In 1902, two cousins from very different lives return to their home, a small island off the coast of Georgia founded by freed slaves.  Viola (Cheryl Lynn Bruce) has brought a photographer (Tommy Hicks) with her to document the departure of the majority of the remaining family to the modern North.  "Yellow" Mary (Barbara-O) has brought her lover, Trula (Trula Hoosier).  The family matriarch, Nana (Cora Lee Day), fears that the old ways will be lost once they lose the connection to the land of their birth.  

It's a multi-generational, multi-character story told in the Gullah dialect of the Atlantic islands of the southern U.S.  The cinematography is lush and dream-like, aided by new-agey/world music synth scoring.  The costumes and details are fantastic.  The plot can be a little hard to follow if you're not really paying attention to who is who, so stay off your phone during this one.

Written and directed by Julie Dash, this is the first feature directed by an African-American woman to receive a theatrical screening in the U.S.  In 1991.  So, I was in 3rd grade before we got a movie by a Black woman on a movie screen.  Cool cool.  Anyway, this is streaming on the Criterion Channel, as it should.