Game Night (2018)

  Content warning:  blood

Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) host a weekly game night for their friends while trying to duck their creepy next-door neighbor, Gary (Jesse Plemmons).  Max is extremely competitive but constantly feels like he's in the shadow of his rich brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler).  Brooks hosts a game night, promising a wild time with an incredible prize:  whoever can solve a mystery kidnapping will win Max's dream car.  Then masked men break in and take Brooks.  Max and Annie are determined to win and track Brooks' phone, hoping to get ahead of their friends, only to find that the kidnapping is real and Brooks has been leading a very different life than they thought.

I could tell this was a comedy because I recognized what the characters said were jokes, but at no point did I find this funny.  All the characters were pretty grating, except Rachel McAdams and Sharon Horgan, one because she can do no wrong and the other because she was the only normal one.  I also found the pacing off.  Again, I could tell that the structure of the film was meant to layer the jokes so it was like twist on twist, ramping up while building off the jokes that came previously;  I just didn't think it was funny, so everything got more and more irritating and tiresome.

A misfire for me but maybe not for you, as a lot of people apparently really liked it.  It's currently streaming on HBO Max.

Auntie Mame (1958)

  The OG Vodka Aunt.

Patrick Dennis (Jan Handzlik) is orphaned and sent to live with his eccentric Aunt Mame (Rosalind Russell), who welcomes him with open arms.  She wants Patrick to see and experience all the things the world has to offer but is hampered by the very stringent Mr. Babcock (Fred Clark), executor of Patrick's trust.  Mr. Babcock has strict instructions from the will that Patrick be sent to only approved schools and have only approved associations.  Mame's friends --actors, nudists, writers, musicians-- don't meet this criteria.  Over the vagaries of fortunes, Mame fights to retains custody of her nephew and keep him from being curtailed by a restricted future.

I never realized how much The Birdcage owed to Auntie Mame.  Basically, the entire last act is the same.  Which is not to suggest that both are not great.  They are distinct and each has incredible performances.  It was just when I noticed it, I couldn't stop seeing it.  

Russell is magnetic as the flamboyant Mame, even though I personally prefer the musical.  The costumes and set design are fantastic and practical, as they show the passage of time through the interior design and fashion choices Mame makes.  Message-wise, it's timeless.  Love triumphs over small-mindedness.  Also money.  Money is pretty triumphant in this.  Unfortunately, it's not streaming anywhere so you'll have to either rent or buy but it's absolutely worth the money.

The 400 Blows (1959)

  Content warning:  child abuse

Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) is finding childhood difficult.  His mother (Claire Maurier) neglects and berates him until he catches her having an affair, while his stepfather (Albert Rémy) accuses him of theft but can be boisterously affectionate.  He rebels at school, earning disciplinary action and runs away, living in a friend's (Patrick Auffey) house, and committing petty theft to pay for cigars and magazines.  After being caught trying to return a stolen typewriter (because it wouldn't sell), his parents sign him over to a juvenile detention facility.

This movie is a great argument for birth control.  I wish I had seen it before I watched Capernaum, which was clearly influenced by this film.  According to Wikipedia, this was a semi-autobiographical work for writer and director François Truffaut, which just goes to show that men will create an entirely new movement in cinema rather than go to therapy.  

It is a classic of the French New Wave and has been hailed as one of the greatest films of the century.  I don't know that I'd go that far, but it is an excellent portrayal of childhood without the sentimentality of nostalgia.  Léaud is very young to carry a film this well but successfully manages to play a child pretending to be an adult, if that makes sense.  Like, he seems like a real kid wanting to be older and sophisticated instead of a Child Actor told to act like a Kid.  Watch the movie.  You'll see what I mean.  It's currently streaming on HBO Max, the Criterion Channel, and Kanopy.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (2010)

  Not to be confused with the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes from the same year, although of course that's what the fine people at The Asylum want.  

Monsters are popping up over Victorian England and it's up to Sherlock Holmes (Ben Syder) and his trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson (Gareth David-Lloyd), to solve the case.

In a first for Movie Club, we were not told about the movie in advance.  Instead, we all showed up (metaphorically) and watched this together.  Probably because a lot of us would have refused otherwise.  It's me.  I'm "a lot of us."  It was a very entertaining experience watching it with others, much more than it likely would have been, but I cannot in good conscience recommend this movie.  

If you are familiar with The Asylum then you will know that they exist to make "Mockbusters," capitalizing off using the same or very similar titles for extremely cheap films.  There are a lot of people who love this genre as "so bad it's good" but I am generally not one of them.  If you are, you probably have seen this already.

It reminded me a lot of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes but with worse acting, dialogue, and plot.  The production design was actually not bad, but in no way redeems the film.  It's not the worst movie I've ever seen but it is trying hard to be.  The whole thing is on YouTube.  Watch with friends.

The Green Knight (2021)

  Content warning:  dead animals, some gore

Gawain (Dev Patel) is nephew to the greatest king (Sean Harris) England ever had and is willing to do a lot to impress him.  So when a giant (Ralph Ineson) shows up on Christmas Day and asks who is willing to challenge him in a test of arms, Gawain seizes the chance.  With one blow, he strikes off the giant's head.  The giant laughs, picks his head up, and tells Gawain he has one year to come to the Green Chapel and receive the same treatment.  Trapped by his own moral code, Gawain has to come to terms with his approaching mortality.  A week before Christmas, he sets out on a much stranger adventure than he had planned.

This was visually stunning, which almost makes up for the fact that it is a garbage film.  It doesn't even tell the most famous --okay, second most famous-- Gawain story, the one where he gets his wife.  Instead, they lump in references to Barry Lyndon, of all godforsaken things, and the director's mommy issues.  

It moves like a glacier and has the same ponderousness of purpose.  The cast is great but the director doesn't seem to be able to get out of his own way.  Very disappointing.  It's currently streaming on Tubi, where it frankly belongs.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

  Rewatched this to see if I liked it any better now that some time has passed.  I don't.

Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is thrust into a high-stakes kidnapping because he shares the same name with a millionaire (David Huddleston) whose wife (Tara Reid) has gone missing.  The Dude recruits his idiot friend, Walter (John Goodman), as backup but that only makes things worse.  

I've never understood the hype around this movie.  I don't find it funny, clever, or engaging.  It just does not work for me on any level.  But a lot of people really love it.  I've even seen an entire Lebowski-themed bar in Ireland.  And that's great.  I'm glad there are things out there for people, even if I don't care for them.  

It's currently streaming on Netflix.  I watched it on my server but I'm likely going to delete it.

The Juror (1996)

Mafia Romance BookTok Girlies!  This one is for you (complimentary)! Content warning:  stalking, violence

Annie Laird (Demi Moore) is excited to be on jury duty (that's how you know it's fiction) for the murder trial of mafia don Louie Boffano (Tony Lo Bianco) until she is targeted by the mob's fixer, Vincent (Alec Baldwin).  Jury tampering and witness intimidation aren't enough for him, though, as he becomes fascinated with the pretty single mother.  

I've seen the shit you Dark Romance people read (again, complimentary) and this is ripe for a re-discovery.  Yes, it is a crap 90s legal thriller that John Grisham would turn his nose up at, and yes, it stars mega-creep Alec Baldwin, but on the other hand, if you squint a little, it's almost romantic in a casually toxic way.  Plus, James Gandolfini!  Joseph Gordon-Levitt!  Anne Heche!  Okay, maybe also not great, but still!  And a bunch of dudes you will recognize from other bit Mob parts!  It's streaming on Tubi, the go-to home for all craptacular films.