By: Henry J. Fromage –
This week I checked out an Oscars frontrunner (1 of 2 realistic winners?) and gave my Max account a workout while it’s still here.
783. Hamnet
I wanted to ding this story of love and loss set in William Shakespeare’s family and unexpectedly inspiring his monumental Hamlet at first. The strings definitely show in the storytelling and its earnest attempts to wring some tears out of the audience… and yet, those tears are goddamn undeniable by the end. A lot of that comes down to the absolutely superb performances by Jessie Buckley (really the lead of the film) and Paul Mescal. Two Beers.
784. The Roses
This second pairing of legendary British acting talents isn’t garnering quite the accolades. As a pitch black comedy, it was never going to, but there’s certainly amusement to be had in watching formerly successful architect Benedict Cumberbatch and starting to be extremely successful restauranteur Olivia Colman face off as their marriage crumbles around their insecurities and petty grievances. It’s not going to replace its Danny DeVito-directed forebear, but is worth the watch. Three Beers.
785. Thoughts & Prayers
This absolutely savage satirical documentary doesn’t need to do anything stylistically to make its point about the utter absurdity of our nation’s approach to its gun violence epidemic. By simply presenting straight footage contrasting the cottage industry that has arisen from our government’s willingness to try literally anything but the most obvious solution to this deadly stain and candid interviews with our children who are the ones who need to live in this environment we’ve created, the filmmakers create disturbing comedy that Nathan Fielder or Tim Robinson would envy. A Toast.
786. The Carman Family Deaths
Netflix has been a bit quiet on the true crime front as of late it feels, but this docuseries examines a strange one. When Nathan Carman is rescued after 7 days at sea with no sign of his mother who’d accompanied on the voyage, his behavior elicits suspicions, especially since she was the only one in the way of inheriting a fortune left by a grandfather who also died in suspicious circumstances. Complicating matters is Nathan’s clear autism, which explains a lot of his seemingly dispassionate responses and divides his family as to whether he was capable of what he was accused of. A tragic family story no matter how you cut it. Two Beers.
787. Task
Brad Ingelsby returns to the heavily accented suburban Philadelphia crime show trough after Mare of Easttown with this story of a cobbled together task force of local cops and FBI who are charged with chasing down a group of robbers who are hitting a local biker gang’s drug houses to escalatingly violent results. This is a well-told humanist story about choice and consequence, but also just one hell of an actor’s showcase for the entire cast, both familiar faces and new. Two Beers.
788. Redeeming Love
My wife is a scroller, so she can come up with a very random movie watch ideas indeed. This Netflix-hosted Christian drama set in the old West plays strangely in a few different ways. It’s surprisingly frank about sex and sex work (the heroine is a prostitute who our overconfident farm boy hero is intent on making his wife), and Abigail Cowen sells her psychology and internal dilemmas well. On the other hand, Brit Tom Lewis, who’s clearly doing a Matthew McConaughey impression with his accent, comes off as slightly creepy and controlling as the stolidly moral man who’s determined to love her no matter what. Four Beers.
789. The Lady and the Dale
This intriguing Max documentary series tells the story of Elizabeth Carmichael, the mysterious founder of the Twentieth Century Motor Car Company, which promised to beat Detroit at its own game in the fuel-starved late 70s and sell The Dale, a small tricycle vehicle purported to get 70 miles to the gallon. The world would soon learn there was a lot more to Carmichael, starting with the fact she was born a man. This series makes an interesting attempt at melding commentary on the treatment of Trans people through history, but pick an odd exemplar in this clear fraudster who may have suffered more for her crimes than some, but who was clear career criminal nonetheless. Three Beers.
