I miss Movie Night. It’s still happening via Discord but being on the East Coast has its disadvantages, and every Friday one or both Russells are passed out by 10pm. I’m hoping summer gets us back into the swing of things. In the meantime, I’ve been watching movies by my onesies.
What Happens Later – This is a delightful, VERY dialogue-driven romcom with Meg Ryan and David Duchovny. He’s quite cute! They are exes snowed in at an airport overnight. The airport was its own character in a very ‘magical realism’ way. And they’re both over 50, bad hip and all. Meg Ryan executive produced and directed this movie and dedicated it to Nora Ephron. She also wore a very flowy white dress and black boots and maybe I’m not too old to dress like that anymore after all! I wasn’t fond of the vague ending — FINISH THE STORY — but I’ll fill in the blanks myself. I watched it on an airplane, which was very fitting.
The Eras Tour – I think it’s odd that fandom and anti-fandom are so strong now that people have to disclose things like “I don’t hate Taylor Swift, but I’m not a Swiftie.” But here I am, a normal pop-music loving woman who likes some of Taylor’s work but has not had her life changed forever by it. She can write a great lyric though. This concert movie is LONG. Three and a half hours long in fact. Very, very long. The choreography and showmanship were on point even if a lot of her songs sound very similar. I was the biggest fan of the Folklore & Evermore eras. I watched this one while sick with Covid in March and needed bathroom breaks.
This Is Me … Now – Yes, the JLo movie. Another airplane watch. I guess she wanted to do a Lemonade style artsy movie but hoo boy. The “plot” is that she’s a serial romantic and her friends (who are all half her age, none of them look like they have even heard of AARP let alone be eligible to be a member like JLo and I are) are very concerned about her. JLo goes to one-on-one therapy with Fat Joe, and group therapy where everyone breaks into dance. There is also a weird Greek chorus of astrological signs played by celebrities. They comment on what a mess JLo is and how terrible her decisions are yet they are seemingly powerless. The root of her problem is … get ready for it … she didn’t love herself. I feel like you can’t even dream up a movie project like this unless you love yourself very much. Maybe too much. The movie finishes with a Singin’ in the Rain dance sequence with a CGI hummingbird that is beyond description. There is a documentary about the making of this movie that is longer than the movie itself. I did not watch that.
Fargo – No, I never saw this one before. It’s darkly funny, bleakly beautiful, and shockingly violent! I couldn’t help to root for Marge and her very calm, very nice police colleagues as they Aw-shucksly handle a violent crime spree in and around their tiny town. There are startling scenes and and a significant body count but I adored it. I loved the absurdity of The Big Lebowski and am glad I chose another Coen Brothers film. This was also an airplane watch and when the passenger next to me saw me choose Fargo, she selected The Big Lebowski.
On my movie wishlist: The Holdovers, The Fall Guy, Anyone But You
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