Joey Magidson
Welcome back to my Home Movies! Today, we have a bit of a top-heavy bonanza. Not only do we have Black Widow and Zola hitting shelves, The Shawshank Redemption gets a 4K release. Today also brings a new entry into the Criterion Collection. Read on for more…
Zola
One of the year’s best films, Zola is a truly wild ride. There’s literally nothing else like it right now. Colman Domingo, Riley Keough (interviewed here), and Taylour Paige shine, while the spirit of the Twitter thread somehow shines through. It’s a masterpiece. This is from my rave review here on the site:
Twitter is a dumpster fire. We’ve all more or less come to that agreement, right? It’s an awful place we still go to out of either a work obligation, morbid curiosity, or a straight up social media addiction. And yet, every so often, something amazing comes out of it. The series of tweets from A’Ziah King is one such example. Now, the film adaptation Zola is another. Using King’s tweets and the Rolling Stone article that followed, what we have here is a ridiculously entertaining road trip dramedy that still presents a scathing social (media) commentary. What we see in this movie isn’t always pretty. In fact, it’s often messy. Sometimes, it’s even downright insane. It’s also quite the statement on where we are in 2021. For all those reasons and more, it’s the class of the cinematic year, so far.
Black Widow
Marvel took too long getting to a Black Widow movie. Luckily, once they got there, the end result was a solid flick. Scarlett Johansson may be mad right now, but this send-off to her character is a very solid MCU outing, even if it was very much late to the game. Here is a bit from my review:
Black Widow feels like a gritty spy thriller, and in some ways, it is. Think a scaled-down version of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and you’d be on the right track. Here, Romanoff again is paired with other characters, though it’s still largely her narrative that’s being depicted. However, as good a character as she is, the supporting ones around her are just as interesting, or even more so. That’s good for the movie, but does somewhat detract from this being her solo flick.
The Shawshank Redemption (4K)
Coming to 4K this week is The Shawshank Redemption, my favorite film of all time. I’m not even going to pitch you this one with any force, since you already know how good it is. This is well worth owning in 4K, plain and simple, so be sure to pick it up!
The Boss Baby: Family Business
Dead Pigs
Eli Roth’s History of Horror: The Complete Second Season (TV)
Mare of Easttown: The Limited Series
Mona Lisa
From The Criterion Collection: “The brilliant breakthrough film by writer-director Neil Jordan journeys into the dark heart of the London underworld to weave a gripping, noir-infused love story. Bob Hoskins received a multitude of honors—including an Oscar nomination—for his touchingly vulnerable, not-so-tough-guy portrayal of George, recently released from prison and hired by a sinister mob boss (Michael Caine) to chauffeur call girl Simone (Cathy Tyson, in a celebrated performance) between high-paying clients. George’s fascination with the elegant, enigmatic Simone leads him on a dangerous quest through the city’s underbelly, where love is a weakness to be exploited and betrayed. Jordan’s colorful dialogue and eye for evocatively surreal details lend a dreamlike sheen to Mona Lisa, an unconventionally romantic tale of damaged people searching for tenderness in an unforgiving world.”
Stay tuned for more next week…
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