Robert Hamer
Well, here we all are. Still in the midst of a site-wide shutdown due to some of the staff writers demanding free healthcare for undocumented commenters. This is all their fault. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Joey has, if anything, been given an extraordinary opportunity to lay off entire sections that contribute to waste, fraud, and abuse. In the meantime, I will continue to post previews of the most notable upcoming releases of the month, unpaid, in the hopes that I’ll get some back pay.
SENTIMENTAL VALUE – In Theaters November 7
Directed by Joachim Trier
Starring Renate Reinsve, with Stellan Skarsgård and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas
What is it about? After the death of their mother, two estranged sisters are forced to confront their distant father, a once-famous but now almost forgotten film director who abandoned the family when the girls were still young.
How am I feelin’ about this one? Pegged as a favorite for the Palme d’Or, director and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Joachim Trier’s highly anticipated follow-up to The Worst Person in the World had to settle for the second-highest award of the Cannes Film Festival, the Grand Prix. That didn’t slow down its broader awards trajectory in any way, though, as the familial dramedy is widely considered a near-surefire lock for Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Lead Actress, and even Best Picture. I personally found The Worst Person in the World a tad overpraised, though I was taken by Renate Reinsve and their reunion here is something I am very much looking forward to.
Another thing I’m looking forward to is seeing a plum role for the incredibly prolific character actor Stellan Skarsgård. He is definitely someone I would call My Kind Of Actor; an everyman-looking kind of guy who rarely takes the spotlight but is always a welcome presence in whatever small supporting role he takes on. This man has been acting in films for over fifty years, and has appeared in his fair share of Oscar-winning films and record-breaking blockbusters… but never a little gold man for himself. Not even a nomination. According to the early reviews and buzz (and some personal news that could, sadly, narrow the window of time for the industry to recognize him), that could change thanks to this film.
I have to admit, though, outside of the cast, I’m not really excited about the movie itself. I just don’t connect with Joachim Trier’s films the way so many others have. His writing feels like a casual layman guessing at the inner lives of writers, recovering addicts, and photographers, and they come off like vague sketches of people to me. I worry that this will evoke the same frustrations, especially since the premise feels a bit forced. For what it’s worth, Joey adored the movie at Telluride, hailing it as “incredibly confident filmmaking” and “nearly flawlessly done.”
CHRISTY – In Theaters November 7
Directed by David Michôd
Starring Sydney Sweeney, with Ben Foster and Merritt Wever
What is it about? A biopic portraying Christy Martin’s rise to becoming America’s most famous woman boxer and surviving an attempt from her own husband to murder her.
How am I feelin’ about this one? This is as good a time as any to just get the obligatory Sydney Sweeney Hot Take™ out of the way and say that the only opinion on her I have ever encountered that’s actually worthwhile was from Kelsey McKinney in a two-year-old article for Defector:
If Sydney Sweeney cannot afford to take six months off, it is a safe assumption to make that no one in Hollywood without family money can. That means that even one of the most famous and in-demand actresses working right now is less secure than every nepotism baby who sauntered into an audition because their dad had been the legal counsel for Warner Bros. or whatever. It’s easy to see how this makes the art those studios produce worse, but also easy to see how it persists. It’s also not a world I want to live in. I don’t want to exist in a place where the people who make the most money off art don’t make it at all; I don’t want to live in a country in which our best actresses can’t afford to take a break and have a baby. I don’t want anyone to have to live like that, as it happens, but even by the standards of this moment that fact seems both cruel and a waste.
Everything she has done in her career can be explained by the fact that she rose from the bottom with no safety net. She came from a white working-class Midwest family with zero connections to the entertainment industry. She strikes brand deals with Armani Beauty, Laneige, Miu Miu, Samsung, Ford, Baskin-Robbins, Cotton On, Guess, and yes, even American Eagle’s “We Must Secure The Existence Of Our People And A Future For Great Jeans” ad campaign because she has to in this environment (side note, isn’t it interesting how some of the same people who passionately defended her just four months ago as an unfairly maligned paragon of Classical Aryan Beauty™ have now turned against her after she wore a risqué dress at a red carpet event?). She sells her bathwater to horny lonely dudes via Dr. Squatch because she can’t fall back on family money the way Margaret Qualley or Dakota Johnson can. So I’m not really in the mood to dunk on her as a “sellout” or “too fame-hungry” because she feels the need to hustle a little more than most of her peers. The problem is not her; it is (as it always has been) with the industry as a whole.
I’m also not in the mood to roll my eyes at any attempt she makes to get people to take her more seriously as an actress, even if it means going the Oscar-baiting “de-glam” route to do so. Because, yeah, this does look like her trying to move away from her sex symbol typecasting into show off a more raw and earthy side of her. She apparently gained quite a bit of weight and took some actual punches for the role of Christy Martin, one of the first women boxers to become a bonafide icon in the sport and who later survived a literal attempt on her life by her now-ex-husband. After seeing the film for himself at TIFF, Joey is convinced Sweeney truly has the juice to be a serious actress, writing that she “has Christy moving completely differently than she normally does, really inhabiting the role. You can’t look away from her. It’s a revelatory and transformative performance, one the Academy may well be paying attention to this season.”
I for one am most interested in seeing how this movie balances boxing genre tropes with personal abuse dynamics, since the story of a literal professional fighter who still finds herself on the receiving end of domestic violence is a stark but necessary reminder that anyone can fall victim to this cycle.
THE RUNNING MAN – In Theaters November 14
Directed by Edgar Wright
Starring Glen Powell, with Josh Brolin and Coleman Domingo
What is it about? A desperate man joins a game show where contestants, allowed to go anywhere in the world, are pursued by “hunters” hired to kill them.
How am I feelin’ about this one? Despite not being a huge fan of Edgar Wright or remakes in general, I actually think movie is a great idea and I’m pretty stoked to see it next week. Why? Because, rather than redoing a classic that was already perfect the first time around, The Running Man is remaking an older movie with a cool concept that didn’t turn out as well as it could have. I really wish Hollywood invested more in remakes that actually have the potential to be a step up from the original films, rather than dump money into doomed remakes with no chance at anything more than a pale shadow of what it’s trying to reinterpret. There’s no way any filmmaker can realistically tackle something like Total Recall more successfully than Paul Verhoeven did, but a better version of Last Action Hero? Or The 6th Day? Yeah, that’s more achievable in my eyes. And here we are, about to see a potentially much better version of The Running Man, and I am all for it.
And I’m sorry if you’re fond of the 1987 Paul Michael Glaser film, but I promise you that your nostalgic love of it comes from the fact that you first saw it when you were at an age when you didn’t have to worry about things like taxes or holding down a job, and you want to return to those simpler times of adolescence. Revisit it again as an adult, and I think you will find that…
… there’s room for improvement here, is all I’m saying. And this looks like it could genuinely be a huge improvement, since it more closely follows the original Stephen King novel and this current era seems to have only vindicated his vision of a future where everyone is “tuned in” to our 24/7 entertainment apparatus that has only become more leveraged on cruelty and grim spectacle taking advantage of people’s financial desperation. This time, the protagonist Ben Richards is played by Joey Award-winning actor Glen Powell, and he finds himself the contestant of a reality show where he has to survive being hunted by assassins for thirty days. If he survives, he wins $1 million billion.
Pretty simple premise that is ripe for a good action-thriller, right? It sure looks like Wright took full advantage of the opportunity, as well, since both trailers promise a thrilling and kinetic experience. Then again, so did the trailers for Baby Driver (which ended up being a bit of a letdown but was a box office success) and Last Night in Soho (which was just outright bad and was a financial flop), but here’s hoping the latest swing from Wright lives up to the marketing this time.
JAY KELLY – In Theaters November 14
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Starring George Clooney, with Adam Sandler and Laura Dern
What is it about? A famous movie actor and his devoted manager embark on a whirlwind and unexpectedly profound journey. Both are forced to confront choices they’ve made, their relationships with loved ones and the legacies they’ll leave behind.
How am I feelin’ about this one? According to Joey, Jay Kelly “may well go down as Noah Baumbach’s masterpiece, as well as some of the fullest work we’ll ever see from Clooney and Sandler.” And I’m going to take his word for it and try my best to go into this movie with an open mind. Because this premise just seems… insufferable to me. Oh noes, an aging rich and famous movie actor is fretting over his “legacy” during a trip around Europe with his manager? What a harrowing premise that I’m sure we can all relate to in this day and age! I’m getting flashbacks to the opening scene in the abominable The Descendants, where George Clooney’s passive-aggressive, condescending protagonist literally yells at the audience for assuming that wealthy Hawaiian land heirs live easier lives than most other people. It also doesn’t help that we’re being inundated with yet more fawning profiles of how this role is some meta-commentary on Clooney’s own star persona (how many of those roles has he played by this point?), even though it seems, by his own admission, this titular character isn’t really much of a reflection of him in real life.
But hey, maybe Noah Baumbach has something up his sleeve and will surprise me. The man who wrote and directed such a brutally honest perspective on divorce and toxic friends, and who has expanded his artistic horizons via successful collaborations with his wife Greta Gerwig, could very well surprise me here. He seems to be aware of the First World Problems-ishness of his premise, and seems to have discovered (along with the script’s co-writer Emily Mortimer) a potentially interesting angle on how to draw a relatable character study out of a literal movie star as its central figure:
An actor is somebody who plays roles for a living and is always sort of not themselves. And he’s a movie star top of that. When we go to the movies, the reason why movie stars are so impactful for us is that they’re so watchable — we want to see them represent us. So, there’s this sort of notion that, if a movie star kind of represents us in all our failings and humanity, what does that mean, exactly?
Okay. I can roll with that. I’m also encouraged by the majority of reviews focusing on the chemistry between Clooney and Sandler, which could be a really interesting pairing to watch, especially in a dramedy that highlights their advanced ages. Another actor who apparently has a plum role here is Billy Crudup, who, according to Joey, really knocks it out of the park in his one scene in this movie. I think that’s just swell, because I find him perpetually underrated and underutilized.
WICKED: FOR GOOD – In Theaters November 21
Directed by Jon M. Chu
Starring Cynthia Erivo, with Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey
What is it about? The second half of what could have easily been one feature film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical.
How am I feelin’ about this one? Wicked was okay. Not amazing, not terrible, but decent enough big-budget frothy spectacle and a worthy winner of the Best Costume Design Oscar. But this could and should have been a single feature. No one who has seen the Broadway production can seriously argue otherwise. Greed and greed alone is the only reason why we got this split into two movies, resulting in an unnecessarily bloated duology.
So, I can’t pretend this is a project I have much excitement for. If you loved the first Wicked, I’m sure you’ll find plenty to enjoy in the concluding chapter. Here’s a funny skit from one of my favorite online comediennes:
HAMNET – In Theaters November 27
Directed by Chloé Zhao
Starring Jessie Buckley, with Paul Mescal and Joe Alwyn
What is it about? The story of Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare, as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son.
How am I feelin’ about this one? Easily one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Hamnet has been heralded as the next great historical romance/tearjerker. Pundits are pegging it as a serious contender for virtually every major Academy Award, especially for Jessie Buckley for Best Lead Actress and Paul Mescal for Best… Supporting Actor. I’m going to keep an open mind on this campaign decision, since the last time I assumed category fraud, sight unseen, I ended up being dead-wrong on a role that had far less screentime than I had been led to believe and on an awards campaign that decisively did not pull one over on Barry Keoghan. My bad! It is entirely possible that The Bard is only a tertiary character in what is actually Agnes’ story.
Joey actually reported that the entire Telluride crowd was reduced to literal sobbing at the screening he attended. More than once. The attendees of the Toronto International Film Festival had to have been just as moved when the movie screened there shortly afterward, since they selected it for their coveted People’s Choice Award. This also made Chloé Zhao the first filmmaker ever to win this award twice. That is a big deal. So there you have it: a movie with a demonstrated track record of wide audience appeal, headlined by two excellent actors and helmed by an accomplished auteur… what could possibly be cause for concern?
Well… okay, this is possibly a nitpicky complaint, but… I struggle to understand how the play Hamlet in any way ties into a mother’s grief over her deceased son. The play is about a lot of things — free will, morality, loyalty, the Oedipus complex, masculine insecurity, Catholicism versus Protestantism, etc… but grief? Mourning the death of a child? I… just don’t see it. Maybe the book this movie is adapted from provides a new interpretation of the play that I never considered before, but I can’t help but worry that we’re about to experience the cinematic equivalent of Taylor Swift’s unfortunate misunderstanding of Ophelia in one of her latest singles.
If you live in New Jersey, Virginia, or New York City, please remember to vote in your local elections tomorrow. And please nominate me for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
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