3.5 stars out of 5
Well, I can’t say the title didn’t give me a heads-up. There is a lot of talking. Do you know that play A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking? Like, multiply that.
The more I read about the true story this is sort of based on, the more I wish this movie was a documentary, or at least “based on a true story.” There is an ultra-conservative, modern-world-shunning Mennonite community in Bolivia where the women were routinely drugged and raped. Holy shit, I want to know more about that.
Instead, this film is based on a novel, “an imagined response to real events.” Well, ok, we do get the basics (shifted to somewhere in the rural U.S., I suppose for relatability) but for me that disconnect created too much distance between reality and fiction, and as the story progressed I didn’t have the visceral reaction I would’ve expected. Or that the real events deserved.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good movie, well-made and well-performed (except Ben “Q” Whishaw, the token nice guy, whose character’s Whishaw-washiness got pretty tiresome). Frances McDormand is not in this nearly as much as the trailer led me to believe. We do get two different Girls With the Dragon Tattoos, Rooney Mara and Claire Foy. And as the women discuss their options — Should they stay or should they go now? Or, should they fight their attackers? — there are compelling topics raised for women in repressive cultures (who I don’t think have HBO Max? Not sure?) and for anyone in an abusive relationship. And different argument archetypes are well-represented: play it safe; let’s compromise; let’s burn it down; thoughts filtered through the young, old, and in-between.
There’s just so much talking.
It feels like a play, mostly in one room, for 104 minutes. When director Sarah Polley cuts away from that room, not enough interesting stuff happens before, wham, we’re back in the room. For more talking. It was in the title.
Movie Review: Women Talking
Aquarium Playlist, 1/24/23
EPISODE #522: PSYCHEDELIA
The Flaming Lips — “What Is the Light?” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Rolling Stones — “We Love You”
Brian Jonestown Massacre — “Anenome”
Wizard Brain — “Lemon Sky”
Sensational Country Blues Wonders — “The Psychedelic Cowboy Song”
interview with Gary Van Miert of the Sensational Country Blues Wonders
Sensational Country Blues Wonders — “There’s a Hole in the Fabric of My Reality”
Melody’s Echo Chamber — “Some Time Alone, Alone”
The Beatles — “Tomorrow Never Knows”
The Monkees — “Porpoise Song”
The Byrds — ”Lady Friend” r.i.p. David Crosby
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 1/17/23
EPISODE #521: LIVE HIGHLIGHTS 2022
The Who — “Happy Jack” [live, ALTERNATE THEME]
The Lemonheads — “Confetti”
Girls on Grass — “Friday Night”
Kiwi Jr. — “Unspeakable Things”
The Exbats — ”Hey New Zealand”
Oneida — “Beat Me to the Punch”
Mercury Rev — “Holes”
Brian Jonestown Massacre — “Wisdom”
Nina Nastasia — “This Is Love”
Sunshine and the Rain — “I Can’t Change” (demo)
Bush Tetras — ”You Don’t Know Me”
Pavement — “Spit on a Stranger”
Jeff Beck — “Dirty Mind” r.i.p.
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: M3GAN
3 stars out of 5
Yes, I’m giving this E, uh I mean 3, stars. Like last year’s Barbarian, the filmmakers here are trying to do something a little different within the horror genre, and I appreciate that. Unfortunately, M3GAN’s filmmakers don’t try very hard. The result is pretty fun and certainly watchable, but ultimately forgettable.
So, we live in world with increasing artificial intelligence, with Alexa, Siri, yadda yadda, and what if toys became sentient and independent thinkers? That would be cool but maybe also kind of dangerous, don’t you think? Eh, let’s not worry about it and just see how it plays out, ok? OK!
Allison Williams, who seemed a lot more compelling on the small screen, is type-A tech wiz Gemma who suddenly becomes guardian of her dead sister’s daughter Cady. She’s not really cut out to be a mom, but maybe this robot doll she’s been working on could help out…. Gemma’s jerky boss gets a whiff of this cool M3GAN project and all he sees are dollar signs! This could be the hottest thing since, I don’t know, imagine a loaf of bread that you didn’t have to just rip hunks off to make sandwiches and stuff! That would be a real-game-changer, right? And M3GAN could be too so let’s rush into production willy-nilly without careful testing or whatever!
Also seemingly rushed into production is young Violet McGraw as Cady, who apparently is only capable of pouting. But not to single her out, because none of the actors here seem particularly good. Nor is the script, which in more talented hands could’ve been a clever cautionary tale about our addiction to smart machines, but instead is just a lazy “what if?” Likewise, the director keeps things moving along but never makes M3GAN truly terrifying. I was hoping for a real over-the-top conclusion but they just stick with light horror paint-by-numbers. And that number is E, dangit!, 3.
Aquarium Playlist, 1/10/23
EPISODE #520: FIRST SONGS ON FIRST ALBUMS
Theme suggested by contest winner Ed Seifert.
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Patti Smith — “Gloria”
The Bongos — “In the Congo”
The Feelies — “The Boy With the Perpetual Nervousness”
Blondie — “X Offender”
The Ramones — “Blitzkrieg Bop”
MC5 — “Ramblin’ Rose” (live)
New York Dolls — “Personality Crisis”
Television — “See No Evil”
Richard Hell & the Voidoids — “Love Comes in Spurts”
Talking Heads — ”Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town”
The Velvet Underground — “Sunday Morning”
The Ambivalent Brothers — “Can’t Talk About It Now”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
My Highly Subjective List of the Best Movies of 2022
It’s getting to be a bit of a drag for those of who like going out to the movies to see quality releases. Forced by finances, art theaters are devoting a chunk of their screens to big dumb Hollywood dreck. And many movies lucky enough to get a big-screen debut are quickly shuttled off to a streaming service. Nonetheless, I was able to cobble together a list of my favorite films from last year.
10) Decision to Leave What begins as a fairly standard detective story/neo-noir from Korean writer/director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) slowly builds and builds — plot-wise, emotionally, psychologically — to the level of a Shakespearean tragedy.
9) White Noise Noah Baumbach does an impressive job adapting Don DeLillo’s beloved satirical novel for the screen. Consumerism, media sensationalism, the medical establishment, and blended families all get skewered in a tale perfect for our pandemic times. Not much plot but lots of fun and smart laughs.
8) The Batman Robert Pattinson — leading a very strong cast — is terrific as tortured soul Bruce Wayne, and the filmmakers choose a wise path by placing the story in a realistic world with actual problems. (Imagine that!) Don’t worry, there’s plenty of cool action too. The result is, in my opinion, the best superhero movie in recent history.
7) Barbarian I don’t know if this is the first AirBnB horror flick, but I like the modern touches here, including a #metoo’d actor, police profiling, and more. Writer/director Zach Creggers takes reliable horror tropes and smartly shakes them up a bit. Cleverly constructed, scary as shit, and occasionally very funny, Barbarian kept me guessing.
6) Crimes of the Future At age 79, David Cronenberg has delivered perhaps his most f’ed up movie ever. Human evolution has sped up, with people growing new organs within and without themselves that have unclear functions. Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux are lovers and performance artists, making spectacle of these mutations for hipster crowds. Viggo is terrifically messed up, and Kristen Stewart is a delight as a government lackey fascinated by his world. Also there’s a cop story in here somewhere.
5) Funny Pages Owen Kline — son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates — has written and directed a self-assured feature debut which is by turns funny, sad, disturbing, and offbeat. And very Jersey. It’s a coming-of-age tale for Robert, ready to leave his comfortable home and high school in Princeton and pursue his gritty underground-comic dreams in Trenton. (WFMU and the Princeton Record Exchange also get nods.) Things don’t go exactly as planned for Robert, and people are strange when you’re a stranger, but it all allows him to grow.
4) Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Paired with co-director/animator Mark Gustafson, del Toro gives us not only the clearly best family film of the year, but one of the overall best as well. Del Toro smartly picks and chooses from different versions of the Pinocchio tale, while also inserting his own twists, notably setting the story in early fascist Italy. (Even a wooden boy understands that Mussolini is a clod and war is for suckers.) The movie is flat-out gorgeous, and the voice talent is top-notch — Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Christoph Waitz, Tilda Swinton, Ron Perlman, and especially Ewan McGregor as a certain charming cricket. But ultimately this is a story of fathers and sons, friendship, and the course of life itself, leading up to an incredibly heart-filled conclusion.
3) Moonage Daydream We perhaps didn’t need yet another David Bowie documentary, but director Brett Morgen found his own road in by focusing on identity — how Bowie thought of himself, and how he presented himself to the wider public. Morgen, with full access to the Bowie archives, follows his through line via incredible concert, interview, and news footage. Sit back and be transported.
2) The Banshees of Inisherin We start out with a funny, ultra-simple tale, with a rural Irish island playing as much of a part of any of the characters. It’s played out by a powerhouse cast: Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as the feuding friends leads, and also Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan. Things eventually take a darker turn (as things have been known to do), and we end up with an exploration of friendship, responsibility to others versus responsibility to ourselves, and nothing of short of the search for meaning in life itself.
1) The Fabelmans Steven Spielberg puts aside the sharks, space aliens, and big easy heart-tugs, and finds magic in his very own American suburban story: a boy growing up wanting to make movies. He tells it all — family strife, bullies, anti-semitism, girls, and that strong allure and safe haven of a camera — with humor, compassion, humility, well-earned insight, and an undeniable mastery of filmmaking. A perfect movie with an absolutely amazing ending.
Honorable mentions: Montana Story, Smile, Jurassic World: Dominion, The Bob’s Burgers Movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Worst movie: I had high hopes for Confess, Fletch — and hopes for Jon Hamm getting a movie series — but I confess that this was boring and too far-fetched.
New releases I saw this year: 32 (including 4 foreign films from 2021 not included in last year’s ratings: the excellent Happening, the very good The Worst Person in the World and Hold Me Tight, and the pretty good The Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy)
My best-of lists from: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017/16, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009
You can check out all my movie reviews by clicking here.
Movie Review: The Whale
3.5 stars out of 5
The film we’ve all been waiting for: Master storyteller Guillermo del Toro presents Pinocchio from the POV of the whale. Wait, this one is Brendan “Mummy” Fraser in a fat suit? Jiminy Crickets!
There was so much advance buzz about Fraser’s comeback performance (I think the last time I saw him was an uncredited role in Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star), that I’d forgotten this was a Darren Aronofsky film. I like Aronofsky a lot! Well, except for The Fountain, which was godawful, and Noah, which was pretty good but unnecessary. So, this was going to be extry good, right?
Um, no. Granted, Fraser does an amazing job and the movie is worth seeing just for that. (Would have been even more impressive if he’d truly put on all that weight — I mean, come on, a young DeNiro would’ve! Body Mass Index be damned!) He gives us the full gamut of emotions and feelings: frustrated, sad, frightened, determined, giving up, stubborn, sweet, optimistic, etc. There is also much physicality to the role and he nails it.
Unfortunately, Fraser is not supported by great material. This is where I felt a little cheated. Aronofsky usually writes the movies that he directs; this time it’s based on a play, with a script by that writer. And yes, it feels very much like a play: It is mostly set in one room (main room of the fat guy’s dingy apartment). Other characters enter and exit. Scene, fade to black, next scene. It just doesn’t seem to be a very good play. Our morbidly obese main character has a devoted friend who is thankfully a nurse (Hong Chau in a solid performance). A missionary comes by (Ty Simpkins not making much impression), and like a wacky neighbor, he keeps dropping in unannounced. Enter the estranged teen daughter (a very good Sadie Sink) who is resentful, nasty, rebellious, hurt. These four characters in search of a theme discuss health and religion and broken families and being honest and it doesn’t really get anywhere. I think I was supposed to well up with tears but I did not.
Fraser deserves an Oscar nomination; the film doesn’t deserve much more. (Will even be runner-up in Most Unpleasant Masturbation Scene of the year, after Funny Pages.) Watch The Whale at home or on a plane. I guess another positive is you’ll likely have small portion sizes at your next couple of meals.
Aquarium Playlist, 1/3/23
EPISODE #519: BEGIN
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Jan & Dean — Happy New Year promos
R.E.M. — “Begin the Begin”
Broadcast — “Before We Begin”
Another Sunny Day — The Very Beginning
Eels — “The Beginning”
Chicago — “Beginnings”
Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey — “Begin Again”
The Royal Arctic Institute — “We Begin on Familiar Ground”
Wilco — “Where Do I Begin”
The Velvet Underground — ”Beginning To See the Light”
The Jam — “Absolute Beginners”
David Bowie — “Absolute Beginners”
Kelley Stoltz — “Everything Begins”
Sir Douglas Quintet — “Beginning of the End”
Even as We Speak — “Begins Goodbye”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Pandemic Cinema, year 3
A chronological list of non-current movies (feature length and short films) that I watched at home during the continuing COVID-19 crisis in 2022. The great majority of them were new to me.
Foxes (1980)
Poultry Pirates (1938)
The Circus (1928)
Metropolitan (1990)
Saboteur (1942)
The Velvet Underground (2021)
The Screwy Truant (1945)
The Swarm (1978)
Wild at Heart (1990)
Vertigo (1958)
The Stork’s Holiday (1943)
The Kid Brother (1927)
Targets (1968)
The Alphabet Murders (1965)
The China Syndrome (1979)
The Last Castle (2001)
Get Yourself a College Girl (1964)
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
10 (1979)
What Price Fleadom (1948)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Night of the Lupus (1972)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
The Hand of God (2021)
One Ham’s Family (1943)
Over the Edge (1979)
Blast of Silence (1961)
In & Out (1997)
The Shooting of Dan McGoo (1945)
Sleepy-Time Squirrel (1954)
Out-Foxed (1949)
Twice in a Lifetime (1985)
Wags to Riches (1949)
Scenes From a Marriage (1974)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Power of the Dog (2021)
CODA (2021)
Star 80 (1983)
Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Scarecrow (1973)
The Three Little Pups (1953)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Viva Knievel! (1977)
A Little Romance (1979)
The Outsiders: The Complete Novel (1983)
Walkabout (1971)
Cactus Flower (1969)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
The Lighthouse (2019)
Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
When the Cat’s Away (1935)
Quai des Orfèvres (1947)
Killer Party (1986)
Paper Moon (1973)
A Patch of Blue (1965)
The Tree Surgeon (1944)
Logan’s Run (1976)
Wee-Willie Wildcat (1953)
The Big Store (1941)
The Trial (1962)
So You Think You’re Not Guilty (1950)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Time Bandits (1981)
The Bear and the Bean (1948)
The Bear That Couldn’t Sleep (1939)
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)
Barney Bear’s “Polar Pest” (1944)
Fatty Joins the Force (1913)
Barney Bear’s Victory Garden (1942)
Night Moves (1975)
Mon Oncle (1958)
Night and the City (1950)
Sheep Wrecked (1958)
Hooper (1978)
Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road (2021)
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
The Pups’ Picnic (1936)
Purple Noon (1960)
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! (1968)
Mama’s New Hat (1939)
The Card Counter (2021)
Officer Pooch (1941)
The Green Ray (1986)
The Strangler (1964)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)
Little Buck Cheeser (1937)
Chungking Express (1994)
The Howling (1981)
Suspicion (1941)
The Little Goldfish (1939)
Barfly (1987)
Little ’Tinker (1948)
Thieves’ Highway (1949)
The Verdict (1982)
Stuck on You (2003)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
The Loveless (1981)
One False Move (1992)
Hit and Run (1957)
The Mad Maestro (1939)
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980)
Breathless (1960)
The Prospecting Bear (1941)
The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)
Two Boobs in a Balloon (1935)
Nut Guilty (1936)
Seal Skinners (1939)
Jerky Turkey (1945)
It Lives Again (1978)
The Haunting (1963)
Mark of the Vampire (1935)
The Calico Dragon (1935)
Ninotchka (1939)
Thunderbirds Are GO (1966)
Peace on Earth (1939)
Captain Kidd’s Kids (1919)
By the Sad Sea Waves (1917)
Garden Gopher (1950)
The Impossible Possum (1954)
Six Men Getting Sick (1967)
The Alphabet (1969)
The Grandmother (1970)
M (1931)
The Field Mouse (1941)
The Amputee (1974)
Premonition Following an Evil Deed (1995)
Burden of Dreams (1982)
Island of Lost Women (1959)
Alligator (1980)
The Last of Sheila (1973)
Abdul the Bulbul Ameer (1941)
Decoy (1946)
Heaven Can Wait (1943)
Bah Wilderness (1943)
All Is Lost (2013)
A Mighty Wind (2003)
The Automat (2021)
Gave up on:
Making Mr. Right (1987)
Pandemic Cinema, year 1
Pandemic Cinema, year 2
Jack Silbert, curator