It was mildly amusing to watch Rebel Wilson in this role--she seemed to be having fun. I appreciated that she and Angourie Rice got to use their Australian accents. Not nearly a classic, not quite a dud, this is middling Netflix content, though I really don't feel a need to watch another American high school prom movie for quite some time. I am looking forward to season 4 of Sex Education, though...
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Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL? 2009
Everything Trump touches dies: Same as it ever was. Decent doc. Enjoyed learning about the colorful owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits, John Bassett. Suffers from the same fault as all ESPN docs: presenting archival TV footage in a zoomed-in, cropped aspect ratio.
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Stand by Me 1986
After watching Apollo 10 1/2 (which I loved), I was in the mood for something else nostalgic, so I watched this. I hadn't seen it since 1987. I have such a distinct memory of my first time watching it, I had never felt a need to re-watch it until tonight. I was 13 when I first watched this--the perfect age to do so, I reckon. I can recall the living room couch where I watched this with my best friend…
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Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood 2022
I loved this so much. Jack Black's narration was perfect. I loved the animation. I loved all the pop culture references. I loved the depiction of family, of childhood, of the suburbs. I loved the archival audio. I loved the depictions of the Apollo missions and NASA. I loved how specific Richard Linklater's memories were. Film of the year for me, maybe the decade. I thought this was phenomenal.
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One Night Stand: Flight of the Conchords 2005
This is on HBO Max, one of many gems on the streamer if you poke around a bit.
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James Acaster: Repertoire 2018
Very clever, and often very funny. You can tell James spent many years perfecting this repertoire. It is a comedy of the mundane, obscure, and idiosyncratic. Even if you're not on James' wavelength (and I mostly am) you have to be impressed with how he creates a narrative that is constantly circling around itself and revealing more and more layers to the story. He's a talented guy.
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Kimi 2022
Kudos to Soderbergh for actually filming in downtown Seattle, rather than making Vancouver stand in for Seattle as is often the case. Liked the scenes which take place on Seattle transit.
As Angela hadn't left her apartment in like a year, did she have a hair stylist come to her apartment? Did she learn to dye and cut her own hair?
Also liked that this takes place in the pandemic reality with characters wearing the requisite masks.
I was kinda…
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Station Eleven 2021
Equal parts ambitious and pretentious, like all great art, I suppose. Matilda Lawler steals the show, in my opinion.
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The Story of Late Night 2021
This is a fascinating story and it is well told here. Loved seeing clips from the Steve Allen and Jack Paar Tonight Shows and learning about the pioneer Faye Emerson, whom I had not heard of before. I've been watching late night stuff since the 80's, so I was familiar with a lot of the rest of the story, but there's a lot of drama in the Letterman/Leno/Conan contretemps, and the clips and talking heads were funny and interesting. I…
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The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow 2014
Certainly inventive, and the scenes with Merlin the wizard transformed into a roll of toilet paper are truly funny. The romance is pretty corny, though, as is the music.