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Will and Harper (2024) - 5 of 5 Diamond Earrings

This has been on our list to watch since it came out. We finally got to it, and it was even better than I hoped it would be. What a touching look at friendship and stark look at being transgender.

Inside Out 2 (2024) - 5 of 5

As I've documented before, Inside Out represents a genre I deeply enjoy, and this sequel is no exception. I greatly enjoyed the movie and look forward to watching it again.

Fly Me To The Moon (2024) - 3 of 5 Atlas Rockets

I heard the hook of this movie and put off watching it, but I'm glad I did. It was cute and well done. Reminded me of a mixture of The Right Stuff and Wag The Dog.

In & Out (1997) - 3 out of 5 Teacher of the Year Awards

I saw this movie back when it first came out with my dad and sister. He didn't, I don't think, do much research and we went because it was a comedy starring Kevin Klein and Joan Cusack. Little did he know what it was.

It's a cute movie and though it definitely feels dated in its portrayal and handling of homosexuality in a small midwest town, it still made me laugh a number of times.

Red One (2024) - 4 out of 5 Hot Wheels Cars

You get exactly what's on the tin with this one. It's a silly action movie around rescuing J. K. Simmons as Santa Claus. Katie and I went to see it to get out of our cold dark house and it was a very enjoyable time.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024) - 3 out of 5 Bags of Skittles

It was fine as a finale to this movie franchise. It almost took the Fast and Furious journey and reached superhero absurdity, not quite, but almost.

Rebel Ridge (2024) - 2 out of 5 Stars

Rebel Ridge was everything I expected and that is deeply disappointing. The plot was paper thin and convoluted, the action was predictable, and the pay off was weak as hell.

Rez Ball (2024) - 3 of 5 Free Throws

The Chuska Warriors, a Native American high school basketball team from New Mexico, must band together after losing their star player if they want to keep their quest for a state championship alive.

Katie and I watched this the other day. It was enjoyable. I wouldn't call it a "must-see" but it was good and it was a positive portrayal and racism faced living on a reservation.

Inside - 2/5 dead pigeons

Nemo, a high-end art thief, is trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn't go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and ingenuity to survive.

The one-liner on Peacock mentioned described it as an art thief gets trapped in a highrise. I had no idea what I was in for. It's a commentary on modern society and art. Realizing that Dafoe's character's name is Nemo would have tipped me off that this wasn't a heist drama but instead an artistic commentary.

Thoughts on Inside Out

Nine years ago today, I saw Inside Out. After posting my enjoyment of the movie on Facebook, a few friends expressed disinterest over it from the trailer. This was my response:

First thing to know is that the trailer is the most base level of introduction to the movie, it simplifies a complex world and story into a very simple concept. The trailer doesn't even really introduce you to the real main character adequately. Don't judge the movie by the trailer.

The movie weaves the complex story of growing up and learning your emotions into a narrative and world which really resonated with me. It wonderfully simulates and represents the things that go on in our heads.

It's emotionally powerful such that I was left in tears multiple times, once during a scene which was perfectly punctuated by a well timed question from child to parent. But the movie has layers such that kids are entertained while parents are thinking and understanding.

It was just amazingly done.

The Fall Guy (2024) - 4 out of 5 stunts

A very fun and absurd movie. The montage of actual stunt footage over the credits was fantastic.

Civil War (2024) - 3/5 stars

Watched Civil War and overall found it a fine watch but nothing that blew my mind or left me wanting to watch more.

Argylle (2024) - 3/5 Stars

Definitely closer to The Gentlemen absurdity than actual Jason Bourne. As long as you go into it with properly calibrated expectations, you should enjoy it.

Appaloosa (2008) - 2/5 Cowboys

We were looking through Ed Harris' movie credits and ended up watching this movie after The Abyss. It... was something. I guess. Definitely not one I'd recommend.

The Abyss (1989) - 3/5 Stars

I definitely had confused this and Sphere in my head over the years. But it was a fine movie, though the ending definitely left me unsatisfied.

Road House (2024) - 2/5 Stars

Earlier this week the wife and I sat down to watch this movie on Amazon Prime. As ardent lovers of action movies, we expected to enjoy this one. It's definitely meant to be in the Fast & the Furious genre of the modern day, but truthfully we just found much of it dumb and disappointing.

Connor McGregor, as you might imagine, is not exactly destined for the silver screen. The plot has so many problems. And sadly the action scenes were largely just... disappointing.

Satisfied watching it on streaming rather than paying to see it in theaters.

Killers of the Flower Moon (2003) - 4 out of 5

Katie and I finally watched it via AppleTV. Overall I enjoyed it, but it's also not the sort of story I tend to enjoy. It was well crafted and the narrative kept me engaged despite there not being any real mystery to it. I haven't read the book, though it is in my virtual stack of unread ebooks. Honestly, seeing the movie, I am less likely to check out the book - but we'll see.

Secondhand Lions (2003) - 5 out of 5 Lions

I've seen this movie countless times over the years. It's a comfort favorite and I love it for the tall tale nature and the cast. It's just wonderful for what it is.

Rustin (2023) - 5 of 5 Dreams

I quite enjoyed the movie. As I told my wife, this is the sort of movie that leaves me emotionally drained. I'm sad that Bayard Rustin isn't a name I recalled hearing earlier in my life. I will definitely be looking up a biography or another historical book about him and his story.

This film reminds me how I want a series of documentaries, working title, "Just off Screen" - which highlights people like Rustin, who are important players in notable historic movements or moments, but who tend to fall just out of the focus of history's cameras.

I enjoyed this article about the film by Tanisha Ford, a professor at CUNY. It lauds the highlighting of Rustin and also notes some of the overlooked aspects in service to the narrative. Here are that article's two closing paragraphs:

Rustin does not offer any altogether new revelations about the significance of the March on Washington. In fact, it reifies the widely accepted narrative of the march as a triumphant moment for the movement and a transformative moment in US history. It does not zoom out beyond the groups assembled in its two rooms to show the degree to which the march was hotly contested by the more radical, grassroots arm of the movement. For example, Malcolm X referred to the march as the "Farce on Washington." He was critical of the White House's heavy involvement in the planning of the march and the big dollar donations that "Big Six" civil rights leaders such as Wilkins, King, and Whitney Young received from philanthropic foundations to underwrite it.

But the film is triumphant in that it proves that centering the most marginalized, like Bayard Rustin, brings other underappreciated, undercelebrated activists into the national conversation. In the film's closing scene, Bayard Rustin is collecting trash from the National Mall lawn. King has given his now classic "I have a Dream" speech, to rousing applause. Wilkins and the Big Six have brokered an Oval Office meeting with President Kennedy to make him commit to civil rights legislation. And yet Rustin—somewhat by his own choice—does not enter that room. As this scene conveys, his work is, literally, at the grassroots. Thus, by focusing on grassroots organizers, Rustin pays tribute to people such as Anna Arnold Hedgeman, Ella Baker, Joyce and Dorie Ladner, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Cortland Cox, Rachelle Horowitz—many of whom are still alive to receive their flowers.

Trading Places, the original takedown of the 1%

Dirty Harry (1971) - 3 out of 5 .44 Magnum rounds

Watching this, it is very apparent that the movie is over fifty years old. It feels like it from the start and throughout it. Things are said and done which would never fly today. And yet, it was still a good movie.

I Am Not Your Negro (2016) - 5 out of 5 stars

James Baldwin: The story of the Negro in America is the story of America, and it is not a pretty story.

Here is a description of the movie, written by Jwelch5742 on IMDB:

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, "Remember This House." The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished.

I admit struggling to find words for this film, as it is so important to tell stories which I have zero direct experience with. But it is a reminder that a movie which came out seven years ago about an intellectual who died almost forty years ago, and discusses the lives of three great men who died longer ago than that - is still timely and important today.

James Baldwin: Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it has been faced. History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history. If we pretend otherwise, we literally are criminals.

Contact (1997) - 5/5 Stars

The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.

I love this movie. It's truly fantastic and nails the hopeful dream of science, and the headwinds it faces at every step of the way. I apparently hadn't spoken of my love of this movie to Katie before, but I would consider this movie among my top 10 science fiction films of all time, possibly higher.

Of course the movie is based on the book written by Carl Sagan. Sagan didn't live long enough to see the movie, but he worked on the film and reportedly did his best to keep it heavily based in science.