By: Jessica Goddard At the Marriage Story screening I attended, a complimentary packet of tissues was waiting in the cup holder of each seat in the theatre. Quite the statement. So when the movie opens with both leading characters reading the lists of things they like about one another in front of a mediator, you know this will be a wrenching watch.
Marlon Wayans has gone soft, and it’s the best thing that could’ve happened for his film career.
Comedienne Amy Schumer is at her best when she’s in unfamiliar waters and vocalizing about it. By being incredibly observant and quick-witted, she forms a unique and bold perspective that humorously addresses relatable hesitation. This transferable approach is why her film roles have worked for me as well (Trainwreck, Snatched, I Feel Pretty).
Netflix’s sports drama High Flying Bird is exactly the film you expect from Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic). Using the experimental “look” of last year’s underrated Unsane and the foreboding “feel” of Contagion, High Flying Bird gives a fly-on-the-wall perspective of a sports agent (André Holland) as he senses fast-forming cracks in his career during an NBA lockout.
The Fyre Festival looked like it was a party best experienced through social media in the comfort of your own home. Well, it turns out there’s an even better way to relive the chaos of the ill-fated festival: through Chris Smith’s feature-length documentary, Fyre. Netflix subscribers will watch Fyre in disbelief.
Netflix Originals come and go, but the streaming service’s latest festive flick The Christmas Chronicles is a new holiday classic – an entertaining family film that will hold resonance for years to come.
You’ve heard of a movie “spinning its wheels”, but have you seen a movie that is simply “spinning”? That’s what Orson Welles’ recently recovered The Other Side of the Wind makes its audience feel like – it’s an evening on a sociable, abrasive lazy suzy with Hollywood elites admiring each other just as often as they’re jumping at another’s throat.
The Netflix Gods heard my distain for the streaming service’s teen flick hit To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and they’ve gifted me a charming high school comedy titled Sierra Burgess Is a Loser as an apologetic gesture. Call it coincidental timing, I call it wishful thinking.
Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is too slight and trivial even by teen movie standards, but I’m hoping it will make its young viewers talk to each other more. So many misunderstandings and rumours in Sofia Alvarez’s stalled screenplay would’ve been squashed if people had stopped their worrying and had simple conversations with other characters.
Having co-founded Hilarity for Charity with her husband, along with appearing in a handful of comedies (For a Good Time, Call…, Sausage Party), Lauren Miller Rogen flexes her filmmaking muscles in her directorial feature debut Like Father, Netflix’s latest dramedy.