It’s A Wash

We’re most definitely in the thick of fall now, and I say that because Placer County is typically late with the fall weather–as I’ve said before, we generally don’t cool off too much until mid-October–but now we’re getting rain and wind and all that stuff. Coziness…woo hoo!

Naturally, the movies are starting to reflect Award Season pressure, although it’s still a little early for all-stops-pulled Oscar-baiting. There aren’t many flaws I can point to, well, at least not from the theatrical releases, but feeling ambivalent about a movie a week or two after viewing it is probably a bad sign, right?

So yeah, here we go. Click on the images for more information…

Saturday Night

Set in the frantic hour and a half before the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live went on air, Saturday Night consists of tailing Lorne Michaels as he zooms around the backstage, making sure his performers have at least some idea of what will happen once the cameras start rolling. While some of the actors standing in for such well-known personages as Jim Henson are obvious and dead-on, others such as Billy Crystal are pretty blah, as in, they don’t cop clear identities. Other than that, it’s a pretty fun movie.

White Bird

White Bird‘s release was a long time coming, and when I finally got to see it I wasn’t disappointed. It kinda gives off Jakob the Liar vibes in that it’s about two kids who find escape from the tyranny of the Nazis by using their imaginations to take them to various exotic locales, among them Paris and the African tundra. Mostly, though, it asks us to examine what we would do when the chips are down and we have to pick a side. Do we become the oppressors or the oppressed?

Goodrich

When Andy Goodrich finds out that his wife has not only checked herself into rehab for three months but is also leaving him, he’s forced to take stock of his life and take better care of his family. He’s not a bad guy, just absent. A lot happens to Andy in three months, but he surprises everyone with what happens to him. Goodrich is the directorial debut from Hallie Meyers-Shyer, and while it’s got some pacing and story issues, there are some great performances, especially from Michael Keaton as the title character.

The Wild Robot

A beautifully animated tale of a robot who gets delivered to an island, The Wild Robot is a fun family movie that seems unexpected but is completely welcome. Lupita Nyong’o plays the title character, who goes by Roz, and who inadvertantly becomes the parent of an orphaned gosling. She also befriends a fox named Fink, who’s a wee bit cocky and the forest’s resident outcast. If Hollywood made more movies like this instead of the constant stream of reboots, remakes, prequels and sequels, they might be surprised at how much better off they would be.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Christopher Reeve is missed by many, and while this highly anticipated documentary came out last month on Reeve’s birthday, I didn’t review it until October, so it’s still part of the lineup, and it would be tough not to include it, to be honest. It’s an excellent and very personal portrait of Reeve, starting right around the time of his accident and details how he was able to pull through, with lots of interviews from his family and friends. I only had a couple of issues with it, but that hasn’t stopped it from being my favorite film of October.

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Another post is coming up on Monday. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…

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