If you have the opportunity to watch or if you get the chance to watch the Ruth Wilson-led (Oslo, Showtime’s The Affair) True Things, pay particular attention to the film’s opening and closing scenes. There is considerable symbolism at the two ends, almost leveling us back even after going up and down several peaks and valleys in Harry Wootliff’s (Only You) heavy romantic drama.
Category Archives: Hidden Gems
Emily the Criminal (2022)
One of my life’s little joys is seeing a listing of a previously unheard-of movie playing at one of my local theaters when I’m scanning over showtimes on a Friday as I plan for my weekend. The promotional poster is often enough for me to click and learn more. I’m even more intrigued when there are high critic and audience scores. The promotional poster and the scores encourage me, if nothing else, to watch the trailer. That was what I did with John Patton Ford’s debut feature. It took just 30 seconds before I stopped the trailer. I was convinced. Emily the Criminal was a movie that I needed to see.
Bad Education (2019)
Bad Teacher. An Education. Bad Education. Bad Santa. Like with a human being, one might say there is nothing more personable to a person than their name. However, it can become lost in the weeds when a movie doesn’t have a title that can quickly be associated with it. Furthermore, if the film isn’t memorable and has no recognizable title, it’s likely to get even further caught in the weeds. Such could have been, and likely was to many, Cory Finley’s (Thoroughbreds) Bad Education.
A Hero (2021)
I recently took an annual leave day off from work. The plan was to attend my local independent art-house theater and see a movie that would receive a nomination for some Academy Awards. I watched an early morning showing of Jockey, a quiet, little film in its own right that will be what I review next. Upon leaving, I spotted a poster of A Hero. It was a film I had seen pop in advertisements on some of my other frequently visited movie websites. It had intrigued me, but I knew it was a subtitled (Persian) movie. I need to be in the right mindset, or I’ll get distracted and miss everything. Still, I debated buying a ticket and doing a double feature. But then I saw it was an Amazon Prime movie. I looked up the film on my phone and noticed that the movie was available on Prime starting that day. So, I decided to skip the theater viewing and watch it at home instead. I’m glad I did, but only because the film was a bit longer (127 minutes). I wanted to break it up into a couple of chunks (full transparency, I also took a quick nap between Jockey and A Hero…by the time I started the second movie, I was ready to go).
Palm Springs (2020)
Palm Springs, the Andy Samberg (NBC’s Brooklyn 99, Saturday Night Live) and Cristin Milioti (The Wolf of Wall Street, It Had to Be You) led comedy, was exactly the movie we needed during the summer of 2020. In a year with very few comedies (Borat Subsequent Movie will likely be the most memorable), this was a fun, unique movie that I’m sure would have broken up a dreadful summer. The problem was that theaters were mostly closed when this movie was released.