No, I Haven’t Finished Heated Rivalry Yet

Heated Rivalry
New release

But I will persist! I’m on ep 4.

Wake Up Dead Man
New release
As disappointing as Mountainhead. The whole exercise was very puzzling: so there’s this church of Catholic zealots in a small town, and no one is gossiping about them? No one is like So what’s the deal with the otherwise normal people who are obsessed with a priest who is Josh Brolin-playing-Jeff Bridges? The fun of the first Knives Out movie was that, though the characters were all stereotypes, their scenes crackled with a dozen little family dramas. Even inside this little cult-of-no personality, I wasn’t convinced that these are people with any real histories with each other, like what does Kerry Washington have to say about Andrew Scott? God forbid I ask for more Jeremy Renner in a movie, but did anyone else take his wife’s side in their divorce? And then Mila Kunis and Jeffrey Wright are there for some reason? And we don’t ever get clarity on why Benoit Blanc even showed up? I did appreciate the moment of Josh O’Connor, recounting the murder, saying “...and then after the homily Monseigneur went into his little secret hiding room AS HE REGULARLY DOES…”

O’Connor was excellent, though, and that’s not even because I am still incapable of watching Challengers in a normal way. His crisis of faith was so tender; the two priests’ warring theologies were a lot more thoughtful and complex than any one of those Jesus Freak-y “faith-based” films. This feels like an overcorrection from Glass Onion, which was downright silly! How does this movie run for two and a half hours with a cast this stacked yet feel like such a drag?

The Pitt S2
Unreleased
Bragging about getting screeners is GAUCHE and LOSERISH, and I will stand on that. But in case you missed it:

Announcement: I'm Co-Hosting HBO Max's Official Pitt Companion Podcast

Ella McKay
New release