weekend watchlist: a couple of treasures for Pride Month
Plus a lovable English crank and a put-upon Texan mom. (First published June 18th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
Jim Broadbent
New Town Utopia documentary review: the future that never was
A lovely, melancholy documentary about the planned community of Basildon in England… but really about squandering of postwar optimism with the rise of neoliberalism.
Paddington 2 movie review: wrap yourself up in this bear hug
There is such kindness here, such humanity, such warmth and optimism. This is a fantasy of unique scope and astonishing emotional depth beneath the silliness.
Bridget Jones’s Baby movie review: how to infantilize women
The desperation, the neuroticism, and the idiocy of Bridget Jones continues to be appalling, not appealing. She is not the everywoman she is meant to be.
Big Game movie review: small potatoes
A kid rescues the President. It sounds like a joke movie The Onion might invent to satirize Hollywood preposterousness, but I swear to god, it’s real.
Oscar Nominated Live-Action Shorts (87th Academy Awards) review
Three of the five nominees are about women, and it’s hardly a surprise that their fresh perspective results in stories that are new and original.
Get Santa movie review: Shawshank Christmas
Or, That Time That Santa Went to Prison and Dad Broke Parole to Spring Him. You know, for kids! A new classic in the annals of Yuletide movie misfires.
Paddington movie review: please look in on this movie, thank you
Adorable. So witty and compassionate and bittersweet and just the right little bit of snarky that you will cry tears of joy from the perfection of it.
Le Week-end review: la vie et le bonheur
A marvelous little unpacking of the meaning of happiness, precisely what constitutes it, and how to know whether you’ve found it.
Le Week-end trailer: ah, Paris!
Ah, Jeff Goldblum! Ah, Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan!
