Popcorn, Etc. | No. 36

Click now to hear my exclusive opinion on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock, the hot take I know everyone has been waiting on

Hello universe!

Love love loving this gorgeous month of April, which has featured snow, sleet, slush, Covid scares, and the demise of Al’s trusty 2002 Ford Focus. Grateful, blessed, etc.

At least when times get tough you can always turn to…movies! Those reliable planes of light, color, and sound that transport us to any climate and reality for at least a few hours (can you tell I’ve spent too many hours on the phone with loan officers and used car dealers? My joie de vivre is MIA.)

I got some nice mail over the last few weeks, here’s one from Alec in Boston:

I appreciated the 'noir-y' parts of The Batman, when the titular man was actually doing some detective work -- loved the scene where he was looking through Zoe Kravitz's contact lenses. Also, a picture of Paul Dano performing as Pierre in BBC's War and Peace is my current desktop background, so his Riddler was an easy sell.

And from Pauline in Chicago:

How delighted was I to see that you had the same experience as I did at Jackass Forever. A movie I thought I'd never want to see but ultimately had the best time watching those idiots be, well, jackasses!

And finally from Ned, who also endorses the new potato chip Reese’s cups:

How bout them potato chips reeses!!!

Yes, Ned!

I love hearing back from you, whether with responses or all new recommendations!

Now, here’s what I’ve been watching:

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We were craving an Oscar™ nominated™ picture™ a few weeks ago, in order to prep for watching the Oscars™, so we headed to the Logan for a matinee of Paul Thomas Anderson’s LICORICE PIZZA. Nothing makes my heart sink faster than realizing we’ve missed the beginning of a movie, which was the case for this inexplicably prompt showing (what, no previews?!), but we rallied and got cozy and enjoyed this latest offering from my dear PTA.

Is it his best? No, definitely not. Is it probably a bit problematic at times? Yes, I think so. Did we enjoy ourselves and feel totally charmed by Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim? Very much. Also have to note that Anderson just makes some visually beautiful movies. He’s a master, whether you like his work or not.

We left and got slices at Pizza Lobo (there may not have been any actual pizza in the movie, but having the word in the title alone is enough to incite a craving). The slices took so long to arrive we got them for free! Cha-ching!

I couldn’t place what movie LICORICE PIZZA reminded me so much of, but Alli nailed it when she named ALMOST FAMOUS, that other charming period picture of a teen dreamer in love.
WATCH IF YOU LIKE: the 70’s, precocity, coming-of-age, nostalgia ultra, flipping through LPs at the record shop
Playing in theaters? I think?

Sammy selected THE ASSASSIN, a 2015 film from Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien. Never seen anything like it! It is a wuxia film, meaning a martial arts movie that specifically deals with fantasies or stories of ancient China (forgive if you already knew this, it is a new term to me!).

Despite being about an assassin on a dangerous assignment, the film is remarkably quiet and meditative. While there are a number of brisk and thrilling martial arts sequences, what stuck with me was the dreamlike nature of each scene, the patience of each shot, and sumptuous yet restrained production design. Very cool and weird movie.

Sammy also sent along this piece from LA Review of Books, in which Victor Fan offers cultural and film history context to the movie’s “nothingness.”
WATCH IF YOU LIKE: having a good think, folk tales, elegant combat
Available to rent on Amazon Prime for a couple bucks

We are both a Todd Haynes household and a Julianne Moore household, so of course I was thrilled to settle in for the duo’s 2002 collaboration, FAR FROM HEAVEN. I had a vague memory of when the movie was in theaters, it had some buzz at the time and what stuck in my head was “Dennis Quaid husband gay.” Which, yep! But also: The movie is a sharp homage to melodrama, complete with painted fall foliage backdrops, stiff and colorful costumes, rich set dressing, gay panic, race panic, and crimes of passion.

Julianne Moore is always excellent, and with Haynes’s direction she strikes perfect, PLEASANTVILLE-ian chords as a housewife whose white eyes are opening to the injustices that surround her. It made me wish that Haynes had made CAROL with some of the same self-consciousness, but alas.
WATCH IF YOU LIKE: Technicolor, soap operas, white women
Available to rent on a bunch of different streamers

BASIC INSTINCT celebrated 30 years of being in the cultural consciousness, so Alli and I sat down with big bowls of pasta to watch this classic, which neither of us had ever seen. Of course, I was familiar with the image of Sharon Stone opening her legs, but that’s about all I knew.

Wooooooweeeeeeeee! Ha! What a movie. Ummmmmmm. Yeah. We had a ton of fun watching it, I would watch it again, but, in a word? I’d describe this movie as INAPPROPRIATE! Do not show your kids, and especially don’t show your parents!!!

Stone stars as a bisexual bombshell crime novelist who is the suspect for a few murders that suspiciously mirror the plots of her books (!). Michael Douglas is a cop who has been on probation because he shot and killed four tourists while high on cocaine (!). He also has a drinking problem and is sleeping with the Internal Affairs psychiatrist assigned to his case (!). Naturally these two hooligans start sleeping together (Douglas’s character describes it as “the fuck of the century”). So, uh, YEAH! I don’t even know what else to say. I turned to Alli and said “HOLY SHIT!” during the very first scene, and I can’t name another time that I’ve done that with such sincerity.

I do have to say that Sharon Stone is really, really, really good.

There’s no way in hell this movie could get made today and I read that even 30 years ago the script was passed around like a hot potato and there were protests at its release. Makes a lot of sense. But. You know. Sometimes you just put your values away and buckle in for a wild ride and that’s okay too.
WATCH IF YOU LIKE: erotic thrillers, Hitchcock blondes, cops, car chases, and climaxes
WATCH IF YOU HATE: women, gay people
Streaming on Hulu, Roku, Amazon, and HBO Max

Al had a Bad Day and insisted we watch CAST AWAY, one of her very favorites (if there’s both a water disaster and romance, it’s safe to say she’ll love it). This is movie is so perfect, Tom Hanks is a treat and a treasure, and the love story is really heartbreaking. A perfect rewatch, but don’t forget your tissues.
WATCH IF YOU LIKE: pure love, scrappiness, water sports
Streaming on something called “Tubi”

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