The Rest - February 26, 2023

And this was back when you could smoke on planes.

A quick wrap-up of everything else I watched this week.

Close (2022) - Belgium scored an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature with this story of an intimate friendship torn apart by institutional homophobia. It's powerful, though a little manipulative, with some really great performances from the two young leads.

EO (2022) - Another International Feature nominee. It's like watching Au Hasard Balthazar filtered through Koyaanisqatsi by Terrence Malick. Appropriately, it just premiered on the Criterion Channel. Oh, and it's scary AF. I'm not sure people are talking enough about that.

Flirting with Disaster (1996) - One of David O. Russell's best. A neurotic, slapstick road movie with an impressive cast, led by Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette. If I'd seen this 20 years earlier it would probably be in my Top 10.

How Do You Measure a Year? (2021) - Jay Rosenblatt clearly loves his daughter. And she clearly loves him. But these home movies, in which the documentation's daughter answers the same question every year on her birthday, stressed me out.

Shrinking (2023) - I was going to pass on this Apple TV+ series, but then noticed Brett Goldstein was a co-creator. It's no Ted Lasso, but it is a moving dramedy with some winning performances from Jessica Williams and Harrison Ford. I'll see the season through, at the very least.

Ted Lasso (2020-present) - Prepping for Season 3 (which starts March 15th) by rewatching the first two seasons. What a gift it is! Funny, profound, and it has the biggest heart of any sitcom this side of Joe Pera Talks to You. This is my third time through, and at this point I start crying before the emotional bits even happen.

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) - An anthology movie with a lot of baggage. The Landis segment is impossible to divorce from the on-set tragedy, but is an unpleasant experience for a number of unrelated reasons. Spielberg's is bad, but in an innocent way, and reminded me of Hook. Dante's is gleefully creepy, as expected. But George Miller's version of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet is easily the best part. John Lithgow is doing the best, most sweaty acting and the gremlin is legit terrifying and has that sped-up menace that made the Mad Max movies pop. When my wife got home I made her rewatch it with me. It's one of the best things Miller has ever done.