Nicole Holofcener - Classic or Dud?

Really liked this. Possibly the best Holofcener to date, though let me rewatch Lovely and Amazing and Please Give sometime and get back to me.

Essentially the Idiot Plot put to valuable use: the deception is a plot machination, of course, but I'd argue that it is as much of a result of class embarrassment as it is of new-relationship jitters; Eva's as much in love with the idea of having a richer, cooler, classier friend as she is of the idea of falling in love again, so how can she, now having a friend in common with Joni Mitchell, possibly accept her new friend's leftovers? The performances are all lovely on down to the daughter and her friend, though I got a bit weary of Toni Collette and Ben Falcone's characters pretty quick. Also, when the screen fades to white five minutes towards the end, I was honestly surprised that the movie wasn't over. Surprised, though not necessarily disappointed--I'll take this ending when I like the characters this much.

otm

I thought this was great. I enjoyed how it tweaks the conventions of romantic comedy by realistically portraying how romance looks from middle age but manages to be sweet and funny too. Both leads ooze tons of charm too.

Multiple reliable sources all indicate that her newest is a dud. I’ll probably skip it; its not like I’m looking for another opportunity to be annoyed by Ben Mendelsohn.

A disappointment. I don't get Mendelsohn.

He’s terrible in Rogue One and Ready Player One, the only two things I’ve seen him in. Granted, those aren’t good movies, but reviews of this film tend to single out his performance as a problem (Mendelsohn “plays [his character] like a benign Dr. House,” writes Bill Chambers).

Maybe it’s the Tarrytown location but I kept thinking of the HBO show Divorce, and how Thomas Haden Church would have been an improvement

The film’s ok, though - it’s just nowhere in the league of any of the previous 5. And I don’t understand why it needed to look so ugly.

liked Mendelsohn in Starred Up; maybe he should just play prison dads.

Yeah I think he made a conscious effort to move away from just playing criminals a few years ago but he was good at it!

it's not very good at all, no. numerous problems including Mendelsohn, also why do I give a fuck about these people, also the editing is bad.

She was interviewed on Bullseye last week, and while I thought Jesse was a little too fawning (not the first time), they got into the "unlikeable characters" thing.

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510309/bullseye

maybe I'll give it a listen. it wasn't that they were unlikeable to me, it was more that...it didn't do a good job making me care. you're plopped into a situation with little context. honestly it seemed like maybe there were bit chunks of the screenplay excised. and even what's there...there are just weird transitions, everything seems rushed, like someone edited a lot of pauses out between people talking to crunch it into time.

Holofcener co-wrote Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the Melissa McCarthy film (the director, Marielle Heller, did Diary of a Teenage Girl a few years ago, which I think I liked better than Eighth Grade). I didn't know a thing about Lee Israel going in. Very low-key--a little too much so, I'd say, for such a tabloid story--and I found her buyers were suspiciously easy marks. (It's 1991, mind you, and maybe I've seen those clowns on Pawn Stars too many times--I was waiting for one of Israel's customers to say, "Just let me get my guy down here to take a look at it.") I'm normally immune to the sappiness of scenes like the last one between McCarthy and Richard Grant, but they carried it off well.

I don't think The Land of Steady Habits has ever gotten a screening here.

I quite enjoyed it, one of the more legit American queer films in recent memory.

(Ben Mendehlson is) terrible in Rogue One and Ready Player One, the only two things I’ve seen him in.

I can’t imagine ever watching those, but he’s good to v good in The Year My Voice Broke (1987), The Big Steal, Metal Skin, Idiot Box (all ‘90s) and Animal Kingdom (2010). The only thing I’ve seen him in since was a Statham/Deniro nothingness filmed in Australia - it’s possible he’s lost it, or straight up doesn’t bother in American stuff.

can you ever forgive me was great

I was lukewarm on Can You Ever Forgive Me?, but I think I liked all the films I've seen that she directed herself. (She also did some Six Feet Under episodes.) I've seen the trailer for You Hurt My Feelings a few times, and as such things go, looks promising.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20GWk5cWPBs

New one is legit good, maybe great. Probably her funniest? JLD has some absolutely miraculous reaction shots, and her depressedly eating a cookie on a $10K couch is perfect

and 93 minutes!

As a comedy, I wish this had been funnier--I smiled here and there but only laughed once or twice. (To be fair, people around me were laughing a lot--sometimes howling, which doesn't really help when you're not feeling it yourself.) I liked the more serious side of the film better, and could relate to lots. Jeannie Berlin seems very busy these days.