Midweek Movie Free Talk

I just finished watching "Where Is the Friend's House?" by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, and I have to say I absolutely love it. The premise is pretty simple: it's about a kid who accidentally takes a schoolmate's workbook and has to find the schoolmate's house to return it, or else the other kid will get expelled the next day for not doing his homework. And then the kid takes part in the adventure of finding the friend's house.

What struck me the most about the movie is how well it puts you into the kid's shoes, especially in some scenes where he's talking to adults and none of them really listen to him or pay attention. It's a wonderful film; it's a slow burn, but that's a part of what makes the film great. I'll definitely check how other movies by Kiarostami, hoping they're as good as this one.

I watched Fantastic Four: First Steps and was pretty shocked how bland it was. I am not super into comics or comic book movies, but I usually find them more fun and endearing than I had expected before watching. This seemed like worst I had seen since Wonder Woman 84, which I enjoyed for at least beating entertainingly bad. Even Eternals had some nice locations. This one just felt completely lifeless to me, what many might describe as “felt like ai wrote it”.

Since Godzilla Minus 0 was just announced, the first one has definitely been in my mind. And these two movies have really similar plots. I don’t think FF:FS can really be spoiled, but the premise of an unstoppable force is coming how can we deal with it is pretty classic for a reason. Basically any given scene in GM1 gave me more reasons to care about anyone than the entirety of FF:FS. I’m pretty shocked to see how highly rated it is. Thunderbolts felt pretty flat to me too, though. So maybe I’m just jaded.

Golden Globe predictions:

Motion Picture - Drama

1. Hamnet
2. Sinners
3. Sentimental Value
4. Frankenstein
5. Avatar: Fire and Ash
6. It Was Just An Accident

Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

1. One Battle After Another
2. Marty Supreme
3. Wicked: For Good
4. Bugonia
5. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
6. The Testament of Ann Lee

Director

1. Ryan Coolger - Sinners
2. Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another
3. Chloe Zhao - Hamnet
4. Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value
5. Jafar Panahi - It Was Just An Accident
6. Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme

Screenplay

1. One Battle After Another
2. Hamnet
3. Sentimental Value
4. Sinners
5. Marty Supreme
6. Bugonia

Lead Actor - Drama

1. Michael B Jordan - Sinners
2. Wagner Moura - The Secret Agent
3. Dwayne Johnson - The Smashing Machine
4. Joel Edgerton - Train Dream
5. Daniel Day Lewis - Anemone
6. Oscar Isaac - Frankenstein

Lead Actress - Drama

1. Jessie Buckley - Hamnet
2. Renate Rensive - Sentimental Value
3. Jennifer Lawrence - Die, My Love
4. Julia Roberts - After the Hunt
5. Tessa Thompson - Hedda
6. Sydney Sweeney - Christy

Lead Actor - Musical or Comedy

1. Timothee Chalamet - Marty Supreme
2. Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another
3. Jesse Plemons - Bugonia
4. George Clooney - Jay Kelly
5. Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon
6. Daniel Craig - Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Lead Actress - Musical or Comedy

1. Cynthia Eriva - Wicked: For Good
2. Emma Stone - Bugonia
3. Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
4. Chase Infiniti - One Battle After Another
5. Amanda Seyfried - The Testament of Ann Lee
6. Kate Hudson - Song Sung Blue

Supporting Actor

1. Stellan Skarsgard - Sentimental Value
2. Paul Mescal - Hamnet
3. Sean Penn - One Battle After Another
4. Benicio del Toro - One Battle After Another
5. Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein
6. Delory Lindo - Sinners

Supporting Actress

1. Ariana Grande - Wicked: For Good
2. Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another
3. Elle Fanning - Sentimental Value
4. Gwyneth Paltrow - Marty Supreme
5. Regina Hall - One Battle After Another
6. Hailee Steinfeld - Sinners

I watched Honey Don't! tonight and was really into the noir vibe, until about the last 20ish minutes. What the hell was that ending?

The Running Man (2025)

This has received mixed reviews, making it the second time in a row that Wright gets mixed reception after enjoying critical acclaim throughout his career.

This is more in line with Last Night in Soho in terms of tone and style. It’s much more dramatic than you think it would be. It doesn’t have his stylistic trademarks (neither did Soho for the most part). It seems like Baby Driver was the culmination of his hyper active style and he decided to move on from that. I will say, while I enjoyed this film, it feels like any studio filmmaker could have handled it with similar results.

It’s an entertaining film, and the first 30 minutes are especially intense. Powell is great, a very charismatic movie star. The ending is divisive, I don’t really understand why it would be. I liked it.

Wright used to be a film bro thing. Something online film bros championed who only ever had one commercial success (Baby Driver). That’s changed. Which makes sense since it’s been nearly 10 years since that film came out, and the people that are participating in online discussions were not aware of that film’s release and reception. I’ve seen many people on Twitter not understand how acclaimed that film was at the time. He’s decided to make serious movies with social commentary. A less successful Adam McKay in a way. Though I think with a weaker vision. His movies up to Baby Driver had such a distinct feel and construction to them. I think, since Baby Driver was his lifelong passion project, he’s a little unsure of himself now.