5 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 314: Widows (2018) and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and Time Freak (2018) and an Interview With Director Andrew Bowler”

1. You guys are so wrong about Widows. I also had high expectations and the movie fell way short, however, it’s still a very good film.

   The issue with the movie is it’s too short. It had so many ideas that were half-baked and/or executed (which is why I think you guys didn’t like it) and just threw them at the wall. So, if you didn’t get how these ideas were connected then I can see how it seemed boring to you.

   If the movie had more time to fully incorporate these ideas into a plot then it would be an even better movie.

   What I liked about it is that these ideas I’m referencing are original and aren’t ever talked about in movies (they just didn’t flow into the plot well). It also had three great scenes (the heist, rap scene, and the Colin Farrell car scene-one of the best scenes of the year). Also, Daniel Kaluuya will and should win best supporting actor…he was incredible. Anyways, I think you didn’t like it because your expectations were seeking an intense heist popcorn-thriller and instead you got a political/social drama that didn’t have enough time to flesh out all of its ideas.

   Widows – 8/10

   On a completely different note: you should review the film “Thunder Road” directed by Jim Cummings—potential BMOTY.

   Reply ↓

   • Hi Gabe,
     Thanks for your excellent comment. I mostly agree with you in spirit. I think this speaks to the fact that it is better suited as a television series. It does need a lot more room to breathe and develop, so perhaps the Feature-length format isn’t a good fit for such a sprawling story.

     And yes, I’ve been hearing about “Thunder Road.” Adding it to the list!
     Thanks!
     -J

     Reply ↓

2. Yeah, I’m more with Gabe on Widows. I loved it. I was sold by the premise of widows taking over a heist job from their dead husbands, and sure, in one sense it wasn’t really all that much about that… but I was pleasantly surprised and glad for what it was about; local politics and its varied players, the way people deal with grief and loss, betrayal in different forms, taking control of your life, etc. And it had some wonderful dialogue and direction around a lot of that, and a great mix of characters and situations. So really, it’s a similar thing to something like The Village, where it was sold as a horror movie, but really wasn’t. Expecting this to be a crime/genre/heist film would be disappointing, but that isn’t what it is, or at least not mostly.

   And I personally thought the big surprise about halfway through was very well done, and it was unexpected to me. If you saw that coming and it was one of the groaners, well, fine. The only groaner for me involved numbers. I don’t agree with Gabe that Daniel Kaluuya deserves an Oscar nomination, necessarily, but yeah, he is great in this and showed some range compared to other parts I’ve seen him do. Also, I’m with you about snot, but don’t recall seeing that in this one. Anyway, it was a solid 9 for me.

   I’m with you all on Ballad of Buster Scruggs, though. Wonderful. I really liked all of the stories, though 2 and 6 a hair less than the others. I could have watched two hours of Buster Scruggs singing songs and killing people in funny ways. 9.5

   In other news, Blindspotting is pretty incredible. Another 9.5. And have any of you guys watched Marvelous Mrs. Maisel yet?? Best show on TV in a long time, and season 2 is starting in a week or so. Good time to catch up on season 1 (Amazon Prime).

   Reply ↓

3. I forgot to mention Kidding and Escape at Dannemora.

   Escape is a mini-series (6 episodes) on Showtime about an actual prison escape from 2015. I’m glad I remember almost nothing from what I read about the actual events, because this is super riveting. Benicio del Toro and Paul Dano are the escapers, and the way they manipulate a woman who works at the prison (played wonderfully by Patricia Arquette) is super tragic, playing on her loneliness and need and bad decisions. And the series is directed by… Ben Stiller?! Well, who knew. Very well done.

   Kidding was the reason I signed up for Showtime, and wow, did it end up being worth it. I can see this series being divisive, as far as whether people will like it or not. In a broad sense, Jim Carrey’s character is a Mr. Rogers clone, and man, that guy (Mr. Rogers) is not someone who we ever want to think of in a bad way. He’s just the sweetest person ever. Well, in this version, or parallel, or evil twin, or whatever it seems like it is, Carrey’s Mr. Pickles goes off the rails… hard. And damn, is it good. Took me most of the first episode until I was hooked, and I was about to bail on it. But then that episode came together in a strong way, and there were many great moments and episodes thereafter, including a hugely WTF but should have seen it coming season finale.

   Anybody else watching these shows? If not, Showtime might be worth grabbing for you.

   Reply ↓

4. I watched Time Freak early in the month after stumbling upon it and being curious about the plot. The time travel aspect of the film was well done. Regardless of what you’re trying to change, I find just the basic idea of mapping out an entire history of something and going back to various points to “Fix” little problems that ultimately caused the event that you’re trying to reverse. It made each minor mission worth celebrating when it was fixed, but with the idea that the full mission isn’t over yet. There’s even genuinely sweet moment as the main character keeps reversing time just to re-experience a moment with his girlfriend over and over despite the fact that the moment is relatively small.

   Where the movie suffered for me was the characters. Stillman isn’t a likable character, but he also never truly becomes an antagonist or redeems himself. It didn’t help that we never really saw why he cared so much about Debbie. Especially once he begins to manipulate things, he’s not experiencing real moments with her. To me, it felt as if all Stillman cared about Debbie was that she was hot. This was further exacerbated by the fact that Debbie never came across as a likable person. I imagine part of the difficulty with the Debbie character is that the movie is just over an hour and a half, so time is very limited (Kinda ironic given the plot of the film), so whenever we see her, we have to see how things aren’t working with Stillman so that he can fix things. What ended up happening though is that Debbie came across as a total flake who was too self absorbed to put Stillman’s feelings above of her own. There’s one scene involving dinner plans that Debbie comes across as so uncaring that I was left wondering what Stillman could possibly see in her. And yet, I can’t even blame Debbie for anything. Debbie is Debbie. She’s a flawed character who needs to work on her own shit, but Stillman is so obsessed with forcing things to happen and turning her into a perfect girlfriend when there’s zero signs that they should be together. Time Freak could have benefited from having more scenes with Debbie to see why she’s so special. Maybe seeing a few moments where Debbie did something great in the relationship?

   The strongest character in the film for me was Evan. Unlike Stillman and Debbie, he seems to actually grow and improve as a person. It’s still believable by the end as he still has some flaws, but there is growth. Forget Stillman and Debbie, give me a movie from just Evan’s perspective. Even though we don’t get to know his love interest, Blue, much, because she’s never made to look bad, unlike Debbie, it’s a lot easier to understand why Evan begins having stronger desires to go after her.

   I ended up giving Time Freak a 6/10. It’s the sort of movie you throw on Netflix on a lazy day when you just want to watch some randomness.

   I am pretty curious to check out the 2011 short though.

   Reply ↓