Film

Today we talk about music in the movies! We're joined by Frank Lehman, Associate Professor of Music at Tufts University. He is author of Hollywood Harmony: Musical Wonder and the Sound of Cinema and recent essay, How to Write Music for Rolling Boulders.

This film is one half a plucky coming-of-age story and one half a battle of the sexes musical comedy. This isn't the movie of the year since Barbie was never a part of my childhood but it made me laugh and made me feel like I was part of an inclusive spirited party.

Joy Ride follows in the footsteps of the other female-centered comedies released earlier this year Book Club: The Next Chapter and Polite Society. The actual logistics of travel, wardrobe changes, and flawless hair and makeup are not tethered to reality in this film. But that's not a concern for this film, and its four female stars more than make up for it with their distinct charm and commitment.

The philosophical leanings in Asteroid City are not for everyone. But this remains a fun and endearing comedy to brighten anyone's summer visit to the movie theater.

Summertime means one thing for movie lovers like me. It's the season of sequels. But this season feels depressing and monotonous to me.

Of course this film has jump scares and people dying, but it surprisingly doesn't have too much of that, because it remains focused on the psychological horror of grief and how that grief changes the members of this family.

The Mother follows in the footsteps of past Netflix releases The Grey Man from July of 2022 with Ryan Gosling (First Man, 2018) or Lou from September 2022 with Allison Janney (Bad Education, 2019) in that it's not very interesting, fresh, or exciting.

The production design is grandiose and out of this world, and the special effects makeup is mostly impeccable excluding the surplus of animal heads on upright human-like bodies. But all the good things about this film aren't enough to make it terrific.

Beau is Afraid is largely about difficult emotions and how those emotions stay with a person through different stages of life. It's a contemporary odyssey of what the world looks like through a lens of crippling anxiety, doubt, and panic.

Paint ends up being an example of what happens when you don't make enough decisions in a film's focus, its direction, and its identity. Maybe I just have the "wrong" sense of humor for this one.