Weekly Watches
It is Saturday, which means it is time for the Weekly Watches! This week was pretty light for me, I have been trying to get back into my regular work/workout/watch routine as well as stuff all those pesky chores like cleaning and cooking and laundry in on the peripherals. After all those vacations and the half marathons, then transitioning into the holidays, it has been chaotic for me. These are the three I managed to sneak in though!
Hustlers (2019): This new release about a group of strippers who struggle alongside other Americans during the 2008 financial crisis was a huge hit this year. Everyone was talking about how surprised they were that a movie about strippers co-starring J. Lo was actually good and also about how surprised they were that J. Lo was good. Honestly, I am not surprised at all! Jennifer Lopez has stage presence, obviously, and she is a New Yorker with attitude—it’s a perfect part for her. As far as the movie is concerned it looked great, I enjoyed the performances, but the story I felt could have been so much more. There is a scene where Constance Wu’s character asks a clearly judgemental Julia Styles what her parents did for a living and where she went to school, and that is a shining moment for me. This movie had the chance to make a true statement about the crisis and the people who are left behind but it went for the flashy, fun, and easier stuff instead. It was still a pretty good movie though, just a bit shy of how good it could have been.
Once (2007): I have talked this one to death. Head on over to the rewatch blog post that I wrote to really understand how I feel about the music drenched love story, and definitely watch it yourself!
Lion (2016): Lion is the story of a boy who is lost in India and later adopted by Australian parents and then in his adulthood searches for the family that he lost. I wrote about this for the moments of yearning blog post. It’s a very good film, albeit, with some slow spots, that showcases the incredible talent of Dev Patel and Sunny Pawar. Normally I am hard on kid actors, but this film got an extra half a star for Sunny, who is absolutely wonderful. You guys should check it out!
That’s all for now. Check-in for a new episode of the podcast on Sunday night/Monday morning and hopefully on Wednesday I’ll have a review/reaction to Marriage Story. Have a good weekend everyone!