Category: 2010s

Charlene deGuzman is a recovering sex addict with the most hipsteriest wardrobe who is given a place to stay by her sponsor Melissa Leo. At her new home, she strikes up a musical friendship with Leo’s brother John Hawkes. There’s a definite quirky indie vibe about the entire film which can get annoying at times, but I went in it because of the cast and wasn’t disappointed by the performances. I liked seeing the collaboration between deGuzman and Hawkes develop, two completely different characters who learned more about themselves because of the differences.

I somewhat remember the time period when Joaquin Phoenix pretended he had lost his mind and was quitting acting to become a rapper. At the time, it mostly seemed like people were putting up with his shenanigans because that’s what the public is expected to do with celebrities. I had been long intrigued enough to want to see how the film resulting from this farce would turn out and I found it incredibly disappointing and mostly dull. It’s entirely possible every little bit of it was acting, but a bit too much of the underlying tone reads as a couple of dude-bros doing whatever they felt like doing and caring not about the consequences on the people around them. It plays off like an even more mean-spirited version of a Borat film.

With their mothers arrested for drug possession and prostitution, the title characters are left to fend for themselves over a New York City summer. It’s a harrowing look at two youths’ struggle to survive in the inner city with the title directing them towards worse and worse circumstances. Skylan Brooks and Ethan Dizon are incredible as the two young boys and work well together, but the film itself is incredibly bleak even when portraying the perseverance of the duo.

A few years ago, I watched Tree Man a documentary about Christmas tree sellers in New York City (it may have been Tree Man). I’d never before experienced the type of tree lot of the ‘middle of the sidewalk’ variety that seems ubiquitous in the city and I find them fascinating. In this film, Kentucker Audley is a multi-year seasonal worker at one of these lots. That is the film. It is slow and I gave up on it the first time I tried to watch, but I appreciated it more on my next viewing. It almost feels like a documentary, focusing on one lonely man and the fleeting moments as he momentarily steps into people’s lives as they buy their tree for the year and then steps back out maybe to be seen next year but just as likely not.  

This movie really makes me want to finagle an invite to a Nigerian wedding. They look to be a lot of fun and the colors (at least for the ones shown in this film) are incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately for the titular character, it’s also the perfect opportunity for her meddling family to set her up with the ideal Nigerian mate. While she gets to know this perfect man, she also finds herself drawn to another man, one who lets her be herself but is far from her family’s marital hopes. It’s a film that places itself firmly in the romantic comedy category, but as a quality entry with plenty of extra touches that deal with family, culture, and the expectations from the two.  

Newly released from prison, Rafe Spall tries to reconnect with his son only to find complications in the form of Jim Broadbent’s Santa, found sleeping in the family’s shed after crashing his sleigh. It’s a bit dark for a Christmas film, with Santa winding up in jail himself, but also weirdly slapsticky, particularly in various animal-related antics and a parole officer bent on sending Spall back to prison. It’s the type of humor that is firmly intended for a pre-teen audience, making it only a mildly entertaining Christmas diversion for adults that I probably won’t seek out again any year soon.