Waking Madison

Waking Madison

Annapurna Productions

May 2, 2011

Drama

DVD
D-

Creepy and possibly racist, but I did like the trolleys.  Katherine Brooks wrote and directed.

Don McKay

Don McKay
Image Entertainment
April 24, 2009
Drama
DVD
D+

Apparently this turns much darker after I tuned out, but what I saw was a poor schnook of a janitor going to stay with his ex-girlfriend in a town where everyone is a little bit off.  (Which sounds like a comedy.)  Jake Goldberger wrote and directed.

Battle of the Sexes

Battle of the Sexes
Fox Searchlight
September 2, 2017
Historical Drama, Sports Drama
DVD
B

Although I don't like sports, or sports movies, in general, I do like this one, and not just because tennis is one of the less boring sports.  Stone and Carell do well portraying real figures who changed the way America saw women, and tennis, and women who play tennis.  This is definitely a drama, but the script by Simon Beaufoy is also at times very funny, and not just Carell's shtick as Bobby Riggs.  There are some good supporting performances as well, most notably Natalie Morales as Rosie Casals.  This is additionally of course an LGBTQ movie, with Billie Jean King's sexual awakening handled tastefully.  The '70s music is incorporated smoothly, and I like the sets and costumes.  And yet, I don't love this movie, even on the second viewing (it's one of the few films I saw in the theater in '17), but it is definitely one of the brighter spots in this project so far.

Back to the Future Part II

Back to the Future Part II
Universal
November 22, 1989
Sci-Fi, Comedy
DVD
C-

Robert Zemeckis directed and co-wrote this middle movie of the trilogy, as he did with Parts I and III.  The weird thing is, I pretty clearly remember seeing the first movie in the theater and a few times after, but it feels like I've just seen the second and third movies in pieces on cable, over three decades.  I watched the first quarter hour now and just wasn't drawn in.  The first movie was a little hokey even at the time, but there was something fresh and sweet about it.  This just felt, well, mechanical.  I can see why I could never watch more than a scene or two at a time before.  (And it's entirely possible that I have sat through the whole thing and have blocked it out, as I did for Ferris Bueller years ago, until I watched it all the way through the second time.)