The Green Knight (2021)

I enjoyed reading about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in college, tho I've been a mite fuzzy on events in the middle. With the general praise for this adaptation, I went to a theater on a whim. Had I known that A24 was involved, I would have been more apprehensive.

An Ent-like horseman (Ralph Ineson) rides up to the Round Table with a challenge: Whoever strikes him gets to keep his nifty axe but has to show up at his Green Chapel a year later for recompense. Gawain (Dev Patel), nephew of King Arthur (Sean Harris), wants to make a name for himself at last, so he decapitates the Green Knight, only to find that such a mystical figure doesn't die that easily. As the rather literal deadline approaches, Gawain heads out for no other reason than a thirst for honor....

The Player (1992)

The main thing I knew going in was that lots of familiar names were attached to it. But only a handful of famous people in the "all-star cast" get important roles; most have walk-ons as themselves, and I'm afraid many of those have not had enduring star power. Regardless, it's also highly rated across sites and boasts a few awards and nominations, so I had better reasons to check it out.

Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) is a Hollywood producer as sleazy as any. One of the writers he brushed off starts sending anonymous, increasingly threatening postcards. He tracks down a likely candidate, David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio), and offers to make it up to him, but Kahane rudely declines, having read that Mill is losing pull, if not his job, to an up-and-comer (Peter Gallagher). With that nerve struck, Mill accidentally kills Kahane. He obscures the evidence, but it doesn't take long for the police to suspect him. And then the postcards continue....

Anchors Aweigh (1945)

All I really knew about this before -- perhaps all anyone today is expected to know about it -- is that it includes a dance sequence involving Gene Kelly and Jerry Mouse of Tom and Jerry fame. That told me it was going to be whimsical, even by old musical standards. If nothing else, that scene promised to be cute.

On shore leave in Hollywood, Clarence (Frank Sinatra) looks to Joe (Kelly) for guidance on courtship. Lessons are interrupted when a cop irregularly strong-arms them into persuading single-digit boy Donald (Dean Stockwell), who wants to join the Navy right away, to return home that night. They accompany him and meet his Aunt Susie (Kathryn Grayson), an aspiring singer who immediately appeals to Clarence but not Joe, who'd rather pursue the local woman he's already dated. Through a series of events that's tricky to summarize, Joe winds up claiming that Clarence can get her an audition with concert pianist José Iturbi (as himself), figuring it's Clarence's best shot. As the two men try to make that claim a reality, their feelings shift....

Black Widow (2021)

While my mom enjoyed Wonder Woman and Black Panther, she was only half-interested in this woman-led superhero feature. If Dad and I had decided to go to the theater instead of using Disney+, she wouldn't have watched. Hey, it has only a marginally better reception than Captain Marvel at present. But I still didn't feel like waiting any longer to see it.

I knew this was a prequel, but I didn't realize that most of the plot took place in the wake of Captain America: Civil War, when Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding from the U.S. government for being among the rebel Avengers. She's not actually the only "Black Widow," just the most public; there's quite an army of thusly dubbed hitwomen trained from childhood under General Dreykov (Ray Winstone). Yelena (Florence Pugh), a Widow who had basically been Natasha's foster sister for a few years, finally makes contact again out of desperation: Dreykov has been controlling the Widows' actions via a chemical compound, but a special gas in a small supply of vials can counteract the effect instantly, completely, and indefinitely. To distribute the gas as needed, Natasha and Yelena will need to learn the location of the base of operations, known as the Red Room, with help from their past ersatz parents, Melina (Rachel Weisz) and Alexei (David Harbour). Of course, they'll be up against a lot of similarly skilled women, including an intimidatingly armored elite whom Wikipedia identifies as Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).

Viridiana (1961)

I had not had great experiences with writer-director Luis Buñuel. I found The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie a confusing mess and The Exterminating Angel too absurd to take seriously. Had I recalled his role in writing part of Johnny Got His Gun, I might have refused to watch anything else of his. But sometimes the fact that a picture was once banned makes it tempting, even to those who respect the church that decried it. Besides, I was curious to see how Buñuel would do with something neither in the realm of fantasy nor full of dreams.

The title character (Silvia Pinal) is preparing to become a nun in Spain. She reluctantly accepts an invitation to visit her estranged wealthy uncle, Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), who may not have much longer to live. Viridiana looks so much like her departed aunt that he hatches a terrible plot to have his way with her. That's as far as the Netflix summary goes, but it doesn't do justice to the second half; if you don't mind possible spoilers, read on.

Luca (2021)

Some folks got the impression that this was a remake of The Little Mermaid. It is a Disney cartoon movie about an adolescent human-fish combo from off a European coast who takes great interest in the surface realm, especially human culture, despite parental insistence that humans are too deadly (and doesn't know what to do with a fork). But that's about where the similarity ends.

The title character (Jacob Tremblay) is not a merperson in the usual sense. He looks more like a cute distant cousin to the Amphibian Man from The Shape of Water, except that any part of him that gets dry (which happens ridiculously fast) looks perfectly human. We don't know a term for his species besides "sea monsters," and since they tend to call humans "land monsters," I'd expect them to use another term for themselves.

Anyway, Luca stops merely daydreaming about the surface after he meets Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), a slightly older sea monster who encourages a more adventurous lifestyle. When Luca's parents (Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan) plan to send him to live with his deep-sea uncle (Sacha Baron Cohen), he and Alberto decide to hide in the fictitious Italian coastal town of Portorosso, where it appears to be the late '50s. They'd love to get their hands on a Vespa motorscooter, and a possible way soon presents itself: win a local junior triathlon. Of course, the swimming segment won't be so easy when there's a longstanding tradition of spearing sea monsters on sight....

Yi Yi (2000)

This title translates literally to "One One," which could imply "One by One" or "One After Another." In English, it has sometimes been marketed as A One and a Two. The only interpretation that makes any sense in context to me is "One After Another," and that's still not very specific. In any case, its consistently high ratings caught my attention.

The story is difficult to summarize, because the Jian family in Taipei has a lot of different things going on. Probably the most central arc involves married NJ meeting married ex-girlfriend Sherry for the first time in ages; she's still sore about his sudden disappearance from her life and wants some form of closure. He also struggles with an ailing company, which assigns him to kiss up to potential client Mr. Ota. NJ's mother-in-law goes into a coma, and the family is advised to talk to her in the hopes of guiding her out, but they tend to feel a lot of stress when they do, not least NJ's wife, Min-Min. NJ's teen daughter, Ting-Ting, feels especially guilty because of the circumstances that may have led to the coma; she copes by making a new friend, Lili, but this also draws her into a messy relationship web. NJ's brother-in-law, A-Di, is newly married and expecting but turns to his ex-girlfriend for support when his financial missteps create a marital rift. Finally, NJ's prepubescent son, Yang-Yang (they sure like repetition), gets picked on by bigger girls, and his unorthodox ways get him on his teacher's bad side.

Summer of Soul (2021)

Another unplanned first for this blog: two documentaries in a row. Of course, this one's entirely different. It's also the first Questlove-directed "jawn," because he's too Philadelphian to use "joint" like Spike Lee.

The Harlem Cultural Festival sure got overshadowed, not least because it conflicted in part with both Woodstock and the Apollo 11 mission. (Marketers called it "Black Woodstock" despite it beginning more than a month sooner.) But that's no reason the footage had to sit in storage for half a century before coming to light. It was still a significant event with a bunch of famous figures, including one band that also performed at Woodstock: Sly and the Family Stone.

Bears (2014)

My gosh. I never reviewed a nature documentary on this blog before. The only one I recall watching after 2007 was obscure and in Spanish, so I opted out of writing about it. Yet I usually enjoy the subgenre when I give it a chance. Maybe I should stock up.

Speaking of stocking up, that's largely the focus herein. A brown bear, whom the makers dub Sky, takes her two new cubs on a long trek across Alaskan wilderness to find enough food to get them all through hibernation. Obstacles include an avalanche, a flood, a tenaciously prowling wolf, and even adult male brown bears who don't have a code against cannibalism. Can the whole family beat 50% odds?