The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

When this came out, I figured I'd see it on my 40th birthday. I jumped the gun by two days, because a friend and I were perusing HBO Max, which puts numbers first in otherwise alphabetical lists. I wasn't big on the world of Judd Apatow, but it seemed appropriate. Besides, I tend to find comedies more enjoyable with company.

In chatting about their sex lives, three electronics store clerks (Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, and Romany Malco) see through a weak lie by stock supervisor Andy (Steve Carell) and correctly infer that he's, well, the title character. They then throw everything they have into changing his status, whether he likes it or not. Fortunately, he develops an interest in nearby vendor Trish (Catherine Keener), who has her eye on him too. But she's no virgin, and he's having trouble mustering the nerve to tell her he is.

The Adam Project (2022)

Having nothing to do with Adam, this brand-new release didn't tempt me until a friend and I were perusing our Netflix options. He's big on time travel stories (so I've recommended Time Bandits to him), and I hadn't seen one in more than a year. Plus, this one has several Marvel movie alumni.

Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds), son of accidental time travel inventor Louis (Mark Ruffalo), attempts to fly a time jet from 2050 to 2018, the last known time point for his wife, Laura (Zoe Saldana). The tyrannical Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) forbids him, and a gunshot from her right-hand man (Alex Mallari, Jr.) forces Adam to stop in 2022, too injured to fly unassisted for a while. There he meets his 12-year-old self (Walker Scobell), whom he reluctantly needs to reactivate his jet. Their mission becomes bigger than rescuing one woman: As the trailer reveals, they may see fit to use time travel to prevent its own invention.

Incredibles 2 (2018)

I always liked The Incredibles, even before I developed a major interest in the superhero subgenre. At the same time, I've never been sure how to rank it among Pixar flicks. It was more mature than previous entries, clearly earning its PG for better and worse. Before long, I understood that it owed a lot to both the Fantastic Four and Watchmen, also for better and worse. I had trouble buying and being patient with some of the character actions. But nothing else from Pixar had me more interested in a sequel (at least until Inside Out), even if we had to wait even longer than we did for Finding Dory.

Viewers who wanted to see the Parrs/Incredibles years down the line may be disappointed that the action in I2 picks up where TI left off and the ending might be less than a week later. Matters had been even less resolved than I remembered: While the family has reached an agreement to keep using their innate powers for good, they still lack the legal right. And good overall PR. And a house. Early herein, things start looking up for them when hero-worshiping billionaire Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) offers them a spare house and a sponsored mission, involving hi-tech equipment from his sister, Evelyn (Catherine Keener), that might just change public opinion on supers. Unfortunately for Bob/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), his tendency toward collateral damage has cost him a favored spot in the mission, so for now, only Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) gets to do fieldwork; he'll have to make do as a househusband. But she might be in over her head when the Screenslaver, who specializes in hacking and mesmerism, singles her out for challenges in protecting the city.

Get Out (2017)

This may be the first horror movie of my lifetime that my parents saw before I did. Friends had recommended it to them, and they recommended it to me. They also thought I should expect a wait on it from Netflix, which is why I put it at the top of my queue for October, but it came on time. Truth be told, I had held off on it not just because it wasn't the right month for my horror viewing but because it sounded very iffy for my taste.

The main auteur is Jordan Peele of Key & Peele fame, so I rightly suspected a racial focus. Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) goes to meet the parents (Katherine Keener and Bradley Whitford, who looks nothing like Josh Lyman anymore) of his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), who assures him they'd have nothing against her dating a Black man. Ooh, but there'd been some inadequate communication: This is the day of an annual family/friend reunion, so he'll meet far more than them. He's not exactly surprised at a lot of the awkwardness from people who try to be polite yet don't seem to know any Blacks personally besides servants, but things start to seem worryingly awry, especially the Stepford-like behavior of the few other Blacks around....

Begin Again (2014)

Movies about fictitious musicians are a pretty big gamble for me. While biopics offer some true info if nothing else, the fiction pics don't even guarantee a single hit song. Their plots don't have a lot of variety, and some have little in the way of progression. As popular as Once was, I found it dull; as popular as Inside Llewyn Davis was, I found it numbing (and not in the Pink Floyd comfortable way).

BA, from the same director as Once, gets off to an unpromising start. Gretta's (Keira Knightley) opening song has a fine tune and lyrics but a lackluster presentation. Then we have a couple time jumps for background, which I failed to recognize as such until they made their way to the first scene. Gretta lags behind her partner-boyfriend in success and then breaks up with him in both senses. Meanwhile, drunk, divorced, deadbeat studio exec Dan (Mark Ruffalo in perhaps his least attractive role) gives teen Violet (Hailee Steinfeld) far more reason than usual to feel embarrassed by her father.

Fortunately, this is not a story about people going nowhere except maybe downward.