Movies I saw in May: In The Grey, Wrath of Man, The Apartment

DVD cover of “The Apartment.”

The movies I saw in May continued a distressing trend: The ones I catch in the theater are now often the ones I like the least. By a lot.

In April the dud was “Normal,” and in May the stinker was “In the Grey,” a confusingly bad offering by Guy Ritchie, who I know can do much better.

In The Grey (In the theater). Grade: D-

For all the talking this movie did explaining the small amount of action that eventually did take place, I really shouldn’t have been confused about the point of it all, but I was:

Me: So, the mission everyone was preparing for that we barely saw any of was essentially just dropping a woman into danger so you could pluck her out again?

ITG: Yes.

Me: But why does the beautiful lawyer have to meet in person with these super rich bad guys she represents — can’t they just Zoom?

ITG: No, then we wouldn’t need to rescue her.

Me: And why do I care if you rescue her? Because she’s gorgeous?

ITG: No, she also wears gorgeous outfits. Look, she’s in a red one now!

But even more frustrating than the boring and pointless meal this movie offered was the satisfying sip of brandy we got at the very end that should have been the main course: Jake Gyllenhaal and his work husband, played by Henry Cavill, operating as a very-skilled tag team of kidnappers/extraction experts.

Much more of those two, even just arguing about what music to play as they drove to their next gig, would not only have been fun, it would have made me care what happened to all those super-skilled people playing with super-expensive weapons. Instead, I found the whole thing kind of a waste of time, both theirs and mine.

Unless, of course, this was all a set-up for a sequel starring Gyllenhaal and Cavill as the “Ambiguously Gay Assassins?” Please, Mr. Ritchie, make it so! Just maybe hire Robert Smigel to write their dialogue.

Wrath of Man (YouTubeTV) Grade: C.

To remind ourselves that Guy Ritchie could make a decent movie, my husband and I decided to watch an earlier offering called “Wrath of Man.”

But while this movie was definitely better than both “In The Grey” and Jason 

Statham’s more recent “A Working Man,” it was really just a much less compelling version of “Den of Thieves,” which unfortunately keeps hopping off Netflix. So next time it appears, watch that instead.

 

The Apartment (On DVD from the library). Grade: B-.

I rented this movie thinking I was in for a bit of light, old-fashioned, romantic comedy. And while it did give me a couple of laughs, I found it mostly an unsettling mix of Mad Men and American Psycho, somehow feeling even more sexist than the television show, and almost as depraved as the horror movie. 

And while I will grudgingly admit that the romance was ultimately satisfying and certainly more realistic than how most movie couples fall in love, it was jarring to watch the sad turn it takes, though we are warned of what’s to come with the movie’s best line: Shirley MacLaine’s Fran declaring that she uses a compact with a broken mirror because it “makes me look the way I feel.”

Still, all the darkness is brightened a bit by a perfectly marvelous scene where Jack Lemmon prepares spaghetti with a tennis racket, and by some hilarious work by Hope Holiday, whose frustrated wife cries my new favorite phrase: “Some sexpot you are!”

Interesting fact: Previous audiences gave this movie much better grades than I did, because in 1960 it took home Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay, making Billy Wilder the first person to win all three of those Academy Awards. 

Finally, as for movie reviews from my grandmother this month, she was so often traveling in May to her favorite city of Paris that I couldn’t find many to offer, but on May 31 in 1997, she went to see “The Fifth Element,” describing it simply as “Crazy SiFi. Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman. Set in 2314.”

Movies I saw in April: Apex, Normal, Over Your Dead Body. 

Movies I saw in April: Normal, Apex, Over Your Dead Body

The movies I saw in April were full of violence: violence between spouses, violence between a woman and her captor, and, in my least favorite of the four, violence that takes over an entire town:

Normal (In the theater, 4/18/2026) Grade: D.

I like Bob Odenkirk so much, I could watch him eat oatmeal. And I bet I would enjoy that more than this movie, which I only gave a passing grade because of a squeaky leather jacket and my never wanting to give Odenkirk an “F.”

So instead of bothering with this movie, I would suggest you watch another dark and violent crime drama set in snowy Minnesota called “Fargo,” because that story at least has a thick coat of quirkiness, and a warm, beating heart hiding under all the violence.

Apex (Netflix, 4/25/2026) Grade: B-.

I like Charlize Theron, and would have enjoyed a lot more of her just eating noodles at her beautiful campsite, and a lot less of her fighting with and fleeing from a seriously warped human.

And while I certainly appreciate that the movie did not make our heroine a damsel in distress,  I did bristle at the notion that the bad guy had to be super depraved to scare us. Because for most women alone in the wilderness, any man she encounters can be a threat: Statistically bigger, stronger, faster and more likely to know basic fighting moves, most men can terrify most women by their mere presence.

But even more offensive to me was all the CGI. The beginning of the movie reminded me of the documentary The Dawn Wall, which centers on two climbers trying to scale El Capitan, spending days and days in a tent perched precariously on a rock face because one of the men can’t complete a difficult section, and the other refuses to leave his partner behind.

The documentary is a compelling story beautifully shot, and I can’t help but feel sadness for the incredibly skilled people we forget about in those movies: The ones also on the mountain filming. 

Much like how Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and wearing heels, the camera operators are also climbing, plus wrangling heavy equipment while constantly angling for compelling scenes and framing. But now their hard-won skills are quickly being replaced by technology that can supposedly generate scenery that is just as jaw-dropping.

But not to me; I can’t be awed if I can tell a computer created it, especially not when I feel more and more each day that artificial intelligence will be the Apex predator for humans. And our captor didn't even need to drag us to its cave for dinner; no, this one we invited into our cave, letting it quietly nibble away at anything it wants until we realize far too late that even if we could still escape to the outside world again, we will find that we allowed it to evolve beyond us, willingly engineering our own obsolescence. 

Over Your Dead Body (In the theater, 4/25/2026). Grade: A-.

This movie was a bit too long and I could have done without ever seeing a lawn mower used as a weapon, but it also gave me the first big belly laugh since the reboot of Anaconda. 

And I can forgive a movie almost anything if it lets two old farts save the day: The first a nosy neighbor who uses his Rolodex and big-buttoned phone to alert the second old fart, who then breaks out of his nursing home and steals a car so he can check on his cabin by the lake.

It also benefits greatly from the charms of actors like Timothy Olyphant, who almost single-handedly notches this remake above the foreign film it is based on, a feat I didn’t think was possible after decades of watching failed attempts: “Point of No Return,” a far less interesting version of “La Femme Nikita”; “Downhill,” a far less mature and nuanced version of “Force Majuere”; and, most egregious of all, “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything,”which I think was nothing but a ghastly insult to the marvelousness of “Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert.”

Heck, even my grandmother agreed about To Wong Foo, describing it as “Not good show. No movement, stupid at times.”

The Trip/I Onde Dager (Netflix, 4/25/2026). Grade: C-.

This is the Norwegian film that inspired “Over Your Dead Body” — so much so that the movies often felt like scene-by-scene reshoots done in different languages – that I found much less fun and inventive than the American remake, as its tone was a bit too dark without the comedic talents of both Olyphant and Jason Segel. 

But who I missed the most from this film was Juliette Lewis, whose eccentric charm is so watchable, I think she could making eating oatmeal even more entertaining than Odenkirk would.

And while I did enjoy seeing Noomi Rapace again, I think her talents were a bit wasted in this role, and recommend you catch her work as Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” instead.

Movies I saw in March: Ready or Not 2, Marty Supreme, Blue Moon. 

Here are the movies my grandmother saw in April of 1998:

Saturday, April 4, 1998

4/4/1998 To show, “Mercury Rising.” Bruce Willis, autistic boy.
4/6/1998: To show, “Men with Guns.” Good.

4/9/1998: To show, “Primary Colors.” Enjoyed. Only 5 there.

4/16/1998: To show, “City of Angels.” N. Cage, Meg Ryan.

4/25/1998: To show, “The Locket.” Old, 1946. Robert Mitchum.

4/26/1998: To show, “Spanish Prisoner.” Good.

Movies I saw in March: Blue Moon, Marty Supreme, Ready or Not 2

Poster for Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.

I saw a lot of movies in March while trying to catch as many Oscar nominees as I could before the Academy Awards were handed out. 

And since I really wanted Michael B. Jordan to win Best Actor but fully expected Timothée Chalamet to get the award instead, I particularly wanted to watch Marty Supreme before the ceremony in case I needed to grudgingly admit that Chalamet deserved the Oscar.

And while I am pleased to report that I could indeed have been OK with Chalamet winning, I am even more pleased to report that I didn’t have to be, since Jordan actually got the statuette!

That was cool. 

And it would have been even cooler if Sinners also won best picture and best directing, but hey, I don’t run the Oscars. 

(But if I did run the Oscars, I’d give them to the ocean:  https://youtu.be/jasw45u1FUM)

Here are the movies I saw in March of 2026, in order of preference:

Ready or Not 2 (In the theater, 3/22/2026) Grade: A.

I gave this movie an “A” based on this fight scene alone: Two women in wedding dresses trying to kill each other while blinded by pepper spray with Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” blasting in a deserted reception hall, in what also has to be the best use of that song ever. 

Why? Because if you are a survivor of 1980s radio like me, you likely also feel that a year (or was it two?!) of hearing that very long song at least once an hour was enough play for a lifetime, but I fully supported listening to it again for that scene.

I also went into this movie not sure we actually needed a sequel to “Ready or Not,” which had been a pleasant surprise created largely by no expectations, but I checked out the follow-up anyway in large part to see the return of Buffy, aka Sarah Michelle Gellar. And though Gellar was not playing our heroine this time, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her and the rest of the cast, with my favorite part being how our actual heroines end up not marrying into a new family, but re-committing to themselves as their first family. That was cool.

Blue Moon (On Netflix, March 7). Grade: A-/B+

I never liked Ethan Hawke when he was younger, but am quite enjoying his older years. He started to win me over in “Juliet, Naked,” then I officially became a fan of his gray-hair work when he moved to television recently to star in “The Lowdown” as a used bookstore owner in Oklahoma who also writes for a local magazine, but mostly drinks too much and disappoints his daughter. And while everyone in that show is great, my favorite character just might be the old white van Hawke drives.

In “Blue Moon,” Hawke plays another writer who drinks too much, though after having far more success to piss away. The movie is like spending an evening on a bar stool next to a man whose best years are fumes even he can barely smell anymore, so it is full of pain disguised as pithy dialogue, with Hawke completely believable and sympathetic as a man drowning in memories he can’t stop swimming in. So yeah, if Jordan didn’t win Best Actor this year, Hawke would have been my second choice for the award.

Marty Supreme (On YouTube, March 14). Grade: B

I wanted to see this movie long before any of the Oscar hype: Wait, it’s all about a guy trying to be a ping pong champion? I’m in! But... there was too much dog caper and not enough ping pong, frankly. And as good as Chalamet is at playing Marty, I could never root for this heel, or anyone else in the movie, really, except maybe the dog. The only human who came close to winning my sympathies was Marty’s lovesick sidekick Rachel, played admirably by Odessa A’zion, so here’s hoping her next role is a starring one she can really shine in, perhaps on her way to becoming the next Natasha Lyonne?

And to my surprise, I also really enjoyed the performance of Gwyneth Paltrow, who perfectly captured the frustration and despair of a faded beauty trapped in a gilded cage while trying to grasp her last bit of glory. Frankly, I found it a much more admirable bit of acting than the role that won her a Best Actress Oscar in 1999.

How to Make a Killing (In the theater, March 1, 2026) Grade: B-/C+

This movie was like a burger without blue cheese and bacon: A perfectly acceptable plate of food, but no special ingredients to make it sing. And while I can’t point to anything I didn’t like about it, as it was certainly competent and enjoyable, I also can’t point to anything I especially liked, either.

A bit like “Ready or Not” in reverse but without all the fun and laughs, I felt like this movie was trying to tip its hat to “American Psycho” without making Glen Powell go as depraved as Christian Bale, because they needed him to be more likable.

And that was the movie’s downfall, because it depended too much on Powell’s charisma, as if the filmmakers decided to just sit back and let his smile do all the work. But that plan failed for me, I’m afraid, as I found no one to like in this movie, not even Powell. 

Movie on Netflix I recommend: Anaconda! 

Movie on Netflix I don’t recommend: War Machine.

Movies I saw in February: Pretty in Pink, Crime 101

Here, finally, are the movies my grandmother saw in March of 1999:

Thursday, March 18, 1999

To Gottschalk’s, got 2 cheap rings.

Talked to Myra, gave her magazines, jars.

To show, “Shakespeare in Love.” (4th). Forgot hearing aid! See again?

Friday, March 19, 1999

To Drug Emporium, got Kleenex and Band-aids.

Got donut/coffee. Girl fun to talk with.

TV: Bio on Gwyenth Paltrow from Shakepeare. Good!

Saturday, March 20, 1999

Awake 6:30, usual breakfast. 

Chores: Vacuumed, cleaned furnace filters.

To show, “Affliction.” Nick Nolte, good performance.

Sunday, March 21, 1999

Up 6:30. Typed some collected info on eye surgery.

To Kmart, gassed car.

TV: Siskel & Ebert, Oscars: Gwyenth Paltrow, Dench, Roberto Benigni, Best Actor & Best Foreign Film.

Thursday, March 25, 1999

Cleaned patio, in part.

To McDonald’s, coffee.

To library, sent email to Carla.

To show, “Shakespeare in Love.” [Fifth time!]

Friday, March 26, 1999

To show, “True Crime.” Clint Eastwood, face lined!! First shot at bar with 23-year-old!

To Lucky to get bread. All $2.

Sunday, March 28, 1999

Swept patio, washed car. 

To show, “Forces of Nature.” Sandra Bullock, Ben Affleck. Stupid at times.

To Kmart for ice cream.

Home, five mins yard work.

Ode to the Danish post: My two aunts Annika

My cousin posing with a postal box in Copenhagen in 2024.

I was sad to hear that the Danish postal service recently decided to stop mailing letters, because one of my favorite stories about my family members in Denmark involves two women with the exact same name sending letters to each other.

That was cool.

See, I have two aunts in Denmark with the same name, first and last. For the sake of everyone’s privacy, though, I will call them Annika Nielsen.

And the first Annika Nielsen, my father’s sister, loved to tell me how fun it was to send letters to the second aunt Annika Nielsen, who married her brother, so hey could laugh about how the postal person delivering the letters might be thinking, “Oh, this poor woman; she’s so lonely she has to send letters to herself!”

But these days there aren’t enough Annikas, or anyone else, in Denmark sending letters, cards or even bills to justify the country continuing having its postal service deliver them. As proof, when I asked my first aunt Annika when was the last time she mailed a letter, even she couldn’t remember! 

Though my aunt did report that if she does ever need to mail a letter or package, she has easy options nearby, so I needn't mourn the loss of letter service.

So instead I'll go back to mourning what I will never find in my mailbox ever again: A red envelope mailed from Netflix, which decided 2.5 years ago to stop mailing DVDs:

Movies I saw in February: Pretty in Pink, Crime 101

The movies I saw in February delivered a nice dose of nostalgia, especially the re-release of Pretty in Pink, which my high school friend and I both fell in love with 40 years ago.

“I felt seen,” my friend said when I asked her recently why she enjoyed that movie so much, and I agreed that the main character of Andie was very much like both of us: Not-rich girls who attended a high school full of rich classmates, then came home to a single parent who was often not up to the task of providing either financial or emotional support. 

And while my friend tactfully described her lone parent as “imperfect,” I would describe mine as neglectful. (But luckily I had Mechele to help fill the void after my mother died.)

1. Pretty in Pink (In the theater 2/14/2026, but first in 1986!) Grade: N/A

I didn’t give this movie a grade because I can’t be impartial. Given that I was living alone with my often depressed and under-employed father just like Molly Ringwald’s character Andie, I identified with this teen romance far more than any other I saw in the 1980s.

Yet I was also disappointed by that romance far more than any other because to this day I am still upset about the boy Andie chose at the end, which was the “richie” Blaine played by Andrew McCarthy instead of her best friend Duckie played by Jon Cryer, who I had a huge crush on. But more than preferring Cryer over McCarthy, I knew that Andie and Duckie had great love and respect for each other, while nothing about Andie and Blaine’s relationship made any sense to me.

But apparently early audiences did not agree with me, as director Howard Deutch is seen explaining in clips shown before my 40th anniversary screening that the first ending was what I wanted: Andie realizing her best friend was a far better companion to choose than a boy she hardly knew and seemed to have little in common with. However, Deutch said that test audiences were so unhappy when Andie didn’t “get the boy,” (yes, even booing!) that the filmmakers quickly shot new scenes that had Duckie insisting Andie go with Blaine, and the movie ends with them kissing in the parking lot. Boo!

I still think she chose the wrong boy, but it was fun to see my theater nearly full for a 40-year-old movie. Which, I am not ashamed to admit, still made me cry decades later when Andie shows up to the Prom alone and is about to leave until Duckie appears to escort her inside.

I am also not ashamed to admit that while the movie has a great soundtrack (which of course I bought on cassette tape) and a great supporting performance by Annie Potts, the movie itself is, actually, not all that great.

2. Crime 101 (In the theater, 2/21/2026) Grade: A

I loved a lot about this movie, especially seeing Mark Ruffalo as Columbo, my favorite TV detective on one of my very favorite TV shows. Ruffalo didn’t bring a trench coat or cigar butt everywhere, but he was a dogged detective whose old car and rumpled stye deftly distracts everyone from his skills while he quietly picks up clues they didn’t know were dropped.

The rest of the cast was also a treat, with a raspy Nick Nolte oozing menace despite seeming barely able to breathe, and the always charming Chris Hemsworth easily making you root for his character despite his growing rap sheet.

My favorite performance, however, was Halle Berry, despite her being miscast as an insurance agent supposedly past her prime. Because at nearly 60, the actress still made her 53-year-old character look twice as hot as the young woman hired to hook clients she supposedly can't land anymore.

Yes, Crime 101 may borrow from many movies before it, and yes, it ends with a bunch of bad deeds tucked neatly into a box with a pretty bow on top, but I thoroughly enjoyed this slow burn of a story that trusted its audiences to pay attention without needless nudity, violence or special effects. In fact, it would have made for a great episode of Columbo!

Movies I saw in January: Send Help, Anora, Blink Twice.

And, yes, here are the movies my grandmother saw 30 years ago in February of 1996:

Friday, Feb. 2, 1996

To show, "Mr. Holland's Opus."  

To library, got 2 tapes.

Some TV, X-Files. 

Sunday, Feb. 4, 1996

To Carl's, too late for breakfast. Had muffin, read papers.

To town to see "Restoration." Line 1/2 block long. 

To library, then home. Christa S. will take rose bushes, took them over.

Wednesday, Feb. 7, 1996 

To show, "Restoration." Disappointed in accents, English only. Hugh Grant.

Home, no mail.

Watched Law & Order, balanced bank account.

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 1996

Up 8:30, breakfast BK. To Drug Emporium.

Home to more sweeping of grass cuttings. Larry still hasn't planted rose bush.

To show "Restoration" (again). Still can't understand, Downey mutters.

Friday, Feb. 16, 1996

To St. Vincent's, got 3 baskets, .50 each: one for misc., Scotch tape, typing things, two for cosmetics. 

To show, "Persuasion" (again.) Heard a bit more.

Washed blue sweater, ironed before show.

Sunday, Feb. 18, 1996

Slept til 9, to Denny's for breakfast. Very crowded!

To West Cliff for walking, then to cinema: "Braveheart." 3 hours, 05 minutes, but full of fights. Digital? Violent. Mel Gibson a bit too old.

Home 3:30, ate here. Rain in night.

Sunday, Feb. 25, 1996

Bed til 10 a.m. Muffin at corner.

Got typewriter ribbons at Sears.

To show, "City Hall." Thought good.

The Photo Lab: Building community, one print at a time

Long before our phones could instantly show us every photograph we take, we had to develop the film inside our camera before seeing what images we captured.

And while many of us just dropped off that mystery mix of magic and mistakes somewhere that could churn out both negatives and prints in about an hour, my father always took his film rolls to a local photo lab for more personalized service.

That was cool.

Because I loved going to the photo lab with my father when I was a kid. I can still hear the bell ring on the door, smell the chemicals in the air and feel the anticipation as we waited for someone to emerge from the back for my favorite part: Pulling out the magnifying tool for our first glimpse of the negatives.

Because as much as I loved just looking at my father’s photographs, I loved even more getting to see how they were brought to life, feeling very adult as I soaked in every step of the process from deciding which frames to print and how to make them look their best. 

And though the exchanges at the photo lab were technically business transactions, with my father trying to make a living as a professional photographer and the lab tech performing a job, their interactions always felt less about money and more about art to me: Two craftspeople working together to make the best product possible, each knowing that they couldn’t do their best work without the other. 

And I felt a bit of that artistic camaraderie again recently when a photo lab in San Francisco started printing a magazine. Yes, in this day of social media posts that last maybe seconds, this lab decided to post permanent photographs in the form of an actual printed magazine.

“We wanted to make a magazine to foster more connection in the community we’ve built with so many photographers over the many years Photoworks has been around," said Rhonda Smith, explaining that she and her co-workers were “definitely inspired by Pamplemousse, a magazine founded by a former Photoworks employee.”

Each time Photoworks has asked people to submit photos for these guest magazines, Smith, who served as senior editor, curator and interviewer for the lab’s third magazine, said “we have gotten a couple hundred submissions, with the second edition receiving nearly 500 submissions.”

When asked how many copies they print, she said that number is based on how many photographers are featured in each magazine “and the amount we could realistically sell and be able to break even on production costs. Also as those of us who work on the magazine are also doing our every day tasks in the store, it can take longer than we plan to finish it, but we do hope to have two annually.”

You can certainly argue that such an endeavor is far from altruistic, likely ultimately launched as another way to make money; but everyone with a photograph featured in the magazine was offered a free copy, allowing each person to see their artwork published in a high-quality product full of beautiful and interesting photographs, which is an exhilarating experience no matter how, or how many times, it happens.

And having a print product feels almost revolutionary in today's world, where we keep getting more connected than ever in all the ways that don't matter, while feeling less and less connected in all the ways that do matter: those tangible, tactile ways of meeting face-to-face, shaking hands, and even sharing a drink or a meal together.

Which is exactly what happened when the magazine was celebrated with a launch party, a gathering of real people in real time instead of in a digital post that people scroll past and forget even before the next post appears. And standing there by a counter to pick up my magazine with the smell of chemicals in the air, surrounded by photographs and photographers, reminded me of how I first fell in love with taking pictures: Going to the photo lab with my father.*

That was super cool.

See more of the magazine in my ode to old-school media in the video below:

Another photographer whose love for the art form was inspired by his father is my friend Nathan, who will forever love traveling and taking pictures because of the road trips his father took him on after they finally met.

* My father's birthday was this month, so I would like to wish the man who always encouraged me to both form and express my own opinions on everything a very happy birthday, and to thank him again for introducing me to the wonderful world of photography.

Movies I saw in January: Send Help, Anora, Blink Twice

I didn’t see many movies in January, but those I did watch packed a surprisingly satisfying punch; all three featured women defying the control of others to carve new paths for their lives, with most carving those paths straight through their captors with very sharp knives. 

That was cool.

And while my favorite movie of the trio features a woman realizing that the VIP club she desperately wants to join is just a gilded cage, my favorite character was a woman suddenly released from her cage of conformity and quickly realizing her true talents lie in plotting revenge, not playing nice.

January’s movies:

1. Anora (On DVD rented from library, 1/10/2026) Grade: A

Last year I was disappointed that Demi Moore didn’t win an Oscar for her work in “The Substance,” but after finally seeing “Anora,” I full embrace the Best Actress win by Mikey Madison. Not only did I believe every moment of her portrayal, I would have given her the statue just for the screaming fit she throws to keep two men from containing her, as their response to her full-bodied revolt created one of the funniest scenes I have ever watched.

And that comedy came at just the right time, for I was about to give up on this movie that lifts bits of plot and dialog from “Pretty Woman,” but little else from that fairytale. Because while the 1990 movie was essentially a rom-com/Cinderella story with just a side of sex work ordered from the kids menu, “Anora” has our main character’s body being rented by a man with far more realistic demands than Richard Gere’s too-driven-to-date businessman.

The resulting debauchery and disrespect inflicted on our heroine in this movie almost had me turning it off, but I am very glad I stuck with this slow-burning love story, which I not only found more realistic, but far more satisfying, than the nearly squeaky clean “Pretty Woman.”

2. Blink Twice (On DVD rented from the library, 1/17/2026) Grade: B+

I’ll admit it, I picked “Blink Twice” off the shelves because Channing Tatum was on the DVD cover. And knowing really nothing else about this movie, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it despite Tatum playing almost a bit part.

To avoid giving away too much of the plot, I’ll just describe “Blink Twice” as a nice mix of Fantasy Island and Get Out (and did I detect a dash of that creepy movie in which director Zoe Kravitz’s mom starred called Angel Heart?) that delivered an impressively edited feast of sounds, music and visuals that kept my attention far more competently than “Him,” which failed to create even a fraction of the “what the heck is happening?!” ambiance this movie deftly maintains throughout.

3. Send Help (In the theater, 1/31/2026) Grade: C

The best thing about this movie was Rachel McAdams, which was another surprise because I’d never quite warmed to her before. But here she exudes the perfect mix of cheerful-yet-creepy as a ridiculed outcast who suddenly gains power and popularity when civilization collapses around her. The only actress I’ve seen doing that role better these days is Christina Ricci in “Yellowjackets.”

But overall, the movie felt like a mediocre mix of the two great movies “Cast Away” and “Misery,” since it pales in comparison to both. My favorite parts of “Cast Away” are watching Tom Hanks opening packages, learning to fish and build a fire, but this movie decides not to show us much of how Linda adapts to the island she is dropped on, preferring instead to linger on her punishing her former boss. 

Yet unlike “Misery,” when it came time for any actual torture, “Send Help” shies away from Linda physically maiming her boss unlike Kathy Bates’ Annie does to her captive, instead deciding to linger far too long on our two main characters squabbling with decidedly uninteresting chemistry, and mysteriously having the most violent scene not even featuring a human victim. 

As someone who can definitely identify with Linda's inability to adapt to “polite society,” I wanted this movie to get far more detailed and depraved that it dared, and wish a director like David Fincher had been hired to relish in showing us exactly how Linda realizes her full potential.

Movies I saw in December: Anaconda, Song Sung Blue.

Finally, here are the movies my grandmother saw in January of 1996:

Thursday, Jan. 4

Up 6:30, tea, breakfast McDonald’s.

Debbie and I to show, “The City of Lost Children.” French, very weird!

Sunday, Jan. 7

Thought to have haircut, he not there. Home, watered houseplants.

To “Toy Story.” Good.

Tuesday, Jan. 9

Breakfast Carl’s Jr., walked mall, Lilly passed test at DMV.

To show, “Waiting to Exhale.” Stupid, I thought.

Thursday, Jan. 11

Longs, Xerox gone. Wrote Mina, to Kinkos to copy Stimson's letter.

To deli, got sandwich. To show, “12 Monkeys.” Brad Pitt is paranoid, good acting.

Saturday, Jan. 13

Played La Boheme, some TV.

Watched “All the Mornings of the World.” French. Lovely color!

Monday, Jan. 15

To show, “Tom and Huck.” Better than I thought.

Ate Wendy’s, brought home salad.

Friday, Jan. 19

To show, “Sense and Sensibility.”

Post office, mailed pictures to Justine. 

Home to find letter from Justine, no email luck. She taking International Communications.

Saturday, Jan. 20, 1996

To mall, post office, library, returned two books + records. Read Newsweek.

To show, “From Dusk til Dawn.” Special effects!

Monday, Jan. 22, 1996

To show, “Dead Man Walking.” Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon. Good.

Mail: letter from Mina, $103.88 from Colonial Penn.

Friday, Jan. 26, 1996

To show, “12 Monkeys,” second time. Understood better, not completely.

Kmart Scotts Valley, got more chicken.