‘Bottoms’ is a Queer, Bloody, and Fantastical Journey Through High School

August 24, 2023

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Bottoms on top? (CREDIT: ORION Pictures)

Starring: Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicholas Galitzine, Dagmara Domińczyk, Marshawn Lynch, Ruby Cruz

Director: Emma Seligman

Running Time: 92 Minutes

Rating: R for A Fair Bit of Sexuality and Some Absurd Violence

Release Date: August 25, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: There’s no way around it: PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) are the outcasts of all outcasts at Huntington High School. You might call them bottoms even. (The title of their movie certainly does.) They’re both gay, but that’s not the problem. Their classmates are pretty enlightened when it comes to sexual orientation, but they’re a little less so when it comes to people who are untalented and don’t care much about football. So PJ and Josie try to reverse their fortunes by starting a fight club/self-defense class/feminine support group as a front to hook up with the hottest girls in school. Will their secret be found out? Or will everyone else be more focused on the looming big game with the rival school?

What Made an Impression?: The Point is Beside the Point: The queerness that’s central to Bottoms‘ premise is always front and center, but it’s not the most fundamental aspect. At its core, this is a story about acceptance. Josie and PJ could just as easily be scheming on a plot to land some platonic friends, and you would hardly have to change any aspect of the script to make that happen. That’s a win for both representation and storytelling. This is a movie that is perfectly comfortable being matter-of-fact and upfront about its identity and then simply moving on to the rest of the good stuff.
Queer in Other Ways: Of course, there’s another definition of “queer” besides the LGBTQ+ sense. It’s a synonym for “weird” and “bizarre,” or even “outlandish.” And let’s be clear: Bottoms is strange-queer even more than it is gay-queer. If you get a bunch of funny people together, of course things are going to be off-kilter. But if you were expecting a somewhat realistic depiction of the high school experience, then you need to reset your expectations ASAP. This is a romp that is campy, gratuitous, and absurd aplenty. Every character feels like a facsimile of a human being, rather than an actual person, and the rules of life are accordingly askew.
Seriously, I Don’t Know What the Hell I Just Watched: I’m hesitant to recommend Bottoms with my full soul, because while I admire its bravado, I could never quite figure out its base reality. Random and outlandish behavior is the status quo, so I found myself thinking “OMG WTF” much more often than I was cracking up. That’s a better state of mind than nothing at all, but not as pleasurable as possible. If you want to get kooky, Bottoms has plenty of kooky. And maybe it’s just best not to ask why.

Bottoms is Recommended If You Like: Heathers, Assassination Nation, MacGruber, Cocaine Bear, The fight scenes from Anchorman and Anchorman 2

Grade: 3 out of 5 Golden Ferrets

My Second Voyage with The Meg, My First Voyage with the Demeter

August 22, 2023

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Meg 2: Dracula Boogaloo (CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot; Rainer Bajo/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)

Meg 2: The Trench:

Starring: Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Shuya Sophia Cai, Cliff Curtis, Melissanthi Mahut, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels, Sienna Guillory, Whoopie Van Raam, Kiran Sonia Sawar, Felix Mayr

Director: Ben Wheatley

Running Time: 116 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: August 4, 2023 (Theaters)

The Last Voyage of the Demeter:

Starring: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Javier Botet, Woody Norman

Director: André Øvredal

Running Time: 119 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: August 11, 2023 (Theaters)

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The Doggies of ‘Strays’ Are on the Dirtiest and Sweetest Mission of the Year

August 17, 2023

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Here Be Strays (CREDIT: Universal Studios)

Starring: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Will Forte

Director: Josh Greenbaum

Running Time: 93 Minutes

Rating: R for Thoroughly Scatological and Sexual Humor, and Some Canine Revenge Violence

Release Date: August 18, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Dog is famously man’s best friend. But someone forgot to explain that to Doug, the frequently masturbating, irresponsible loner played by Will Forte in Strays. He has a Border Terrier named Reggie (voiced by Will Ferrell), but that’s only to spite his most recent ex-girlfriend, who was actually the one who chose to adopt the pup in the first place. Soon enough, Doug realizes that Reggie’s cramping his style a bit too much, so he tries to get rid of him with a miles-long version of fetch. Reggie thinks it’s all a game until streetwise stray Boston Terrier Bug (Jamie Foxx) sets him straight. The two of them then team up with therapy Great Dane Hunter (Randall Park) and sniffer supreme Australian Shepherd Maggie (Isla Fisher) for the ultimate revenge mission: they’re going to take away the thing that Doug cares the most about in the world by biting off a certain part of his anatomy that dangles between his legs.

What Made an Impression?: An Explicit Dog’s Life: I didn’t make any exact calculations while watching, but I would estimate that about 75% of the jokes and gags in Strays are scatological or sexual in nature. That makes sense, as dogs sure do poop and pee and hump a lot. That’s true of a lot of mammals, after all! But dogs tend to be especially shameless about it. So director Josh Greenbaum and screenwriter Dan Perrault wisely take a matter-of-fact approach to the crudeness. Depending on your tolerance level for potty humor, you might find yourself averting or rolling your eyes at certain moments. But Strays stays true to its canine worldview through and through, and it deserves respect for that.
Guileless and Openhearted: It’s essential that Strays‘ main pooch be as fundamentally trusting as Reggie is. Even when he realizes how awful Doug has been to him, it doesn’t change his entire conception of existence. Instead, he still believes that the world is absolutely full of wonder, and if anything, his time with his new friends convinces him of that truth even more. Life off the leash could terrify a more skittish dog, but Reggie rolls along with pretty much anything. If you introduce him to the couch you’ve been humping, he’ll treat it as an honor to meet someone so important. If you tell him that he should tell the lawn gnome he’s humping that he’s its daddy, he’ll do his best to make the introduction to his long-lost son less awkward. It’s always welcome to have a fresh bundle of joy on your team.
Treat Your Pet Right: In its most ambitious moments, Strays grasps for profundity in exploring the emotional dynamics of toxic relationships. And it’s mostly successful. Despite his desire for vengeance, there’s also an undercurrent implying that Reggie can’t quite quit Doug. And his explanation for why that is sounds a lot like the sort that you might hear from people who have been abused in human-human relationships. Reggie has internalized the lesson that he deserves Doug’s neglect because he’s been a bad dog all along, and it’s heartbreaking to witness that realization. While Strays has been advertised a gross-but-sweet raucous comedy, it turns out that it’s actually most assured in its handling of canine psychology.

Strays is Recommended If You Like: Talking dog movies like Homeward Bound and A Dog’s Purpose but wish they had more poop and dick jokes

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Humps

In ‘Landscape with Invisible Hand,’ the Alien and Human Cultures Clash and Collaborate

August 16, 2023

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Which hand is invisible? (CREDIT: Lynsey Weatherspoon/ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures)

Starring: Asante Blackk, Kylie Rogers, Tiffany Haddish, Josh Hamilton, Brooklyn MacKinzie, Michael Gandolfini, William Jackson Harper

Director: Cordy Finley

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: R for Some Harsh Language Apparently (This Should Absolutely Be PG-13)

Release Date: August 18, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: The extraterrestrials have arrived! And they’ve completely transformed society. The aliens of Landscape with Invisible Hand are crustacean-esque creatures known as the Vuvv who like to claim that they’ve instituted a sort of utopia. But really, it’s just their own version of exploitative capitalism. A few humans make out like gangbusters by ingratiating themselves into Vuvv culture, while the majority of Earth’s population struggle to deal. both financially and ethically. Among the hustlers are teenage visual artist Adam Campbell (Asante Blackk), his mom Beth (Tiffany Haddish), and sister Natalie (Brooklyn MacKinzie). At least they still have a roof over their head, which is more than can be said for his classmate Chloe (Kylie Rogers). Sparks immediately fly between the two of them, and he fancies himself a Good Samaritan, so he invites her and her dad (Josh Hamilton) and brother (Michael Gandolfini) to stay at his house until they can find something steady. But this arrangement soon turns awkward, and it only gets weirder once the Vuvv become closely involved.

What Made an Impression?: Getting On to Get On: Landscape with Invisible Hand is a bit of a postmodern alien visitation flick, insofar as the Vuvv are students of Earth culture. They’re mostly fans of classic domestic sitcoms, since they reproduce asexually and concepts like romantic and familial love are generally foreign to them. But you also get the sense that they’re familiar with conquering cinematic ETs and that they’re making a concerted effort to present themselves as a benevolent alternative. But we’ve already heard this story before in Earth history: it’s called colonization.
Even if you recognize the holes in the Vuvv’s telling, this is the new status quo, and there’s only the merest hints of revolution. So in the meantime, pretty much everyone is forced to confront how much of their integrity they’re willing to compromise to get by. And so, we meet a neurosurgeon who gives up his practice for the much more menial and wholly unnecessary – but also much more lucrative – job of Vuvv driver. Plenty of others are forced to sell their own intimacy. Adam and Chloe hit upon a quick moneymaking scheme by broadcasting their budding relationship to the Vuvv, who are fascinated by the rituals of human courtship. And one Vuvv even “marries” Beth so that he can experience what it’s like to be a human father. If this sounds like modern social media and reality TV stardom, you’re not too far off.
You’ll Know ‘Em When You Hear ‘Em: LwIH harkens back to classic mid-century sci-fi with its theremin-heavy score from Michael Abels. It suggests a woozy promise of the future that rings profoundly false. Sure, there are spaceships hanging up in the sky, but most people are stuck on the ground eating faux-meat blocks. That care to the aural design extends to the idiosyncratic sound effects. The Vuvv’s language is communicated by rubbing their fin-like appendages to create an alphabet that resembles scratching sandpaper and scraping pencils. It presents a mundane, but also unforgettable, reshaping of how to perceive the universe.
The Colors Endure: And finally, I would be remiss not to mention the element that lends this movie its title, as we’re treated to a series of shots of Adam’s artwork over the years. He’s been painting and drawing ever since he was a toddler, resulting in a signature, often watercolor-based expressive style. Eventually, his most ambitious project to date captures the attention of a prominent Vuvv art critic, who offers Adam a lucrative position as a human artist-in-residence. There’s a lot thematically in play in Landscape with Invisible Hand, and it handles this conflict of creativity vs. commerce as deftly as everything else.

Landscape with Invisible Hand is Recommended If You Like: Classic sci-fi, Modern social media, YA novels

Grade: 4 out of 5 Vuvvs

Some Thoughts About ‘Oldboy’ on the Occasion of Its 20th Anniversary Restored & Remastered Re-Release

August 15, 2023

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The Oldest of Boys… New Again (CREDIT: Neon/Screenshot)

Starring: Choi-Min sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung

Director: Park Chan-wook

Running Time: 120 Minutes

Rating: R for Unbridled Vengeance and Surprisingly Tender (But Also Somewhat Aggressive) Sexuality

Release Date: August 16, 2023 (Theaters)

If you only see one Restored & Remastered movie in 2023, then it’s time to summon that vengeful spirit and get thee to a viewing of Oldboy!

If you’re a cinephile who came of age in the early 20th century, then chances are high that this landmark feature from Park-Chan wook has loomed large in your cultural travails. Perhaps you’ve never actually seen it, or maybe you watch it at least once a year. Wherever you are on that spectrum, now’s the perfect time to check out this thrilling cinematic reverie.

My recollections of the beginning of my Personal Oldboy Journey are a little hazy. I believe I first saw it when I was in college, so sometime between 2006 and 2010. But I’m not sure whether or not I actually saw the entire thing. I might have walked in a little bit after one of my roommates turned it on. Nevertheless, there are a few moments that have remained indelible in my subconscious: Choi Min-sik’s untamed hair, the coffin on the rooftop, the live octopus feast, the one-shot hallway melee, and of course, that taboo-busting ending.

So when I took in an advance screening of this 4K remastered version a few weeks ago, I was a little taken aback about how much it felt new to me. Sure, it had been 15 years or so since my first Oldboy encounter, but it all feels so unforgettable in the moment. Paradoxically, though, any forgetfulness makes perfect sense, as it also feels like a dream in the deepest recesses of our recollection. As soon as you walk out of the theater, you can’t help but doubt the reality of what you just saw. Even 20 years later, there’s nothing quite like Oldboy. It’s transgressive and treacherous, but also an absolute treat.

Grade: 5 out of 5 Remasters

‘Red, White & Royal Blue’: Straightforward Queer Love Story, or Something Kookier?

August 10, 2023

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A couple of party dudes (CREDIT: Jonathan Prime/Prime Video)

Starring: Taylor Zakhar Perez, Nicholas Galitzine, Uma Thurman, Clifton Collins Jr., Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, Ellie Bamber, Thomas Flynn, Malcolm Atobrah, Akshay Khanna, Sharon D. Clarke, Aneesh Sheth, Juan Castano, Stephen Fry

Director: Matthew López

Running Time: 118 Minutes

Rating: R for Explicit and Tender Sexuality

Release Date: August 11, 2023 (Prime Video)

What’s It About?: Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) is the son of the first female President of the United States (Uma Thurman). Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) is one of the grandsons in the British royal line of succession. (Although, just like a certain real-life prince, he’s a spare, not an heir). They’re forced to interact with each other at various diplomatic functions, but they hate each other’s guts. Do I need to make it any more obvious?

In case I do, it’s a modern-day queer Pride and Prejudice. Or at least that’s the first third of Red, White & Royal Blue. Alex and Henry are actually able to get past their shallow first impressions relatively quickly, and once they accept each other, the bigger question is whether or not everybody else can. The world that we see in the movie generally reflects the most progressive modern attitudes towards queer love stories, but there are a few snags. For one thing, there are worries that Alex’s dalliances could derail his mom’s re-election campaign. And more pressingly, there’s the question of whether or not there’s even a place for a gay prince in the royal family.

What Made an Impression?: Searching for Personality: It’s nice to see a globally released queer rom-com that doesn’t shy away from the most explicit parts. But it would have been even nicer if it didn’t feel so generic. Perez and Galitzine are charming enough, and their chemistry is serviceable, but the paint-by-numbers setting isn’t doing them any favors. A political backdrop certainly doesn’t need to perfectly recreate the real world, but it ought to at least be interesting if it’s going to be so integral to the story. Alas, we never really get a sense of what it’s like to have an America with a female president beyond mere platitudes. There’s at least some more urgency on the other side of the pond, as the presence of a gay prince is something that the crown hasn’t fully grappled with, and the juice of that drama is squeezed enough to feel the tension.
Strange Bursts of Personality: Thankfully, Red, White & Royal Blue isn’t entirely a slog through the most generic story beats possible. It has some sparks of coming to life, particularly a New Year’s Eve party soundtracked by perhaps the dirtiest mainstream hip-hop song of all time. Then when Alex opens up with his parents about what’s really going on, they have conversations that can best be described as “shockingly open-minded.” Thurman and Clifton Collins Jr. (as Alex’s senator dad) absolutely relish these opportunities to wax poetic about the likes of Truvada and gender-neutral bathrooms. I just wish the rest of the movie had been this inspired to let its freak flag fly. It’s what Alex and Henry (and those of watching) deserved.

Red, White & Royal Blue is Recommended If You: Can Handle a Watered-Down Version of Reality

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Giant Wedding Cakes

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ is a Mighty Good Time

August 1, 2023

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Mayhem in More Than Just a Half-Shell (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies)

Starring: Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon, Jackie Chan, Ayo Edebri, Ice Cube, Hannibal Burress, Rose Byrne, John Cena, Natasia Demetriou, Giancarlo Esposito, Post Malone, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph

Director: Jeff Rowe

Running Time: 100 Minutes

Rating: PG for Stylized Action Violence and Jokes with a Rude ‘Tude

Release Date: August 2, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael (Micah Abbey, Nicolas Cantu, Shamon Brown Jr., and Brady Noon, respectively) just want to spend more time living out of the sewers. Is that too much to ask?! Alas, their adoptive father Splinter (Jackie Chan) insists that they must remain in the shadows. He’s a walking and talking rat, and they’re walking and talking turtles, and all the evidence indicates that humans just aren’t ready to interact with mutated animals. But the boys are growing up, and New York City has plenty of delicious pizza. So when they befriend budding journalist April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri), they really start to believe that humans are worth getting to know. And when they encounter a cadre of other mutants led by the giant housefly Superfly (Ice Cube) intent on taking over the surface world, they decide that they must become humanity’s protectors.

What Made an Impression?: Not Afraid to Be Scary: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a fascinatingly enduring franchise. What began as a reputedly dark comic book in the 80s turned into an inescapable cheesy phenomenon with the live-action 90s films. It was a supernova that burned out quickly, but it’s hung around with occasional reboots and several TV series. You don’t need to know any of that backstory to enjoy Mutant Mayhem. But you do have to be comfortable with some kid-targeted entertainment that isn’t afraid to get dark. The animation and the fantastical nature softens the edges a bit, but still, this is a movie where the threat of mutant-on-mutant and mutant-on-human violence is very real. Younger viewers might be spooked a bit, but they’ll appreciate how hardy the heroism feels.
Milking the Gags: The turtles are a bunch of adolescent jokesters, so any TMNT flick worth its ooze will deliver the laughs. Mutant Mayhem pulls this off by crafting its own yuks from the ground up. There’s one particularly satisfying running gag about whether or not the turtles can be milked. (They don’t have nipples! … Or do they?) Two of the producers and screenwriters are Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (the latter of whom also voices mutant warthog Bebop), and you can just feel how much they’ve been itching to put their own spin on these characters for quite some time. These aren’t just tossed-off quips and catchphrases, but zingers and character beats that reward you for paying attention.
Sliced-and-Diced Animation: The sharpness of the comedy meets its match in the animation, with every cel feeling like it’s been lovingly sliced by a katana blade. This is no standard-issue CG rendering; instead, deep thought has clearly been considered about what style fits the story’s personality. It’s an irreverent, adrenaline-filled adventure crossed with a neon sugar rush. Every pixel feels like it’s working, and the whole picture just undeniably pops on screen.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is Recommended If You Like: Pizza, Viral puking videos, The Spider-Verse

Grade: 4 out of 5 Half-Shells

‘Talk to Me’ Invites You to Talk to the Hand and Take a Death Trip

July 27, 2023

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Start talking (CREDIT: A24)

Starring: Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Miranda Otto, Zoe Terakes, Chris Alosio, Marcus Johnson, Alexandria Steffensen

Directors: Danny and Michael Philippou

Running Time: 95 Minutes

Rating: R for Bloody Possessions and Horny Dialogue

Release Date: July 28, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Let’s give ’em a hand! On second thought, maybe not. Especially if the hand in question is the one from Talk to Me, the feature directing debut from Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou. At first glance, it looks like a harmless, though creepy, piece of porcelain, with a bunch of handwritten messages all screwed across. But when you go in for a handshake and say “talk to me,” suddenly a pus-spewing spirit appears. Then when you add “I’ll let you in,” you’re suddenly possessed. It’s treated like a viral social media challenge, but of course it turns about as deadly as you might expect. Specifically, 17-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde) takes it too far when she thinks she’s made contact with her mother Rhea (Alexandria Steffensen), who recently committed suicide. Her best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) urges at least some semblance of caution, but the opposite is in store when her younger brother Riley (Joe Bird) ends up with a bloody body and a trapped soul.

What Made an Impression?: A New Vision: Horror audiences are perhaps the most seen-it-all breed of moviegoer in the multiplex. So it’s special when you stumble across something that really doesn’t feel like anything else you’ve ever encountered before. Talk to Me‘s individual components are familiar, from the young people foolishly meddling with the supernatural, to the trauma-filled backstory, to the visions that can’t be trusted. But it’s all combined into a package with a new, spruced-up veneer. Maybe it’s all those thick Aussie accents giving me fresh vibes. Or it’s probably that hand – it’s quite a hook!
Young, Dumb, and Very Dumb: Horror movie characters aren’t exactly known for their sensible decision-making, especially if they’re teenagers. But the kids in Talk to Me take it to another level. Every possible warning was there to convince them not to mess with the hand in the first place. A prologue presents an earlier chapter in which a previous handshaker ended up stabbing his own brother and killing himself. The current batch of kids are fully aware of this backstory. It’s not some urban legend, but a well-known cautionary tale. But there’s a certain rush to flirting with death, and they’re all onboard for the extreme risks. It doesn’t make it any less maddening to watch them put themselves in harm’s way, though.
Fully Uncompromising: Talk to Me is not for the faint of heart. It fully earns its R rating with faces stuffed into bloody pulps and unrelenting treatment from demented spirits. It’s of course no surprise for this genre to be as deadly as possible, but it’s still an accomplishment when the demises are as devastating as they are here. Mia and her crew are immature and in over their heads, but their sudden twists of fate are much crueler than they deserve. The Philippou brothers aren’t here to let you get comfortable, though. So make peace with your maker, because if you’re looking for relief, you’ll need to find it elsewhere.

Talk to Me is Recommended If You Like: Sinister, Final Destination, It Follows

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Hands

‘Kokomo City’ Review: A Quartet of Black Trans Sex Workers Give Us the Scoop

July 26, 2023

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Way down in Kokomo… (Courtesy of Sundance Institute and Magnolia Pictures | Photo by D. Smith)

Starring: Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, Dominique Silver

Director: D. Smith

Running Time: 73 Minutes

Rating: R for Unfiltered Conversations and Some Unfiltered Nudity

Release Date: July 28, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Sex workers tend to operate within the shadows of society. And for transgender sex workers, that’s even more true. But director D. Smith is pulling back the curtains on that world in the documentary Kokomo City, as she touches down in New York City and Atlanta to interview four of these ladies: Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell, and Dominique Silver. For a little more than an hour, they get the chance to spill as much tea as they want. No explicit detail is spared, nor should it be, if we want to get the full picture. So reserve your judgment and let go of your pearls, because they’re got plenty of stories to tell.

What Made an Impression?: Tale as Old as Time: In my 35 years on this planet, I can’t remember a time when the culture at large was more open-minded about both sex work and transgender people. Of course, there’s also been a concerted pushback against the progress of queer groups, but that resistance makes it clear just how visible they’ve become. This is all to say, I can’t imagine Kokomo City arriving in theaters anytime before now. (Although, it does feel like the sort of thing that you might have stumbled upon on HBO or Showtime at 3:00 AM 25 years ago.) Its existence is remarkable, but it treats its subject matter as unremarkably as possible. As the ladies talk about guiding their clients through taboo desires and navigating threats of violence, it’s all so matter-of-fact, and I imagine it’s always been that way for them.
Casual Intimacy: When D. Smith sat down with her interviewees, I don’t think they imagined that some random white cishet male critic would be analyzing their stories so closely. Or maybe they did! By committing their stories to a documentary, it opens up the possibility that any theoretical audiences could stumble upon them. And they seem to be okay with that. Or at least, they were comfortable enough around their director that they were willing to be open about pretty much anything without worrying about the secondary listeners. That sense of intimacy was underscored particularly for me during some footage shot at Brooklyn Bridge Park, a location I’ve run through on plenty of occasions. I certainly haven’t lived the same experiences as these ladies, but I’ve trod the same ground, and so surely have millions of others.

Kokomo City is Recommended If You Like: Talking heads, LGBTQ activism, Gossip

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Confessions

‘Beanie Bubble,’ Toil and Trouble

July 25, 2023

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A couple of Beanie Babies (CREDIT: Apple TV+)

Starring: Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook, Geraldine Viswanathan

Directors: Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash

Running Time: 110 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: July 21, 2023 (Limited Theaters)/July 28, 2023 (Apple TV+)

Behind every great Beanie Baby, there are at least three great women. Would I like to spend time in The Beanie Bubble? Frankly, I think I already did for quite a while back in the 90s. So do I recommend it? I must say, it’s a wonderful, colorful realm, so long as you can emerge unscathed.

Grade: 3 out of 4 Poems

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