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Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, Darren Pitra, movies, discussion of. That’s the set-up. That’s what they do. That’s what’s done. We’ll let you know if they decide to play off it (introduce a guest speaker, say) or outright abandon it (the three opt to perform scenes out of Samuel Beckett’s Play, for instance). It’s likely they won’t mess with the format like a certain someone does the mic settings at the beginning of each klatch.
These are the films Schulz has seen:
- The biographical drama Sing Sing (dir Greg Kwedar, starr Colman Domingo, Sean San José, Paul Raci, Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, David “Dap” Giraudy, Patrick “Preme” Griffin, Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, and Sean “Dino” Johnson). Every member of the cast with a nickname is playing younger versions of themselves when they were serving sentences at Sing Sing Penitentiary. And holy cow, is it transcendent. Listen to Schulz go on about it. And listen to Levora and Pitra approach the subject keenly, if warily. (“I’m a bank robber and a murderer, but what I really wanna do is direct.”) Schulz is going so far as to calling Sing Sing as Best Picture at the Oscars, with Maclin Best Supporting. Schulz doesn’t call his shots like this very often, folks.
- Blink Twice (dir Zoë Kravitz, starr Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat). Big swing and a miss here. Kravitz doesn’t do herself any favors by giving away a crucial plot point at the jump, so as not to trigger any audience members who get triggered by stuff like the plots of scary thriller. She also manages to draw out bad performances from her cast of pros, in the service of black-comic laughs that don’t land. It’s all uphill from here, Zoë. . .
- Strange Darling (dir JT Mollner, starr Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, Barbara Hershey, and Ed Begley Jr). Schulz decided not to see the Crow remake in favor of this. What a great decision that turned out to be. Mollner depicts the story out of order à la Tarantino and manages to subvert expectations every step of the way. Sounds enticing.
The coming attractions include:
- Slingshot (dir Mikael Håfström, starr Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, Emily Beecham, Tomer Kapon, David Morrissey, and Mark Ebulué). “An astronaut struggles to keep his grip on reality during a possibly-compromised mission to Titan.” Kinda sounds like the set-up to Passengers, doesn’t it? And didn’t that film make you cry from its awfulness?
- AFRAID (dir Chris Weitz, starr John Cho, Katherine Waterston, Havana Rose Liu, Lukita Maxwell, David Dastmalchian, and Keith Carradine). Levora leaves one clutching one’s sides at the concept of Tony Danza playing the voice of the Artificial Intelligence program that enters the lives of a family, much like Tony Micelli entered the lives of the Bowers. In Levora’s concept, the program calls itself “A-I-Ayy-ohh.” One would assuredly have caught that one! Consider this a missed opportunity, Weitz. Look within yourself, Weitz; there is peace and clarity within. . .
- Reagan (dir Sean McNamara, starr Dennis “Gipper” Quaid, Penelope Ann “Mommy” Miller, Nick Searcy, C Thomas “I’m never going to live down Soul Man, am I?” Howell, Kevin Dillon, Mena Suvari, Robert Davi, Lesley-Anne Down, and Jon Voight). Now, you either loved Ronald Reagan or you thought he was hired to play a president by Central Casting — the proto-George W Bush, with everyone else in his cabinet serving the Dick Cheney role. Look into your hearts on this one, folks.
- You Gotta Believe (dir Ty Roberts, starr Luke Wilson, Greg Kinnear, Sarah Gadon, Michael Cash, Etienne Kellici, Molly Parker, and Patrick Renna). Do we hafta? The three didn’t even look at the plot description for this one: They guessed it was going to be a baseball drama. And guess what? They were right, dammit. “All you have to say is ‘Luke Wilson and Greg Kinnear’ and I’m already sleepy,” says Schulz. Levora helpfully offers “Luke Wilson and Greg Kinnear in a film called We Shoulda Saved Our Money.” Oy! Meyne zeytn!