What to Watch in the Theater:
Hustlers (R) is in theaters now. This movie follows Destiny (Constance Wu) as she learns the ropes (and pole) at a strip club, bonds with her fellow dancers, and gets involved in a plan to make some great money off their Wall Street clients, by engaging in some pretty shady operations. Jennifer Lopez has no trouble convincing us she’s a mid-30s dancer named Ramona, and she plays the mama/mama bear to the hilt. It’s a sometimes shocking, but very entertaining ride. This is bsed on a true story, with a lot of extra details added, and the names changed to protect the admittedly not-so-innocent.
Our rating: 4 out of 5
Abominable (PG) opens today. Although it seems like we had an animated movie about Yeti not too long ago (this time last year, Smallfoot), this story is a bit different. We follow Yi and her friends Peng and Jin, as they go on a journey to return Everest the young Yeti to his family in the Himalayas. As they travel from Shanghai, Yi is also on a voyage of self discovery, as she mourns her father’s death and develops a special bond with Everest. They’re being pursued by a rich collector and the zoologist in his employ, and there may be even more evil afoot! Oh, and the Yetis have magical powers. There’s a lot to unpack here, which makes the story a bit less predictable, and adds some emotional elements as well. It’s a sweet family adventure with a lot of heart.
Our rating: 4.5 out of 5
What to Watch at Home (Or Not):
Between Two Ferns: The Movie (TVMA) is streaming exclusively on Netflix. This mockumentary is based on a series of Funny or Die videos starring Zach Galifianakis. Zach takes his public access TV crew on the road, to capture celebrity interviews and prove himself to Will Ferrell. It feels mean to laugh at the awkwardness of it all, but that was the intention. The humor definitely isn’t for everyone, but for others there are a lot of laugh out loud moments. Make sure you watch the outtakes at the end.
Our rating: 4 out of 5
The Prisoner (TVPG) is streaming on Amazon Prime. This TV series from 1967-68 follows Patrick McGoohan as a spy who has just given notice that he’s retiring, only to be kidnapped and taken to “The Village” and renamed Number 6. It’s a pleasant place full of people with numbers for names, although Number 2 is always being replaced because he can’t get any info out of Number 6. There are many escapes attempted, seemingly successfully, but then… This series set the standard for all the SciFi and fantasy programming that came after it, and established a cult following. It still holds up, even 50+ years later.
Our rating: 5 out of 5
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