Weekend Watchlist: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, The Wonder and Causeway

Episode notes

[Izon by Trent Walton fades in, plays alone, fades out]

MITCHELL Hello and welcome to Weekend Watchlist, a look at what’s screening and streaming brought to you by The Letterboxd Show. I’m Mitchell, he’s Slim...

SLIM Hello!

MITCHELL And together we will dig through what’s dropping this weekend, last weekend, recent trends on Letterboxd and we’ll also take a peek at our own watchlists—all under 30 minutes or Mia will keep saying ‘Hole Horror’. [Slim laughs]

SLIM I think I want a refund just from hearing you saying that. Mitchell your favorite musician—this is a rumor, I don’t know if it’s confirmed—but your favorite musician, Weird Al, finally making an appearance on Weekend Watchlist. How do you feel?

MITCHELL This is the first time that I’m hearing that Weird Al is my favorite musician, but we’ll roll with it, we’ll roll with it. [Slim laughs]

SLIM Thank you.

MITCHELL He seems like a very nice man.

SLIM Thank you for playing along. This week we will talk about the Roku Channel’s big bet with that Weird Al movie and Florence Pugh’s period piece The Wonder and Causeway starring Jennifer Lawrence. We’ll also look back to see what everyone thought of last week’s releases, your community reviews tagged ‘Weekend Watchlist’ and of course, our own shuffled watchlists later in the show and maybe we’ll even hear from the Scream King himself, Justin Long.

MITCHELL Wow. Potentially more from Justin later, but for right now, it is time to get Weird... Al, that is... [Slim laughs]

SLIM Another refund. [Mitchell laughs] That’s two refunds right off the bat in the first 90 seconds.

MITCHELL Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, directed by Eric Appel, on 23,000 watchlists, coming out from, as Slim mentioned, the Roku Channel, where we’re all watching our movies. The synopsis for this one: “Exploring every facet of ’Weird Al’ Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ’Eat It’ and ’Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle, this biopic takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.” How do you feel about that synopsis? [Slim laughs]

SLIM I think that synopsis kind of teases out what to expect with this movie a little bit. I did not grow up a giant Weird Al fan. I was always Weird Al adjacent, you know, knew his music, loved to have a great time. So I went in pretty much in the dark when I watched this on the Roku Channel. So maybe people are wondering like, ‘how do I watch this? I don’t have a Roku. Can I watch this?’ The answer is yes, if you have a Smart TV or one of those streaming sticks, whatever, you can just install the Roku Channel and probably watch this. I liked this a lot—it’s funny. I thought it was like Hot Rod meets [The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!] And the plot is just so dumb and stupid and funny and insane. A lot of the gags are, you know, he’s just this amazing musician and he has uncovered this form of music that once he plays it for his roommates, it’s like the coolest thing they’ve ever heard and they’re saying, “you’re gonna be the biggest thing ever.” It’s just so fun. I had a great time watching it. What did you think?

MITCHELL Yeah, I really enjoyed it too. I, like you, I grew up knowing Weird Al and knowing the hits, like Amish Paradise and I can’t the name of it, but the Star Wars one that’s parodying American Pie—I know the hits but I’m not super into Weird Al like a lot of people are. And I had been seeing a lot of comparisons between this and [Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story], even from people just watching the trailer—which Walk Hard was not a movie that I particularly care for. I thought it was just kind of one bit that was really drawn out over like two hours. It just felt kind of long for me. So I wasn’t—I went into this a little bit skeptical. But yeah, I think that the Hot Rod comparison I think makes a lot of sense. I think that it is more comedically in the vein of what the Lonely Island guys do with their movies like Hot Rod and [Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping] than something like Walk Hard, where they are just really leaning into the stupidity of it all in a really, really fun way. They are just taking the piss out of all these biopic tropes. One of the recurring bits I really loved about it is, so in doing these musical biopics, you have actors lip-synching the songs and they bring in a real singer to do the singing voices for it. And for this one, they are not even pretending for a single second that Daniel Radcliffe is singing these songs. They’re basically just like overlaying the actual Weird Al tracks, anytime he opens his mouth for the singing bits and it is so funny, it did not wear out on me at all, it was so funny for me every single time they did that. So yeah, there’s a lot of funny bits that are in this. Maybe by about the midway point, Evan Rachel Wood comes in as Madonna and there’s a lot of stuff going on with that, they go down that track and it started to wear on me a little bit, because it is kind of a gimmicky idea that is stretched out for and hour and 45 minutes. So it did get a little bit tedious for me towards the end but then the final act really kicks back in. The ending is sensational. So there’s still funny bits throughout. Yeah, I really enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting it to.

SLIM Yeah, it definitely feels like this would be a great theater experience with friends. AmandaTheJedi left a review: “Any day I get to see Daniel Radcliffe AND Evan Rachel Wood in the flesh is a good day. Watch with friends.”

MITCHELL Gemma saw it at a theater in a big festival crowd and her review says: “Completely, utterly, almost perfectly stupid—as great an example as any for the continued existence of film festivals and indie cinemas and seeing comedies with a crowd. Throw out the act three fat suit and you’ve got a full five stars.” Which I agree, I mean, I watched it late at night alone in my home, you know, don’t—it’s not as sad as it sounds. I had a nice time. [Slim laughs] But I did feel throughout that I wish that I had been seeing it in a theater, late at night with a packed crowd. You can definitely just feel that energy of people just having a ball with it.

SLIM Let’s move on to the big Florence Pugh movie, the one everyone’s talking about, The Wonder, not Don’t Worry Darling—by the way, I think that’s coming to HBO Max next week.

MITCHELL November 7.

SLIM Holy smokes. Is it time for me to finally watch Don’t Worry Darling?

MITCHELL I’ve been telling—Samm and I’ve been looking at it. It’s on VOD right now, you can pay twenty bucks and I’m like, “you know what, we’re not going to pay twenty bucks for this one...” [Slim laughs]

SLIM The Wonder directed by Sebastian Lelio, on 19,000 watchlists. This is going to be in theaters and then Netflix on November 16. “Set in the Irish Midlands in 1859 as an English nurse, Lib Wright, goes to a tiny village to observe what some see as a medical anomaly and others a miracle, that a girl has survived without food for months. Tourists flock to see 11-year-old Anna O’Donnell, and a journalist has come to cover the sensation as two strangers transform each other’s lives in a story of love pitted against evil.” So Florence Pugh, Netflix, period piece. Mitchell, what did you think?

MITCHELL Yeah, so I watched The Wonder last night and I thought it was pretty good. I think that I, maybe, was more—the synopsis is interesting, “the love pitted against evil” thing is interesting to me in the synopsis, because I wasn’t really—I didn’t really pick up on that too much...

SLIM You didn’t sense evil, the evil among the townspeople. [Mitchell laughs]

MITCHELL I think that more than anything I was really impressed with the aesthetics of it. The cinematography is gorgeous. It looks from the jump, almost—I mean, well, there are some very interesting bookends with a movie that maybe we can talk about. But the crux of the film where we’re seeing the narrative take place, it almost looks like you’re watching the movie by candlelight in this really interesting way, it’s kind of hazy and I really was just really drawn in by that. The score is phenomenal. So I was really compelled by what was going on aesthetically, even maybe more so than what the story is doing, necessarily, but Florence Pugh I think is fantastic. I think she’s one of our best actors for sure, especially of her generation. And I think that, you know, I haven’t seen Don’t Worry Darling yet. I’m excited to see her in that, but I think that she’s great in this. What did you feel about it?

SLIM I liked it. I had a Boss Baby moment while watching this, because I was thinking about how I was watching this on Netflix and visually I was getting [The] Power of the Dog vibes—and lo and behold, same cinematographer for both movies, Ari Wegner. And I liked A Fantastic Woman, one of his previous films. I like this too. I thought the score was great. I saw some criticism of the score but I thought the score was just a perfect fit. It doesn’t feel like it fits in this time period, but it fit with the visuals, it fit with the vibe for me. And you’re right, it does have some bookends to this movie that I’ve never seen ever in a movie. Some reviews I think even talked about how when you’re first watching it, you might have thought you hit play on the wrong movie.

MITCHELL Yeah...

SLIM But it’s very strange. Never seen it before.

MITCHELL Yeah, it’s almost kind of like Dogville, a little bit, but just for the first and last three minutes. It’s very bizarre. But I would check it out, check it out for the bookends, see what you think. Write about it on Letterboxd. [Mitchell laughs] We’ve got a few reviews to read out here. Nicole Ackman says: “The Wonder was not what I expected, but so gorgeously atmospheric. Florence Pugh proves again that she’s truly one of the best actresses of our generation in this film that grapples with faith and English-Irish relations. Excellent period costumes, hair, and makeup.”

SLIM Yeah, and you were talking about the candlelight stuff, it makes it look grainy. When I was watching it, I was like, ‘wow, this looks really dark, really grainy almost, you know, have to do some digging to see how they filmed it to give it that old look.’ Paul Oyama: “Stirring, superbly crafted period drama that I think went really underrated at the fall festivals. Sisyphean social horror hidden inside examination of faith and insular communities is a clever turn. Florence Pugh is really terrific in this, a different flavor for her but she does the fierce and sober vigor so well.”

MITCHELL Theatres now, it’ll be on Netflix on November 16. Another one that you can catch streaming on your services that is out this week, is Causeway, directed by Lila Neugebauer, on 16,000 watchlists. This one is in theaters and on Apple TV+. The synopsis: “A US soldier suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home in New Orleans. When she meets local mechanic James, the pair begin to forge an unexpected bond.” This one stars Jennifer Lawrence, her first film since Don’t Look Up, she was away for a little while. She’s back in full-swing now and Brian Tyree Henry plays the mechanic. Slim, you haven’t seen this one yet. What are your vibes on Causeway? Are you excited for it?

SLIM Poster looks good. The vibes that I get from the Letterboxd page, it looks like a dreary watch, like a dramatic, dreary—maybe you need to be in the mood to watch one of these things. What did you think? You ventured in to Causeway...

MITCHELL I did. I watched Causeway the first letter—the first letter—the first word in my review is ‘dreary’... [Mitchell & Slim laugh]

SLIM We’re on the same wavelength just on poster alone.

MITCHELL It tracks. I mean, it is a particular kind of watch. It is a character-drama where not a lot happens narratively, it’s about these two characters' kind of bonding. And it feels like a Sundance-y kind of movie from the mid-2000s, which I really like and I really miss those kinds of movies. I feel like we don’t get a lot of them these days, especially ones that actually feel and look like real movies, which I think that Lila does really well here with her directing. It really is just focused on these characters' kind of bonding. And maybe it’s a little bit kind of surface level with its examinations of this trauma and this readjustment back to life, maybe I wished that it could have dug a little bit deeper and certain elements. But it’s really nice to see Jennifer Lawrence back in a movie like this, that is just more like a straight down the line character, something like a Winter’s Bone, that I feel like she hasn’t done in a while—she was doing the superhero thing. I am not a fan of Don’t Look Up by any means. So it was good to see her doing something like this. And I love, Brian Tyree Henry, I think is one of the best actors working right now. I think that he has such an engaging presence and I think he just does—he makes mincemeat out of line deliveries in this movie while giving off the impression that he’s barely even trying. He’s just so natural in his element as an actor that he doesn’t even seem like he’s breaking a sweat. And I just think that he’s tremendous and I think it’s another great performance from him.

SLIM the Don’t Look Up discourse? Feels like eons ago. It wasn’t that long ago. Should we go back? Special Don’t Look Up discourse episode. [Slim laughs]

MITCHELL I think either by most popular or my second most popular review on my Letterboxd profile is my one star review of Don’t Look Up. And honestly, stop liking it, please. Please people, give more likes to positive reviews.

SLIM Oh my gosh. I need to—Don’t Look—pause for editing. Oh my god, nearing 500 likes on this one star Don’t Look Up review. We’ll have that linked in the episode notes if anyone wants to go down memory lane. [Mitchell laughs] We won’t delve too deep back into the discourse. So Ella left a review: “Major, major performances. Loved Neugebauer’s work on Maid, too - some really bold choices here again, start in with the strange and soothing creamy colour palette trying to drum into your head that things will get lighter. It got me. Huge for a feature debut! Love!” Very positive Ella review.

MITCHELL Let’s take a look back at the films that you and Mia discussed last week, you know, maybe some other things that we wanted to call out and see how things are tracking. First, Armageddon Time from director James Gray, 3.4 average, it’s hitting on Letterboxd right now. You and Gemma got to talk to James Gray himself on The Letterboxd Show Four Faves out this week. Tell me, if people haven’t listened to that,, what’s going on over there?

SLIM Oh my gosh, one of my favorite episodes, if I can be frank with you, Mitchell.

MITCHELL Word around town from my mother, is that it’s the best episode of the Four Faves episodes. [Slim laughs]

SLIM Well, well, well. Okay. That’s some high praise. Yeah, James is a cinephile, big time cinephile. Love to hear him talk about movies that influenced Armageddon Time. And moreover than that, I loved hearing his emotional impact of film, you know, how it influences how you feel watching a movie, how you feel being in people’s shoes, how you learn how you view how there’s complexity in human nature. I loved hearing him talk about that stuff in podcast format. I think you can kind of see some of that in his movies, but to hear him kind of go at length about those topics was really fun for me.

MITCHELL Yeah, it’s a very fun episode to listen to. I like that there’s—you and Gemma just kind of let him go. [Mitchell laughs]

SLIM Yes.

MITCHELL I mean, he’s always been one of my favorite people to check out interviews with and, yeah, he just has such a way with words. He’s this kind of guy who just has this encyclopedia in his head of every film he’s ever seen and also just like—I can’t stand these people who just know quotes in their head from movies, from books that they’ve read, they can just pull quotes out, like it’s just in there. And I’m very jealous of it. It sounds very smart and I have never been able to do it. I don’t know a quote of anything. But it’s a great episode. [Slim laughs]

SLIM You could quote your Don’t Look Up review though, I bet. That’s probably at the top of your mind.

MITCHELL I don’t know it. I don’t know it. [Slim laughs]

SLIM Armageddon Time sitting at 3.4 average. Wendell & Wild, 3.6 average. Emma Hodge left a review: “This was so much fun! The attention to detail and design of the animation are amazing. Sign me up for more Henry Selick and Jordan Peele projects like this.” So high praise on the Wendell & Wild drop on Netflix.

MITCHELL Yeah, I watched that this weekend—pretty fun stuff, pretty fun. The design of it is so cool. I mean, I just love seeing stop-motion done well.

SLIM review: “A brutal and emotional war film that’s right up there with the best of them. Watch Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old and then the stellar 1917 before watching this.” 1917 is... I love 1917. What did you think of 1917? I can’t tell if this is like a Mitchell two and a half star, don’t believe the hype 1917 or you enjoyed it?