Happy Saturday From the Halfway Point

Happy Saturday, friends. How is it possible that it’s going to be July in a couple of days? Summer is flying by between big, new movies coming out every Friday, plus physical therapy for me three times a week as I recover from knee surgery. I started driving a little bit in my neighborhood, which was a relief, but the chaos of the 405 awaits. Thanks to everyone who’s asked about how I’m doing.

Here’s what we talked about this week on our Breakfast All Day YouTube channel. We’re inches away from our latest goal of reaching 30,000 subscribers by the end of the summer, so if you haven’t already joined us, we’d be thrilled to have you:

• A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE. Alonso and I do not agree on this prequel, which takes us back to the day of the alien invasion in New York City. Lupita Nyong’o gives a moving, physical performance, and she and Joseph Quinn work beautifully together as strangers who team up to survive. I have some questions about her anthropomorphized cat, though. In theaters.

• I AM: CELINE DION. The legendary French-Canadian chanteuse bares her soul and shares her pain in this intimate documentary. Dion lets the camera get up close and personal as she battles the neurological disorder that’s kept her from touring. I’m not really a fan of her music, but I came to appreciate her drive and the amount of detail that goes into everything she does. Also: her vast shoe collection. Streaming on Prime Video.

• A FAMILY AFFAIR. We enjoyed this Nancy Meyers-adjacent rom-com, a well-made piece of escapist fluff starring Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman. He’s a vain movie star; she’s an older widow whose daughter (Joey King) is Efron’s harried personal assistant. If you liked “The Idea of You” with Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine, this one’s for you. Streaming on Netflix.

• MOVIE NEWS LIVE! We do it every Friday at Noon Pacific … except for next Friday, which we’re taking off for the Fourth of July holiday. Among the topics we discussed were the trailer for Robert Zemeckis’ upcoming drama “Here,” which reunites him with “Forrest Gump” stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, and Paramount’s decision to remove years of TV content from the Internet. We love seeing our folks out there in the ether, so we hope you’ll join us.

We also revisited “St. Elmo’s Fire” this week, inspired by Andrew McCarthy’s “Brats” documentary on Hulu. The 1985 ensemble drama is the Brat Packiest Brat Pack movie of all, so we were curious to see whether it held up nearly 40 years later. Spoiler: It does not. We realized we were caught up in the popularity of Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, et al back in our youth. As grown-ass people, we now know these recent college graduates are all horrible and shallow, and the men are particularly toxic. Demi Moore is good in this, though, and we enjoyed director Joel Schumacher’s glossy aesthetic. It is SO ‘80s. But this rewatch is exactly why we do our Was It Great or Were You 8? series on our channel. The perspective of age is always illuminating. Have you watched “St. Elmo’s Fire” recently? I’d love to know what you think.

“The Bear” is back, and it’s more inspired than ever. We’re recapping season three on our Patreon, but we’re taking it two episodes at a time, even though Hulu dumped them all at once on Wednesday night. “The Bear” is a show that you need to take time and savor, especially the first episode of this new season, which is one of the most mesmerizing pieces of television I’ve ever seen. It is pure visual poetry — a nearly wordless kaleidoscope of Carmy’s experiences and memories, set to a moody Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score. Individual images took my breath away; I had to pause them to linger in the lighting and framing. Are you watching “The Bear”? Let me know, and please, no spoilers if you binged it!

We’re also continuing to recap “The Acolyte” on Disney+, which continues to get worse week after week. How are they going to squeeze three more episodes out of this story? Anyway, we’re here for the long haul.

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, July 2 at Noon Pacific time. That’s when we’ll do our live spoiler chat about “Kinds of Kindness.” The latest from Yorgos Lanthimos is out there in wider release now, and we wanted to give our viewers more of a chance to see it before digging into all the details. We’ll have a link to our livestream on our channel soon, and we can’t wait to hear your thoughts about this challenging, divisive film.

Thank you so much as always for spending some of your time with me. I know we’re all on the go these days between travel, kid activities, etc., so I really appreciate you being here. If you found some value in my newsletter, I’d be honored if you shared it. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.