Happy Saturday, and R.I.P. Gena Rowlands

Delighted to see you, and wish I had happier news to share. Gena Rowlands died this week at 94, a huge loss for film lovers. Rowlands was a formidable and singular screen presence, hugely influential among a generation of actors for the piercing emotional truth she could convey. Whether she was fragile or ferocious, she always made you feel as if you were watching a real person navigating the complexities of life, and that could often be startling. Rowlands was an old-school, blonde stunner, and it would have been easy for her to choose glamorous roles, but she often played women who were challenging and difficult — roles that required her to dig deep into ugly territory — and that was thrilling.

My Ebert colleague Sheila O’Malley, an expert on Rowlands’ lengthy and varied career, was the perfect person to write our appreciation of her. This is beautiful and perceptive writing. Alonso and I also talked about her at the top of our Movie News LIVE! segment yesterday (link to that below). And we’ll devote our Off the Menu poll to Rowlands in September, giving our Patreon members the chance to vote on which film of hers they’d like us to review. There are no bad choices, and I can’t wait to see what they pick.

There’s so much going on this week, much of which we discussed at our Breakfast All Day YouTube channel. Hope you’ll check it out and subscribe if you haven’t already.

• ALIEN: ROMULUS. The seventh film in the franchise is the best one since James Cameron’s “Aliens.” “Don’t Breathe” director Fede Álvarez takes over with expert pacing and potent use of sound design. We saw it in IMAX and had a blast — and we definitely need to do a separate spoiler talk, because we saw stuff here we can’t unsee. In theaters.

• SKINCARE. Elizabeth Banks stars as Hollywood’s top facialist fighting off an upstart rival in this uneven satire. It’s kind of a dark comedy and kind of a thriller, and while there’s some suspense and Banks’ performance is fun, the pieces never add up. More crucially (for me, at least), it gets some basic L.A. geography stuff wrong. In theaters.

• KNEECAP. The members of the Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap play themselves in this exuberant, kinda-sorta music biopic. I had never heard of them but totally enjoyed the bursting energy of this film, as well as their infectious, rebellious songs. Michael Fassbender co-stars. In theaters.

• MOVIE NEWS LIVE! Just a ton of stuff to talk about this week, including Gena Rowlands, arrests in Matthew Perry’s death, the continuing “It Ends With Us” drama, Tom Cruise’ Olympics extravaganza and more. Join us here every Friday at Noon Pacific.

I’m shocked at how much I enjoyed “My Penguin Friend,” which I reviewed this week for RogerEbert.com. It’s an old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing family film with zero snark or on-the-nose needle drops. Jean Reno stars in this true story of the unlikely friendship between a Brazilian fisherman and the penguin who migrated thousands of miles from Patagonia to visit him every year. They used actual penguins 80 percent of the time, giving the film a feeling of realism and intimacy. (Plus they’re just too damn cute.) And frequent Danny Boyle collaborator Anthony Dod Mantle is the cinematographer, so it’s stunningly beautiful. In theaters.

Also this week, I had the pleasure of appearing on both of the radio shows I do: FilmWeek on LAist with Larry Mantle, alongside Manuel Betancourt (who is hilarious and extremely good at this), and KCRW’s Press Play With Madeleine Brand, alongside my darling Alonso. We reviewed the movies I mentioned above, along with a few others. Listen and enjoy as you’re running around this weekend!

One of my favorite things we do is our Table for One reviews. Our viewers pick a movie they’d like to discuss with us, we meet up online, then I whip up the video and send it to them to keep. We’ve done dozens of them, and they’re always so much fun and a great way to get to know our folks. This week, we did a couple: Return to Oz (1985) with our friend Josh Cason, and “Nosferatu the Vampyre” (1979) with our friend Jesse Inman. I’d never seen either, which is always a bonus. “Return to Oz” is serious nightmare fuel, but it’s become something of a cult favorite for viewers much younger than me over the years. And Werner Herzog’s “Nosferatu” is an expertly crafted stunner. If you’d like to pick a movie to review with us, there’s a quick and easy form you can fill out at christylemire.com.

This week, I got totally sucked into Anne Helen Petersen’s multi-part deep dive into sorority rush at the University of Alabama. I discovered it through the 1440 newsletter (more on that below), which I’ve really been enjoying for its curation of news and culture. The social media phenomenon of #BamaRush and #RushTok has emerged as a guilty pleasure over the past few years, with Greek alumni and GDI alike gawking at the perky extremism of it all. Rush was NOT like that when I pledged Delta Gamma at Southern Methodist University in 1990, but I recognize some of the traditions and the desire to fit in at a new place. Petersen explores the complicated repercussions of this deeply entrenched system, from hazing to racism to politics, and her reporting is lively and extensive. Set aside some time and dig into it.

Thanks so much for sharing some of your time with me today. Don’t forget, if you’re a Lunch Date member, our August meet-up is a littler earlier this month — this Monday, Aug. 19, at Noon Pacific. More details on these monthly live chats at our Patreon membership tab. If you’ve found value in my Saturday Matinee newsletter, I’d be honored if you’d share it with a friend. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.

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