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Happy Saturday to all you wonderful people. I don’t know about you but I feel like it’s summer already. There’s a Star War in theaters, and a new Spielberg movie will be out in a couple of weeks. Nic’s last day of sophomore year is Thursday. I wore white jeans to an Italian restaurant last night, that’s how upbeat and confident I’m feeling.
There’s so much going on at the movies, with blockbusters coming from unexpected places. Here’s what we reviewed this week on our Breakfast All Day YouTube channel and podcast. Take us with you as you’re out and about, and maybe leave a review and a few stars if you have a moment. It helps people find us in the crowded podcast ether.
BACKROOMS. As promised last week, here’s our full review of the buzzy A24 horror movie. This is going to be a giant hit: It earned over $10 million on Thursday night alone, with expectations that it could make more than $75 million over the weekend. It is supremely creepy, with vivdly detailed production design and a sustained mood of dread. Now that I’ve seen “Backrooms,” I see backrooms wherever I go. Twenty-year-old Kane Parsons is definitely onto something. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve star. In theaters.
And check back with us at our channel for a LIVE spoiler chat on Tuesday at Noon Pacific. There’s so much we didn’t want to ruin in our original review, but we definitely want to go into what’s really going on here — or at least what we think is really going on here. Join us and share your thoughts.
POWER BALLAD. We love John Carney around here, but the Irish writer-director’s latest comes nowhere near his best work, such as “Once” and “Sing Street.” Paul Rudd is a wedding singer who never fulfilled his dreams of rock greatness; Nick Jonas is a pop star who longs to prove himself as a serious artist. The night they connect over their shared love of making music is magical, but the rest of the movie has trouble finding a groove. Alonso liked this better than I did. In limited release now before opening nationwide June 5.
THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU LIVE SPOILER CHAT. We didn’t want to spoil things in our initial review of the latest in the “Star Wars” saga. But now, it’s time to spoil. Join us and share your thoughts on Jeremy Allen White as a buff Hutt.
MOVIE NEWS LIVE! Always so much to discuss, including “Backrooms,” early reactions to “Disclosure Day,” Armie Hammer mounting a comeback in a Uwe Boll movie, and all the performers who’ve backed out of the Freedom 250 concerts. (Is there even anybody left at this point?) Join us on Fridays at Noon Pacific.
Also, I was back on FilmWeek on LAist to discuss these movies and many others alongside Wade Major. (We disagreed a lot, which makes things fun.) You can also take us with you in podcast form. Sharing the air with the legendary Larry Mantle is always a privilege. Listen and enjoy.
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There’s so much going on over at our Patreon these days, including our recap of “The Testaments” finale — which we now know was the season 1 finale, with more in store during season 2. This sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale” was extraordinary, building on the world we already knew with complex characters and revelatory performances. Chase Infiniti, Lucy Halliday and Mattea Conforti were all incredible, and it’s always good to see Elisabeth Moss and Ann Dowd. Plus, we’re suckers for a well-choreographed overhead shot. Let us know what you thought of this first season, and join us for more recaps once the show returns.
And once you’ve finished “The Testaments,” check out this insightful Hollywood Reporter interview with series creator Bruce Miller. It answers a lot of questions and will make you excited to see more.
We also started recapping “Spider-Noir,” the new Nicolas Cage series on Prime Video. This is an expansion of his brief appearance in the Spiderverse as one of the alternative Spider-Man figures. So he does whatever a spider can — spins webs, catches thieves, etc. — but he does it as a hardboiled 1930s New York detective. You have the option of watching “Spider-Noir” in either black and white or color, but the choice seemed pretty obvious to me and Nic when we hit play on the first episode. The lush noir style is meant to be seen in black and white, with all its severe shadows and dramatic lighting within this Art Deco cityscape. We’re loving the look of this series more than the actual substance, but it’s early. Maybe the story will grab us. Cage’s delivery is always entertaining, although at 62, he’s way too old for this role. All eight episodes are out there, but as always, we’re recapping them two at a time. Watch along with us and let us know what you think.
For this month’s Off the Menu poll, we paid tribute to Marilyn Monroe, who would have turned 100 on Monday. It’s crazy to think of her as an older woman. She is eternally youthful, beautiful and iconic. Our subscribers chose “Some Like It Hot,” Billy Wilder’s classic 1959 farce, which the American Film Institute chose as the greatest comedy of all time. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon star as jazz musicians on the run from the mob in 1929 Chicago. They pretend to be women to join an all-female band that’s heading down to Florida. Both fall for Monroe’s singer and ukulele player, Sugar Kane, with hilarious results. Apparently, Marilyn was a mess during production, but you’d never know it from this performance: “Some Like It Hot” is a great example of everything she could do. She’s charming and charismatic, sexy and sweet — a gifted comedienne who’s in on the joke. “Some Like It Hot” moves with clockwork precision, and it’s surprisingly forward thinking about gender roles for its time.
Thanks to everyone who voted this month, and be on the lookout for when Alonso curates our June poll, which will be Pride-related.
That’ll do it for me for this week. But I’m so grateful as always that you’ve chosen to spend some of your time with me. If you’ve enjoyed my newsletter, I hope you’ll share it with someone else. And if someone else shared it with you, I hope you’ll consider subscribing. Saturday Matinee is always free. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.
