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Saturday people! Good to see you. It feels like we’re in the home stretch in many ways, even as summer movie season is just getting started. School is ending, and we’re just trying to survive the next few weeks around here. June 4 can’t come fast enough.
The big thing for us this week was the IMAX screening of “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” If “Michael” and “The Devil Wears Prada 2” were the warm-ups for summer blockbuster time, this “Star Wars” movie, opening Memorial Day weekend, marks the official start. We did a quick out-of-the-theater reaction right afterward, but we’ll have a full review on Tuesday morning once the embargo lifts. And then we’re definitely going to have to do a live spoiler chat, because there’s stuff we want to get into. That’ll be on Tuesday, May 26 at Noon Pacific, so make sure you join us for that.
And if you’d like to catch up with our recaps of “The Mandalorian” series beforehand, they’re all here at our Patreon. We watched and discussed every single episode of the Disney+ show — all three seasons, which decreased in quality as they went along. But Nic and I had a surprisingly good time watching the movie version, which was especially thrilling on that giant screen.
Here’s what else we reviewed this week on our Breakfast All Day YouTube channel and podcast, where we’re celebrating our 600th episode. Take us with you as you’re shopping for last-minute graduation gifts.
MORTAL KOMBAT II. I’d forgotten that there even was a “Mortal Kombat” movie, much less that I’d seen and reviewed it. It came out in that post-pandemic haze of 2021. But here we are with a sequel, this time featuring Karl Urban as has-been ‘90s action star Johnny Cage. It is both stupid and not stupid enough. But it was a huge hit last weekend, so we wanted to play catch-up. Nic and I had fun drinking soda and eating candy during a Mother’s Day matinee. In theaters.
MARTY, LIFE IS SHORT. Martin Short is the subject of this warm and affectionate documentary. Name someone whose work you like in the Canadian comedy world and they are probably in this. But Lawrence Kasdan’s film also features home movies of Short and his family with his famous friends and their families — including Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg — as well as openhearted interviews with the always delightful Short himself. He’s been through so much tragedy, and yet he perseveres and continues to entertain. Streaming on Netflix.
THE PUNISHER: ONE LAST KILL. Last week, Jon Bernthal wrote and starred in a one-off episode of “The Bear,” called “Gary.” This week, he wrote and starred in a one-off episode of “The Punisher,” called “One Last Kill.” These are very different kinds of television, but they both showcase Bernthal’s brooding intensity, fearlessness and versatility. We tried something a little different here and shared this recap on our YouTube channel as well as our Patreon. Warning, it’s super violent! (The show, that is. not our discussion of it.) Streaming now on Disney+.
No movie news livestream this week, but join us next Friday, May 22 at Noon Pacific time. We always love seeing you and hearing your thoughts on what’s happening in the world.
The Cannes Film Festival has begun, and that means daily dispatches from my fellow critics about how long audiences are giving post-screening standing ovations. Apparently there are no big, glossy blockbusters this year, as there often are. But one movie to look for is Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas,” which features some personal, autobiographical elements, as so many of the Spanish auteur’s films do. My great friend Glenn Whipp had a candid and entertaining interview with Almodóvar this week in the LA Times. We’ll be sure to review “Bitter Christmas” when it comes out theatrically later this year — it’s a Christmas movie from Almodóvar, Alonso’s favorite filmmaker. The Venn diagram is a circle.
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One of my favorite newsletters and podcasts is Culture Study from Anne Helen Petersen. I first discovered her when I read her multi-part deep dive on sorority rush at The University of Alabama. (Like me, she is a Delta Gamma.) But Petersen is really smart and insightful about a number of topics, particularly on being a woman, today, online. This week on her podcast, she had as her guest another writer whose work I love, Sara Petersen, to discuss the state of momfluencers. If you are remotely similar to me, you probably get flooded with this kind of aspirational content on your Instagram feed, whether you want it or not: picture-perfect kitchens, meticulously coordinated outfits, well-behaved kids. It’s all a façade, of course, meant to make you buy whatever they’re selling. But all of these shiny photos and videos can also make you feel depressed and inferior. A dear friend of mine who recently had her first child told me she had to delete the Instagram app from her phone, because the idealized depictions of motherhood on the platform were just too much to handle. I haven’t been a new mom for a very long time, but I get it.
Anyway, it’s a topic I think about a lot as a woman, today, online. If you think about it, too, I hope you find the work of both of these writers helpful.
That’ll do it for me today. Later this afternoon, Nic and I are heading out for a matinee of the buzzy horror movie “Obsession,” so look for a review of that early next week. If you’ve enjoyed my newsletter, I hope you’ll share it with someone else. And if someone has shared it with you, I hope you’ll subscribe. Saturday Matinee is always free. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.
