Howdy, and welcome to another riveting edition of Da Year Of Da Movie! This entry is going to be a bit on the shorter side as I watched 8 films total this month, but only 3 of them will be covered in this post. The other 5 are going to be part of a separate thread that will probably come out some time in April. Look forward to that in the future, but for now we gotta focus on those other 3!
#3 – My Old Ass
Don’t let this being the “lowest” ranked of the month fool you, I still liked it a lot. As far as Coming-Of-Age stories go, My Old Ass does a great job of balancing the humor with the heartstrings. More jokes land than flop (extended musical sequence in the back half notwithstanding), and the overall messaging comes across as good-natured advice instead of the preachy vibes that these kinds of stories can fall into.
It’s carried pretty heavily by the performances. Aubrey Plaza playing someone that’s explicitly “Old” is sending me on a mild existential spiral, but she fits in perfectly here. Percy Hynes White also has the right amount of charming scoundrel energy as the love interest, but doesn’t come off as overbearing.
But the real star is Maisy Stella as Elliott. Since she’s in just about every scene, the weight of the entire movie rests squarely on her shoulders. And for someone with only a few other credits on IMDB, she absolutely crushes it. There’s enough sass to be believably teenaged, but enough maturity to not come off as annoying. Plus her chemistry with White is great too.
I also want to shout out how short this movie is. The hour and a half runtime is perfect. In an alternate universe, the last act is dragged out with Elliott trying to change the future in some way, only to fail to do so and learn the lesson of the movie (Enjoy the “Now” while you have it) in the process. You can feel the spots where that padding could’ve been added in the final cut, and I think the movie is way better for them not being there.
Fun lil movie over all, that would’ve hit me super hard a decade ago. But current me likes it just fine too, even though AUBREY PLAZA CANNOT BE OLD YET, SHE IS STILL THE INSANELY HOT LADY ON PARKS AND RECC GODDAMNIT
#2 – BlackBerry
If you know a Canadian person in their 30s that loves The Office and was too cool to buy an iPhone at launch, get this movie in front of them immediately. And honestly, even if you check none of the above boxes, you’ll probably have a good time regardless.
The movie follows the rise and fall of the primordial Smartphone, from its start as a risky prototype, to Steve Jobs shooting the whole thing to death with a novelty touchscreen Gun App. This is all shown from the viewpoint of its two creators, played by Jay Baruchel and Matt Johnson (who’s also the director, which is neat) and the scummy businessman that actually got the whole thing off the ground, played by Glenn Howerton.
I’m gonna be honest; I spent my entire viewing of this movie laughing at how bad the bald-cap looked on Howerton, but apparently he actually shaved his head and that’s just how his skull looks. Which uhhh…. Yeah, poor guy.
There’s really just not a ton I can say about this one, other than “I liked it”. Just a well made movie, about a fun story. There’s a decent amount of 2000’s nostalgia, but it’s done tastefully. Also ProZD is in this for some reason? I dunno man. Anyway, if ya like this section of the post, Like, Comment, Favorite, Subscribe, Retweet, Reblog, Tickle My Balls.
#1 – The Lighthouse
I watched this movie on February 1st. I am writing this sentence on March 6th. For the past 32 days, I have been terrified of having to talk about it.
The Lighthouse is captivating. Every single frame feels intentional, every strange quirk or idiosyncrasy pushing or pulling your focus in a specific direction. You’re locked into this world for two hours drinking in every little detail, then spilled out back into your own reality.
There’s just so much to say. Do you focus on the performances? Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are both at the absolute top of their games, delivering spellbinding monologues that burst from the screen and pierce directly through the viewer’s body, or beating a gull to death with a savage ferocity so viscerally real that it starts out comical but ends chilling.
Or what about the visuals? The black and white palette is beyond striking, giving the entire film an otherworldly presence. The camera moves almost robotically to transition between shots, highlighting the height or depth of the set. The imagery takes on a dreamlike quality as it flashes in front of you, like shocking bolts of fantasy that are gone before you have time to fully process what exactly you were just looking at.
But then you have to mention the story itself! The core plot (2 dudes go stir crazy at a lighthouse) is beyond simple, but there are so many layers to unwrap. Which elements are tangible and which are metaphorical? And then, what do those metaphors actually mean? You could answer in about a thousand different ways, and I don’t think any of them would be wrong.
So then, what answers do I have? Honestly, very few. I’m realizing there’s a problem with my approach to this entire project, in that waiting a month to get out my thoughts is hurting my ability to articulate them as well as I’d like. I’ll work on that going forward. For now, just know that I liked this a ton. It’s the most “Artsy” thing I’ve ever watched and I can’t wait to check out more strange stuff like it. Hopefully I’ll be able Spill My Beans a bit more eloquently going forward.
Thanks for reading! Writing this was like pulling teeth, I hated every minute of it. From here on out, I’m going to try to write out at least a skeleton of my thoughts shortly after watching each movie, that way I’m less lost when it comes time to actually put this together at the start of each month. In fact, after I get the finishing touches on this post, I’m outlining my thoughts on the first thing I watched in March. Spoiler alert, it’s the first time I’ve given something 5 stars on Letterboxd, so that’s neat!
Also, I think it’ll be mildly funny to just rank everything I watch this year overall, in one gigantic list. Watching that grow from a reasonable top 9 now to a top 100 over the course of the year is going to be dumb, but it’ll all be worth it once I can accurately tell someone what my 54th favorite movie is.
Hope you’ve had a great start to your 2025, see ya in April!
THE LIST:
- The Lighthouse
- Presence
- Punch-Drunk Love
- Gone Girl
- BlackBerry
- Baby Driver
- My Old Ass
- John Wick
- The Big Lebowski
Flamoctapus 