Our October, On Screen

I’ve been neglecting an original theme of this writing project (I dislike the word ‘blog’, even if it’s accurate). My intent was to write about the movies we watch, hoping it might pique someone’s interest and inspire additions to their own watchlist. I had a lot of content. We were watching something almost every night, trading the dinner table for the couch and a movie.

There were hurdles. Initially, I sent posts into the void, hoping Google might find them an audience and I’d retain anonymity. It didn’t. I had one reader who unsubscribed the next week. Recovering from that ego check and overcoming my apprehension about having people I know read—and judge—what I write, I pulled back the veil and shared on social media.

It was going well, better than expected. In a few months, 200 different readers stopped by to check out a post (I have extended family galore, who probably make up half that number). But then, in came the biggest hurdle of them all. The Sopranos. We knew it was going to be good, just not that it would swallow whole months.

Eventually, we needed a break, a lightness to offset the dark. Season four of our guilty pleasure Emily in Paris had dropped, and starting the series over was the perfect antidote. With that now complete, we’ve begun sprinkling back in a few feature-length films.

The on-screen highlights of October:

• The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) by Joel and Ethan Coen
• Jagged Edge (1985) by Richard Marquand
• Sweet Home Alabama (2002) by Andy Tennant
• The Quick and the Dead (1995) by Sam Raimi
• Godzilla Minus One (2023) by Takashi Yamazaki

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Directed by the Coen brothers Joel and Ethan—known for Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), No Country for Old Men (2007)— The Hudsucker Proxy did not disappoint. Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption) stars as a hapless small-town business school graduate who finds himself appointed as the president of a large company by a conniving board member (Paul Newman).

This comedy is slightly screwy, easy to watch, and makes you laugh out loud with slapstick humor while laced with satire throughout.

Jagged Edge (1985)

Switching gears, Jagged Edge is a tense courtroom thriller and classic “did-he-or-didn’t-he”. Jeff Bridges plays a wealthy newspaper editor accused of murdering his wife, and Glenn Close shines as the defense attorney who falls for him despite some damning evidence. While slightly cheesy, its expert cast will keep you guessing until the very end.

Sweet Home Alabama (2002)

The early 2000s were the epitome of rom-coms with classics like 10 Things I Hate About You, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (my personal favorite), and Bridget Jones’s Diary. After more than two decades, I finally caught another classic: Sweet Home Alabama.

Reese Witherspoon plays a successful up-and-coming New York fashion designer pulled back to her Alabama roots—a small town unfamiliar and unimpressed with the spring catalogues and Bergdorf Goodman’s she surrounds herself with now. It’s a classic tale of past clashing with present, and even if she made the wrong choice in my eyes, it was a charming watch nonetheless.

The Quick and the Dead (1995)

Sharon Stone. Gene Hackman. Russel Crowe. Leonardo DiCaprio. Need I say more?

Directed by Sam Raimi, co-writer of The Hudsucker Proxy, this modern western is a revenge tale set within the confines of a town’s quick-draw tournament. These acting greats delivered—even 21-year-old DiCaprio, whose salary Sharon Stone (co-producer) personally funded to bring on board.

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

33 films in, Godzilla keeps on moving. The latest installment from Toho, Godzilla Minus One, garnered rave reviews and a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. It was considered one of the best movies of 2023 and won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. It wasn’t only critics. When polling colleagues for an all-team meeting icebreaker, many said this was the best movie they had recently watched.

The special effects are first-rate, putting many larger-budget productions to shame (I’m looking at you Marvel). It wasn’t enough. While visually stunning, a one-legged stool cannot stand long. Like Martin Scorsese opined about Marvel movies, Godzilla Minus One felt akin to a theme park. Lots of spectacle distracting from the hollow shell of a story. For me it lives happily in the rear-view mirror, soon to be forgotten.