Baldywood: A new release in "What Should I Stream Tonight?" // "Reddit? Did It!" // Actor Redundancy of the Week // Reader feedback
"Remember, his taste sucks..."
Hello! And welcome to the Baldywood Newsletter. After a couple of quiet weeks of new releases, the Summer movie season kicks back into high gear with two big releases this week: The zombie horror sequel 28 Years Later and Pixar’s Elio. I’m going to try to see both in what will be an… interesting double feature.
On to this week’s newsletter…
In this edition:
“What should I stream tonight?”
“Reddit? Did it!”
Actor Redundancy of the Week
Reader feedback
Let’s get started!
“What should I stream tonight?”
I’m glad you asked!
I want an action-packed, bloody animated film: “Predator: Killer of Killers”
A Baldywood first! One of this week’s under-the-radar streaming selections is a new release. “Predator: Killer of Killers” counts as under-the-radar because, even though it’s getting great reviews and people are loving it, it doesn’t feel like it’s achieving mainstream breakthrough success. Which is too bad, because it’s awesome.
“Predator: Killer of Killers” is, of course set in the Predator universe (the film series beginning with the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie). This is the first animated entry in the series, but it doesn’t skimp on the violence; far from it. This is probably the most violent animated movie I’ve ever seen.
But the movie is not just an excuse for lots of blood; “Predator: Killer of Killers” is action-packed and lots of fun, along the lines of much-more-violent “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” The animation is inspired and allows the filmmakers to do a lot more with the story (and larger universe). “Predator: Killer of Killers” is not for everyone and definitely NOT for little kids. But it’s a terrific thrill ride, and at just 90 minutes, it’ll have you eager for more.
Bald Fun Scale™ rating: Spine-ripping fun!
“Predator: Killer of Killers” is streaming on Hulu.
I want a true-crime drama about a man falling apart: “Shattered Glass”
“That guy who played Anakin Skywalker… did he ever do anything else?” You’re talking about Hayden Christensen, and yes he did! Quite a bit, in fact. His most high-profile role (outside of the “Star Wars” universe) was in the almost-awesome-but-flawed “Jumper” in 2008. But his best performance - that I’ve seen, anyway - is as Stephen Glass, a real-life writer for (among many others) The New Republic and Rolling Stone magazines.
Terrible title aside, “Shattered Glass” is a riveting expose of Glass’s tenure at The New Republic, where he wrote dozens of articles that included fabricated material. The resulting scandal effectively ended his journalism career, all of which is portrayed in the film.
Christensen nails a very difficult assignment here: Our main character (Glass) is the villain of the story, yet he is totally sympathetic to the audience. You don’t want him to get away with it, you just… don’t want him to get caught. The cast is packed - Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Zahn, Melanie Lynskey, Hank Azaria - and the writer/director (Billy Ray) would go on to write films such as “Captain Philips,” “Flightplan” and “Richard Jewell.” It’s rated PG-13, so high schoolers should enjoy this.
“Shattered Glass” is streaming on Amazon Prime (with ads).
I want a fun, heartfelt, crowd-pleasing documentary: “Young at Heart”
“Young at Heart” is easily one of my favorite documentaries of all time. Very few movies - doc or otherwise - made me laugh and cry so earnestly. It’s about a troupe of senior citizens who form a singing group that performs contemporary hit songs, from Coldplay to The Clash. They take their act far and wide, from old folks’ homes to state prisons. There are laughs (watching old people try to sing a Prince song is sublime) and tears (as you might imagine with a large group of senior citizens, not all of them make it to the end of the film).
I’ve seen “Young at Heart” numerous times, and its magic never fails to work on me. It’s one of my go-to recommendations whenever anyone asks me for a documentary to watch. It’s at times funny, sweet, poignant, devastating, and ultimately very fun. It’s perfect for a date night, but kids should enjoy this too. There are very few movies I would recommend more wholeheartedly than “Young at Heart.”
“Young at Heart” is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
“Reddit? Did it!”
I love to browse movie forums on Reddit. Recently, a topic was posted to r/MovieCritic that asked, “What’s a movie you know objectively isn’t that good but still love anyway?” Great topic! So great, in fact, that we covered it THREE times (fool!) on my podcast The Film Vault - in 2010, 2012, and 2022 - in episodes titled “Top 5 Guilty Pleasures.” These are all movies that are technically “rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes (under 60%), yet I stand by them as great movies. My lists:
2010 list:
Kingpin (1996)
Sugar & Spice (2001)
Just Friends (2005)
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Jackass (2002)
2012 list:
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996)
300 (2007)
Serendipity (2001)
Men at Work (1990)
Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
2022 list:
Vanilla Sky (2001)
The Book Of Eli (2010)
Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
Scary Movie (2000)
Any Final Destination sequel (2000-2011)
What’s YOUR favorite guilty pleasure movie?
Actor Redundancy of the Week:
Actor redundancies were first brought to my attention by my former co-worker and all-around swell fella Dave Dameshek, who delighted whenever an actor does the same oddly-specific thing in two separate, non-related movies. Such as…
Charlton Heston plays a bearded man leading others through a vast desert (seemingly hopelessly) in two movies: “The Ten Commandments” and “Planet of the Apes”
Reader feedback
Did you know that “feedback” is the only (normal) word in the English language that contains the first six letters of the alphabet (a, b, c, d, e and f)? Now that you know, let’s see what the readers have to say!
Reader Bryan posted for the second week in a row with another Actor Redundancy:
Got one more redundancy for you. Domhnall Gleeson plays a psychotic kidnapper keeping their victim hostage in “The Patient” and “Echo Valley”
Yes! Thanks Bryan! I LOVE when you guys send me the actor redundancies that you’ve noticed. Another great one!
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