San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
The movie season begins with an unaccustomed feeling: hope.
For the past few seasons, we have been reporting on movies scheduled for release, but with the suspicion that very few of these releases were ever going to happen. The virus wasn’t going away, indoor theaters weren’t reopening, and major films were just holding in place, waiting to be moved into some time in the distant future.
But this spring season is different. This time, there’s uncertainty, but a
kind of uncertainty — the possibility that things may be getting better.
Nothing is sure, and the timeline can’t be known. But with the decrease in COVID19 cases and the dissemination of the vaccines, movie houses are gradually reopening, albeit with restrictions, but enough for us to anticipate the day when it both feels safe and safe to go to the movies again.
It’s worth noting that, over the course of the pandemic, movie lovers have been less deprived than lovers of other art forms. A movie watched on a television screen — or a smartphone — is still a movie, after all. One might even say that the pandemic, by forcing people to entertain themselves at home, has only emphasized the importance of movies, as a means of getting out of ourselves and connecting with the experiences of others.
Thus, for film aficionados, the problem has been less practical than spiritual; not a problem of deprivation, but emotion.
Despite the inconveniences of movie theaters — the sticky floors and the inevitable idiot making phone calls — there’s something about that moment, the second in between the lights going down and the movie starting, that always feels like something wonderful might happen.
That sense of possibility is often crushed, sometimes with magnificent swiftness, but it’s a resilient little feeling, nonetheless, and one that many of us haven’t had for a year.
The movies coming up this season continue the trends in movies that were present before the pandemic: superhero movies, zombie movies, monster movies, animated features and the occasional documentary.
Here is a selection of titles that look interesting:
“Godzilla vs. Kong”: It’s a grudge match. These guys don’t like each other. They’ve never liked each other. Millie Bobby Brown and Alexander Skarsgard costar, in a film in which earthlings enlist Kong to fight Godzilla. Kong is humankind’s last hope.
“French Exit”: In this comedydrama, Michelle Pfeiffer plays a widowed cashpoor socialite who relocates to Paris.
Pfeiffer is the great underappreciated actress of our era, and any time she headlines a movie, it’s worthy of our attention. The fact that it’s set in Paris makes it even better.
“Monday”: Sebastian Stan, who is best known as the tortured best friend of Captain America now starring in the Disney+ Marvel series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” is ditching the superhero genre for romantic drama.
Costarring Denise Gough, the film is about two people who meet on a Friday, spend the weekend together ... and then have to figure out where they stand when the weekend is over.
“The Woman in the Window”: Amy Adams plays a nosy neighbor, an agoraphobic who gets herself into trouble when, spying out her window, she sees something she shouldn’t see. It sounds like a fun take on a “Rear Window”type story, and a great vehicle for Adams.
Two other positive signs: It’s directed by Joe Wright (“Darkest Hour”), with a screenplay by Tracy Letts (“August: Osage County”), and Anthony Mackie (“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”), Jennifer Jason Leigh and Gary Oldman (“Mank”) costar.
“Final Account”: Through interviews with people who were alive at the time, this documentary tells the story of the Holocaust from the standpoint of its perpetrators and witnesses within Nazi Germany.
“A Quiet Place Part II”: A sequel to the inventive “A Quiet Place” (2018), about people menaced by aliens with bad eyesight but exceptional hearing, this was supposed to be released a year ago. But Paramount wisely held it back: If the first installment is any indication, this will be a film that needs to be seen in a tense, quiet theater.
“In the Heights”: This screen adaptation of LinManuel Miranda’s exuberant Tony Awardwinning Broadway musical will be simultaneously released into theaters and onto HBO Max.
It’s the story of a young man who inherits money and has to decide whether to leave his New York neighborhood.
Starring Miranda, Anthony Ramos (“Hamilton”), Stephanie Beatriz (“Brooklyn 99”), Corey Hawkins (“Straight Outta Compton”), Jimmy Smits and the legendary Rita Moreno.
“Luca”: Pixar’s latest animated feature, directed by Enrico Casarosa, is the story of adolescent sea monsters experiencing a transformative comingofage on the Italian Riviera. Lots of elements there, to be sure.
Bay Area theater lovers will be happy to know that Marco Barricelli, former associate artist at the American Conservatory Theater and former director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz, will be lending his deep rich baritone to a featured role.
The film also stars the voices of UC Santa Cruz alum Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan.