Author: Amy Diaz

An inventor is lifted out of his doldrums by a visit from his plucky granddaughter in Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, a charming Christmas-y family musical about STEM, the dedication of the post office and the importance of small business loans.

I mean, it’s also about the magic of creativity and believing in yourself, the magic of actual magic and the importance of familial bonds and friendship, but small business loans and the post office play a not insignificant role.

Jeronicus Jangle (Justin Cornwell as a young man, Forest Whitaker as a grandpa-aged man) is a toymaker and a dazzling inventor in some kind of Victorian-ish world that has a vaguely steampunk feel but without any menace. He believes he has finally cracked the puzzle of a toy so marvelous that it will solidify his Greatest Inventor status and a lifetime of wealth for his family, including wife Joanne (Sharon Rose) and young daughter Jessica (Diaana Babnicova), who wants to be an inventor just like her dad. The toy is a sentient toy matador called Don Juan Diego (voice of Ricky Martin), who is fairly flawed from the outset in that he is extremely vain and possibly evil. When he hears that Jeronicus’ plan is to mass produce him, which means he would no longer be one of a kind, Don Juan convinces Gustafson (Miles Barrow as a squirrely young man; an excellent Keegan-Michael Key as a desperate older man), Jeronicus’ underappreciated apprentice, to steal him, the plans for him and Jeronicus’ book of inventions. Thus does Gustafson become a rich and famous toy inventor and Jeronicus lose his confidence in his inventions, his livelihood and even his family as Joanne dies abruptly and he becomes estranged from Jessica.

As a grown woman, Jessica (Anika Noni Rose) has an inquisitive and creative daughter of her own, Journey (Madalen Mills). Journey has grown up hearing stories about Jeronicus and his inventions but, due to the estrangement between father and daughter, she has never met him. She finds a way to travel to meet Jeronicus, but finds a man mired in sadness. He is barely hanging on in his shop, which is now a pawn and fix-it store. Though his young apprentice Edison (Kieron L. Dyer) believes in him and post officer Mrs. Johnston (Lisa Davina Phillip) cares for him (reminding him in song that she is a widow ready to mingle), Jeronicus wants nothing to do with any of it. He isn’t terribly welcoming to Journey — making her sign a non-disclosure about any plans or inventions she might stumble on — but he slowly starts to warm to her.

With singing! As I mentioned, this is a musical and, while I’m not necessarily humming anything from the movie at the moment, all of the songs are high-energy, plot-appropriate and fun.

I don’t understand the weird financial alchemy that makes a family musical with music co-written by John Legend and a whole bunch of really expensive-looking wooden-toy and paper pop-up-book and wind-up robot animation (used to move the narrative through time jumps between live-action scenes) possible for Netflix distribution but — cool! I’m so glad this movie exists! And I’m so glad it’s getting distribution this way, which feels like the most family-accessible way to put it out there. This movie features genuine artistic achievement, particularly for the look of this film, as well as some solid storytelling. The movie creates a very specific world and then builds a magical story in it, with flavors of The Nutcracker and Peter Pan. The actors do a good job at making us care about these people and believe them, even if they’re doing math equations in the air or singing in the middle of a Dickens’-London-esque setting (but, like, clean and bright, and calling to mind a snow globe with colors that pop). In addition to the core cast, Phylicia Rashad and Hugh Bonneville show up for small roles, which give this movie a quality-throughout feel.

There is also solid adventure, a friendly robot, a goofy villain and not too much scariness — I feel like kids a few years into elementary school can handle this movie. (Common Sense Media gives it an 8+ rating.) Looking for something for a family movie night? Jingle Jangle has enough action that it can probably keep kids engaged and enough storytelling cleverness to entertain adults as well. A

Rated PG for some thematic elements and peril. Written and directed by David E. Talbot, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is two hours and two minutes long and distributed by Netflix.

Featured Photo: Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

Love and Monsters (PG-13)

A guy travels through miles of monster-infested wilderness to see a girl in Love and Monsters, a sweet, hopeful movie about the end of the world.

Joel (Dylan O’Brien, who is better served by this movie than by the Maze Runner movies he starred in) and Aimee (Jessica Henwick) are high school sweethearts who are in a car overlooking their bucolic California town, hanging out and making out, when suddenly an air raid siren goes off, stuff starts to blow up and the military shows up. Monsters are soon destroying the town and the couple is separated as people rush to evacuate. These monsters are mutated creatures — giant bugs, worms, frogs, lizards, etc. — created by chemicals that rained down on Earth from bombs sent to destroy an asteroid. (But wait —, you’re about to say. Look, just go with it.)

Seven years later, Joel, like the rest of the surviving 5 percent of humans, lives with his colony underground. Traumatized by the early days of the monster uprising, he’s not so much of a hunter, more of a soup-maker and radio-fixer. But with these skills he was able to call around to other human colonies and eventually find Aimee, living in a colony by the beach 80-some miles away. Because he still loves her (and also because he is lonely as the only person not paired up in his small colony), Joel decides to set off on the trek to see her.

Along the way, Joel meets Clyde (Michael Rooker) and his sort of adopted daughter Minnow (Ariana Greenblatt) and they help him learn some survival skills, including some decent archery work. And Joel befriends a dog called Boy who turns out to be a good and useful traveling partner.

For a movie with giant man-eating ants and worms (decently portrayed and just this side of silly), Love and Monsters has a surprising amount of heart. And it’s hopeful. It shows Joel, deeply heartbroken and lonely, learning how to take the world as it is and move forward with some optimism despite, like, man-eating termites and a seriously depopulated world. And it’s funny — Love and Monsters isn’t full of big laughs but it has a lightly humorous tone throughout that really complements the sweet and bittersweet elements of the story. B

Rated PG-13 for action/violence, language and some suggestive material, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Michael Matthews with a screenplay by Brian Duffield and Matthew Robinson, Love and Monsters is an hour and 49 minutes long and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is available for rent or purchase.

The Craft: Legacy (PG-13)

A new generation of teenage witches uses their powers to teach jerks lessons and apply sparkly eye makeup in The Craft: Legacy.

Teenager Lily (Cailee Spaeny) and her mom (Michelle Monaghan) move to a new town to live with Adam (David Duchovny), her mom’s new flame, and his three teenage sons. Lily isn’t terribly excited to start at a new school and her first day does not go well. Her period shows up unexpectedly and a particularly meatheaded boy, Timmy (Nicholas Galitzine), a friend of Lily’s new stepbrother-types, humiliates her. Lily runs to the bathroom, where Lourdes (Zoey Luna), Frankie (Gideon Adlon) and Tabby (Lovie Simone) show up with words of comfort and a new pair of shorts. They have their eye on Lily and after she is able to shove Timmy into a locker without really touching him the trio decide that Lily is exactly who they’ve been looking for — the fourth, who will complete their coven and allow them to tap into the witch powers they’re certain they have. And with Lily around, they find they can perform some impressive feats, like telepathic communication, briefly freezing time and playing a kick-butt round of Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board.

There is a very “first two episodes of a new CW series” feel about this movie — a new series I would probably watch even if it’s still finding its footing. Legacy balances, or at least it tries to balance, teen drama with magic and humor with horror, both literal and metaphorical. In one plot point, the girls cast a spell on Timmy, who tormented them all at some point. Their spell, basically, makes him woke — talking about his feelings and chastising bros for making insensitive jokes. It’s a cute element that is executed, at least for a while, OK. A series probably could have developed in clever ways but a movie just doesn’t have time.

The actors here are fine — little is stand-out but it feels like everybody is bringing a bit of something to their characters, even if they don’t get the time to do all that much. The movie’s final note really does have that “mid-season finale” energy and many of the story and character choices made here would make sense if this is the start of a longer-running universe. As a stand-alone movie, The Craft: Legacy feels not-yet-done and in need of a tighter focus. C+

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, crude and sexual content, language and brief drug material, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Written and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones (from characters by Peter Filardi), The Craft: Legacy is an hour and 37 minutes long and is distributed by Columbia Pictures. It is available for rent or purchase.

Featured photo: Love and Monsters (PG-13)

On the Rocks (R)

Nothing happens — but nothing with a Sofia Coppola laid-back charm — in the light dramedy On the Rocks, a movie written and directed by Coppola. Dean (Marlon Wayans) comes home from a business trip, climbs into bed and starts kissing Laura (Rashida Jones). It’s a normal husband/wife moment until she says “hi”and he sort of startles awake a little, says something like “oh” and then collapses asleep. What, Laura wonders, did that mean? Did he not know where he was, not know who he was kissing, not want to be kissing her?
It’s the sort of thing that you might laugh about over breakfast unless, like Laura, you’re already in something of a rut — caught in the repetitive tasks of taking care of their kids and apartment and not making any headway on a book she’s trying to write. And Dean has started a new business where he works all the time and has a hot coworker, Fiona (Jessica Henwick). Then the odd little moment becomes a “sign.”
Both the exact right and exact wrong person to talk this over with is Felix (Bill Murray), Laura’s father. He loves her and says the stuff Laura probably needs to be reminded of — that she’s great, that Dean is lucky to have her, etc. But he also has some not-great history in the fidelity-to-Laura’s-mom department (which Laura has clearly not gotten over) and he enthusiastically embraces the “what’s up with Dean” mystery as sort of a father-daughter project. He suggests tailing Dean and spying on Dean in a variety of ways and while Laura doesn’t 100 percent support the idea she doesn’t completely shut it down, either.
Maybe that all sounds like “something” but it is, like the best Seinfeld plots, nothing, really, in the wider scheme of these characters and this story. Even the “is Dean cheating?” central question feels rather low stakes the way the movie presents it.
There are lots of nice little details in this movie: Laura can’t seem to connect with Dean so she defaults to talking about kid stuff, there is never not a series of things on the floor she feels obligated to pick up, she makes extremely well-labeled folders during a rare quiet moment at her desk in lieu of writing (ahh, trivial organization as a form of procrastination — it accomplishes nothing but it feels so good). This isn’t some momentous examination of romantic turmoil or familial relationships. It’s a collection of little, well-realized moments performed (primarily) by two skilled actors: Jones, who is great at being a person caught in a funk but still capable of being a loving and empathetic person, and Murray, who appears to be having fun. “Dad-ness plus martini” is how I would describe his character. He clearly has bigger flaws — Murray gives us a person who can be light and charming and also exasperating and unknowingly hurtful all in the same scene — but the movie isn’t here to do a deep dive into them.
This movie is awash in crisp-looking cocktails and I sort of feel like a piney gin and tonic is what this movie basically is: refreshing, not too serious, classic and with just the right amount of bittersweetness. B
Rated R for some language/sexual references, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, On the Rocks is an hour and 36 minutes long and distributed by A24. It is available on Apple TV+.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (R)

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat returns to America just in time for, you know, All This in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, the semi-scripted, candid camera sequel to his 2006 film.
As you may have heard, this movie features Rudy Giuliani, who basically walks himself into this elaborate prank for no good reason. Mike Pence also delivers a brief (unintended) cameo during what is apparently a real scene from the February 2020 CPAC event (the Conservative Political Action Conference). News reports from the event suggest that what happens in the film more or less did occur: Borat (Baron Cohen) dressed in a Trump costume and brought his 15-year-old daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova, who is really 24 years old according to media reports and who is getting some Oscar talk? What, 2020?) to give as a gift to Pence. Photos on several news sites show a Trump-figure being marched out of the hall by security while Pence speaks — and, in this movie, we even get clips of Pence’s speech, such as when he talks about how great America is doing at keeping the coronavirus at bay, for extra surrealness.
This gag is part of this movie’s necessarily more plot-heavy story than what I remember in the original film; as is displayed, Borat can’t walk around the U.S. without people trying to get selfies and hear him say “my wife.” So we get a framework that involves Kazakhstan’s leader attempting to get into Trump’s circle of strongman besties by giving Pence a present, originally a monkey but when he doesn’t make it to the U.S. alive, the gift becomes Tutar, the teenage daughter that the long-imprisoned Borat recently reconnected with. Despite Borat’s attempts to shoo her away, Tutar follows Borat to America. When Borat fails at giving Tutar to Pence, Borat decides to try to give her to Giuliani. Along the way are a series of “real” scenes — from interviews to less formal interactions — that feature a lot of people smothering smiles and/or horror in reaction to Tutar (whose initial ambition is to have a fancy “wife cage”) and Borat in a variety of disguises.
I kinda want an oral history for the making of this movie, which seemed to start in the pre-Covid world but ends up deep in 2020 with all the expected mess (internet conspiracies, anti-mask rallies and of course, so very much racism). Some of these scenes are painfully cringeworthy — probably a sign that just in general I’m not one for candid-prank-style entertainment. But there is also just a sense that people were more aware of the gag this time around, though to what degree is unclear — oftentimes the look on people’s faces suggests they know something is up even if they don’t know exactly what. (I don’t know if that makes what happens in some scenes better or worse. Are people hamming it up for a camera they know is there? Or showing their true selves? Or, again, is this whole thing just Not For Me at this point in 2020?)
I especially wanted to know more about Borat’s interaction with the woman to whom the movie is dedicated, Judith Dim Evans, who appears in the movie but has since passed away and whose family sued over the appearance (though the lawsuit has been withdrawn and the case dismissed, according to Hollywood news sites Deadline and Variety). Evans meets a deeply offensively costumed Borat in a synagogue and ends up hugging him (she comes across as kindness personified). There is a website about her story — she was a Holocaust survivor and an educator — which was apparently put up by this movie’s producers, according to Vulture.com. Vulture and Deadline report that after filming Baron Cohen broke character (or had crew members break character) to explain the point of the bit (which, though very Borat-ily done, is an effort to combat Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism). Though I get that it’s not the point of what Baron Cohen is doing, I wish we could have seen some of this post-filming interaction. (Johnny Knoxville included some of the “breaking character” moments in the closing credits of his candid camera-ish Bad Grandpa, which made that endeavor feel more comfortable to me, the viewer. I suspect providing that kind of emotional closure is exactly why Baron Cohen doesn’t include these moments — and, as far as I can tell from news reports, doesn’t tend to ever break character.)
There are funny elements here. For me, the funnier parts were the scripted scenes between Borat and Tutar. While I can’t even begin to wrap my brain around any award chatter for Bakalova, she is a solid component of this film — game and giving a genuine performance of her character. I don’t entirely know what to make of this film or that its final message is the dedication to Evans and urging the audience to vote. I feel like Baron Cohen has things, possibly very earnest things, he really wants to say but I’m not sure this mid-aughts character is the clearest or even the funniest way to do it. B-
Rated R for pervasive strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity and language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Jason Woliner with a screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Peter Baynham & Erica Rivinoja &Dan Mazer & Jena Friedman & Lee Kern, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (full title) is an hour and 35 minutes long and distributed by Amazon Studios via Amazon Prime.

Featured photo: On The Rocks (R) Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (R)

Rebecca (PG-13 )

The beautiful Armie Hammer and beautiful Lily James wear some beautiful clothes in the gothic romance/psychological thriller Rebecca.

Lily James’ character, introduced before she gets married but only ever called Mrs. de Winter, is a lady’s companion in what I’m pretty sure is late 1930s-ish rich people Europe, working for the unpleasant (but fabulous) Mrs. Van Hopper (Ann Dowd, who seems like she is having the super bestest of best times and it’s great). She meets Maxim de Winter (Hammer), a recently widowed rich dude with an excellent house who is The Talk of the rich people hotel in rich people Europe. Luckily for the future Mrs. dW, Mrs. VH comes down with some kind of stomach illness and she gets a few days to herself to flit around with Max, who is Armie Hammer-ishly charming and handsome but occasionally gets all silent and grim when anybody mentions his dead wife, Rebecca, whose name is always said with extra dramatic emphasis and sort of the same energy as the way you make “boo-ooo-ooo” ghost noises when reading a spooky tale or seeing a Halloween-themed cereal. Booobecca’s death is still quite a sore subject for Max so he doesn’t like to talk about it or discuss pertinent information about the whole situation that might be necessary for Lily James when she agrees to become his new wife and return with him to Manderley, his family’s large spooky estate.

When they arrive, the new Mrs. de Winter meets the “early series Downton Abbey”-sizedstaff, which is led by Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas), the housekeeper and shade-master who was also the lifelong servant for and companion of the late Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers haaaaates the new Mrs. de Winter with the stoniest, Britishest of hatreds and I also feel like Thomas was having fun with some of her scenes, at least I really hope so. Near the end of the movie she gets a nice moment that felt like it was made for the purpose of having “for your awards consideration” flashing in a scroll underneath it and this is an odd year so, even though Rebecca is a very meh movie, maybe she’s got a shot?

As James’ character sort of bumbles around the new house, always bumping into some thing that reminds people of Rebecca, she tries to figure out just what the heck was up about the first Mrs. de Winter and ascertain whether she’ll ever live up to her reputation, especially to the still sulky Max. Because our own insecurities are our worst demons (especially when they get a little extra shine thanks to some gaslighting), the dead Rebecca slowly drives the living Mrs. de Winter mad.

I feel like I’ve made that all sound a lot more exciting than it is.

This movie is very pretty — pretty people, pretty setting and pretty pretty clothes that I would definitely be interested in purchasing, if, say, Modcloth wanted to start a movie tie-in line. But I feel like this adaptation doesn’t do much with all of its pretty and prettily-gothic elements. It is watchable but I suspect that if I weren’t watching this in the midmorning while actually drinking coffee, it would also be pretty fall-asleep-to-able as well. I don’t need a wacky new take on the story but I do need some energy, some passion between Hammer and James, or some more insight into James’ character’s motivations, something to explain why James’ character doesn’t just put her suitcase in a wheelbarrow and hoof it to the nearest train station. B-

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content, partial nudity, thematic elements and smoking, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Ben Wheatley with a screenplay by Jane Goldman and Joe Shrapnel & Anna Waterhouse (from the novel by Daphne Du Maurier), Rebecca is two hours and one minute long and distributed by Netflix.

The Witches (PG)

Anne Hathaway hams it up as a wide-mouthed, claw-handed witch in The Witches, a new adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel.

Charlie (Jahzir Bruno with an adult narration by Chris Rock) goes to live with his grandma (Octavia Spencer) when he is 8 years old and his parents are killed in a car crash. Though initially quite traumatized, he soon starts to perk up thanks to his grandma’s general kindness, good cooking and a pet mouse she buys him.

One day at the store, he meets a hissing woman with a snake up her sleeve, a raspy voice and a mouth that seems bigger than normal. That, his grandma tells him later when he describes the scene, is a witch. She knows all about witches, having seen one turn her best friend into a chicken when she was a little girl. Now the grandma knows how to use herbs and remedies to ward off the hexes of witches. Not that she wants to tangle with one. When she realizes that Charlie’s tale means witches are in town, she and Charlie run to hide in a fancy hotel where her cousin works.

But the hotel turns out to be a bad place to hide. A coven of witches is having a convention there, led by the Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway), whose witch feet are extra creepy (one toe with a very long nail), claw-like hands are extra twisted (and can even extend) and whose bald head is covered in pustules from the dreaded witch affliction wig rash. Charlie happens upon their meeting and hides (though he can’t hide his smell; all children have a dog-poop-like odor to witches, his grandma says) and happens to see them turn Bruno (Codie-Lei Eastick), an English boy Charlie had befriended, into a mouse. The witches plan to turn all children into mice, they say, and soon it’s up to Charlie, Bruno, Charlie’s pet mouse Daisy (voice of Kristin Chenoweth) and grandma to stop them.

Guillermo del Toro has a writing credit here (along with director Robert Zemeckis and Black-ish/Grown-ish/Mixed-ish creator Kenya Barris), which perhaps explains some of the super creepy creature elements of the witches and the people-to-mice transformations that take place. This movie feels sort of borderline for younger elementary kids, depending on their tolerance for creepy stuff. Common Sense Media rates it 9+; I would say at least 9, as much for the more real-world elements of life and death (Charlie is in the car when his parents die, which feels very heavy for this magic-y tale) as for the supernatural elements.

A strong strain of sweetness also runs through the movie: grandma’s unconditional love for Charlie, a plucky quest by kids to save other kids. I hope the only-48-year-old Octavia Spencer isn’t pegged as “grandma” forever now but she’s a perfect fairy tale grandma here, the right mix of witch-fighting abilities and belief in her grandson. Spencer also seems like she’s enjoying herself and feels like she’s offering genuine emotion, even in scenes where she’s probably acting versus a tennis ball that will later become a CGI mouse character.

Stanley Tucci feels like an oddly big name for his relatively small role as Mr. Stringer, the hotel manager. He does seem to be having fun with his physical-comedy-heavy character whose mostly just reacts to craziness involving the children-mice or the Grand High Witch’s diva demands.

Nobody, of course, is having more fun than Hathaway, who might be having even more fun than she seemed to be having in Ocean’s 8. Here, she is full Cruella de Vil, doing all sorts of crazy things to her “R”s in an accent that is German? Transylvanian? Who knows? She wears delightfully crazy clothes, even crazier wigs, some great makeup and shoes that would probably literally kill you if you had to wear them for more than five minutes (they’re like if a stiletto had a clown shoe ancestor). This is so much her show and she stands in the spotlight and projects to the back row.

The Witches feels like the sort of thing an adult might misjudge, show to a kid who is too young and cause a few nightmare-filled nights, but for the right age (tween?) this ultimately goodhearted movie might be the right blend of kid-adventure and spooky fantasy. B

Rated PG for scary images/moments, language and thematic elements, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Robert Zemeckis with a screenplay by Robert Zemeckis & Kenya Bar and Guillermo del Toro (which is a little bit of an unexpected combination but also awesome and here’s hoping they do something else together) based on a book of the same name by Roald Dahl, The Witches is an hour and 46 minutes long and distributed by Warner Bros. It is available on HBO Max.

Featured photo: Rebecca. The Witches

Aaron Sorkin mixes a courtroom drama with the politics of the late 1960s in The Trial of the Chicago 7, a movie about that real-life case that is basically what you think it will be based on those ingredients.

Most of the movie takes place in 1969 during the trial itself with flashbacks to the events at the Democratic convention in 1968 that led to the indictment of eight men for conspiracy and other charges related to clashes between protesters and police. Those men are, roughly in order of movie importance: Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Abby Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen), Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) and, serving almost just as comic relief here, John Froines (Danny Flaherty) and Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins). During the trial, Seale’s case is severed from the group’s and a mistrial is declared for him on those charges; in the movie (though not exactly so in real life, according to assorted “what’s fact or fiction” articles about this movie) this comes in part because the U.S. Attorney leading the case, Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), is appalled by Judge Julius Hoffman’s (Frank Langella) racist and violent treatment of Seale. The reluctant antagonist with a country-over-party sense of decency may be dramatic license but it definitely feels on-brand for Aaron Sorkin.

The other seven men have as their lawyers Leonard Weinglass (Ben Shenkman) and William Kuntsler (Mark Rylance). And let’s stop right here to talk about this year’s Oscar race (if there are, in fact, Oscars for 2020). I feel like any discussion of this movie and its Oscar chances has to build its case on Mark Rylance playing what feels like another familiar Sorkin character: the wise, world-weary man who nonetheless has been able to hang on to his sense of justice and morality. Those characters can be a lot but Rylance is able to make him a real person, a professional doing a job but also a person fighting for a set of principles and doing so in the real world. I don’t know how well he brings to life the real person that was William Kuntsler — I admit I know of most of these people in an extremely second-hand fashion. But Rylance brings to life a real person.

I feel like the other big performances here will be Cohen and Redmayne and to a lesser degree Lynch and Strong. My favorite of the group might be Lynch. Cohen and Strong are, I think, supposed to be the likeable showmen hiding razor-sharp minds, and Redmayne plays an earnest goodie-two-shoes who is nonetheless willing to put all on the line. And it’s all perfectly fine, was my response. It’s all acceptable, above average even, but more stagey than Rylance or Lynch.

Sorkin, who writes and directs here, knows how to construct a good courtroom scene, he of “you can’t handle the truth” fame. We get a couple of courtroom fireworks moments that work even when they verge on the hokey. He also does, as he often does, a good job constructing compelling quiet-conversation-between-two-characters scenes. He has always been good at having characters mix the on-task business of whatever’s happening in a plot with just shooting the breeze and displaying personality, and we get some of that here, particularly in scenes with Rylance or with scenes between Cohen and Strong and Redmayne and Sharp.

There are less successful scenes where characters speechify at each other, explaining “the Left” or “the War” or whatever to each other, and these scenes left me feeling like I needed a break.

Other Sorkin things that drove me a little nuts: women! Everything to do with the (all minor) female characters feels like he just sprinkled some West Wing secretaries throughout the movie. Look, I know this is history and you can’t just fan-fiction Ruth Bader Ginsburg into the trial and so your options are limited for how to have female characters. But still. This approach, with savvy helpmates always around for a quip and some sympathy, just wore me out.

If I had to zero in on the point of this movie for Sorkin, it would be in a line said by Abby Hoffman: “I think the institutions of our democracy are wonderful things that right now are populated by some terrible people.” This and a broad-survey look at that particular fight against that particular generation’s “terrible people” in the “institutions of our democracy” are as close as Sorkin gets to making any kind of statement about the modern era, which is also fine. On balance, if you enjoy history at all or Sorkin at all (even if you’re more of a fair-weather Sorkin fan), I think The Trial of the Chicago 7 is worth a watch — especially since it’s on Netflix and no extra effort to seek it out. B

Rated R for language throughout, some violence, bloody images and drug use, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is two hours and nine minutes long and is available on Netflix.

The 40-Year-Old Version (R)

A nearly 40-year-old playwright feels stuck in her career and is facing life turmoil in The 40-Year-Old Version, a delightful comedy on Netflix.

Radha (Radha Blank, who also wrote and directed this movie) won a playwrights’ “30 under 30” award — but that was more than a decade ago. Now she’s pushing 40 and still struggling to “make it,” paying the bills by teaching a play-writing class to teens. She begs her best friend and agent Archie (Peter Kim) to get her most recent play, Harlem Ave., a shot at being produced by someone who will pay serious money. He gets her an invitation to a party to meet with J. Whitman (Reed Birney), a producer with cash but with a history of preferring stories that are what Radha calls “poverty porn.”

While Archie struggles to foster a Whitman/Radha partnership after their initial bumpy meeting — things take a turn when Whitman suggests Radha write his planned Harriet Tubman musical — a creatively wrung-out Radha considers returning to her teenage writing roots: hip-hop. She finds D (Oswin Benjamin) to make the beats to go with her lyrics and records a track, hoping to build the project into a mix tape. She might be hesitant, a bit rusty, but Radha clearly gets something from working on rhymes that she isn’t getting from her other work. D sees something special in her work and invites her to join in at an open-mic night. He also, a-hem, sees something special in her and while Radha clearly feels their age difference (he’s 26), she is also drawn to this quiet artist.

We see Radha blossom with rap; it seems to give her a way to express her frustrations and feelings that she can’t do in her other jobs. But she struggles with the urge to “stay in my lane” as she explains at one point. There is money and opportunity in letting J. Whitman and the white director he picks essentially gentrify her Black-characters-focused play about Harlem. But the rawer, more honest stories she tells in her lyrics are not a path to career stability — or even a clear path to career fulfillment, as we see Radha doubt herself even with this medium she enjoys.

And through all of this, we see her avoid calls from her brother who is cleaning out their mother’s apartment. Herself an artist, Radha’s mother recently died and clearly Radha is still figuring out how to handle this.

This movie is deeply charming. Without reminding me of any specific film, it gave me serious mid-1990s indie movie vibes. Like some of those movies, this one has occasional rough edges — but not many, and the overall tight focus of the story and understanding of its central character makes up for any flaws. The 40-Year-Old Version, with its scenes of walking and talking and its central character filled with relatable frustration and weary humor, is lovely. This movie is full of nice detail-moments that help build the real world of who Radha is and what it means to her to be almost 40.

The way we see Radha — presented as someone who is smart and talented but also grieving and struggling — work through this life rut is really engaging. Radha Blank, the real-life actress, is a magnetic person who can convey a lot with just her face (a few times she looks directly at the camera and the moments are not just nice comic beats but also create a real kinship with the viewer). She makes Radha, the character, feel like a fully formed real person, which makes her difficulties and her moments of happiness hit harder. A-

Rated R for pervasive language, sexual content, some drug use and brief nudity, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Written and directed by Radha Blank, The 40-Year-Old Version is two hours and four minutes long and distributed on Netflix.