What I Was Watching in April 2021
This month is probably featuring my longest movie list in quite some time, but it was Oscar prep time! I am not going to lie and say I’m not happy to have some extra time now to watch some trash tv, but there were so many excellent movies this year that I was able to stream with my current subscriptions that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. If you watched the Academy Awards and were curious which of the nominees or winners you should check out, this list will definitely give you a little more info about a lot of them.
Another Round
Hulu
This was easily my favorite of the foreign film nominees. It was creative, funny and caught my attention right away. A group of teachers deciding to spend the majority of their lives low-key drunk was a bizarre concept but it played out in a really interesting way. I found myself quickly way more invested in this movie than I expected.
The Verdict: 3.5/5
The United States Vs Billie Holiday
Hulu
I feel like there are at least two or three movies similar to this around Oscar season, but this one wasn’t just the story of a white guy during World War II, so that alone gave it a head start. I can truly say I didn’t know anything about Billie Holiday and I learned quite a bit through this biopic. Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of darkness in Holiday’s life, and it was fascinating and depressing especially to see how she was treated by other people.
The Verdict: 3/5
The Mole Agent
Hulu
This film on Hulu was one of the documentary nominees and I was very nervous reading the description when I saw it was an investigation into a nursing home, and I was still a bit wary of that after watching I Care A Lot. This turned out to be almost a cute film, and I wasn’t sure that the tone and motive stayed consistent throughout, but it did hold my interest.
The Verdict: 3/5
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Amazon Prime
This was one of the bravest things I’ve ever done as a movie reviewer. One of my biggest, most ridiculous hatreds is secondhand embarrassment. I never saw the first Borat because just thinking about the preview made me cringe. And this movie was in fact just 90 minutes of cringy behavior. But, I did watch it for Maria Bakalova, and I have to admit, she was the best part of the movie. And survived that Rudy Giuliani thing.
The Verdict: 3/5
Time
Amazon Prime
As far as documentaries go, this has to be one of the most uniquely filmed that I’ve ever seen. So much of it was self-produced in home videos or recordings, and it followed a woman’s fight to get her husband out of prison who got a jail sentence that was roughly 4 times longer than the standard for a burglary. it’s a moving story, but our focus and visibility is extremely limited.
The Verdict: 3/5
Sound of Metal
Amazon Prime
I liked a lot of things that I watched this month, but Sound of Metal is probably the most wonderful surprise. I loved everything about this movie. It was beautifully done, played with sound in a way I’d never seen before in a film and Riz Ahmed was an incredibly compelling actor. I went into it knowing literally nothing about the story, so my middle-of-the-road expectations were blown fully out of the water.
The Verdict: 4.5/5
Wolfwalkers
Apple TV+
Wolfwalkers was another one that I knew nothing about but was determined to watch. It’s such a wonderfully beautiful film. I’m not sure the last time I saw an animated feature that looked so organic and hand-drawn. The story was compelling, but even if it wasn’t, I probably would have still fallen in love with it based on appearance alone.
The Verdict: 4.5/5
Over the Moon
Netflix
I almost feel badly for watching this and Wolfwalkers back to back, because there was no way this could live up to the previous movie. It’s not even a bad movie. There are some parts of the plot that made me kind of tilt my head and they just felt kind of forced, but it was cute enough and had a talented voice cast. It’s definitely still worth a watch.
The Verdict: 3.5/5
Collective
Hulu
I think I would have liked this movie a bit better if I had been in a different headspace. While the investigation into the healthcare system and the way medical care was handled for people who were hospitalized after a fire is really fascinating, but I just didn’t emotionally connect with it, and that may be on me. On the plus side, this story is not one I would have ever interacted with outside of this movie, and I appreciate that exposure.
The Verdict: 3/5
Da 5 Bloods
Netflix
I wanted to love this movie. So badly. I loved the actors, and of course specifically Chadwick Boseman, but I felt like the plot kind of went off the rails. I was on board for the first half, but then they lost me, and the film was just too long. My biggest gripe with it is there is one character that breaks the fourth wall for maybe 10 minutes of the movie, and I just don’t understand why it was just randomly done. It took me out of it.
The Verdict: 3/5
The White Tiger
Netflix
My theme at the moment seems to be “movies I knew nothing about but decided to watch,” and for the most part, that’s worked out for me. This movie takes some turns I was in no way expecting, but it was super entertaining and gave a look at the Indian caste system with a thriller twist. It was an enjoyable watch but my head was spinning a bit by the end trying to reconcile everything that I had just seen.
The Verdict: 3/5
Godzilla Vs Kong
On HBO Max for a limited time
You do not watch movies like this for an Oscar-worthy plot or top-notch dialogue, and thank heavens for that, because it would be a disappointment. However, this movie is so insane and ridiculous that it was almost too much for me. The monster fights are cool and all, but I still cannot get over the subplot about a conspiracy theorist podcaster teaming up with two teenagers to….do something? I still don’t fully know.
The Verdict: 2.5/5
A League of Their Own
HBO Max
I’m humiliated. How on earth did I make it to almost 30 years old without seeing this movie? It is almost a perfect movie. I love girl power films and am a huge baseball fan. This may as well have been titled, “Heather, here’s a great movie for you.” I loved every second of this movie and it flew by. It was one of the first times in a while that I was shocked the story was already over when the credits started rolling.
The Verdict: 4.5/5
The Midnight Sky
Netflix
This was one of the most okay movies I’ve ever seen. It was perfectly fine. Nothing was inherently wrong with it. It was a semi-space movie in which people were looking for another planet as Earth wasn’t doing so hot. But they never really seem to explain what happens on Earth, and then George Clooney is alone and you never really understand why and then there’s a time jump and….it was fine.
The Verdict: 3/5
Crip Camp
Netflix
I honestly don’t know what I can say about this documentary that isn’t better seen by just watching the film. It sheds some light about the struggle for people with disabilities in a rather unique way, highlighting both the disadvantages our society forces on them and the joy they were able to find at places like this camp, where they were people first and their disabilities after.
The Verdict: 3.5/5
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Netflix
I have never watched a Shaun the Sheep movie. I truly thought this was a confusing chain of events in which movies were made from the Serta mattress commercials with the sheep. It turns out, this is a Wallace & Grommit spinoff tale, which made sense within seconds of seeing the animation style. It was cute enough, I suppose, but it was my least favorite of the animated Oscar nominees.
The Verdict: 2.5/5
The Life Ahead
Netflix
I expected this film to be so much drier than it was. I think I misunderstood it and viewed it as a documentary (which doesn’t always equal dry) but it still did this movie a disservice. It’s a beautiful film about an unlikely friendship between a young boy forced to steal to survive and a Holocaust survivor. The second I realized what I was watching, I couldn’t look away.
The Verdict: 4/5
My Octopus Teacher
Netflix
I’m so torn on this movie. On the one hand, the ocean is so freaking cool and the footage we get of it in this documentary is incredible. On the other, I was - and still am - concerned this man was in love with an octopus. That nagging voice in the back of my mind that is concerned of the nature of the relationship between a man and a sea creature stopped me from truly appreciating this movie’s beauty.
The Verdict: 3.5/5
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Hulu
This is one of the most hard-hitting movies I watched this Oscar season. I knew nothing about this conflict in Bosnia, and this was just a slap of awareness the second I realized the full situation. The whole film keeps you on the edge of your seat and making you forget you’re having to read subtitles in order to follow along. I was so impressed by this movie and may actually watch it again to glean more.
The Verdict: 4/5
Doubt
aired on TV
This movie had intrigued me for years but I had never gotten around to watching it. I was a little disappointed by it, but after learning it was based on a play, it made a lot more sense. I think it would have been a wonderful stage production, but it was not transferred as seamlessly to film. Everyone’s acting was solid, but it felt like something was missing that could have been overlooked as a play.
The Verdict: 3/5
She’s All That
HBO Max
And now it’s time for my constant refrain of “how am I just now seeing this?” I’m a huge fan of coming-of-age stories and romantic comedies, and while this may not have aged the best (I have a low tolerance for the stories that indicate a wardrobe change and exchanging glasses for contacts makes a woman beautiful), this cast is incredible and it’s a great time capsule for these kinds of films.
The Verdict: 3/5
9 to 5
Hulu
Whew, did I have higher hopes for this movie. I love all three actresses in it, and it’s kind of a modern classic, but this movie got sillier and sillier as it went on that by the end, I believe I actually said, “oh come ON,” out loud. It’s utterly ridiculous, but for the catchy titular song alone, I’m really glad I checked it out before the movie vanished off of Hulu.
The Verdict: 2.5/5
The Whole Nine Yards
Hulu
All I knew about this movie was that it featured Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis. It turns out, that’s all I needed. This movie is so incredibly silly and somehow simultaneously complicated and overly simple. That may give it more credit but hey, this film was a really fun way to spend an hour and a half. And hearing Perry give an “oh my god” that Chandler Bing would have been proud of was the icing on the cake.
The Verdict: 3/5
Beasts of the Southern Wild
HBO Max
So. I had no idea before starting this movie that it was a fantasy. And then 15 minutes in, I was baffled. I can’t say I loved it by any means, but it certainly was creative and beautiful to look at. Quvenzhané Wallis is an adorable actress who has more talent in her pinkie finger than I ever will in my entire life. She fully carried this movie and I enjoyed watching her so much that I don’t fully care that I didn’t understand it all.
The Verdict: 3/5
A Hidden Life
HBO Max
If you’ve seen the trailer at all (which I remember seeing constantly right before Covid hit), this movie is exactly as devastating as you expect it to be. While it is a bit long, it is stunning to watch - and will make you want to go to a farm in Austria immediately - and does tell a beautiful, tragic tale of what happens when someone dared to stand up for what they believed in while living under Hitler’s tyranny.
The Verdict: 4/5
Did your favorite movies win any prizes on Oscar night? Let me know in the comments below!