A “stone cold” masterpiece in both senses! Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is a five star film and places in my Top 3 of this past year!
by Sam Juliano
It was an earlier-than-usual Easter Sunday but here we are enjoying the one week break that comes after with a return to work set for almost half way through the month. We remain in a kind of functional limbo, what with the COVID-19 numbers still rising in some areas including my home state. Our dear friends and site co-editor Jim and Valerie Clark are in the Toronto, Canada area that went into lock down a few days ago. We are concerned deeply for their security and continued well-being.
Tribeca programmers are thrilled to announce that the 20th-anniversary edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, will take place in New York City from June 9 through June 20, 2021 — new dates to ensure the Festival moves forward in the safest environment. Lucille and I are figuring we will again be attending but as to the volume we can’t say with any certainty just yet. It is far off enough to be able to sort things out in tune with the health situation. The Major League Baseball season is underway as well.
This past week has been a torrid one for us on the film scene as we have managed to watch seven (7) films, which is the most “new” releases we’ve seen in one week since maybe 16 months ago, though it could be even longer than that.
I’m Thinking of Ending Things ***** (Wednesday) netflix
Soul *** 1/2 (Tuesday) purchased blu-ray
My Octopus Teacher **** 1/2 (Monday) netflix
Crip Camp **** 1/2 (Thursday) netflix
Collective **** 1/2 (Friday) netflix
The Wolfwalkers **** 1/2 (Friday) Apple-TV-streaming
Concrete Cowboys *** 1/2 (Saturday) netflix
Pixar’s SOUL was fine but the Celtic-inspired THE WOLFWALKERS which was superlative is easily the better animated film. I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS (Charlie Kaufman) is a staggering masterpiece and one of the Top 3 films of the year for me. MY OCTOPUS TEACHER edges out SCHEME BIRDS, CRIP CAMP and COLLECTIVE for my #1 documentary this past (hybrid) year.
