AYATM: The Maltese Falcon

Movie: The Maltese Falcon
When: 7 p.m., Sunday, April 10
Who With: JL
Movie Count: 26
Snacks: popcorn and beer? The Masala spice isn't around anymore. Might have to make another seasoning donation.

Reaction: What the what is with this movie poster? Is that top guy supposed to be Bogie? Fine. Another classic in The Roxy's Essential Cinema series. This one beats The Big Sleep and has some kooky violence that made my day, including a lady kicking a guy in the head when they're both standing, jacket stunts your older brother might pull, and plenty of gun-taking misdirection.

Gotta get that falcon! JL introduced me to the term "MacGuffin," used to describe the quest or object that a movie centers around but isn't flushed out for the audience. Familiar concept but I love the word!

Honestly, there's a lot going on in this movie, comings and goings, alliances and deceits, but never more reciprocated administrative assistant appreciation. A two-way street full of "darling" this, "precious" that, "sweetheart" the other. Bogie knows how to manage his staff of one.

Recommendation: Let’s Go! | Let it come to you  | Let it pass | It's a classic, so you have to
Next Up: Requiem for the American Dream

Hello, My Name is Doris

Movie: Hello, My Name is Doris
When: 7:15 pm, Friday, April 9
Who With: JL
Movie Count: 25
Snacks: I'm guessing we split a bowl of popcorn

Reaction: This is a joyful movie that gets into some of the harder stuff of life when it should but doesn't leave you there. Sally Field is pretty magical as Doris - an awkward older lady who is somewhat emotionally stunted, naive, and relatable.

Director and co-writer Michael Showalter does almost too good of a job looking at young people through a Baby Boomer/Gen X resentment-filled lens. He picks fun at their crafting, tech, music, and lingo while also relying on these ideas to move the story along. The bit that made my brain talk to itself was when rather than establish a dummy social network, the movie oddly relied on THE social network, Facebook, but makes up an alternative interface for it. Why?

Stephen Root is one of those people who makes me laugh by just appearing on screen. Even in this more serious role, his humor seeps out. Part of me wants to think this is a bizarro side story within the Office Space universe, in which Milton's issues have been addressed and now it's time to deal with sister Doris's. All in all, it's a fun sweet movie that I'm glad I hadn't seen the trailer to prior. Semi-spoilers all the way through! Whoa, I just learned that this movie is rated R. That is ridiculous - it's pretty tame.

If you're wondering, "Why the long break between posts, Christine?" well, it's because I had a conference in Phoenix. I was able to sneak into "Chongqing Hot Pot," which I don't think I liked - too violent but the food looked great. I'll let this Variety article explain. It was in a great theatre though, the Valley Art, It's part of the Harkins chain and a 2001 renovation kept the charm and still feels recent 15 years later. They have a great gimmick: if you buy and wear their $25 t-shirt, you get free popcorn for the year. Since returning to Missoula on April 6th and the Roxy on April 9th, I've seen four membership movies and will be getting around to posting-o-plenty.

Recommendation: Let’s Go! | Let it come to you  | Let it pass
Next Up: The Maltese Falcon