1235. The Assistant

The Assistant
2019
Directed by Kitty Green

It hurt my heart to see Mr. Darcy behave in this way. It was pretty tough to sit through, and not just because my number one literary crush portrayed a cog in the misogyny machine, but because it hit a little too close to home. I am sure this is a feeling shared by most women who watch this.

The movie follows Jane's work day from start to finish, as she is painfully and systematically degraded by the men in the office. Some of her coworkers are outright tools, while others are sneakier about their douchebaggery. But each man probably goes to bed that night thinking he helped her in some way.

The director did an excellent job of capturing moments of sexism throughout the day, the moments that do not manifest itself into two men leering at a woman while she bends over the water cooler like in the sexual harassment training videos. Julia Garner gave a phenomenal performance as a woman who is slowly being drained of life. Most of us have experience having that job feels like it is denigrating you into nothing.

So two movies in, and the List is really bumming me out again. I'm back!

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

The drugs Jane puts in the storage box are for erectile dysfunction. 

1234. The Vast of Night

The Vast of Night
2019
Directed by Andrew Patterson

I thought I had escaped from this life. I settled down to a nice boring day job, married a boring woman who is always folding laundry, and had boring suburban kids. Then, one day, while taking the out the trash after dinner, I see on the news that my arch nemesis is blowing up banks again. I must once again don my cape and face the demons I thought I had left in my past. 

In other words, I couldn't resist coming back here for the new edition. I am pleased with the some of the removals (no more Avengers, hurray!) and haven't seen any of the new additions. But I'm game for ten new entries. Now that I am done with albums and movies, I've been all about my book list lately and I'm looking to stray from the marriage.

In 1950s New Mexico, Everett and his friend Fay test out Fay's new tape recorder before the male athlete's basketball get-together. The film does a good job endearing us to the characters. Most teenagers portrayed in movies are completely insufferable, so this is commendable. Everett starts his shift at the WOTW radio station, but is interrupted by a mysterious audio signal. Everett puts out the signal to his listeners to see if they have any answers. Some do.

Twilight Zone fans (Zoners?) will appreciate the homage to their soul reason for existence. Even though I was never a huge Zoner, I still found this to be a charming, nostalgic hidden gem. Science fiction movies have a bad habit of cutting away at the most interesting part. Okay, it's guilty of that somewhat too, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Title is taken from a line in the Tempest.