Watch List Weekly Recap 8/25/23
A small-town sleeper, three interesting new films in theaters, a great one on VOD, and a question posed for readers.
This is the Friday recap of Ty Burr’s Watch List postings for the week. If you’d like to cut down on in-box clutter and receive this weekly email ONLY, please go to your account page and under “Email notifications” uncheck every box except “Weekly Digest.” If you’d prefer to not receive it at all, uncheck just “Weekly Digest.”
Good Movies 📽
One Good Film: "Diane" (2019)
Ty Burr • Aug 21, 2023
Diane (2019, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐) — It’s always a treat to see a familiar actor used in unfamiliar ways, and in the case of Mary Kay Place (above) – a known face since the soap opera parody “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” in the late 1970s – "Diane” is something more than a treat. It’s a long-overdue validation.
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Good Movies 📽
What to Watch: Late August is Kinda Mid
Ty Burr • Aug 25, 2023
More end of summer dog days in theaters, but I’m willing to take a trawl through some of the curiosities and contenders premiering in theaters this week. I should note, however, that your best viewing bet is probably to stay at home and stream Celine Song’s “Past Lives”(⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐), which is finally available on VOD and which is as of this moment my pick for Best of 2023.
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In between those two posts, I posed the question in a chat thread: When does plot description in a review count as a spoiler, and how do you handle it? It got a good ongoing conversation started, which you are free to join.
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