Goodrich- There are a host of these coming of middle-age movies, where an aging actor is in some odd place in his life where he’s either stuck, or realizes he’s been making a series of mistakes that he is just now becoming acutely aware of. I suppose, Lost In Translation is probably one of the best examples, but some more lesser discussed examples would be Solitary Man with Michael Douglas, The Land Of Steady Habits with Ben Mendelssohn, and Dan In real Life with Steve Carell. Sometimes these men fall in love, sometimes they rekindle love, sometimes they learn to be a better parent, and sometimes they get a second chance at it. In Goodrich, Michael Keaton is our aging male star who has to face the fact that his second wife has left him and checked herself in to an in patient psychiatric facility, and he might be an agitator that led her there. He’s now having to pick up all the slack with his kids, while also trying to med his broken relationship with his adult daughter (Mila Kunis), who is expecting. While he reckons with being a husband and a father, he also is trying to keep his art gallery up and running. It’s a perfectly fine entry in this very specific genre, but not necessarily on the level of Lost In Translation. It doesn’t have any known audio description that I can find, so it makes it a tough title to really pin down for a grade. But, Keaton is good here, much like he was in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Knox Goes Away. 2024 was pretty good to Michael Keaton.
Fresh: No Grade Due To Lack Of Audio description
Getaway- this Nick Frost horror comedy has audio description, you just have to rent it. It is a Shudder title, and the audio description exists on VOD platforms, but Shudder doesn’t support audio description. I would say, without spoiling, that the plot involves a family taking a trip to an island for a festival, which will give you some serious Midsomer vibes. However, as this is a horror/comedy, not all is as it seems, and that is where my plot description stops. There’s a point in the film where the movie starts to turn, and I think they telegraphed it a bit, and it comes too early. I would have pushed it back a little, and allow the film more build, with the third act really feeling like the final third, instead of the second half. This is less of a three act structure than a film with a Part 1 and a Part 2. Nick Frost is perfect for this kind of genre, and the payoff certainly occurs for fans looking for gore. I prefer horror comedies, and while I’ve seen horror comedies I fell in love with instantly, this is still falling in line with being worth a watch. You may even enjoy it more depending on your relation to Midsomer.
fresh: Final Grade: B-, Audio Description: B+
Utopia- Oof. Wow. this was terrible. I went with it because it had audio description, and it was easily one of the worst films I saw in 2024. I viscerally hate everything about this film, which seems designed to draw in an InCel audience by mixing Skinemax style storytelling with a level of machismo not seen in another film in 2024. the movie centers around a pleasure experience, akin to Westworld, but with presumably real women, who are programmed to follow the commands and desires of the customers. There’s a guy who is infiltrating to rescue a friend, a former soldier who was kidnapped, but really everyone needs to be saved from this. I think in some countries, viewing this film might constitute a war crime. There’s no point in beating this dead horse, the quickest and most succinct way to define this is if you have an opportunity to do basically anything else, do that instead of watching Utopia. Clean your toilets, mow the lawn, call someone you haven’t spoken to in years, or simply just take a nap for the equivalent amount of time. I saw 455 movies in 2024, and this would be #454. The only film more incompetent than this is Tarot.
Rotten. Final Grade: F, Audio Description: Sufficient, but attached to a film I could never recommend.
