Even late on a Friday night, the theatre showing Barbie (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was full. It’s become a real cultural moment, the success (both commercial and critical) of which will no doubt touch off myriad toy-based movie scripts — many of which are catalogued by the New Yorker.

Anyway, the movie itself was very good — clever in a laugh-out-loud way but also in a wow-Fox-News-is-going-to-hate-this way — and accessible for a pretty broad age range. Recommended, though be ready to have this song stuck in your head for a while:

In the last couple of weeks, we watched two exceptional movies.

Tár (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was a symphony of intrigue, ego, genius, patronage, and impropriety, and a masterclass by Cate Blanchett.

We saw Oppenheimer (imdb | rotten tomatoes) in theatre (!) earlier this week, and it was as good as expected. I am, of course, a hopeless devotee of Christopher Nolan, and now Lindsay might be intrigued as well. Exceptional performances all around, a story I felt silly for not knowing (the intrigue around Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, specifically), Nolan’s trademark time-jumping which keeps it fun, and some humanization of a name I know only from the most massive of historical events.

Last night we finally watched Everything Everywhere All at Once (imdb | rotten tomatoes). As thw whole world knows by now, it’s amazing. The acting, the visual effects, the emotion, the humor…all of it. Even the most absurd scenes (the rocks, Raccacoonie, etc.) were also somehow moving.cFrankly, I’m bummed I didn’t watch it back in the summer when my brother told me I should — by now I’ve seen enough clips and heard enough about it that it wasn’t quite the surprise it would have been. But still: best movie I’ve seen in a while.

We’re also slowly making our way through The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Lindsay often seems to slow down on non-comedy shows right around the third season) so it was fun to see Stephanie Hsu here.

I’ve probably watched Interstellar all the way through half a dozen times now. I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of it. The visuals, the music, the drama, the feels. I watched it again on Thursday and it still thrilled me. There are plenty of movies I’ll throw on in the background again and again, half-ignoring them while I read or do something else, but add this one to the short list of films that grab my attention every single time.

Last night we watched The Menu (imdb | rotten tomatoes). It’d been recommended by a bunch of friends, and I’d like the preview when it first came out, so we centered a quiet evening at home around it.

It was good — funny, dark, with plenty of fodder for analysis the next day. A little on the nose at times, but well worth a watch.

I also watched the latest instance of All Quiet On The Western Front (imdb | rotten tomatoes) a few days ago too, which was also good, but decidedly more bleak and depressing.

While I forgot about TIFF entirely this year, I did manage to squeak in a few films this month. Nothing earth-shattering, but entertaining.

• Spider-Man: No Way Home (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was the expected rollick from this installment of the Spider-Man franchise. I’d waited long enough to see it that I already knew the big twist of this one, but it was exciting to see nonetheless.
• Sleeping With Other People (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was a romantic comedy that came out of nowhere. A weird one too — clever, and also at times a bit more serious than you might expect.
• Tammy (imdb | rotten tomatoes) wasn’t the best Melissa McCarthy movie, but even a lesser such film is still pretty funny. Susan Sarandon was an expected addition to the cast too.
• Top Gun: Maverick (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was what I expected, but frankly quite a bit more. It could have been flashy garbage. It was certainly flashy, and a cheeky nod to the original (Iceman! Penny Benjamin!) but the ludicrous action was at least enticing.
• The Good Nurse (imdb | rotten tomatoes) wasn’t one I’d heard about despite the star power involved (Jessica Chastain, Eddie Redmayne) but ended up being a well-done telling of a horrifying true story.

Earlier today I watched a movie I’ve seen constantly in the PVR guide of late, but not watched: Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor (imdb | rotten tomatoes). Some thoughts:

• I could tell from the opening scene (the Halifax waterfront) that it was shot in Nova Scotia. Right away it moved to the countryside, what looked to me like the Annapolis Valley.
• The acting was a little stilted. Felt like a low-budget Canadian movie…which it was, I suppose.
• I’m sure she’s acted in multiple things, but the only thing I recognized the actor who played Tammy (classic NS name, BTW) from is RBC commercials.
• I was trying to figure out who played the dad and suddenly realized it was the guy who played Ricky from Trailer Park Boys. Wasn’t easy to make that transition, but I got there.
• My dad still has a tractor kind of like that one…a Farmall though, not a Ford 4000.
• MANY mentions of 4-H, which took me straight back to my childhood.

It was a cute & moving little story, but to me — and I admit I’m biased here — the real star was the gorgeous Valley scenery. It was countryside I just drove through in August for pretty much the first time, and the pastoral green tucked between the hills, with the Minas Basin a stone’s throw away, and it felt like a whole other country. I miss it.