“And now we get to movies seen after I hit the giant Ctrl+Alt+Del buttons on my life and restarted out here in Cali. Right now, I’m waiting for the movers who while technically are still within the window they’d given me, are much later than I’d have liked. And my shiny new giant orange truck is getting some work done and should have been done, but no one I talk to stays on long enough to give me a status update. And all I want is to get all that settled so I can go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with my peeps this afternoon.
So the first post-move movie outing was a bit of a learning experience. I’ve seen a bunch of movies out here over the years while tourist-ing around, but this was a bit different. When I excitedly realized I had a free afternoon and my own transportation and access to pretty much any movie I wanted, I chose a pair of films at a theater way on the other side of town. While I budgeted extra “”get there”” time, I totally forgot about “”parking time”” (lesson 1). Got there too late for the movie and they wouldn’t let me in. Boo. I also realized just how expensive tickets are out here (lesson 2). No more are the days where I can catch an early discount movie at a giant cineplex and then wander into another screening. No, here, tix run at about 15 bucks and it’s all reserved seating. So if I had been on time, tickets alone would have set me back by $30 plus the food I was planning to get. Maybe I need to be more selective about what I choose to see out here. Or I need to get creative about finding cheap movies somewhere…Oh and lesson 3 is that just bc something is playing somewhere in town that I can get to, it might not necessarily be worth a trek out of West LA.
Frustrated, I decided not to hang around that theater for the later film (even though I ended up having to pay for my 5 min of parking, lame!) I went back down towards my side of the city and caught one of those movies at a closer theater. And that leads us all to, damn you John Krasinski for doing your job so well! Had not seen a single trailer or even mention of The Hollars leading up to his release. But then suddenly John was all over late night (which I watch in YouTube clips every morning) talking about this fantastic movie with this amazing cast that has seriously everybody, and before I knew it, it was a priority flick for me. I don’t even know how that happened.
When I say this movie has everybody, I really do mean everybody. Margo Martindale, Richard Jenkins, Sharlto Copley, Anna Kendrick, Charlie Day, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Josh Groban, Randall Park, and Krasinki pulling double duty as director (I think maybe even producer too). It’s a family story, kind of a dramedy. Light hearted but sometimes heavy handed. Funny but dealing with serious matters. Matriarch Martindale is suddenly hospitalized with something very serious and Krasinski comes back from big city life in NYC to be with his family in the small town he grew up in and tried to escape from. It’s tough to give an enticing synopsis, but it was really all about the feeling of it. The film felt real. Like real people and what they go through and what real relationships are with their ups and downs. I’ll admit, the emotional element even got to me towards the end.
The cast was absolutely fantastic, especially our parentals Martindale and Jenkins. These are two treasured actors who don’t get enough due attention, and this film provides a marvelous showcase for them both, especially Martindale. Even if you don’t recognize them by name, I’m sure you’ll know them by sight and instantly recall some great bit parts you’ve seen them in before. That should be enough to spark an interest here.
Yeah so I was very pleased with this movie. Certainly worthy of more attention than it’s getting, but deserving of all the love it is receiving by those who’ve seen it (me included). Hopefully this gem will be discovered by the masses on streaming media soon.
The Hollars – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/”