The Last Letter From Your Lover [2021] ★★
I like a good old-fashioned love story as much as the next person, but Netflix’s “The Last Letter From Your Lover” misses the mark on multiple occasions, despite a good cast. Felicity Jones is wasted as an ambitious journalist who discovers a pile of love letters from 1965, which leads her to investigate the mystery at the center of this forbidden love. The movie borrows a lot from such classic love stories as “Brief Encounter” and “An Affair To Remember”, especially when we go back in time to learn more about these characters. Shailene Woodley is good as the married woman who falls for another man. And the film is well-shot, but there’s never a sense that we’re watching something special, or at least memorable. If you’re curious about it, it’s still an entirely watchable film. But just know that you may or may not remember it the next day.
Star power can save a movie from being a complete waste of time. Case in point: “Holidate”, Netflix’s latest rom-com starring Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey. They play two strangers completely fed up with the pressure of having a date on every holiday, so they decide to be each other’s “plus 1” throughout the year, just for the fun of it. Will they eventually fall in love? You know it. I don’t suppose anyone would watch a film called “Holidate” expecting twists and turns. And I have to admit: the premise had me going at first. But it does get old after a while, relying far too often on textbook cliches and jokes that mostly fall flat. It’s still watchable, thanks to Roberts and Bracey’s chemistry. But ultimately, this is routine stuff that you’ve seen a million times before, and better.
In this generic Spanish thriller, Mario Casas plays a paramedic who, after a tragic accident that left him paralyzed, begins to suspect that his girlfriend is cheating on him. This is a setup for a cat and mouse game (think Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window”, with Casas wheelchair bound), that sadly leads nowhere. Casas is menacing enough, and the film has some chilling moments, especially early on. But halfway through, it was obvious where the story was headed, and I lost interest as a result. Still, if you’re browsing Netflix for something that doesn’t require a lot of attention, “The Paramedic” might be the title for you. But you should know that it’s nothing that you haven’t seen before.
First off let me tell you how much I admire screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s work. From “Being John Malkovich” to “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, Kaufman has left his stamp on so many films that are now regarded as “essential viewings”. That being said, I didn’t fully appreciate his latest effort, which you can now stream on Netflix. Much like so many of his movies, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is clever and original, but I grew tired of it after a while. In telling the story of a young woman who travels with her new boyfriend to his parents’ secluded farm, Kaufman injects his script with dark humor and dream-like sequences, something you would expect from the man himself. Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons both wear their characters as a second skin, and the movie is truly mesmerizing and intriguing at first. But after the hour mark, I found myself drifting away from it. Instead of being constantly pulled in, I started to lose interest. It’s difficult to explain why without entering spoiler territory, but I will say that the pay-off wasn’t as rewarding as I wanted it to be. Let me put it this way: Charlie Kaufman movies tend to push me to read more about them, long after the credits start rolling. I didn’t feel that urge when “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” ended.
Yet another Netflix film about a high schooler who must overcome a lot of obstacles to fulfill her dreams. Auli’i Cravalho is good as Amber Appleton, a teenage girl with musical aspirations who has to juggle several jobs in order to get through high school. But 90 minutes do not do this movie any justice, which is part of the problem. There are a lot of things going on here, and as a series, this could have had potential. But as a movie, it just doesn’t work, at least for me. Still, there are some good moments here and there, but not enough for me to recommend it. Just like many other Netflix films of the same genre, “All Together Now” is easy to watch and just as easy to forget.
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