Jan 8 - Jan 14

A Thousand and One, Carole, LuLaRich

- A Thousand and One [2023] - 75

A Thousand and One is the debut film of writer director A. V. Rockwell and it shows an incredible amount of promise. While my score of “C+” makes it seem lackluster, it truly is not… it’s just a little long and a little slow. Ok, it’s actually a lot of both of those things and also suffers from some extremely mediocre editing… and a confusing timescale. BUT, what’s not mediocre about the film in any way, is the vision of its story, or the performances of every person involved. This is a movie that’s likely to see Oscar buzz in the performance and possibly adapted screenplay category. Think 2014’s Boyhood, but not actually shot over 12-years.

- Carole [2015] - 75

Nominated for 6 Oscars and immediately related to Portrait of a Lady on Fire by IMDB, I was ready for Carole to be something spectacular. It’s possible that colored my experience, but I think I can point to enough specifics that say otherwise. This is a Hallmark romance wrapped in an expensive, big-budget package. Beautiful and evocative cinematography, excellent performances, and moving music make this movie seem like much more than it is but, taken piece by piece, its plot is thin and its characters almost all meaningless and forgettable. It’s a sweet little romance, but there’s not much to say for Carole other than that.

- LuLaRich [2021] - 60

A four-part documentary on the rise and fall of LuLaRoe, LuLaRich is basically exactly what you think it will be. The company is a pyramid scheme, it treats its “retailers” like crap, then takes no responsibility. Shocking, it’s almost like we live in a corporate hellscape. This was a fine thing to put on while we fiddled around on our phones and sat the evening away together but, other than that, you’re not going to find anything here you haven’t seen somewhere else.