Beat Me At Movies, Win A Prize
This is your chance.
I gotta be honest here. I’ve never seen the movie Draft Day, a behind-the-scenes NFL Draft movie starring Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner and Chadwick Boseman. I have watched a few minutes here and there when it was on HBO or Showtime or whatever, and it seemed pretty annoying and silly.
And yet, here we are.
It seemed as good a movie as any to use to write about the Movies Fantasy League, something Vulture has been doing for a few years now. And I’m inviting you to take me on.
All you have to do is select eight movies. You have 100 fictional dollars to spend to your heart’s desire, and points are handed out for domestic box-office performance, critical performance and how it does in terms of awards.
You can join here. Also, make sure you add in Aerial Shot for the optional league name, so you can take me (and friends) on directly.
The winner will get a prize of some kind. I’m thinking a special post where you get to yell at me about any takes you disagree with. I don’t know. If you have a better idea, please send it my way.
It’s been kind of a hectic week, and I’m working on a few stories right now, so I don’t have that much to write about. And yet, don’t say I don’t give you anything. Here are a bunch of short reviews of things I’ve watched over the last week or so.
Short Reviews
Clueless: Not breaking ground here when I say that Clueless is great. The modern-day Emma, set in Beverly Hills, is so goddamn funny and features a pitch-perfect Alicia Silverstone, a perfect collection of character actors (Wallace Shawn!) and some of the best outfits in movies. A great plane watch. Highly recommend the Blank Check episode with Heidi Gardner:
Arrival: This may be Denis Villeneuve’s best movie. Also, what happened to Amy Adams? We need to put her in real stuff again.
God, that’s tough.
The Aristocats: I’ve never seen this one, and my friend Molly couldn’t let that slide. Love the animation. Has some bops.
Incredibles 2: Haven’t seen this one since it was in theaters, randomly at the now-defunct Landmark at 57 West. Certainly not the original but immensely watchable. The Jack-Jack stuff is inspired.
Drop Dead Gorgeous: Another first-time watch. Was kind of shocked by how mean-spirited the entire thing is. Had some laugh-out-loud moments, basically everything Mindy Sterling did. Also wasn’t aware of how deep the bench is here. Knew Kirsten Dunst and Denise Richards were in it, but somehow had no clue that Amy Adams, Brittany Murphy and Adam West all had important parts.
Caught Stealing: Apologies to all the Austin Butler fans, but I found this exhausting and really annoying. A pastiche of much better works from Martin Scorsese to the Safdie Brothers. Not sure how I feel about Butler as a leading man. Has the juice as an off-the-bench energy guy, and yet I can’t say I’ve been into any of his star turns. To be fair, it’s a Darren Aronofsky movie, so that’s always tough to improve on.
The Man Who Wasn’t There: In the midst of a Coen Brothers rewatch (due to Blank Check and the Adam Nayman book), so I’m trying to watch everything I can. Had never seen this Billy Bob Thornton noir. Found myself getting a little antsy until one masterful scene about halfway through. Far from my favorite Coen Brothers movie, but even a meh one for them is better than a lot of other stuff.
That’s all I’ve got right now. A pretty chill week. Please join the Movies Fantasy League, and best of luck.