This week on Talking Pictures with Neil Rosen,

we'll look at Aaron Sorkin's, new historical legal drama,

The Trial of the Chicago 7.

A remake of the Hollywood classic Rebecca with Lily

James and Armie Hammer.

And the Robert De Niro comedy, The War with Grandpa,

which co-stars Uma Thurman and Christopher Walken.

Plus, we'll tell you about the new movie

Kajillionaire, about a family of small time con artists.

We've got all that and many more movie picks coming up.

♪ [Opening Music]

I'm Neil Rosen. Welcome to Talking Pictures.

It's our monthly critics roundtable show where we

debate what's worth watching and what's not when it comes

to new releases, hidden gems, and Hollywood classics.

Now we know that most movie theaters are still closed and

you're probably craving some entertainment, so along with

my panel who are all streaming from home, we have plenty of

movies for you to watch at home.

Joining me are Bill McDuddy from Gold Derby.

Hey there Bill.

>>> Hi Neil.

Always, always believe the cards.

>>> Lisa Rosman from Signs and Sirens.

>>> Hi Neil. Please ignore Bill's card.

>>> Yeah, let's try and do that.

And returning to the show our friend from

Collider, Perri Nemiroff.

How are you there, Perri?

>>> I am doing very well and I am proud to bring the Halloween

spirit to the show right now.

>>> Well, we've got a bunch of Halloween selections as

we go through the show and let's start out with the

look at several new films that are available on-demand

or on streaming services.

This is not a Halloween film, but let's start with

something called The Trial of the Chicago 7 and let's

take a look at a clip.

>>> Well, we want to underscore again that we're

coming to Chicago peacefully but whether we're giving

permits or not, we're coming.

>>> We're going to Chicago to protest the Vietnam War.

>>> There's no place to be right now but in it.

>>> We watched for a decade while these rebels without a job

tell us how to prosecute a war.

And they're going to spend their thirties in a federal

facility, real time.

>>> Bill, tell us about The Trial of the Chicago 7.

>>> Well, Aaron Sorkin is back and that's always good news.

He's writing and directing.

I still don't like his directing as much as his writing,

but he's getting better.

In 1969 seven people were charged by the feds with

conspiracy stemming from the 1968 Democratic National

Convention in Chicago.

Sorkin has assembled a dream cast, including

Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Frank Langella who

chews the scenery up as a corrupt judge, and Joseph

Gordon-Levitt as the prosecutor.

But the secret weapon in all of this is Mark Rylance, who

is William, who plays William Kunstler, the defense attorney.

The whole thing is not as Sorkin-y as I would like

with the ratatat dialogue.

However this is still an important story.

Well told, and I can't recommend it enough.

>>> Perri?

>>> It's an important story and I think it gets an

inherent value because of that.

I also think it is a highly entertaining and riveting

version of the story.

And I think that has a lot to do with the boldness of

it, the pacing of the movie, and also these magnetizing

performances, but there were certain parts that felt a little

contrived to me that I felt weight, was weighing the whole

thing down a little too much.

And one of the examples that has been on the top of my mind

ever since I saw the movie was a moment like when Dellinger

punches the bailiff, that moment worked well enough all

on its own, but then I got a manufactured reaction shot from

his son sitting in the audience.

I don't need things like that when someone like John

Carroll Lynch can sell a scene like that all on his own.

So minus beats like that, that were taking me out

of the story, I still think it's a solid watch.

>>> Lisa?

>>> I am so not a Sorkin fan.

I think he's the like dictionary definition of mansplaining.

So you can trust me when I say that this movie is very

good and very necessary.

I mean, he always shines with legal and political matter and

I was actually really affected by its lack of glibness.

I was worried he was going to put it under

the old ratatat tat.

And instead the dialogue, a lot of which actually

happened, really sings and so does the underlying message,

which is something that we all need to hear right now,

which is that sometimes radicalism and uprising are

actually the most sensible approach to certain moments

in history like that one and I don't know, maybe this one.

>>> I should have mentioned also Neil, that there's some

real footage of the riots that's edited into this

thing really effectively.

>>> Very effectively.

>>> Please say you liked it.

>>> No, I loved it.

And to your point, Lisa, it is so relevant to

what's going on today.

As they say defiantly in the movie, the whole

world is watching.

They keep saying that in the movie and the whole

world is watching now.

And Aaron Sorkin is in his wheelhouse.

I mean, this is the courtroom the drama guy.

This is the guy who did A Few Good Men.

This is the guy who did on Broadway the adaptation

of To Kill a Mockingbird.

So he's very comfortable in the courtroom and it's an

absorbing courtroom drama.

It's a great history lesson.

And it's also an actor showcase.

I mean, I couldn't believe as Bill was rattling off,

you know, he told you all the people that were in the movie.

I just couldn't believe the cast that they got for this.

I also liked the blending of the courtroom proceedings

with the reenactments of the protests, with the flashbacks.

I thought the whole thing worked very well.

All right, moving on, Lisa, tell us about the

movie called Kajillionaire.

>>> Well Neil, this is the newest film from queen of

indie whimsy, Miranda July, and maybe ‘cause it's the

first film that she didn't also star in, in addition to

writing and directing it's the first one she's made that

I don't find it annoying.

In fact, I found it really, really moving.

Evan Rachel Wood is barely recognizable as sort of a gruff

affectless daughter of Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger.

Ooh, that's a trio right there.

And the three of them survive by pulling off

these very very, very low level cons, like hilariously

low level cons until Gina Rodriguez joins their cadre.

And Evan Rachel Wood starts having revelations galore,

let's just say that.

Miranda July's specializes, for those who haven't seen

her film, she specializes in these very odd ball details.

They're kind of read like rose colored dioramas and

sometimes they annoy me, like I said, but this one packs

such a well plotted emotional punch that it cuts through the

trees, i'm sorry, the tweet is what I mean, the tweet.

>>> Bill, what'd you think?

>>> Well, I'm recommending this even though it's not so

much a movie as just a, an, an ultra cool acting class.

The performances are great and it's such an odd story.

I can only imagine all that foam coming out of the

walls and they're having to run home to clean it.

It's small, but we get to see Debra Winger so infrequently,

you know, I'm recommending it.

>>> Perri?

>>> This was, this is probably one of my favorite

of Miranda July's now.

I still do think that the wackiness of the story might

make it a love it or strongly dislike it watch for many out

there, but for me, it wound up in the love category.

And you know, like you guys said, the homemade ensemble

in this is something else, but when you see what Evan

Rachel Wood accomplishes with a role that could have just

gotten buried by like her quirks and eccentricities,

it's really something else just with how earnest

she makes that character.

I mean, that right there is the reason why her arc

throughout the movie and her figuring out who she is and

who she wants to be beyond her parents resonates so much.

>>> Well, I didn't like this movie at all and yes,

they're all good actors, but this failed to pull me in

emotionally on any level.

I mean, there's a tonal shift in the movie and

that didn't work for me.

When it tries to be amusing, it's not.

When it tries to be emotional, it didn't get me there either.

So what else is there, you know?

>>> It reminds us of you, Neil.

>>> I didn't like this dialogue wise or story wise

and you know, I usually like con artists movies, but

they're little cons didn't interest me either, nor did

Evan Rachel Wood's character. I found this to be boring.

>>> You don't do droll. It was too subtle for you.

Let's just be clear.

>>> Well, regardless, I'm moving on to another

movie, which Perri will take us through, which she

recommended that we all watch called Spontaneous.

>>> Yeah.

This movie is not so subtle at all, Neil, sorry.

Spontaneous it stars Katherine Langford as Mara.

She is a high school senior and one day members of her class

just randomly start exploding.

And that, that is the premise of the movie.

I love this one.

It is one heck of a first feature from Brian Duffield.

I think he just does such a great job showing off what

makes his style is so unique.

And he also adapted the screenplay too from the book

by Aaron Starmer and the way the book and now the movie

manages to tap into what I love in it fun, pick them

off crazy time type horror movies, but also having a

real poignancy to it and also having a romance element

that played extremely well.

Just seeing all three of those things exist side by side

throughout this movie, really hit me hard and didn't just

make it a fun watch, but it also gave me a whole bunch of

concepts to chew on about just living and mortality well after.

>>> Lisa?

>>> Well this is the kind of movie I like to call

subtle with an audible beat.

I would never recommend it for the big screen.

It's haphazard, it's jumbled.

And you know what? It's super likable.

It's a lot like it's central character actually.

I mean, it limps along a little bit at times but

the main character is so strong minded and subversive

and unusual for a female protagonist that I enjoyed it.

I will say, I think the ending is a disappointment.

It, it sorta just ends and her last speech had me rolling

my eyes to the high heavens, but I dig the movie overall.

>>> Bill?

>>> And those eyes of yours do roll to

the high heavens often.

I will say that just when you think it's dragging a little,

somebody else blows up.

If you try to describe this movie to someone and tell them

to watch it, they won't believe you or they won't listen to you.

It's really almost unexplainable.

And if you, even if you took all of those explosions

out, it's a really, it's the ultimate teen angst movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and I couldn't

recommend it more highly.

>>> It's a scifi comedic horror teen romance movie.

And it's hard to gel all of that together, but writer

director Brian Duffield sorta pulls it off and I really

liked the two leads, Katherine Langford, and she had great

chemistry with Charlie Plummer.

And unlike the last movie, this one does also have a

tonal shift two thirds of the way through but unlike

the last one where I didn't like that tonal shift, this

one I kind of don't mind it.

And I would recommend this for its relevance, uniqueness,

and its performances.

Rebecca is a new remake of the famed 1940 Alfred

Hitchcock classic.

Armie Hammer and Lily James star.

Let's take a look at a clip.

>>> I'm asking you to marry me you little fool.

Mrs. de Winter. May I present Mrs. Danvers.

>>> Welcome to Manderley.

>>> This is all very new to me.

>>> Oh, I'm sure you won't disappoint him Madam,

if that's your concern.

We did a lot of entertaining when the late Mrs.

de Winter was alive.

>>> You can talk to me about her.

I have no secrets from you.

>>> All marriages have their secrets.

>>> Lisa, give us the scoop on Rebecca.

>>> Well Neil, more to the point this is also an adaptation

of Daphne Du Maurier's best selling 1938 Gothic novel.

Both movies are based on that.

Lily James here is a newlywed who is overwhelmed by the huge

English estate that she now has to manage upon marrying

this very wealthy man, but she's even more overwhelmed by

the legacy and the shadow of Rebecca who is his dead wife.

Her husband is like I said, paid by Armie Hammer

and here's the problem.

I think the sweeping vistas are the most

exciting part of this film.

Both James and Hammer are the kind of beautiful

looking actors who are oddly inert in my opinion,

in every role they're in.

They seem to just suck all the life from

everything around them.

And their flatness, I think takes the edge off of all

the actual thrills of the psychological thriller.

Even the normally vibrant Kristin Scott Thomas does

not find her footing.

And what's an interesting role as a super

subversive housekeeper.

>>> Bill, What's your take.

>>> This is such a bad movie. I mean, it's-

>>> Say it.

You hate to agree with me.

>>> Lisa's right, when the stars are having to

compete with the scenery and the scenery wins.

I mean, Monte Carlo is gorgeous.

Okay, Ann Dowd is kind of funny in the beginning of the movie,

but then she goes away and she isn't even invited to a dance

that she talks about for the first 20 minutes of the film.

I just think this is a ridiculous remake.

I think it's a misfire for Netflix and I feel badly

for them on this one.

>>> Perri?

>>> I think Ann Dowd was my favorite part of the movie.

>>> Aunt Lydia from A Handmaid's Tale.

>>> She's always great.

Lisa, I do have to disagree with you in general though.

I do think Armie Hammer and Lily James are hugely talented and I

think you see some of the first, in the first act of this movie,

I think you see their chemistry shine through, but the second

they go to Manderly it is like the energy just gets completely

sucked out of the room.

And even though I think the broad strokes of the story

do make sense, there are so many little beats here

where I found myself just out of frustration, shouting

at the screen, why won't you just say what you mean?

Where is this getting anyone?

It, it turned out to be a really frustrating watch, but

as a quick aside, ever since seeing and becoming hugely

obsessed with The Favorite, I can spot that location in

any movie and I kinda love it.

>>> Look, remaking Alfred Hitchcock films don't

always go very well.

Remember Psycho with Vince Vaughn, just to use that.

>>> In color.

>>> Do you think that he's referring to the

book though, not the film?

>>> Well this is actually, this is actually more faithful

in some ways to the novel then the 1940 movie because there

were adult themes in this that because of strict Hollywood

production codes, 80 years ago they couldn't broach,

but it doesn't really matter.

And look, if you haven't seen them movie or read the novel

then, then maybe you'd find this somewhat interesting.

But problem that I have with this is the problem that I

have with all of these, these kind of remakes, like the

Mildred Pierce mini series.

Yeah they look beautiful.

The production values are better, but it's just not, this

one lacks the Hitchcock touch.

I like Joan Fontaine and Lawrence Olivier better.

And it is just like Bill had that sign that said snore. Yeah.

You know, so it looks better. So what?

I'd say, if you can, the original one is on YouTube,

you want to watch that one? It's a better watch.

Perri, why don't you tell us about a movie

called Save Yourselves?

>>> I am so happy I got to come on the show and put

the spotlight on two first features that are excellent,

directorial debuts I should say.

This one comes from Alex H. Fisher

and Eleanor Wilson and it's about a couple living

in Brooklyn who decide to go to a cabin upstate and

unplug for a little bit.

Problem is when they go up there the world is attacked and

because they're disconnected, they don't know about it.

I totally fell for this movie mainly because of Sunita Mani

and John Reynolds, the two of them, like they're back and

forth and their chemistry in general was just through the

roof from start to finish.

And a lot of the jokes here land very well.

But I also think where Fisher and Wilson find some really

great success is blending those laughs and that good time with

actually establishing some real stakes and a sense of danger.

And I think a lot of that connects to their

creativity as far as what is attacking the world, which

I was wildly abused by.

>>> Listen, I don't know what I'm missing here, Perri.

You recommended that we watch this movie, but I

flipped the couple had no chemistry whatsoever.

I thought that the comedy missed the mark.

I understand that the comedy is satirical but the satire

didn't work for me, and the aliens that are attacking the

world, they called them Poofs, they looked like something out

of the Star Trek episode called The Trouble with Tribbles.

And I understand it's supposed to look cheesy,

which might've worked for a 1950s kind of horror film,

which you kind of forgive.

But I just think this thing was a complete misfire and

I did not like it at all.

Lisa, you're shaking your head.

>>> I'm not in love with the movie, but I just,

I think you're kind of wrong.

Like it's supposed to look low fi and it looks low fi

and it's wonderful.

I mean, who says aliens have to be scary.

The fact that they look like poofs is actually

one of the more comical flourishes with the film.

And by the way, I think the leads have wonderful

chemistry and are actually in a relationship in

real life so it's kind of interesting that you say that.

But here's my thing.

Quinoa, mustaches, sourdough starter, alien invasion.

It's pretty much everything that you need to brilliantly

mock hipsters and sort of a nouveau survivalist package,

it's shooting fish in a barrel maybe, but I dug it anyway.

I do like this film.

>>> Mr. MCCuddy?

>>> I agree with everyone except you.

I think, I think the chemistry is really good.

I think that you don't get some things.

This is poof positive.

And I don't know why the poofs were pink at one

point and brown and another, but it doesn't matter.

I mean, this was just a load of fun and it gets all the

Brooklyn hipster stuff correct.

So for me that was part of the joy and I recommend it.

>>> Not funny, not enjoyable.

Let's move on to a movie that I also didn't

find fun or enjoyable.

It's called The War with Grandpa and Bill, you can

tell everybody about it.

>>> Peter and his grandfather used to get along until

grandpa moved into the house.

Robert De Niro leads a cast of unknowns including Uma Thurman,

Jane Seymour, Christopher Walken, Cheech Marin, and the

little boy Peter is kind of been around a little while,

but I hadn't seen him before.

His name is Oakes Fegley.

Listen, this movie is not great, but it's not terrible.

Maybe I expected it to be just God awful and it wasn't.

I laughed out loud a couple of times and it's got a sweet

kind of a message to it.

So I think for certain audiences in a certain mood this is,

this is a good film to watch.

>>> Lisa, please, please help me out here.

>>> Okay.

First of all, it is hard to watch De Niro phone it in

for a movie like this when you know, he can still turn

in performances like the one he did for the Irishman.

This is so sitcom style grating that even the soundtrack

felt like it should be in a WB nineties series.

I'm sorry, what mother in this millennium let alone Uma

Thurman, like so miscast, does embroidery in her spare time.

I was just watching this movie, like, what is this?

The good news is that we watched this movie so that

you don't have to be viewers.

>>> Perri?

>>> All right, I'm going back to Bill here, ‘cause I'm kind

of with you and I'm kind of not.

On the one hand, I don't think this is a good

movie, but I didn't end the movie thinking that I had

completely wasted my time.

I did laugh at a couple of moments here and there and

I like a lot of the young ensemble here, but I think the

message of the movie is just like a complete utter mess.

And I think there are so many signs that show that they have

no clue how to end the story particularly with a certain

speech that we get in the end and also even with the last

shot of the movie, which feels like tonally completely out of

left field down to this fade to black that feels so wrong.

But this other thing might be a little inside baseball.

But another thing that was so distracting to me was how often

I notice how long ago this movie was shot because Oakes Fegley

has done a number of movies and so has some of the other

kids in this movie and they look completely different here.

And maybe I should be able to separate this movie from

their other work, but because of the release order here,

and because of the quality of this movie, I just couldn't.

>>> Yeah, I'm with you.

This one was lying on the shelf for years and I

think if we weren't in this pandemic situation, they

might've never had released it and maybe we would've all

been better off for that.

Listen, Robert De Niro has done a lot of lousy movies over

the years and I'm embarrassed for him and I'm embarrassed

for the rest of the cast. I mean, Christopher Walken-

It's not as bad as you're saying it is.

>>> Come on. Uma Thurman-

>>> I agree. I agree-

>>> Let me, let me have my day in court here, okay.

This is a paycheck movie.

These people probably all signed in just to get a paycheck here.

I was embarrassed for these actors.

It's got a Home Alone vibe but not even as, I won't even put

it on that level, but that's what they're trying to do.

>>> A week ago I awoke - Mother?- to find that

my mother was missing and she did not return.

I'm presently on the way to collect my brothers.

Mycroft and Sherlock.

Yes, Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective, my genius brother.

He will have all the answers.

>>> Enola.

>>> Where's your hat and your gloves?

>>> Well I have a hat, just makes my head itch.

And I have no gloves. >>> My God.

>>> That was a clip from the new movie and Enola Holmes

that happens to be Bill McCuddy's personal choice

as we go around the panel as we do every month with our

critics picks of the month. Bill?

>>> Hey, this should be a kid's movie, but it's totally not.

It's a great film that works for audiences of all ages

and it's almost exclusively because of Millie Bobby Brown.

She's the Enola Holmes, the title character.

She's also Sherlock Holmes little sister.

So the question is, can she out sleuth Henry Cavill, her

bigger brother to find her mother Helena Bonham Carter.

Also, can she save a Lord she has a kind of crush on?

This is much, much, much better than you think it is.

It gets like 90 or 93 on Rotten Tomatoes.

And you'll thank me if you watch it.

>>> Perri?

>>> I was so pleasantly surprised by this movie.

I just wasn't feeling the need for another Sherlock

Holmes type adaptation but I was so blown away by it.

>>> You know, it's based on a series of YA novels by Nancy

Springer and Netflix spent a lot of dough on this and if

they want to make more of her books, I say, bring it on.

>>> Lisa, what do you got?

>>> I'm into a movie called Forty-Year-Old-Version,

which is on Netflix right now.

A real life rapper and real life TV and play writer, Radha

Blank, has basically made her definitive memoir masterpiece,

which by the way was the belle of Sundance this last year.

This black and white film about you guessed it, the Harlem based

rapper and writer Radha Blank.

She even uses her own name.

The premise here is that she's turning the corner to 40,

her beloved mother has just died, her high school teaching

job is giving her tons of agida, and her career as a

playwright is super stalled out.

So she channels her frustration into, tada, transforming herself

into a middle aged rapper.

The film takes its time in ways that I think may bug some, but

I saw this as a jazz composition more than anything else.

It's artful, it's sharp witted, it's plaintive, it's deep,

it's unpredictable for sure.

And it's codas and turn out the richest material here.

Let us say that she just thrives on failure to

sometimes harrowing, but mostly wonderful effect.

>>> Bill?

>>> This movie is okay.

It's not quite as good as it thinks it is.

And it ends about it's like, it's like a Neil Rosen question.

It doesn't quite know when to end, but and so I'm not

saying don't see the film.

I'm just saying it got a little more praise than it deserves.

>>> Perri?

>>> I am the exact opposite where I could have watched hours

and hours more of Radha's story.

I couldn't get enough of it.

The whole just, it has such a unique and refreshingly

honest vibe to it. It's funny. It's sweet. It's sharp.

And it does all, oh, I got a sign.

You spelled my name wrong so it doesn't count.

>>> I'm with you Perri and I'm with you Lisa.

It's a really cool pick Lisa and it's sharp

writing and good direction. What a debut.

I think that Radha Blank is somebody we're going to hear

a lot from in the future. I recommend this one as well.

All right, Perri, tell me your critics pick this month.

>>> My critics pick is The Haunting of Bly Manner.

It's the sequel season to The Haunting of Hill House, but

this is an anthology series.

So this is new characters and a new story, but it brings

back Victoria Pedretti who this time, plays Dani Clayton.

She's hired to be the aupair of two young kids

who just lost their parents.

And they're living in a Bly Manner.

For anyone out there who is looking at this expecting

super big ghost related scares or maybe more specifically

jump scares this isn't that kind of horror story.

It is far more a emotionally driven love story than anything

with the scares that you do get, scares that are powerful

to keep you up at night, much more rooted in love, loss,

and just general mortality.

I really think that this is something special that

I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

I watched it more times than I can count and like Hill House,

keep an eye on this ensemble for the new faces this year

that weren't in Hill House, to T'Nia Miller and Amelia Eve,

they're both going to be huge. I would bet on it.

>>> You know, I loved this series and I didn't, I didn't

quite know what to expect.

I mean, there's so many different levels of it

that work really well.

It sort of reminds me of Ryan Murphy if, if he was

soulful and there was less blood spill, basically.

>>> Bill's shaking his head. Bill?

>>> Uh, here's the problem. I just couldn't-

>>> All right, you're pithy but you're not right, and not funny.

>>> Okay, everybody calm down, calm down.

I only watched one and a half episodes.

This is the least favorite thing about me-

>>> Yes. I really do hate that.

>>> So that's why you didn't email me back.

>>> It's the job of a decent series to pull

you in and I was utterly unengaged from the beginning.

>>> I'm mixed on this.

I think they, it looks great, from the production

value is terrific. The acting is good.

But they could have done this in half the episodes, but it's

not without its attributes.

Well, my pick is themed to Election Day,

which is coming up. It's called Election.

It was made in 1999.

It's arguably the best thing Reese Witherspoon has ever done.

It's certainly the funniest.

She nails her character Tracy Flick, an incredibly annoying

high school overachiever who will stop at nothing to

win an election to become student body president.

It's also one of the best things Matthew Broderick

has ever done, playing the teacher who's out to stop her.

This is one of my all time favorite films.

Writer director Alexander Payne made a brilliant,

hilarious satire that takes on so many themes like

adultery and corruption.

Election is so smart and it constantly surprises you.

Lisa?

>>> Okay. Clever? Absolutely.

Great performances? Totally.

Good dialogue? Of course.

But the problem with this film today is that it

rings more than a little hollow, I think in 2020.

>>> I can watch this movie still over and over to this

day and as much as I love a lot of Reese Witherspoon's

filmography, I think Tracy Flick is one of the best cinematic

characters we've got out there and I think this is probably

one of her best performances.

>>> She's great.

I just want to say, I think she's wonderful, but the

premise of it surrounding her, I think it's, it's

queasy to me these days. I don't dig it anymore.

>>> But I think he's gone on to make better films than

Election and I just don't think it's held up as well.

>>> Well, on that note, that's about all the time we have.

With any luck we've given you some movies and TV shows to

watch to help pass the time.

I want to thank Lisa Rossman, Bill McCuddy,

and Perri Nemiroff. Stay well. I'm Neil Rosen.

Join us next time on Talking Pictures.

♪ [Closing Music]