by Josh Sewell
Mixtape
(Rated TV-PG for language. Available on Netflix December 3.)
This time of year, I mostly associate Netflix with prestige films like The Power of the Dog, Passing, tick, tick… Boom! and a host of others because my journalist colleagues and I are neck-deep in awards season. However, for the majority of viewers (i.e., people who aren’t neurotic weirdos like me), the streaming service remains a buffet of entertainment choices, from stuffy dramas to trashy reality shows and everything in between.
Perhaps that’s why I was so caught off-guard when an invite to watch Mixtape showed up in my mountain of emails. I almost missed it until I realized the flick hits Netflix this weekend with practically zero fanfare. I hit play expecting to watch a few minutes and shut it off, but 90 minutes later I was brushing away tears, a big smile plastered on my face. I love it when a movie comes out of nowhere and makes me happy.
Mixtape is a sweet, funny coming-of-age story about Beverly Moody (Gemma Brooke Allen), an orphaned, awkward 12-year-old who spends a lot of time alone while her grandmother Gail (Julie Bowen) works multiple shifts at the post office and worries about the impending doom of Y2K. That all changes when she finds a broken mixtape made by her teenage parents who died in a car accident when she was a baby.
Gail, still grief-stricken years later, doesn’t talk about the past, so Beverly sees the tape as a chance to finally learn more about her parents. She sets out on a journey to find all the song and makes new friends along the way, including her quirky neighbor (Audrey Hsieh); an intimidating classmate (Olga Petsa); and a cynical record store owner (Nick Thune).
Family-friendly stories are tough to get right. If they’re too saccharine and conflict-free, kids don’t care and parents get bored. Go too far in the other direction, they either traumatize children (looking at you, original The Land Before Time that I occasionally still have nightmares about) or they’re so adult that the target audience doesn’t understand it.
Mixtape almost nails the right combination. The story ultimately leans a bit too far on the safe side, but it’s the holiday season and the world is on fire. I can’t exactly fault screenwriter Stacey Menear and director Valerie Weiss for wanting to provide some comfort food. (Although I’m still a little grumpy they made me realize a movie set in 1999 is officially a period piece. Pretty sure I’m ready for the nursing home now…)
The film’s strongest asset – aside from a killer soundtrack courtesy of Netflix’s apparently unlimited music budget – is the great cast. Allen has the entire movie resting on her shoulders and she handles the pressure with aplomb. It’s clear she still has some growing to do as an actress, but her performance is mercifully free of the irritating tics and exaggerations child actors usually employ. Hsieh and Petsa are also solid in the friend roles, although they don’t get a lot to do after they’re introduced other than stand on the sidelines and be supportive.
Bowen and Thune were the biggest surprises for me. At first, I assumed Bowen was miscast as a grandmother because the filmmakers just needed a famous face. Instead, she’s fantastic as a grieving, emotionally closed-off woman who clearly loves her granddaughter but doesn’t quite know how to express it. Thune is terrific as well, modulating his acerbic, deadpan persona as a standup comedian to fit a more kid-friendly mold. He’s an entertaining mixture of Jack Black in High Fidelity and Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society.
While Mixtape isn’t destined for critics’ Top 10 list later this month, I already can’t wait to watch it with my 11-year-old daughter. She’s at that preteen stage where she thinks she’s more grown-up than she is, so kid stuff is supposed to be beneath her. I’m hoping this poignant story will make her forget that for a couple of hours.
Grade: B+
Home Video Spotlight
Reds – 40th Anniversary Edition
(Rated PG. Now available.)
Directed, co-written, produced by and starring Warren Beatty, the epic drama Reds turns 40 this year. The story of a radical American journalist embroiled in the Bolshevik revolution hits shelves in a new two-disc Blu-ray set restored under Beatty’s supervision. In addition to Beatty, the film boasts an outstanding cast including Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Edward Herrmann, Gene Hackman, Paul Sorvino, and Maureen Stapleton, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work. The Blu-ray contains over an hour of bonus content and access to a digital copy of the film.
Heaven Can Wait
(Rated PG. Now available.)
Another Warren Beatty classic, Heaven Can Wait, makes its Blu-ray debut this week, fully restored and remastered from the original negative. Directed by Beatty and Buck Henry, with a screenplay by Elaine May and Beatty, the film features a stellar cast and was nominated for nine Oscars. Beatty plays a backup quarterback who is prematurely snatched up by his overzealous guardian angel. When he’s returned to Earth in the body of a millionaire industrialist, he faces a world of challenges. The Blu-ray also includes a digital copy of the film.
(Rated TV-PG for language. Available on Netflix December 3.)
This time of year, I mostly associate Netflix with prestige films like The Power of the Dog, Passing, tick, tick… Boom! and a host of others because my journalist colleagues and I are neck-deep in awards season. However, for the majority of viewers (i.e., people who aren’t neurotic weirdos like me), the streaming service remains a buffet of entertainment choices, from stuffy dramas to trashy reality shows and everything in between.
Perhaps that’s why I was so caught off-guard when an invite to watch Mixtape showed up in my mountain of emails. I almost missed it until I realized the flick hits Netflix this weekend with practically zero fanfare. I hit play expecting to watch a few minutes and shut it off, but 90 minutes later I was brushing away tears, a big smile plastered on my face. I love it when a movie comes out of nowhere and makes me happy.
Mixtape is a sweet, funny coming-of-age story about Beverly Moody (Gemma Brooke Allen), an orphaned, awkward 12-year-old who spends a lot of time alone while her grandmother Gail (Julie Bowen) works multiple shifts at the post office and worries about the impending doom of Y2K. That all changes when she finds a broken mixtape made by her teenage parents who died in a car accident when she was a baby.
Gail, still grief-stricken years later, doesn’t talk about the past, so Beverly sees the tape as a chance to finally learn more about her parents. She sets out on a journey to find all the song and makes new friends along the way, including her quirky neighbor (Audrey Hsieh); an intimidating classmate (Olga Petsa); and a cynical record store owner (Nick Thune).
Family-friendly stories are tough to get right. If they’re too saccharine and conflict-free, kids don’t care and parents get bored. Go too far in the other direction, they either traumatize children (looking at you, original The Land Before Time that I occasionally still have nightmares about) or they’re so adult that the target audience doesn’t understand it.
Mixtape almost nails the right combination. The story ultimately leans a bit too far on the safe side, but it’s the holiday season and the world is on fire. I can’t exactly fault screenwriter Stacey Menear and director Valerie Weiss for wanting to provide some comfort food. (Although I’m still a little grumpy they made me realize a movie set in 1999 is officially a period piece. Pretty sure I’m ready for the nursing home now…)
The film’s strongest asset – aside from a killer soundtrack courtesy of Netflix’s apparently unlimited music budget – is the great cast. Allen has the entire movie resting on her shoulders and she handles the pressure with aplomb. It’s clear she still has some growing to do as an actress, but her performance is mercifully free of the irritating tics and exaggerations child actors usually employ. Hsieh and Petsa are also solid in the friend roles, although they don’t get a lot to do after they’re introduced other than stand on the sidelines and be supportive.
Bowen and Thune were the biggest surprises for me. At first, I assumed Bowen was miscast as a grandmother because the filmmakers just needed a famous face. Instead, she’s fantastic as a grieving, emotionally closed-off woman who clearly loves her granddaughter but doesn’t quite know how to express it. Thune is terrific as well, modulating his acerbic, deadpan persona as a standup comedian to fit a more kid-friendly mold. He’s an entertaining mixture of Jack Black in High Fidelity and Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society.
While Mixtape isn’t destined for critics’ Top 10 list later this month, I already can’t wait to watch it with my 11-year-old daughter. She’s at that preteen stage where she thinks she’s more grown-up than she is, so kid stuff is supposed to be beneath her. I’m hoping this poignant story will make her forget that for a couple of hours.
Grade: B+
Home Video Spotlight
(Rated PG. Now available.)
Directed, co-written, produced by and starring Warren Beatty, the epic drama Reds turns 40 this year. The story of a radical American journalist embroiled in the Bolshevik revolution hits shelves in a new two-disc Blu-ray set restored under Beatty’s supervision. In addition to Beatty, the film boasts an outstanding cast including Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Edward Herrmann, Gene Hackman, Paul Sorvino, and Maureen Stapleton, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work. The Blu-ray contains over an hour of bonus content and access to a digital copy of the film.
(Rated PG. Now available.)
Another Warren Beatty classic, Heaven Can Wait, makes its Blu-ray debut this week, fully restored and remastered from the original negative. Directed by Beatty and Buck Henry, with a screenplay by Elaine May and Beatty, the film features a stellar cast and was nominated for nine Oscars. Beatty plays a backup quarterback who is prematurely snatched up by his overzealous guardian angel. When he’s returned to Earth in the body of a millionaire industrialist, he faces a world of challenges. The Blu-ray also includes a digital copy of the film.
Reach out to Josh Sewell on Twitter @IAmJoshSewell
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