Last night I watched
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and
The Whale, two
very different movies. I haven't seen either of these mentioned in this thread, but I would strongly recommend them for all audiences.
I haven't been to the theaters since COVID-19 started its spread; so, I'm always at least several months behind the curve, and trying to dodge massive spoilers along the way, at least until streaming or home releases become available. It's a shame, and I hope these guys got plenty of box office sales and accolades when they released last year. I know at least Brendan Fraser's performance in
The Whale has gotten attention at recent awards ceremonies.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a
very loosely "biographical" (heavy "air" "quotes" emphasis here) story in which Nicolas Cage plays himself in modern day Los Angeles, struggling to achieve the recognition he deserves as a movie star while dealing with his family breaking apart, but things soon go off the rails as he travels across the world for one last gig. It's one part semi-serious semi-satirical character study, one part buddy comedy, one part spy thriller, and one part action adventure, and it makes generous meta winks and nods at the camera just short of totally breaking the fourth wall. Yes, it's as weird as it sounds, but I think it executes that weirdness masterfully. It's funny and engaging, and it makes me want to go back and rewatch some of Cage's older movies. Mission accomplished, Nick Cage. You win this round.
The Whale is a movie on a
much smaller scale, its setting limited almost exclusively to one man's apartment, and it follows a morbidly obese man as he tries to reconnect with some of his family. I don't want to say much more because I "went in cold" not knowing
anything about the character or plot, and I think that's a great approach for this one. The story is both heart-wrenching and uplifting and deals with themes of love, loss, bullying, suicide, identity, religion, parenthood, and family. Brendan Fraser knocks it out of the park with his performance. You can both love him and hate him (or rather his character) for what he's done and is doing. It's a real joy seeing the Encino man back on the big screen, and I hope to see more from him in the coming years.