Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott: Jessica Chastain, Paul Rudd, and the Beatles
Bill Newcott reviews Woman Walks Ahead starring Jessica Chastain, Michael Grayeyes, and Sam Rockwell; Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan playing and odd couple for our time in Ideal Home; and the re-release of the Beatles’ psychedelic classic, Yellow Submarine. He also looks at the latest out on home video, including Chappaquiddick and Walt Disney’s Peter Pan (including an interview with the voice of Wendy, Kathryn Beaumont).
Seriously Good Summer Films
If superhero flicks leave you defeated and sequels seem stale, Bill Newcott has a few recommendations that will perk up your summer screen time.
Boundaries (June 22)
Christopher Plummer continues his string of superb late-career performances, this time as the cranky ne’er-do-well father of a single mom (Vera Farmiga) on a road trip from Washington State to L.A. Plummer has mastered the role of the charming rascal, and the pair are surrounded by a top-notch supporting cast that includes Kristen Schaal, Bobby Cannavale, Peter Fonda, and the always wondrous Christopher Lloyd.
Woman Walks Ahead (June 29)
The Wild West is no place for a woman — or so they tell Brooklyn painter Caroline Weldon (Jessica Chastain), who ignores everyone’s warnings and heads to Dakota Territory, determined to get Chief Sitting Bull (Michael Greyeyes) to sit for a portrait. Sparks fly, of course, and not just from the campfire. Sam Rockwell is perfect as a racist but conflicted officer, and Bill Camp is infuriatingly charming as a duplicitous Army bigwig.
Yellow Submarine (July 8)
For two generations, the Beatles’ hallucinogenic toon trip has been confined to home screens. Now, for the film’s 50th anniversary, the animated lads are setting sail in theaters nationwide. Disney was the only big-screen cartoon game in town in 1968, so absolutely nobody was prepared for the mind-blowing impact of this Peter Max-inspired kaleidoscope of Blue Meanies, Apple Bonkers, and acid-laced imagery. If you don’t see it on as large a screen as possible, you’re nowhere, man.
For biweekly video reviews of the latest films, go to saturdayeveningpost.com/movies or check out Bill Newcott’s website, moviesfortherestofus.com.
This article is featured in the July/August 2018 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.