MATERIALISTS: Clean Pedro vs. Grimy Pedro

MATERIALISTS (Blu-ray)

2025 / 116 min

A24

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😽

Another sleeper hit from A24, another opportunity to jump on-board the Pedro Pascal train. Not that it’s a difficult task. The guy is everywhere these days…five movies in 2024 alone, three this year, and lets not forget two of the most high-profile sci-fi TV series of the last 10 years. I imagine Pedro wakes up every morning with a big high-five to himself.

For the most part, he deserves to. Unlike a lot of other actors running the risk of overexposure, Pascal’s track record has been pretty solid and he’s proven to be quite versatile, though my daughter, who has a celebrity crush on him, prefers the gritty, grimy & grizzled Pedro from The Last of Us. Seeing him as sharp-dressed, handsome and wealthy Henry Castillo in Materialists would probably leave her cold.

Despite the collective aesthetic appeal of the cast (which includes Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans), I can kind-of see how Materialists might leave a lot of people cold, especially those expecting the kind of light romantic comedy they're used to. There’s comedy, sure, but it’s understated and ultimately not part of writer-director Celine Song’s playbook. 

It certainly begins like something Julia Roberts used to do in her sleep back in the ‘90s, with Johnson as Lucy Mason, a professional matchmaker whose clients largely consists of entitled rich people with a checklist of physical and/or financial qualities they seek in a potential mate. Lucy’s mathematical approach to matchmaking makes her successful, though she herself isn’t really part of that world. In fact, when she meets charming single bachelor Henry Castillo, Lucy uses her personal analytics to explain why they aren’t compatible (which doesn’t really dissuade him, of course).

Chopsticks, too? Is there anything Pedro can't do?

At roughly the same time, Lucy’s old boyfriend, struggling actor John Pitts (Evans), re-enters her life during a chance meeting. We sense they still love each other, but as seen through flashbacks, she left him because he didn’t meet the same shallow criteria many of her clients demand (and she hates herself for it). Meanwhile, Lucy does begin a relationship with Henry, though it’s obvious she doesn’t actually love him. As love triangles go, the movie takes a few unexpected turns, but it’s sometimes pretty slow going and Lucy isn’t a particularly sympathetic protagonist. I also could have done without the subplot involving one of Lucy’s clients, Sophie (Zoe Winters), and an abusive man she set her up with.

Still, I guess it could be considered a fairly perceptive, mature look at relationships - even if we don’t necessarily relate to some of these people - and the overall performances keep it watchable. Though his character is more of a plot device, fans of “clean” Pedro will enjoy what he brings to the film, while those who love “grimy” Pedro (like my daughter) should give it a pass. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - The Math of Modern Dating: Making Materialists; Composer Deep Dive with Japanese Breakfast.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By writer-director Celine Song.

SIX BEHIND-THE-SCENES POSTCARDS - Standard with all A24 releases.

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD: Inevitability in Action

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD (Blu-ray)

2012 / 101 min

Universal

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Princess Pepper😽

I seem to recall when this was first released and thinking the title was metaphorical. But indeed, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is almost exactly as advertised. The seeking part? No. But finding a friend when you weren’t actually seeking? Sure enough, which kinda makes the whole thing pretty predictable…

…to say nothing of somber, even if that wasn’t entirely writer-director Lorene Scafaria’s intention. It’s hard to mine comedy from the apocalypse, to say nothing of romantic comedy. Not that the movie is never funny, or without its sweet, feel-good moments, but the impending doom that underscores nearly every scene looms large. We already know how this is gonna turn out.

Still, it’s a fairly engaging journey along the way. A 70 mile wide asteroid is heading toward Earth, which of-course will wipe out everyone. But Dodge (Steve Carell) was already miserable before that, trapped in a bad marriage and dull job. That changes when he meets his free-spirited young neighbor, Penny (Keira Knightley) for the first time. She’s sort of a hot mess, too, having just broken up with her shiftless boyfriend. 

They have different agendas for the limited time they have left. Penny wants to go home to her parents. Dodge hopes to reunite with an old high school sweetheart (after reading a months-old letter from her that was put in Penny’s mailbox by mistake). This essentially becomes a road movie as these two opposites (and an abandoned dog) embark on the journey together. Anyone who's seen their share of romantic comedies will know how this turns out, too.

Seeking room on the sofa for the end of the world.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World unfolds like a benign variation of conceptually similar - but far more brutal - films like Miracle Mile and These Final Hours (the latter being one of the bleakest movies I’ve ever seen). The funniest moments are during the first act, particularly when Dodge attends a party thrown by friends who plan on going out with a bang. Though different in nearly every way (including their ages), Dodge and Penny’s budding romance is kind of charming, though for me, the most emotionally affecting scene involves Dodge and a spider he spots in his sink, which wordlessly conveys his sudden appreciation for life (no matter how much of it one has left). Maybe I’m just wired wrong.

Carell, Knightley and the supporting cast of recognizable actors (most of whom only appear in a scene or two) all give good performances, while Scafaria’s dialogue often touches on relatable themes and feelings. However, the movie doesn’t hold any real surprises. For the most part, we’re just watching the inevitable unfold, both the love story and humanity’s fate. 

This is a re-issue of a Blu-ray released in 2012.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - A Look Inside Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is your standard promo piece; Music for the End of the World: What’s On Your Playlist features cast members naming your own music choices.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By writer-director Lorene Scafaria (and her mother!), actors Patton Oswalt & Adam Brody, producer Joy Gorman.

OUTTAKES

RED LINE 7000: Days of Blunder

RED LINE 7000 (Blu-ray)

1965 / 110 min

FROM ARROW VIDEO

Review by Mr. Paws

Before the melodramatic motorporn of Grand Prix, there was the melodramatic motorporn of Red Line 7000, a story of three hunky NASCAR drivers and the women who love them (and sometimes hate to love them). The similarities, however, tend to end there.

Looking back at this one nearly 60 years later, it’s easy to see why James Cann became a star while most of the other cast didn’t (though if you look quickly, you’ll spot Teri Garr). As ace driver Matt Marsh, he displays twice the charisma - along with flashes of his trademark intensity - than either of his racing rivals, Ned Arp (John Robert Crawford) and Dan McCall (James Ward), who are both blond, blank-faced carbon copies of each other. 

And what are we to make of Howard Hawks? One of classic Hollywood’s greatest and versatile directors, he seems to be working below his pay grade here, cranking out something that looks and feels more like an Elvis movie…Spinout minus the songs. Actually, I take that back…there is one song, “Wildcat Jack,” which is cringingly awful and sang/rapped by Gail Hire as love interest/jazz club co-owner Holly McGregor (and where Garr appears as a back-up singer).

"How'd you get your hair to do that?"

Speaking of which…a lot of the movie takes place in a swanky jazz club, where all the stock car drivers (and their women) hang out between races, prompting me to suspect screenwriter George Kirby didn’t do much research. Though I think most of these guys would more-likely be tipping back beers in a dive, let’s not hold that against him. However, the dull romances and superficial conflicts that dominate the narrative are certainly Kirby’s fault.

1966’s Grand Prix was full of that stuff too, but when focused on the cars, races and drivers, not only did it look and sound authentic, the racing sequences were immersive and thrilling. Conversely, Red Line 7000 gives us grainy stock car racing footage interspersed with rear-projection shots of the actors pretending to drive. These sequences would also have you believe that a devastating crash happens every single lap.

In his first starring role (though he’s really part of an ensemble), James Caan makes the most of the opportunity. But technically and thematically, the rest of Red Line 7000 has aged far worse than other racing & romance movies from the same era. As one of Howard Hawks’ final films, this doesn’t rank among his best work.

EXTRA KIBBLES

NOTE: Free Kittens Movie Guide was provided with a promo disc for review purposes. Physical supplemental material included with the final product (booklets, artwork, inserts, etc) were not available for review.

BRUCE KESSLER: MAN IN MOTION - 45 minute profile/interview with director and former race driver Bruce Kessler (who passed away just this year). He was a 2nd unit director on Red Line 7000.

2 VISUAL ESSAYS - A Modern Type of Woman, by film scholar Kat Ellinger, is about the three primary women characters; Gas, Gears, Girls, Guys & Death, by Howard S. Berger & Angela McEntee, discusses director Howard Hawks and Red Red 7000.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By Nick Redman and Julie Kirgo, who's screenwriter George Kirgo’s daughter.

GALLERY - Promotional artwork and stills.