Welcome back to my Home Movies! Today, we have the Aziz Ansari filmmaking debut Good Fortune leading the way. This week also features a number of 4K re-releases hitting shelves, including Kevin Smith‘s Dogma. Throw in a pair of Criterion Collection releases and the slate is nice and varies. Read on for more.
Joey’s Top Pick
Good Fortune
The highlight of Good Fortune is clearly Keanu Reeves and his comedic performance, though Ansari deserves credit for crafting a fun flick with a social conscience. Ansari, Reeves, and Seth Rogen are obviously having a good time making the movie, which rubs off on the audience. It’s shaggy, without a question, but there’s a likability that rules the day with this one. Back at the Toronto International Film Festival here, I said the following in my review:
At the start of Good Fortune, things are pretty rough around the edges. The jokes don’t all land, the focus is off, and it’s hard to know what the point of it all is. By the end, the humor will have balanced out, the characters have won you over, and a message has even emerged. It’s all in getting from the beginning to that point. By the time the credits roll, you’ll have enjoyed the movie, imperfect as it is. An unlikely participant at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, it’s a fun palate cleanser of a comedy.
Good Fortune works once it leans into the full force of its premise, as well as stops feeling the need to have the plot constantly arrive. Plus, it’s when Keanu Reeves comes into focus that things snap into place, as he’s given an incredibly fun performance. You’ll know it when it happens, but once he becomes more interesting, we’re off to the races.
Also Available This Week
Airplane! (4K)
American Psycho (4K)
The Blues Brothers (4K)
Catch Me If You Can (4K)
Dead of Winter
Dogma (4K)
Hearts of Darkness (4K)
I’m Still Here
Minority Report (4K)
Rabbit Trap
The Strangers: Chapter 2
Top Secret! (4K)
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon – Season Three (TV)
Criterion Corner
I Know Where I’m Going!
From The Criterion Collection: “Love flourishes in the Scottish Hebrides in this windswept enchantment from British cinema’s most passionate visionaries, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. “I know where I’m going!” declares headstrong, upwardly mobile Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) en route to her marriage to a wealthy industrialist—until her carefully laid plans are blown away by a raging storm that leaves her stranded on an island off the Scottish coast with a dashing naval officer (Roger Livesey). Shot in ethereal black and white that enhances the almost mystical air of its setting—a folkloric world where legends and curses still hold sway—this beloved romance is one of cinema’s most stirring expressions of the eternal conflict between the head and the heart.”
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Salaam Bombay!
From The Criterion Collection: “A kaleidoscopic portrait of Bombay’s teeming street life, Mira Nair’s first narrative feature, Salaam Bombay!, combines a documentary-like sense of place with a poignant exploration of everyday resilience. After the young Krishna (Shafiq Syed) is cast out by his family, he makes his way to the city, where he encounters love, friendship, and tragedy in the face of extreme poverty. Drawing compellingly naturalistic performances from a cast consisting largely of children she met on the streets, Nair creates an intimate human drama that is by turns heartbreaking and life-affirming, an ode to childhood that overflows with colorful urban chaos and a deep compassion for those who live on society’s margins.”
Stay tuned for more next week!
