🎬 "Good evening, Clarice."

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I didn’t realize that when I revisited 2006’s Borat earlier this year, I was willing into existence a surprise sequel, filmed mid-pandemic and perfectly timed for the US elections.

But Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm (etc.) is the movie America deserves right now, and honestly? It’s better than the first one, overall. Sacha Baron Cohen seems to be having fun stepping back into his most famous role here, but he (and Borat) quickly run into the problem with making a new Borat movie in 2020: Everyone knows who Borat is.

The solution is newcomer Maria Bakalova, who plays Borat’s daughter Tutar with aplomb. She completely commits to the broad comedy and is the perfect partner in crime for Cohen — as well as a plot point. Tutar is originally intended as a teenage bride for “Vice Premiere Mikhael Pence” and later for Rudy Giuliani. You’ve probably read what happens when Rudy unwittingly agrees to an interview with Tutar, and if you haven’t yet … well, it’s both unsurprising and still jaw-dropping. Recommended. ★★★½

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The Silence of the Lambs is one of my favorite horror movies because it doesn’t rely on cheap tricks like jump-scares; this movie is legitimately terrifying, and it earns every skin-crawling moment.

Even if you’ve never seen it, I don’t need to tell you that Anthony Hopkins is a revelation as the long-imprisoned serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. In under 20 minutes of screentime, he creates an unforgettable character, aided by director Jonathan Demme’s unnerving skill with extreme close-ups.

A great villain is crucial, and most people forget that this movie has two: Lecter, and Ted Levine’s more overt antagonist Buffalo Bill. However, Jodie Foster is also perfect as our hero Clarice Starling, completely believable in every interaction and smarter than the audience and her peers in all the right ways. I respect so much that Foster refused to return for the (I’m told) disappointing sequel.

I’m not interested in sequels, prequels, or even the spin-off TV series starring Mads Mikkelsen, which I’ve heard is quite good. The Silence of the Lambs is just the right amount by every measure; apart from some questionable language about mental health and transsexual people (which is vague enough that the filmmakers have plausible deniability), this movie is perfect and very satisfying as a stand-alone work. Highly recommended. ★★★★★

I watched The Silence of the Lambs on Blu-Ray, but it’s currently streaming on Netflix, Showtime, DirecTV, and fuboTV.

I was eager to re-watch The Princess and the Frog now that it’s been announced that the 2009 movie will inspire a re-theming of one of the best rides at Disneyland, Splash Mountain.

(In case you’re out of the loop: Splash Mountain was based on an openly racist 1946 movie called Song of the South that Disney has refused to re-release in any format since the 1980s. The ride is not as obviously racist as the movie, but the characters in it are based on some harmful stereotypes that have overstayed their welcome. Anyway…)

On some level, I’m excited at the idea of the re-theming: Some of the songs in Princess and the Frog are lovely; the voodoo-dealing villain Dr. Facilier is creepy and creative; and it was nice to finally see a Black woman be a Disney Princess — and, what’s more, a Black woman who has a lot more to her than her looks.

Unfortunately, Disney really fumbles the ball with this story, transforming its unique protagonist into a frog and sending her on a meandering journey filled with comic relief sidekicks, only some of whose stories work on a story level. The result is a promising first act followed by a big comedown that frustrated me more than it entertained; this is a well-animated, fitfully fun movie, but the writers didn’t appreciate just how much potential they had on their hands. Skip it, and let’s hope the new Splash Mountain is better. ★★★

I watched The Princess and the Frog on Netflix, but it’s also currently streaming on Disney+.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is an extremely silly, but very enjoyable, animated film from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directing duo who would later go on to make The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Cloudy isn’t as clever or as well-animated as those films, but it has all the same heart and earnest commitment to its premise — in this case, an awkward young scientist who invents a machine that turns rain into food. Bill Hader is a fine lead, and I really liked the supporting cast of characters, which includes a crooked mayor (Bruce Campbell), a talking monkey (Neil Patrick Harris) and a nerdy meteorologist (Anna Faris).

This is, you might have guessed by now, a movie made for kids, but Lord and Miller always do a good job as the Señor Spielbergos of Pixar-quality work, although this movie’s morals are far simpler and less relevant to adults than their later works. Still, I was never bored here and am so glad this movie’s success led to even bigger things for them. Recommended. ★★★½

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is currently streaming on Netflix.

(new additions in bold)