Martin's Musings

Documentaries come in all shapes and sizes. 

Over the years, we’ve seen everything from traditional historical retrospectives, concert films, and intimate portraits of celebrities, to sweet human-interest stories, hard-hitting investigative exposés, and explorations of offbeat subjects — some that leave you guessing about how real they actually are. Heck, in 2021, a movie called My Octopus Teacher won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

And then there’s The History of Concrete, John Wilson’s weird and wonderful documentary about, yes, concrete. The stuff we walk on, build with, and generally don’t give a second thought to unless somebody trips over a sidewalk or a bridge collapses.

But if you’ve seen Wilson’s TV series, How To with John Wilson, which ended its run on HBO in 2023 and is currently available to watch on HBO Max, you know that the subject is really just the beginning. This is a filmmaker who could make a documentary about watching paint dry and somehow turn it into a hilarious, existential journey through the absurdity of being alive.

To cut to the chase: I liked The Sun Never Sets. I didn’t love it, and I’m not sure I’ll be thinking about it much a week from now. But for most of its running time, I was perfectly happy watching it.

That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, I know. But sometimes “likable enough” has to be a perfectly legitimate review.

Nobody was ever supposed to see Coyote vs. Acme.

Warner Bros. finished making the movie in 2023, but in November of that year, CEO David Zaslav said he would never release it (despite a reported cost of $70 million), instead deciding to put it on the shelf as a tax write-off of about $30 million.

The filmmakers and cast were understandably furious, and the decision sparked an enormous public backlash. 

Surprisingly, the suits at WB eventually allowed director Dave Green to shop his film around, and after years of uncertainty, independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment rescued the movie and has now brought it to theaters.

Thankfully, it was all worth it.

The new film One Night Only asks its audience to have a willing sense of disbelief, and there is perhaps nothing in it that’s more far-fetched than this: It wants us to believe that Callum Turner (Eternity) and Monica Barbaro (Top Gun: Maverick) can’t find anyone to sleep with — and on the horniest night of the year, yet. 

If those two are striking out, then what hope is there for the rest of us?

The film imagines an alternate version of America where the right-wing government has outlawed premarital sex. Except, that is, for one 12-hour window — a glorious, state-sanctioned night every year when the country’s singles can finally let loose. Picture The Purge, but instead of everyone running around with assault rifles and other weapons looking to commit no-consequence crimes, they’re desperately hunting for condoms so they can get laid. It’s a ridiculous premise, and thankfully, the movie knows it.