Dear Watchers,If you like your crime stories with an element of time-travel — and who doesn’t? — we have the film for you on this Genre Movie Wednesday. It includes Vince Vaughn x 2, playing present and future versions of a character, with some genuine laughs along the way. Our sci-fi expert Elisabeth Vincentelli describes that movie in more detail below, followed by her recommendation of an indie rom-com about a world where people can rewrite their own memories. Read on for Elisabeth’s thoughts about each, then head here to get three more of her picks. Happy Watching. ‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’
Where to watch: Stream “Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” on Hulu. Mashing up time travel and organized crime isn’t new — the excellent “Looper” (2012) comes to mind — but the writer-director BenDavid Grabinski adds a welcome element in his new movie: laughs. The tone is set in the opening scene, in which Symon (Ben Schwartz) fiddles with electronics while singing along to Billy Joel’s “Why Should I Worry?” Then the plot pivots quickly to the gangster Nick (Vince Vaughn), who is trying to prevent the killing of his associate Mike (James Marsden). The twist? Mike is already dead. So Nick travels back in time, using Symon’s invention, to change the course of events. In this premise, two people can coexist in the same timeline, with present and future Nicks appearing often in the same shot. Completing the volatile mix is Nick’s wife and Mike’s mistress, Alice (Eiza González). Grabinski keeps up the steady pace necessary for both action and comedy, but the movie shines particularly in its barrage of surreal jokes, often rooted in pop culture, like an extended riff on “Gilmore Girls” or a dirty cop (Emily Hampshire) who is described as “Christina Aguilera featuring Redman.” ‘Guacamole Yesterdays’
Where to watch: Stream “Guacamole Yesterdays” on Tubi. When a film has epigraphs by Kierkegaard and Boyz II Men, you know right away that it will deal with serious matters in a light-handed manner. “Guacamole Yesterdays” keeps a tight focus on the relationship between Ames (Sophie Edwards) and Franklin (Randy Havens, best known as the science teacher Mr. Clarke in “Stranger Things”). Ames is a cartoonist who draws autobiographical stories in a fantasy setting; Franklin dreams of being a stand-up comedian and pays the rent by working as a barista. We track their relationship, told with rom-com levity, through Ames’s perspective, as suggested by periodic check-ins with her therapy sessions. That perspective keeps changing, however, because our heroine is participating in a trial for a new device that allows her to rewrite her memories. “What if what is real keeps changing?” the therapist (Adetinpo Thomas) asks. To an extent, Ames can reimagine the past in her comics. But as we gradually learn, her needs are too great, her wounds too deep, for revisionist autofiction to suffice. And Franklin, who uses irony as a way to disengage, is equally vulnerable. A deceptively low-key effort, “Guacamole Yesterdays” illustrates how hard it is to find peace.
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