Liars and Saints

 Alice is thirty years old, and she's in a bad relationship. This guy, Simon, watches what she eats and attacks her if the snacking becomes "excessive." He ridicules her ideas in public. He tries to isolate her by suggesting that she does not need her friends. When a work obligation comes up, Simon says, "I thought you were going to reach higher than that job." Additionally, Simon doesn't observe boundaries; he invades a "retreat weekend," and he sends endless text messages, asking for erotic selfies. Finally, Simon insists on sex when it's clear that his girlfriend is anxious or uninterested, or both; I have not seen so much bad sex on-screen since the end of Lena Dunham's "Girls." If Simon is a mess, it's also really difficult to spend time with Alice. She loathes herself; she believes that she is "bad." She pulls little clumps of hair from her head; she twists hair around her finger until her skin turns purple. Wh...

 David Ayer wrote "Training Day," which won an Oscar for Denzel Washington and a nomination for Ethan Hawke. After this, I imagine everyone wanted to work with him. This explains "End of Watch," and its starry Oscar-caliber leads, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anna Kendrick. And it explains the presence of critics'-darling Michael Pena. "End of Watch" concerns two cops--buddies--who stumble on cartel affairs in Los Angeles. Their discoveries soon mean that they're potential targets for an assassination. Meanwhile, our buddy cops wonder why the feds are hesitating to take action against the cartel; after all, evidence of murder and human trafficking in L.A. is starting to grow, and grow, and grow. Meanwhile, the bond between Gyllenhaal and Pena deepens. Gyllenhaal is tortured and bookish; Pena is likely smarter, and less snobby. The two argue about dating, about curse words, about their attitudes toward men who are homosexual. Gyllenhaal announces he is takin...

 I spent Sunday evening alone; this was my first evening alone in approximately two years. Obviously, the only option was to eat ice cream and watch "A Simple Favor." You know this one. It's Anna Kendrick as a somewhat repressed widow in suburban Connecticut. She has a young son, and she records a daily "vlog," with "advice for moms."  A stranger comes to town. It's Blake Lively, and Blake doesn't have Anna's hangups. Blake swears freely (and Anna feels this should lead to a deposit in "the oopsy jar" ....) Blake does not feel compelled to pretend her life is sunnier than it is; she frankly suggests that she is hanging on by a thread. Blake basically "beds" her husband while still in Anna's presence. And Blake delightedly takes in Anna's "never have I ever" confession; this involves Blake gleefully calling Anna "a brotherfucker." Then Blake disappears. It seems she has dumped her own child on ...