American Woman (the one with Sienna Miller)

(Note: There were two films named “American Woman” released to U.S. audiences in close proximity)

If you took every one of the sad Sheryl Crow songs and tried to turn them into a movie, you’d end up with “American Woman” (2019). Haunted by the bad decisions of herself and others, slowly being grinded down by working-class life, Sienna Miller’s protagonist is a tragic figure except when she’s her own worst enemy. (Heck, Miller even looks like Crow.) There’s a missing-persons subplot that you keep thinking is going to spark into a full-fledged, true-crime story every time a new character is introduced, but alas, it’s simply a movie about perseverance, though a well-made one at that.

Uncle Buck

Round up all the things I don’t like about John Hughes movies (the uberbitchy teenage girl, John Candy, Macaulay Culkin), put them together and you get “Uncle Buck” (1989). This is not part of Hughes’ “funny” (“Sixteen Candles”) film collection. This is part of his “pathos” (“Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”) collection. Candy basically performs an over-the-top version of “Charles in Charge” so Culkin and his siblings don’t have to be “Home Alone” while their parents are away. The film’s heart is in the right place, and there’s a few funny moments, but it doesn’t measure up to Hughes’ better films.