Every Breath You Take

There’s plenty of films where the psycho villain manipulates the nice suburban family, but “Every Breath You Take” (2021) uses an updated version of “Ordinary People” as the family’s backstory to give things a different twist. It also helps distract us from what is a pretty formulaic film genre. We have a family that’s struggling to cope with the loss of a son when a stranger with a struggle of his own enters the fray. Things become pretty obvious pretty quickly, but I maintained interest in the interpersonal dynamic between dad (Casey Affleck), daughter (India Eisley) and mom (Michelle Monaghan).

The Stone Boy

Let’s say you’re wondering what “Ordinary People” would be like if it took place on a farm in Montana instead of some WASP enclave in Connecticut (let’s just say, because we know you’re not). Well, your pretend prayers have been answered with “The Stone Boy” (1984). Brother dies accidentally, other brother feels survivor guilt, everybody else goes batshit crazy. Except grandpa (Wilford Brimley). He’s so even-keeled, he could look death in the face and sell it a reverse mortgage. Anyway, it’s an interesting film in that it portrays an adolescent with PTSD before we knew what those letters stood for.