Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
I got to watch this movie when it was in theaters for a week, just so I could vote with my wallet and let Netflix know that movies of this quality should definitely go to theaters first before streaming. This movie was a lot of fun. Don’t believe everything you hear though, initial reactions to this film was that it’s bigger and better than the first film in every way. I think the first Knives Out is way better than Glass Onion, but this movie was still one of the best films of the year and scratched my very specific itch for a whodunit mystery film.
Obviously Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc is the star here, and with each passing movie you can tell that he’s just having a ton of fun and enjoying his time on this franchise as opposed to being stressed out during his tenure as Bond. I selfishly would want Rian Johnson to make these kinds of movies with Daniel Craig forever, just put Blanc in a new setting with a new cast of characters every time. Speaking of the characters, part of the reason I felt the first cast was better was because the cast of Glass Onion, while quite great, is absolutely nowhere near as interesting as the first film. Aside from the fantastic Janelle Monae, most of the characters in this movie feel a bit more like caricatures of character archetypes, and sometimes felt a bit too over the top. I found Kate Hudson’s character to be quite grating at times, along with Dave Bautista’s. Overall, the unconventional way that this film’s mysteries reveal itself is fantastic, and just a whole lot of fun that I expect many people will enjoy when it comes to streaming in a few days.
Grade: B+/81
The Fabelmans
I was so confident that I was going to love this movie. Spielberg making a movie about his own childhood and what led him to becoming one of the greatest directors of all time? Sign me the heck up. But then about an hour into the movie, I started coming to grips with the fact that I was not on this movie’s wavelength at all.
The Fabelmans follows Sammy Fabelman as Spielberg’s fictional version of himself and his family. As his dad’s career as an engineer takes him throughout the US we see snippets of Sammy’s life and how film impacted him. There are a lot of things that happen in this movie, and oftentimes the events didn’t follow a very cohesive narrative but rather felt put together just because they were important moments in Spielberg’s life. My biggest hang-up with the film was that I did not resonate with any of the emotional moments in the film. There were so many times in the film when something happened and I thought the characters were going to react one way, but they have a completely opposite direction. I also felt like Sammy’s mom, played by Michelle Williams, felt too much like some sort of unrealistic fairy-like character, and not a real human being. The foundation of the movie is centered around Sammy’s relationship with his mother too, so it didn’t help that all of their emotional moments did not land for me.
One delightful surprise was seeing Paul Dano play someone who isn’t despicable or punchable. He’s so good at playing those types of roles, but it was really nice to see him play a warm and pleasant character for once. I thought him and Gabrielle LaBelle, who plays Sammy, were the best actors in the film. I have no doubt LaBelle will become a bigger name in the future based on his great performance in this film. Judd Hirsch also briefly appears and is part of the best scene in the movie, but then disappears and never comes back. It felt like Ana de Armas’s character in No Time to Die, where I wanted more of his character and was disappointed that I didn’t get any more.
While most of the performances were good, another part that I had a hard time enjoying was just how some of the more serious themes like antisemitism and Christianity were portrayed. They felt very much from a 90s after-school special, just really on the nose and without much nuance. It’s possible that those events may have been exactly the way it was in Spielberg’s life, but I think they could have been altered to feel more authentic.
I’m definitely in the minority on this one because I think most people I’ve talked to have absolutely adored this film, but I just couldn’t get into it.
Grade: B-/73
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
Stop motion animation is such a monumentally difficult and tedious form of animation that I can’t help but respect every movie that decides to take on this endeavor. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio has fantastic animation, and you can tell a lot of work was put into not only the animation but all of the background sets and the world that you’re pulled into. Coupled with music from Alexandre Desplat, this film did a great job of immersing you in its world. However, no matter how good everything is, the story of Pinocchio has never been that interesting to me, and Del Toro’s version is probably the best that it could have been to get me into the story. At the end of the day, Pinocchio is still an annoying brat. There’s not much you can change about that. Any time Pinocchio got in trouble, I just laughed. Even though I was not invested in what happens to him or with the characters, it was still a visual marvel and should definitely be checked out by fans of stop motion animation.
Grade: B/76
Bones and All
This was my first Luca Guadagnino film, and I was a bit intimidated to watch this. Pretty much the only reason I watched this was because I love Timothee Chalamet. And yeah…as much as I love Timothee, I do sort of regret watching this. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to respect and admire about this film. The cinematography is fantastic, and the performances from Chalamet and Taylor Russell were both excellent. However, this just isn’t my type of movie. The content felt unnecessarily shocking and disgusting, but I knew that going into it. What should I have expected from a movie that’s being marketed as a young adult cannibalistic romance road trip film? There are some interesting concepts that the film explores, but at the end of the day I felt like it didn’t amount to much and the performances were far greater than the actual script. A lot of moments felt like they were just in there for shock value and yeah, it did nothing for me. I will continue to keep an eye out for future Guadagnino films, hoping that eventually I can watch one that will be more…accessible.
Grade: C/63
Avatar: The Way of Water
I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical about how good this film could really look. I rewatched the first Avatar film and found a lot of the visuals to be outdated and jarring. It’s been over a decade since we’ve seen something from legendary director James Cameron, and I was only half excited to see The Way of Water. To me, Avatar is easily my least favorite film from him. The movie is just space Pocohontas, and does little to tell a noteworthy story other than introduce some interesting sci-fi ideas. However, history told me to never bet against Cameron, ESPECIALLY with sequels.
After watching The Way of Water last night, I came to the conclusion that, well…maybe you can bet a little bit against him.
First things first: the visuals are actually incredible. Seeing as how Cameron spent so many years waiting for the technology to be capable of telling his story, I felt like that aspect definitely exceeded expectations. This is a visually dazzling and engrossing piece, and that’s coming from someone who isn’t really a fan of CGI. I knew that if there was anyone who could pull off fantastic CGI, it’d be Cameron. There’s a lot to enjoy here, for sure.
Not only are the visual effects fantastic, the action is up there as well. I think nowadays it’s really hard to create interesting action sequences when everything is done digitally, but this one looks beautiful and thanks to Cameron’s direction, it’s just a feast for the eyes.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the story and the characters, it’s almost the exact same as the first. I was shocked at how little the film’s narrative actually shifts in any sort of meaningful direction. There are moments where it’s almost the exact same as the first, and honestly dragged quite a bit. I think so much of the time was spent on the visuals, that they forgot to write better characters and story. Speaking of the characters, there are way too many new additions. Cameron is ambitious in making this a really big franchise, and in this regard I think he overextends his reach a bit. There are so many storylines going on at once, and almost none of them feel genuinely compelling save for maybe one. A lot of the story beats are recycled, so you’re really just watching it for the fantastic visual effects.
If the story was elevated just a slight touch, this could have been a great film, but it’ll have to settle for just being a good one. I really hope that Cameron mixes it up a bit and tells more interesting stories in the future movies, since we’re Cameron is going to be in this for the long haul, for better or for worse.
Grade: B/80
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