My 2023 watchlist is wrapping up quite soon, only have a few more movies to watch until I can finalize my top 10. Here we go!
Society of the Snow
This one was definitely a tough watch. What these passengers abord a Uruguayan flight had to endure was nothing short of horrifying. I remember watching this a few days before having to fly myself, and it definitely gave me some anxiety. I appreciated JA Bayona’s approach to the dark and traumatic bits, because an American director definitely would have sensationalized it. This is easily one of, if not the best man vs. nature films I’ve seen. My main issues were with the pacing and figuring out who each of the characters were. There were so many of them, and it was a little difficult to keep track of who was who. I wonder if this would have benefitted from being a miniseries, maybe 3-4 episodes or something. Regardless, it was gripping and pretty much solidifies the fact that nature never loses.
Grade: B/79
Napoleon
I had high expectations for this film since Ridley Scott gave us The Last Duel back in 2021. Boy, was this one disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, Scott delivers on the goods when it comes to the production, costume design, and epic action sequences. It’s the spaces inbetween where we learn about Napoleon and his wife Josephine, played by Vanessa Kirby that were quite a letdown. A lot has been said about how historically inaccurate this film is, and while I’m sure it would have benefitted from being a bit more accurate, I don’t think it would’ve been a make or break factor. The pacing was a bit all over the place, as it jumped from milestone to milestone in Napoleon’s storied career. I think it would have been better if the film was similar in structure to Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs, focusing on three pivotal points in his career.
While I very much love Joaquin Phoenix, I think his performance was kind of sleepy here. The writing also didn’t help. Ridley Scott’s decision to frame Napoleon as a petulant child was certainly a decision, and I donno how well it worked. While it’s not a bad movie, it’s ultimately a shame because there was so much potential for this to be an excellent film. I know there’s rumblings of a 4-hour directors cut, but I don’t know if even that could save this movie from being a weirdly written, paced, and acted film. The battle on the ice was freakin’ money though.
Grade: B-/74
The Zone of Interest
One of the most horrifying films of the year. While I was not a fan at all of Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, I think his directorial style greatly benefitted The Zone of Interest, one of the most harrowing films made about the Holocaust. I’m glad this film got nominated for Best Sound because I cannot stress how much the sound in this film completely changes everything. So much of the film is not about what you see, but what you hear that leaves you terrified. The last 15 minutes of this film are seared into my brain forever and some of the most brilliant filmmaking I’ve ever seen.
Grade: A-/86
Wonka
While I do love me some Timothee Chalamet, I couldn’t care less about Willy Wonka. I saw the original film many times as a kid, and thought it was fine, but I really had no affinity for it. The only reason I was interesting in this film was because it was directed by the guy who did the Paddington movies, and Chalamet. While I wouldn’t say it’s on the same level as Paddington, it’s a wonderful and charming film. Unfortunately, I found most of the songs to be kind of mediocre (except for the opening song, Hatful of Dreams). Chalamet however, has a surprisingly fantastic voice and he does his best to elevate the songs.
The film absolutely has the signature Paul King charm, but so much so that it’s hard to believe that this film is a prequel to the original film. Chalamet’s Wonka is pretty much a human Paddington Bear, but Gene Wilder’s Wonka is borderline psychotic that enjoys torturing naughty kids. You don’t get any hint of that in Wonka. It’s better to view this film as a standalone entry as opposed to a prequel in my opinion. I probably would have loved this film if the songs were a bit better, but seeing as how I didn’t really have too high of expectations, I’ll take what I can get.
Grade: B/80
20 Days in Mariupol
This was probably the most depressing documentary I’ve ever seen. War is horrifying and no one truly comes out a winner. When earth-shifting decisions are made by the few, we see the ugliness of humanity in documentaries such as this. It’s sad that the war in Ukraine doesn’t seem to have an end in sight, but I’m glad that this documentary was released for the world to see. While the documentary might not have as much “production value” as others, that’s not the point at all. It’s a tough watch that should be seen by everyone so that we can learn not to make the same mistakes.
Grade: B+/81
Beyond Utopia
Another really depressing documentary. North Koreans living under such an oppressive regime is truly heartbreaking. This documentary tells the story of a few families trying to escape North Korea, with a help of a South Korean Pastor. It’s honestly baffling that countries like North Korea exist in our world, as their people are truly living in a dystopian society. Watching this really made me reflect on how thankful I should be for the life I have.
Grade: B+/81
The Teachers’ Lounge
I had no idea that this film existed until the Oscar nominations were announced, and this film was nominated over a few more popular entries (Looking at you, The Taste of Things). I watched this film with no expectations and holy moly, this was one of the most stressful films of the year. As someone who has a brother that’s a middle school teacher, watching this gave me secondhand PTSD. Leonie Benesch gives a wonderful performance as a living saint of a teacher who takes matters into her own hands when the school fails her. This film was Uncut Gems levels of stress, except unlike that film, everything is paced in a much more cohesive and believable manner. Few thrillers in 2023 have lived up to the tension and suspense that The Teachers’ Lounge delivered. Future teachers, be warned if you watch this film, you may consider a career change.
It’s been a while since I’ve disliked a Wes Anderson film. As usual, this film boasted a fantastically stacked cast and had all the promise of being another delightful entry into Anderson’s eclectic portfolio. For some reason, this one did not resonate for me at all. It felt really lifeless, and none of the characters were particularly charming compared to Anderson’s previous films. I also found the setting to be uninteresting. The desert location was a big step down, which is disappointing since Anderson’s film sets generally have very unique production quality. Really not sure what happened with this one, but it was just not for me.
Grade: C/62
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
I’m really happy that animated films are starting to be more diversified in their animation styles. Granted this looks very similar to the Spider-Verse films, it’s still an unconventional style that deserves to be used more and more. I really liked the grimy aesthetic that was fitting for the turtles and NYC, which was easily its greatest strength. The writing and the characters on the other hand, not so much.
Each of the turtles are distinct in their appearances, but their personalities were surprisingly bland. Each of the turtles felt exactly the same, and if I had my eyes closed, I probably couldn’t tell who was who. In this era of films where everyone has to be funny, witty, and dish out quips every other sentence, I feel like a bit of the soul of the turtles has been lost in it all. Growing up being a Ninja Turtles fan through the video games and especially The Secret of the Ooze, I’ve always loved Leonardo and Raphael. In Mutant Mayhem, I actually found Donatello to be the most interesting, and that was mostly because of the voice acting done by Micah Abbey. Don’t get me wrong, all the voice acting in the movie is great, but his was easily the most distinct.
I found the dialogue to be really insufferable and nauseating at times. Maybe it’s because I’m so out of touch with how kids speak nowadays, but every other sentence felt like a pop culture reference. Do kids really talk like that? I felt like it was the studios way of saying “hey look at how in tune with pop culture the turtles are, they’re just like us!” There’s a particular scene where they reference the K-Pop group BTS that almost made me want to get up and leave the theater. Thankfully, the animation style is still great, and I actually really enjoyed the final act. Overall, this is a great step forward for animation and I’m glad that it did well commercially, but I really hope that the next entry is less cringey.
Grade: B/76
Talk to Me
I’ve been very surprised at the commercial success of this film, as it recently overtook Hereditary as the highest grossing A24 horror film of all time. It’s a very impressive directorial debut from the Philippou brothers, formerly of YouTube fame. I’m always thankful that A24 and other studios are starting to give a chance on budding young directors, and more often than not their gambles pay off. As competently made as this film was, I have a really hard time with the trope that’s prevalent in many horror films, of dumb kids doing dumb things, which is essentially what a lot of Talk to Me is about. I will say, that this film writes in one of the best justifications for doing the dumb things that they do, but at the end of the day, it’s still a plot device that I have a hard time buying into. All of the performances are great and I’m very appreciative that the film does not rely on jump scares to deliver its thrills, as it has a heavier emphasis on atmospheric horror.
The ending is intriguing and certainly leaves room open for a sequel, which I’m sure is in the works at this point. The concept of this film definitely has the space to become something more interesting than its initial concept, but I hope that future installment(s) will make the characters a bit more likable and make less stupid decisions.
Grade: B/76
Beau is Afraid
I put this film off for a while because I heard about how divisive it was. I didn’t think I’d like it even though I thought Hereditary was one of the best horror films of all time. Midsommar was a big drop off for me, but once again, I’m very appreciative of A24 letting a director as unhinged as Ari Aster do literally whatever he wants in his third project. Beau is Afraid is insane. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like it. It’s a mix of Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, Take Shelter, Coraline, and anything from David Lynch and Charlie Kaufman. When Aster described the film as a horror comedy, it was hard for me to know exactly what to expect, especially because of how terrifying his previous two films were. I gotta say though, going into Beau with those expectations…I actually kind of really liked it?
I will say, the biggest flaw of this film is that it really is too long. I think a big chunk of the second act could be taken out, particularly the forest section. The film starts out really strong, and I think if you go in with the expectation that you really aren’t going to understand what’s going on and just go with it, you will enjoy it a lot. I was in disbelief for most of the film and I just did not bother with trying to interpret what was going on. I just decided to take in the visuals and the fantastic performance from Joaquin Phoenix. Talk about a multi-dimensional actor. Phoenix really is perfect for Ari Aster’s genre of deranged surrealistic horror.
If this film was about an hour shorter, I think I would have genuinely loved this film. It’s too long to keep up its momentum of being incredibly absurd, and loses steam before sweeping you back up in the final act. I still have no idea what the film is about but I have to admit that I liked this way more than I expected to.
Grade: B/80
Theater Camp
You know what’s scarier than surrealistic horror? Theater kids. Are theater kids even real? Sometimes I think to myself that they are as fictional and mythical as a leprechaun or fairy. While I generally don’t care much for films that are centered around theater kids, I have to admit that this film was quite funny. I had a good time with it, even though the pacing was kind of all over the place and honestly didn’t feel like a movie for most of it. I’m sure the fragmented storytelling was a creative choice, but I don’t think it worked particularly well. Maybe it’s to encapsulate the chaos of running a theater camp and the creative writing process in general, but it was difficult to feel invested in any of the characters because you’re introduced to so many of them at a time and they kind of just pop in and out of the story. I pretty much only watched this film because I had to support the actors from The Bear, Molly Gordon and Ayo Edibiri. For those of you who don’t watch The Bear, you definitely should. It’s a really awesome show. Gordon plays a totally different kind of character in this film though, and Edibiri is barely in it, unfortunately. This would have been a far worse film had it not been for the ending, because the ending completely saves it. Long live theater kids! Bleh.
I’m gonna get straight to the point here: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was hands-down the best Spider-Man movie I’ve ever seen, until the end. For those of you who may not have seen it yet, there’s only one thing you need to know. This is a PART ONE. I actually had no idea that the sequel was slated to come out next year, but since the writers’ strike is going on right now, that may not be possible. This is a brilliant work of art featuring some of the most jaw-dropping animation I’ve ever seen, but I expected some closure in the end and definitely did not receive it.
This kind of film makes you re-think the whole comic book movie genre. How awesome would it have been if there was a Batman, Superman, Ironman, Black Panther, or X-Men movie in this style? They would be incredible. Hats off to all of the animators who made this film happen, because it’s such an incredible mashup of all these creative ideas coming together to make a truly memorable film.
From the opening scene, I was completely enthralled. It wasn’t until around the last 30 minutes when I realized that they continued to add plot point after plot point and it just did not seem like anything was going to be resolved that I got worried. Ever since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the movie industry has been more confident to tell their stories in segmented structures in hopes that they could gather more and more attention to their IPs. So far, it’s been quite a hit-or-miss experiment. While this is certainly one of the best, if not the best Part One ever, the ending just left me so deflated that it makes me not want to think about it until the sequel releases. I do love me some Spider-Man though, and this was one of the finest entries yet.
Grade:B+/85
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
From the director of Edge of Seventeen, Kelly Fremon Craig returns with another coming-of-age gem. Based on the book by the same name, we follow the life of young Margaret as she navigates her curiosity in religion and whether or she should believe in one denomination or the other.
Lead actress Abby Ryder Fortson plays Margaret wonderfully. She and all her friends create some genuine laughs and it made me realize that coming-of-age stories really are timeless. No matter what era, people wrestle with the same issues and there is a wonderful communal experience in the universal anxieties we share.
My biggest gripe with the film came from some heavily underdeveloped plotlines. There’s one with Margaret’s grandparents that I thought was going to have some sort of resolution, but it really doesn’t go anywhere. This film did such a great job of getting me invested in the characters in such a short time that I wanted to see more, but unfortunately it was left largely unresolved. Aside from that, I’m really a sucker for these kinds of films and it’s hard for me to not love them. This one is no exception.
Grade:B+/81
Past Lives
Past Lives has been hyped up since Sundance and has come out as an early contender for Best Picture. Obviously, at this point, almost anything A24 touches is gold so I had to watch it.
From an objective perspective, it’s hard to believe that this is Celine Song’s first movie. It’s so competently directed that you’d think this was her tenth film. New York City hasn’t looked this romantic in years. Song has a deep understanding in conveying love and pain through the unspoken, even though this film does have quite a bit of dialogue.
My biggest problems with the film come from the fact that we don’t get a lot of time with developing the main characters, so it was much harder for me to be invested in their relationship. This film also tends to rely on some Korean Drama melodrama tendencies, which I am not a fan of. There’s a lot of looking at each other and looking away, which at this point in each characters’ lives, it seems all a bit childish.
A majority of the film consists of conversations that is hard to make interesting, but I feel like greater movies such as the Before trilogy have been able to do more with less.
Without revealing too much, I think the film would have greatly benefitted from a different change in the time that the opening section takes place. There would have been greater reason to be invested in the romance between the two characters and it would have made the ending pay off that much more.
That ending though. It’s certainly the best part of the film. It’s a killer, and one that will be talked about all this year. Song has really come out of the gates swinging, and I’m excited to see where she goes from here. Even though this was a spectacularly crafted film, it just did not tug at my heartstrings the way I wanted it to. Underdeveloped characters, and some conventional Kdrama elements kept me from truly loving it. I cannot deny how well made it is though, and objectively it’s just a fine piece of film. Perhaps a rewatch will increase my love for the movie.
Grade: B/80
Evil Dead Rise
I’m not entirely sure what I expected out of this film. Maybe I thought it’d be scarier? I’m not too familiar with the Evil Dead franchise, having only seen the 2013 film. I know there’s a fair bit of camp in the original films, and the newer ones are a bit more serious but still retaining some silliness. Honestly, there’s not much to say about this one. Typical dumb horror characters make typical dumb horror movie decisions, and as a result there is some gruesome mayhem. It’s a fun film to watch with friends, but there’s nothing that we haven’t seen before here.
Back so soon with another batch of reviews! The Oscars are rolling around and as always, I want to watch everything I wanted to see from the previous year before then so I can release my Top 10 Movies of 2022. With this list of films, I’ve crossed off everything I wanted to see so you can expect that post to come out sometime this week. Let’s get into it.
Infinity Pool
Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor was my favorite film of 2020. It was deeply disturbing and I might not ever watch it again, but the concept behind the film along with the fantastic direction made it one of the most surprising watches that year, especially since I’ve never really been into any films from the Cronenberg family. Cut to two years later, and I have a morbid curiosity for Infinity Pool. Well, similar to Florian Zeller’s garbage fire of a sophomore effort in The Son, this film was also a big dud for me.
Possessor had a fantastic concept with an intriguing narrative to bolster that concept. Infinity Pool starts out with a somewhat interesting premise, and then it quickly devolves into fetishistic indulgence for the next 90 minutes. There’s very little to take away from this film, and it just felt like Brandon Cronenberg’s outlet to get some weird stuff out from his mind and onto film. I know that Mia Goth is having quite a bit of a renaissance year now, especially with X and Pearl, but I think I’ve seen enough movies of hers to know that the stuff she usually signs up for is not my cup of tea. This is no exception. I think she serves her part in this film fine, and Alexander Skarsgard is good too, but I’m really just not up for films that have a 6 minute orgy scene along with some other debaucherous and cruel stuff. Overall it’s a pretty well directed film, and Cronenberg shows definitive proof that he is capable of producing some cult classics just like his father, but this one just felt aimless and not for me.
Grade: D+/55
Alice, Darling
I’ve been a fan of Anna Kendrick since seeing Up in the Air and I’ll happily admit that Pitch Perfect is a guilty pleasure for me, but she has not been in anything good for many years now. I was excited to see that she’s been signing up for more dramatic roles, because I think she’s more than capable of turning in a strong dramatic performance. Alice, Darling doesn’t quite reach the heights that it aims to be at, but it was a step in the right direction.
Films about abuse are always hard, because it’s a difficult subject and yet it has to be engaging which almost makes it contradictory to sell that message in a film. I felt like director Mary Nighy’s portrayal of abuse through the eyes of Alice was more reductive than it was eye-opening, due to the repetitive scenes and uneven pacing. Even for a film that’s just 90 minutes, it felt long and dragged throughout. The parts that shine the most are when Alice’s friends, played by Wunmi Mosaku and Kaniehtiio Horn, do their best to break through to Alice. It reinforces the importance of having a community and a support group when you go through tough times, and those parts felt very real. However, there isn’t enough of it and the film spends more time on Alice cycling through the same stages of denial and grief. Its understandable that the repetitive nature of this film was intentional to highlight the cyclical pain of abuse, but it just did not make for a compelling watch. I do hope that Kendrick continues to take on more challenging roles, because she’s certainly more than just a comedic actor with a good voice.
Grade: B-/71
EO
This was quite a perplexing film. I’m a bit surprised as to how this got a nomination for Best International Film at the Oscars. It’s not terrible by any means, but it’s just…odd? I think your mileage may vary depending on how much you really love animals. EO is sort of like Homeward Bound, except Eo the donkey doesn’t talk, and there’s some grim stuff in here. The cinematography is stunning and really reminiscent of Terrence Malick’s work, which was completely unexpected. But, similar to Alice, Darling, even this 90-minute movie felt waaay too long. I think the message that EO tries to tell could have been accomplished in about half the runtime. I was quite impressed with the overall filmmaking though, and I kept thinking that the blocking in this movie must’ve been a nightmare. Eo is a very adorable donkey, but this was certainly a strange one.
Grade: B-/71
Women Talking
On paper, I really liked the concept and structure of this film. 12 Angry Men is in my top 10 movies of all time, so when I heard that Women Talking was literally about a bunch of women sitting in a room discussing difficult subjects that will determine the fate of their lives, it got my attention.
For some background, this film is about an isolated religious colony living in the year 2010. The women have suffered sexual abuse from the men and the men have used religious practices as their reasoning behind the rapes and tragedies the women have had to endure. Due to a tragic event with one of the main characters, the women decide whether they should forgive their enemies or leave once and for all.
I think this film tackles religion quite tactfully and much better than other hit pieces on sects of Christianity. As a Christian myself, it’s always painful to see something you believe in misrepresented in film. However, it is important to see different viewpoints on how people perceive Christianity, whether that be the people within the film or the people producing the film. In this regard, I think Women Talking is quite admirable because it’s not so quick to point the finger at Christianity for all the evils in the world, rather the evil that can originate from power structures that can grow from Christianity.
For a group of women who supposedly cannot read and have lived in an isolated religious colony their whole life, a lot of the dialogue certainly does not sound that way. Now, I do not mean that they should sound uneducated or stupid, because plenty of people with their background are capable of being wise. But I was really hung up on the majority of the dialogue because it took me out of the film. The discourse sounded like Twitter from 2020, with a lot of buzz words and talking points that we would use in a modernized society. There was very little use of scripture or faith-based reasoning in their arguments, and I think that would have been a much more compelling watch if they used the very words from the Bible to challenge the Biblical justifications that their abusers used in hurting them. Instead, you get dialogue that could have come from someone who didn’t live in an isolated religious colony for all of the characters involved. All the performances were great here, and I especially enjoyed Rooney Mara and Ben Whishaw, but the overall execution just didn’t meet my expectations.
Grade: B-/72
Close
Close is a film that is difficult to review. A lot of its impact hinges on whether or not you can buy into the turning point around halfway through the film, but to me it felt slightly manipulative and unearned. The child performances from both Eden Dambrine and Gustave De Waele are fantastic (boy, there have been a lot of really great child performances this year), but the strong first half of the film leads to a repetitive and meandering second half that prevents it from being a truly excellent film. There’s a lot of subtext to dissect in this film because a lot of it is spoken through its silence, which I thought was great. However, it tackles difficult subjects like guilt and separation, and some of it I think could have been better with dialogue. Close also has a moving soundtrack, and I think the music does too much heavy lifting to really get you to feel the way the film wants you to feel. For the story that Close is telling, I don’t think that’s a good thing. The movie was quietly affecting and powerful in some ways, but I think it could have been so much better if they had reworked the second half and spent it more on developing some other characters instead of the main character the whole time.
Grade: B/78
Creed III
Jonathan Majors is a very muscular and beautiful man. He’s also a wonderful actor and I’ve been rooting for him ever since he delievered a show-stealing performance in The Last Black Man in San Francisco. This film was a fun watch, and a competently directed debut for Michael B. Jordan. I love that he loves anime, and that you can see small homages to the medium in Creed III. However, similar to the previous film, Creed III struggles to meet the same standard of the first film and rushes a interesting plotline resulting in a very predictable film.
I don’t think any of these movies are really ever going to be unpredictable going forward, so it’s really up to the characters and their relationships to elevate the films. Jonathan Majors is obviously great here, and his character is a focal point in Adonis Creed’s life. It starts out pretty interesting, but quickly devolves into a very tropey narrative where character motivations rapidly change for no good reason. I wanted a bit more character development from Majors’s character, especially with how he fits into the overall journey that Creed goes on, but in the end he feels more of a vehicle that services the plot to get from point A to point B. Obviously the montages are great though, and the boxing scenes are electric as always. In the end, this film was very entertaining, and overall I think the Creed Trilogy is something that I never thought could be as good as it is, but I’m glad that we have it.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Hope all you Americans were able to enjoy time with your family and/or significant others and enjoy good food. For those who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, hope you’ve been watching good movies during this packed fall season!
See How They Run
A perfectly harmless and fun whodunit film. I didn’t have many expectations going into this one since I didn’t really see anyone raving about this, but it was totally fine. It’s very self-aware of the genre this film is in, and the actors giving perfectly enjoyable performances. I really do enjoy Saoirse Ronan in just about everything she does, and I hope that she continues to play more comedic roles in the future. She is so talented at both ends of the spectrum, and is clearly the best part of this film. Sam Rockwell plays a sleepy Englishman quite well, and has solid chemistry alongside Ronan. Even though this doesn’t do anything new for the genre, it’s nice to see more whodunit films in general.
Grade: B/76
Mama Boy
Arvin Chen is a refreshing breath of fresh air whose films such as Au Revoir, Taipei and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? inject a perfect amount of levity without sacrificing the emotional weight at its core. His newest film, Mama Boy, is no exception. I think in the hands of an American director, this film would have been much more sensual and explicit given the plot. A young and shy man falls in love with the matron of a brothel about twice his age? Yeah, that’s most likely a hard R. Not with Chen however, as he tells a surprisingly heartwarming story about being comfortable in your own skin, and finding worth in broken people. Vivian Hsu is fantastic as the leading lady, effortlessly charming even though she comes off as indifferent and careless. I don’t watch many Taiwanese films, but I think Chen is one of the most fascinating directors operating in this space today.
Grade: B+/81
Don’t Worry, Darling
If you follow movie news at all, or celebrity news, you’ve probably heard a little bit about the behind the scenes drama of Don’t Worry, Darling. Unfortunately, the drama behind this film was far more interesting than the film itself. I had high hopes for this film since I quite enjoyed Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut in Booksmart, but this was an absolute mess. The only person who pulled her own weight (and more) was Florence Pugh, who tries her absolute hardest to salvage this disaster. Aside from the wonky pacing in the film and a self-important script, the film has a very lackluster and overdone mystery that tries to make itself way more important than it really is. On top of all that, the ending tries to throw in a “powerful message” that sort of comes out of nowhere and is completely unearned. Poor Flo, you truly deserved better.
Grade: C-/59
Amsterdam
Another critically panned film from a big name director in Hollywood this year, David O. Russell’s Amsterdam was a star-studded dud for most viewers, but I actually found it to be quite enjoyable. I would agree that the film does squander the incredible level of star-power here, but at the end of the day it is still an enjoyable mystery. My biggest criticism with the film is that it feels like three movies that got melded into one. I was not able to fully understand where the movie was going until about halfway through, because it tries to be a lot of genres at the same time. On top of that, the ending is also quite over-explanatory as it’s kind of just a massive exposition dump that serves to connect all the dots from the first half of the film. Even though what I’m saying makes it sound like a terrible movie, Christian Bale absolutely saves it here. His performance is wonderful and charming, and should belong in a Wes Anderson film. Everyone else is pretty good too, like Margot Robbie and Robert De Niro, but Bale clearly out-acts everyone here and it’s not even close. I very much enjoyed his performance and wished for his sake it was more competently put together.
Grade: B/77
Aftersun
I’ve spoken about my adoration for A24 ad nauseam, so I won’t repeat myself here. After years and years of gushing over films from this esteemed company…I think Aftersun might be my favorite of theirs so far.
This film broke me and literally left me shaking when it cut to credits. What a way for Charlotte Wells to announce herself to the world with this directorial debut. Exploring memories through the nostalgic lens of home videos, this film didn’t feel like it a film. It felt like a memory that I never really had, even though I knew the exact feeling that this movie was giving me. The relationship between father (Paul Mescal) and daughter (Frankie Corio) was so perfect and believable, it honestly did not feel like a movie half the time. I cannot believe this was Corio’s first acting gig ever. She delivers one of the greatest child performances and I’m so excited to see what else she works on. The same praise goes to Mescal, who is stellar in this. Wells’s direction for this movie says so much in so few words, perfectly relaying all of the details and emotions that we should feel through the visuals. Watching this made me want to try hard to be a better person and to treat those that I love with even more love than ever. Films like this remind me of the beauty of this medium of art, because on the one hand you have brilliant blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick and deeply emotionally resonant pieces like Aftersun. While I do have some minor gripes with some aspects of the film that would be spoilery, I’m most likely going to give this a higher grade after I rewatch it eventually and think about it some more. This film was such an unexpected delight and I’m so glad I watched this. One of the best of the year, easily.
I deeply enjoy Brad Pitt films when he doesn’t take himself too seriously, because he’s that kind of guy who can do both comedic and serious really well. However, the writer and director of this film didn’t take anything very seriously either, and the result is a bit of a muddled mess.
Films like this nowadays are always marketed as “From the guy who did that one thing in one of the John Wick movies” to lend a sort of credibility to the movie, and it may have worked the first two or three times, but now it’s kind of bland. Nothing about this film was particularly outstanding. There was an obvious approach to have the film modeled after Tarantino or Guy Ritchie’s films, with the snappy dialogue mixed in with frenetic action. However, most of it fell flat for me. None of the performances felt particularly memorable, with Pitt being the one small exception, but even he couldn’t save this movie.
The action is decent, but honestly at this point, there are so many dull action films of this caliber. The story also didn’t lend too much to the overall experience as it was filled with a bunch of flashbacks that didn’t really amount to anything. As Pitt is entering the twilight of his career, I hope that he can find more meaningful projects. Even if they are light hearted action films, I hope he can find more competently made ones as opposed to ones that are OK but forgetful like this one.
Grade: C/61
The Black Phone
Blumhouse Productions, while similar to A24, is a bit more of a mixed bag in terms of the content they put out. The Black Phone is no exception. This had an interesting premise, but ultimately failed to deliver on anything interesting. A lot of the most important plot points rely on the simple-mindedness of its characters, and you reaallly have to suspend your disbelief for this film. I do enjoy that the film is more atmospheric in its horror and has one jump scare that really took me by surprise, but for the most part it aims to make the setting speak for itself more than trying to spook you with cheap jump scares.
While we shouldn’t hold child actors to the same standard as adults who have been working in the industry for longer, I do feel like there’s a wealth of young talent out there. However, they certainly weren’t in this film. I was kind of surprised by the acting in this movie compared to most movies nowadays with younger teenagers. Ethan Hawke looks like he’s having a lot of fun in this movie, so his presence was definitely a plus, but there was only so much of him to really carry the film. Overall the film had promise to it, but it ended up just being kind of meh.
Grade: C/62
Tar
Cate Blanchett might win her third Oscar this year for her performance in Tar, which I found to be her best performance to date. This film is a great experience if you don’t know too much about it. To be honest, the first third of the film moves at an almost unbearably glacial pace, but once the mysteries lurking in the shadows finally come to light, that’s when things get really, really interesting. The final act of the movie has so many things going on that you’re left wondering what you saw, and it ends with an incredibly surprising ending for people who may be fans of a certain Japanese franchise.
In hindsight, there’s a thought-out reason behind the slow pace in the beginning. It builds up Blanchett’s character, so that you can see how drastically she changes as the film progresses into more its more ominous narrative. Even though the film itself is about a world-famous composer and there are numerous scenes of Blanchett conducting an orchestra, I really wanted to hear more of the music. Hearing the orchestral pieces in a big theater sounded amazing, but for the purposes of the film, it’s not really something that’s emphasized. Regardless, the way that the film handles its character development is fascinating, and also in its commentary about prevalent issues today. I recently watched Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher,and there are quite a few similarities between the two movies, although it’s not as perverse as that film. Tar may not be for all audiences, but the gradual unfolding of the film’s mysteries made it for one of the most fascinating movies of 2022.
Grade: B+/82
The Banshees of Inisherin
Martin McDonagh hasn’t always been a director/writer that I’ve appreciated, but in recent years I’ve come to really enjoy his work. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was a film that I detested in the first half, and then absolutely fell in love with in the second half. The Banshees of Inisherin, or the name I prefer to call it, In Bruges 2, is one of the best films of the year. However, if you’re not completely into dark humor then I wouldn’t say it’s for you. McDonagh’s films have a perversely warm feeling in its crudeness and darkness, which is honestly quite odd when I think about it. However, this film has some of the funniest dialogue I’ve seen in recent years, but beyond that the film is a truly heartbreaking tale about friends who break up.
It’s very possible that Colin Farrell is a frontrunner for the Oscar this year as well, as I think this is his best performance to date. There’s a vulnerability to his character that I’ve never seen in any of his previous films, and he shows his comedic chops once again, sort of similar to his performance in The Lobster. Brendan Gleeson’s performance is much more subdued, but acts as a perfect complement to Farrell’s oafish but lovable character. Not only are the two of these fantastic, but supporting characters Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon are sublime as well. This is easily the best ensemble performance of the year so far. The only films I can foresee maybe topping this is Glass Onion or Babylon.
There’s a LOT of subtext in this film, as it touches on many delicate subjects such as existentialism, personal worth, loneliness, comfort, and male ego. The more I think about this film the more I see the genius behind McDonagh’s writing. On the surface there’s a lot of hilarious dialogue, but there’s also a lot of hidden meaning in what the characters stop short of saying. It also helps that this film has a breathtakingly stunning backdrop as it’s filmed on the shores of the Irish coast, which makes you wonder how anyone could get sick of a magical place like this. Here’s hoping that in another decade or so we’ll revisit the McDonagh/Farrell/Gleeson trio and get In Bruges 3.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a film by Park Chan-Wook, and while his work is well made, I don’t think I was ever really a big fan of any of it. Decision to Leave pretty much puts the nail in the coffin for me to not watch anymore movies directed by him.
I was really not a fan of this film. Much like many of Park’s other films, this one dives head first into the immoral. However in this movie, it tries to make you root for the characters and their “love.” It’s quite frankly a sick love, and the film in general made me sick to my stomach. While it’s not as visually grotesque as some of his previous movies, it’s the implication of the characters’ motivations that cause it to be so revolting to me. The characters in this film make absolutely ridiculous decisions that are outside of my realm of thinking under the pretense of doing it for love, and it really took me out of the film. The ending of the film did not hit for me at all, and the emotional impact it was trying to leave just fell so flat. It’s a shame because the performances and the cinematography in this film is truly great, but it’s hard to enjoy that when everything unfolding on screen is so disappointing.
Grade: C-/58
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Now this film was a surprise. A24 is largely known for their elevated horror films, brutal dramas or unflinchingly real coming-of-age stories, so I wasn’t quite sure if one of their first family oriented films could hit its mark. I also felt like the premise of this film was a bit silly prior to watching. However, I was very pleasantly surprised by how wholesome it was, on top of how well it was made.
Jenny Slate gives a terrific voiceover performance as Marcel, and makes his character seem very large in life despite his small frame. The film covers very relatable and pressing themes in our world today, and creatively views them in the eyes of a childlike outsider. It’s a very touching film that left me smiling from beginning to end.
Grade: B+/81
Broker
Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s newest film might have been way more enjoyable for me if I hadn’t already seen his last film, Shoplifters. Broker follows a pretty similar narrative except this time it takes place in Korea, under the world of black market adoption. Korea’s “baby boxes” are quite well known to many churches, and it serves quite literally as a receptacle for anonymous women to be able to donate their children that they either cannot support or do not want to support. Using the baby box to start the story of this film was quite fascinating, as it quickly takes some unexpected turns and becomes a sort of a road trip movie.
The film wrestles with very similar themes as Shoplifters, including choosing your family and being an outcast. However, it did not feel as emotionally resonant with me this time as some of the characters made puzzling decisions when it came to the most important beats in the story. Regardless, it was nice to see Kore-Eda’s work again and the film overall was solid.
Grade: B/78
Barbarian
There was quite a lot of buzz behind this film because of how subversive it was to the horror genre and how it was a brilliantly and competently helmed project from newcomer Zach Cregger (from Whitest Kids U’Know), and with that I have to agree. A lot of the discourse about the film was how it was best to not know anything going into it and to just enjoy the wild ride that it takes you on. While all of that is true, I would like to make a friendly reminder that you could get this feeling for almost all films if you followed the No Trailers way of life! While many people had no idea what was in store for them (especially because the trailer was quite misleading), I can assure you that you can have this feeling with even the blockbusteriest of blockbusters if you just don’t watch trailers! Anyway, that’s my pitch.
It’s true, this film is very subversive, and very well made. Cregger pulls out lots of tricks in the bag to keep you guessing on what’s going to happen in this film. In retrospect, many of the decisions that the characters make in this film are your typical bone-headed choices synonymous with the horror genre, but it’s not as obvious because of how compelling the acting and writing is. There’s also a sequence in the film that happens twice, but with two completely different tones that I found absolutely terrific. So much credit goes to Cregger and his expertise behind the camera. This film was so fun to watch, and for someone who enjoys horror (but not the jump scare kind), this film has well earned jump scares and continues what A24 started by favoring tension through strong camerawork and teasing the audience, rather than having you startled by some stupid loud noise every 5 minutes.
Grade: B+/83
The Woman King
This film was such a nice complement to Robert Eggers’s The Northman that came out earlier this year. Well directed stories about certain ethnic groups that Hollywood has not shown much of a spotlight on in the past, with beautiful and authentic production design. The Woman King is a surprising hit that reminds us that there is a wealth of stories that can be told in the history of the world, so long as it’s treated with love and respect.
Viola Davis is great as a leader of the Agojie, a group of female warriors in 1820s West Africa. There are fantastic supporting characters here as well, including Lashana Lynch who plays a very similar character as the one she played in No Time to Die. However, her character works much better in this film, and she may be my favorite part of the movie. Sheila Atim is fantastic here as well. This film covers quite a lot of history in the 2+ hour runtime, and some of them are very effective and poignant while there were some others that I felt could have been left on the cutting room floor. Overall though, this was a surprising blockbuster that is definitely more accessible than The Northman as it has a larger emphasis on the well-directed action and characters, while The Northman focused more on the atmosphere and the subjectivity of its characters. While I may have liked The Northman more than this film, I was very pleased with how well this movie turned out, and I hope that it starts a trend for telling more unique stories such as this.
Grade: B/79
Blonde
I almost didn’t watch this film because I heard of all the bad press it was getting from movie news outlets everywhere. I decided to watch it thinking it’d be a disposable film for my 4-hour plane ride, but about an hour in I decided to stop watching it so I could return to it on a much larger screen at home.
I get why this film is getting dunked on by critics and viewers everywhere. There are some political messages that people will not like. The film can be interpreted as misogynistic, and some have argued that it’s pure torture-porn. People have said that it’s humiliating to the legacy of Marilyn Monroe. I get that people think that way. But for someone like me who knows little to nothing about Norma Jean, I thought that this was such a thought-provokingly deep cut about the wickedness of Hollywood, and the evil that men are capable of. While that certainly isn’t a groundbreaking theme to cover in a movie, I don’t think it would have been nearly as resonant if director Andrew Dominik had not approached this film with as much brutality as he did. Ana de Armas is fantastic as Norma Jean, and even though she was clearly unable to get rid of her accent for the role, I kind of just accepted it halfway through the film and went with it. What was most important was that she completely nailed the expressions and sense of helplessness that she had as one of the biggest stars on the planet at the time.
While this film might not serve as an accurate biopic, I thought it perfectly encapsulated the hellish and torturous life that Norma Jean must have lived. I did not think that Dominik meant to humiliate her legacy in any way, but to highlight the double-edged nature of stardom and the oppression that women face. The fact that the visuals–which by the way are some of the best that I’ve ever seen–were so engrossing and the cinematography masterful, it only highlighted how conflicted I felt as the movie continued to tell the horror story of being Marilyn Monroe. This certainly is not a movie for everyone, but at the end of the day I cannot deny the feelings that I felt in this film. It was a heartfelt and heart wrenching cinematic juggernaut that left an impact on me more than any other film did this year.
I wasn’t entirely sure why this film was criticized so deeply when it’s pretty much on brand with what the Russo brother’s have been making the past decade. It’s a superhero film without the capes. This action spy thriller has all the signature marks of a Marvel movie and it’s entertaining enough to pass the time with friends. I’m not entirely sure if this will spawn a franchise of films based on the reception that it received, but I enjoy seeing Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas being cool in action movies. There isn’t anything particularly remarkable about this film, and the $200 million dollar budget is incredibly baffling to me, but Netflix is willing to dump money on big projects nowadays so I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing future films with this cast. The only thing that really bugged me about this film was that everyone just had really gross haircuts. Obviously Chris Evans had the nasty ‘stache, but why did they choose to go with those haircuts for Ana de Armas and Jessica Henwick? Why did Wagner Moura look like an absolute trainwreck of a human being? It’s a very small complaint, but I found it kinda strange when Ryan Gosling looked normal but everyone else could’ve used a better barber.
Grade: C+/66
Hit the Road
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not familiar with the history of director Panah Panahi’s father and his works, along with the overall cinema scene in Iran. Perhaps a lot of my potential appreciation for this film may have been lost in translation with the current events of Iran and what this film is saying about border control and the political climate of the nation. However, I was still able to enjoy the beautiful cinematography, the great acting and the funny writing. Rayan Sarlak who plays the child is obviously the scene stealer, but both the mother and father, played by Pantea Panahiha and Hassan Madjooni are also excellent here. There are many long takes in this film that just focus on the characters talking to each other, and most of the time it works. Throughout the film you’re trying to piece together what’s going on and how each of the characters feel about what lies ahead, but I would actually say that this film would have benefitted me had I known what the film was about prior to watching. Generally with most films, I go into it without knowing anything and watch it because of the buzz it’s receiving or because I’m familiar with the director/writers, but for this one I probably should have known a bit more beforehand. Some of the subtle implications in this film were a bit too subtle for me, and a more educated man probably would have appreciated it. Regardless, it was still a fascinating watch and I’m glad I saw it.
Grade: B/77
RRR
RRR is one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. I am incredibly intimidated by Bollywood films. When I heard that RRR was a good mix of incredibly over-the-top action but not too insane by Bollywood standards, I felt like it was a good opportunity for me to watch a more accessible Indian movie.
This movie was freakin’ awesome. There was singing, dancing, well filmed action, and a number of really serious and hilarious moments. I loved that the film goes head first into taking all of its insane action incredibly seriously, because it just makes your investment in the characters have such a greater payoff. Clocking in at over three hours, this film really takes you on a journey. I would argue that there are some sequences that could be shortened or taken out entirely, but this film did not feel very long to me. The performances from the two main leads were great, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were cast in American films (assuming that they want to be in one). This film is the embodiment of spectacle and I had a blast watching this with my friend. I can see how some people would be put off by this genre of film, but if you are open minded and don’t mind being taken on an insane ride, I would highly recommend this. This is coming from someone who was very much on the fence about this film prior to watching.
Grade: B+/84
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
As good of an actor the now-retired Daniel Day Lewis was, my favorite part of the film Phantom Thread was Lesley Manville. I loved the presence of her character and how she could go back and forth with DDL. As much as I fell in love with Manville’s performance, I had not seen anything else with her in it until Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. Funnily enough, this film is very much in the same vein as Phantom Thread, except if it had a child with Paddington. Manville plays the polar opposite character in Paris, and is a very happy-go-lucky woman who sparks joy in everyone that she meets. There are a lot of things that happen in this film that I would normally be bothered by, such as silly character motivations or pacing issues, but I couldn’t help being charmed by this movie throughout. At the end of the day, this is just a solid feel-good movie propelled by a fantastic lead performance in Manville. Side note, I’m incredibly excited to see her play Princess Margaret in season 5 of The Crown. She is going to absolutely kill it.
Grade: B+/81
Nope
Jordan Peele is a fantastic comedian and actor. He also happens to be a fantastic director as well. Unfortunately, he hasn’t made a film that I thoroughly love yet, and Nope is no exception. Throughout the film I really admired Peele’s direction and clear mastery of his craft. There is a sense that everything Peele makes has complete intention behind it, and not even the smallest details are spared. Everything has meaning behind it. Nope very much felt like a director’s showcase of how Peele is capable of creating a gripping thriller that generates a sense of awe. Seeing as how the film is very much about spectacle and the exploitation of spectacle, Peele is more than qualified in directing a film about just that. However, some of the message behind the film gave me pause and I wasn’t sure how I felt about what the movie was trying to say. In a way, the film wants us to root for one group of people and not the other, even though I felt like their motivations were the same. I also was very much put off by Daniel Kaluuya’s sedated and wooden performance, because his reaction to all the spectacle that was happening was very jarring. It was especially jarring in comparison to the wonderful Keke Palmer, who carries this film with her performance. I feel like Kaluuya is slowly becoming typecast as this guy who just plays the stoic hero in the face of insanity, and many times I don’t find it to work at all. I’m very much intrigued by Peele’s future career because he’s one of the few directors who is able to make what he wants to make and is completely untethered from the industry, so he has a lot more creative control than others. Even though this film did not completely hit its mark with me, I will continue to look forward to what he does next.
Woops! Sorry, been MIA for a while. There’s a lot to review, and I wanted to get this out before I see Top Gun: Maverick tonight!
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Nic Cage will forever be one of Hollywood’s most fascinating figures. It only made sense to have one of the most meta movies ever made about him. Nic Cage playing Nic Cage? What could go wrong? Well, for this film, I think your mileage may vary depending on how meta you really want the film to be. Some of my friends didn’t like it because they were expecting it to be way more wild with its references, but the film surprisingly plays it straight for the most part. At it’s core, it’s a film that celebrates fandom and just having passion in something. Even though the film is primarily about Nic Cage, I actually liked Pedro Pascal’s character the most, because his character embodies the best parts of fandom and loving something. Even though the movie is pretty conventional in a lot of its story beats, I enjoyed it for what it was and it was certainly fun to see some of the references to Nic Cage’s previous films.
Grade: B/79
The Northman
I’ve loved every single Robert Eggers film so far. This is no exception. The Northman may be his most “Hollywood” film, but it very much has the Robert Eggers touch. It’s also probably my favorite of his films as well. The attention to detail, the atmosphere, and the direction of this film make it truly a unicorn of a film, that of a big-budget indie film. Unfortunately, it bombed at the box office, most likely due to misleading marketing. It’s not an action-packed revenge thriller. This movie is heavy on the vibes. Touting itself to be one of the most accurate depictions of Nordic culture on the big screen, you can really see and feel all the small details pored over by Eggers and his team.
Alexander Skarsgård gives us his best performance yet as Amleth. So much of this film feels primal, and that’s due to Skarsgård’s screen presence amongst all the other great actors. Anya Taylor-Joy is great as usual, and I’m totally in love with her partnership with Eggers. I hope they can continue to work on films together.
The cinematography of this film is breathtaking. Shooting on location in places like Iceland really takes you to another world and enriches the big screen experience. Coupling that with the amazing sound mixing and music, it made for my favorite theatrical experience of 2022 so far.
Grade: B+/85
Men
I can say with confidence that Men was my most anticipated movie of 2022. While it did not live up to expectations, it was certainly one of the most memorable films I’ve seen all year. I haven’t been this terrified of a film since 2018’s Hereditary, and this grossed out since 2020’s Possessor.
Alex Garland’s films are pretty hard sci-fi, but this film is definitely his most allegorical. There’s a lot of terrifying folklore imagery as well. However, it’s due to his masterful direction that truly made this one of the most unsettling films in recent memory. It completely reinforces the fact that jump scares are cheap, and teasing the audience with the implication of something is way more horrifying than throwing loud noises at you every other second (insert “the implication” scene from Always Sunny in Philadelphia). I don’t recall ever seeing Rory Kinnear in anything of substance except for his role as M’s right-hand man in the Daniel Craig Bond movies, but he kills it in this movie.
Most of what people will be talking about in this film is the ending. It is…quite the ending. Even if you have no intention of seeing this film, reading the Wikipedia synopsis will not suffice. It’s never going to be erased from my memory. It’s part of the reason I can never see this movie again, but I will certainly never forget seeing this with my friend.
Grade: B/80
The Innocents
I heard a lot of good things about this film recently, some describing it as a Norwegian Stephen King horror film. Directed by one of the writers from my favorite film of last year, The Worst Person in the World, Eskil Vogt produces an very different Norwegian film that mostly works.
The Innocents is a very quiet supernatural thriller that awards the patient viewer. It explores some interesting themes about children and how they are essentially empty vessels filled with curiosity that have no understanding of what is inherently good or bad. Because of that, the film explores what happens when there is no parental figure to guide a child’s moral compass, and with the addition of super powers, it makes for a mostly compelling watch. Some of the scenes are expertly crafted, and all of the child performances are pretty fantastic. I think I wanted a bit more out of the story, but it’s quite effective at creating a creepy summer camp kind of vibe. If you like slow burn thrillers, this film is definitely for you.
Grade: B/78
Uncharted
Yea, this was a bad movie. I knew it was going to be bad though, so it’s fine. I’m a huge fan of the franchise. In fact, Uncharted may be my favorite series of all time. As an action-adventure film, Uncharted is a totally acceptable, mediocre film. It hits all the familiar beats and has enough cool set pieces to keep you entertained. As an IP adapted from video game to film, it sucks. Director Ruben Fleischer took aspects from pretty much all the games and mashed them into one film without much care for any of the characters. Speaking of the characters, pretty much everyone here is miscast. I remember when Tom Holland was first announced to play Nathan Drake, and being somewhat excited. After seeing how he’s pretty much Peter Parker in this film, and how Mark Wahlberg is pretty much Mark Wahlberg as usual, I was pretty let down. I’m not really sure why directors fear sticking to the source material so much when it comes to video game adaptations. There’s nothing wrong with drawing from character backgrounds and stories already told, as long as you take that history and make something new with it. If you are not familiar with the video game franchise at all, then this film is probably fine. If you are, stay far far away.
It’s honestly crazy to think that about two months ago, I barely had enough films to comprise a top 10 for the year (I only consider a film to be worthy of being in my top 10 if it’s a B+ or higher), and here we are with so many late bangers. The number of high quality films is even more condensed than in 2017, when everything good came out in the last three months. Anyways, here goes!
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
This film is unfortunately proof that even if you try to stay very faithful to the source material, it can still freakin’ blow chunks. This movie is baaaaad. Even worse than the Paul W.S. Anderson film, which has almost nothing to do with the game. But, I actually still had a blast watching this with a friend, since we were both big Resident Evil fans. It was fun to point at the screen and go “hey! that’s a reference to the thing!” while also groaning and laughing in disbelief at what we were seeing.
I don’t know what inspired the director to do this, but he attempts to cram in TWO GAMES worth of story into an hour and forty minutes of movie. Like, what?! There are some fun easter eggs and callbacks, but a decent amount of the movie just felt like such a misfire. The casting choices ranged from Decent to Abysmal. Claire Redfield?: the best casting choice for sure. Chris Redfield: eh, he looks like him but not very interesting in general. Albert Wesker: ehhh….looks like him but didn’t feel like him at all. Jill Valentine: omg…what happened to you, Jill? Leon Kennedy: OMG LEON, WTF DID THEY DO TO YOU!?
Also, this film felt incredibly low budget. The original Paul W.S. Anderson felt like it was made with a lot more polish and quality, whereas this one for some reason felt like a student film project. It’s a shame that this was supposed to restart the whole RE Film/TV universe…who knows if it’ll even take off at this point. There’s also an absolutely hilarious mid-credits scene that definitively justifies putting the nail in the coffin right now.
Grade: C-/60
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Even though I was born in the early 90s and saw Ghostbusters on TV a lot growing up, I never really had a huge affinity for it. It was a perfectly fine, perfectly fun movie. Afterlife is the exactly the same for me: a perfectly fine, perfectly fun movie. McKenna Grace is a future superstar in the making. She was a fantastic lead to build the character around. Her performance is one of the brightest spots in the film. The friend she makes at summer school, named…Podcast…is not. I’d absolutely give this film a higher grade if Podcast wasn’t so insufferable. It was like the MCU’s style of writing leaked into the world of Ghostbusters and poisoned one of the characters. Every line he said had to be a joke, and an unfunny joke at that. Thankfully, the rest of this cast was pretty good thanks to the likes of Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon.
I saw that this film had a lot of backlash to its over-reliance on fan service and how it felt like a largely “empty” film. I donno, I thought it was fine. The first half of the film has a story that justifies its existence, and I felt like they didn’t really crank up the fan service until the end, when the story becomes a bit too familiar. However, it was still entertaining and I think it honors the legacy of the original film. Then again, I’m not the biggest fan of the franchise so who knows. With films that came out this past year like Afterlife, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Matrix Resurrections, it’s interesting to see how the collective audience responds to fan service and how it should be used in films.
One more thing I gotta say about this movie: almost no one reacts to ghosts in the way you’d expect. I know that it’s not a movie to be taken seriously, but everyone reacts to ghosts like it wasn’t a big deal at all. I couldn’t get over how strange that was.
Grade: B/76
Azor
I only watched this film because someone compared it to The Third Man, which is one of my favorite films of all time. I can definitely see the resemblance. Both films have pretty similar plots, even though they are in wildly different settings.
In my last blog post, I wrote about The Power of the Dog and how it’s almost too cryptic for its own good. Boy, I should have watched Azor first, because this film holds its cards so insanely close that by the time it’s over, you’d have sworn there were maybe 30 minutes of movie left.
There’s honestly a lot of fascinating stuff to be found in this movie. There is a quiet, sinister presence lingering through this incredibly slow-burn of a political thriller. A man visits war-torn Argentina to pick up the pieces left behind by his boisterous, controversial business partner. There’s a sense that something is off, and that no one can be trusted. There’s some well crafted buildup to whatever lies at the end of this mystery. However, the payoff arguably never arrives, unless you look really deeply between the lines. I really enjoyed the cinematography and overall aesthetic of the film, and some of the performances were very enthralling. However, I just couldn’t get past the fact that the film chooses to reveal so little of itself.
This film is a result of a lot of creative concepts that I thought to be really intriguing, only to be executed in a way that didn’t feel digestible to me.
Grade: B/78
Mass
After I finished this film, I sat in stunned silence for a while. This is one of the few movies that I’ve seen, in all my years of movie-watching, where I almost forgot that this was a movie.
Two couples come together to talk after a tragedy united them many years ago. That’s the plot of this movie. The majority of this film takes place in one room. There’s nothing interesting about the room. There are only our four characters, and 2 hours worth of dialogue. Sounds boring, right? You have every right to think that. I’m generally very on the fence with films that were either adapted from stage plays or made more to be a stage play. However, this directorial debut from Fran Kranz is an absolute knockout. These are four of the most powerful performances you will ever see in one movie. I’m getting chills just thinking about it right now.
Some screenwriters will go through their entire career writing some brilliant pieces of work, and they might not ever be able to make anything as good as what Kranz did for Mass. I’m really shocked as this is his first film. It’s a tough watch based on its subject matter, but these are some of the most raw performances you’ll ever see. As I stated above, it honestly doesn’t even feel like a movie for most of it. It feels like you’re a fly on the wall for what is sure to be one of the most stressful conversations you’ll ever have to listen to.
This is what I love about movies. I love me some spectacle, some big battles, some intense car chases, or some light-hearted fun. I also love that a film about four people talking for 2 hours can be some of the most compelling cinema I’ve seen all year. This film wasn’t even on my radar until Chris Stuckmann, a youtuber I love, mentioned it as his favorite film of 2021. Thank you Chris!
Grade: A-/86
Licorice Pizza
Paul Thomas Anderson is one of the most fascinating directors working today. There is something about him that I find difficulty putting into words. I think there’s just something about how the makes such interesting films about the most boring subjects. I found a lot of his films to have very uninteresting premises, but because of his masterful writing, cinematography, choice of music, and brilliant performances from his cast, he creates something way more memorable than you expect. He also has this thing where a lot of really random and unexplained phenomena occur in this films, whether it be a really random scene that quickly passes by you or a very poignant part of the film that just comes out of left-field. In either situation, oftentimes those things would take you out of a film if it was any other director that did it. For PTA though, you can’t look away because everything he’s showing you on screen is so enthralling.
I can totally understand PTA being hit or miss with the average moviegoer. I think if I had seen his films when I was younger, I would have hated them. However, with Licorice Pizza, I think this is easily his most accessible film, although there are some undeniable PTA-isms throughout.
One of PTA’s most frequent collaborators was the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman. His son, Cooper Hoffman, is one of the co-leads in a stunning film-debut performance. He really captures some of his father’s mannerisms, while managing to be completely his own. However, the true star of the show goes to Alana Haim (from the band HAIM), who also happens to be making her film debut. You can tell she’s got the juice for acting. From her opening scene with Hoffman, you can tell there is chemistry. The film zips from scene to scene in what feels like a fever dream, ignoring many plot elements you would typically want to know more about. However, I think everything was purposely included and/or omitted with utmost intention, and overall it really made the film feel more like you were experiencing it instead of seeing it, sort of like reliving your teenage years.
This is definitely the funniest film I’ve seen all year. Bradley Cooper is amazing in every minute he’s on the screen. One thing I didn’t know about this film prior to seeing it was that a number of the film’s characters are based off of real life people, and Cooper’s portrayal of Jon Peters is one of the most hilarious yet. For any of you not familiar with who Jon Peters is, I highly, highly suggest you YouTube Kevin Smith’s story about Jon Peters when he was developing his Superman movie.
I also saw a lot of white people writing about how outraged they were at the “racist” part in the film. As an Asian American, I appreciate white people always trying to stand up for us, but you can relax. That part was hilarious.
Licorice Pizza is a sign of great things to come for Haim and Hoffman. Paul Thomas Anderson shows no sign of slowing down, making a thoroughly enjoyable hangout film similar to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Everybody Wants Some!! Also, huge shoutout to Jonny Greenwood and his music arrangement in this film. I’m normally not really affected by the use of actual songs in films, but each one that played in this movie really seemed to hit the mood and feel at the right moments. Unlike most of PTA’s films, I’m excited to rewatch this film again. Perhaps this film will serve as a springboard for the uninitiated to delve into the rest of his filmography.
Grade: B+/84
Drive My Car
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is the most emotionally complex film I’ve seen in all of 2021. Even though this film comes in at a whopping three hours, it certainly did not feel that way. It’s surprising too, because this film really takes its time in terms of the story and plot development. I mean, the opening credits don’t roll until about 40 minutes in. This film certainly requires some patience to view, but by the end of it, I was left spinning at all of the emotional depth and complexities shared between the characters.
There is a LOT to unpack in this film. It almost plays like a parable, where every word has so much meaning. From the opening prologue, you’re led to believe that the film will take you one way, and then it throws you a couple of curveballs. There is a lot in this film that speaks to the anxiety and catharsis of what it means to be vulnerable, and moving past grief with an unrelenting self-acceptance.
Interestingly enough, this film shares a connection with a film I absolutely abhorred when it came out: Burning. Both films are adapted works of Haruki Murakami, and as much as I hated Burning, I can see some of the thematic and tonal similarities. However, instead of being pretentious and so far up its own butthole, Drive My Car is intimately and humbly directed. There’s nothing flashy about this film; neither the cinematography, or the characters, or the story even steer close to the melodramatic. This is an incredibly grounded drama with real characters suffering with some real grief, and it all comes together beautifully in what is one of the most cathartic final 20 minutes to a film. I think I’d like this film more if I had a bit more familiarity with the source material, but there’s so much to take in and analyze. I’ve never seen any of Hamaguchi’s other work, but consider me thoroughly intrigued.
One more thing: that red Saab is one of the coolest cars ever made. What an absolute icon.
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