Cinema 2023: Best & Worst

Below are the ten most satisfying and memorable films I saw in 2023: 10. Barbie A-   Remember America Ferrara's speech everyone raved about online? I recently heard someone characterize it as "it sounds like AI," and you know what? Fair. Also: beside the point. Barbie's inclusion in my top ten for the year as connected to, but about far more than it being the biggest movie of the year. There's something to be said for a movie like this one becoming the biggest movie of the year, with its seemingly cliche platitudes which nonetheless got mainstream exposure like never before. A cliché doesn't sound like a cliché when you're hearing it for the first time, and both Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling give genuinely award-worthy performances. Greta Gerwig being the director and co-writer of this expertly constructed film is the sole reason I had any interest in it to begin with, and not only did she not disappoint, she massively exceeded expectations. Women can make giant blockbusters too! Women are just as capable of harnessing late-stage capitalism! What I said then: A different director could have made a film version of Barbie that was every bit as fun, and maybe even worth seeing, but only Greta Gerwig, with the help of her expertly curated ensemble cast, could so successfully pack the movie with subtext. Even better, viewers with no interest in the subtext can just as easily enjoy the movie on a surface level—this doesn’t have to be an intellectual pursuit, or something you have to analyze or deconstruct. Gerwig’s genius is in how she makes that possible without making it necessary. 9. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse A-   How do I account for my inclusion of Across the Spider-Verse here, when its predecessor, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which I also gave an A-minus, did not make it onto my top 10 in 2018? Both films are similarly exhilarating viewing experiences, after all. All I can say, I suppose, is that I saw more films in 2018 that had a deeper impact on me. Furthermore, I would argue, the fact that Across the Spider-Verse matches the previous film's quality in every way, and in some ways perhaps even surpasses it, is an even greater accomplishment. Now, I benefited from the prior knowledge, going in, that this was to be the first of a story split in two parts, so I was not incensed, as some were, by its cliffhanger ending, which I was fully anticipating. And everything up to that point is a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of distinct artistic styles associated with different characters, each of which is given far more dimension than in any average live-action superhero film. Across the Spider-Verse is as often hilarious as it is moving, layered with both thematic and visual meaning. It has far more to offer than can be taken from just one viewing. What I said then: It can be hard to trust any assertion that a movie has everything you could possibly want and more, but in this case, you can take that to the bank. The movie’s producers almost certainly will. This movie is a truly amazing specimen of cinematic craft. 8. BlackBerry A-   Maybe the biggest cinematic surprise of the first half of 2023, BlackBerry may not be quite the instant classic that The Social Network had been, but it's the closest we've come in a long, long time. This movie, about the minds behind the staggering success of the BlackBerry mobile device and its rapid fall in the face of Apple's iPhone, has a propulsive energy unlike any other film this year. BlackBerry deserved far more attention than the little it comparatively got—it barely fell short of $2 million worldwide, on an otherwise tiny budget of $5 million—though it later aired as a slightly expanded miniseries on AMC. In any case, it was one of the more thrilling experiences I had in a cinema this year. What I said then: It’s not the story, it’s how it’s told. It’s good to remember that if you hear that there is a movie about the rise and fall of the first mass-market mobile device, the BlackBerry. Because this film, directed, co-written and co-starring Matt Johnson, is stunningly propulsive, edge-of-your-seat stuff. 7. Past Lives A-   There's something about the way this film is constructed, it's just . . . achingly beautiful. It's also very sad, a story of missed opportunities between a boy and a girl who start of as best friends in Korea, and then the girl, over the years, moves with her family to Canada and then to the U.S. It's a deceptively simple premise, with deeply affecting, if subtle, layers of emotion. In the end, there's a love triangle of sorts, except not quite exactly, a scenario when these two people who have longed for each other all their lives are faced with a romantic conundrum. Past Lives is a quite film with a hell of a lot to say, culminating in a "What would you do?" scenario for the ages. This is the kind of movie that deserves to be remembered and savored for generations. What I said then: Past Lives is a unique experience, in that its emotional resonance takes some time to percolate. I nearly started crying thinking about it on my way home after the movie ended, and I still can’t really say why, except that the movie permeated my soul, and it took some time for me to focus on anything else, rather than continuing to think about this deeply affecting love story. 6. May December A-   What would we do without the mind of Todd Haynes, which isn't so much fucked up as it is concerned with deeply nuanced depictions of fucked up people? This has never been more the case than with May December, a film so directly inspired by the Mary Kay Letourneau story that it blurs the line between fact and fiction. Except, it is also a compelling thought exercise: Latourneau and her husband divorced after 14 years of marriage, but this film asks the question: what if they were still married, twenty years after the affair between an older woman (Julianne Moore) and a younger man (a standout Charles Melton)? And for good measure, let's throw in an actress (Natalie Portman), visiting the family, taking "research" to dubious lengths as she prepares to star in a TV movie based on their story. The dynamic between Moore and Portman is especially fascinating, as is the dynamic between Melton's character and his children, who are unnaturally close to him in age. Of all the movies I saw this year, this one arguably has the most to talk about—and boy, is it fun to talk about. What I said then: There’s a subtle narrative thread here, touching on the salacious fascination we have with sensationalized stories like this. Natalie Portman is absolutely incredible in this role, as a woman overstaying her welcome as she “researches” the role, taking the task to new and dangerous places, fucking with the stability of people already existing in precarious emotional spaces. Elizabeth engages in her own sort of grooming, gaining the trust of people she is ultimately just using for the purpose of serving her onscren performance. 5. Close A   Close has an unfortunate taint to it, in that it was directed by Lukas Dhont, who previously made a film about a trans girl that was rightly critically reviled for its irresponsible depictions. If there is any possibility for redemption, though, then Close is it, a vividly realized example of a filmmaker taking on a subject that allows him actually to write what he knows. This is about adolescent boys, with a deep connection, both emotional and physical in ways that they don't register consciously—and then, in ways they are too young to understand, an insidious bit of homophobia splits their pure and innocent connection in two. Your heart aches for these boys, because you understand what they don't have the ability to contextualize. What I said then: One of many things Dhont deftly handles in Close is the way adolescents experience feelings that have no tools to articulate. Something is definitely happening between these boys, but neither of them knows or understands exactly what. We, as observers in the audience, are the ones who understand: Léo is afraid of being misjudged by his peers; Rémi is deeply saddened and doesn’t know for certain why. It’s heartbreaking to watch, and will make you recall your own cherished childhood friendships that fell apart without explanation or warning. 4. The Holdovers A   If I just went by how the movies made me feel, I might very well have ranked The Holdovers at #1—this was, by a mile, the most heartwarming film I saw this year. The premise isn't even particularly profound: a loner teacher at a private school (a reliably fantastic Paul Giamatti) gets stuck with chaperoning several students unable to go home for the holidays, and first butts heads with and then forms a bond with a similarly contemptuous student (Dominic Sessa). But there's something about the way director Alexander Payne and writer David Hemingson present this story, in a film specifically stylized to feel not just like it's set in, but as though you're actually watching it in the early 1970s, that just works. It may sound conceptually pretentious, but there is such sincerity in the performances and presentation that you leave the theater feeling thoroughly uplifted, for both the characters and for your own experience at the movies. What I said then: It’s difficult to put into words how wonderful I found The Holdovers. It filled my heart. I tried to think of other descriptors that could work. There’s an element of sweetness, I suppose, but that’s not really what the movie is. Maybe “wholesome” is the right word. Yes, I think that’s it: many “feel-good” movies of the 21st century are self-consciously bawdy with a “wholesome” subtext that just rings false. The Holdovers is the kind of movie that is never bawdy although it can be slightly vulgar when it wants to be, and it gets its tone of wholesomeness exactly right. 3. Anatomy of a Fall A   A stunning accomplishment of cinematic craft, Anatomy of a Fall just begs for analysis—in all the best ways. Don't let the two-and-a-half-hour run time deter you: this film is riveting from start to finish, even if some of the earlier scenes seem at first to lack purpose, "at first" being the operative phrase. You'll want to pay close attention, because every moment ultimately proves to be important, making this one of the most compelling crime dramas to come along in many years. To say it's less a "whodunnit" than a "did she do it?" very much undersells the skill and artistry at play in this film, particularly when it comes to interpersonal dynamics between a married couple, their young, blind son, and even their dog. The fact that the wife and mother is German, the husband and father is French, and neither has learned the other's language well enough so they speak in English at home, only enriches the material, as how communication might get lost in translation becomes a key detail, particularly in French courtroom scenes in the second half of the film. Anatomy of a Fall is an intricate family drama as much as it is a murder mystery, and it starts strong and only gets better as it goes along. What I said then: In Anatomy of a Fall, every detail matters. Sandra Hüller’s performance in particular is stellar in its ambiguity, easily gaining empathy but with an undercurrent of doubt, obstinately stoked by the prosecuting attorney, and indeed the inconclusive evidence itself. When all this ambiguity is the result of such deliberate intention, the result is a masterful achievement. 2. A Thousand and One A   For a solid eight months, I was telling everyone that A Thousand and One was the best movie I've seen this year. The title references an apartment number, in New York City between 1994 and 2005, during which a young mother (Teyana Taylor) struggles to raise a boy she illegally pulled out of the foster care system, shortly after she was released from prison. The technicality of whether she kidnapped Terry (played in different segments by three different young actors, each distinct and equally excellent) is incidental to this story, which focuses far more on the challenges of raising a young Black man, often subtly contextualized in the local city politics—and, in particular, the NYPD policies and practices—of the time. This is a period piece of recent history, an intimate portrait that still serves as a reflection of how America's flagship city has evolved, and a story with a dramatic turn at the end that may spark some debate. I was good with it, because I was so deeply impressed with every facet of this movie's production. What I said then: Rarely does such a vividly drawn portrait so effectively occupy the gray areas of life and history. In this case, writer-director A.V. Rockwell proves to be such a talent with a first feature film that I can’t even say she has potential. She’s already realized it. I can only say that I already breathlessly await whatever she makes next, and if she doesn’t have a vastly accomplished career ahead of her, we will have all been criminally deprived. 1. Maestro A   Simply put, Maestro knocked my socks off. My only regret is that this was one of the Netflix-produced films with such a short theatrical window that I had no choice but to watch it at home—and yet, I immediately watched it a second time the very next day, a rare thing indeed. The way I see it, the people criticizing this film's comparative lack of focus on Leonard Bernstein's career as a conductor and composer are missing the point—Bradley Cooper's intent is to explore how that level of acclaim and success affects a person's relationships, especially his marriage. The fact that Bernstein was also queer, a very important aspect of the story as told here, only enriches this examination—and Cooper is transformative, transfixing, and an astonishing revelation as Bernstein. Some might find my reaction to Cooper's accomplishments here, both as actor and as director, to be unjustifiably hyperbolic, but I stand by it, especially after seeing the film a second time. How he can turn in a performance like this, while also directing the film, defies the imagination. And Carey Mulligan is every bit as impressive—if far less literally transformed—as Felicia, Leonard's genuinely beloved but also understandably beleaguered wife. What I said then: Honestly I’m not sure I could even count the ways I loved the experience of watching Maestro. I expected to like it, and to say it exceeded my expectations would be an understatement. I’m gushing so much over it now, I fear it may make readers set their own expectations either impossibly high, or with an unfair amount of skepticism. I can only speak my truth: I loved this film. Five Worst -- or the worst of those I saw 5. Babylon C   I know, I know—a solid C grade is merely average, as opposed to bad. Well? If you want me to review movies I already know will be terrible, you can pay me to do it! Any takers? As it is, my "five worst" winds up just being the five films I most misjudged whether I would like them. In the case of Babylon, this film tested my patience from its very release date, at least locally: technically a 2022 film, I could not see it locally until January. It was not worth the wait, and then I had to wait nearly an entire year to complain to you about it! The POV elephant shit and the golden shower, both within the first ten minutes, are the tip of the iceberg in this wildly unnecessary, wildly excessive, 189-minute movie, about the wild excesses of the last days of the silent movie era. Haven't we covered this terrain already? What I said then: I went to BABYLON really wanting to love it. Damien Chazelle has made films I consider to be truly great. This one, though, feels like the last, desperate attempt of an auteur throwing all of his unused ideas into a movie, as though terrified no one will ever allow him to make another one. The sad irony is that none of those ideas were particularly original. 4. Saint Omer C   If the massive critical acclaim Saint Omer received is any indication, it's entirely possible that this is an example of a movie where "Matthew just doesn't get it." I'm not above admitting that. All I can say is, this movie, about a novelist attending the trial of a woman who abandoned her baby on a beach to drown to death at high tide, bored me senseless. If you really want to see a great film that spends an inordinate amount of time in a French courtroom, see Anatomy of a Fall. That one, at least, spends a sensible amount of time outside the courtroom. What I said then: I can’t help but wonder if I am being unfair to this film—a feeling I have only because of its otherwise universal critical acclaim—but I can only be honest about my personal experience with it. When the film ended, after what felt like an eternity of tedium, I felt sweet relief. 3. The Origin of Evil C   Another one with good acting . . . and that's the only particularly good thing about it. With direction and writing that's at the high end of mediocre, and cinematography and editing that skirt the edges of bad, The Origin of Evil is a French family drama with intricate plotting that gets less interesting with each successive turn. It's like Knives Out but without the fun. What I said then: Here’s something I’ve never said about a movie before: The Origin of Evil might just be too French or its own good. Full of unlikably arrogant people, with an inflated sense of self. Not all of the French are like that, I’m sure; these are stereotypes. But this movie isn’t doing them any favors. ... It gets progressively weirder, in less compelling ways. 2. The Flash C   Possibly the greatest waste of potential (and resources) in cinema this year, The Flash actually had a lot going for it, with Michael Keaten actually returning as an aged Batman—a good portion of his presence in the film actually being pretty fun. But, why he gets grafted onto this garbage dump of bad CGI action set pieces is a mystery. And all of that's not even to mention how star Exra Miller evidently turned out to be a massive creep. That aside, if this movie could have just been the second act, expanded into its own feature length film, I might have actually enjoyed it on the whole. Instead, the first and third acts are just witless, poorly rendered messes telling a story I couldn't be bothered to care about. What I said then: The bottom line is, The Flash is a shit sandwich with a moderately tasty center, except what’s the point of a tasty center in a shit sandwich? I suppose we could call the two Ezra Millers in it the buns. There are some nice shots of their butt in that suit, for what it’s worth. And for the record I am separating the art from the buttocks. 1. Renfield C-   I actually had relatively high hopes for Renfield, the movie with Nicholas Hoult as the title character, indefinite servant to Dracula, played by Nicolas Cage, who famously loves to work, apparently so much that he can act in his sleep. Which he might as well have been doing here, a bit of an irony for a film that shifts into manic-mode within the first five minutes and never lets up, relying solely on excessive gore as its "humor" and never managing to be funny enough—or even fun enough—to live up to its premise. Someone should remake this movie about a "familiar" coming to grips with his codependent relationship with a vampire, but with writers who have talent. What I said then: I’m sure some people will be entertained by Renfield. Those people have no standards and no taste. Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh. A more generous read on this movie would be that it’s an homage to mediocrity. The run time is merely 93 minutes and I was more than ready for it to be over after thirty. Why couldn’t they hire whoever cut the trailer to edit the movie? Complete 2023 film review log: 1. 1/5 MEGAN B
2. 1/6 Women Talking B+
3. 1/7 BABYLON C
4. 1/14 Saint Omer C
5. 1/16 The Pale Blue Eye B *
6. 1/17 Plane B
7. 1/26 Living B+ *
8. 1/31 Infinity Pool C
9. 2/2 Knock at the Cabin B-
10. 2/9 Exposure B+
11. 2/10 Close A
12. 2/12 Titanic 25th Anniversary (3D) B **
13. 2/14 80 for Brady B-
14. 2/15 Godland B-
15. 3/9 Cocaine Bear B+
16. 3/13 Emily B
17. 3/29 John Wick: Chapter 4 B
18. 3/30 Linoleum B+
19. 4/6 A Thousand and One A
20. 4/11 Air B
21. 4/12 How to Blow Up a Pipleline B+
22. 4/17 Renfield C-
23. 5/2 Polite Society B
24. 5/4 Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. A-
25. 5/6 Beau Is Afraid B-
26. 5/9 Joyland A-
27. 5/12 The Mattachine Family B+ ***
28. 5/14 And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine B ***
29. 5/15 BlackBerry A-
30. 5/18 Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes A- ***
31. 5/19 Being Mary Tyler Moore B ***
32. 5/20 Theater Camp B+ ***
33. 5/23 Filip B+ *** / *
34. 5/24 Monica B+
35. 5/27 You Hurt My Feelings B+
36. 5/29 The Eight Mountains B+
37. 6/2 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse A-
38. 6/5 Sanctuary C+
39. 6/11 You Hurt My Feelings B+ (2nd viewing)
40. 6/16 The Flash C
41. 6/22 Asteroid City B+
42. 6/26 Past Lives A-
43. 6/30 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny B
44. 7/2 Every Body A-
45. 7/3 No Hard Feelings B+
46. 7/9 The Lesson B
47. 7/10 Joy Ride B
48. 7/11 Biosphere C+
49. 7/14 Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One B
50. 7/22 Oppenheimer B+
51. 7/23 Barbie A-
52. 7/25 Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One B (2nd viewing)
53. 8/12 Barbie A- (2nd viewing)
54. 8/14 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem B
55. 8/18 The Unknown Country B+
56. 8/27 Strays B
57. 9/3 Bottoms B+
58. 9/8 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe B+
59. 9/18 Fremont B
60. 9/25 Mutt B
61. 9/28 The Origin of Evil C+
62. 9/29 Stop Making Sense 40th Anniversary Rerelease A-
63. 10/1 The Creator B
64. 10/2 Dumb Money B
65. 10/6 The Royal Hotel B
66. 10/11 Strange Way of Life / The Human Voice B
67. 10/21 Killers of the Flower Moon B+
68. 10/22 My Love Affair with Marriage B+
69. 10/23 Beetlejuice B+ **
70. 10/26 Dicks: The Musical B
71. 11/2 What Happens Later B+
72. 11/3 Priscilla B-
73. 11/4 Anatomy of a Fall A
74. 11/5 Killers of the Flower Moon B+ (2nd viewing)
75. 11/6 The Holdovers A
76. 11/8 Nyad B+ ****
77. 11/12 The Marvels B
78. 11/13 The Killer B+ *
79. 11/14 The Persian Version B-
80. 11/16 The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes B-
81. 11/17 Next Goal Wins B+
82. 11/25 Dream Scenario B
83. 11/26 Napoleon B-
84. 11/28 Saltburn B-
85. 12/2 Reinassance: A Film by Beyoncé B+
86. 12/4 May December A- *
87. 12/8 Eileen B-
88. 12/8 Leave the World Behind B *
89. 12/12 Godzilla Minus One B+
90. 12/14 Poor Things A-
91. 12/16 Fallen Leaves B
92. 12/20 Maestro A *
93. 12/21 Wonka B-
94. 12/23 The Iron Claw B
95. 12/31 Ferrari B * Viewed streaming at home
** Re-issue (no new review)
*** SIFF Advanced screening
**** Viewed streaming in the Braeburn Condos theater

Cinema 2022: Best & Worst

Below are the ten most satisfying and memorable films I saw in 2022: 10. The Velvet Queen A- The first of four documentaries that managed to make my top 10 films in 2022 (the fact that all four are technically 2021 films is a separate issue, one of the frustrating limitations of the regional market in which I live), The Velvet Queen is easily the most visually beautiful of them. I could easily tell you this is worth watching for the nature footage alone. What makes this an even richer experience as a film is how it is about two men on the hunt for an elusive snow leopard on the Tibetan pleatau—not to kill, but just to get photos of it in the wild. Along the way, they get a lot of stunning footage and images of other wildlife and scenery, in a serene narrative in which they also develop a rapport with the sparsely populated native people. Spoiler alert, they do eventually get hard-won shots of the animal they search for, and not only is it worth the wait, but the entire journey is every bit as rewarding. The sense of joy among these men, just in the search itself, being wholly engaged in an activity they truly love, made this one of the most infectiously joyous films I saw all year. What I said then: “Joy” is a somewhat tricky word to use for this film, actually, because for Munier and Tesson, emotion that intense comes in short bursts. Most of the time, a better word might be serene. We get voiceover narration of journal entries, and sometimes see conversations between them, about how contented they are just to pick a spot in the wilderness, sit still, and wait, for hours. As they do this, they get the photos and footage that packs the film that is The Velvet Queen, usually of wildlife but often just of landscapes, all of it stunning and gorgeous. Sometimes, you think you’re just looking at landscape and then you’re informed of the camouflaged wildlife you didn’t even realize was in the frame. 9. The Banshees of Inisherin A- The crackerjack team that brought us In Brudges in 2008 returns this year with a tale set much earlier, on a remote island during the Irish Civil War in the early 1920s, now somehow simultaneously melancholy, shocking and funny. Its plotting suggests extremities of behavior you won't believe they will actually go to, and then it indeed goes there. It is deeply philosophical as well, posing the conflicting attitudes of what's really important in life: leaving a legacy that lasts after death, or appreciating the relationships that exist while you're living. Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell are longtime friends, and one of them decides he doesn't want to be friends anymore. This is the story of the fallout of that decision, told with a depth of humanity that is greater than its simple premise might initially suggest. What I said then: The Banshees of Inisherin is the kind of movie that, where other films might hint of an uncomfortable path and then pivot, instead leans right into those paths. Colm’s and Pádraic’s story is one of cascading wrong moves, the kind that turn friends into enemies. You know, kind of like a civil war. 8. The Fabelmans A- When The fablemans began, with its opening scenes shot in soft, dreamlike, Spielbergian tones that felt particularly on the nose given its widely known autobiographical nature, I quickly began to think: oh no, I may not like this movie. And then, what followed was a series of what might best be called "memory vignettes," edited together to create a brilliantly constructed overview of Spielberg's lightly fictionalized life. Once the entire puzzle is constructed, those first scenes fit as perfectly as any other piece. This is all about a young man's unabating interest in filmmaking, both in the face of and informed by the divorce of his parents in his teen years. Admittedly, The Fabelmans only works as an excellent work of art when you have a working knowledge of Spielberg's art and career, but this is hardly unique among great works of many great artists. And Spielber may be by and large a populist filmmaker—garnering him many fans and critics alike—but he is also clearly capable of making great art, this example being hardly his first such example. It does, however, make a case for his crowning achievement. What I said then: At age 75, clearly Spielberg is a lot closer to the end of his career than to its beginning. He no doubt has several movies left in him, but one can easily understand why he might have wanted to get this one done well before anything might force him to slow down. Nearly thirty years ago, he won his first Best Picture Oscar for Schindler’s List, which was clearly deeply personal to him as a Jewish man. This film, on the other hand, is deeply personal to him as a family man, as someone with a kind of all-encompassing empathy rarely found. You can feel the love he has for his parents, even as he dramatizes some of their less flattering behaviors toward each other. Even more keenly, you can feel the passion he had, and has, for filmmaking—and the respect his parents developed for that passion. 7. Lingui, the Sacred Bonds A- In contrast to the admittedly far more entertaining The Woman King (which I would honestly place at #11 on this list if it went that high), if you want a sort of immersion into an African culture, but with a far cleaner authenticity, then Lingui, the Sared Bonds is the way to go. This one isn't "fun," nor does it adhere to broad storytelling tropes in an attempt to invite audiences in. Here, the characters do that effectively on their own, a 15-year-old girl seeking an abortion in a neighborhood on the outskirts of the Chad capital of N'Djamena, with the assistance of her increasingly empathetic and increasingly desperate mother. The emotional journey focuses more on the deeply devout Muslim mother, offering a unique perspective on otherwise universal struggles. What I said then: The story, in retrospect, is more about the emotional journey of Amina, the mother, than that of Maria, the daughter. The daughter knows who she is and what she wants from the start, and doesn’t change beyond obvious effects of the trauma surrounding however she got pregnant. It’s Amina who is a different person by the end of the story than she was at the start, although her deep love for and fierce protection of her daughter is never in doubt. Lingui is also a great movie about a mother-daughter bond, the kind that gets more healthy as the story goes on. 6. Triangle of Sadness A- One of the great surprises of the year, Triangle of Sadness is basically three short films in one, that being just one of the "triangles" referenced by the title, which is honestly misleading. One might hear that title and immediately assume this is a deeply depressing film, but on the contrary, it's a deeply biting satire, skewering the super-wealthy in ways only Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure) can. The three separate stories have only two characters in common, working models who are a young couple, their widely varying environments becoming cause for widely diverse discussions and examinations of finances, wealth and power. This film shifts from a fashion runway to a luxury yacht to a remote island, each location shifting the balance of power and dominance among the huge ensemble cast of characters. The second act is especially thrilling, something I might call an "almost-disaster movie," and then the third act gets darkly funny as people are forced to have their ideas subverted. What I said then: Sitting through Triangle of Sadness, regardless of its length, is a surprising experience in richly rewarding ways. Its final moments bring things around perfectly, with just the right amount of ambiguity. Honestly, the more I think about this film the more I feel impressed by it. 5. Tár A- This is a densely intellectual film, another one with satirical undertones, which lives up to the critical hype. That didn't translate into box office success, but no matter; it remains one of the best films of the year. I saw this the same weekend as Triangle of Sadness, seeing this one first, and in the end I found they made fantastic companion pieces, great films to watch back to back. Cate Blanchett gives the best performance of the year as an egotistical and borderline sociopathic genius music conductor, one who gets called out on ambiguously problematic behaviors, and not even its often pedantic dialogue steeped in classical music history could keep it from being fully absorbing from beginning to end. It's a compelling thought experiment to consider how wildly different this film would be if the script were exactly the same but the lead part were a man instead of a woman—just one of the many layers of consideration when contemplating the implications of this acutely nuanced film. I very much look forward to watching it again. What I said then: Tár is the opposite of populist entertainment, by many accounts a film that succeeds at being a satirical work of staggering genius by being up its own ass about being a satirical work of staggering genius. The way I see it, this film is pretentious about its own commentary on pretension. But, that doesn’t necessarily make it any less genius. 4. Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America A I can feel readers' assholes pucker in knee-jerk defensiveness at just reading this film's title. Even though anyone with a dismissive attitude could still get more out of this film than they would likely expect, the arguably more important point is how much it has to offer audiences for whom they might expect this is "preaching to the choir." I don't believe there is a single person for whom this documentary, filmed sort of like a TED Talk about the history of American racism, won't offer multiple insights. I found it deeply illuminating, that's for sure, and sincerely appreciated the comfortable accessibility with which writer, activist and lawyer Jeffery Robinson (also Deputy Legal Director and Director of the Trone Center for Justice & Equality at the ACLU) spoke to his audience—the primary target being, of course, White America. And, so long as you approach it open to the experience, this film is not so much "homework" as it is a rich and rewarding kind of education. What I said then: Nothing about this movie demands that it be seen on the big screen, so hopefully it will be available on a streamer soon. Because it is indeed vital viewing, regardless of the size of the screen. And it won’t be preaching to the choir, far from it—Jeffery Robinson takes the Chronicle part of the title pretty literally, tracking the major “tipping points” of possibly moving toward racial justice in this country, from its founding to the present day. You won’t just be hearing things you already know, and you certainly won’t just be told what you want to hear. 3. Sedimentos A What a refreshing array of perspectives this film is, previously unexamined in cinema: a multigenerational group of six trans women in Spain, all of them in varying stages of their journeys not necessarily correlated to their age, taking a weekend trip to a remote town in León, all the while being trailed by a camera crew they were trained to ignore in pre-production workshops. It would be easy to mistake this for a narrative film, the editing is so perfectly finessed, but it's actually a documentary. This film presents such a fully dimensional portrait of every one of these six women, simultaneously flawed and a great hang, it was easily the best of the films I saw at the Seattle International Film Festival this year. What I said then: Sedimentos has a quality to it that is reminiscent of Robert Altman films, with its focus not just on dialogue but on overlapping conversations. Except in this case, they are real, neutrally observed and recorded. Whether this is compelling is a matter of taste, I suppose, but in my view the context alone makes it deeply so. It’s not so much just recordings of ordinary conversations, as the editing creates a rich narrative of six women from as many walks of life, bonding with each other. 2. The Worst Person in the World A Not anywhere near as funny as marketers want you to believe, nor as unpleasant as the title goes out of its way to suggest, The Worst Person in the World steadily works its way under your skin, leaving you only gradually to register its greatness. Beautifully shot and uniquely told, this is a charming romantic drama in which the protagonist is not just definitively a single woman, but one who only needs to win over herself. Men play a significant part—two men in particular—but this is her story, a woman's journey through genuine attempts at relationships which, spoiler alert, don't work out. Norwegian director and co-writer Joachim Trier offers a sensibility that is all but guaranteed to be obliterated by shoehorned tropes if this is ever attempted as an American remake. What I said then: And that gets to the heart of why I loved The Worst Person in the World: it succeeds on every level, and on every level it does so unconventionally. All of the characters ring true, as do all of their behaviors, offering a fundamentally realistic portrait of romance and humanity, with a subtly artistic visual flair. Hanging out with Julie is an eminently pleasant experience, even though she’s as flawed as anyone—arguably more so even than the men she gets with. Perhaps this film’s most impressive feat is how it never puts on airs of high-minded art and still winds up being a fine specimen of artistic accomplishment. 1. Flee A Even if some of its technical aspects were only slightly imperfect—the animation is a bit rudimentary, still unforgettable as a rotoscoping technique—no other movie this year left me so gobsmacked, so stunned into contemplative silence once it was over. This was the first film ever to be nominated simultaneously in the three Academy Award categories of Best Documentary Feature, Best Animated Feature Film, and Best International Feature Film (criminally, not winning any of them, likely due to split votes), the rotoscoping animation being a technique for obscuring the identity of its subject, a gay Muslim man in Denmark telling his story for the first time, of fleeing Afghan militants who killed his parents and kidnapped his sister when he was a child. This is a sad tale, examining how this man's myriad childhood traumas affect his present-day relationship, but it is also a deeply moving one, leaving a more lasting impact on me than any other film I saw this year. What I said then: Flee has to be seen to be believed. Or perhaps more accurately, seen to broaden your mind, about refugees, about people from Afghanistan, about the tumultuous modern history of Afghanistan, about the human experience. This is a window into a world and a past that puts the privilege of citizens of the Western World into sharp relief. Five Worst -- or the worst of those I saw (Bearing in mind that I could have seen far worse movies than these if I had made the choice to, but when I already know a movie is worthless, I don't bother watching it at all) 5. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnass C+ Another Marvel movie, another excuse to take a nap. This movie had real potential, being directed by Sam Raimi, and instead he basically phones it in—possibly through no fault of his own, although one would think he knew what he was getting into having to work with increasingly exasperating MCU strictures about plot points, character behaviors, and connective threads to way too many other movies. He gives this movie a recognizable visual quality, but is stifled by way too many clear limitations; we shouldn't have to slog through the mediocrity of the film's first three quarters in order for things to get weird. In the end it isn't worth the wait. What I said then: There are people genuinely convinced that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a truly great film, and that makes me despair of humanity. Not because this movie is particularly bad, but because audiences are so conditioned by the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” that they can no longer distinguish between that which is quality cinema, and that which is average. 4. Lightyear C+ Here is the Walt Disney Corporation squeezing every last cent they can out of Pixar's flagship IP, and one of its most beloved and iconic characters: Buzz Lightyear, zooming back into theaters after there have already been four Toy Story movies. Never mind how confusing the concept is (we're supposed to understand that this the motion picture that is Andy from Toy Story's favorite movie, and the title character is who his toy Buzz Lightyear, originally voiced by Tim Allen, is based on), the whole universe is stale the moment we step into it. Its one real selling point is the entertaining robot cat named SOX. What I said then: The principal characters in Lightyear just aren’t nearly as compelling as those in the Toy Story series. That franchise had a novel concept: kids’ toys come to life when they aren’t looking. Lightyear is just a straightforward science fiction tale, with a lot of production design oddly reminiscent of the Alien franchise. Nothing here feels particularly original. 3. Crimes of the Future C+ A seemingly intriguing mood piece with a boneheaded plot point, Crimes of the Future depicts a human race that has suddenly made an evolutionary jump, adapting the ability to digest plastics. Except evolution doesn't jump; it's a gradual process of change over thousands of years. That makes this film the latest of countless that misinterpret and misrepresent what evolution really is, especially when it comes to something as extreme as the ability to eat manufactured plastic. Okay, sure, maybe David Cronenberg was going for something allegorical here (not that that makes it any more comprehensible), but this sticking point made me immediately lose my patience anyway. What I said then: In the world of Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future, from a script he first wrote in the nineties and which still feels like it’s from that era, human bodies have begun randomly generating new organs with no known function. They have also stopped getting infections (one character marvels at how no one ever washes their hands anymore, blech), and people’s pain tolerance has skyrocketed, resulting in a trend of sort of sensual body mutilation just to get to the point of feeling something. And from an evolutionary perspective—ostensibly the perspective this film takes—absolutely none of that makes any sense whatsoever. 2. Jurassic World Dominion C+ This might qualify as the grandest disappointment of the year, I was so excited to see it: Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ellie Satler (Laura Dern) and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), from the original 1993 Jurassic Park all together again? Sign me up! When I saw that in this film's teaser trailer, I was so thrilled I literally got chills. That original film is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I even quite enjoy most of its sequels—even the 2015 Jurassic World reboot holds up surprisingly well after seven years. But, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was dumber yet still entertaining—much like The Lost World: Jurassic Park had been as the first sequel in 1997—but then Jurassic World Dominion comes along and insults our intelligence so hard you have to wonder if the filmmakers had turned it into a competition. Other movies in this franchise make little rational sense if you nitpick into the details; this one makes no sense even at a surface level, and the use of the original three characters, hinging on mutant locusts that aren't even dinosaurs, is completely squandered. What I said then: Jurassic World Dominion is a mess. It’s an entertaining mess, but still a mess, wasting far too much time on dull, one-note characters when it could be spending more time wowing us with special effects its makers didn’t even bother to perfect. With a bit more time and a modicum of effort, this movie, even being the sixth in the franchise, could have been so much better. The return of original-film cast is little more than stunt casting that ultimately serves only to disappoint. 1. Striding Into the Wind C+ If there's anything the other four movies on my worst-of 2022 list have that Sriding Into the Wind doesn't, it's that at least none of the others are straight up dull. This 134-minute Chinese "road trip" movie didn't even get its characters embarking on travel until two thirds of the way through, even then spending most of its time depicting film school students doing reshoots in Mongolia. All of this would be fine if it had much of an overarching narrative to speak of, anything happening to spark interest. What few critics even paid attention to it seemed to like it, which may have been why I went to see it in the first place. I then spent most of my time in the cinema just itching to get out of there, away from this supposed "slacker comedy" in favor of some kind of legitimate stimulation. What I said then: Striding Into the Wind is relatively quiet, and relentlessly naturalistic, as if Wei had a ton of unusually well-shot home video footage and managed to cut it into something vaguely resembling a narrative. I have to say, I was bored as hell. Complete 2022 film review log: 1. 1/4 The Lost Daughter B+ *
2. 1/8 Swan Song B *
3. 1/10 Finch C+ *
4. 1/15 Bergman Island B *
5. 1/16 CODA A- *
6. 1/21 Parallel Mothers A-
7. 1/23 The Velvet Queen A-
8. 1/29 A Hero B *
9. 1/31 Flee A
10. 2/2 Moonfall F **
11. 2/5 Last and First Men B
12. 2/11 The Worst Person in the World A
13. 2/12 Kimi B *
14. 2/13 Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America A
15. 2/15 Big Bug B- *
16. 2/19 Death on the Nile B-
17. 2/20 Lingui, the Sacred Bonds A-
18. 2/23 Games People Play B+ *
19. 2/26 February B- *
20. 2/28 2022 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Live Action B
21. 3/1 2022 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Animation B-
22. 3/3 The Batman B+
23. 3/5 Red Rocket B+ *
24. 3/6 Cyrano B
25. 3/8 2022 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary B+
26. 3/9 A Song Called Hate B *
27. 3/12 Turning Red B+ *
28. 3/13 After Yang B *
29. 3/15 The Adam Project B- *
30. 3/17 Striding Into the Wind C+ *
31. 3/20 Compartment No. 6 B
32. 4/4 Memoria C
33. 4/6 You Won't Be Alone B-
34. 4/7 Everything Everywhere All at Once A-
35. 4/11 Mothering Sunday B
35. 4/12 The Batman B+ (2nd viewing)
36. 4/13 The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent B-
37. 4/14 Cat Daddies B+ */***
38. 4/15 Vera Dreams of the Sea B+ ***
39. 4/16 Nothing Compares A- */***
40. 4/16 Sedimentos A */***
41. 4/25 Neptune Frost B+ */***
42. 4/27 The Northman B+
43. 5/10 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness C+
44. 5/19 Downton Abbey: A New Era B
45. 5/22 The Bad Guys B
46. 5/25 On the Count of Three B+
47. 5/28 The Innocents B
48. 5/31 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers B- *
49. 6/1 Top Gun: Maverick B+
50. 6/3 Fire Island B *
51. 6/7 Crimes of the Future C+
52. 6/9 Jurassic World Dominion C+
53. 6/17 Lightyear C+
54. 6/21 Top Gun: Maverick B+ (2nd viewing)
55. 6/22 Freedom Uncut B-
56. 6/28 Elvis B-
57. 7/2 Mr. Malcom's List B
58. 7/7 Thor: Love and Thunder B-
59. 7/10 Marcel the Shell with Shoes On B+
60. 7/12 Official Competition B-
61. 7/21 Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris B
62. 7/23 Nope B
63. 7/26 Fire of Love B
64. 7/28 DC League of Super Pets C+
65. 8/4 Bullet Train C+
66. 8/8 I Love My Dad B+
67. 8/13 Prey B+ *
68. 8/16 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 40th anniversary release B+
69. 8/22 Bodies Bodies Bodies B
70. 8/28 Three Thousand Years of Longing B
71. 9/6 Jaws in 3D (no review)
72. 9/13 Hold Me Tight B
73. 9/16 Moonage Daydream B
74. 9/17 The Woman King A-
75. 9/20 See How They Run B
76. 10/1 Avatar (re-release) B+
77. 10/3 Bros B
78. 10/8 Still Working 9 to 5 B *
79. 10/11 The Woman King A- (2nd viewing)
80. 10/22 Tár A-
81. 10/23 Triangle of Sadness A-
82. 10/29 The Banshees of Inisherin A-
83. 11/3 Till B+
84. 11/5 Armagedon Time A-
85. 11/6 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story B *
86. 11/10 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever B
87. 11/12 Aftersun B
88. 11/17 She Said B+
89. 11/21 The Menu B
90. 11/23 Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery B+
91. 11/26 The Fabelmans A-
92. 11/27 Devotion A-
93. 11/29 Strange World B
94. 12/3 Violent Night B-
95. 12/4 The Inspection B+
96. 12/10 Bones and All B-
97. 12/11 White Noise B+
98. 12/13 Empire of Light B
99. 12/17 Avatar: The Way of Water B+
100. 12/18 Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths B *
101. 12/20 Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio B+ *
102. 12/22 The Whale B * Viewed streaming at home
** Advanced screening
*** SIFF Advanced screening

Cinema 2021: Best & Worst

Below are the ten—okay fine, eleven—most satisfying and memorable films I saw in 2021: 11. Nomadland A-   Let's call this one an "honorable mention." A good half of the films on this year's list consists of ones that are technically 2020 movies, but they were not made available for me to see until this year—including Nomadland, which absolutely would have been on my top ten in 2020 had I been able to watch it then. It won Best Picture, for Christ's sake! Best Actress too, for Frances McDormand. The trouble is, I so want to include these other ten movies on my top ten for 2021 that I am forced to relegate this one to . . . let's call it "#11." Sure, I'm cheating. You'll live. This beautifully meditative movie about a woman living out of her van in retirement, taking seasonal jobs to support herself, and shot with non-actors who actually live the life being depicted, is a beautifully unique cinematic experience. Its quietness and casual observations of American landscapes left me unsure of its rewatch potential, and then when I saw it again with Shobhit when he got his screener for the SAG Awards, I enjoyed it every bit as much. What I said then: There’s a hint of sweetness to the overall arc of Nomadland, as Zhao finds to need to find any of the nomads to be sinister or predatory. Instead, she finds a very cooperative society of travelers, each of them with their own story, none of them boring. The fact that almost all of them appear just as themselves means that there is no element of “Hollywood glamor” in any of these depictions, and McDormand fits right in among them. 10. French Exit B+   I gave out eight solid As and ten A-minuses this year, so why am I including a B-plus movie on this list? The reason is simple: I have shifted my definitions for these annual lists to most satisfying and memorable, which is not synonymous with "best." I can fully acknowledge that a movie featuring a cat who turns out to be containing the soul of a dead husband, and who can converse with live humans via seance as though on the telephone, kind of degrades the objective quality of a film. The thing is, those very elements are still a big part of what made me love this movie, which I wish with all my heart would become a cult classic, as it would have had that potential decades ago. Today, it passed by all but ignored, but I have already watched it twice, and can easily imagine watching it many more times as the years go on. Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been so quintessentially perfect for a part, here as an eccentric and sardonic rich single mother of a barely-grown man (Lucas Hedges) who has just lost all of her money, since she played Catwoman in 1992. This movie may not be high art, but it is compulsively rewatchable. What I said then: Still, it all comes back to Michelle Pfeiffer. Performances like this are what the word “iconic” was made for. That word is so overused it has lost all meaning, but Pfeiffer brings it full circle. I haven’t loved her so much in a movie since she played Catwoman nearly—let me check my notes—thirty years ago. This woman is a national treasure, she commands attention, and so does this charmingly peculiar movie. 9. Mass A-   The vast majority of this film is just four people, played by Martha Plimpton, Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd and Reed Birney. They play two upper-middle-aged couples, parents of students involved in a local school shooting six years prior; one couple is the parents of the culprit, the other couple parents of one of the many victims. They have agreed to meet and basically process their shared trauma over the event, maybe put out feelers for the possibility of forgiveness and some kind of redemption—not among the teenagers (dead in either case), but among themselves in regards to how things went down in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. The film unfolds mostly with just these four alone in a room, and is very like a stage play, except one that works incredibly well for the screen (it's actually an original script, by director Fran Kranz). Admittedly not the most uplifting stuff, but it's laden with meaning and purpose, and I found it captivating. What I said then: Kranz’s writing is also exquisite. By definition with a presentation like this, there has to be a great deal of exposition—the whole movie is nothing but dialogue. It never feels like exposition, though, and a vast array of details are revealed to the story of how they all got here, just through the organic unfolding of their gut wrenching, yet riveting conversations 8. Judas and the Black Messiah A   After writing a genuinely rave review of Judas and the Black Messiah, I later encountered criticism that its women characters, particularly writer and Black Panther activist Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback), are underserved, which is fair. I was so enamored with the performances of Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield, as Black Panther Party Chicago Chapter Chairman Fred Hampton and deceiving FBI informant Bill O'Neal, respectively, that in my initial review I failed to even mention any of the women characters, some of whom played key parts, albeit a bit underplayed in the movie. The film is so successful on every other level, however, that I can't bring myself to discount it. Every aspect of this film, from the acing to the direction to its technical finesse, is top notch—a heavy story that is eminently compelling. What I said then: It’s a rare thing when you can tell a film is of superior quality from the first frame, and Judas and the Black Messiah is one such example. I was unaware of director Shaka King before this, but you can bet I’ll be remembering that name, seeking out his other work, and looking forward to what he does in the future. That this is only his second feature film is a stunning accomplishment. 7. The Power of the Dog A   Here we finally get another movie about deeply repressed gay cowboys, only this one, while still a bit downbeat, is less tragic and more beautifully shot than Brokeback Mountain. Funny that that earlier film (from 2005) spawned years of joke references to its title, and The Powero the Dog managed the unlikely feat of inspiring a surprising number of "Bronco Henry" memes. Anyway, this is a quiet, incredibly slow yet immensely powerful story of an emotionally abusive cowboy (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) who won't stop talking about his late mentor, and eventually takes a shine to his brother's new wife's just-grown son in a way that may or may not be romantic. There's no sex, no violence, although often the threat of it—the film is brimming with a tension that is precisely what makes it great. It's also gorgeously shot, the landscape standing in for 1920s Montana actually being New Zealand notwithstanding. This is easily Jane Campion's best film in nearly thirty years. What I said then: The Power of the Dog is a bit of a narrative puzzle, and over the course of its second half they fall into place, linking inextricably into each other, with deep satisfaction. This is a superbly constructed film. 6. C'mon C'mon A   I finished watching C'mon C'mon and immediately wanted to tell all my friends who are parents to watch it. Writer-director Mike Mills (Beginners, 20th Century Women) has a knack for presenting a unique point of view that sucks you right in, by turns telling stories inspired by elements of his own life: the late coming out of an elderly father; the relationship with a carefree mother; and now with C'mon C'mon, the existential challenges of having parenthood thrust upon you. Joaquin Phoenix plays a single, childless man who suddenly looks after his ten-year-old nephew (Woody Norman, who is wonderful) when his sister (Gaby Hoffman) must tend to the mental health of her estranged, bipolar husband (Scoot McNairy). Thus this is about a middle-aged, deeply empathetic man getting a crash course in caring for a child. It sounds simple, but this film is anything but. I was deeply moved by it, to such an extent that I could barely fathom how much more I would have been affected if I actually had children of my own. What I said then: Ultimately, you night say, it’s about emotional vulnerability, within the context of the hopes and dreams we have for the very children that drive us crazy. This movie is very honest about parenting, and about what it’s like to deal with children, in a way that few movies really are. Jesse doesn’t exist to amuse, or be precocious, or serve as a plot catalyst in the way children typically are in film. He just is, and he exists as a wholly dimensional human being. 5. Collective A   The best documentary I saw all year, this film technically from 2020 is an astonishing look at the objective mess that was (and perhaps still is?) the health care system in Romania. One of the most shocking and dramatic documentaries I have ever seen, this makes a unique case for retaining the integrity of investigative journalism. This movie has to be seen to be believed, the kind of high-level government corruption usually reserved for fiction. Just when you think they couldn't possibly be any worse, over and over, they prove you wrong. What I said then: My jaw kept dropping as I watched this movie, over and over, lower than the last time. It’s not just the examples themselves but the sheer scale of the corruption and lethal negligence in Romanian hospitals. 4. Quo Vadis, Aida? A   Call this movie "homework" if you want. This tragic tale of a mother desperately trying to get her family out of Bosnia during the Srebrenica Genocide at the hands of Serbians should be required viewing. The Jewish holocaust was not the only genocide we should always be aware of, nor is it anywhere close to the most recent—this one occurred in 1995. I was 19 years old. This shit occurs all over the world at regular intervals, and they should not be ignored. There are Serbs to this day who refuse to call it a genocide, even though it's clearly what this was. Writer-director Jasmila Zbanic takes it down to a human level, narrowing the focus on one woman (Jasna Djuricic), a translator for increasingly ineffective Dutch army protectors, almost certainly spared early annihilation herself by virtue of her useful job. In the meantime, she takes increasingly desperate efforts to get her husband and two barely-grown sons out of the country to someplace safe, virtually the entire movie following along with these efforts. What sets Quo Vadis, Aida? ("Where are you going, Aida?") truly apart is Jasmila Zbanic's refusal to give this story a neatly tied up, comforting ending. This isn't the typical story of hope in the face of adversity that storytellers love to tell; it's a defiant reflection of the fate of the majority in scenarios like this. Rare is the film of such high integrity. What I said then: In other words, it’s not a good time. Instead, this is a film that serves as a challenge to remember, and to acknowledge the extent of conflict around the globe. I thought a lot about the 1993 Steven Spielberg film Schindler’s List while watching this—there are many similarities. A key difference is that Quo Vadis, Aida? does not in any way present itself as “art.” There is no black and white cinematography here, no symbolic child in a red coat. This is straightforward drama, and a gripping one at that. 3. Minari A   Trigger warning for the far rightwing dipshits: Minari is the lovely and simple tale of Korean immigrants in 1980s rural Arkansas, and it doesn't get more American than this. This is another technically 2020 film that I could not see until this year, garnering a much-deserved six Oscar nominations, including a win for Best Supporting Actress (Yuh-Jung Youn, playing the delightful grandmother). It's a refreshing departure from the countless films about people of color in America that tend to turn their focus to racism; this film doesn't pretend racism doesn't exist, but tells a story that turns out to have little to do with it. That's the trick of Minari, really, how it tells the story of an immigrant family, an experience universal to the ancestors of everyone in this country who is not Indigenous, and reminds us of both the value of our differences and the pertinent things we have in common. What I said then: Minari is a minor miracle of a movie, something unlike anything else you have ever watched, and yet no less an American story than any other American film. It’s a incredibly specific story that focuses on one family of Korean immigrants attempting to start a farm in Arkansas, and still a reflection of the very story of countless setters who were an integral part of what made this country what it is. It’s a story of struggle and rebirth, of hope borne of adversity, an example of the American dream that shows it’s not as simple as this country wants to tell itself. 2. Passing A   In sharp contrast to Minari, Passing is quite overtly, even provocatively, about race—so literal, in fact, that it is shot in black and white. Based on a 1929 novel by Nella Larsen, it takes a peculiar point of view on the idea of "passing," in this case a light skinned Black woman (Ruth Negga) successfully living as a white woman in New York City. Instead of telling the story from that woman's perspective, we see it unfold through the eyes of her childhood friend (Tessa Thompson), who becomes fixated on her friend and how she has managed to pull this off—going so far as to marry and have a child with an apparently imperceptive—and predictably racist—white man (Alexander Skarsgård). This movie forces us to confront largely unexamined questions about how we approach race, which is a concept that has no basis in actual biology or genetics, revealing the fallacy of the constructs we build around ourselves. This is a starkly shot film dense with meaning and built on measured, intentional performances, and will not be soon forgotten. What I said then: Irene is the protagonist, a woman who, in the subtly attention-grabbing opening scene, finds herself “passing” almost by accident while shopping in higher-end stores of New York, tilting her large hat to obscure her face just enough. From the start, the dialogue is highly stylized, meticulously crafted, exquisitely written. Combine that with incredible performances nearly across the board and stunning black and white cinematography by Eduard Grau (A Single Man), and Passing is practically impossible for any cinephile, anyone with an appreciation for film as art, to resist. 1. Spencer A   I doubt this movie will top anyone else's top ten movies of 2021, but to me that's perfectly fitting, given that it feels like Pablo Larraín simply made a movie tailor made for Matthew. This is the guy who directed the similarly excellent Jackie, which would have been my #1 movie of 2016, if not for the existence of surprise Best Picture winner Moonlight. Both Jackie and Spencer are about royals, of sorts: the former figurative, the closest thing the United States has ever had to it; the other much more literal, focusing on Princess Diana and her holiday visit with the royal in-laws. Although both characters are connected to historic assassinations, Spencer leaves Diana's ultimate fate to subtext, instead focusing on her inner torment in a loveless marriage. There has been some criticism of this film's somber tone, claims that Diana was far more amiable than depicted here, but I don't care. I can only say that the casting of Kristen Stewart as Diana turns out to be inspired, as her embodiment of Diana as a character is nothing short of astonishing. The rest of the cast is excellent too, but they all revolve around her, enduring a series of mystifying traditions that control her every move, right down to different outfits worn to every separate family meal (the costume design is superb). It's a strange thing to be both an anti-royalist and endlessly fascinated by members of the royal family rendered victims of their own strictures, but this is a movie that fits squarely, perfectly, into that space. What I said then: We can find ways to dismiss her struggles within the context of objectively insane amounts of privilege, but Spencer refuses to let us forget how any existence in that exclusive world can be a genuine prison all its own. Larraín is brilliantly capturing Diana’s desperate feelings of loneliness and emotional isolation. There is a sad poetry to the overall presentation in Spencer, which features such beauty, including on the part of Diana herself, her face, her exquisite outfits, every detail of that beauty just being another link in the fencing of her cage. Five Worst -- or the worst of those I saw 5. Dear Evan Hansen C+   If it weren't for how much I enjoyed the music, I would have truly hated this movie. As it is, the music is about its only redeeming quality, the premise being truly bonkers, as an insecure teenager goes along with the assumption that he had been secretly friends with a boy who committed suicie, even though he wasn't, and worms his way into the lives of the dead boy's family in the process. The widely mocked age of the actor (Ben Platt, 27) playing the title character is the least of this film's problems, which revolve around deeply unethical practices without ever truly addressing them as such. What I said then: Dear Evan Hansen is the perfect movie for people with no critical thinking skills. ... Watch this movie and then try imagining the exact same story as a non-musical stage play. You'd be ready to slit your own wrists by the end of it. 4. Reminiscence C+   This might be the most "blah" movie I saw all year. I found nothing inherently bad about it, except for its definitive mediocrity. The most memorable thing about it is seeing a near-future Miami skyline largely submerged in sea water. The fact that we never see any of the natural disasters that would contribute to such a mess is the least of its problems; there's also the setting of a famously multicultural city but a principal cast of mostly white people. Blech. Yawn. What the story is about frankly doesn't even matter because you'll be bored and distracted before it becomes relevant. It has some nice special effects, though, so its wild implausibility notwithstanding, it's often quite pretty to look at. What I said then: I basically wasted two hours watching Reminiscence in the movie theater. It’s also available streaming on HBO Max, and I wouldn’t even recommend you watch it there. You’ll still wish you could get those two hours back. Well, if you have any taste or sense of quality, anyway. 3. Titane C   This French "body horror" movie is weird as shit, and to no discernible purpose. The first half of it follows a woman with a titanium plate in her head who commits a series of gruesome murders, has sex with and gets impregnated by a car (yes, really), and then the second half details her somehow successfully convincing a grieving man that she is his missing son. Did I mention this movie is all over the place? I suppose there is some novelty in the idea of a woman fucking a car and then giving birth to a titanium-plated baby with motor oil as amniotic fluid, but . . . let's just say I wasn't feeling it. What I said then: All I really got out of Titane was an hour and forty-five minutes of thinking, What the fuck? We never see Alexia bleed, although we regularly see her leaking motor oil, out of tears in the skin of her belly revealing more shiny metal underneath, or even leaking out of her nipples. Her body goes through a lot of abuses, much of it self-inflicted in her attempt to make herself look like Vincent’s missing son. I had to turn away from the screen a lot. I was just relieved when I could turn away one last time and leave the building. 2. Malcom & Marie C   This movie is the epitome of self-serious pretension disguised as high art. I mean, it is beautifully shot in black and white, but those shots are framing only two insufferable L.A.-based actor characters spending the entire run time arguing about vapid Hollywood bullshit. This was writer-director Sam Levinson's answer to "lockdown movies," where cast and crew were minimal, but I guess he took "write what you know" pretty extremely to heart, reportedly inspired in part by his once forgetting to thank his girlfriend in an award acceptance speech. I mean. Who cares? What I said then: What I cannot figure out is who this movie is for. Fans of the actors? People merely interested in seeing how filmmaking can work (or can’t work) in the midst of pandemic-related restrictions? Maybe just rubber-neckers eager to witness a disaster? Why this had to go on for 106 minutes, I’ll never know. 1. New Order C   The most unpleasantly nihilistic movie I have seen in recent memory, maybe even in decades, New Order is a Mexican film with competent cinematography and acting, which come nowhere close to making up for its premise. A class warfare uprising quickly turns into a military coup. This starts off compelling and then swiftly devolves into utterly meaningless brutality. Of the few movies I genuinely lost my patience with in 2021, I lost my patience with this one the quickest. It's doubly frustrating to see clear talent went into the making of it, only to have all that talent completely squandered. Forced multiple viewings of this film could be used as an effective interrogation method. What I said then: The movie is both intentionally and effectively unsettling, until the events unfolding desensitize you into not caring about any of the people onscreen—just as the oppressive forces taking over Mexico City don’t care about anyone. I just . . . don’t get it.
Complete 2021 film review log: 1. 1/2 I'm Your Woman B+ *
2. 1/3 Soul A (2nd viewing) *
3. 1/6 The Dissident A- */**
4. 1/8 Pieces of a Woman B *
5. 1/13 Tenet B *
6. 1/14 Promising Young Woman B+ */**
7. 1/15 One Night in Miami A- *
8. 1/20 Ammonite B+ *
9. 1/23 Derek DelGaudio's In & of Itself A- *
10. 1/24 Syvlie's Love B *
11. 1/25 MLK/FBI B+ *
12. 1/28 The White Tiger B+ *
13. 1/29 The Little Things C+ *
14. 1/31 The Dig B *
15. 2/5 Malcolm & Marie C *
16. 2/6 The Trip to Greece B *
17. 2/8 Little Fish B+ *
18. 2/10 Greenland B *
19. 2/15 Judas and the Black Messiah A *
20. 2/17 The Kid Detective B+ *
21. 2/19 Nomadland A- *
22. 2/20 I Care a Lot B *
23. 2/21 Supernova B+ *
24. 2/22 Freaky B *
25. 2/24 The Mauritanian B- */**
26. 2/27 The United States vs. Billie Holiday B- *
27. 2/28 Another Round B+ *
28. 3/1 Minari A *
29. 3/3 The Wolf of Snow Hollow B *
30. 3/4 Land B+ */**
31. 3/5 News of the World B */***
32. 3/6 The Father B+ */***
33. 3/10 Coming 2 America B *
34. 3/13 Stray B- *
35. 3/17 Body Brokers B- *
36. 3/19 Night of the Kings B+ *
37. 3/20 Notturno B *
38. 3/21 Two of Us B+ *
39. 3/26 Quo Vadis, Aida? A *
40. 3/27 Acasă, My Home A- *
41. 3/28 Tina A- *
42. 3/31 Godzilla vs. Kong C+ *
43. 4/6 Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar B *
44. 4/7 A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon B+ *
45. 4/9 Summertime B */****
46. 4/10 Potato Dreams of America B- */****
47. 4/11 Valentina B */****
48. 4/13 In the Same Breath B+ */****
49. 4/14 Collective A *
50. 4/15 Sumer of 85 C+ */****
51. 4/17 My Octopus Teacher B *
52. 4/18 Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street B+ */****
53. 4/20 The Man Who Sold His Skin B *
54. 4/21 Better Days B- *
55. 4/22 The Mole Agent B *
56. 5/5 Nobody B+
57. 5/7 The Mitchells vs the Machines B *
58. 5/9 The Disciple B *
59. 5/11 Shadow in the Clouds C+ *
60. 5/12 Finding You C+ */**
61. 5/15 Those Who Wish Me Dead B *
62. 5/16 Dance of the 41 A- *
63. 5/19 Shiva Baby B+ *
64. 5/22 Saint Maud B *
65. 5/23 Georgetown B- *
66. 5/24 The Dry B *
67. 5/26 New Order C
68. 5/30 Cruella B
69. 5/31 Plan B B+ *
70. 6/2 Hating Peter Tachell B+ *
71. 6/4 Raya and the Last Dragon B *
72. 6/6 Changing the Game B+ *
73. 6/8 Riders of Justice A- *
74. 6/11 In the Heights B+
75. 6/16 Holler B *
76. 6/17 The Sparks Brothers B+ */**
77. 6/23 Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It B+
78. 6/24 Luca B *
79. 6/30 Zola C+
80. 7/4 No Sudden Move B+ *
81. 7/5 The Tomorrow War B- *
82. 7/6 Wolfgang B+ *
83. 7/11 Black Widow B+
84. 7/17 Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain C+
85. 7/20 Pig B+
86. 7/22 Stillwater B
87. 7/27 Sublet B+ *
88. 7/31 The Green Knight B
89. 8/5 The Suicide Squad B+
90. 8/10 Nine Days B
91. 8/12 French Exit B+ *
92. 8/14 Free Guy B
93. 8/19 The Protégé B+
94. 8/21 Respect B
95. 8/24 Reminiscence C
96. 8/26 Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed B- *
97. 9/1 Together B+
98. 9/2 Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings B+
99. 9/7 Worth B+ *
100. 9/8 The Lost Leonardo B
101. 9/12 The Card Counter B
102. 9/18 Language Lessons B-
103. 9/21 Copshop B
104. 9/24 Dear Evan Hansen C+
105. 9/26 The Eyes of Tammy Faye B-
106. 10/4 Titane C
107. 10/7 No Time to Die B
108. 10/9 Lamb B-
109. 10/16 The Last Duel B+
110. 10/19 The Rescue B+
111. 10/21 Dune B+
112. 10/24 The French Dispatch B
113. 10/26 Mass A-
114. 11/4 Spencer A
115. 11/6 Eternals B
116. 11/9 Last Night in Soho B
117. 11/10 Passing A *
118. 11/11 The Hand of God B
119. 11/16 Belfast B+
120. 11/18 East of the Mountains B+
121. 11/20 King Richard B+
122. 11/29 House of Gucci B-
122. 12/2 The Power of the Dog A *
123. 12/3 C'mon C'mon A
124. 12/4 tick, tick... BOOM! B+ *
125. 12/5 Julia B
126. 12/7 Encanto B-
127. 12/12 Being the Ricardos B+
128. 12/13 West Side Story A-
129. 12/16 Spider-Man: No Way Home B+
130. 12/17 Drive My Car B             
131. 12/19 Nightmare Alley B+
132. 12/21 The Matrix Resurrections C+
133. 12/26 Licorice Pizza B+
134. 12/27 The Tradedy of Macbeth B+
135. 12/31 Don't Look Up C+ * * Viewed streaming at home during COVID-19
** Advanced screening
*** SAG screener
**** SIFF screener [posted 7:44 a.m.]

Cinema 2020: Best of the Year

Below are the ten most satisfying and memorable films I saw in 2020:

10. Portrait of a Lady on Fire A-  

This one is technically a 2019 film, having had a limited, Oscar-qualifying release in L.A. and New York last December, but who cares! 2020 has been all about throwing certain rules and norms of yesteryear out the window, right? Well, except that it still only got local release here in Seattle (and most of the rest of the country, in fact) in February, which means I likely would have included it in my 2020 top ten movies regardless. And why? Because it's such a uniquely beautiful and memorable, achingly romantic love story, it easily transcends the fact that it happens to be between two women, a portraitist and the young woman she's hired to paint. This is the kind of movie that seeps into you slowly, so it can take a while before you quite realize its true greatness, but this period piece from 18th-century France will stay with you for ages afterward. What I said then: In the midst of watching this film, I occasionally wondered what all the critical fuss has been about. Now that some time has allowed it to sink in, I find myself wondering if maybe it’s a masterpiece. 9. Small Axe: Mangrove A-   The first of three films in this "series of five films" by Steve McQueen that were actually released like a television series on Prime Video, but which McQueen regards as films and therefore so do I, even though most of them are not even standard feature length—escept for Mangrove, the first of them, which has a run time of 2 hours and 7 minutes. The entire presentation here blurs the line between "film" and "television," but the series in the aggregate makes for one of the most memorably great visual storytelling of the year, and three of them are great enough on their own merits to qualify for inclusion in my top ten movies of the year. The one thing all five of them have in common is that they examine the Black experience in Britain through modern history, focusing on West Indian or Caribbean immigrants and their descendants. Most, including Mangrove, are based on historical events, this one focusing on the trial of the "Mangrove Nine," the first court case to acknowledge anti-Black bias among British police forces. Mangrove is essentially split onto two parts, the first half focusing on the many unprovoked raids by police on the West Indian-run Mangrove restaurant and the resulting protests and riots, and the second half on the trial after nine key protesters were charged with inciting a riot. This is the movie Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago Seven wished it could be, a gritty look at seldom-examined history but without the self-consciously snappy dialogue. What I said then: This is the kind of movie that illustrates what a long road it’s been and how far we still have to go, and as such commands attention. 8. David Byrne's American Utopia A-   For me, this was one of the biggest surprises, and delights, of the year: a planned theatrical release pivoted to HBO Max, Spike Lee directed this live performance of David Byrne's celebrated show on Broadway that began its limited run just last year. The set list is mostly Talking Heads songs, and I never owned any Talking Heads music, thus recognizing only one or two of the famous singles. And still, I was completely enraptured by this film, a true feast for the senses, an unforgettable treat for anyone who loves musical performance. Byrne is 67 years old in this performance, and his talent and showmanship are incredible. The show features just two professional dancers, also amazing, and a stunning band backing him up, all of them coalescing into a show unlike any other you've ever seen. What I said then: This show is a pure delight, from beginning to end—and I say that as someone who never much paid attention to The Talking Heads or David Byrne’s music. I can only imagine how delighted true, longtime fans would be, because this presentation is nearly flawless. 7. Small Axe: Education A-   Education is one of the three Small Axe "films" that clock in at only about an hour, but the most impressive thing about it is how concise Steve McQueen's filmmaking is: it ends, and you don't think too much about what might have been missing from the story. And this is a doozy of a story, with a young Black student in the London school system being among those targeted for being placed into an alternative, so-called "special" school for kids reported to be of low IQ, even though there is no real evidence of any lack of intelligence. It doesn't feel like an episode of television, and even at its short run time, it still feels like a film, in both content and presentation. McQueen is practically working miracles here, saying as much as any other skilled director could but in half the time. This is a story that will haunt you, considering the lost opportunities of so many kids like young Kingsley—but in Kingsley's case, at least, McQueen ends the story (and the entire Small Axe series, as this is the last of the five) with a real sense of hope, What I said then: Thankfully, McQueen (who co-wrote the script) doesn’t take the story in the expected direction, and things begin to turn around. It’s how that is done that makes this story compelling. Making maxium use of unusually little time, McQueen packs in a lot of information, especially about the racial biases of the British, who make wild assumptions about Black people’s, and especially West Indian people’s, intelligence. 6. Kajillionaire A-   Miranda July is a director who is not for everyone, the kind of filmmaker with a history of films written self-consciously with "quirky" characters. Her earlier films are memorable in their own way, but Kajilliomaire is both a departure and in a class of its own. The characters, a family of con artists consisting of Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger, and Evan Rachel Wood playing their young adult daughter (all of them excellent), are still odd—but they are also fully realized, multidimensional personalities. With a neatly constructed script, Kajillionaire offers both hilarity and moving sentiment, none of it contrived or corny. This is a film that is somehow both on its own plane of existence, and easily accessible. It did not get nearly the amount of attention it deserved. What I said then: Perhaps what I love most about Kajillionaire is how everything circles around and reveals itself to have a purpose, even the seemingly quirky stuff at the start. This movie starts off by fooling you into thinking it’s just like all the other self-consciously odd indie movies, and then stealthily reveals itself to be something with so much heart, it almost blindsides you with how moving it is. 5. Small Axe: Red, White and Blue A   Most critics seemed to feel Mangrove, the first of the Small Axe series, was the best of them. I don't deny it was excellent, but my personal favorite is Red, White and Blue—which runs about 80 minutes in length—Steve McQueen's telling of the story of Leroy Logan (John Boyega), the Black man who joined the London police force in an attempt to change its racist practices from the inside. This one features excellent performances and memorable cinematography, as Logan endures nonstop attempts by white cops to sabotage his efforts. Mangrove is the third in the five of these movies, all of which are good, but thematically, I felt this one did the best job of anchoring the entire series as a cohesive whole, even though they are still five distinctly different stories. What I said then: Leroy clearly doesn’t think of himself as a trailblazer per se, nor does this film call attention to that, but it’s what he is. He makes little headway in making the changes he set out to do in London policing, but his very existence makes it easier for another to come along after him and push things a little further along. This context is not discussed or presented at all in the film, in fact, but I sure thought about it. We watch his spirit getting slowly broken, but it’s on his shoulders on which those who follow him will be standing. Or did stand: this is based on a true story, after all. 4. Soul A   If you're looking for some spectacular escapist entertainment—but also with brains, though it never challenges—then this right here is the cream of the crop. Any film from 2020 that I rank higher than this, has some heavy shit in it—the kind of heavy shit people looking for a movie to watch often actively avoid. And even keeping in mind that Soul deals, at least in part, with death, this is still the movie for those people. It is Pixar at its finest—not to mention its most diverse—with the top-level writing, animation, humor and storytelling you come to expect from the studio. They've been around long enough now (25 years) to have a few offerings of comparative mediocrity, but this film is offering the best from everyone involved. What I said then: I have no critical notes on Soul. Only praise: this is among the most inventive, imaginative, clever works in the entire Pixar Animation canon, one of the best movies of the year, a crowd-pleaser if there ever was one but with so much depth and layered intention of meaning that it will almost certainly reap new rewards upon rewatching. I can’t wait to watch it again. 3. Sound of Metal A   Another one that deserves far more attention than it seems to have gotten, Sound of Metal impresses as much on a technical level as it does on a narrative level, the two meeting together in a way films rarely manage. When punk-metal band drummer Ruben (Riz Ahmed) suddenly loses his hearing, the sound editing instantly immerses us into his experience, offering a sound experience surprisingly similar to much of the action in the 2013 film Gravity—which is to say, where there is literally no sound (in this case, inside Ruben's head), there is also no sound on the film, just silence. Also confusion and obstinance, with Ruben moving first to a group home for deaf addicts—a particularly compelling bit of intersectionality examined by the movie—to his obsession with getting a "corrective" surgery he doesn't quite realize won't be the magic fix he's imagining. Packed with supporting actors who are actually deaf, Sound of Metal proves that inclusive casting is truly an asset to making a film great. What I said then: Films usually use music to tell their stories, often in manipulative ways. By contrast, in this movie, you hear a score, and a subtle one at that, maybe three percent of the time. What Marder does is use sound to tell his story, and if this film does not get an Oscar nomination for Sound Editing it will be a travesty. 2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always A   Okay, so some might feel a movie about a terrified teenager having to travel in secret across state lines in order to get an abortion is a bit of a downer. especially in the middle of a year as big of a downer as 2020. I wish it were easier to convince people to watch this movie, as it is so worth the time. This is probably the "smallest" movie on my list this year, written and directed with sensitivity and precision by Eliza Hittman, it's also quite justifiably one of the year's most critically acclaimed. This is a film that takes a politically polarizing topic and tells the story of someone directly affected by it, imbuing it with so much humanity and empathy, you might just think about it in a new way. What I said then: It’s strictly matter-of-fact from start to finish, which is the source of its greatness: this is the way of the world for many young girls with an unwanted pregnancy, and this is just one story of how that world must be navigated. A lot of it is very uncomfortable for the viewer, sometimes heartbreaking (particularly the scene to which the tile refers). 1. Time A+   This is the second year in a row I've topped my list with a documentary, and indeed, as much as I truly, dearly love all the other titles in my top ten list, if you could choose just one of the year's films that I would recommend, I beg of you, choose Time. This film is similar to Never Rarely Sometimes Always in one key way, which is its very human look at a polarizing issue—in this case, mass incarceration, and the disproportionate incarceration of Black people. But this is a story about tenacity, with Fox Rich, having been convicted of the same crime as her husband, is let out of prison far earlier, and she spends the next decade working on his release from a preposterous sixty-year sentence for bank robbery. Fox has many years' worth of home video footage of herself and her children as they are growing up without their father, which director Garrett Bradley seamlessly edits into the narrative, giving the film a visual consistency with black and white cinematography. Time is a truly rare documentary film that doubles as timeless art, making it one of the best films I have ever seen. What I said then: And yet, for a movie that could be truly, deeply depressing, the overall tone of Time is one of great uplift. It’s a work of art, and it ends in triumph. Its entire construction is a triumph.
. . . This is normally the place where I list the five worst films I saw this year, but having reviewed only half the usual number of movies I go to see in a typical year, I just didn't see movies that were all that bad. The worst grade I gave any movies—seven of them, in fact—was a C+ this year, and there just doesn't seem much point in highlighting those as part of a "worst-of" list, so I'm just going to skip that part this year.
Complete 2020 film review log: 1. 1/1 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker B (2nd viewing)
2. 1/7 Knives Out B+ (2nd viewing)
3. 1/9 1917 A-
4. 1/12 Varda by Agnès B-
5. 1/17 Just Mercy B
6. 1/18 Les Misérables B+
7. 1/20 Bad Boys for Life C+
8. 1/26 Little Joe C+
9. 1/31 2020 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Animation B
10. 2/1 2020 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Live Action B+
11. 2/2 2020 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary B+
12. 2/8 Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn C+
13. 2/13 Gretel & Hansel B
14. 2/16 Downhill B+
15. 2/21 Portrait of a Lady on Fire A-
16. 2/22 The Assistant B+
17. 2/23 The Photograph B+
18. 4/11 Onward B *
19. 9/5 I'm Thinking of Ending Things B *
20. 9/6 First Cow B+ *
21. 9/12 Never Rarely Sometimes Always A *
22. 9/17 The Way I See It B */**
23. 9/19 Devil All the Time B-
24. 9/25 Kajillionaire A- */**
25. 10/3 Dick Johnson Is Dead B+ *
26. 10/16 The Trial of the Chicago 7 B+ *
27. 10/17 Totally Under Control B+ *
28. 10/18 David Byrne's American Utopia A- *
29. 10/19 Time A+ *
30. 10/21 Rebecca C+ *
31. 10/22 The Witches B- *
32. 10/25 On the Rocks B *
33. 10/29 Greyhound B *
34. 11/5 Let Him Go B+ */**
35. 11/9 Come Away B- */**
36. 11/19 Uncle Frank B- */**
37. 11/20 Mangrove A- *
38. 11/21 The Personal History of David Copperfield B- *
39. 11/22 Run B+ *
40. 11/25 Happiest Season B+ *
41. 11/27 Lovers Rock B *
42. 11/29 The Nest B *
43. 12/2 Half Brothers C+ *
44. 12/3 Sound of Metal A *
45. 12/4 Red, White and Blue A *
46. 12/6 Mank A- *
47. 12/9 Bacurau B- *
48. 12/12 Alex Wheatle B *
49. 12/13 The Prom C+ *
50. 12/14 Let Them All Talk B+ *
51. 12/16 The Last Blockbuster B+ *
52. 12/18 Education A- *
53. 12/20 Ma Rainey's Black Bottom B+ *
54. 12/23 The Midnight Sky C+ *
55. 12/25 Wonder Woman 1984 B *
56. 12/26 Soul A * * Viewed streaming at home during COVID-19 lockdown
** Advanced screening

Cinema 2019: Best & Worst

Below are the ten most satisfying and memorable films I saw in 2019: 10. Little Women A-

As literary adaptations go, this one is about as close to perfect as you can hope for. Many such adaptations work far better as TV series, giving the much more expansive stories the space to breathe, and Little Women, in the right hands, would likely have been no excepton. If it must be a feature film, however, you really can't do any better than putting it in Greta Gerwig's assured hands, with which she seamlessly integrates author Louisa May Alcott's own life, and known wishes for her own book. Given how autobiographical the book was, this is perfectly appropriate, and makes for sly storytelling with unique finesse, offering a picture of not just life for women in the midnineteenth century, but of both how far they have come and how little things have changed. It doesn't hurt that the perfectly cast performances are all delightful.

What I said then: Greta Gerwig’s Little Women is a rich text unto itself, a delightful time capsule of 2019 and how we regard ourselves in the context of looking back at 1869. It has layers that are all its own, ripe for discovery. 9. Giant Little Ones A-

A film of subtle and deceptive simplicity which gradually reveals itself to have great impact. Giant Little Ones is that rare "queer film" that never bothers to define its queerness: it's just about the ramifications of a minor sex act between two teenage boys who have been best friends since they were little, how it gets turned into rumor among their peers, and what that means for them, and for us as viewers. Who initiated things becomes a key plot point tied inextricably with true friendship in the fact of blame and misinformation, rendering this that rare film that depicts teenagers with an innate understanding of integrity.

What I said then: The greatness of Giant Little Ones is in its concurrent uniqueness and absolute relatability to contemporary audiences. This movie contains no cliché moments, no emotional “coming out” scenes; in fact, it’s relatively pointed in its refusal to define any character’s sexuality. Within the dialogue comes this great pearl of wisdom: “It sounds like you had a sexual experience with someone you really loved. It may be as simple as that.”
8. Ford v Ferrari A-

Trust me, I can relate to the many of you when you look at this and think, A movie about race car driving? Really? Yes, really! I was skeptical at first as well, and was convinced to give it a try after its shockingly high critical praise, and still this movie exceeded my expectations. It's about more than just racing, but it must be said that the racing sequences are still a big reason to see it: expertly shot and edited, always thrilling to watch. Even at 152 minutes in length, this thoroughly entertaining movie just flies by, thanks inlarge part to electric performances by both Matt Damon and Christian Bale. It should also be noted that, witout exception, everyone who saw this movie after I told them they should has told me I was right. Ford v Ferrari has done all right at the box office but should have been a smash: it's the truly rare movie that I can happily recommend to absolutely anyone who asks what good movies I have seen lately, regardless of sociopolitical background. This is old-school storytelling with a modern lens (literally: it's so well shot!), this year's one movie that really is for everyone.

What I said then: The extraordinary thing about Ford v Ferrari is that I really have nothing to criticize it for. It may not quite be a masterpiece of cinema, but it sure does hold up as near-perfect movie entertainment. 7. Wild Rose A-

This might be the most underrated, criminally ignored movie of the year. What's wrong with you people, get your shit together! If you like movies about singers, you need to drop everything and watch this one. Even if, like me, you're not super into country music. This unparalleled story of a woman who travels from her native Glasgow to pursue her dream of being a country singer in Nashville will lift your spirits, with its music as well as its performances, like you would never expect.

What I said then: This movie is better than Rocketman, certainly better than Bohemian Rhapsody, arguably even better than A Star Is Born. The travesty is that Wild Rose flies under the radar compared to those films — so far under the radar, in fact, in effect there is no radar at all. And this one is better executed, more deeply emotionally affecting, than all three of those others put together. 6. Luce A-

A counterpoint to Ford v Ferrari, I suppose: Luce is dense, complicated, and difficult, posing questions with no easy answers. If you're looking for a challenge as someone with intellectual curiosity, look no further than this film, about an Eritrean-born high school student (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) adopted by a white couple (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) who may or may not be making veiled threats against his history teach (Octavia Spencer). It plays largely like a mystery, and one that will creep under your skin, keeping you thinking for some time,    

What I said then: It’s a provocative exploration of the ways life is unavoidably complicated, often unfair in surprising ways, and even the smartest people can be tragic victims of circumstance. And, sometimes, who the victims even are, exactly, is open for debate. 5. The Reports on Sarah and Saleem A-

Films that tap into the prejudices across the divide between Israel and Palestine are nothing new, but this movie is still something different. The man and woman of the title are of each natuonality, both married but having a secret affair with each other, and it snowballs thanks to a lie on a government report—hence the title—that has nothing to do with their affair, but which the suspicious Israelis interpret to be a threat. Yhe Reports on Sarah and Saleem is thus a masterfully constructed story, with all of its many pieces clicking into place with icreasingly satisfying precision.

What I said then: I would argue The Reports on Sarah and Saleem has a far more feminist bent to it than you’re ever likely to find in any other story like this. The two women here are the strongest characters, with the most dimension. Best of all, [director] Muayad Alayan does not pass judgment on any of these characters, the women or the men — one of each potentially seen, depending on the point of view of the observer, as a victim and as a criminal. 4. Apollo 11 A

2019 has turned out to be a banner year for phenomenal documentary films—the genera accounts for three of the top four movies I saw this year. Apollo 11 was the first of them that I saw, and it is astonishing on ever level: the kind of archival foodtage found that had never been seen before, and the achievement itself, having been in a pre-digital, analog world. Fifty years on, it's easy to take all this for granted, but Apollo 11 illustrates how the event impacted and changed the world in a way unlike anything else I had ever seen. Just imagine any time you felt like your mind was being blown, and then put yourself in the shoes of anyone alive on the planet on July 20, 1969. This film comes the closest to doing that for you, and even if you were already in awe of the very idea of what they did, it will still change your perspective.

What I said then: Todd Douglas Miller, who also did the editing, lets all the footage simply speak for itself. It’s a document of a particular moment in time, with unparalleled historic import, condensed down to 93 minutes. There is not a single moment wasted, not a lull to be found. This jaw-dropping feat of humanity is enough on its own to be mesmerizing from beginning to end — with particularly thrilling moments, of course: the successful rocket launch; the literal landing on the moon; the safe return to Earth eight days later. 3. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am A

It may be cliché to call any person a legend, but Tori Morrison earns the title—and what tragic irony that I thought of her as a living legend when I watched this film in July, and then she passed away three weeks later. Thankully, Morrison lives on in her immportal works of vial American literature. But also, she lives on in this truly awe-inspiring, revelatory documentary about her and her life, told largely in her own words, both in recent interviews for this film and in archival interviews spanning decades. This film will make you wish you could have known her, and what greater accomplishment is there than that?

What I said then: Morrison, having sat down for multiple long interviews for this film, proves to be a dynamic screen presence. She only has to sit and speak, and she commands attention, all confidence, sincerity and warmth in equal measure, someone quick to express joy while at the same time capable of tapping into deep wells of pain. This is a woman who lacks humility only because she doesn’t need it. There is no particular arrogance in her demeanor; she simply sits comfortably in the knowledge of her skill and talent. 2. The Third Wife A

The one and only narrative feature film I saw this year that, onscreen at least, I would call flawless: the writing, the acting, the editing, the cinematography, the direction: not one false move among them. You may have noticed I tend to be most impressed by well-ecuted stories with a feminist bent, and The Third Wife is no exception, about a 14-year-old married off to a wealthy landowner in 19th century rural Vietnam. It is very specific to a time and place, one I had never seen represented onscreen before, and yet, it still shows that when it comes to patriarchy, it's been the same shit the world over throughout history. The casting of a 13-year-old actor who French kisses one of the other two wives is problematic at best, and I do feel I would be remiss in not mentioning it. That said, when judging all that ended up within every frame of this film, no other narrative feature film in 2019 matches it in its quiet, provocative quality.

What I said then: I have no idea how much leeway to give cultural differences here. If nothing else, there is some comfort in the director having been a woman, with a clear vision of the story she was telling and an intricate understanding of the sexual politics involved. How appropriate was Nguyen Phuong Tra My for this part, then? That’s hard to say. I’m choosing to separate that knowledge from the final product onscreen, which is sublime in its presentation. 1. Honeyland A

This movie is so amazing, and uniquely so, it holds the distinction of being the first year's best movie I have ever chosen that was a documentary. It's so amazing, in fact, such an impressive feat of technical cinematic achievement, I could tell you it was actually a narrative feature film and you would be none the wiser. The story is simple: a lone woman beekeeper in rural Macedonia, outside its capitol city of Skopje, has her livelihood threatened by a family who sets up nearby with their own beekeeping operation. Hatidze is so generous and pure of heart, she keeps offering advice on keeping their business sustainable, which they consistently ignore, long after she should have stopped. One of the many impressive things about this is how it's edited down to the perfect length of 90 minutes, from three years' worth of time spent on principal photography. The fimmakers were simply observers, recording a life, and a way of life, without conducting actual interviews. This is why it feels so much more like a narrative film than your typical documentay—because they had enough footage from which to fashion such a narrative. The georgeous cinematography and stunning scenery are added bonuses, making an indeiible story even better with its visual impact. It's movies like this that make me grateful cinema exists at all.

What I said then: Honeyland is a triumph of editing, of cinematography, of will, of perseverance, of humanity. Five Worst -- or the worst of those I saw 5. Captive State C

A grand "fake-out" sci-fi movie with so many plot holes they form a giant, gapig pit of tediousness. I'd try to explain both the premise and the plot, except that neiher makes sense. There are aliens. They've taken over all the major cities. This story is set in "occupied" Chicago. Everything else you learn about this incomprehensible movie brings more questions than answers, but you're so bored by the time the movie is over, you don't care what the answers are annyway.

What I said then: Is it possible half the people who saw this movie liked it on some level just because they have no taste? Or brains? 4. Little C

You can imagine the pitch meeting on this one: "An inverted 'black Big,' except now the protagonist is a girl!" Not even the reliably genial Issa Rae can save this total mess of a movie, which has no real understanding of what it's like to be a child. Or how to write a script that makes any sense. The strangest thing about this movie is that it's packed with great actors, who have no hope of saving this sinking ship of a movie. Inept at every turn, this is a movie that could have been clever and fun but just lands on dumb.

What I said then: Nothing in Little makes any sense. It has occasionally enjoyable moments, and surely plenty of people will enjoy it far more than I did. That doesn’t change how fundamentally dumb it is. 3. The Wandering Earth C-

The next time you think you might see a foreign film that also happens to be a disaster movie, don't do it! Okay, I suppose that's unfair; the 2015 Norwegian film The Wave was actually pretty good. The Wandering Earth, on the other hand, is basically China's answer to The Core crossed with Geostorm. Which is to say, this movie about moving the Earth to a new star system thanks to our sun dying out is a steaming pile of garbage.

What I said then: This movie ... has the distinction of being easily the stupidest thing I have watched in at least two years. 2. Godzilla: King of the Monsters C-

But then, Godzilla: King of the Monsters saw how terrible The Wandering Earth was and said, "Hold my beer." This one is a special effects extravaganza with such bad lighting, you can't decipher the incomprehensible chaos even on a visual level. This movie is so idiotic, it gives big, dumb blockbusters a bad name. I even knew this one would be shit before I even went to see it, so I suppose I have only myself to blame.

What I said then: This movie has not one redeeming quality. The closest it gets is that some parts of it are merely average — the acting, for instance — rather than terrible. 1. Cats C-

I gave three movies in 2019 a C-minus, those three being the worst movies I saw all year. What barely edges Cats out as the worst of them all is how many times I looked at the screen in utter bafflement and thought to myself, What the fuck? Strangely, that is the only emotion Cats managed to elicit out of me, which is honestly its greatest sin: it may have neen resentment and anger, but at least The Wandering Earth and Godzilla: King of the Monsters actually made me feel something. Cats is so much more dull and boring than anything this nightmarish in appearance should even be capable of being. The bizarre visuals of Ken-Doll-crotch humanoid cats with CGI fur is the only thing that will keep you awake.

What I said then: This is ... the stuff of nightmares, the stuff that makes you imagine a bad trip after taking acid. Is that what the effects team did before they set about their work?
Complete 2019 film log: 1. 1/4 Shoplifters B
2. 1/5 Mary Poppins Returns B (2nd viewing)
3. 1/6 Mary, Queen of Scots B
4. 1/8 Ben Is Back B
5. 1/14 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse A- (2nd viewing)
6. 1/19 Destroyer B
7. 1/21 Cold War B+
8. 1/26 Stan & Ollie B
9. 2/1 They Shall Not Grow Old B+
10. 2/7 What Men Want B-
11. 2/9 The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part B
12. 2/12 Capernaum B+
13. 2/14 Isn't It Romantic B
14. 2/15 2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Animation B
15. 2/17 2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Live Action B
16. 2/19 2019 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary B+
17. 2/25 Arctic B+
18. 2/27 Fighting with My Family B+
19. 3/3 The Wandering Earth C-
20. 3/5 Sharkwater Extinction B
21. 3/12 Captain Marvel B
22. 3/13 Apollo 11 A
23. 3/16 Captain Marvel B (2nd viewing)
24. 3/18 Giant Little Ones A-
25. 3/20 Captive State C
26. 3/22 Us B+
27. 3/24 Gloria Bell B+
28. 3/31 Dumbo B-
29. 4/2 Hotel Mumbai B+
30. 4/6 Shazam! B
31. 4/15 Amazing Grace B+
32. 4/17 Little C
33. 4/18 Penguins B+
34. 4/23 High Life C+
35. 4/25 Hail Satan? B
36. 5/4 Long Shot B
37. 5/6 Her Smell B
38. 5/8 Avengers: Endgame C+
39. 5/17 Good Kisser B+ *
40. 5/17 Pokémon Detective Pikachu B
41. 5/19 Pachamama B+ *
42. 5/21 John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum B
43. 5/23 Banana Split B+ *
44. 5/24 Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts B+ *
45. 5/25 Enormous: The Gorge Story B *
46. 5/27 Booksmart B+
47. 6/4 Troop Zero B *
48. 6/5 The Long Haul: The Story of the Buckaroos B+ *
49. 6/8 Rocketman B+
50. 6/11 Godzilla: King of the Monsters C-
51. 6/13 Late Night B+
52. 6/20 Toy Story 4 B+
53. 6/23 The Last Black Man in San Francisco A-
54. 7/6 Midsommar B+
55. 7/10 Yesterday B-
56. 7/13 Wild Rose A-
57. 7/14 Halston B-
58. 7/15 Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am A
59. 7/19 The Farewell B+
60. 7/21 Diamantino C+
61. 7/23 The Lion King A-
62. 7/25 Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood B
63. 7/27 The Third Wife A
64. 7/28 Sword of Trust B+
65. 7/31 Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a Story B-
66. 8/6 Crawl B+
67. 8/10 The Kitchen B-
68. 8/14 The Reports on Sarah and Saleem A-
69. 8/17 Where'd You Go, Burnadette B-
70. 8/20 Ready or Not B+
71. 8/21 Honeyland A
72. 8/28 Luce A-
73. 8/29 Mike Wallace Is Here B
74. 9/1 The Nightingale B+
75. 9/2 One Child Nation B
76. 9/5 Blinded by the Light B+
77. 9/9 Brittany Runs a Marathon A-
78. 9/11 Tigers Are Not Afraid B+
79. 9/15 Hustlers B+
80. 9/17 Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice B+
81. 9/18 Downton Abbey B **
82. 9/19 Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins B+
83. 9/22 Ad Astra B
84. 9/25 Official Secrets B+
85. 9/27 Judy B+
86. 9/28 Monos B
87. 10/4 Joker C+
88. 10/5 Chained for Life B-
89. 10/9 Ms. Purple B-
90. 10/11 Lucy in the Sky B-
91. 10/16 The Addams Family C+
92. 10/17 Where's My Roy Cohn? B+
93. 10/19 Dolemite Is My Name B
94. 10/24 Zombieland: Double Tap B-
95. 10/25 Parasite B+
96. 10/29 The Lighthouse B+
97. 11/3 Terminator: Dark Fate B
98. 11/5 Jojo Rabbit B
99. 11/7 Harriet B
100. 11/9 Pain and Glory B+
101. 11/11 Last Christmas B-
102. 11/15 The Irishman B
103. 11/16 Ford v Ferrari A-
104. 11/17 The Woman Who Loves Giraffes B
105. 11/18 The Good Liar B
106. 11/24 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood A-
107. 11/27 Knives Out B+
108. 11/28 Waves B+
109. 11/30 Honey Boy B+
110. 12/1 Frozen II B+
111. 12/2 Queen & Slim B
112. 12/11 Marriage Story A-
113. 12/12 Dark Waters B
114. 12/19 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker B
115. 12/20 Cats C-
116. 12/21 Bombshell B+
117. 12/26 Little Women A-
118. 12/28 A Hidden Life B
119. 12/29 Uncut Gems B+ * SIFF festival screening
** Advanced screening

Cinema 2018: Best & Worst

Below are the ten most satisfying and memorable films I saw in 2018: 11. Phantom Thread A- Okay, okay, this year I'm doing something new and actually listing the eleven most satisfying and memorable films I saw in 2018. I include Phantom Thread here because it should have been included in my 2017 top 10 but, frustratingly, was not released until January. So, to compromise when it comes to listing strictly 2018 movies, I sort of include this one as "honorable mention." Because this treatise on the relationship between a devoted young woman (Vicky Krieps), her self-absorbed fashion designer lover (Daniel Day-Lewis), and his longtime business partner/sister (Lesley Manville) was so esquisite, I went to see it twice. What I said then: This movie takes its time at it, but it goes in unexpected directions that are subtly disturbing. And if a movie must be disturbing, subtle is perhaps the best way to go. It makes a movie richer with repeat viewings, and I will certainly be watching this one again. 10. We the Animals A- Presented with the dreamlike haze and fractured structure of memory, We the Animals is a portrait of three young brothers with parents more concerned about their own problems than the welfare of their children -- and it builds up to a rather unexpected reveal regrding one of the boys. It's that turn that elevats this film to greatness, but every shot has a succinct contribution to the whole, the story arc finely threaded with what only seemed to be unrelated vingettes. It's difficult to describe a unique theatrical experience when it is truly unlike any other, but suffice it to say that anyone with a sensitivity to the awakenings of puberty is likely to be moved. What I said then: This is fiction -- and increasingly stylized as the story unfolds. This is not a straightforward depiction of reality. This is art. And it is by turns charming, sad, and beautiful. Sometimes shocking. I 9. A Star Is Born A- It's not often that a movie comes along that exceeds expectations at every level: Bradley Cooper's achievement as a director; his revelatory performance as an alcholic fading rock star; his ability as a singer; Lady Gaga's ability as a serious actor; even this movie's knowing acknowledgment of its previous iterations' legacy as vehicles for gay icons. A Star Is Born is a story now decades old, nearly a century in fact, and still this version of it updated its sensibilities so effectively that, even though at its heart it's a simple love story just like countles others, it made me feel seen and understood. I felt a personal connection to this movie that I did not expect, with so much empathy and understanding at its heart. What I said then: The things that are great about A Star Is Born are just so great — it makes for a genuine crowd pleaser which, beat for beat, hits all the right notes. You could even call this film subtly subversive. What’s not to love about a flawed man who makes terrible mistakes but through it all has eyes only for this one wide-eyed woman, who in turn progressively overcomes a lack of confidence and ambition to showcase awesome talent? A story almost pointedly lacking in sexism, and featuring a seamlessly organic sensibility of inclusion? Which even treats alcoholism and addiction realistically as a disease to be treated without judgment? 8. Science Fair A- If you want to see a movie packed wall to wall with unbridled joy, keep a look out for this one. A documentary about a worldwide science fair? Indeed! Seeing these kids from all over the globe giddy at the chance to showcase how they will change the world is both inspiring and inectious, and provides a truly welcome beacon of hope in an otherwise dark world. This movie is overflowing with charm, a delightfully ironic wave of movie magic that happens to be about science. What I said then: I found Science Fair to be deeply, deeply affecting — in a profoundly positive way. How often does a documentary make you cry tears of joy? 7. A Fantastic Woman A- Attention to all those who lament the dearth of trans actors playing the trans roles that tell their stories: look no further than A Fantastic Woman, a delicately executed Chilean film about a young trans woman facing the vicious prejudices of the older man she's in a relationship with after he dies unexpectedly, as well as the broader prejduices of her culture. It's a sad story, true, but nowhere near as sad as it could have been, and the performance of the lead actor, Daniela Vega, is indeed fantastic. What I said then: While Marina endures emotional traumas one after another ... she moves through this story as a paragon of resilience and strength -- and without contrivance. She occasionally makes ill-advised choices, but never fatal ones, and stays a course that runs between resolve and defiance. Even in the midst of a life turned upside down by a random, tragic event, of all the people in this movie, Marina emerges as the hero. 6. Foxtrot A- A beautiful Israeli meditation on grief in three acts, the first and third focused on one of two grieving parents, the second on the son killed senselessly while stationed at a Palestinian checkpoint. When dancing the foxtrot, you always end up right where you started: so it goes with these characters, in a uniquely stylized, provocative and contemplative film. What I said then: There's a sort of elusive perfection to this movie, a clear precision, a unique finesse, without spelling out exactly what [director] Samuel Maoz is trying to say. Certainly plenty of Israelis feel they understand it, as this movie has proved controversial in its country of origin. That's hardly surprising. For the rest of us, further removed from those cultural biases, it's easier to take Foxtrot as a beautifully artistic portrait of familial grief, and how perception can radically alter meaning. 5. Can You Ever Forgive Me? A- Melissa McCarthy gives the best performance in the best movie of her career, starring opposite the wonderful Richard E. Grant as two embittered and aging gay best friends who conspire to make money by forging letters by literary giants. Oh and did I mention this is based on the true story of Lee Israel, who did exactlty that? Can You Ever Forgive Me? is dramedy at its finest, the kind of untold story one loves to discover, told with both gravitas and deliciously dark humor. What I said then: Can You Ever Forgive Me? presents its audience with characters who range from abrasive to literally criminal, yet are unavoidably compelling, even fun. It shows them doing terrible things and refuses to pass judgment — it leaves that up to the viewer. The script has wit to match that of Lee Israel herself, and is given depth by on-location shoots in places such as the real-life Manhattan bar Israel actually spent a lot of time at in the early nineties, or the many New York book stores she visits. 6. Black Panther A- I would hesitate to call Black Panther the best superhero over made, but it comes close -- and I would not begrudge anyone else making such a claim. This is the one movie this year that I saw three times in the theatre, after all, and I have not done that with a superhero movie since the 1992 release of the only truly perfect superhero movie ever made, Batman Returns. One could even make the case that Batman Returns was similarly progressive, at least in how it treats and presents its female characters. It's 26 years later now, though; one cannot argue the fact that Batman Returns is exceedingly white; and in spite of a male protagonist and male villain, Black Panther's many surprises and delights include its unparalleled feminist sensibilties. This is not just another Marvel Comics movie aimed at little more than cashing in; this is a film with real depth, a heft to the historical context of its proceedings, both onscreen and in the real world. The cultural impact, and specifically the positive cultural impact, of this movie cannot be overstated. What I said then: This is perhaps what impresses me most about Black Panther: even in a movie packed with action, a movie still recognizable as a comic book adaptation, none of it is contrived -- that being the key difference from nearly every other superhero movie of the past decade. It characters of royal blood and themes of family rivalry are almost Shakespearean. It deals with succession to the throne and ritual battles, all with production and costume design with fantastically authentic African influences. The hero just happens to be a man who suits up in an alien technology-enhanced panther costume. 3. Roma A- Here is an "art movie" that is truly a work of art: a stunning visual feast in every frame, every scene based on actual memories of director Alfonso Cuarón growing up with a maid in the Mexico City neighborhood after which this film is named. Cuarón is well known for stunning technical cinematic achievements, and even though they are far more subtle here, Roma is still no exception. This movie is short on action and perhaps not for those with particularly short attention spans. But there are rich rewards for losing yourself in this movie, and giving attention to its depth of detail. What I said then: All this is to say Roma can catch you off guard, provided you have the patience for the time it takes. It seeps into you slowly, its roots slowly digging into your soul. It somehow justifies itself after the fact, well after the credits have rolled, as it slowly dawns on you how much better it is than it seemed in the midst of it. 2. Blindspotting A This story about best friends Collin and Miles, a black guy struggling to make good and a white guy who gets away with far more than his friend ever could, is a lot more entertaining than it sounds. For some viewers, it's even a bit much -- I found it to be nearly perfect. The story, after Collin witnesses the police shooting of an unarmed black man, is propulsive. It even provides a fair amount of humor, perhaps to catch the viewer off guart with some cultural unpleasantness we should all be forced to face. There's no way to do this movie justice without simply insisting it must be seen. What I said then: Blindspotting is beautifully specific, in both its sense of a place in transition, and of a culture in crisis. Rafael Casal is excellent as Miles, the best friend who is slow to realize what he really gets away with compared to most of the people in the local culture he both emulates and is a product of. He's just as much to blame for the crime that landed Collin in custody, but guess which one of them had to serve any time? 1. Eighth Grade A I have been singing this movie's praises for months -- since its release in July, in fact -- and I won't stop now! I knew then it was the best movie I had seen thus far this year, but given its "small indie movie" status and sensibility, it did not occur to me until later that perhaps it would indeed be the best film of 2018 in the end. Well, it is! Its many moments of painful awkwardness are a big part of what make it so great: movies never get made about this specific period in a person's life, and yet movies are never this universally relatable. Elsie Fisher gives a superb, knowing performance in the lead role as a middle school girl with a single dad, just trying to manifest some kind of self-actualization in the fact of crushing self-doubt. And it's her performance, as well as every one else's in this movie, that makes the story so tender, funny and moving. We don't know if she will be okay as she moves on in life, but we are reassured that she just might be, and that is exactly what we need. What I said then: Even though Eighth Grade is relentlessly awkward, it pulls off a rare magic trick in that every scene is also either a delight, a tightrope of tension, or an emotional gut punch. For the great many people poised to relate to this movie in a way they perhaps never have to any other, rooting for Kayla feels like rooting for one's former self. Five Worst -- or the worst of those I saw 5. Ready Player One C+ This movie admittedly has its moments, but to call it gimmicky might be the understatement of the year. It's a transparent money grab trafficking in a kind of nostalgia that will itself be dated far sooner than it's presented to be in this supposedly futuristic dystopian world. Ready Player One does have some great action sequences, but that alone does not a great movie make. What I said then: It still could have stood some substance to call its own, instead of borrowing it from countless other properties and weakening it to nothing of consequence in the process. 4. A Wrinkle In Time C+ This one might win the 2018 Award for Biggest Failure at Living Up to the Hype. In the midst of all the mesmerizing special effects, substance itself proves persistently elusive. I never read the book, so maybe that makes a difference? Based on the movie alone, I struggle to come up with any real reason for its existence. What I said then: I'd say that A Wrinkle in Time had great potential that it failed to realize, except I can't even figure out what its potential was. I left the movie just wondering what was the point. 3. Final Portrait C+ If I didn't quite find this movie boring, it could still be called . . . tedious. This is a rare film with a decent critical response that I could just not muster a lot of enthusiasm for -- and neither could I imagine any single person I know having any genuine interest in it. It's about an eccentric painter dragging out the process of painting a portrait for an admiring friend, and in doing so the movie drags as well. What I said then: Are you fond of Armie Hammer? Geoffrey Rush? Swiss Italian artist Alberto Giacometti? Still portraits? Well, then Final Portrait might still not be the movie for you! It might be if you enjoy watching people stare off into space though. 2. The Seagull C+ If re-reading my original review of a movie still doesn't quite ring a bell, maybe that makes it by definition completely forgettable? What I said then: Tepid may be the best word for it. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. 1. Suspirira C+ This movie could have been . . . something. Anything! I would have settled on coherent. I'm not sure on what level a horror movie that is never especially frightening quite works. There is at least one scene that is effectively horriying, but it sits in the middle of this incomprehensible and overlong movie about witches running a ballet school, without much in the way of other horror strands tethered to it. Then it ends with a ritualistic bloodbath that is excesive by every measure, to the point of bewildering desensitization. In the plus column, it does have one pretty great dance sequence. What I said then: Some say this movie exists in a theoretical region where any viewer can ascribe any label they like to it, and perhaps that is true. So I’ll take my own stab at it: this is a movie with literally nothing to say. Complete 2018 film log:
1. 1/4 The Greatest Showman C+
2. 1/6 I, Tonya A- (2nd viewing)
3. 1/7 The Post B+
4. 1/11 Phantom Thread A-
5. 1/19 Hostiles B+
6. 1/28 Phantom Thread A- (2nd viewing)
7. 2/1 The Commuter B
8. 2/10 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Live Action B+
9. 2/12 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Animated B+
10. 2/16 Black Panther A-
11. 2/17 Shadow of a Doubt *
12. 2/18 Black Panther A- (2nd viewing)
13. 2/20 Early Man B-
14. 2/24 Game Night B+
15. 2/25 A Fantastic Woman A-
16. 2/27 Faces Places B+
17. 3/2 The Party B
18. 3/5 Annihilation B
19. 3/11 A Wrinkle in Time C+
20. 3/15 The Death of Stalin B
21. 3/18 Love, Simon B+
22. 3/19 Oh Lucy! B
23. 3/21 Loveless B
24. 3/24 Black Panther A- (3rd viewing)
25. 3/25 Thoroughbreds B+
26. 3/30 Ready Player One C+
27. 4/4 Goldstone B
28. 4/7 🐓 Blockers B+
29. 4/9 Outside In B+
30. 4/10 Foxtrot A-
31. 4/16 Lean on Pete B+
32. 4/23 You Were Never Really Here B+
33. 4/24 Final Portrait C+
34. 5/7 Tully B
35. 5/9 The Endless B
36. 5/12 RBG B
37. 5/15 I Feel Pretty B
38. 5/17 Book Club B
34. 5/19 Tully B (2nd viewing)
35. 5/22 Three Identical Strangers A- ***
36. 5/24 Solo: A Star Wars Story B
37. 5/26 Live, Gilda B ***
38. 5/27 Won't You Be My Neighbor? A- ***
39. 5/28 Disobedience B+
40. 5/29 The Most Dangerous Year B+ ***
41. 5/30 Prospect B+ ***
42. 6/1 Leave No Trace B+ ***
43. 6/2 Catwalk: Tales From the Cat Show Circuit B ***
44. 6/4 First Reformed C+
45. 6/6 Sadie B- ***
46. 6/8 Ocean's Eight B
47. 6/17 Incredibles 2 B+
48. 6/19 American Animals B+
49. 6/20 Tag B
50. 6/25 Jurrasic World: Fallen Kingdom B
51. 6/27 The Seagull C+
52. 7/1 Sicario: Day of the Soldado B
53. 7/7 Whitney B+
54. 7/10 The Last Suit B-
55. 7/13 Skyscraper C+
56. 7/16 Sorry to Bother You B-
57. 7/20 Eighth Grade A
58. 7/23 The Cakemaker B+
59. 7/28 Mission: Impossible - Fallout B+
60. 7/30 Blingdspotting A
61. 8/2 Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot B+
62. 8/7 Christopher Robin B
63. 8/9 BlacKkKlansman B+
64. 8/13 The Miseducation of Cameron Post B+
65. 8/15 Crazy Rich Asians B
66. 8/21 Puzzle B
67. 8/24 BlacKkKlansman B+ (2nd viewing)
68. 8/29 Operation Finale B
69. 9/2 The Happytime Murders C+
70. 9/5 The Little Stranger B
71. 9/7 The Wife B
72. 9/8 We the Animals A-
73. 9/14 Pick of the Litter B+
74. 9/18 A Simple Favor B
75. 9/20 Fahrenheit 11/9 B+
76. 9/23 The House with a Clock in Its Walls B-
77. 9/24 Assassination Nation B+
78. 9/25 Lizzie B
79. 10/1 Science Fair A-
80. 10/3 A Star Is Born A-
81. 10/5 Colette B+
82. 10/8 The Sisters Brothers B+
83. 10/10 A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night B (2nd viewing)
84. 10/12 A Star Is Born A- (2nd viewing)
85. 10/13 First Man B+
86. 10/15 Bad Times at the El Royale B
87. 10/16 The Hate U Give B+
88. 10/22 Beautiful Boy B-
89. 10/24 The Old Man & the Gun B
90. 10/28 Free Solo B
91. 11/2 Suspiria C+
92. 11/4 Bohemian Rhapsody C+
93. 11/6 Wildlife B
94. 11/9 Can You Ever Forgive Me? A-
95. 11/12 Boy, Erased B-
96. 11/18 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald B
97. 11/19 Instant Family C+
98. 11/21 The Front Runner B-
99. 11/25 Widows B+
100. 11/27 Ralph Breaks the Internet B+
101. 12/2 Maria by Callas B-
102. 12/5 The Favourite B+
103. 12/6 Roma A-
104. 12/8 Schindler's List A- *
105. 12/11 Anna and the Apocalypse B-
106. 12/17 Mary Poppins Returns B
107. 12/20 On the Basis of Sex B+
108. 12/21 Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse A-
109. 12/27 If Beale Street Could Talk B+
110. 12/30 Vice B


*Re-issue (no review)
**Advance screening
***SIFF festival screening [posted 9:49 am]

Cinema 2017: Best & Worst

Below are the ten most satisfying and memorable films I saw in 2017: 10. The Landing A- Spoiler alert! The best documentary of the year turns out not to be a documentary at all -- and I was completely duped by it, thanks in large part to my having seen it at the Seattle International Film Festival based only on their synopsis -- which gives no indication of it being fake. Rather than being a "mockumentary," however, it's more like an elaborate trick, with some truly impressive production details to pull it off. Started as a silent short shot 25 years ago and set in 1973, presented as footage of astronauts wrecked in China after the Apollo 18 space capsule landed, it is here expanded to feature length, featuring the very same actors (now aged naturally the same amount) offering "interviews" set in 1998. They then offer reflections of their memories of what happened. It's difficult to say whether this movie would be as impressive to someone who already knows it's not real, but for me to say why I found it so impressive, that's a detail I have to reveal. I found it all so real, these people presenting their cases as to whether one of the three astronauts killed the other two out there in the Chinese desert or not, that I couldn't help to consider it one of the best films I saw this year. What I said then: The Landing is an unusually absorbing film, both as a narrative story and as a supposed documentary. I really can't compliment the actors enough. One of them swears a lot, but even he comes across as just some regular guy. That's what makes it so believable, these talking heads who feel like any such person in a documentary film -- interesting people by varying degrees, but never overtly outlandish. 9. All the Money in the World A- A late-addition to my top 10 for the year, indeed, and fittingly so, given that Kevin Spacey was replaced by Christopher Plummer and then his many scenes were re-shot over the course of eight days, with the help of Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg over the Thanksgiving holiday week, all of one month before the film's scheduled release. It does beg the question: would this film have made it onto my top 10 without this amazing achievement? Had it remained with Kevin Spacey, all caked under old-age makeup -- and in spite of his acting talent, setting aside for the moment that he turned out to be weirdly douchey -- it almost certainly would not have. But, what if the part had been played by Christopher Plummer all along? He is superb as the monstrous J. Paul Getty, and his performance is more than matched by Michelle Williams as his ex-daughter-in-law, trying to get him to assist in rescuing her kidnapped son. The final result of this film is as one of the year's best, made all the more impressive by how seamlessly it was reconstructed. What I said then: All the Money in the World is riveting from start to finish, filled with suspense and intrigue, stunningly well put together for something that had to be taken apart and put back together again in such short order. 8. Saturday Church A- The second of three films on this list from the year's film festivals, and one of two from Seattle's "TWIST" Queer Film Festival, Saturday Church is named after a real-life church program for LGBT youth, and here takes a rare look at the T part of queerness -- without ever naming it, specifically. We don't even know, necessarily, what the gender identity of young Ulysses (the excellent Luka Kain) is -- only that Ulysses has a budding interest in women's clothes, which is met with resistance from a family still grieving the loss of its father. These are all the elements of a heavy tragedy, but Saturday Church lightens the mood -- or, barring that, eases the burden -- with musical flourishes depicting Ulysses's fantasies, all the while presenting some lovely singing, especially from several of the real-life trans women of color cast in many supporting parts. Here is a movie that offers both timeliness and escape while still reflecting the world as it really is. What I said then: This movie goes out of its way to reflect the stark realities of many trans women of color in particular, the wide range of attitudes toward sex work and the constraints on finding lasting relationships. What makes this movie truly stand apart is how it spends equal time on the unequivocal joys that can also be found along the journey of authentic self-discovery. 7. Coco A- If you don't cry during the last five minutes of Coco, you are perhaps not a human being. My husband cried at this movie, and I don't believe I had ever seen him cry at any movie! But don't worry -- it's a good kind of cry, the kind that is the result of something so moving that the waterworks just take over. And up until that point, Coco is somewhat uncharacteristically straightforward for a typical Pixar film, actually removing it slightly from the reasons I typically love that animation studio's output -- you won't find all that much cracklingly clever humor here. There is still humor, though, just of a more timeless nature, always tied to the bonds of family between generations, and the fond memories of loved ones who have passed on. Much of this story takes place in the Land of the Dead, and the animation is as spectacular as Pixar's history of excellence on that front would have you expect. A plethora of characters who are actually skeletons are also a lot more expressive than you might expect. In fact, Coco would easily qualify as the one film on this list liable to get an equal amount of love from people of all ages. What I said then: Rarely is an animated film as textured in its storytelling as it is in its visual scope, and Coco delivers in spades on all fronts. The final fifteen minutes or so are particularly moving, and tie it all together in ways not easily predicted from the beginning of the story. 6. Lady Bird A- Maybe once in a generation does a movie come along that so perfectly captures both the joys and struggles of adolescence, and of working through relationships with sometimes difficult but always loving parents. Lady Bird also doubles as, of all things, a love letter to Sacramento, California -- "the Midwest of California," one of the best lines in any movie this year. Saoirse Ronan is wonderful as the title character, going through pretty typical late-teen stuff and enduring a relatably loving yet contentious relationship with her mother (a fantastic Laurie Metcalf). There are no histrionics here, no overwrought melodrama, not even any particularly tragic moments -- just a finely tuned portrait of a young woman coming into her own with a little grace and a lot of humor. What I said then: Greta Gerwig has a singularly open-hearted style, always a delight to see onscreen, and with Lady Bird we get to see how it translates when she’s behind the camera. This is a tale with a unique sincerity, completely lacking in judgment – for its characters, or even for the religion they follow. 5. Get Out A- Something just occurred to me about this movie, arguably the biggest box office surprise of the year ($175.4 million haul to date, for a movie with a budget of $4.5 million): its release in late February suggests, perhaps, it was not expected to be a huge success. A cult hit, maybe -- but late January and February releases are typically when studios dump the crap, the movies expected to make the least amount of money, after the Oscar-bait releases of the fall. Get Out is a clear example of that slowly changing, as to say this movie had lasting legs would be an understatement -- and rightfully so: the experience of it is enriched with multiple viewings, and it becomes more impressive upon further reflection. It easily falls into the category of horror comedy -- an effective example of both genres -- yet its sensibility is unique, at least in the realm of cinema. Honestly the less you know about the story before going in, the better. Just take my word for it and see this movie, like, yesterday. It's terrifying, it's hilarious, it features top-notch performances across the board, and it challenges viewers with its take on race in America in all the right ways -- likely in different ways depending on the background and real-life experience of the viewer. The power and cultural impact of Get Out cannot be understated. What I said then: The more I think about Get Out, the more impressed I get. This isn't just a surprisingly solid horror movie. It's so well constructed that it successfully entices genre skeptics like myself. It's a great movie, period. 4. The Salesman A Here is a rightly constructed story pointedly presented with no easy answers. A childless Iranian couple playing parts in a local production of Death of a Salesman, face the possibility of their production being censored by the government. I'm certain there are parallels between the story of this movie and that of Death of a Salesman, although I have no real familiarity with that play -- which had no effect on how much this film impressed me. When this couple are forced to move into an apartment in the building managed by the play's director, the wife is attacked in the shower and cannot remember enough details about it. Certain details that are known -- right down to the fact that she left her front door open, expecting the husband -- leave the woman uniquely vulnerable in a society wrought with sexism revealed in this story in many subtle ways. It is no doubt such nuances that won The Salesman the Oscar for Best Foreign film in 2017, which was very much deserved -- and also indicates it was technically a 2016 movie. But, it goes on this year's list for me because it was not released in my local market until March 2017. It's too good a movie for me not to include it in this year's list. What I said then: There are no clear-cut heroes or villains here, only gray areas that get even grayer the closer the characters get to the truth. It's mesmerizing from start to finish, all on the strength of its narrative force, its dialogue, and its performances. It's easily one of the best films of the year. 3. BPM (Beats Per Minute) A So, yes, there's a lot of queerness in my top 10 this year -- three of the ten films are about gay or trans people. This reflects my own bias of interests, sure, but is also a good thing: 30% isn't that high (35% if you count a supporting character in Lady Bird who turns out to be gay), especially considering how few of the characters in all movies are in any way queer. BPM, for its part, looks at a truly specific part of history: the guerilla tactics of ACT UP activists in early-nineties Paris. Its gay characters who fall in love in the midst of barely controlled chaos, its tastefully frank depiction of gay sex, and even its predictably tragic end presented with a tenderness all its own all set this movie apart. It presents a very specific slice of history and European culture with a delicate balance. What I said then: [F]rom the very start, BPM pulsates with tension and urgency; it crackles with excitement until it inevitably evolves into the dread of personal loss. You don't expect this kind of energy when the setting starts in a classroom of political activists discussing strategy. 2. The Big Sick A Until seeing Call Me By Your Name, I really thought The Big Sick would turn out to be my #1 movie of the year -- and they are still neck and neck, for different reasons. I really can't recommend The Big Sick enough, even though it can be a challenge to get people to give it a chance when they regard it as a mainstream romantic comedy -- and it is anything but typical. It does qualify as a romantic comedy, but within a wildly unique context: much of the story takes place while the couple in question have broken up; the woman is in an induced coma; and the man is getting to know the woman's parents (Ray Romano and Holly Hunter, both reasons alone to see this movie) in the meantime. The man also happens to be Pakistani-American, played by comedian Kumail Nanjiani, who co-wrote the script with wife Emily V. Gordon, loosely based on their own experience with the exact same scenario. Equal time is given to Kumail's family, with parents played by famous Indian actor Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff, who are just as delightful as Romano and Hunter. We get plenty of culture-clashing humor on both sides, often truly hilarious and never played for cheap laughs -- this is a comedy with unusual depth, given the gravity of the situation they are all in. If nothing else, The Big Sick is a rare achievement as a great movie that is unlikely any other ever made. What I said then: I want to stress how funny this movie is. I mean, it's not going to make you laugh until it hurts -- that wouldn't be appropriate for this movie. What it will do is regularly surprise you with its humor, with jokes coming at a steady clip, the humor rooted in real comedic skill, on both the parts of the actors and the writers. 1. Call Me By Your Name A Here come the gays again! Truly though, this is just a great and timeless love story, full stop. Armie Hammer is the twentysomething college student doing research while staying with a professor's family in Northern Italy; Timothée Chalamet is the 17-year-old son who reluctantly befriends him, until they unwittingly fall in love with each other. The infamous "peach scene" notwithstanding, it's all pretty straightforward, and it takes a while for it to dawn on the viewer how great this movie truly is -- which is but one of its many delights. It's a story with no ulterior motives, except to make you invested in all of its characters -- including Elio's parents, and especially his dad, played with moving compassion by Michael Stuhlbarg. After months on the festival circuit, Call Me By Your Name has become a bit of a cultural flashpoint in the context of cinema, making it for many of us the same-sex love story we've all been waiting for -- and that includes audiences of all sexualities. Being about two young men does not keep this movie's themes from being universal; this is easily the most beautiful and moving love story of the year, and many other years as well. What I said then: Call Me By Your Name contains no emotional cataclysms. It merely draws you in, slowly and confidently, until you just want to wrap yourself in its sweetness, its simple purity. There is a soothing steadiness to its overall tone, and there is sadness in just having the story end. Five Worst -- or the worst of those I saw 5. The Shape of Water C+ Contrarian time! I gave ten movies this year a C+, and could only choose two of them to include in my list of the five that I responded to the most negatively. And my aversion to this film, in the face of widespread critical and audience acclaim, is largely what prompted me to include it -- I simply must make my case that this movie is wildly overrated. If they actually had any truth in advertising, this movie would indeed be called Elisa Fucks a Fish -- or an amphibian, anyway. A fish-man. A humanoid animal character listed in the credits as "Amphibian Man." Sure, Sally Hawkins -- as well as most of the rest of the cast -- is great, but I just can't get on the side of a childlike yet excessively horny woman (she masturbates to a timer every morning) who has actual intercourse with an amphibian man drudged up from a river in South America. Seriously, what the shit? Why do so few other people not seem to have any problem with this? The Shape of Water has plenty of redeeming elements to its production, but when it comes to the key aspect of its story, all I can say is: I just can't. What I said then: "Forbidden love," a timeless trope, is one thing. In this case, all I can think of is how amphibian sex gives "slippery slope" new meaning. This isn't a boy and a girl from rival families. It's literal bestiality. 4. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets C+ Here is a movie that wastes far too much effort for an end result so relentlessly dull. It's a feast for the senses until the sensory overload just leaves you numb, with no hope of revival from a fundamentally uninspired script and lead actors with zero charisma or chemistry. Who the hell cast this movie, anyway? That casting director should be fired. What I said then: A whole lot of this movie is indeed a feast for the eyes, arguably more so than any film Luc Besson has ever made. You could even argue he overdoes it, stuffing the frame with effect-laden set pieces in evident overcompensation for countless shortcomings. The thing is, nothing really makes up for a script that lands with a thud. 3. Life C This movie can be summed up in one word: derivative. Of course, one could argue that by definition all stories are derivative, but Life is unusually overt about it. Why waste your time on this movie instead of getting far more out of re-watching the several far superior science fiction films that clearly inspired it? This is an attempt at turning diminishing returns into an art form -- a self-defeating prospect if there ever was one. What I said then: This movie does not have a shred of originality any corner of any frame. It's as though Alien and Gravity had a baby, but the baby had to be given up for adoption, to be nurtured by caretakers who had only the most generalized ideas of its roots. It might as well have been named Gravien. 2. mother! C- I genuinely hated the very experience of sitting through this movie, and the only reason it isn't ranked as the worst movie I saw all year is because Michelle Pfeiffer was its one redeeming value, and Geostorm is objectively worse, on pretty much all fronts. I mean, one thing I could say about mother! is that it isn't lazy -- on the contrary, it tries way too hard in its oppressively pretentious endeavor to be Biblical allegory, only to fall on the sword of its own hubris. As soon as the credits rolled I said out loud, "Fuck this movie!" -- and in spite of all the insights into its allegorical meanings I have gleaned from further reading after the fact, I firmly stand by that. What I said then: The pretension seeping through every surface of mother! begins with its very title. What's with that exclamation point? To me, it punctuates the contempt I feel for this movie. 1. Geostorm D+ Geostorm is holy-shit stupid. Not even seeing it in a "4DX" theatre, where the seats bounce around like an amusement park ride, could make it more fun or compelling. It's this year's 2012, and if you can believe it, is far worse than that movie was -- at least 2012 had a sense of awareness of how dumb it was. How many movies depicting tidal waves annihilating cityscapes do we need, anyway? Just throw this one on top of the pile, and rightfully forget about it. What I said then: The thing with Geostorm ... is that it's like someone took the standard disaster-movie formula and willfully made it even dumber.
Complete 2017 film log: 1. 1/4 Jackie A (2nd viewing)
2. 1/7 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story B (2nd viewing)
3. 1/10 Silence B
4. 1/12 20th Century Women B+
5. 1/15 Paterson B-
6. 1/17 Lion A-
7. 1/22 The Founder B-
8. 1/23 Hidden Figures B+
9. 1/29 Julieta B
10. 2/5 I Am Not Your Negro B+
11. 2/11 The LEGO Batman Movie B
12. 2/15 John Wick Chapter 2 B
13. 2/18 Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Live Action A-
14. 2/19 Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Animation B+
15. 2/23 The Red Turtle B+
16. 2/25 Get Out A-
17. 2/28 A United Kingdom B-
18. 3/1 The Boss Baby C+ **
19. 3/4 Kedi B (2nd viewing)
20. 3/5 The Brand New Testament B+
21. 3/6 The Salesman A
22. 3/8 The Sense of an Ending B **
23. 3/11 Kong: Skull Island B
24. 3/12 My Life as a Zucchini B
25. 3/20 Logan B+
26. 3/21 Raw B+ **
27. 3/22 Beauty and the Beast B+
28. 3/26 The Lure C+
29. 3/27 Life C
30. 3/31 T2 Trainspotting B
31. 4/2 Land of Mine B+
32. 4/3 Personal Shopper B
33. 4/11 Frantz B+
34. 4/19 Colossal B+
35. 4/24 Free Fire B-
36. 5/2 The Lost City of Z B
37. 5/5 Get Out A- (2nd viewing)
38. 5/7 A Quiet Passion A-
39. 5/9 Their Finest B
40. 5/11 Snatched B
41. 5/14 Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer B+
42. 5/17 The Fifth Element B+ *
43. 5/23 The Lovers C+
44. 5/25 Weirdos B ***
45. 5/27 Tom of Finland B ***
46. 5/27 A Date for Mad Mary B+ ***
47. 5/29 Endless Poetry C+ ***
48. 5/31 Alien Convenant B+
49. 6/1 Wonder Woman B
40. 6/3 Angkor Awakens: A Portrait of Cambodia B
41. 6/4 Chronicles of Hari C+ ***
42. 6/10 My Cousin Rachel B
43. 6/11 The Landing A- ***
44. 6/15 Megan Leavey B-
45. 6/22 Okja B+ **
46. 6/26 The Exception B
47. 6/29 The Wedding Plan B+
48. 7/1 The Beguiled B
49. 7/2 Baby Driver B+
50. 7/8 The Big Sick A
51. 7/9 The Little Hours B
52. 7/10 Maudie A-
53. 7/16 Our Time Will Come B
54. 7/18 War for the Planet of the Apes B
55. 7/23 A Ghost Story B
56. 7/25 Dunkirk B
57. 7/27 Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets C+
58. 7/29 Lady Macbeth B+
59. 7/30 Atomic Blonde B+
60. 8/1 Landline B+
61. 8/4 An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power B
62. 8/6 Detroit A-
63. 8/9 The Dark Tower C+
64. 8/13 Columbus B+
65. 8/14 Step B+
66. 8/23 Logan Lucky A-
67. 8/24 Wind River B+
68. 8/26 Girls Trip B
69. 8/28 Ingrid Goes West B+
70. 9/2 The Trip to Spain B
71. 9/4 Close Encounters of the Third Kind A *
72. 9/11 Home Again B-
73. 9/14 Beach Rats B+
74. 9/19 mother! C-
75. 9/23 The Tiger Hunter B
76. 9/26 Brad's Status B+
77. 10/1 Blade Runner A *
78. 10/3 Battle of the Sexes B+
79. 10/7 Blade Runner 2049 B+
80. 10/10 Victoria & Abdul B
81. 10/13 Blade Runner 2049 B+ (2nd viewing)
82. 10/14 The Foreigner B
83. 10/15 Saturday Church A- ****
84. 10/16 Lucky B+
85. 10/18 Apricot Groves B+ ****
86. 10/20 BPM (Beats Per Minute) A ****
87. 10/22 Geostorm D+
88. 10/23 The Florida Project B+
89. 10/25 Marshall B
90. 10/27 Suspiria C *
91. 10/29 Suburbicon C+
92. 10/30 The Killing of a Sacred Deer B
93. 11/7 Lady Bird A- **
94. 11/11 Loving Vincent B-
95. 11/12 Murder on the Orient Express C+
96. 11/13 My Friend Dahmer B+
97. 11/19 Last Flag Flying B+
98. 11/21 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri B+
99. 11/26 Coco A-
100. 11/27 Roman J. Israel, Esq. B
101. 12/1 The Disaster Artist B+
102. 12/4 Jane B+
103. 12/13 Darkest Hour B+ **
104. 12/14 Star Wars: The Last Jedi A-
105. 12/16 The Shape of Water C+
104. 12/18 Star Wars: The Last Jedi A- (2nd viewing)
105. 12/22 Call Me By Your Name A
106. 12/23 Downsizing B- *****
107. 12/27 All the Money in the World A-
108. 12/29 Molly's Game B
109. 12/30 I, Tonya A- *****


*Re-issue (no review)
**Advance screening
***SIFF festival screening
****TWIST Seattle Queer Film Festival screening
*****Awards screener [older best & worst posts]