Doug's Favorite Movies of the Decade

Max Max: Fury Road
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
John Wick
Cabin in the Woods
Rango
Day and Night
Exit Through the Gift Shop
What We Do in the Shadows
20 Feet from Stardom
The Silver Linings Playbook
The Shape of Water

HONORABLE MENTION:

Black Swan
Kick Ass
Rogue One
Side Effects
The Queen of Versailles
American Hustle
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Get Out
La La Land
Gravity
Whiplash

Appendix A:

Best Performance by a cat: Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Performance by a dog: John Wick 3
Best Performance by a horse: Lone Ranger
Worst Performance: Jared Leto - Suicide Squad
Worst Performance in the Best Movie: (tie) Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson - Hunger Games
Best Performance in the Worst Movie: Hong Chau - Downsizing
Worst Movie: (tie) The Counsellor and Birdman

Doug's Favorite Movies of 2019

Jo Jo Rabbit
The Laundromat
Bombshell
The Irishman
Dolemite is my Name
El Camino
John Wick: Chapter 3

HONORABLE MENTION:

Avengers: Endgame
Hotel Mumbai
Toy Story 4
Apollo 11
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Ready or Not

APPENDIX A - MOVIES THAT EVERYONE ELSE LOVED BUT THAT I HATED:

Uncut Gems

The Report

“My god! Page 1001 of the torture report completely contradicts page 5013 of the torture report! We’ve got to tell someone!”

Unfortunately, for as serious a subject as this is, it’s not a very exciting movie. Adam Driver endeavors to educate about the CIA torture authorized by the Bush administration. Grimly, it’s a people-sitting-in-front-of-computers kind of movie with the occasional two-hander with Diane Feinstein in an important-looking conference room. Filmmakers occasionally cut to detainees being tortured, which is a bummer that doesn’t really ratchet-up the drama. It’s clearly a very well-researched piece, and a sad period of American history, but it doesn’t make for a cozy night of viewing. It’s a medicine movie. As in: it’s time to take your medicine.

Ready or Not

When I’m watching the corniest of corny horror movies, I want to be surprised. I've seen it all. Shock me. Make me laugh. The finale of this movie did EXACTLY that. A+ for being the movie that it aspires to be and nothing more.

Uncut Gems

… is a neurotic fever dream, determined to irritate as much as possible. There are no likable characters and the conceit/plot is pointless. Filmmakers keep the plates spinning and there is an admirable amount of kinetic energy, but if it’s a morality play with no morality, what’s the point? It’s like an unfunny episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The music is terrible. Better versions of this kind of story have been told. Better movies about this have been made. Several people walked out of the theater in a huff in the middle of this mess. So, it's not a Christmas movie. I say: meh.

The Laundromat

Smart ensemble/anthology of people from all walks of life who were affected and/or perpetrating the rogue, offshore financial entities that resulted in The Panama Papers. The movie entertains and educates thanks to a top-notch cast including Meryl Streep and funny, speedy, unconventional direction from maestro Steven Soderbergh. A time may come when I’ll stop asking, “Why did a movie with a cast this great get relegated to Netflix?” But then I stop and I realize: some of the best movies of the year have been on Netflix. The times are changin’ quickly. Well-done, Soderbergh and company.

Bombshell

When there’s not one but two star-filled shows depicting you as an asshole, that’s how you know you’re an asshole. Along with the Showtime show, The Loudest Voice, this movie depicts Fox News asshole Roger Ailes in all of his grand assholery. You really have to be an asshole to make Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson look sympathetic. Filmmakers do an excellent job juxtaposing the experienced anchors with the “newby” played by Margot Robbie who just wants to impress and get ahead. It wouldn’t work without her, and her regret about what is ultimately an extremely toxic environment is devastating. Filmmakers run a tight ship with a first-rate cast in one of the best dramas of the year. This was great – and it couldn’t be more relevant. Kudos to Jay Roach et al.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Thoroughly enjoyed this – an emotional “way homer” from Lucasfilm and a final chapter, of sort, for Emperor Palpatine and his Sith experiment. It’s a “way homer” because as you’re driving home, it occurs to you that some of this doesn’t resolve anything, it just brings up more questions. But it achieves emotional depths that distract one’s encyclopedic knowledge of the galaxy. There are a million little comments I could make and questions I could ask -- adding things up and picking things apart. But I’ll need to see it again for that. Suffice it to say: the music was beautiful.

Apollo 11

With newly released archival footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing, this documentary isn’t designed as much to inform as it is to inspire. There is no voiceover, no interviews, and very few informational title cards. It combines spectacularly clear, freshly transferred film footage with the audio feeds and news reports from the launch. It bittersweetly reminds the audience of what Americans are capable of (making huge technological leaps) if they could be on the same page and work together, instead of being usurped and outsmarted by technological rivals and their propaganda and disinformation efforts. That being said, of the many faces shown working on the launch, very few of them were women or racially diverse. Distilled down to one theme: America needs to be inspired again, and we’re ready for some new leaders who can do it. See it in IMAX.

Knives Out

This is a really enjoyable night at the movies. It starts slow, but gradually picks up steam, and delights in the process. It reminds me of Poirot, or Murder by Death. Promos of the movie promise a lot of zaniness and unexpected twists. The truth is, while it’s expertly crafted, it’s not THAT twisty. It’s a pretty straight line if you pay attention. Most of these parlor murder mysteries rely on a genius detective (Scooby Doo?) to narrate how the crime went down. Inevitably, the criminal will just buckle and admit it, forfeiting their day in court. Embracing these tropes is the only way to have fun – to see where they lead. They didn’t reinvent the wheel here. It’s just a really well-made wheel.

The Irishman

This is a great production. You have to admire the thought and care that went into it. But it’s also an important landmark signaling the huge change in movie distribution and exhibition. Why did the studios pass on it? Why is a movie this big and star-studded on Netflix? Why isn’t there an intermission? Or why didn’t they divide it into two parts? The Oscars are still relevant, apparently, since Scorsese required the movie to be in theaters before streaming to qualify. When are the streamers and the theaters going to play nice and figure things out so as many eyeballs see the movie as possible?

Of the many notable features of the saga is the way the story truly spans a lifetime for these gangsters. Sure, plenty of movies (i.e. The Godfathers) depict gangsters as kids, growing up, getting sucked in or forced into a life of crime because that’s their best option. But there’s something about the way the filmmakers keep a constant thread here, finding a rhythm, repeating refrains, and showing the ice slowly melt away. It also functions as a history, teaching us about how powerful the gangsters were/are and how much US policy and American norms are dictated by gangsters who are only interested in power and lining their own pockets.

Accolades will be abundant and conversations will be had about theaters vs streaming. But it’s also a great drama critical of a certain kind of American experience in which shooting people in the face is the only way to get ahead.

Ford v Ferrari

Imagine if Michael Bay made a good movie. This is that movie. While it won’t really resonate, this is really loud, fun, and entertaining. The biopic parts of the story, while earnest and true, present a melancholy conclusion to what would otherwise be an action movie. Filmmakers handle the weird and sad bits with style, leaving the audience wondering how and why some races unfolded the way they did. There’s a lot of information about auto racing here, too. But it’s never boring thanks to the skillful exposition of the A-list cast. It’s a throwback to an era of big theaters and popcorn fun.

Doctor Sleep

To quiet the ghosts, Danny Torrence takes up drinking. You can see why he would do that, what with the traumatic childhood. But he continues to hear things and see the ghosts, and hear the thoughts of some of the souls near him. When one young, telekinetic woman reaches out through the cosmic ether to say hi, this starts to become… Scary. Legit scary. I haven’t seen scenes this scary in a while. Filmmakers do their best to honor Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick. Despite some unevenness and harried plot points, this is good. Much of the success is thanks to Rebecca Ferguson and her evil band of immortal, soul-sucking carnies. Filmmakers don’t hold back with the villain’s agendas or their ruination, and it’s uncharacteristically barbaric for a mainstream movie. I’m sure King is thrilled. As usual with movies adapted from big novels, some scenes feel rushed and some seem missing all together. But it’s fun to have a look at the inside of the Overlook Hotel again. That place doesn’t age!

Parasite

I’m supposed to love this. People I trust tell me I should love this. The critics say I should love this. But I didn’t really love this. I LIKED it. It was sharp and surprising. There were excellent themes about the haves and the have-nots. But I’m not sure what to take away from it. Who’s the protagonist? What do they want besides decent wifi? What have I learned? It’s well-acted, beautifully shot, and expertly designed. But it’s not love. We’ll have to just be friends.

Terminator: Dark Fate

So many of the Terminator sequels try their best to bend time and change the timeline so Schwarzenegger can come back, or to explain what happened to Eddie Furlong or whatever. Terminator movies cheat, and I’ve learned to accept that. Scene by scene, this is not bad. Action sequences are stylized and innovative. The acting of the primarily female cast is good. But it’s suffering from sequel-itis. There are no stakes. The past and the future are always changing. The bad terminators are always newer, better, and more destructive, but that never matters when someone can just pop back and change the timeline and suddenly the hero is Claire Danes or Emilia Clarke. Skynet doesn’t even seem to be a threat anymore. It’s getting to be like Quantum Leap. So, while Tim Miller’s direction is fresh and fast, the saga is aging ungracefully.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Oh, no! The giant monsters are coming! What do we do??
Release Godzilla.
Are you insane? He’ll kill us all.
No. Godzilla wants peace. He will help us.
It’s so crazy it just might work…

Stuber

I watched this on the plane. Although a lot of the cursing was censored, and the strip club scene was pitifully cropped, this was FUNNY. Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani understand and master that perfect, buddy-comedy dynamic. Bicker about everything but save each other’s asses when it counts. The director constructs Rube Goldberg action scenes triggering unexpected and hysterical chain reactions during which the leads are suitably vocal and alarmed. It's a throwback to the Shane Black buddy-cop movies of yore; skillfully nostalgic but with a new and unexpected wise-cracky tone. It’s light and funny; a solid airplane movie.

Dolemite is My Name

It’s an unalloyed pleasure to watch Eddie Murphy preen and riff as Rudy Ray Moore in this rags-to-riches, underdog biopic. A lot of this feels almost formula: the plucky gang of misfits, the cooperate naysayers, the supportive woman, the over-confident loser. Think Bowfinger. But as ginned up as the plot can be at times, Eddie’s performance is the gold standard. It’s purely entertaining and, believe it or not, heartwarming. Kudos to Netflix, who are on a winning streak making what USED to be considered safe bets but aren’t any more for some reason. So far, one of the best movies of the year.

El Camino

Jesse’s aged. Being held captive in an underground cage didn’t do wonders for his skin. So, it has nothing to do with the seven years since Aaron Paul did his last Breaking Bad episode. And that’s what this is: a Breaking Bad episode. Slightly longer than the others, but just as good. Better than most. Jesse’s the hero who’s on the run who needs money. And he’s also getting smarter. There are remnants of that teenage clumsiness, but also signs that he’s learned from Walter and Mike, he’s thinking clearly, and he’s willing to take charge and pull the trigger if he needs to. Kudos to the whole enterprise for not trying to be bigger or graver than it needs to be. It’s a small-scale modern western made with emotion and skill.

The Wretched

Well-acted and well-directed low-budget horror film about an ancient, child-eating hag and the housewives it can body-snatch so it can feed. Sort of a roundabout metaphor for divorce and the ways kids can get torn apart or forgotten when the parents split up.

Memory: The Origins of Alien

Many of the details in this “making of…” documentary have probably appeared in other docs, dvd extras, etc. But it’s a nice, nimble reminder of the innovation that went into Alien.

Judy

Sad, sad, sad. No happy ending here. Nope. Nosireee. Judy Garland withers away and dies. It’s well-acted and well-directed, but it’s sad, man.

How the West Was Won

The revelations that were had during this movie-nerd, old people screening at the Dome in real, actual 3-strip Cinerama are as follows:

Cinerama’s not really THAT wide.

The stunts were REAL. You could FEEL them. No CG here.

 It’s Debbie Reynold’s movie. She’s the star. But she’s billed, like, 9th, because those were the days when you probably couldn’t sell a western with a female lead.

Carroll Baker should maybe have been more famous than she was.

 This is the Avengers of its day.

Downton Abby

I never really watched the show, so I didn’t much follow the political and social dynamic in the house. It lacks conflict, but the silverware is very nice.

It: Chapter 2

It’s supposed to be about overcoming personal demons, so I don’t think it’s particularly scary, nor is it supposed to be. Efforts to create an emotional saga succeed and it never felt long, despite the 3-hour running time. In movies like this, when the monster is “imaginary,” it’s always easily defeated once the heroes figure out they can just ignore it or belittle it. It’s a skillfully made parable about getting over things.

Blinded by the Light

Remember that movie when the rebellious teenager discovers a new art and passion, but the strict father thinks it’s a waste of time, until the end, when, during the teenager’s big recital, the father sneaks into the back of the auditorium and sees how passionate and talented the teenager is, and then they hug and all is forgiven? This is one of those movies.

Halston

Hey! Wow! I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries lately. While I enjoy learning about something new – a person or event that I knew nothing about – this doc felt a little pokey. There’s plenty of good information, but the stakes and the drama needed a shot in the arm.

Driven

This biopic about John DeLorean feels like it’s missing scenes. Efforts to open the movie on a big, exciting drug bust create confusion. The main character, played by Jason Sudeikis, suffers by not getting a proper introduction. The movie always feels like it’s trying to play catch-up; trying to develop and explain the inner desires of the hero/anti-hero who we never get to know as well as we should. Sets, costumes, and music are all fun and par for the era. And performances are strong. But the movie feels rushed, and the filmmakers seemed unwilling or reluctant to do that, and the pace suffers. Not the Lee Pace. Just the pace. Nevertheless, it’s always interesting to learn a new piece of history. Kudos for that.

Woodstock

Extended version of the famous documentary. Enjoyable to see the old bands again (I peed during The Who, dammit). This film could not have been easy to make. In the rain. In the mud. It’s a moment in time.

Apocalypse Now

Seeing this on the big screen again is always great. But having watched the “old” version 20+ times, the new scenes disrupt the flow. I’m sure it’s interesting for the filmmakers to add scenes, but for the audience, it’s disorienting. The thing is already baked. You can’t unbake a cake. Too, I noticed something I’ve never noticed before: both Willard and Kurtz talk about how much they hate lies – over everything else. Is this the quality they have in common? When Kurtz asks Willard to speak to his son, and tell him the truth about what happened, does he do it?

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

My second viewing. I still think it’s Brad’s movie. Even though it’s a bit unfair to hippies, I appreciate how much it wants to shine a light on a certain kind of middle-class Hollywood worker with recognition and validation. We’re all just one pool party away…

David Crosby: Remember My Name

Kind of a companion piece to Echo in the Canyon, this follows David Crosby as he apologizes to everybody he’s been an asshole to. I learned a lot about The Byrds, and never realized how influential they were, or people believe that they were. It’s a good doc – more about information than artistry.

Spiderman: Far From Home

It’s a pretty lightweight chapter, akin to the Ant-Mans. The stakes are low and the proceedings lack gravitas. Spider-Man is no longer Jesus, like the Raimi movies. But the cast is good and there’s a twist or two. And a nice turn from Jon Favreau (where does he find the time??). And not that it matters, because there’s plenty of room for lots of Spider-Mans, but it aint Spider-Verse. It’s never mind-blowing.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

What if you went on an Easter egg hunt and it was ALL Easter eggs? It was literally a ball-pit of Easter eggs? Watching Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is so filled with shout-outs, clues, references, footnotes, and historical wink-winks it’s hard to pay attention to the plot. Thankfully, that plot lingers so glacially at times that you can always catch up if you need to. Most of this is a day-to-day, day-in-the-life tale -- set-dressed to death and lovingly made, but not “exciting” per se. The suspense comes from the historical context – the dread of knowing what happened to Sharon Tate et al. Most of that dread dissipates as filmmakers rewire history to manage expectations. Historically speaking, nothing is what it seems. Rewriting history is only worthwhile if it serves as catharsis. It’s hard to tell who benefits from the happy ending here. It’s more about the color of the costumes…

Toy Story 4

It’s beautifully made, of course. But it’s not SURPRISING the way the previous films are. Some of the plots and themes of the previous chapters are revisited here and the “villain” doesn’t really redeem herself in a significant way. While there’s some missed potential, the quality of the film-making is so high it would be like saying, “The minibar in my Rolls-Royce doesn’t hold enough ice.” It’s really an embarrassment of riches.

Anna

This is so much like La Femme Nikita and The Professional that it’s practically a sequel. Kudos to Luc Besson for giving the world lots of supermodel assassins. We’re grateful. But there’s not a lot of new ground being broken here. Like Atomic Blonde, what matters here is that the supermodel assassin has the upper hand, and not the corporation. She’s less of a prostitute, I suppose. What we need next is a trained assassin that reluctantly becomes a supermodel.

Rocketman

What starts out as a kind of West Side Story/Music Man dancing-in-the-streets musical evolves into a psychedelic Ken Russell journey when Sir Elton’s life inevitably spirals down into a maelstrom of booze and pills. It checks all of the music biopic boxes. Taron Egerton and Jamie Bell are in top form, and the musical numbers are lively, but I’ll admit this didn’t MOVE me the way that it should have. I’m jaded, I think, by all the musician biopics and their tropes. It’s interesting, too, that they never touch on “Candle in the Wind” or The Lion King. Maybe that stuff’ll be in Rocketman 2.

Echo in the Canyon

A music doc that’s supposed to be about the Laurel Canyon music scene. But it’s not REALLY about that. It’s really about a certain style of mid 1960’s rock and roll, the bands who made that music, and the other bands who loved and emulated that music. Jakob son-of-Bob Dylan is the host and one of the filmmakers here. While his love of the musical style is firmly on display here, his concert during which he performs some of this music is a little off. When Dylan and his band are covering the Byrds or The Association, they don’t really nail the harmonies. Maybe it’s nit-picky, but it seems like if that’s the style you’re paying tribute to, you should try to nail those. Nevertheless, lots of good interviews and a loving tribute to that chapter of the rock and roll bible.

Booksmart

Nerds are hilarious! Look at ‘em dance! The thing about these nerds, though, is they’re not really all that nerdy. One of them is pretty, and the other one is smart and funny, but has a big ol’ chip on her shoulder for some reason. So, the super-awkward, embarrassing moments for these nerds feel contrived for the sake of the movie. The conflict doesn’t feel all that real. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t funny. It’s still plenty funny. A lot of that credit goes to the character played by Billie Lourd – “Gigi” – a mysterious, supernatural, multi-talented send-up of the “manic pixie dream girl” and a total scene-stealer.

Late Night

There’s a lot of wish fulfillment here. Not that there’s anything wrong with wish fulfillment, right? Preston Sturges made a living at it. In Mindy Kaling’s semi-autobiographical dramedy, she gets a dream job she’s not qualified for, she saves the soul of her TV hero, and manages to somehow please her parents in the process. I guess it’s important that young people watching the movie can believe that miracles can happen if you have a little pluck. There are a few jokes in this movie too, many of which work. So it’s a pleasant enough Working Girl/The Devil Wears Prada trope, which neither inspires nor offends.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

This is a kid’s movie. You know: for kids. It takes the Who Framed Roger Rabbit conceit and just transfers it over into the Pokémon world. There are some funny creatures. Some bad creatures. There’s a mystery. They’ll probably sell some toys. Pikachu sounds like Deadpool. That’s surreal. But then, so is the whole enterprise. I don’t know what else to say. It is what it is? It isn’t what it isn’t?

John Wick: Chapter 3

“Let’s get high and think of funny places to have action scenes.”

The filmmakers love their sequences and their set-pieces. Each new location John Wick sprints to has its own unique set of weapons, animals, and vehicles, all of which John Wick uses to kill people in the most imaginative ways possible. The story and the plot, mostly revolving around the Continental Hotel and the worldwide consortium of assassins and their coins, is starting to make less sense. Potential for this world-building in the first movie was HUGE, but we’d be fooling ourselves if we thought that this could be anything other than a light-framework on which to hang the many, many murders with machine guns, knives, and dogs. Keanu is better at the gun than the fu, and he’s not quite as quick as some of the others on the stunt team. Future movies might benefit from being more gun-based. These movies are always a thrill. There should be Oscars for stunt teams.

Avengers: Endgame

** SPOILERS!! ** ** SPOILERS!! ** ** SPOILERS!! ** ** SPOILERS!! **

Marvel managed to tie-up a massive, 22-film serialized thing that’s probably more like a comic book than anything that’s ever been made. It’s a major achievement. Some of the cast have been in 7 or 8 of these movies, which is an impressive commitment. DC can barely hang on to the same Batman from film to film. This chapter wraps up a lot of the little subplots and movies in a way that (spoiler alert!) had to have been REALLY expensive. It’s truly a feat.

As for the movie itself, it’s three hours long but it never FELT long. It maintained its otherworldly urgency and stayed interesting. That being said, Thanos sits down a lot to brood and mope, which doesn’t make him very threatening, and you begin to wonder what his plan was this whole time. Someone told me he was in love with Hela and he was trying to impress her by killing everybody. No wonder he seems so tired. But I couldn’t really follow that. I was too busy watching all of the super-hero gladiator kung-fu. Superheroes seem to know a lot of kung-fu, which is weird because, if they’re GODS, maybe they could use their God–like powers to defeat Thanos instead of all of that Earthly kung-fu. It turns out, killing Thanos requires more than karate. But they keep trying the karate. At some point, somebody in the battle needed to shout: “Guys, karate isn’t working. We should try something else.”

And now some random observations:

So, was Steve hiding in Peggy’s house the entire time when she founded SHIELD? (This is a very “Bill and Ted’s” kind of question.)

Where did Hulk go? Hulk not smash.

How the hell could Peter go back to the doldrums of high school after all of that?

Wanda could stand to make herself a little more useful. Maybe she should learn some karate.

The most applause during my screening was when Steve picked up the hammer. Pretty cool.

Of all the people to get the big, sad crying scene at the end – it’s Goop lady?? Not really fair. She didn’t really earn it.

So, it turns out Nebula is pretty important.  I feel like I need to rewatch all the Nebula scenes to see what the deal was with her.

Who was the mystery kid looking all sad at the funeral? (I looked this one up and I know it now. It’s the kid from Iron Man 3.)

Where was Agent Colson?

Why are Nick and Carol acting like they don’t know each other at the end? What happened?

And where the hell was Carol during that big battle scene? Kind of a late arrival.

Shazam!

I watched the Saturday morning show as a kid, and I don’t remember much. A hippie in an orange shirt drove around in a Winnebago with an old man and they saved people and fought crime. Modern Shazam doesn’t have a creepy old man or a Winnebago, and he’s less about saving people and more about stopping this one really bad guy and the hideous demons he flies around with. It’s hard to understand the villain’s plan. He goes into a boardroom and kills all the top members of a company so he can run the company? I’m not sure that’s how corporate hierarchies work. There is a light-hearted, kid-friendly vibe to this. Early in the movie, when Zachary Levi is in the suit and doing the comedy thing, it’s crowd-pleasing and jaunty. Inevitably, there’s a bunch of superhero fighting, none of which is really original, visually or thematically. It almost feels extracted from the DC/WB tv show playbook, rather than the big-budget movies. Which is not a bad thing. There’s a reason why those shows have the staying power.

A Vigilante

The are several instances when Olivia Wilde’s vigilante Equalizer has the drop on the evil man, and for reasons that are unclear, she doesn’t break his neck. So, there’s a lot of wish-fulfillment, and a lot of simplifying of complicated themes about abuse, but there isn’t a lot of killin’. And there’s needs to be more killin’. It’s not like the lady isn’t ready. She spends about 25% of this movie “training” – punching and exercising in shitty hotel rooms. Kill a motherfucker or two, lady! Quit pulling punches.

Hotel Mumbai

Of all the Die Hard knock-offs we’ve seen over the years, it turns out all we had to do to get the best one was wait for the “true story” version. It’s a very well-directed, taught and tense action movie based on true events in 2008. The international cast is top-notch, doing their best with their action movie archetypes.
The setting, whether it’s sets or locations, feels authentic and carefully designed. The pace is expertly persistent. In so many ways, it feels like a good, old-fashioned action movie. If John McClane was a Sikh. It’s hard to know how accurate it is, and it dramatizes the terrorists and their motives in a way that might be more cinematic than realistic. But it IS a movie – and movies do that. So, I say: kudos and huzzahs to the filmmakers.

The Mustang

What’s striking about this is: as much as the main character must bond with a wily horse, the actor must also bond with the horse actor. That had to have taken lots of time and dedication. Overall, it’s a pleasant but dull prison-western driven by themes of captivity and rehabilitation. It’s never ham-fisted or insincere, but it also plays it pretty safe in most of the scenes – checking the “family film” box, which is funny because it’s rated R. See it if you like horses.

Us

Doppelgangers, evil twins, clones, and alter-egos have always populated volumes of parables in art and literature. The takeaway themes vary, but one of them is almost always: we are our own worst enemy. Beyond that, I’m not sure what to take away from Us. It’s a very well-acted and always mysterious yarn, but I’m not sure if I “get” it. It’s more funny than scary, and the big “uh-oh” eerie finish left me baffled. It swings for the fences, thematically, but I wish it had been more conclusive.

Captain Marvel

Who would win in a fight? Captain Marvel or Superman? Captain Marvel or the Hulk? Captain Marvel or Dr. Strange? You can practically hear the conversations comic-book geeks and eight-year-olds are having about Carol Danvers and how powerful she is – really. That’s probably the best thing about this: she’s seems to be one of the strongest and most powerful heroes in any of the universes, which raises the superhero stakes considerably. But I’ll admit I found this movie confusing, mainly because I’m not a big enough of a comic-book geek to keep track of all of the important colorful stones and glowing cubes, green people and blue people, planets and alternate universes, to fully understand what the hell is going on. But I enjoyed the actors and the fact that Captain Marvel seems to be more powerful than Superman. (I smell a Marvel/DC crossover!) Looking forward to finding out who will be her Louis Lane.

Greta

There are a lot of things to appreciate about DePalma. Audiences and filmmakers have been yakking about and discussing and dissecting DePalma for years and years. Often the conversation steers to: Is he serious? Is he kidding? Is this meant to be over-the-top and jokey? Is it meant to be this derivative? It’s possible that many filmmakers appreciate his movies so much because he was able to get away with so much. “I want to get away with that much!” They think. “I want to cheat like DePalma cheats!” The filmmakers of Greta are these filmmakers. Let’s rip-off DePalma but also wink at the audience that we know we’re ripping off DePalma, who also ripped-off himself, and who also ripped-off Hitchcock… Ultimately, you can see a lot of these plot points and goofs coming, so the whole experience is a bit dull.

Alita: Battle Angel

There’s an expression – “the uncanny valley” that I’ll admit I really don’t understand. It has something to do with objects and creatures that aren’t real but that look so real that it creates a distant, repulsive feeling in the viewer. That’s Alita, whose voice doesn’t quite match her body, whose super-human movements don’t obey the laws of physics, and whose eyes seem freakishly huge and focused. She’s a robot, for sure. But you have to wonder why her creators would treat her exactly like she's human knowing full well that she isn’t. Doesn’t that mean she doesn’t have free will if it has to be given to her?

The script and the story also contribute to this uncanny problem. If she had free will would she really choose to roller-skate competitively? There’s just something off about this. The tone, the themes, the pacing. It all feels rushed. Decisions were made to get to the action scenes as quickly as possible. And granted: they’re amazing. But they don’t really resonate emotionally because the whole thing feels like you’re watching somebody else play a video game. I can’t really define the uncanny valley. It’s hard to put your finger on it. There’s just something… off.

You Were Never Really Here

I know I saw this movie. I think I saw it. I’m not sure I remember it all. Does that mean it’s unmemorable? What I DO remember is the way the movie plays with dreams and memory. It’s kind of an "unreliable narrator" mind-fuck with fancy, stylistic editing to… I don’t know… convey confusion? Joaquin Phoenix plays Liam Neeson – a guy who rescues kidnapped girls – which he does by beating the fuck out of people in a potboiler that devolves into a sequel to The Raid. I can’t remember how it ended. Did it end?

Eighth Grade

This feels very honest. There are some pacing problems and some logic problems, but this will serve as an excellent time capsule of "Generation Tech" and the terrifyingly quick assimilation with all social media. Still, there are some teen tropes and rites of passage that technology doesn’t change and this movie handles those well, too.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Yep. Saw it again. Best movie of the year. I wish I understood the amount of innovation that went into this. The techniques that make it so surprisingly different. Whose creative decisions are these? The writers? The editors? The directors? Sony’s? It’s electrifying.

Leave No Trace

Really strong character-building and a rich father-daughter relationship here, but the plot lacks. Missing details about why these two are living in the woods and the serious lack of social workers leaves too many unanswered questions at the end. The strong performances aren’t enough to spin a satisfying yarn.

Free Solo

A heroic doc in which the hero is the camera gear. As admirable as it is for the subject, Alex Honnold, to climb El Capitan without ropes, to FILM it without getting in the guy’s way and causing him to fall to his death is what earned this doc all of its well-deserved trophies. Because, let’s face it: it’s not like it’s really suspenseful. They would have never released the movie if the guy had died, right?

Green Book

This is a solid best picture candidate with two unforgettable performances. It behaves like a road movie, and cruises along with a steady and engaging clip. Like Bohemian Rhapsody, it touches on some of the real-life characters more complicated qualities, but it never lingers for long. It’s expertly acted, directed, shot and edited and it might very well win best picture. And it’s also really human, depicting a heart-felt friendship in an era of change. You kinda wish some of our “leaders” liked movies. They might learn something from this.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Animated superhero stories were always the bargain basement it terms of quality. The cheap looking cartoons on Saturday morning had so much potential, but I’m sure were thought of as low-art or commercials for toys. It wasn’t until the Batman: Animated Series in 1992 that superheroes started getting some super-serious animated love. Sam Raimi’s live-action Spidermans started ten years later and it seemed like the comic books would be “live action” from then on. But then Pixar released The Incredibles, which was, in my mind, the most beautifully animated superhero saga to date. (Why did it take so long?) When I saw The Incredibles 2 this year, I was blown away and believed it was, at the time, the best animated thing I’d ever seen, in any genre. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

That is... until I saw Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, which is sublime in a way that’s almost impossible to describe. So, also and including Mary Poppins Returns, 2018 seems like it was a banner year for animation, because this is… ground-breaking and game-changing. It redefines the animated superhero model and obliterates the cartoons. The story is spellbinding, the voice acting is top-notch, and the use of music is unprecedented. Before I saw this, people were saying that this was the best movie of the year. I was skeptical, but the people are right. This is awesome. Steve Ditko and Stan Lee may rest in peace because their legacy is safely wrapped in a web with this: an achievement for the ages. DO NOT MISS IT IN THEATERS.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

As with any bio-pic, you have to wonder how much of it actually happened and how much is dramatized for effect. You could argue that if it’s an entertaining movie than it shouldn’t matter that much. But I still wonder about this: the story of Lee Israel and how it all went down. Be that as it may this is a very well-acted drama about a desperate (or was she?) and alcoholic author who’s strapped for cash and willing to swindle some collectors so she can take her cat to the vet. The main character is such an unlikable grouch that the movie runs the risk of not working, if not for the complicated and careful performance by Melissa McCarthy, who nails it. The story also dives into to an unfamiliar but surprisingly interesting sub-culture of collectable, old letters written by famous people. It’s like baseball cards for literary types and the world therein can be dark and seedy! Kudos to Richard E. Grant here, too, who shines as a breezy con-artist who conspires to hock the counterfeit goods. A strong and intimate character study well worth the time.

Mary Poppins Returns

Emily Blunt can’t sing like Dame Julie Andrews. You wouldn’t expect her to. But she CAN sing a little. More than a little. And as she takes on a more stern and disciplinary tone with the Banks children, she leaves a lot of the Disney showiness and sparkle to… the filmmakers. And the results are fantastic. The make-up, the costumes, the sets, the animation, and the songs are all glorious. The crew did an incredible job working, obviously for years, to craft one of the best movies of 2018. I can only imagine the numerous meetings at Disney headquarters fretting about the risk of fucking up one of the most beloved movies of all time by making a sequel. “Don’t fuck this up…” must’ve been the on-set mantra. They didn’t.