Doug's Favorite Movies of 2021

Nobody

Dune 

Belfast

Licorice Pizza 

The French Dispatch 

The Sparks Brothers 

Free Guy 

Summer of Soul 

Honorable Mention: 

The Last Duel 

Bo Burnham Inside 

Mulan

The King's Man

Downton Abbey meets The Suicide Squad. Ralph Fiennes, 59, dresses nicely, carries an umbrella, and kicks everyone’s ass in this enjoyable but sometimes weird, spy-tastic action movie. British people, as we all know, are superior, and manage to maintain their composure despite fighting some of the weirdest, non-British creeps and perverts one can imagine. Tea will be required! Lengthy segments in the trenches of World War I are brutal but breathtakingly filmed. Filmmakers dodge numerous war-movie tropes to render fresh, unyielding, and creative ass-kickery keeping your adrenaline jumpy and jolty. It’s long, and sometimes the pacing feels off. But heads roll, so you can’t ask for much more.

Don't Look Up

“Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” Adam McKay and his cast of A-listers swing for the fences in this super-duper pointy sharp satire of media culture in a time of worldwide disaster. The premise is worthy and the attitude is poignant. Efforts to goof on specific people sometimes tank, like Mark Rylance’s over-cooked, narcissistic billionaire. The plot and story are distracted by the personal relationships and marital affairs, which seem pointless and dull compared to the comet hurling towards Earth, but maybe that’s the point. This mines laughs as much as it bombs, but it gets an “A” for trying; and taking the piss out of us for being so apathetic. I wonder: was Dr. Strangelove considered so implausible at the time?

Being the Ricardos

Nicole is good here as Lucille Ball, but not so much as Lucy McGillicuddy-Ricardo. Javier Bardem, as much of a pro as he is, is completely miscast. Desi could smile! He could sing and dance! The Hollywood story and setting is fascinating; a worthy tale told expertly by Aaron Sorkin about a dark period in Hollywood history. It really didn’t need the flashbacks or the flash forwards, which just gum up the main story. It’s worthwhile as an interesting history, but it’s not mind-blowingly revelatory otherwise.

The Matrix Resurrections

I definitely need to watch this again. It’s a lot to process. Trinity and Neo are ordinary folks in this. Not super-cool, monotone, sunglass-wearing, gun-foo ninjas. But ordinary schlubs. But Neo knows something is amiss. His life in the Matrix is filled with dreams and glitches. Efforts to make this snarky and media savvy yield mixed results. Some of it’s fun, but some of it’s… oblique. Neil Patrick Harris throws out a lot of curve-balls as a manipulative therapist, but who is he really? The architect? Could somebody please call me and explain. The fighting and chasing is, as always, top notch. Images of brainwashed citizens falling from the sky, leaping to their deaths, are terrifying. And the love story between Trinity and Neo is still sweet and solid. But my brain needs a little more resolution than this story provides.

Nightmare Alley

Part carny nightmare and part noir nihilism, the colors and designs of this jump off the screen. It’s beautiful. Every frame is a perfect composition. But the story is a drag. There’s very few heroes and no redemption of any kind. That’s the way the noirs go, I suppose. This will get lost in film history, I think. There’s nothing uplifting at all, unlike The Shape of Water, despite the explosion of technique.

The Matrix Revolutions

A lot more Jesus-y in this final chapter. For some reason, Neo must kung fu with Agent Smith a lot in the Matrix to save Zion, to the point where he must make a “pact” with “the machines” to destroy Agent Smith in a Karate fight, because? If we’re completely baffled by the plot, then the gun-foo will be less suspenseful. It won’t matter who wins and who loses. There’s too much woo-woo philosophy and computer programming analogies in this, and it’s entirely possible to just get lost. The visuals are still stunning, but the fun is less fun.

Matrix: Reloaded

A lot more time and a lot more money yield a lot more bang-bang-bang for your buck. All of the philosophical blah-blah-blah and all of the rules muddy the simple fact that this is a rescue movie. Rescue the dude with the key. The “Zion” scenes are actually boring, and only fill in the back-story, which is ironically in the future. You often wish the Wachowskis would just cut to the “gun foo.” Eventually they do with beautifully directed and edited action sequences, massive in scope. It’s satisfying, but it takes way too long to reveal that like most movies, it was always a love story.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

** SPOILER-MAN **

It’s a game of superhero “top this.” Cram in all the heroes and all of the villains from all of the movies in an enormous super-powered Altman movie. It’s all about multi-dimensional entrances. Who will swing in next? It’s like an acrobatic Dean Martin Celebrity Roast. It’s fun, action-packed, long, and emotional. It fills your eyeballs with so much information that there’s no possibility of realizing what’s missing from the mix. Women, for example. They couldn’t at least dust-off Elizabeth Banks? For the ticket price, you couldn’t get more bang for your buck. It’s a hoot watching the multi-verse escapees banter about; comparing notes, etc. Of course, all of this was done already in the superior, animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, not that it’s a competition. All spider-people are welcome.

Eternals

The Eternals are the “bizarro” Avengers. They’re not human, they’re not interesting, they’re not funny, they’re not on Earth to help humanity, and they rarely take action when needed. Mostly, they stand in a circle, or sometimes a half circle facing the camera, and they discuss what they should do next to stop the monsters that are coming out of the ground for some reason. And although they’re not allowed to care about humans for some reason, they have to stop the monsters that are killing the humans for some reason. But they’re diverse, which is nice. Gemma Chan tries her best to remain stoic as the group leader, and Kumail Nanjiani dances as fast as he can as the comic relief. Angelina Jolie, a big movie star, has almost nothing to do. One wonders, when they’re standing in a half circle deciding what to do, why they don’t ask the big movie star. The big movie star ALWAYS knows what to do. But she’s kinda checked out, standing there in her pretty costume and her pretty hair, and just thinking about other stuff. As they’re fighting supernatural forces, there’s a goofy, middle-aged, Bollywood videographer following them around. He’s, like, the MAN. I want to know about HIM.

Ms. 45

Early Abel Ferrara movie in which an alluring, young, mute woman gets raped one too many times and decides to “open up a can.” A fascinating, timeless performance from Zoe Lund. Otherwise a pretty cheap and dated revenge yarn.

Night of the Juggler

A ranting psycho kidnaps James Brolin’s daughter and he “ex-cops” his way through the shitty neighborhoods of New York to find her. It’s pretty hammy, and has the production values of a CHIPS episode. Nevertheless, it’s got a recognizable cast of 80s-era tough guys and a nice turn from Julie Carmen. Suffice it to say: it ain’t Shakespeare and the title is terrible.

Licorice Pizza

Licorice Pizza has a secret. It’s always there, like a ghost lurking in the shadows and in the periphery. It informs every second and every frame of the movie. And every once in a while, PT Anderson et al show you the secret for a NANOSECOND, and then happily and skillfully steer you away to another episode of frivolity, during which the main kids, muy autentica, try as hard as they can NOT to fall in love. It’s a real struggle! And on 70mm film, it’s beautiful. It’s a sugary-sweet time-capsule about a magical world where age and maturity and “dateable readiness” is fluid. It’s almost impossible to view this from a modern-day, “me too” lens, and I don’t recommend you do, because it might be a little problematic. The movie tries to trick you into putting away your modern-day sensibilities and bask in the warm glow of a magic hour in the summer of 1974, when pinball machines became legal again and when the girls and the guys fell in love. It works, if you try not to think about that secret.

The House of Gucci

The characters in The House of Gucci say the word “Gucci” a lot. Lady Gaga, who’s pretty good as a Gucci, probably says Gucci the most. Adam Driver, who plays another Gucci, is probably the second most frequent Gucci character to say Gucci. But other Guccis say Gucci a lot, too. Like the Gucci played by Al Pacino. Or the Gucci-ing Gucci played by Jeremy Irons. Jared Leto, who plays the Gucciest Gucci, waves his arms and hands around a lot when he says Gucci. Leto is so Gucci that he’s the GUCCI Gucci. He Guccis way more than other Guccis, which is a lot of Gucci, let me tell ya. It’s hard to know how much of this Gucci movie is based on the real Guccis, versus the Gucci dramatic license of the Guccis and Gucci. The bottom line is: Guccis Gucci. And when Guccis Gucci, other Guccis Gucci in reply. It’s a Gucci-off. Who will be the greatest Gucci??  There’s a lot of Gucci-ing in The House of Gucci. Sir Ridley reveals all things Gucci with Gucci aplomb. Gucci Gucci, Gucci Gucci.

Spencer

 😐🤢🤮

The Power of the Dog

**  SPOILERS **

I wanted to like this Jane Campion, dusty cowboy melodrama a lot more than I did. It has everything going for it. A great cast, beautiful scenery, top-notch sets and designs. I regret to say it, but there were several times during the show that I thought, “Why am I watching this?” My back started to hurt, which is always a bad sign. It’s one of those movies where the main character has a secret. If you’re paying attention, you can figure out the secret, but otherwise you’re waiting for the character to reveal the secret. And it takes a while. I think this kind of story convention works better in a novel. Lots of people, better than I am, will probably like this. But I just found it shrug-worthy.

Reds

I’m sure at the time Warren Beatty was praised for putting on a big David Lean-like epic with all the trains and extras and running time that involves. He bit off a lot here and you have to admire him for that. But it feels kind of pointless and sad. Very 70’s, although released in ’81. The interviews with the real people reminiscing was probably very groundbreaking at the time, but it doesn’t really reveal that much about the subjects, who seem epically misguided.

The French Dispatch

Wes Anderson and a cast of thousands goof off in this very goofy tribute to a goofy newspaper in France in the olden days. Everything is goofy. The clothes are goofy, the hair is goofy, the performances are goofy. It's perfectly, immaculately filmed goofiness. Everyone is goofing off and it looks like they had a great time. We laughed all the way through this as Wes Anderson et al, more than anything, take the piss out of themselves and their goofy personas.

Dune

If you really want to distill this down into a basic premise, it would be, “A dude goes on an adventure with his Mom.” But filmmakers bring care and technique to every aspect of this. It’s beautiful. Denis Villeneuve et al go full HAM on the world-building, and it often feels like you’ve started the movie in the middle and you have to catch up. Seeing it twice is almost required, just to figure out the rules and who everybody is. And by everybody, I mean a cast filled with international stars and various superheroes. It’s A-list, and there’s no bad performance. Above all else, I appreciate filmmakers who love movies, and regard the artform with unalloyed enthusiasm. It’s a joy to behold in IMAX, despite the book-to-movie adaptation vagueness. Maybe catch it again on HBO to clear up any confusions? I expect there will be lots and lots of kudos. Also, it’s only a first chapter. We know who the hero is, soon we get to find out what he wants.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

By far the most remarkable aspect of this is how UN-remarkable the heroes are, at least at first. They’re not rich, they’re not radioactive, they’re not gods. The story is centered around two people who are… average Schmoes working as valet parkers. Problems at home, money issues, getting motivated issues. Ordinary people stuff. Simu Liu and Awkwafina (aka Nora Lum) nail this… “average-ness” and their surprise at the supernatural superhero shit that unfolds seems pretty genuine. Although the plot and story are meant to be a Marvel superhero origin story, the conventions are more in tune with Kung Fu movies and the traditions and tropes therein. Think: dragons. It’s fun and action-packed; light on emotion but big in vision.

No Time to Die

** SPOILER ALERT!! **

After a lengthy prologue that doesn’t involve James Bond, you start to realize that maybe this movie isn’t really about James Bond. He loses his job, he loses his 00 status, he loses his best friend, and he ends up being a lonely fisherman while the world continues on around him. Moments of this, like a sequence in Cuba with Ana deArmas, are exhilarating, vintage Bond kickassery. But by the middle, it’s a grounded, non-fantastic family drama that could easily be described as a big-budget Lifetime movie – a deadbeat dad trying to make good. The filmmakers do not pander and are not determined to entertain, at least not in a fun, “popcorn” way. It pains me to say this, but this is not that enjoyable of a movie. Sure, it’s action-packed and well-filmed, but it tries to cram in 60 years worth of womanizing Bond redemption into its final act, and it’s forced and clumsy. More martinis, please. Shaken... etc.

Army of the Dead

Not to nitpick, but the zombies in Army of the Dead aren’t really zombies in the traditional sense. They’re Resident Evil zombies if you had to give them a label. They're poisoned. They’re fast. They’re organized. But they also feel love? Zombies are never supposed to be the villain. Zombies can be the problem, but zombie parables are supposed to be about how humans treat each other during the zombie apocalypse. There’s a little of that here. But there’s WAY, WAY too much of the inner-life of the zombies. The love-lives and families and politics of zombies. It’s all pretty boring. But this I’ve always said: Zach Snyder loves movies. The guy can make the hell out of an opening credit sequence. He loves fire, heroes leaping through the air, and crashing vehicles. He basks in the warm satisfaction of an adrenaline-fueled action sequence. He doesn’t care if his movies are way too long, or if they make sense. He has an admirable devotion to mayhem. He just needs to respect our time a little more, and wrap things up. We have shit to do; daily tasks to try and prevent the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

The Mummy

Weird, weird, weird. Clearly made by committee. Clearly meant to be a “launch” of a now defunct franchise. Cruise is so clearly a hired gun. And it just all feels like an expensive rehash. That being said, sequences are exciting. Lives are at stake. Monsters monster. And as tough as it is to be the damsel opposite Cruise and his couch-jumping energy, Annabelle Wallis manages to keep up without humiliating herself, which deserves kudos. It could have been good. They had everything they needed.

Kate

I barely remember this movie. I think I thought it was fine. There was a kick-ass karate lady, lots of gun-fu, and maybe a kid was involved? The title is way too generic. I think it should foretell some level of ass-kicking. Plus, I'm getting it mixed up with the many other gun-fu women of late. Anyway, A for effort for all the Mary Elizabeth Winstead, female-lead ass-kickery. But I’ll be damned if I can remember any details.

Reminiscence

I always appreciate some sci-fi that isn’t all about chasing and disasters. I admire the stories that delve into time travel, changing the past, and the nature of memory. So, it’s ambitious. But it might be too clever for its own good. The sci-fi components aim to confuse, while the romantic love-story components play-out a little repetitive and schmaltzy. It’s slick. It’s kind of cool. It’s not a disaster. But it might remind you of better movies that you would rather be watching.

Free Guy

Shawn Levy is Hollywood’s version of the Hometown Buffet. He does everything. Just as famous as a Producer as he is a director, he’s made plenty of fluffy comedy adventures, all of which seem to be practice for this: one of the best movies this summer. It’s formulaic all the way -- it’s supposed to be. It’s filled with Easter eggs; countless references to the movies and games of the past. So, it’s derivative down to its DNA, but it’s also an original screenplay, which is wild. And Ryan Reynolds' snarky attitude works perfectly for a character who’s trying to learn to be human. So it’s a Smörgåsbord, and almost every frame is a delight. It probably won’t resonate, it’s just a little too featherweight. But man, it’s a fun night at the movies.

Tag

They say it’s based on a true story. And it’s a pretty “high-concept” comedy. Efforts are made to ramp up excitement by turning “tags” into action scenes. And there’s a schmaltzy, sentimental, male-bonding component, too, which includes a nice turn from Ed Helms. But it’s all for naught. There’s a messiness. A lack of rules. A lack of focus. Just because stories are “true” doesn’t mean they’re structured and shaped the way movies are. They get an “A” for effort here, but a C- for execution.

Venom

I thought Venom was supposed to be a Spider-man villain. But this makes Tom Hardy’s alien alter-ego a misbehaving anti-hero, bringing down a power-hungry megalomaniac with the same powers. It’s sometimes fun, and sometimes funny, but I don’t know how they’re going to pit him against Spidey if he’s all sympathetic and stuff. Standalone it’s fine, but it feels like a misfire of the “canon.”

American Pickle

The entire point of American Pickle is for Seth Rogen to banter and riff with an old Jewish version of himself. It’s an admirable shtick with technological chutzpah, but the plot is bupkis. So, meh.

Superintelligence

A perfectly pleasant but kind of dull airplane movie. Melissa McCarthy and Bobby Cannavale have an easy rapport. The stakes for a comedy are pretty high. McCarthy’s character only has to save the world in this winky, War Games scenario that pits her against a sentient, blood-thirsty AI played by James Corden. It must be watched on a plane. No other venue will be suitable.

Gunpowder Milkshake

Another hit-man/hit-woman movie. There have been SO MANY movies like this lately -- The reluctant assassin. This is fun to watch and the cast is great, mainly because of Karen Gillan, who’s been solid in ensembles, and now gets to be a leading lady. Or bleeding lady. They didn’t really reinvent the action movie wheel here. It respectfully borrows from Atomic Blonde and others. It’s just a visceral rush with lots of girl-based “gun-foo.”

Nobody

I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this meditation on emasculated, middle-aged dads. It’s well-written, well-filmed, well-acted, and really violent. It descends into a big gun battle at the end, which is unfortunate and a little anti-climactic. The bruising, painful, brawls in the middle are where you get your money’s worth. Bob Odenkirk et al deliver the goods here – a balls-out, full-HAM action movie, that peppers in a tiny, but very welcome bit of social satire. So far one of my favorite movies of the year.

The Suicide Squad

Moments of this are brilliant. Perverse, comedic, and deranged. I couldn’t really tell you what the plot is. But there’s a battle with a big-bad at the end, and some of the characters survive. James Gunn loves moves, surprises, and perverse physical comedy – the goopier the better. It’s a circus, and it deliberately juxtaposes the super-serious DC Batman and Joker movies some of which could maybe use a little more Gunn.

Jolt

Kate Beckensale stars in this Amazon release about a hit-woman with rage issues. While she’s skillful at the Jason Bourne/human weapon schtick, efforts to make this on a low budget and turn it into a John Wick-type sequel universe fall short.

Snake Eyes

Nicolas Cage plays an Atlantic City cop trying to solve a murder during a boxing match, as Brian DePalma and Cage both jerk the audience… Wait. Wait. Wrong Snake Eyes… 

 2021 Snake Eyes, based on the G.I. Joe character, unfolds like a conventional Samurai/Karate movie. Avenging a father’s death. Infiltrating a Yakuza crime family. Passing a few crazy Ninja tests. There’s a family dynasty. There’s a sentimental sword. There’s a magic amulet that gives you super powers. There’s a requisite car chase. There’s a fair amount of karate fighting. There’s a bad-ass grandma in a kimono. Henry "Crazy Rich Asians" Golding does a good job and keeps his character grounded in what is otherwise a pretty trope-filled b-movie. But because it’s based on a toy line, it can’t really be that violent, so there aren’t nearly as many beheadings as I would like. You can’t win ‘em all…

Black Widow

The entire thing… The ENTIRE POINT of this movie is for Scarlett Johansson/Black Widow to hand off ass-kicking duties to new ass-kicker Florence Pugh. Because it’s a prequel and everyone knows Black Widow’s going to die later, so the stakes aren’t really life and death in this. The acting here is all pretty good. The skilled cast slums it a little in this interim narrative, a rough metaphor about sex trafficking. Otherwise, it’s kind of a bland story. Black Widow deserved her own side-story before she was dead, so she could have a little more skin in the game. But juggling the schedules of all these supers in Marvel World can’t be easy.

No Sudden Move

Take out a legal pad and get ready to take notes. Because it’s a crime noir, and they’re talking fast and they’re dropping names of crime bosses and various goons like lightning and it’s hard to keep track of everybody. When the double-crosses start, of which there are many, you’re going to need a reference sheet. Still, sharp, top-notch acting all around from a great cast moving things along at an aggressively clippy pace. To move quickly, I suppose, or for some other artistic reasons, Soderberg uses the same lens for the entire movie. A wide-angle so wide there’s a vignette effect on the whole show. Mostly this is cool, and creates a visual consistency in the complicated plot. But it occasionally distorts things on the side of the frame, which can be goofy and disorienting. But those are the sacrifices to make for speed, baby!

Midnight Sky

George has learned a thing or two from the directors of his previous space movies (Gravity, Solaris) and has assembled a thoughtful, contemplative sci-fi cautionary tale about the end of the world. So, yeah it’s nihilistic. And it’s pretty slow at times. But the acting is great all around, the sets are cool, and the music by Alexandre Desplat is stunning and heartbreaking. But I can’t really recommend this because it’s just so fucking sad.

The Sparks Brothers

This great, loving doc about the band Sparks achieves everything it aspires to. It teaches dummies like me that it was more than just a new wave band in the 80s with a few hits. It entertains. It educates. And it explores a deep love and partnership between brothers who, for some cosmic reason, have similar artistic goals. Highly recommended. Kudos to Edgar Wright, et al.

Bo Burnham Inside

Is this a movie? I’m not sure. But it’s really interesting to see how the filmmaker uses limited space and no crew (but unlimited gear, apparently) to weave together an essay about pandemic loneliness and online identity crises. Not always funny, but really creative and worth watching.

Summer of Soul

The myth of the found footage has always piqued the imaginations of movie nerds and historians. It’s used here as a marketing tool, effectively creating intrigue. But the footage was never LOST, right? Somebody suddenly found interest in it – in this case Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Editors and colorists do a great job of reviving and trimming this concert series -- a time capsule to 1969 and black culture, and a really entertaining music doc.

Raising Arizona

According to the rules of the weblog, Raising Arizona would never be logged unless I saw it on the big screen. But since the lockdown, the guidelines have been relaxed. It continues to delight and amaze. Knowing so much more about film production than I used to, I still wonder how they did some of it. Definitely one of my ALL TIME favorite movies.

F9: The Fast Saga

I remember being a little kid and delighting in amazement when James Bond’s car turned into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me. He drives up on the beach, rolls down his window, and drops a fish out. As a kid, I never asked, “How did the fish get in the car? It’s air tight! The sub would have sank if a fish could get in!” 

Suspension of disbelief is a double negative. It doesn’t work unless there’s something positive to focus on. Preferably something bright and shiny and flying through the air. Preferably something automotive. Dan Casey and the thousands of filmmakers and technicians of F9 understand this and proceed with unbridled, preposterous glee. Sit back, sip your beer, eat your popcorn, and marvel at the excess.

The Fate of the Furious

Jason Statham fares best here, as usual, doing that John Woo/Hard Boiled thing on an airplane rescuing Dom’s baby as he kills no less than 30 dudes. Otherwise, Dom’s baby?? Off screen, Dom actually fell in love? With a woman? And had a baby?? It’s becoming a nitrous-oxide-fueled soap opera with a cast of hundreds. It’s like Game of Thrones – you need a facebook to keep track of everybody. And there’s no sign that this franchise is slowing down. I’m looking forward to the arrival of evil twins. 

 

The Hitman's Bodyguard

As Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson sit safely in their green-screen, car-driving soundstage and crack wise, an enormous stunt team schleps around mainland Europe shutting down entire cities and shooting massive, scorched-Earth chase sequences for our viewing pleasure. I’m in awe of the logistics. The story is only so-so.

Cruella

Still in pandemic mode, Disney+ releases what was obviously meant to be a big, theatrical release as an on-demand video. All the visuals are spectacular and it’s too bad a lot of people (like us) weren’t able to see this on the big screen. I’m still grateful to have seen it. I wonder if Disney should re-release some of these Disney+ movies in theaters at some point? They deserve the big theater experience.

Shoplifters of the World Unite

Fun, partially true story about an emo, new wave kid who forces a Denver DJ at gunpoint to play nothing but The Smiths for hours. But watching a movie that depicts Denver in 1987, but was filmed in New York, can be frustrating. Details that a local would love to see were missing. Still, an excellent soundtrack.

Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw

It’s a contrast of ass-kickers. Hobbs, who is big, kicks ass one way, while Shaw, who is more compact, kicks ass a different way. Every single scene in the movie works overtime to point out that Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson are physically different, and therefore have juxtaposed ass-kicking styles. So, replace the car racing with straight-forward ass-kicking and it’s a whole new enchilada. Also, it’s kind of Britishy. Some British ass-kickyness is featured to class-up the place.

Gemini Man

Ang Lee can’t seem to make a movie without diving into some technologically impossible boondoggle. He loves to bite off more than he can chew, whether it’s a visual effect, a stunt, a period costume, or some kind of new high-tech camera. When he’s successful, it’s often amazing and it doesn’t distract. And he’s willing to take those risks. This one distracts. While the effect is still pretty amazing, young Will Smith’s mouth still looks weird when he talks. And when he fights himself, it goes on WAY too long. So, it’s hard to concentrate and get into the story. It’s hard to care about the characters. You’re always trying to bridge the uncanny valley. Otherwise, it’s a perfectly entertaining, action-packed, sci-fi yarn – as long as nobody talks.

Mulan

Tropes and conventions, probably used for hundreds of years in the Beijing Opera, garner a reverent new spin thanks to director Niki Caro and the many thousands of technicians and millions of dollars behind this movie. Moments of this are sensational; pristine shots of breathtaking landscape, impeccable costumes, and meticulous make-up design. The pro-empire script is nothing to write home about and the acting is par for an epic like this. But there’s TECHNIQUE galore in this that’s so impressive. Did Disney give them more time? Did Disney give them more money? What was it that made this different? Unless you're an 8-year-old girl, it’s not a very emotional film, but that doesn’t really matter if you’re marveling at the compositions. 

Also: Because of Covid, this came out on video, which is an understandable business decision.  But Disney should think about re-releasing this on the big screen. It deserves a movie theater treatment.

Wrath of Man

In the first few minutes of this Jason Statham/Guy Richie reunion, you’ll notice things sound a little different. There are efforts all around to affect a modern-day version of a film-noir, crime drama, tough-guy dialogue delivery -- a vernacular trying too hard to be Shane Black or Tarantino. It sounds weird and it’s distracting. Thankfully, most of the movie unfolds in flashbacks, so those characters and that style disappears and the editor takes over the storytelling. If it were told in a linear fashion, there would be nothing new about this at all. But the gerrymandered story structure manages to build some suspense until the inevitable Heat-inspired, bullet-riddled conclusion. It’s always a kick to see Jason Statham doing his whispery, soccer-hooligan thing. But for the most part this is old hat. 

It’s notable that this is the first movie I’ve seen in a movie theater since the pandemic started, so about a year and a half. I’m glad to be back. 

Motherless Brooklyn

A hard-boiled noir about a tough-talking P.I. with Tourette’s Syndrome. Ed Norton directed the HELL out of this, and the worst part of it, the only bad part really, is the fact that the main character has Tourette’s. It feels so acty-schmackty and forced. Otherwise, this gumshoe crime drama is solid. It’s long, but that’s okay. It’s really well-shot and well-acted by the ensemble of famous, aging, tough guys. The locations are great. One wonders how the movie would be if the character DIDN’T have Tourette’s, which defeats the whole purpose I think.

Thunder Force

Could have been funnier. The general conceit, that two sort of heavy ladies become superheroes, has potential. But Melissa McCarthy’s character, the tough-talking teamster type, relies on crassness and pratfalls for humor, which gets old. It rebounds a little when Jason Bateman enters with some deadpan surrealism. Otherwise, it’s a lazy goof on superhero movies and is only sporadically funny.

News of the World

It’s a tried and true, through-and-through Western. There’s good guys and bad guys. There’s an orphan in trouble. There’s a land grab. There’s Indians. There’re gunfights. There’s a runaway wagon. It checks all the “western” boxes and succeeds in entertaining, despite all of the conventions. I mean: it’s Hanks. It’s gotta be at least decent, right?

Justice League: The Snyder Cut

This long-awaited opus runs about four hours, but is never boring, thanks to the clippy action and sagacious plot. With the subtlety of a flying brick, it hammers in Zach Snyder’s humorless, operatic version and does everything to erase the Joss Whedon version. There were things about Joss’s version that I liked. The Danny Elfman music, the occasional light-heartedness, and, believe it or not, Affleck’s performance as Batman. It’s not that this version is better or worse, it’s just different. Once you mentally prepare yourself for the four-hour running time, it’s never dull, even though the story is almost incomprehensible. Apparently, there’s a horned-demon who’s in trouble with his boss for not conquering enough worlds, and he needs to step-up his game. So, he hastily rushes into conquering Earth, not delving into the volumes and volumes of comic-book research chronicling that Earth’s mightiest heroes can and will kick his ass. It’s admirable and clear that Zach Snyder and his team love movies. They love heroes, they love visuals, they love action. But they’re trying TOO hard to impress. There’s no real point in criticizing a film for being bloated and self-indulgent. What’s the alternative? Especially if it’s exactly what the audience asked for?

Coming 2 America

It’s nice to see some of these characters again after 30 years, but it’s rarely laugh-out-loud funny. Part of what made the original funny was a kind of over-the-top goof of the fish-out-of-water trope. Those gags about how “different” Africa was don’t really hold up in the modern era. So, it’s now more about a class struggle. How rich is too rich? It’s always nice to see Eddie Murphy doing his thing, but it’s lazy and ham-fisted compared to Dolemite is My Name.

The Social Dilemma

I could have done without the little reenactment/melodrama about the family getting sucked into their social media sites. But the interviews with the tech gurus about the impact and future of social media is really worthwhile. A lot of it boils down to data mining. We’re being scanned, always, while we’re online and being force-fed information that fulfills our world-view so that we can be marketed to. Is the solution really to give up using your phone and quit reading online content? Or is the solution to seriously crack down on the media and tech giants abusing our membership to their social media thing? It’s a well-made film and a smart presentation of this dilemma.

One Night in Miami

So, there’s absolutely no doubt that this was adapted from a play. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it’s definitely a thing. Regina King handles the four characters adeptly, and the acting is above par. Still, there’s a theatrical vibe, and characters rarely say anything that isn’t totally important. It’s tricky to direct historical characters who were icons. No one ever wants to depict them as being frivolous. Filmmakers manage to strike a good balance between weightiness and casual male interaction. The result is an involving conversation with twists and turmoil – and a window into the private thoughts of the icons. And nevertheless, a great directorial debut from King.