Monthly Archives: December 2024

Column, Reel Views

My Top 10 Films of 2024

2024 saw the chasm between tentpole event movies, and basically everything else, widen. Audiences seemed to either rush out to their most anticipated titles on opening weekend or stay at home to wait — in some cases, only a few weeks — for rental or streaming. Whether you went to the theater or watched from your couch, there were plenty of great options throughout the year. I watched just shy of 200 new releases in 2024 and these are my 10 favorites:

  1. Challengers (streaming on Amazon Prime and available to rent/buy)
    After a string of projects that were hit and miss for me, Luca Guadagnino served up two winners in 2024, the better of the two being this tense tennis tug-of-war for three. Told with back-and-forth chronology that metaphorically simulates the head motion one makes while watching a match, it’s an electric and steamy sports epic with a trio of strong performances. The propulsive music score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross will undoubtedly buzz in the ear buds of gym goers for years to come.
  2. Civil War (streaming on Max and available to rent/buy)
    Alex Garland has gotten better each time out with his directorial efforts and this hot-button wartime thriller is his salient statement yet. Kirsten Dunst is at her best as a world-weary photojournalist making sense of her duty to a country that is falling apart before her lens. I’m not sure I saw — or heard, especially —a more gripping finale last year than the extended setpiece outside the White House that concludes with an unshakeable still image.
  3. His Three Daughters (streaming on Netflix)
    Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen are all in top form in this meditative family drama from writer-director Azazel Jacobs. They play a trio of estranged sisters whose differences become even more apparent when the time comes to care for their dad as he enters hospice. The writing is sharp and perceptive about the positions that loved ones can take toward the end of a loved one’s life, while the direction is empathetic about how these approaches all have their place.
  4. Hard Truths (coming to theaters in January)
    This caustic character drama is an annual reminder that I need to make more of an effort to make time for the work of English writer-director Mike Leigh. His 16th film is centered around an irascible misanthrope, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who’s seemingly lost sight on how much her anger is covering up a depressive disorder. True to the movie’s title, it’s hard watching a lead character alienate the only people who choose to stick with her but the effort is rewarded with profound truths about how we relate to one another.
  5. The Brutalist (coming to theaters in January)
    A historical epic erected as a monument to larger-than-life cinema, Brady Corbet’s latest is awe-inspiring filmmaking of the highest order. Adrien Brody stars as a Holocaust survivor who emigrates to the United States from Poland with the hope that his architectural ability will lead to prosperity. Shot in VistaVision and accompanied by a superb sweeping music score by Daniel Blumberg, Brady Corbet’s colossal vision of the American Dream will hit you like a ton of bricks.
  6. Dìdi (streaming on Peacock and available to rent/buy)
    There were quite a few comedies last year that were set in the 2000s but writer-director Sean Wang’s dazzling debut cut through the mix with observant direction and a hilarious script. The coming-of-age tale of a Taiwanese-American eighth grader finding his way amidst changes in technology and friendship made for cringe-inducing humor that will especially relate with millennials. There are also turn-on-a-dime moments of poignancy with the title character’s family that solidify it as a generational gem.
  7. A Different Man (now available to rent/buy, streaming on Max starting January 17th)
    This existential dark comedy is, fittingly, one of two films on this list that dealt with duality, identity, and an obsession with changing one’s outer appearance at whatever cost. Sebastian Stan is stellar as a disfigured actor who undergoes an experimental medical procedure that reverses his facial condition but leads to other unexpected complications. Writer-director Aaron Schimberg addresses provocative themes with a sardonic wit that makes his feature one of the year’s most original.
  8. Dune: Part Two (streaming on Max and available to rent/buy)
    The follow-up to Denis Villeneuve’s first half of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi odyssey is as inspiring and incendiary as its companion piece. Austin Butler and Florence Pugh are excellent additions to an already extraordinary ensemble cast, which sees Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya eclipsing their performances from the predecessor. If Dune Messiah is adapted to round out Villeneuve’s trio of Dune films, it could cap off one of the best movie trilogies ever made.
  9. The Substance (streaming on MUBI and available to rent/buy)
    Maybe there’s something wrong with me but I couldn’t stop smiling when I left the theater after seeing Coralie Fargeat’s body horror opus. Demi Moore is Oscar-worthy as an aging fitness TV star who takes an experimental drug that spawns a much younger version of herself. The satirical commentary on how female celebrities are overexposed, and then jettisoned when they hit a certain age, is razor sharp.
  10. Nickel Boys (coming to theaters in January)
    No director evoked the power of lived experience more exquisitely than RaMell Ross with this period drama about a pair of Black teens sent to a ruthless reform school. Filmed largely from a first-person point-of-view, the movie seamlessly juggles perspectives back and forth between the two main characters. Both a technical marvel in terms of editing and cinematography and also a storytelling marvel in terms of emotional depth, it’s a movie that feels miraculous and magical.

Reprinted by permission of Whatzup

Review

A Complete Unknown

Making a biopic about a legendary figure like Bob Dylan is always going to be tricky because everyone knows something about him and some people know everything about him — at least it seems that way. James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown doesn’t put forth minutiae about the singer/songwriter that will be new to hardcore fans, nor does it hit every bullet point of Dylan’s Wikipedia page. But it’s an immersive and intricately-rendered look at the most important transitory period early in his 60+ year music career. Those who don’t already get his appeal or personally enjoy his music should at least gain a sense of appreciation for his impact on rock history and why he matters to so many people. But along with his co-writer Jay Cocks, Mangold sets out first to make an engaging story about a young stranger who came out of nowhere and was everywhere in just a few short years.

Our story starts in 1961, with Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) hitchhiking with his guitar from Minnesota to New York City, where he hopes to meet his ailing idol Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) in a nearby hospital. While paying him a visit, he finds Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) already beside and at their request, he plays them a song that enraptures them both. Seeger introduces Dylan at clubs and coffeehouses throughout Greenwich Village, catching the attention of fellow folk singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and her manager Albert Grossman (Dan Fogler). After the release of his debut album in ’62 and its follow-up a year later, Dylan quickly becomes one of rock’s most vaunted troubadours, troubling to his girlfriend Sylvie (Elle Fanning), who didn’t expect such a meteoric rush to fame.

The climax of A Complete Unknown centers on Bob Dylan “going electric” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, a seminal decision that alienated acoustic purists but allowed him to venture onto new sonic pathways. Mangold doesn’t try to explain away why Dylan chose to bring a backing band to a folk-oriented fest but instead, he paints a portrait of an iconoclast who values his musicianship above all else. Understandably, the spotlight is brightest on Chalamet here and while it’s not a transcendent performance, he certainly does a believable job conveying both Dylan’s raspy timbre and musical chops. I don’t think he peels back new layers of understanding behind the artist’s genius but I don’t know that the movie needs him to either. “You can be beautiful or you can be ugly, but you can’t be plain,” Dylan says of performers at one point and Chalamet’s work doesn’t fit into the “plain” category.

Like Dylan at Newport, Chalamet also has a talented ensemble backing him up in this musical endeavor. Edward Norton has tended towards self-centered and arrogant characters more recently in his career, so it was a treat watching him melt into a character here who is much more soft-spoken and tender in his disposition. Elle Fanning has something of a thankless role as “the girlfriend” or “the muse” but she brings a grace and poise to the performance that make her moments stick out. The biggest find here, though, is Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, whose angelic voice and delicate fingerpicking on stage didn’t always translate to submissiveness off-stage. As someone mired in both a professional and personal relationship with Dylan, she has no problem standing her ground when Bob’s ego gets the best of him. Barbaro is both magnetic and authentic as Baez the musician and Baez the person.

As he did with his thrilling sports biopic Ford v Ferrari back in 2019, Mangold brings out all of the period elements of the 1960s without drawing too much attention to them. I expected A Complete Unknown to mirror Inside Llewyn Davis — still a much better film, even though it’s a fictionalization — but the look of the two movies is completely different. Where Bruno Delbonnel’s camerawork in Davis was meant to execute the warmth of cozy coffee houses like The Gaslight Cafe, DP Phedon Papamichael’s camera frames the events with more tactility and grit by comparison. There have been numerous documentaries about Bob Dylan and given the era it focuses on, it’s fitting that A Complete Unknown is most visually analogous to Scorsese’s No Direction Home. Mangold wants us to feel like we were in the room when Dylan broke out and if you’re in the mood to travel back in time like Mangold had Indiana Jones do in his Dial Of Destiny last year, then you’ll want to get acquainted with A Complete Unknown.

Score – 3.5/5

New movies coming this weekend:
Opening in theaters is Sonic the Hedgehog 3, an action-adventure sequel starring Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey, following Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails as they reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before.
Also playing only in theaters is Mufasa: The Lion King, a live action-styled prequel starring Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr., focusing on the future king of the Pride Lands when he’s a cub who befriends an heir to a royal bloodline named Taka.
Streaming on Netflix is The Six Triple Eight, a war drama starring Kerry Washington and Ebony Obsidian, centering on the contributions of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black and all-female battalion, in World War II.

Reprinted by permission of Whatzup

Reel Views, Review

Y2K

During his 9-season tenure at Saturday Night Live, actor Kyle Mooney often exuded a goofy and amiable charm in his sketch roles, so it stands to reason that his directorial debut would possess those same qualities. To say that the disaster comedy Y2K doesn’t take itself too seriously would be quite the understatement, which will be a bug for some and a feature for others. As its title implies, millennials are squarely in the film’s key demographic; even if other age groups understand the barrage of late 90s references Mooney and his co-writer Evan Winter throw into their screenplay, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll appreciate them. But if you’re looking for a throwback that plays like a blend of 1998 movies Small Soldiers and Can’t Hardly Wait, then Y2K is here to dial up the nostalgic fun.

Set on the final day of 1999, the movie follows teen buddies Eli (Jaeden Martell) and Danny (Julian Dennison) as they try to find a New Year’s Eve party they can get into at the last minute. After getting bullied by stoner skaters Ash (Lachlan Watson) and Farkas (Eduardo Franco) outside a convenience store, the pair run into the smart and popular Laura (Rachel Zegler) inside and she lets them know about a party at the house of Soccer Chris (The Kid Laroi) that night. Eli’s attempt that evening to turn his crush on Laura into something more is thwarted by The Millennium Bug, which causes all manner of technology from appliances to computers to become violently sentient. While most of the kids at the party die at the hands of the now-conscious electronics, Eli and Laura form a group with several others to venture out and try to unplug the superintelligence trying to end humanity.

In terms of alternate history pitches, “what if Y2K really happened?” is a tantalizing one but not exactly one that Mooney and his team look to explore too deeply. To a certain degree, it seems to parody the kind of tech paranoia popular in mid-90s sci-fi thrillers like The Net and Virtuosity in the way it ups the stakes to outlandish proportions. But it’s all backdrop for what’s primarily one of those teen comedies about how going to one cool kid’s party can change the trajectory of your whole life. The characters here are all easy enough to hang out with for 90 minutes but I wish that Mooney and Winter had fleshed them out a bit more; Laura is the most developed one here and even she basically becomes Angelina Jolie’s character from Hackers by the third act. Compared to another period coming-of-age story like Dìdi from earlier this year, the writing here is laughably thin.

Mooney may not have the most sophisticated film on his hands but he certainly packs it to the brim with as many turn of the century touchstones as possible. There are needle drops from pop rock acts like Edwin McCain and Semisonic, with plenty of other zeitgeist zingers invoking all manner of pop culture fixtures from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time to Billy Blanks. And should you still carry a torch for stylings of nu metal act Limp Bizkit, Y2K should immediately leap to the top of your must-watch list. There’s a running bit of clever commentary courtesy of a rap enthusiast character played by Daniel Zolghadri, who chastised his friends Ash and Farkas for foregoing thoughtful hip-hop for what he deems as “corporate music”. He freestyles as Prophets Of Intelligence and gets on his high horse about posers selling out but when it comes down to it, his taste and talent isn’t as “elevated” as he thinks it is.

There really isn’t much tension in Y2K as to whether or not the ragtag band of high schoolers will somehow overcome the evil robots, though there are some unexpected casualties along the way. The violence bestowed upon the teens is as impractical as it is ridiculous, with blenders lunging at crotches and Barbie Jeeps arming themselves with power tools. Midway through the movie, Laura pulls up a video that conveniently explains the supercomputer’s evil plot in lengthy detail with visual aids. Does it actually make sense that machines heading towards technological singularity would divulge their plan as carelessly as a James Bond villain would? Of course not. Y2K is a diverting enough initial outing from Kyle Mooney as a director, who I hope will keep honing his storytelling chops from here on.

Score – 3/5

New movies coming this weekend:
Playing only in theaters is Kraven The Hunter, a Sony’s Spider-Man Universe entry starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ariana DeBose, following a primeval assassin who starts down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences.
Also playing in theaters is The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim, an animated fantasy starring Brian Cox and Gaia Wise, set almost 200 years before Peter Jackson’s trilogy, when the king of Rohan and his family defend their kingdom against a powerful army.
Streaming on Netflix is Carry-On, an action thriller starring Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman, following a mysterious traveler who blackmails a young TSA officer to let a dangerous package slip through security and onto a Christmas Day flight.

Reprinted by permission of Whatzup

Column, Midwest Film Journal

Denzelmber: Flight

Originally posted on Midwest Film Journal

If the archetypal Denzel Washington performance can be summarized in a single word, it would be “control”. No matter who he’s playing, we in the audience trust that his character has things under control. Robert Zemeckis knows we expect this, which is why he opens his 2012 character drama Flight with Denzel strutting down a hotel hallway to Joe Cocker’s “Feelin’ Alright” after ripping a line of cocaine. In fact, it’s so in line with what we expect from his characters, it could certainly be seen as a cocky needle drop so on-the-nose that it’s meant to play for laughs. But like the plane that Denzel’s pilot character Whip Whitaker flips mid-air later in the first act, Zemeckis inverts Denzel’s cool, calm and collected persona in his story of compromised heroism. Washington has been outstanding in many films but his work in Flight remains my favorite of his still-thriving career.

As Whip Whitaker, Denzel exudes the brand of confidence we expect of our commercial captains and it’s not unearned. After taking off from Orlando, Whitaker ably navigates through a storm during takeoff so perilous that it even rattles his young co-pilot Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty). We learn Whip was likely able to stay so sedate during the emergency because he’s still drunk the night before, a condition he exacerbates by pouring a couple shooters of vodka into an orange juice bottle while addressing the cockpit after the fracas. A sudden mechanical failure leads Evans to cede control of the plane back to Whitaker, who turns an uncontrolled nosedive into a crash landing that spares the lives of almost all aboard. Whip wakes up in the hospital with Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood), a friend of Whip’s since their days together in the Navy, by his bed on behalf of the pilots union.

Now it’s Charlie’s turn to navigate a vessel on the ground even more unstable than the one Whip maneuvered in the sky. Charlie and Whip go back a ways but the former doesn’t seem to realize the extent of the latter’s personal issues until he learns more about the details of the emergency crash-land. Charlie brings in a “co-pilot” in the form of criminal negligence attorney Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle), who calls attention to the toxicology report done in the hospital that indicates Whip’s BAC as .0.24%. Given the scale of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board is forced to conduct a thorough investigation and though Whitaker’s actions were heroic, his compromised state during the flight means he could be facing serious prison time. While waiting for the NTSB to rule on the cause of the crash, Whip finds comfort in the arms of Nicole (Kelly Reilly), a fellow addict he met while recovering in the hospital.

Wisely, Zemeckis doesn’t allow his film to get mired in the bureaucracy of lawyers prepping for the public hearing the NTSB will hold to pass along their findings about the incident. Flight is focused on Whip, what drives him to drink and why it’s so difficult for him to confront his alcoholism. He sees in Nicole a wounded soul struggling to overcome her demons but doesn’t quite seem to consider how much alike they may be. Like everyone else, she’s in awe of the expertise and instinct that allowed him to save all but 6 of the 102 people onboard that fateful flight. But the stress of the NTSB’s in-depth inquiry leads Whip to hit the bottle even harder than usual, causing Nicole to take the role of caretaker more than girlfriend. She hasn’t known him long but knows he needs help, twisting his arm to attend an AA meeting in which he sullenly sits cross-armed before leaving a few minutes after it begins.

As a Denzel Washington vehicle, what Flight does so brilliantly is make us reconsider the confident characters that the larger-than-life actor has portrayed in the past and wonder how many had the struggles that Whip has here. If the first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one, he’s been stubbornly standing with his heels together for years. Even though it cost him his marriage and a relationship with his now-teenaged son, his addiction remains the most crucial priority in Whip’s existence. Calling the aftermath of the crash a “come to Jesus moment” lines up nicely with the “Act Of God” designation that can appear on accident reports. When Lang brings up the term while surveying the crash site with Whitaker, Whip solemnly ponders “whose God would do this?” Zemeckis taps on the theme of religion earlier in the movie, by way of a cancer patient character played by James Badge Dale who posits that even if you hate God, you’d be a fool not to believe in one.

Though every actor who appears in Flight, including John Goodman and Melissa Leo, makes the absolute best of the screen time they have, Washington is not only perfect for this role but flawless in his execution. After spending more time with Charlie and Hugh after the accident, he’s all too happy to direct his indignation at the airline for giving him a plane that was doomed to fail but isn’t able to admit that his intoxicated state points to deep moral failing. The scene where he attends the funeral of one of the flight attendants shines a spotlight on the vulnerability that Washington brings to this performance. He spends most of his time up to the NTSB hearing scrambling to cover his six, specifically in trying to convince one of the surviving flight attendants that he was in good shape to fly. His desperation and consternation in this moment flies in the face of the stoic, sun-glassed specialist we see in the opening moments of the movie.

Rewatching Flight after seeing Zemeckis’ disastrous Here in theaters last month, it’s a testament to just how right or wrong the veteran filmmaker can go depending on the story he’s piloting. After the one-two punch of What Lies Beneath and Cast Away — the latter which incidentally hinges on a plane crash — in 2000, he spent the rest of the decade on mo-cap animated ventures that leaned into technical innovation. Though the terrifying aircraft setpiece in Flight utilizes CG effects, they still look convincing and Zemeckis holsters the technical wizardry throughout the remainder of the film. He trusts his actors and knows that the special effect is in watching these performers make magic in their interaction with one another.

Reel Views, Review

Moana 2

It was never going to be an easy task following up a cultural phenomenon like Moana, which still remains Walt Disney Animation’s finest offering of the past ten years. Originally conceived as a long-form streaming series for Disney+, Moana 2 doesn’t quite have the narrative poignancy or thematic sophistication of its predecessor. Where that film felt like it was actually trying to speak to a teenage audience, this sequel brings things more in the kid-friendly range with easy laughs and an easier-to-follow plot. The fact remains that this lush and vibrant setting is nothing short of enchanting and any excuse to revisit the world of Moana is worthwhile, no matter how it compares to the original. Perhaps I’ll change my tune once Moana 5 is released but until that time, I intend to stay on the boat of this franchise.

Following her transition to chiefess of the Motunui people, Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) also acts as their lead wayfinder, voyaging to other nearby islands in search of inhabitants. In her exploration, she learns of the sunken island Motufetu, which once served as a connecting point for the nearby isles but was pushed to the bottom of the ocean by the storm god Nalo (Tofiga Fepulea’i). Emboldened by visions from her ancestors, Moana recruits a team to raise Motufetu from its watery depths and restore the channels to the separated sea. Accompanied once again by haughty demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) and joined by Moni (Hualālai Chung), Loto (Rose Matafeo) and Kele (David Fane), the crew ventures across the treacherous ocean to break Nalo’s curse.

If Moana was a journey of self-discovery and independence, then Moana 2 is about the next step into maturity, wherein our heroine takes on the responsibility of looking after others. She now has a much younger sister Simea (voiced by Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda), who acts like Moana walks on water and misses her dearly when she leaves for her expeditions. Her tribe looks to her for guidance on issues big and small as they crop up on Motunui and she even has a fan club of adoring “MOANA-BEs” who idolize the young trailblazer. During the story’s main quest, Moana doesn’t always have the right answers but like any good leader, she considers the capabilities and commitments of her people when making decisions about what to do next. The storms are always easier to ride out when you have the right people by your side.

Like Moana, Moana 2‘s adventure storyline is supplemented by new original songs, although Lin-Manuel Miranda did not return as lead songwriter this time around. While this sequel doesn’t quite have instant classics like “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome”, new tunes like “Beyond” and “We’re Back”, penned by Opetaia Foaʻi, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, are welcome additions to this series’ songbook. Auliʻi Cravalho’s singing was, of course, lovely in the original but her voice seems even more powerful and assured this time around. Once the crew gets sailing, “What Could Be Better Than This?” finds the four main performers trading humorous lines, with Rose Matafeo as a standout among them. The rousing ensemble number “We Know The Way” is also reprised here and Maui gets another cheeky uptempo anthem with “Can I Get A Chee Hoo?”

Also returning from the first movie are the sentient coconut pirates from the Kakamora tribe, who get even more screen time than the first adventure and remain a cute concoction within this magical universe. Their antics certainly play a role in the narrative but also seem to play double-duty as a way to keep kids entertained. The Kakamora have aboard a gelatinous, bug-eyed creature whose noises seem pitched to emulate the “goat scream” fad from several years ago. Moana 2 has several moments like that, where it feels like it’s dumbing itself down just to hit the marks with everyone and I wish it didn’t. But the animation and craft in this sequel is just as impressive as it was the first time around and the color palette is always a wonder to behold. Just because the waves aren’t quite as high in this sequel doesn’t mean it’s not worth the trip back out to the dazzling blue.

Score – 3.5/5

New movies coming this weekend:
Playing only in theaters is Y2K, a disaster comedy starring Jaeden Martell and Rachel Zegler, set at a high school party on New Year’s Eve 1999 which imagines if the millennium bug actually caused all technology to come to life and turn against humanity.
Also coming to theaters is Werewolves, a horror thriller starring Frank Grillo and Katrina Law, following two scientists who try to stop a mutation that turns people into werewolves after being touched by a supermoon event the year before.
Streaming on Netflix is Mary, a biblical epic starring Noa Cohen and Anthony Hopkins, telling the story after the birth of Jesus wherein Mary is forced to flee when Herod’s insatiable thirst for power ignites a murderous pursuit for the newborn.

Reprinted by permission of Whatzup