Under the Silver Lake (David Robert Mitchell, 2018): 2/5

More wandering and pointless than Inherent Vice, which is an accomplishment. Makes me want to lock my slightly similar novella, Whatever, in a dark drawer forever.

Shirkers (Sandi Tan, 2018): 1.5/5

Who gives a fuck about some half-assed film you made and lost 20 years ago?

The Endless (Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, 2018): 2.5/5

Low-budget sci-fi; inspires extremely mild interest throughout.

Support the Girls (Andrew Bujalski, 2018): 2.5/5

Probably the most competent of Bujalski’s movies, but competency is overrated.  Nice performances from Regina Hall and (especially) Haley Lu Richardson. James LeGros adds another squirrelly asshole to his resume.

Bad Times at the El Royale (Drew Goddard, 2018): 2/5

Remember when every season would bring a sub-part Tarantino rip-off with verbose characters (and titles)? Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, 2 Days in the Valley, 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag. Yeah, here’s another one. Why is the hotel half in Nevada and half in California? It’s cool, I guess??

Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham, 2018): 3/5

A terrifying horror film. Well written and acted, but a lot to put yourself through. Say what you will about Solanz’ cruelty, but at least he would have used more exaggeration and grotesquery to permit the audience a bit of distance.

The Sisters Brothers (Jacques Audiard, 2018): 4/5

Comic and very melancholy. With some things I had never seen before, and some authentic Western genre pleasures.

The Old Man & the Gun (David Lowery, 2018): 3/5

For the first half especially, I really enjoyed just watching Redford and Spacek talk to each other in the car or a booth in a diner. Their great performances do what very-late career roles are supposed to do—utilize and make you appreciate their whole body of work. The plot interested me less.

My Darling Clementine, rw (John Ford, 1946): 5/5

I was surprised by how savage the Clantons were allowed to be. Walter Brennan = great.

Blaze (Ethan Hawke, 2018): 2/5

Inert music biopic, populated by Townes Van Zandt and other mean, miserable drunks. Go listen to the song Clay Pigeons by Blaze Foley. It is pretty great.

The House that Jack Built (Lars von Trier, 2018): 1/5

Melancholia was thrilling cinema on the subject of depression. This one just seems the listless act of a severely depressed person. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to hear that Lars von Trier has killed himself. That’s dark, but somehow I don’t think von Trier would mind.

Mission Impossible: Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie, 2018): 3/5

I couldn’t care less about Ethan Hunt, James Bond or Jason Bourne, but the last half hour was actually a pretty amazing state-of-the-art thrill ride. Also, I was a coming down off a general anesthetic and whatever sedatives were used to make my colonoscopy that morning such a pleasant experience.

Rams (Grimur Häkonarson, 2015): 3/5

Two nearly silent brothers in remote Iceland struggle with sick sheep and long-simmering sibling problems. Starts severe and moves inexorably toward the primal.

Three Identical Strangers (Tim Wardle, 2018): 2/5

Like so, so many docs, this would have been much better at 30 minutes long. Is there any alternative to turning docs like this into “stories” with all the usual McKee-required dramatic beats?

Prime Cut (Michael Ritchie, 1972): 3/5

A surprisingly nasty bit of Midwest noir involving slaughterhouses and drugged sex slaves (including Sissy Spacek). I thought Michael Ritchie was supposed to be a gently satiric humanist? Lee Marvin’s face has never looked more like a hatchet.

At Eternity’s Gate (Julian Schnabel, 2018): 3.5/5

Struggles with the perennial artist biopic problem of how to get the artist’s inner life up onto the screen. But the last half has some startling depictions of madness that I actually really related to.  Always a supreme pleasure to watch Defoe, and this is one of his very best performances.

To Live and Die in L.A., rw (William Friedkin, 1985): 4/5

The first time I had seen Defoe, I believe (although he’s also in Heaven’s Gate, The Hunger (naturally) and Streets of Fire before this). Plenty of gonzo 80s fun with color and music.

Bohemian Rhapsody (Bryan Singer, 2018): 3/5

Turgid dramaturgy, but a great silent-movie-huge performance from Malek, who seemed to be the only one who realized they were making a movie about Queen, for Christ sake.

They Shall Not Grow Old -3D (Peter Jackson, 2018): 5/5

Yep, Jerry was right. One of the great war movies. Demonstrates the enormous power not only of 3D and color but also of sound. A film lovers’ movie.

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Meal Ticket

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Coen Brothers, 2018): 3.5/5
Is Chapter 3, "Meal Ticket" (pictured above), a commentary on our current post-literate culture?   Yes, it is.

*They Shall Not Grow Old--3D (Peter Jackson, 2018): 5/5
The most powerful cinematic experience I've had in years.  Using documentary footage from the Imperial War Museum, this follows typical WWI British soliders from conscription to training to the battlefield.  Once they're at the Western Front, the screen opens up to 3D and color, and it's astonishing--like bringing the dead to life, and we are among them in the trenches.  Knowing how many of these smiling, eager lads (some as young as 16) would soon become cannon fodder moved me to tears.  The sound design adds realistic effects, and WWI veterans' recorded recollections provide wise, articulate narration.  See it in 3D in a theater if you can.

*Roma (Alfonso Cuaron, 2018): 3.5/5
The scene in the waves and the maid's confessional utterance were quite moving.  But this story of a poor indigenous housekeeper, played by a nonprofessional actor (conjuring up the humanistic approach of postwar Neorealism) continually felt at odds with the mobile, modernist, sharp-as-glass black & white cinematography (reminiscent of Antonioni's "modern discontent" trilogy).  Because the maid is given little dialogue and no agency or interiority, Cuaron's insistent camerawork kept reminding me that this is really his story about his family... and she is merely the quiet, noble savage upon which to project his memories of youth.  Confirms for me that Cuaron (like Inarritu and Nolan) is more technician than storyteller.

*Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2018): 3.5/5
Fast-moving story of amour fou between postwar Polish musicians shot in noirish black & white.  I like Pawlikowski's penchant for making short features (Ida--a better film--was 82 min., this is 88).  But in this case I sometimes wished I had a little more understanding about where the characters' brash decisions were coming from.

*The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018): 4/5
I still think Lanthimos is a misanthropic asshole who despises his characters and his audience, but this was tempered by its period setting, focus on the aristocracy, and the need to at least pay lip service to history.  A thoroughly nasty and enjoyable romp.

*Burning (Lee Chang-dong, 2018): 3.5/5
The story's lacunae and ambiguities, which continued to linger after an ending that felt forced, left me pensive but less emotionally engaged than Lee's previous efforts.  But this still had some sublime moments, especially a dance at sunset to Miles Davis's Elevator to the Gallows score.

*The Sisters Brothers (Jacques Audiard, 2018): 4/5
A Gold Rush-era hangout western in the vein of McCabe & Mrs. Miller, in which a pair of bumbling corporate hit men (John C. Reilly & Joaquin Phoenix) chase after a pair of erudite gentlemen (reporter Jake Gyllenhaal and inventor Riz Ahmed) and a potentially lucrative business secret.  Smart, violent, and highly entertaining, marred slightly by a soft ending.

*A Star is Born (Bradley Cooper, 2018): 3/5
In the opening scenes, two symbols foretell the fates of the protagonists: a hangman's noose, and a bag of cheese puffs.  But sometimes cheese puffs--like suicide--can be a guilty pleasure.

Whitney (Kevin Macdonald, 2018): 4/5
If you liked watching the Amy trainwreck, this has got all that, and more!  A charismatic prodigy from the 'hood, raised in church but attracted to the street; a controlling mother disappointed by her own professional singing career; a racketeer father and an entourage of parasitic family members; a jealous husband who enables the star's drug problem; and both good and evil lesbians!  Amidst all this wreckage, Whitney's 1991 Super Bowl rendition of the National Anthem is chilling and elevates her story to tragedy.

The Zen Diaries of Gary Shandling (Judd Apatow, 2018): 5/5
You won't be surprised to learn that Shandling was a self-loathing Jewish comic with a perfectionist streak that prevented him from marrying or enjoying anything.  And you won't be surprised that some of this had to do with a family tragedy early in his life.  But it's surprising to learn of Shandling's deep commitment to Buddhism, his generosity to so many people in his circle, and his passionate self-searching for meaning.  As one of those who benefitted from Shandling's friendship, Apatow provides unfettered access to Shandling's journals and produces the most intimate biography of a comedian you'll ever experience.