In & Of Itself (Frank Oz, 2021): 5/5

Bullseye. Clever construction, tremendous execution. Plus magic! One of the best filmed versions of a show I've ever seen.

In & of Itself is, as advertised, poetry brought to screen. For the right, self-selecting audience, it’s as good as that sounds. DelGaudio blends heartfelt storytelling and modest spectacle to craft an immersive experience that — while surely more so in person — fully delivers on the screen. Even if you don’t totally buy in, there are some undeniably profound moments and takeaways, all delivered with precision.

I’ve said too much. Don’t read anything else about this before you watch it and just soak it all in.

My Psychedelic Love Story (Errol Morris, 2020): 2/5

I love Errol, but don't love his late-career tendency to center every documentary around One Big Interview with One Single Interview Subject, such that he has to work so hard to spice up the format with flashy visual flourishes and superimposed text.

Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001): 2.5/5

A dazzling mural of unctuous design and color; sadly, not much else. Studio Ghibli films just aren't for me. But the cute little bird and the fat baby mouse thing? I'm not made of stone. Extra half star.

Prevenge (Alice Lowe, 2016): 3/5

Ruth is a pregnant widow, whose unborn baby is guiding her to murder those connected with her partner's death. A unique dark comedy / slasher written, directed and starring Alice Lowe while seven months pregnant. As the story was written and filmed within the span of a month, it's understandably very rough around the edges and littered with odd choices, but the resulting film is surprisingly effective. Well-paced, the kills are grisly, and the deadpan humor is consistently funny. You're never really sure whether Ruth is possessed, or simply nuts.

I Know This Much Is True (Derek Cianfrance, 2020): 3/5

Adapted by writer-director Derek Cianfrance from Wally Lamb’s 1998 novel, HBO’s latest entry into prestige presents a massive canvas for Mark Ruffalo, who plays twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey. If nothing else, he deserves accolades for sheer endurance.

A stark, if lurid, illustration of the challenges, choices, and burdens imposed by mental illness, and as the story develops, we see how the brothers’ relationship has been molded by the constant battle to accommodate Thomas’s condition. A crushing and remorseless catalog of woes.

Stardust (Matthew Vaugh, 2007): 2/5

I admit to being generally allergic to this strain of cheeky fantasy, but even given that this seems totally bland. I will also admit that compared to the majority of Vaughn's work it's relatively innocuous.

My Favorite Wife (Garson Kanin, 1940): 3/5

Cary Grant’s wife Irene Dunne is declared legally dead after a shipwreck seven years ago.. he remarries... his legally-dead wife reappears..... he sees her at the hotel the night of his honeymoon to his new wife. And that’s just the first 30 minutes!

Also, the idea that Cary Grant would ever need to be threatened by another man is very funny.

Locked Down (Doug Liman, 2021): 1/5

This is a heist movie only in the sense that Doug Liman has essentially stolen both Warner's money to finance his jerkoff rich asshole COVID anxiety noodling and two hours of my time. Please god let me never see another Zoom call in a movie ever again, why does any director think this acceptable or interesting?

Ariana Grande: Excuse Me, I Love You (Paul Dugdale, 2020): 2/5

CVS brand HOMECOMING.

Uncle Frank (Alan Ball, 2020): 2/5

Alan Ball said, “I am going to create a GREEN BOOK that is GAY.”

rewatched The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960): 5/5

Amazing to think that Wilder's 1959–61 run overlapped with Hitch's from 1958–60. What a time to have been alive.

The House Bunny (Fred Wolf, 2008): 2.5/5

Kat Dennings shape-shifts into a Goth-Lizzie-McGuire halfway through this and it must be seen to be believed.

David Byrne's American Utopia (Spike Lee, 2020): 4/5

Church for the non-religious.

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart (Frank Marshall, 2020): 3.5/5

"To Love Somebody" is one of my all-time favorite songs.

Fatale (Deon Taylor, 2020): 2/5

Sometimes I just want late night 90s-esque steamy trashy thrillers, okay?

Hillary Swank has officially hit the “I don’t care” phase of her career. Also, Michael Ealy and crazy white people is now a whole sub-genre.

Pieces of a Woman (Kornel Mundruczo, 2020): 2/5

When Ellen Burstyn said “i don't like you” to Shia Labeouf I felt that.

Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell, 2020): 2.5/5

As a commentary on patriarchy, misogyny, the "nice guy," and rape culture, this works, but I don't know if it does as a story. If this was a dark comedy, a revenge movie, or a character study, it might've worked better, but instead, it attempts to be all three while never committing to any of them fully. The film ends up feeling more like a hodge-podge of ideas than a fully formed narrative. Since it never goes far enough with utilizing comedy, acts of revenge, or a deep character study to further its message and develop its themes, most of the commentary is done through confrontational dialogue. This preaching isn't bothersome considering the importance of the subject matter, but if you're a member of the choir then there is not much else here to grab onto, as every other aspect feels undercooked. I needed more of one of those three things.

An extra half star for Carey Mulligan though - but a demerit for Bo Burnham ugh ew tool.

(Ultimately though, if a survivor of sexual assault gets something out of this, then who gives a shit about my opinion.)

Minari (Lee Isaac Chung, 2020): 3.5/5

MVPs Will Patton and Youn Yuh-jung. You've seen this story a dozen times, but telling it from this perspective complicates every detail in so many thoughtful ways. Perfectly bittersweet.

Nomadland (Chloe Zhao, 2020): 4/5

You'd be forgiven for suspecting this for misery porn -- which don't worry it still occasionally is -- even given its very clear ecstatic truth aesthetic aspirations and wispy camera, but it makes a few narrative choices that I think take it in a more productive direction, and the idea that this character's lifestyle is at least in part a choice that's analogized with American pioneer spirit is pretty interesting.

McDormand is of course as good as you've heard, even during the part where she's shitting in a bucket.

What the Bleep Do We Know!? (William Arntz, Betty Chasse, 2004): 0/5

The Tommy Wiseau "Room" of documentaries. Of course one of the guys behind it joined the NXIVM cult. OF COURSE.

rewatched On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954): 4/5

Of the 100 greatest shrugs in the history of motion pictures, at least 45 are performed by Marlon Brando here.

2020

Nomadland (Chloé Zhao, 2020): 3/5

I was interested at all times, but it’s such a flinty character and a flinty movie that I was never really moved. Fascinating footage inside Amazon warehouse. In the end, it reminded me of Five Easy Pieces in that the main character just can’t or won’t find a community. Tremendous acting from McDormand, but nowhere near the movie that The Rider is. 

Minari (Lee Isaac Chung, 2020): 3/5

Not exactly fresh material—it piles Lose-the-Farm cliches onto its Immigrant-Story cliches. Still, it's simple and heartfelt. 

Sylvie’s Love (Eugene Ashe, 2020): 2.5/5

Tessa Thompson is really good in what is essentially a slight variant on the 50s/60s woman’s picture—dealing with a career, a kid, and a cad. 

Let Them All Talk (Steven Soderberg, 2020): 2.5/5

Strong and fun-to-watch performances from Streep, Candice Bergen, Lucas Hedges and Dianne Wiest. Witty and literate script. Catastrophic third-act problems. 

Uncle Frank (Alan Ball, 2020): 3/5

Successful in a relaxed way that Ira Sachs' movies never manage. Warm, middle-brow and broad. 

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman, 2020): 3.5/5

As someone who thinks most movies have too many words, I really liked how “silent cinema” so much of this movie is. Of course, this leads to some frustration when we are denied interiority. Also, it has bad third-act problems. Nevertheless, the title sequence is super-emotional and powerful—and the movie should have ended there and been 65 minutes. 

The Assistant (Kitty Green, 2020): 1.5/5

What prevented the filmmaker from outlining the skanky boss more? It’s like making a movie about Scarface’s secretary and just saying, “I don’t know. There’s, like, some whispering behind a door.” The end. 

Red White and Blue (Steve McQueen, 2020): 3/5

it’s lonely at the bottom. Good script. Boyega is a cypher, but probably so are most of the natural fools who are astonished to find themselves on the bleeding end of change.

Alex Wheatle (Steve McQueen, 2020): 4/5

‘Sa good one, and I ain’t rampin’ now. The style and attitude are free and wild like in Lovers Rock but they are in the service of a more demanding plot. Lots of highs and some curious gaps. It wasn’t exactly successful as an apparent biopic, but I didn’t mind.

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (Frank Marshall, 2020): 3.5/5

Delivers what I always want from a music doc—good footage of the band and the ability to hear the music that is the evidence of the subject’s greatness. (See the recent Zappa doc for the negative example). As big a fan as I am, I had no idea about the band’s secret genius, Robin. Loved meeting him. 

Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg, 2020): 3.5/5

Surprisingly even-handed portrait of the joys and problems of day-drinking. Fun to watch Mads.

Time (Garrett Bradley, 2020): 2/5

Works better as a family portrait than an argument to reform the legal justice system. 

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (George C. Wolfe, 2020): 3/5

It did not all work for me but enough of it did to recommend it as a thoughtful night at the theater. With weird Movie Musical dream interludes and much “acting to the back row” that somehow still moved me.

Wild Mountain Thyme (John Patrick Shanley, 2020): 3/5

Like Five Corners, Moonstruck, and (less successfully) Joe Versus the Volcano, it’s filled with original and graceful observations as well as awkward flights of fancy, here slavered with an icing of Blarney. This is a positive review. 

Fourteen (Dan Sallitt, 2020): 3.5/5

Portrait of two friends, and I really appreciated how long a span of their life it described—at least a decade I would say, with all the subtle changes. 

Les Misérables (Ladj Ly, 2020): 2/5

After all the Cannes hype, etc., I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this thin, melodramatic, Mod Squad, made-for-tv stuff. 

Miss Juneteenth (Channing Godfrey Peoples, 2020): 2/5

Extremely routine. This whole movie is already expressed in the concept (the mother won a certain beauty contest and now wants her daughter to win it also) and nothing more is provided. 

Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov, 2020): 1.5/5

I know this is going to be a shocker, but…after WWII, some sad and confusing shit went down, especially with women and children, and this is something we need reminding of at this time. 

The Midnight Sky (George Clooney, 2020): 2/5

Clooney is so easy to watch as an actor that they keep letting him direct. This is a perfect illustration of the Peter Principle. “... which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their ‘level of incompetence’: employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.”

Wonder Woman 1984 (Patty Jenkins, 2020): 3/5

A very Trumpy tv-personality-to-president supervillain saves himself in the end by renouncing his power—after realizing he just wants to spend more time with his Asian son. An extremely un-phallic conflict and resolution—and a beautiful (if not wholly successful) rejection of the Myth of Redemptive Violence. The Woman Wonder herself is a Superman-esque stiff, but Gadot is an otherworldly beauty, and the filmmakers have the good sense to surround her with funny people. 

The Climb (Michael Angelo Covino, 2020): 3/5

Wes Anderson turned up to 11 (without the whimsy/quirk)—sad, angry and funny. Made up of some astonishing long takes. 

Other Stuff

It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946): 5/5

Elemental. The waterworks start almost immediately and flow quite freely

Au Revoir les Enfants (Louis Malle, 1987): 3/5

Pretty much what I figured, but the last minutes are undeniably powerful. Still, since it’s a personal reminiscence of childhood, it can’t hold a candle to the cosmic irony and complexity of Lacombe Lucien, examining a similar time. 

The Fire Within (Louis Malle, 1963): 4.5/5

About an addict trying to kick, deprived of access to joy and connection, gutting it out (or not). A reference for Oslo, August 31 and Taste of Cherry, certainly. Also reminded me of Taxi Driver without the messiah trip or Five Easy Pieces (again), with its contempt for normal people’s "certainty and peace of mind." Again, a very good last 15 minutes. 

The Tale of Tales (Yuri Norstein, 1979): 2/5

Why should I bother to tell you about this 30-minute, Russian animated reverie on dead soldiers and allegorical link between a story and a child? It was supposed to be a must-see classic, but it was actually a melancholy slog. 

Moonfleet (Fritz Lang, 1955): 2.5/5

CinemaScope, Technicolor Treasure-Island-boys-adventure shit. Still, Lang manages to hustle in some tension and perversion. 

Scorsese Mini Film Fest

I realized, with some shame, that I had not seen five (!!) of Scorsese’s 25 feature, fiction films. 

Boxcar Bertha (Martin Scorsese, 1972): 3.5/5

A loose and well-made lovers-on-the-run/women’s picture with car chases and nudity. Class-conscious, pro-union and pro-sex. Keith Carradine tells his actual father “you just don’t understand” and to “shut up,” and the (chubby) director himself smooches a topless Barbara Hershey. The ending shocks with an exploitative and emotional punch, wherein the director introduces some imagery he will continue to explore throughout his career.

The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese, 1993): 2/5

Michelle Pfeiffer is not only gorgeous, but she also out-acts Daniel Day-Lewis handily. Still, it’s all quite stiff and turgid. There's too much voice-over narration, but then again that’s the main source of the wit and incision that Edith Wharton brings to the table. As in Kundun, the main character is expressed mostly as a cog of the culture/society he is a part of. 

Kundun (Martin Scorsese, 1997): 2/5

The display of ritual and culture (and there’s a lot of it) is foregrounded—formal and naked and unnatural, as if the whole thing takes place in a museum rather than a place where humans live and interact. Scorsese is perhaps again trying to understand this man as a piece of his culture instead of through psychological depth. And maybe this is a 2020 sensibility imposed retroactively, but there’s something weird about all these Tibetans speaking English to one another with a Tibetan accent—and then it’s also weird when sometimes they break into actual Tibetan. What were they speaking before?

The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, 2004): 2.5/5

Colorful and eager to entertain, but lacking the gravitas to sustain its 170-minute running time, and the last hour slows down considerably. I can see why Scorsese is interested in this movie-maker character, but it never really touches on the director’s obsessions. 

Silence (Martin Scorsese, 2015): 3/5

Sort of a courtroom drama about a ritualistic technicality (an official denial of one’s faith, even when it’s extremely clear to all involved that the faith still exists). But with loads of torture. I believe that the title (unlike that of Bergman’s version) is ironic. 

 How To With John Wilson (John Wilson, 2020): 5/5

A singular audiovisual experience. My jaw drops like 5 times per episode. I thought he couldn’t top getting into the referee dinner but then he follows it up with a woman putting a live pigeon in a Duane Reade bag and I am fucking screaming.

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 10 (Jeff Schaffer, 2020): 5/5

Guffawed like a sick donkey as per usual. Missed Marty Funkhouser. RIP Bob Einstein.

Soul (Pete Docter, 2020): 3.5/5 

What a nice little movie. Frequently clever, and more visually inventive than the last handful of Pixar movies even while it plunges ever deeper into the platitudinous. 

P.S. I would like to be scooped up and ride in the Jerry blob. I think this would be both the best and most existential ride at Disneyland so it will never happen but I want it.

Siberia (Abel Ferrera, 2020): 3.5/5

The problem with the past is that by the time it starts to haunt you it's too long gone to mend. Unable to find peace in isolation, Dafoe's Clint goes on a "trip to the lake", a dream voyage deep into the subconscious in which he accesses repressed memories and childhood experiences. (This is a film that lives and dies on how open minded one is going in.) Reminiscent of Lynch, Tarkovsky, Malick, Fellini, and Matthew Barney. Extra half star for the Del Shannon's "Runaway" bit.

The Midnight Sky (George Clooney, 2020): 2/5

"the astronauts are sad again"

-me, 100 minutes into this film

Sure the film nails all of the technical elements, but these hardly compensate for excruciatingly slow pacing, underdeveloped characters, a disappointing lack of dramatic tension, and it also features one of Alexandre Desplat’s worst and most cloying scores.

Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult (Cecilia Peck, 2020): 3/5

The Vow (Karim Amer, 2020): 2/5

Cults are wild. This guy said shit like "women enjoy rape actually" and "where's the harm in a parent having sex with their child if the kid enjoys it?" in a seminar and rich-ass dumb-ass white people ate it up.

Cloud Atlas (Tom Tykwer, Lilly & Lana Wachowski, 2012): 2/5

Here we have six stories, each more tedious than the last, made semi-palatable by cutting them ever more frantically together as a virtuosic exercise in parallel construction. The constant cross-cutting successfully staves off boredom, but it also inadvertently underscores how fundamentally thin and didactic these episodes are, as they now build simultaneously to their respective pleas for inclusion and tolerance. And while I can applaud the everything-blind stunt casting in principle, it's a ghastly distraction in practice. Like most grand follies, this was worth experiencing once, but I wouldn't want to go near it again.

The Undoing (David E. Kelley, 2020): 2.5/5

Or, Big Little Lies East Coast Edition

Rich white people's lives being destroyed is actually one of my favorite genres.

Small Axe: Mangrove (Steve McQueen, 2020): 3/5

An impassioned, urgent retelling of the 1971 historic trial of the Mangrove Nine, which follows the struggle of Black immigrants in London as they fight against police harassment and institutional racism. With great performances all around, this is compelling and efficient in retelling one of the most pivotal courtroom moments in British history that is often forgotten by many.

Small Axe: Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen 2020): 3/5

Agree w/ Justin about this being reminiscent of Altman. AND only 70 minutes!

Small Axe: Red, White and Blue (Steve McQueen, 2020): 3.5/5

Destined to pale in comparison to the moral crusade of MANGROVE and the intoxicating sensuality of LOVERS ROCK, this story is just as important if decidedly less sexy. Boyega has never been better.

Small Axe: Alex Wheatle (Steve McQueen, 2020): 3.5/5

A great coming-of-age story about a lost young man finding his people and himself. The tribute to the fallen of the 1981 New Cross house fire was stirring, reminiscent of late Spike Lee.

Small Axe: Education (Steve McQueen, 2020): 3/5

Works much better as a critique of education systems than it does as a character piece, which is perfectly fine given its breezy runtime. Well crafted and with great performances. Ending this episode with Kingsley reading from Kings & Queens of Africa was both a beautiful way to end the episode and a powerful way to end the series.

rewatched A Charlie Brown Christmas (Bill Melendez, 1965): 5/5

A fearless exploration of post-war ennui and depression in small town America.

Time (Garrett Bradley, 2020): 3.5/5

I had an enormous crush on Garrett Bradley back when we were both at UCLA. (She was in Janet Bergstrom's French Cinema of the 1930s seminar with me.) Her new doc will surely resonate with viewers as she shows Sibil Fox Richardson’s story (Fox Rich) of trying to free her husband from prison who is serving a 60-year sentence for armed robbery. The film is a testament to Rich’s single-minded sustenance of her marriage and family (the couple has 4 boys), as well as an indictment of the criminal justice system that not only delivers punishment far outweighing the crime, but then doggedly does everything possible to obstruct an offender’s rehabilitation.

The crisp, black-and-white gorgeously shot sequences filmed in the present day, with a mixture of new HD footage and miniDV footage that spans 21 years emphasizes just how time is at once moving too fast and too slow for the Richardson family. Personal, subtle, and beautifully done. Really loved the airy, ecstatic piano music of Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou too.

I'm Your Woman (Julia Hart, 2020): 1.5/5

Remarkably boring, with vapid dialogue and a high degree of self-seriousness. I don't know about you, but if someone hands me a baby and tells me it's mine I'm gonna have a lot of questions.

Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg, 2020): 3/5

A tad underwhelming and too narratively/thematically simplistic, but I'll give an extra half star for that Mads Mikkelsen dance sequence.

Feels Good Man (Arthur Jones, 2020): 3.5/5

A reclamation project, FEELS GOOD MAN tries to rescue Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character created by Matt Furie for a 2005 comic called Boy’s Club, from the Internet trolls and hate groups who bizarrely co-opted him as a symbol and mascot during the Trump era. The interviews with 4channers and those on that side exist less to justify the racist, xenophobic and bigoted acts of those on the alt-right but more to both understand them and to give context to the battle at play. One of the better documentaries I’ve seen on internet culture and an understanding for not just how the internet functions and how it impacts popular culture, but an understanding of creative ownership to boot.

Sharp Objects (Jean-Marc Vallee, 2018): 1.5/5

This could be a textbook example of when not to implement the slow-burn. There’s no reason at all this should be 8 hours long. With a whodunnit murder mystery where the detective work goes nowhere leaving the journalist to explore her unexceptional small-town, her largely unexceptional family, and her unexceptional life (even her pity seems trite), itself, the slow burn's consequence is a borefest. A subdued, rewardless exercise in dark moody visuals and victimized trauma that hardly leaves (the dreadfully unlikeable) Amy Adams’ POV - the complete opposite of what made Vallee’s luminous ensemble BIG LITTLE LIES so compelling.

Let Him Go (Thomas Bezucha, 2020): 2/5

Lesley Manville is a scene stealer in LET HIM GO as the terrifying matriarch of the Weboy family. Too bad the film around her is every bit as tired and worn down as Kevin Costner and Diane Lane’s characters are from the drawn out, basic storytelling. Emotionally gripping at times but ultimately flat.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow (Jim Cummings, 2020): 2.5/5

More emotional meltdown cop comedy from Cummings, this time in a whodunit murder mystery premise involving a werewolf. I prefer THUNDER ROAD (2018).

Let Them All Talk (Steven Soderbergh, 2020): 2/5

Should have made this about Candice Bergen’s character working in retail. More evidence that she is being woefully underutilized by movies.

Luxor (Zeina Durra, 2020): 2/5

A subtle, gentle mood piece in what is essentially a spiritually-inflected BEFORE SUNSET. Riseborough impresses with an intriguingly ambiguous, restrained turn, but the film is a dud though, lacking in narrative momentum and at times feels more like a travelogue serving to deliver only a stunning sense of place of Egypt.

Happiest Season (Clea DuVall, 2020): 2/5

Depicts what should be an extinction-level event in this relationship between what appears to be an endlessly patient victim (who seemingly has no cause to trust anyone we meet in this film) and a gaslighting narcissist. If this was about a hetero relationship you'd be foaming at the mouth in fury about the level of abuse. I liked the weird sister and Aubrey Plaza here though.

Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, 2019): 3.5/5

Thought-provoking and emotionally absorbing, director-writer Darius Marder creates a highly empathetic drama in SOUND OF METAL, concerning a former addict/drummer who loses his hearing. Along with its evocative and inventive sound design, the film puts us directly inside the lead character’s headspace giving us a true immersion, presenting a convincing predicament of such tragic proportions. Riz Ahmed gives a mesmerizing, hurting performance.

The Dark Crystal (Jim Henson, 1982): 2/5

That it was a box-office hit surprises me, frankly, as it's seemingly too dark and grim for small children but unquestionably too earnest and simplistic for adults. Obviously an outstanding technical achievement, don't get me wrong, but at times so diabolically slow it feels more like a travelogue than an adventure. And impressive though it may be I just hate the design. Sure, let's build this richly imagined, intricately detailed fantasy world only everything is old and gross. I'd much rather watch Henson and Oz riff, honestly.