Better Call Saul (Vince Gilligan, 2015 - 2022): 5/5

Done with a degree of narrative complexity and cinematic style that is rare. Time is played with, motivations are obscured, sounds resonate in unexpected ways, views and angles are unexpected but seldom simply flashy show-off tricks.

So many characters have issues and challenges. It is almost the opposite of the classic idea of an evolving hero and stationary helpers and opponents. No one has what they want. Just about everyone evolves in the quest to get it. A few are rocks of dependability in terms of conduct but that is not the same as predictability. Their strength and resolve can often surprise as much as a change of character would.

And the acting remains superb. They form a great ensemble and you just sense that the opening situations and issues in Breaking Bad are looming just out of sight.

The Princess (Ed Perkins, 2022): 2.5/5

While the "archival footage only" aspect is well executed, the Diana story is so well known, and so exhaustively explored in legions of books, films, series and podcasts, that it is simply impossible for Ed Perkins and his team to really add anything new to the narrative, especially since The Princess does essentially just retell that story.

Vengeance (BJ Novak, 2022): 3/5

East Coast millennial journalist gets caught up in a West Texas Neo-noir. A muddied up mystery and crime story more than astutely told by B.J. Novak in an impressive debut. Ashton Kutcher has a small but terrific role.

Prey (Dan Trachtenberg, 2022): 2.5/5

Great movie dog! Extra half star.

Lingua Franca (Isabel Sandoval, 2020): 3.5/5

In Lingua Franca, Isabel Sandoval deftly designed a beautiful, authentic, straightforward-yet-profound, film about an undocumented trans Filipino caregiver navigating paranoia and would-be suitors to obtain a green card. I impatiently wait more from her.

Man Push Cart (Ramin Bahrani, 2005): 3.5/5

I really dig '00s NYC movies. The city doesn't have the cinematic look that it did in previous decades. It's more of a "feeling". This subtle tensile energy that seemingly only the indie auteurs knew how to capture. Man Push Cart is simply executed but absolutely compelling to watch. Sisyphus rolls a boulder and Ahmad pushes a cart. It is that simple, but that’s all it needs to be. The city, desperation, and loneliness get finely captured as does New York City's paradoxically dirty splendor. A profoundly authentic film in displaying estranged ends, the kindness of strangers, and the tedium of everyday work.

Nightmare Alley (Edmund Goulding, 1947): 2.5/5

Better than GdT's overwrought remake, but that ain't sayin' much.

Minions: The Rise of Gru (Kyle Balda, 2022): 2.5/5

Attention casting directors everywhere please cast julie andrews in literally anything her last ever film role cannot be minions 2 the rise of gru.

Elvis (Baz Luhrmann, 2022): 2.5/5

Still not a fan of Mr. Luhrmann and Ms. Martin (Luhrmann’s wife, co-producer, production designer and costume designer) and their maximalist style. (Not to mention I have complicated feelings towards The King.) However, it's not as terrible as I anticipated. Luhrmann manages to make Elvis feel like the tragedy of America itself: a promised land of electrifying popular art that is always undone by greed and fear. Ah Elvis! Ah humanity!

Resurrection (Andrew Semans, 2022): 2.5/5

I admire that this film really "went there." Probably would have worked better as a short film or crazy one act play though, but as a feature film...meh. Extra half star for Rebecca Hall who bows to no man.

Bullet Train (David Leitch, 2022): 2.5/5

So this is what it's like when an actor I enjoy (Brad Pitt) plays what studio execs must call "a Ryan Reynolds role"...

Predestination (Spierig Brothers, 2014): 3/5

Or, No Matter Where You Go, There You Are: The Movie

Exponentially unsolvable time travel movie (as with essentially any causal loop) with its convoluted quadfecta form. Still, Sarah Snook though. *chef's kiss* And I don't even want to begin analyzing the strange pit of desolation that consumed me the moment John says to his former, female-self, "You're beautiful. Somebody should've told you that," with the faintest whimper in his voice.

An Officer and a Gentleman (Taylor Hackford, 1982): 1/5

A 2 hour long military training video that’s occasionally interrupted by the most benign romance you could possibly conjure up. Hearing that Debra Winger hates this movie makes me like her even more.

The World According to Garp (George Roy Hill 1982): 2/5

So many things happened in this movie and yet simultaneously nothing happened in this movie. Also, Glenn Close plays the mother of Robin Williams. She is only four years older than him. They look the exact same age. This bothered me very, very much.

Eternity and a Day (Theo Angelopoulos, 1998): 3/5

Sweet little movie about a writer and his act of kindness towards a child with no one else, as well as his reflections on a life lived and one that's about to end, so of course all of those things work for me.

City Hall (Frederick Wiseman, 2020): 3/5

The usual (for recent Wiseman) mix of fascinating and tedious, extended in this case to an ass-numbing 4.5 hours. There's a good 90 minutes' worth of meetings in which you can plainly see that the people who are actually in the room would love to be elsewhere. Highlights are strong, though. And though Trump is mercifully never seen or heard in the film, Boston’s Mayor Walsh is offered up to us as his antithesis, a rebuke to everything he stands for and the embodiment of public service. Show this to any anarcho-capitalist jackass who thinks government is a dirty word.