Justin Simien
Katie Dippold
Jonathan Eirich, Dan Lin, Brigham Taylor
The 2nd was the Best
I was able to secure early access tickets for this one and I was in high anticipation for it. Rest assured, it very much delivered. While I wasn't expecting it to take much for it to top The Haunted Mansion (2003).
The film was better than I expected. Movies such as Barbie (2023), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) and now Haunted Mansion (2023), have displayed a newish category of film. All these have a certain element in common; they would take pieces of their original IP and place it as easter eggs throughout the film. I feel like this trend in films creates a small interactive element with the audience and also creates a type of connection to the viewers.
One of the best parts of this film is the writing. They created some meaningful character connections in a short amount of time which I find to be an impressive feat. There were a few small details that were some emotional editions to the film. A few things I would've done differently. I would've put their PG-13 rating to a little more use. I also would've added a few symbolic details near the end.
A wonderful casting all around, but LaKeith Stanfield stole the show with his acting, displaying great range throughout the film. I love what they did with his character and how they introduced him. Danny Devito was a great addition to the cast creating an outlet for some well done humor. I do wish Jamie Lee Curtis was utilized a little more than she was.
The transitions between comedy and thriller jumped a little too quick for enough suspense to set in, causing it to loose its Haunted edge. The humor, however, was phenomenal throughout the film. I do think some of the jokes, while funny, were done at the expense of the story. Other jokes were just rather bad, maybe a few puns that weren't needed.
Overall, I think they could've leaned more into the Haunted-ness of the movie to make it more of the thriller, but the acting and he writing were wonderful. The characters were extremely well written and so was the comedy. It was quite enjoyable to see all the connections between the ride and the film and how they were utilized as story elements.
Eva Longoria
Lewis Colick, Linda Yvette Chávez
DeVon Franklin, David Kern, Samuel Rodriguez
An Unexpected Gem of Motivation
This was an unexpected gem. While it wasn’t outstanding for performances, visuals, or stories. There were some great messages and notes about motivation and innovation. It also goes to show that ‘behind every successful man is a woman who pushed him to greatness’.
The last 20-30 minutes were very captivating, a fast paced ending. The ending was emotional and hit very hard, just showing how far you can go if you show initiative.
The biopic did lack in dialogue quite a bit. There were some conversations that felt unnatural, which may also be a problem with the acting. This was mainly seen from the children and sparsely from the adults.
There was a very slow beginning that changed pacing at some odd times. IMO they didn’t show the right amount of his childhood. They really should’ve leaned into it more. At the length it was it felt like
It was shown and just wasn’t referred to after. It didn’t feel like it established any character development and in fact it made him feel like he digressed in development.
Christopher Nolan
Kai Bird, Christopher Nolan, Martin Sherwin
Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas
The Father of Death
Christopher Nolan’s fast-paced biopic about the Father of Death itself was a spectacular masterpiece of acting, cinematography, and non-linear storytelling.
The last hour was intense and captivating. The jumping between timelines were interlayed spectacularly. Oppenheimer lacked one thing, and it was a dull moment. The dialogue was impeccable. There were some beautiful shots especially of the explosions. There was an odd beauty to the destructive nature of the explosion.
Nolan’s writing was outstanding, especially when it came to keeping sense of all storylines going on as they progressed. Which doesn’t come as a surprise after his work on Inception. However, it was still incredible.
Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and RDJ all had outstanding performances. Cillian did a great job as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Emily showed some grand emotion in the 3rd act. Blunt’s character was somehow the best and worst character of the film, but stole the show in the end.
Overall, I am proud to say “I survived Barbenheimer 2023” and I will be getting a T-shirt and/or poster to commemorate this cinematic experience of the decade.
Greta Gerwig
Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig
Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner, David Heyman, Amy Pascal, Margot Robbie
More than Kenough
Barbie threw me out of the park with how good it was. Since it was so hyped up by social media trends, I was expecting it to have an underwhelming delivery. But Greta Gerwig dropped the mic and walked out of the theater.
I walked out of Barbie questioning my own reality. This seemingly kids movie has an array of messages not limited to but including Gender Roles, Mental Health, Body Positivity, Death, Patriarchies and Matriarchies. It perpetuates these existential ideas and ultimately stabs a much needed hole in our system.
This movie had an outstanding exposition and a grand intro bringing you up to speed on the context of the film. The comedy was consistent and landed very well. The plot was perfectly intertwined to the development of the characters and was not dragged out. Great pacing all around. The comedy is outstanding and almost every joke landed for me.
This felt similar to The Super Mario Bros. Movie in the sense of incorporating some very nostalgic Easter eggs.
Overall, I am proud to say “I survived Barbenheimer 2023” and I will be getting a T-shirt and/or poster to commemorate this cinematic experience of the decade.
James Mangold
John-Henry Butterworth, Jez Butterworth, David Koepp, James Mangold
Simon Emanuel. Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall
Raiders of the Last Story Arc
I think this was one of those rare instances where the best part of the movie was the middle. Dial of Destiny lacked a bit of exposition that it attempted to bridge with an undetailed flashback. The first act could’ve used some work IMO.
The middle of the final act was just odd. I think most of the appeal of Indiana Jones comes from its mixture of raw science with a bit of unexpected mysticism. I can’t help but feel they leaned too far into the mysticism with this, it just made it lose any sense of grounding (I use this term loosely).
The part that upset me the most was there horrible utilization of meaningful responses. There were at least two instances that I can recall of where Indy and Helena were having conversations and when prompted for a meaningful response, went with a cheap one liner instead. There were a few plot points I have questions about.
I saw no issue with the VFX other than the exposition. There were a couple of shots when he was de-aged that looked iffy, but it could’ve been bad angles.
One of my favorite aspects of Indiana Jones is the real history that is incorporated into the story to make it believable and having the ancient relic have a magical twist. Dial of Destiny certainly fulfills those qualifications, but as I previously said, takes the mysticism too far.
Overall, I enjoyed the final adventure of Indiana Jones but hope that it’s lay to rest. While I did enjoy this, I’m not sure if I’d watch it again.
Nick Bruno, Troy Quane
Robert L. Baird, Pamela Ribon, Lloyd Taylor
Roy Lee, Karen Ann Ryan, Julie Zackary
The Sea Beast 2
Netflix has been on a kick of these "fight the power" animated movies. Last year (2022), they released The Sea Beast which shares the same basis as this film. In fact, they are so similar that it's about fighting a tyrannical governmental power that has propagated the falsehoods of 'monsters' of the outside world for an extended period of time, and has created their own form of militia to deal with these 'threats'. The difference, one with pirates, another with knights. If I had to bet, the next one will be cowboys, maybe even a western film about an 'outlaw' who has been ostracized from a town because of the corrupt sheriff. (Hire me Netflix!)
Moving on to the specifics of the movie, I think the characters were pretty well developed. The dynamics between the characters worked really well. The storytelling was great, the style of prologue definitely made it feel like a mid-Disney Renaissance film. The humor was very hit or miss. There were times they tried to over do the comedy and just led it to being, and i hate using this word in my reviews, "cringy".
I can't help but to feel like they missed a couple of things in the story. There were a few details where they broke the Law of Chekhov's Gun. For those who don't know what that is, its a principle of writing, weather its books, theatrical plays, or screenplays that basically says, 'if its not going to be important, it shouldn't be in the story.' A few plot details were included, but never utilized.
Overall, there were quite a few beats that were built up throughout the film that they didn't end up doing anything with causing a major diservice to the writing. While they did a good job at creating the emotion and the depth of the characters, it seemed to have come at the sake of the writing.
Mark Polonia
Bando Glutz
Roth Hauschild
Fish out of Community Theatre
This brings me back to the days in middle school of making low quality iMovie short films with god awful acting. I’ve seen better acting in films with “shot on iPhone” in the credits. I think some of these actors came straight out of a community theatre.
An ungodly amount of stock footage was used. I think roughly 50% of this film was stock footage with repeat shots over and over again.
The narration was overused and unnecessary, and in accordance with the non-linear storytelling was just a mess to begin with. Dialogue doesn’t drive the plot, but with this low quality of acting, maybe it was for the better. There were like 3-4 plots going on at once and I see they tried to make them merge in the end, but I think they lost track of one in the editing room.
I could be mistaken, but I believe the star was reading from the script in a phone call scene. It’s even in the bottom of the shot too. Speaking of shot, the camera work was laughable. An odd amount of close-ups and establishing shots, nothing in between.
I’m surprised the budget was big enough for a boat. The sound quality through some of the scenes echos and is way to metallic.Oh, and as for the VFX… I take back everything I said about The Flash.
There was barley any cocaine, nor was there a shark doing cocaine. So don’t get your hopes up. I understand this is a satire (I hope to god it is at least) but it’s still pretty bad.
Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Wes Anderson, Jermey Dawson, Steven Rales
The Guru of Symmetry and Saturation
Asteroid City made a lasting impression with its incredibly unique and unorthodox form of storytelling. If you don’t follow closely, you may fall between the lines of the film’s embedded narrative.
Wes Anderson has shown great measures of storytelling with layered plots and incredible shots. The Guru of Symmetry and Saturation uses his beautifully colored set and one shots to enhance his story greatly.
This movie has amazing comedy that landed even without seeming to try. From background elements to the dialogue, there was so much humor that didn’t take away from the story.
The entire cast puts so much into this but makes it look so easy. Jason Schwartzman pulls a stellar performance that only gets better with time. I absolutely loved Steve Carell’s role in this film as well as Tilda Swinton who pulled off a better role than I had anticipated.
This movie was simple, hilarious, and visually pleasing. It had me invested in the characters really quickly and all-in-all a true Wes Anderson film.
David Gelb
Gill Champion, Andy Heyward, Jamie McBreity, Jeff Redmond, Sarah Regan
More Than Just a Fly on the Wall
A journey through the years of the renaissance of comics through the eyes of a man from Manhattan. The biographical story takes you through the years of Stanly Lieber as he makes history in the realm of comics.
The editing on this film was exceptional. They did an amazing job gathering the audio clips, videos, and other supplementary materials to edit this film. I loved the usage of the well known quotes and the ending was purely emotional.
This well thought out documentary takes one of the greatest creative minds in history off the pedestal (he so much deserves), and makes him grounded just as any other person is. They wonderfully create a sense of inspiration using Stan’s own words. They make Stan Lee so down to earth, almost like there’s a connection between him and the viewer, or as if he’s still here.
Andy Muschietti,
Christina Hodson
Michael Disco, Barbara Muschietti
Putting Ezra Miller aside, this film wasn’t too great but also wasn’t too bad.
Probably the worst part of this movie was the CGI. It was so awful, the people were recreated with no definition and frankly looked like mannikins. One might even go as far and say that the CG was worse than Green Lantern (2011).
The costume design was criminally awful, unless you’re Batman. Affleck and Keaton both had amazing suits in this film with few to minor flaws. Flashs’ suits were not the greatest, overly detailed in some places and under-detailed in others.
The comedy landed fairly well but some of the dialogue was not the greatest.
I like the idea of two-tone lightning to see the distinctness of the characters but it was way to gaudy and noticeable. The saturation was overly done and was quite an eyesore.
Supergirl was written into the movie beautifully. She didn’t feel forced and the storyline for her was great. I also really enjoyed Michael Keaton in this one, he had the greatest action sequences and felt like an amazing addition to the story.
The depiction of Barry was done very well. They showed how different childhoods can have a huge impact on who you are as a person and the behavior you display.
I felt like the writers couldn’t make up their minds when deciding the “main villain” and neither of them had efficient screen time to develop properly. The ending could've been immensely better if they just focused on it for a little longer. They should’ve gone one way or another, both was over the top.
This leads me into my next point. The plot was pretty distinct from other iterations of Flashpoint as to not be overwhelming bland, but there was too much crammed in. The movie could’ve been a lot better had they focused on some better, more distinct aspects.
End credit scene was a huge waste of time and was not worth sticking around for. I am also it wasn’t a mid credit scene and was a post credit scene
John Francis Daley, Johnathan Goldstein
John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio, Johnathan Goldstein
Brian Goldner, Jermey Latcham, Nick Meyer
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves does a really good job at displaying an actual D&D campaign. Some of this doesn’t translate well into a film. For the first half of the movie or so, some problems that arises were quickly solved by some convenient coincidence that was not spoken of prior, making it appear a little lazy.
The second half of the movie really corrected the course. The writing started picking up a bit and the plot progression became more natural.
Something this film does really well, is making sure each character has a well thought out character arc. Each of the main characters were given attention to their development without distracting from the overall story.
The fight scenes were done very creatively, they were seemingly turn-based but done very fluidly as to not distract from the quality of the scene.
Overall, this is a very creative film that wonderfully displays a D&D Quest. While having some questionable plot points and a bit of lazy writing, it makes up in humor and action.
Scott Beck, Byran Woods
Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Zainab Azizi, Deborah Liebling, Sam Raimi
I don’t think I’m being dramatic when I say this may be one of the worst films I’ve ever seen, especially of this year (2023).
This movie was completely missing Acts I & III, there is nothing but a brief scene opening the film then immediately a jump into the second act. There is no world-building or anything, and with a run time of 1.5 hours, it could definitely have been worked in. I don’t think I can stress enough how there felt like a hole was in the story 10 minutes in.
They completely miss plot details that seem essential to to story, especially if they were trying to use said details to build connections between the characters. There are al ot of plot holes I don’t understand and could go into depth about, but I’ll keep this spoiler free for the time being.
There was no resolution, they ended the film abruptly. Which it wouldn’t have felt so abrupt if they would’ve built the story better in the first place.
In multiple instances, there was drama being built up in the scene and it never paid off. They would make something seem eerie, and build up the tension, and DO NOTHING.
The CGI wasn’t great. They had detail to the dinosaurs but the PROPORTIONS were despicable. Some of them had necks that were way too long, and T-Rex’s had arms that made them comparable to quadrupedal creatures.
The concept to this movie wasn’t the greatest to begin with, but it definitely could’ve been better. The entire film felt half finished, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was cut short to make deadlines.
Kemp Powers, Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson
David Callaham, Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg
This may be one of the most comic book movies every made, staying true to the sketch fashion and retaining other smaller details. For everything 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' did well, 'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' took it a step further.
Into the Spider-Verse is well known for its unorthodox animation style, Across the Spider-Verse took it further by blending together a meshed medley of animation. Most Spider-Men had their own style too them, making the attention to detail astonishing in a couple of the scenes. That being said, I do think Spider-Punk's design in particular diverted the attention from the others.
Still on the lines of he attention to detail. The scenes were often quite literally painted with emotion. Melancholy colors with their respective emotions and vibrant colors with theirs. These storytelling elements were a great touch to convey emotion from multiple points within a single shot.
The Spot was a perfect balance between comedy and chaos. I don't think Spider-Man 2099 could have been portrayed better. He has some of the best dialogue amongst all of the characters.
The relationship building between characters plays a huge role in this film and I can definitely foresee it having a huge impact in the next movie. I feel like the pacing in some of these scenes could've been better. Certain scenes draw out but still could've served the same purpose in a shorter amount of time.
Overall, the visual effects were some of the most unorthodox yet most creative I have seen in an animated film. The characters were developed beautifully, and I am impatiently looking forward to 'Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse'.
Jonas Cuaron
Joe Barnathan, Sean Kennedy Moore, Marcus Reinhart
Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Mark Radcliffe
I went into this film having no expectation, having only heard of it and seen it on Netflix. But I can’t say I was surprised nor disappointed. The entirely of the film felt like a high-budget home movie, with few redeeming qualities.
The bar for acting in this one was set WAY too low, with very cheap dialogue delivery. The reactions and dialogue weren’t spaced apart appropriately making it feel very amateur.
A lot of cinematography choices that made absolutely no sense. A couple of unnecessarily dramatic zooms that didn’t really fit the scene nor the genre.
Where this film makes up is in their CGI and character development. The CGI wasn’t bad and is definitely where the entire budget went.
The character development was good, but it would’ve been a bit better, if it was not explicitly incorporated into the dialogue. By this, I mean that they talked through the development instead of letting it progress more naturally and visually though the character. In short, the character development was more external than internal.
The storyline wasn’t the greatest and the plot felt “rickety”. Some details weren’t fully formed, also causing the pacing to be inconsistent.
Chad Stahelski
Michael Finch & Shay Hatten
Basil Iwanyk, David Leitch, Eva Longoria, Chad Stahelski, Mike Witherill
The John Wick saga has become a bit formulaic over the past couple of films. While that doesn’t hinder the quality, I would say that it makes parts slightly predictable.
The fight scenes have always been enjoyable and done very well, Chapter 4; however, drags them out for a bit too long. There were parts where I felt that it was excessive especially after they were already dead, or John could’ve just finished them off sooner.
I think the introduction of Tracker added a method of great character development despite his little interaction, he had great moments and wouldn’t mind a spin-off of him.
The bleed time between the films was handled and intertwined quite well.
I think some bold shot choices were made but they paid off and conveyed what was going on in the foreground and background flawlessly.Foreshadowing is quite prominent in this one, and after rewatching is executed amazingly. Which leads me to my next point, the ending was foreshadowed but not to the point of it being predictable.
I wonder a bit of Donnie Yen is beginning to be type casted for this particular type of role or if he genuinely enjoys it. Either way, he does it very well.
Overall, while not being the best film in the franchise, it had some great moments. The dialogue lacked a bit, but the fight choreography made up for it. The characters were developed all around.
Charlie Day
Charlie Day
Christopher Lemole, John Rickard, Alex Saks, Tim Zajaros
Huge Charlie Day fan and this is exactly what this was.
As a comedy, a very enjoyable watch. I think it was consistently funny and did a really good job at maintaining that. Sometimes you had to pay attention to the background to notice some bits.
The best part of watching this film was identifying all the actors previously seen on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Some plot details were a little interesting and didn’t seem to need to be there.
What caught me off guard was in INCREDIBLE cinematography sprinkled throughout this movie. There were some notably amazing shots in Fool’s Paradise that are just beautiful to look at.
In my opinion, Ken Jeong had a really great performance that drove the plot of the film.
Overall, I would describe this film as a detail-centered outlandish comedy. Where the film lacks in plot, it makes up for in its comedy and cinematography.
Francis Lawrence
David Guion, Michael Handelman
Peter Chernin, Francis Lawrence, David Ready, Jenno Topping
Slumberland was better than I had anticipated. This film was chalked full of emotion.
Jason Momoa played a rather interesting character that is out of his typical range. He did well but the character was rather weird and probably could’ve been written better.
The “outlaw” archetype seemed very forced and was mentioned way too much in dialogue making it lose its meaning.
The narration in the exposition didn’t match up to the rest of the film and largely didn’t seem to apply. There were quite a bit of plot holes throughout the film, i.e. making it seem like everyone has the same dream every night.
Some way through the second act, the film felt like they were trying to do two stories at once, which is understandable and could’ve played off very well, but the pacing of each was too brief to gain tread leading it to not develop as well as it could’ve.
This film does contain a really great metaphor however. The protagonist’s name, Nemo. Point Nemo is known to be the place on Earth furthest from any land mass, indicating that it’s the loneliest place in the world. For a child to have a fear of being alone, as well as a fisherman’s daughter, I think this was a great touch to the film and a really good detail.
Overall, I enjoyed the film despite some of the weird plot aspects. There were a lot of emotional parts that were underutilized and the cuts between storylines could’ve been better.
