The Inside Man is so good.
Watched The Irishman last night. Wasnāt sure what I thought during the first hour or so, but by the end I loved it. Always refreshing to see modern Pacino playing outside of his post-Scent of a Woman caricature that has always been much less appealing than his 70s work.
More generally been catching up on the 2020 Oscar nominees, and this Best Picture category has to be one of the most loaded Iāve seen, particularly in the modern era of too many nominees:
Havenāt seen Jojo Rabbit yet, but have seen everything else, and it all ranges from good to excellent. I thought the 2016 (Spotlight et al.) batch was really strong, and I think this group is better.
1 Like
I like Jojo Rabbit but I thought it was a cut below some of the better films on this list.
I saw Blue Beetle this weekend and it was fine I guess. If you already watch all the comic book movies, then I donāt think youāll have many problems with this, but the movie doesnāt do much to appeal to non-genre fans. Itās a smaller scale movie as far a super hero stories go. I donāt have any problem with that, but it would be nice to have more character development.
Letās take the lead character, Jaime. He just graduated college and is coming back to his family without a job. This is partly because he faces discrimination as a poor Mexican-American from the wrong neighborhood. He takes a service job and demonstrates āheroismā by speaking up for a woman who is being harangued by Susan Sarandon and her henchman. For this heās fired, but also offered a job by the mystery woman. This leads to him getting a super suit. The other character beats I can think of is him deciding not to kill people (against the suitās suggestion), him learning from his dad not to think of himself as a disappointment, and him learning that his ālove for his familyā makes him strong. So thereās some characterization, but he aināt Hamlet.
1 Like
Joker really sticks out like a turd in that punch bowl! 
Otherwise, it was a great year for sure.
Agreed itās a good batch. Iāve got 2016 (and 2021) above it, mainly because there are films on those lists that I thought were excellent. I do think the 2020 list might have the best worst movie since they expanded the field.
Been a little bit since Iāve seen Joker, but I liked it.
Still have to fill in my gaps from 2021, but at this point it hasnāt stood out to me. Have seen The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nomadland, Sound of Metal, Trial of the Chicago 7. Would be inclined toward Judas and the Black Messiah as my favorite from that group by a marginal amount, but my assessment of even that one caps out at āreally good, bordering on great.ā Nomadland is my least favorite on the list and I think influences how I view the group to some extent since it won.
If I loved Mad Max: Fury Road as much as everyone else does then Iād be inclined to give the nod to 2016 as well, but I found it borderline unwatchable.
1 Like
Itās fine, but itās pretty superficial. Also in the year 2020 the arguably sympathetic framing of a violent loner incel was a discordant with what was (is) happening in the world. The movie wins points for style and Phoenix is a force of nature, but beyond the surface elements itās a flawed film.
2 Likes
If forced to pick a weakest film on the list then Joker might be it, but it wouldnāt be by much and it doesnāt feel like a significant outlier to me, particularly in light of the fact that itās carried by a truly elite lead performance. Agree that itās fairly superficial, but there are others on the list (1917, Ford v. Ferrari) that I would also apply that description to; they just executed at a high enough level that I really enjoyed them anyway.
1 Like
I donāt dispute any of that.
Just a PSA that this Sunday is apparently āNational Cinema Dayā so many theaters will be selling tickets for $4. This includes the fancy formats like Imax, Dolby, etc, so I grabbed a ticket to finally see what 4DX is all about.
2 Likes
Battle Royale/Battle Royale 2 are coming to Criterion in Sept, you know Iāve never seen BR2, might need to make it a doubleheader.
Also coming: a collection of Hong Kong vampire kung-fu movies that look pretty choice.
1 Like
Iāve never seen p2 either. Was just thinking I should get around to it. I will watch it if you will!!
A pretty cool analysis of BR and Hunger Games in the essay collection The Dark Fantastic by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas.
Collider has a good review of the Japanese remake for Unforgiven if I am remembering correctly that you recently sang its praises.
Itās definitely a very paint-by-numbers origin story. Itās perfectly watchable and is better than the bad superhero movies, but it does feel like the only reason to see it is if you just generally watch most of these and want to keep up with ongoing canon (of which Blue Beetle is apparently going to be a part even though the DCU hasnāt officially started).
Iāll say that I do look forward to his inclusion in future ensemble movies now, so from that standpoint it did its job well enough.
1 Like
Yeah BR inspired not only Hunger Games but an entire genre of both YA fiction and videogames like PUBG. It was quite controversial when it came out. Also, the main bad guy is basically Japanās version of Alex Trebek, so thatās weird.
1 Like
Yeah, I didnāt like Joker. A supremely vapid film.
Running Man felt like a definite inspiration for those genres too. Just swap criminals for kids.
1 Like
That is the same impression I got from the trailers.
Well Iāll just cross my fingers it is a step in the right direction. Even if that step was just to make a mediocre movie with this diverse representation in order to cultivate the space for a lot more movies. Some of which may be amazing. And hopefully at least one will feature the same characters from Blue Beatle
If Gunn is going to do something with the characters later on, I am all set to take it for what it is and look forward to whatever the characters pop up in next.
You mentioned being a Joanna Robinson fan; she was on a Ringerverse podcast discussing it last week.
IIRC itās full-spoiler, but Iām getting the sense that might not scare you off in this case.
1 Like
Ty!!! Yep I love JoWroteThis.
Also correct I donāt care about spoiling this movie lol. But she might have a POV that helps me appreciate it.