A TON of movie reviews

Monster Hunter

I did not even know until this movie ended that it was a Paul W.S. Andersen movie. Usually the tipoff with his movies is that they are complete and utter horseshit, with the worst cut action scenes possible and often Milla Jovovich stars. Well, this one is slightly different. Jovovich is here, but I could at least sort of follow the action, and the movie is not quite that awful. It still ain't good. It's a video game adaptation about this other world on earth where big monsters live. It's nonsense, kind of a hodgepodge of many other better action movies. The dialogue is atrocious. They cast Meagan Good then kill her off quick. Half the movie is Jovovich and Tony Jaa trying to communicate even though neither speaks the other's language. But the fx aren't bad. Jovovich and Jaa handle the action well. And you get to see Ron Perlman wear a hilarious wig and swing a fire axe at a dragon.

News Of The World

Paul Greengrass would seem a strange fit to direct a rather slow paced western, but this turns out to be a very good change of pace. Tom Hanks, who surprisingly had not done this genre before, gives one of his best performances in recent years. 

The Little Things

I really liked this one as a bit of a throwback to the kind of crime thrillers we used to get a lot maybe 25 years or so ago. As always, Denzel Washington is superb. Rami Malek's odd vibe really enlivens his part. Jared Leto is creepy and off putting, but at least here that fits. Really terrific ending. 

Nomadland

Just a great film. Frances McDormand lives mostly out of her van, and travels around picking up odd jobs and living on her own. It's such a simple story but I was thoroughly engrossed in it. McDormand is in peak form. If Carey Mulligan wasn't a factor she'd be a shoo-in for another Oscar. There are all these wonderful scenes of her interacting with other nomads, many played by real people. The cinematography is amazing. It really makes me miss road trips tbh. And now this same director is doing The Eternals. Can't wait. 

Borat: Subsequent Movie Film

Okay, so, I hated the first Borat movie. I hated how it was obviously scripted yet people believed it wasn't. But I've liked a lot of Sacha Baron Cohen's stuff since then, and everything about this sequel looked funny (including the infamous Giuliani scene). And yeah, this is a good sequel. It's very funny. Maria Bakalova is an amazing addition as Borat's daughter. I still have the same issue with some scenes obviously being staged and/or scripted (if there is coverage it can't be real), but I laughed a lot. And I even went back and watched thale original. And I enjoyed it this time, despite the staginess. So who knows. I can think of a few things going on in the fall of 2006 that might have had me in the wrong mood for Borat. But I have been converted. 

Shadow In The Cloud

Fun little B movie with the always awesome Chloe Moretz taking on monsters aboard a WW2 plane. I liked this better than the similar Overlord from a few years ago. 

Judas and The Black Messiah

Pretty fucking excellent, and maybe the best film I have seen about the Black Panthers. Daniel Kaluuya is excellent as Fred Hampton, but he is bested by Lakeith Stanfield in a new peak as the guy forced by the FBI to betray Hampton. Stanfield is just a bundle of anxiety the whole film. It's an incredibly compelling character. I loved how uncompromising the film is. It doesn't pretend that the police or the FBI had shades of good. 

Land

Never been a big Robin Wright fan, but this film she directed and stars in is okay. She plays a distraught woman who goes to live in a tiny shack in the woods, with no real plan how to do that. The character's idiocy bugged me early, but she's meant to be kind of stupid. The film gets better as it goes, and has a really terrific ending. 

Still Here

I only watchd it cause I saw Zazie Beetz was in it. Yeah, for ONE scene. The rest of the movie is a deeply forgettable missing persons drama, with some truly atrocious acting. 

Malcolm and Marie

On the surface this is just 2 hours of Zendaya and John David Washington arguing at one another. But even as a blatant actors showcase this thing was pretty damn good. The dialogue is razor sharp. Zendaya just gets better and better, and Washington is well on his way to being one of the greats just like his dad. 

Locked Down

One of the 1st movies to be set during COVID. This one has Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor as a couple forced to stay together during, well, lockdown. I was mixed on this. Unlike Malcolm and Marie, the dialogue isn't as sharp here. The stars are both terrific. The film becomes a low tech heist movie in the 2nd half and it's okay. I'm sure there will be better films than this to incorporate COVID. 

Supernova

I went in totally blind on this. All I knew was it starred Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as a gay couple, and one of them was sick somehow. Glad I saw it. This was a very moving film, at times crushingly sad in the third act. Top level performances here, particularly from Tucci, who hasn't really had a chance to shine like this in a long time.