November movie reviews

In theaters:

ANTLERS

A long delayed horror movie. In a decrepit mining town, a monster escapes a mine and people start getting killed. Involved somehow is a young kid, whose teacher (Keri Russell) sees something wrong and tries to help. This thing is fucking bleak, man, but really effective and unsettling. There is a ton of gore, but not a lot of typical scares. It's a story and character driven horror flick, which are always the best kind. 

THE FRENCH DISPATCH

After not really getting into Wes Anderson movies early.in his career, I've been on board with them all for like 15 years. The good streak kind of ends here though. I just wasn't into this one. I even dozed off a couple times. This is actually a good structure for Anderson, allowing for a collection of short stories and asides. Problem is, other than the Benicio Del Toro/Adrien Brody/Lea Seydoux one nothing here is particularly funny or interesting. All there is is the style.

SPENCER

Director Pablo Larrain's last movie, Jackie, got Natalie Portman an Oscar nomination (should have been a win too). All the buzz is that this movie will nab Kristen Stewart her first Oscar nomination and maybe a win. And she is dazzling in this Princess Diana biopic. Although IS it a biopic? It's obviously a work of fiction, beyond using real people. It shows Diana just about having a breakdown over a Christmas holiday. The film actually gave me some major Free Britney vibes, cause Diana here is all about wanting to break free from a controlling situation. The camerawork is just like Jackie with all those wide shots and the score is all about making you feel the same anxiety Diana is. Stewart is fabulous in this. I've always liked her (yes, even in Twilight), but she has never disappeared to a role like this before. I certainly haven't seen anything else so far in 2021 that's a better lead performance by an actress. Give her the statue. 

BELFAST

Kenneth Branagh's semi-autobiographical story about growing up in Ireland in the late 60's is another movie that's being talked up as a big awards contender. Ehh. It's a nice little movie with a charming story and some good performances. But nothing about it is exceptional. 

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE

I was actually quite surprised how good this was. The trailers made it look like it wasn't even a Ghostbusters movie, like it wanted to be some kind of early Spielberg era kids adventure. Well, it actually IS that, more or.less. It doesn't feel like a movie in this franchise. It does feel like one of those 1980s Amblin movies, or like JJ Abrams' tribute Super 8. But it's a good  version of that. I really wished it had more laughs. I also wished it didn't basically try to just do a cover version of the Ghosbusters 1 third act. But the young cast, led by nominal lead McKenna Grace, is a lot.of fun. Paul Rudd gets to do his.Paul Rudd thing. The movie smartly doesn't go real big with the fx work, which has a welcome retro feel. You know the cameos are coming, but they do work, and the way they involve the late Harold Ramis is one of the most unexpectedly touching things I have seen in a movie in a long time.

RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY

This feels like one of those cases where a studio has rights to a property, but can only keep it if they make a movie, so they churn out some garbage quickie. Otherwise I have no idea why this reboot of the Milla Jovovich franchise (that only had 1 or 2 passable entries) is so bad. Absolutely nothing in it feels energetic or inspired. It's just tired zombie movie cliche crap, with poor action, bad fx work really, and not a single standout character or performance. 

KING RICHARD

Will Smith plays the father of Venus and Serena Williams. Yeah it seems weird to have a movie with the dad and not the sisters as the main focus. But this is a pretty good movie, one of the better sports movies of recent years. Smith is being talked up as an Oscar contender, and while I think he has had better performances I liked him a lot here. Supporting cast is excellent (great Jon Berenthal). Tennis action is good. If nothing else it's probably the best tennis movie ever. 

Everything else:

THE HARDER THEY FALL

This might be my favorite Netflix film ever. Just an awesomely entertaining western, with a cast full of seriously charismatic actors in full movie star mode, particularly Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba. But you also have Lakeith Stanfield,, Regina King, and Zazie Beetz. Story is good, action is cool, cinematography is excellent, music is great. This is like the best Tarantino film Tarantino didn't make. 

TILL DEATH

This Megan Fox movie is about a woman whose husband kills himself while handcuffed to her. Many plot mechanations ensue. It's a nice economical plot, and I was interested throughout. But the movie is dragged down every second by Fox, a terrible actress who is a complete empty void in this (in a movie I saw laughably referred to as her comeback).

PASSING

A Netflix movie about the uneasy friendship between Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga in the 1920s, dealing with the idea of "passing" as in passing for a different race. The movie is most worth watching for another excellent performance by Thompson, although a key plot point that  she could be mistaken for white seems ridiculous (maybe the black and white is meant to obscure that fact). The ending too is pretty stupid. 

SMALL ENGINE REPAIR

A solid small town drama. It's clearly based off a play, and not a whole lot actually happens in it, but when it does...Jesus! This thing gets incredibly intense for like 10 minutes in the 3rd act.