December movie reviews

In theaters:

NAPOLEON 

Ridley Scott brings all his grand epic skills to this one. I really appreciate the production, and it has one battle sequence set on a frozen lake that is astounding. Joaquin Phoenix is very good in the lead. Vanessa Kirby is very good as Napoleon's wife. I liked the movie, but it definitely feels like a massively edited down film. And fittingly, Scott has said there is a 4 hour cut of the film that might get seen someday. I suspect that will be the superior version.

GODZILLA MINUS ONE

The absolute surprise of the year! I didn't even know this existed until just before it came out, and wasn't even interested in seeing it. I figured it was another man in suit movie. But I heard such good things and checked it out and holy shit was it excellent! I think it is without a doubt my favorite solo Godzilla movie. They really nail the grandeur of Godzilla, and the low budget fx work is pretty great. But the real key here is that this film does what none of the others ever did: they actually give you human characters that are compelling and who have an involving story even independent from the monster mashing. 

SILENT NIGHT

John Woo hadn't made a film in America for 20 years. And he came back for...THIS? A soulless John Wick wannabe, with a generic revenge story and a ridiculously bad gimmick in which there is basically no dialogue. The main character never speaks, but neither does anybody else. Not only is this forced, but it completely drains any character or narrative from the film. It's just dull scene after dull scene, and that includes the mediocre action. Add in some really tedious xenophobia and this was one of the most empty, joyless moviegoing experiences I have had in a long time. 

EILEEN

A minor movie, but pretty good. Thomasin McKenzie (doing her demure thing) develops a fixation on a glamorous new woman at her job, played by Anne Hathaway. For once a movie is noticeably short, and the ending is rushed. But it takes a couple interesting turns and the leads are super watchable. 

POOR THINGS

Damn, Emma Stone, I never thought she had something like this in her. This latest oddity from Yorgos Lanthimos has Stone as something akin to a Frankenstein's monster, but it also hits a lot of the same beats as Barbie. It's one of the year's most original films though, a bizarre mix of sci-fi, comedy and drama, that also has more sex in it that any film I've seen in a long time. It's actually kind of gratuitous, though I certainly didn't mind seeing all of what Stone is showing here. Hey, I AM a guy. Her performance, considered an Oscar favorite, is indeed magnificent and a career peak. Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe are also excellent in this. The production design is super creative. The movie at points get weird just for the sake of being weird, and a few of the darker moments kind of kill the vibe and knock it down a few notches. It's probably my favorite of Lanthimos's films though. 

FERRARI 

Michael Mann's film about the car founder is quite good. I went in with little knowledge of the story being told, which made one particular scene absolutely shocking. The performances by Adam Driver and especially the electric Penelope Cruz are two of the year's best. Shailene Woodley is very miscast. This film isn't really about car races, but it does have stellar scenes centered on the finale race. Mann's best film in years.

THE COLOR PURPLE 

So first there was the bovelz then the Spielberg film, then a musical based on the film. I've seen none before. This is a film adaptation of the musical, and when the music kicks up the film can be quite good. I wasn't that captivated by the story in non-musical moments. A few standout performances here that will likely get some awards consideration. 

Everything else: 

THEATER CAMP

Oof. Aren't mockumentaries supposed to be funny? If there were any jokes in this, I missed them. And oh god, not Ben Platt. 

THE KILLER

David Fincher's Netflix film starring Michael Fassbender as an assasin is completely style over substance. But what style! Fincher directs the hell out of this thing on every technical level. Just wish it had more to offer on a story or character level.

YOU CANNOT KILL DAVID ARQUETTE 

Documentary about Arquette's pivot from actor to wrestler. It's a curiosity, but an interesting watch. 

LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

This is one of Netflix's biggest recent movies, with Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke taking the lead as a couple renting a house for a vacation when...something happens, which could be apocalyptic. I was into this one big time. It has a definite Shyamalan vibe, but the good version, where the tension holds and the weird humor mostly works (the ending made me laugh out loud and I don't laugh out loud). 

REBEL MOON--PART ONE: A CHILD OF FIRE

Netflix again. They gave Zack Snyder a shitload of money to make a big sci-fi epic (part 2 comes in a few months), and Snyder not surprisingly made something dull and derivative, without anything to grab onto. He at least gives the dazzling Sofia Boutella a well deserved lead role, even if she kind of gets sucked into the dullness herself. 

A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS

Decades later they made a sequel starring an adult Ralphie (still Peter Billingsley). It's a hollow movie, living off nostalgia for the original. They bring back a bunch of the old kid actors, but the charm is missing, and frankly so is the acting ability. It has a few nice heartfelt moments but I would never watch it again. 

SHOWING UP 

The latest collaboration between Michelle Williams and director Kelly Reichardt is really just a nothing film in which nothing happens. At least Williams for once is not saddled with an unflattering wig. 

BEAU IS AFRAID

I'm not sure I have ever seen a film start so strong and finish so poorly. Midsommar director Ari Aster's latest stars Joaquin Phoenix in a typically excellent performance. The opening third of this 3 hour movie is some of the best kind of dark, absurd comedy that I have seen. I was really mesmerized by it, and thought that if Aster maintained this for the full 3 gours this could be one of the year's best. But boy did he not. The film abandons almost all that dark comedy and becomes just sad and boring, and you really start to feel that bloated runtime. It just becomes a dull slog, aside from one Parker Posey scene that taps back into that opening hour, and culminates in a big shrug of an ending.