September movie reviews

In theaters:

THE LONG WALK

Based on a Stephen King story and directed by Francis Lawrence, the simple premise has a group of young men walking. But if they slow down too much, they die. Somehow, this isn't tedious. Most of the film is dialogue heavy, and it is very well written, and the cast is very good, including Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, two of the best young actors out there. Mark Hamill is also the main bad guy. 

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

The kind of film that when you see it, you know you've seen a new classic. The new film from one of our greatest filmmakers, Paul Thomas Anderson, combines all his skill, his ear for rich dialogue, and ability to draw out peak work from actors, and this time also has palpable passion and real sweetness. This film takes on current issues in America in a way I never expected from him. I guess if we have to live in an increasingly authoritarian shithole country, we might as well get some great films out of it. 
Another fantastic ensemble, so good that as good as Leonardo DiCaprio is, he's not even at the top. Sean Penn gives his best performance in many years as one of the shittiest, skeeziest people ever. Benicio Del Toro is effortlessly excellent. Teyana Taylor is pure fire. And newcomer Chase Infiniti is magnetic. 
Incredible film. You get a juicy, relevant story, action and drama, great dialogue, and acting.
PTA films always improve upon repeat viewings, so I have that to look forward to. 

A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY

A film that, through title alone, basically screams at you, "Look how adorably whimsical I am", this film desperately wants to be Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with its unreality and pathos mixed with humor. It only works about 40% of the time, but it helps that the stars are the as luminous as ever Margot Robbie and the very charming Colin Farrell. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Message Board Classics: 2004 NFL Season

Preseason kickoff post (and other posts): Oh yes, it IS that time again. Training camps are open. The first preseason games are less than a week away. Players are already being idiots. It's the best time of the sports year. It is not yet the time for predictions, but I'll hit on some of the big recent stories. Ricky Williams retires. Well, we know now he did so cuz he was gonna be suspended for using marijuana. He's a little shit as far as I'm concerned. You do not abandon your team when he did. He had every right to retire, but do it at least before the draft. He's left the Dolphins with zero chance of making the playoffs. They couldn't go get Eddie George or Antowain Smith, nor could they draft a RB. The Cowboys cut Quincy Carter. I spent all offseason pleading with Dallas to go get a QB like Warner or Collins or Garcia. Instead they fail to upgrade, and now take a step back. Vinny is 80 years old and has little if anything left. My prediction is that Drew Hen...
Read more

Awful NFL season ends with awful Super Bowl

BUCCANEERS 31 CHIEFS 9 The 2020 NFL season is over. Thank god! A season that was almost across the board unenjoyable, and felt empty and largely felt manipulated, ended with the worst outcome imaginable. With a result that not only continues this 20 year nightmare but that will frankly hurt the NFL for years to come. I was not looking forward to this game. I knew this was going to happen. Maybe not in blowout fashion but I knew the NFL was going to see to it that Tom Brady got his 7th title. The house wins. The game was never fun. Right from the start the Chiefs seemed sleepy, like they weren't really in it. This team plays with swagger, but in this game they had none. Patrick Mahomes was under enormous pressure from the start. The Chiefs grabbed the 1st lead at 3-0 but then from basically the end of the 1st quarter until halftime it was a nightmare. The Chiefs offense remained lifeless. The Chiefs defense did manage a goal line stand that at the moment seemed like it could be a tu...
Read more