I'm just gonna call out a bunch of movies I've watched somewhat recently and try to keep the blurbs small. Lets do this. Lets get some Oscar noms (and snubs) too. All of these are 2021 films, except for the first one, which obviously came out this year. Lets start with that -
The Batman - not terrible! Praise about it being "better than the Dark Knight" is mostly just recency bias. I saw it in theaters, I liked it, didn't hate it, but it does feel very "I've seen this all before." It is neat seeing the mixture of Burton elements, Nolan elements and what Reeves and RPat bring to it (Zoe Kravitz is fine as Catwoman, but in terms of the character it's nothing we haven't seen before. Colin Farrell's Penguin feels new, although he also feels like he's in a completely different movie). If you like Batman, it's a fine addition, but not genre-redefining as some superhero movies have been. But it's also not Morbius.
Nightmare Alley [best picture nominee] - Not sure if it still is given it's April now, but this was free on Hulu and HBO Max for most of March I believe (maybe February)? It wasn't well received in theaters with the remnants of the pandemic and a marketing campaign that focused mainly on the first act, despite a settings and story change that occurs after. Set your expectations aside, this movie is a mastercraft in both set design and intent. I think people wanted a bigger story given the carnival elements, but the story it tells is much more personal and well constructed, and I think really accomplishes it's aims well. The hidden intentions and sneaky grifts would make this a great double feature with another film I'm going to bring up later - Red Rocket.
Licorice Pizza - Don't think this is available to stream for free anywhere, just rent. Good movie! Saw this one in theaters with kiddo while he visited back in December, I like it. A good PTA film, it's not his BEST work but still enjoyed it overall, and loved the 70s setting. Sort of a younger "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood." Worth a watch, didn't think it would get best picture. Mostly a hangout movie.
Drive My Car - nominated for Best Picture, winner for Best Foreign Film, and currently still available to watch on HBO Max. 3 hours long, many subtitles as it has spoken Japanese, Russian, and other languages (including Korean sign language). A rumination on life, main character Yusuke Kafuku is grieving his lost wife, when he receives an opportunity to direct a performance of Uncle Vanya. Kafuku's real life and the "imagined" life of Uncle Vanya swirl together, and his relationship with the young lady hired to drive him around in his car for the length of time he's directing the play leads to new possibilities for Kafuku. That makes it sound like a romance movie, it is not. Powerful, and my #1 movie of 2021.
OSCAR SNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUBS (mostly foreign films, I am transitioning back to my movie snob self)
The Worst Person in the World - coming from Joachim Trier out of Oslo, Norway, Worst Person in the World tells the story of Julie, as she oscillates between a relationship with the older Aksel and new crush Eivind. The movie's about how people grow and change while society arounds them also grows and changes, and touches upon elements of human nature, cancel culture, and various other aspects of everyday life. Subtitled, highly worth it. Had the opportunity to catch this in a theater and it did not disappoint. Keep an eye out for it streaming.
The Lost Daughter - free on Netflix! I have this in my Oscar snubs, maybe not a snub (but deserved to be there more than Don't Look Up). Based on a novel and a directorial debut by Maggie Gylenhaal, The Lost Daughter tells the story of Olivia Colman's character while she's on a vacation. She meets a young mother, and the two lives collide in strange and unpredictable ways. The source material is highly regarded and it deals with some uncomfortable matters that you don't often see on screen. The nature of motherhood, sisterhood, I was really enraptured with this one (that being said, my wife liked it less, for what that's worth). No subtitles this time!
Bad Luck Banging Or Looney Porn - Currently streaming for free on Hulu (although highly edited), a Romanian film by director Radu Jude, it concerns a married teacher who films a sex tape with her husband, which finds its way into the public purview. Now, the parents of her students want the school to fire her, and a parent-teacher meeting has been scheduled for all to attend.
The film is in four chapters, with the fourth chapter dedicated to the ending, and the second chapter dedicated not to the story, but to a series of images and videos accompanied by scathing critiques in text. Most of these pertain to the Romanian government and Romanian history, but it's not hard to see a US version of this movie existing, as the themes of hypocrisy and the sort of "ouroboros" of society clash throughout. On Hulu, although edited (the sex scene in the film is 100% unsimulated, adding to the authenticity of the content within the rest of the film. The Hulu version censors the sex act, with basically a powerpoint presentation that's tongue-in-cheek and still delivers the message (one such slide simply says "You can show a man killing another man but can't show a blowjob." Shit like that). Also subtitled, in Romanian.
A Hero - Free on Amazon Prime video, A Hero is an Iranian film from Asghar Farhadi. I haven't seen Farhadi's other movies, but have heard great things about A Separation. Again, subtitled, A Hero follows Rahim Soltani, a prisoner in debtor's prison who gets released for a special occasion. While on release, Rahim's girlfriend presents him with a bag of gold coins she found, which he can use to pay his debt. Rahim refuses, and instead returns the bag of coins to its owner, making him an instant celebrity. Intrigue soon follows.
To say more would be to spoil it, again, but I've seen this referred to as the "milkshake duck" movie. Per Wiki - Milkshake Duck is a person who gains popularity on social media for some positive or charming trait but is later revealed to have a distasteful history or offensive behavior. The meme is a reference to a Twitter post on 12 June 2016 by Ben Ward, an Australian cartoonist using the online handle "pixelatedboat".[6] His Twitter joke describes a fictional Internet viral phenomenon of a "lovely duck that drinks milkshakes" and is then immediately discovered to be racist.
This movie doesn't go the racism route, but there are some secrets to be revealed.
Red Rocket - last but not least, absolutely one of my favorite movies of the year for sheer entertainment but which also has something to say. An A24 film, director Shawn Baker is probably best known for his film The Florida Project, about a motel in Florida occupied but society's outsiders, and Tangerine, about a trans-sex worker taking revenge on an assailant (I've seen the former, not the latter, although kiddo tells me it's very good).
Saw this one in theaters with kiddo as well, it stars Simon Rex, famed MTV VJ and star of the earliest Scary Movie films, as Mikey - a former porn star returned to his ex-wife and mother-in-law's house in Texas. Initially, it seems like he might be changing his ways and ready to accept his role as a husband and provider, but after meeting the young girl working the counter at the Doughnut Hole, things start to change.
Red Rocket, much like Nightmare Alley (and, to a certain extent, A Hero) is about America's love of grifters. The 2016 presidential campaign plays like a specter in the background, its own metaphor for the way Mikey says whatever he needs to say to entice those around him to follow along while his ulterior motives play out. Surprisingly entertaining despite Mikey being a massive piece of shit, part of the fun of Baker's films is they play without judgement. The movie doesn't tell you how to feel about Mikey, it lets you make your own conclusions, it's just shining light on a forgotten spot in America (Baker loves bringing light to sex worker issues). Anyways, this one isn't streaming for free anywhere yet, but it's 100% worth the rental. Very funny movie as well.
That's all I got!
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June 03, 2023, 05:01:44 AM
