10) BARBIE
One of the best comedies I’ve seen in years (I don’t watch many comedies. I don’t like comedies). It got quite a few genuine chuckles out of me, and I found myself smiling through whole sequences.
I do feel the need to emphasize one thing though: This should absolutely be pitched as a comedy based on the popular doll, nothing more — and that’s okay. It has too much heart to be a classified alongside dumb comedies, but not enough cohesive thoughts strung together to be considered anything more than a big-budget, thoroughly entertaining, well-paced comedy.
9) NIMONA
“I don’t know what’s scarier: The fact that everyone in this Kingdom wants to run a sword through my heart, or that sometimes, I just want to let them.”
One does not have to be a shape-shifter or a mustache-twirler to be considered a monster or a villain. Those titles (and the like) are used as weapons against those society seeks to ostracize — needing nothing more than the slightest bit of slander to rally other people behind. And if labeled one of the above for long enough, knowing you’re not, knowing your heart is pure, one might feel this world was not meant for people like them — maybe they might feel it’s best to see themselves out of it, or maybe they might feel the need to prove everyone right out of weariness from resisting.
Stories like this aren’t made about such characters. People like this exist, and stories like this are told to make sure those that are pure of heart continue fighting the good fight, that they continue to believe that their place in the world is one that can make it better. I’m really glad stories like this exist.
8) THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
For his five years with Netflix, Mike Flanagan has done with the horror genre exactly what makes this genre my favorite to explore and to exhibit. From what I understand, his run with the streamer ends with this tale of greed and legacy. Here’s hoping he continues making shows of this quality, in this genre, with whoever he works with next.
7) EILEEN
If I were to describe a couple things that are said to have happened or actually occurred in this movie, you’d be surprised when I say the following statement: I loved how this film seemed to consistently subvert expectations by being tame with creative choices, instead of choosing the most shocking or dramatic option available every time — and it’s due to this restraint that the choices made felt like so interesting.
These choices made this feel like it could have been faithfully adapted from a true story, this film about a mid-twenties girl desperate for some kind of meaning in her life.
6) GODZILLA MINUS ONE
By pure chance, I saw this film in the same week that I finished The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell. This movie really feels like the delectable dessert to the hearty entrée served by Gladwell. In fact, remarkably, this film almost picks up exactly where the book ended.
I think one of the biggest compliments you can give a monster movie is that you almost forgot about the monster while the movie was taking place. That certainly was the case here, as I was fully invested in this story of three survivors who band together to create a family in the aftermath of the destruction of their homes and everything they knew during World War II. Of course, however, Godzilla was pretty cool too.
I feel the need to mention the fact that this film was made on a budget of 15 million dollars, while Godzilla (2014) cost upwards of 160 million dollars. I really liked both movies. Do with this information what you will.
5) OPPENHEIMER
This is one of those three-hour movies that you feel every minute of. But that's not to say that watching it ever becomes a torturous experience. Quite the contrary. It's due to that plodding pace that you feel how subtly this passion project transformed into something so colossal and so destructive in so many ways. And while that's happening, our protagonist transforms too: from a scientist, to a professor, to a project manager, to a politician, to the destroyer of worlds. This biopic felt like a masterful limited series that I had the pleasure of watching in one sitting on a screen big enough to project the gravity of its subject matter.
4) PAST LIVES
I don’t remember the last time a film had me hanging on to every word the way this one did. The silences were excruciating: A million and one thoughts running through the characters’ minds as they calculate what they want to say, if they want to say it — and if so, then how.
As Nora’s husband lays in bed describing how beautiful the love story we’re all watching is, he’s describing it like one that would be written for a book or a movie. But the one that we actually got on film felt far closer to how things would play out in real life: Awkward moments, messy emotions, spiraling thoughts of what could have been, what still may be. There were no easy answers. There were no fireworks, in conflict or in celebration. And yet, there was electricity running through every frame. You felt the weight of the whole world between every sentence.
3) THE LITTLE MERMAID
They felt the need to repeatedly bash us over the head with Ariel’s motivations for her actions because there are still morons out there who think she traded the ocean and her voice for a man.
The first time I saw this movie, it triggered a full-blown existential crisis within me. I had to go see it again to confirm my findings — my feelings were not changed by the second viewing.
I really like this remake. Like, I really, really like it. I think I like it as much as I like the original. And the original is my favorite classic Disney movie of all time. I’m committing blasphemy by saying what I’m saying right now, I know. At least, it feels like I am. These thoughts are what started me down this mental spiral that led to my existential crisis.
Perhaps it isn’t the movie (The Little Mermaid, 1989) that I like as much as I do. Maybe it’s the story that I love so much. We all watch movies but we don’t often think of them merely as vessels with which stories are delivered. We think of all the other things that come with the motion picture: The acting, the directing, the cinematography, editing, music, etc. But these things are just the tools we use to get the story across. Sometimes we hear people say “story is most important”, but I don’t think we hear it enough. Story isn’t just the most important thing. The story is everything. There is nothing else.
How many movies do you press play on simply to admire one of its technical aspects. Do you ever kick back after a long day and say to yourself, “I’m going to grab a beer and watch La La Land for the cinematography”, or The Social Network for the score, or Silence of the Lambs for the acting. Only cinematographers would say the first. Only musicians would say the second. And only actors would say the third. I just used five Oscar winners to make my point.
This is a long-winded (and somehow not nearly long enough) way of saying that when we fall in love with a movie, I think we’re really just falling in love with the story being told. The story can be told poorly if the technical aspects aren’t firing on all cylinders, so having talented people in charge of helping to get the story on the screen is absolutely invaluable. But at the end of the day, the story is all that matters. Sometimes, something about the story is so near and dear to a person’s heart that the technical aspects don’t hinder the viewer’s experience at all.
I love the story of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. The original is my favorite of their classic animated motion pictures. The remake improves on it in many ways, and doesn’t quite live up to the original in some others. But the story wasn’t changed in any way that made me dislike the story being told here. So, in conclusion, I loved this remake. I’m glad I got to see it twice in theaters. I pre-ordered the digital copy through Apple, and I plan to watch it many more times in the future.
2) POOR THINGS
A renowned, beloved professor I had in film school once said that all films, in some way, are about identity. In the same vein, countless films are specifically about what it means to be human. Few films, however, investigate that line of inquiry quite as potently as this one does.
There’s so much to digest and dissect with this motion picture that I don’t feel as though I’m capable of doing the latter without first doing the former. Only God knows how long that will take.
1) SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE
It makes me so mad that this movie isn’t eight hours long. Honestly, I can’t imagine the fucking nerve. I had to go back for seconds during its theatrical run to spend another two plus hours in this world, with these characters. This film excites me in a way I can’t remember feeling in a long, long time. I don’t just like it. I don’t just appreciate the artistry on display. This film genuinely excites me.
I don’t know what I’m going to get when we cut to the next shot, but I know it’s going to fill me with pure unadulterated joy. The craftsmanship and care on display here is enough to blow the minds of casual moviegoers and film snobs alike.
Oh, I should also add that the story being told here is layered, emotional, deep, light when it needs to be and dark when it needs to be. I was incredibly frustrated when the credits rolled. I wasn’t fully satisfied, in the exact way you’re not fully satisfied when you reach the last page of the story in a comic book you’re enjoying (this was done intentionally, obviously). I just want more — so much more. I want to live in this universe for hours on end.