177 Best Releases From the Genre Action
Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Aliens (1986), Apollo 13 (1995), Armageddon (1998), Catwoman (2004), Con Air (1997), Die Hard (1988), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterRebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023),
My favorite moments in Rebel Moon: Part Two - The Scargiver come during quick breaths before a plunge.
In the first, warriors Tarak (Staz Nair) and Milius (Elise Duffy) come to terms with their likely imminent deaths at the hands of a smoke-spewing tank. Having spent years of his life consumed by survivor's guilt, Tarak thought having a cause to die for would be enough. It isn't. He wants to live, but he probably won't. The next best thing is to die fighting alongside a peer like Milius.
In the second, Kora (Sofia Boutella) is in the midst of blasting her way through the fearsome dreadnought King's Gaze. After slaying a warrior wielding a high-tech superheated sword, she takes a moment to catch her breath. With some pilfered cloth, she wraps the blade's hilt so she can use it without burning herself. It's a moment of improvisation, providing Boutella a chance to deliver a quieter piece of physical acting that stands in contrast to brawling with a corridor of goons or swordfighting Ed Skrein's Admiral Noble. Continue Reading →
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
SimilarBack to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Ghostbusters (1984), Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), King Kong (1933), King Kong (2005), Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Superman Returns (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999),
The most frustrating thing about Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire isn't that it's stupid. It knows it's stupid; it's banking on that. It's not even that its luster has been eclipsed by Japan's most recent entry in the terrible lizard's decades-long rampage on the cinematic landscape, the now-Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One. It's that somehow, director Adam Wingard and the team behind the MonsterVerse have forgotten how to be the right kind of stupid, fumbling the formula that 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong captured with surprising charm. (Then again, our assessments of 2021's COVID-era output are innately suspect, considering most of us were just glad to be back at the movies at all.)
But the more you settle into the latest entry in Warner Bros. and Legendary's "MonsterVerse" -- the Americanized shared universe of Japanese-sourced kaiju movies that started with 2014's Godzilla -- the more confounding this exercise becomes. The end of the previous film in the series teased a kind of detente between Japan's favorite reptile and Skull Island's favored son, the two working together to take down MechaGodzilla after a movie's worth of preening spats on cargo ships and among the skyline of Hong Kong (no relation). You'd think screenwriters Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, and Jeremy Slater would double down on the "what now?" of it all: how would these two reluctant allies share the Earth? That might be fun.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Review (Warner Bros./Legendary)
Instead, The New Empire feels like a semi-retread of Godzilla vs. Kong -- actually, scratch that, more like a King Kong movie with a few bits of Godzilla peppered in here and there. Like so many sitcom roommates before them, the pair have drawn a chalk line halfway down the planet and decided to each keep to their own territory. Godzilla protects humanity from rogue Titans on the surface, and in between bouts, he curls up in the Roman Colosseum like a cat bed, one of the film's more charming images. Meanwhile, Kong searches for other giant apes like him down in the Hollow Earth. (Yeah, that exists now.) Continue Reading →
Dune: Part Two
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 2046 (2004), A Clockwork Orange (1971), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Ben-Hur (1959), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Blade Runner (1982), Dances with Wolves (1990), Dr. No (1962), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), King Kong (2005),
Live and Let Die (1973) Mars Attacks! (1996), Metropolis (1927), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Predator (1987),
Shaft (2000) Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Solaris (1972), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Stalker (1979), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Generations (1994), Superman Returns (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), War of the Worlds (2005), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Inception (2010), Poor Things (2023),
StarringBabs Olusanmokun, Stellan Skarsgård,
Denis Villeneuve finishes his epic two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel with sprawling scope and thorny politics.
It's really a miracle that the first of Denis Villeneuve's Dune films penetrated the public consciousness as well as it did. It was released amid a worldwide pandemic; it was an IMAX-ready blockbuster that was simultaneously dropped onto people's streaming subscriptions same-day; it's based on a dense, impenetrable sci-fi novel Villeneuve patiently chose not to wholly adapt in one film. The results, blessedly, were commercial and critical success and a host of technical Oscars the following year.
That success was enough to secure Dune: Part Two, a chance for Villeneuve to complete his vision of Frank Herbert's seminal work of political science fiction. Where Part One worldbuilds, Part Two barrels down the road of its inevitable conclusion in satisfying style, even as it makes some noted changes from the novel or any previous adaptations -- some for the better, some for the worse. Continue Reading →
Madame Web
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Aliens (1986), Batman Begins (2005), Batman Forever (1995), Batman Returns (1992), Catwoman (2004), Constantine (2005), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), Enchanted (2007), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Ghostbusters (1984), Hellboy (2004), King Kong (1933), King Kong (2005), Léon: The Professional (1994),
Live and Let Die (1973) Mars Attacks! (1996), Men in Black II (2002), North by Northwest (1959),
Shaft (2000) Sin City (2005), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Superman Returns (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), The Legend of Zorro (2005),
StudioColumbia Pictures,
The latest chapter in Sony's Spider-Man Universe makes Morbius look like a masterpiece.
In an age where the Marvel Cinematic Universe has categorically lost its luster, it's tempting to imagine how green the grass is on the other side of the hill. To imagine that someone, somewhere, is doing inventive work with some of America's most pervasive modern myths -- without the heaving strain of an interconnected narrative, a cast of over-it actors, or visual effects teams stretched beyond their breaking point. You won't find it, however, in the strangely-dubbed "Sony's Spider-Man Universe" -- that casually connected series of antihero films (the Venoms, Morbius) that attempts to cobble together its own Sinister Six from the contractual scraps Disney left Sony after its acquisition of Marvel Studios. And Madame Web, the latest grasp at superhero relevancy in a dying comic book movie landscape, is easily its messiest, most forgettable shrug in that direction.
It's astonishing to think that Sony could put out a worse product than 2022's Morbius -- a misfire of a mad-scientist picture that at least contained a few interesting images and the perverse sight of Matt Smith gnashing his pointy vampire teeth through a chopped-up villain performance -- but boy, Madame Web manages it. It's a passive whisper of a film, one that barely registers its own existence. The only reason someone would even deign to make it is because they're contractually obligated to maintain a specific character's intellectual property, not to mention a heaping stake of product placement from Pepsi. Continue Reading →
The Beekeeper
The film's biggest highlight is the actor as an unlikely hero: a beekeeper-turned-assassin.
Bees, scammers, and a hive of lies. Jason Statham’s latest record-breaking feature The Beekeeper is honey-soaked, with wisdom that leaves the viewer wanting more and learning to be wary of scammers, stop elder abuse, and save the bees. As he aggressively fights to save the bees (and society) from total destruction, Statham serves up the same kind of grizzled Brit-buster vibes he's given us through decades of punch-em-up action. But this one's something special, a caper that leans into the meme of both Statham's curious star power and his apian brethren.
Directed by David Ayer, The Beekeeper tells the story of Adam Clay (Jason Statham), a beekeeper and retired member of the crime-fighting organization of the same name. But when his elderly neighbor Mrs. Parker (Phylicia Rashad) is subject to scammers and loses everything, Adam goes on a mission to find the scammers and kill their operation to “protect the hive.” His journey leads him all the way to the White House, even involving the FBI and CIA. Continue Reading →
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
SimilarBack to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Batman Begins (2005), Batman Forever (1995), Batman Returns (1992), Ben-Hur (1959), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Blown Away (1994), Catwoman (2004), Constantine (2005), Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), Face/Off (1997), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Hitman (2007), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Just Cause (1995), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Léon: The Professional (1994), Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Oldboy (2003),
Shaft (2000) Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), The Legend of Zorro (2005), Zatoichi (2003),
Watch afterNapoleon (2023), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
StarringTemuera Morrison,
A decade's worth of superhero movies goes out with a big, stupid grin on its face.
One would hope that a film franchise with as much money poured into it as the DC Cinematic Universe would rage, rage against the dying of the light. Yet here we are, limping towards the end of a slate of superhero flicks marred by terrible reviews (Shazam! 2), controversy (The Flash), or sheer too-little-too-late-ness (Blue Beetle). As the superhero genre continues to flag in a year of duds, DC's set for a reinvention, a clean slate courtesy of former Marvel it-boy James Gunn and co-head Peter Safran. Before they can wipe the board and start all over with the label's slate of classic capes, though, there's a few rounds left in the last guy's chamber to fire off. That's what Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom feels like, easily the least objectionable of the DC films to come out in 2023. Problem is, that's not saying much.
A sequel to Aquaman should have been a slam dunk: Director James Wan's 2018 take on the King of Atlantis was a welcome breath of neon-soaked pop art in a franchise studded with Snyderesque dourness, leaning into the innate silliness of an underwater take on Flash Gordon. Jason Momoa is as effortless a casting as you could imagine for DC's hardest-to-pin-down superhero, brimming with giddy frat-boy energy. At its best moments, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom leans into its star's goofiness and even lets it infect some of the rest of the cast. But there's no escaping the feeling of weariness, both for a cast and crew who are just repeating the novel beats of the first and an audience that's just plain starved for something new. Continue Reading →
Reacher
Similar2Moons: The Series,
Agatha Christie's Poirot Alias Grace, Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Anna Karenina, Återkomsten, Blackeyes, CSI: Miami, Des, Dexter, Fallen, Fate/Apocrypha, Fearless, Further Tales of the City, Game of Thrones, Golden Years, Gossip Girl, HAPPY!, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Intruders, Jack the Ripper, Jewels, KONOSUBA – An Explosion on This Wonderful World!, La Mante, Life on Mars,
Little Women Lupin, Luther, M*A*S*H, Millennium, Moeder, waarom leven wij?, Monarch of the Glen, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit,
Planet of the Apes Power Rangers,
Pride and Prejudice Princess Principal,
Sherlock Holmes Soul Land 2: The Peerless Tang Clan, Super Pumped, Tales from the Neverending Story, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Alienist, The Beat, The Buccaneers, The Lost World, The Moon Embracing the Sun, The Shining, The Strain, The Sun Also Rises, The Wimbledon Poisoner, Tientsin Mystic, Troubles, Unorthodox, Unterleuten: The Torn Village, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Witchcraft, World's End Harem, Wycliffe,
The Prime series remains its big, fun, very violent self.
Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), the “has toothbrush, will travel” man, has returned to television and not a moment too soon. Reacher Season 2 is exactly the kind of low-commitment viewing one craves as the year ends and the holidays overtake everyone’s lives. While a large, jolly man busies himself filling many of our stockings, who better to enjoy than a large, angry man knocking bad guys out of their socks? Especially when, like this time, it’s personal!
Reacher and Neagly (Maria Sten, back from Season 1 and fully second on the callsheet this time, thankfully) first met when they were members of the 110, an investigative military police unit. As seen in flashback, the group is the last time Reacher had anything approaching a stable group of friends. In the present day, several team members have gone missing, suggesting that perhaps someone is targeting them. Reacher connects with Neagly and the two join up with the only other two 110 members they can find. O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos) is the unit clown and womanizer turned family man and inside the beltway fixer. Dixon (Serinda Swan) is a forensic accountant/warrior who shares an obvious but unconsummated crush with Reacher. Continue Reading →
Obliterated
SimilarFlorida Man, Lupin,
Watch afterAhsoka, Gen V, Reacher,
Star Trek: Picard The Wheel of Time, True Detective,
Netflix’s action-comedy is deadly short on both.
There’s something undeniably attractive about the premise of Obliterated. A highly skilled team of soldiers, spies, bomb experts, and tech geniuses stop on nuclear bomb detonation in the heart of Las Vegas and fully celebrate their victory. And by fully celebrate, we mean FULLY. Drugs, alcohol, exotic animals, hundreds of guests, plenty of sex toys, and so on. Then they wake in the morning to find their mission wasn’t as successful as they thought, and now they have no choice but to try and save the day in various stages of loaded and hungover.
Sadly, miles exist between premise and execution. Think the difference between visiting the Bellagio in Vegas and the Tropicana in Atlantic City. Then double it. Maybe triple it. Put it another way, Obliterated is bad. Very bad. Continue Reading →
Napoleon
SimilarA Beautiful Mind (2001), A Real Young Girl (1976), Almost Famous (2000), Apollo 13 (1995),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Brubaker (1980), Copying Beethoven (2006), Dances with Wolves (1990), Erin Brockovich (2000), Freedom Writers (2007), Gandhi (1982), GoodFellas (1990), Manhattan (1979), Mississippi Burning (1988), Monster (2003), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Paris Can Wait (2016), Raging Bull (1980), Schindler's List (1993), Sissi (1955), The Elephant Man (1980), The Last Emperor (1987), The Pianist (2002), The Straight Story (1999), Titanic (1997),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023),
Barbie (2023) Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Society of the Snow (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioApple Studios,
Ridley Scott’s surprisingly hollow biopic of the French military commander falters as a character piece and comes shy of victory as an epic.
For a film with as many contradictions as Napoleon, it’s odd for it to be so straightforward. It covers 28 years, but it never feels like a lot of changes. It’s over two and a half hours, which, while not a herculean runtime, never entirely slows down. Perhaps it’s because it never really gets started. Ridley Scott’s latest opens with a public decapitation of Marie Antoinette (Catherine Walker), giving way to the 1793 Siege of Toulon. The violence is often unsparingly graphic, so why, then, does it feel so cosmetic? Shouldn’t a live horse eviscerated by a cannonball to the chest do something to the viewer?
Maybe not when there’s such little context. If Napoleon is one thing, it’s episodic—ahistorical, even. David Scarpa’s script begins in the trenches and is content on staying there. Everyone and everything are simply window dressing. That includes Napoleon Bonaparte himself (Joaquin Phoenix), whom the film oversimplifies from intrinsically flawed leader to wholly externalized man-child. After the Siege, he wins the affections of Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby). The two soon marry. Continue Reading →
Songbirds
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 2046 (2004), Blade Runner (1982), Brazil (1985), Desert Hearts (1985), Die Hard (1988), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), Mars Attacks! (1996), Metropolis (1927), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Random Harvest (1942), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Strange Days (1995), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Twelve Monkeys (1995),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Napoleon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Thanksgiving (2023), The Marvels (2023), The Nun II (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioLionsgate,
Despite a challenging premise and an overlong runtime, the Hunger Games prequel makes the most of the hand it’s been dealt.
The character of Coriolanus Snow is an odd choice for a Hunger Games hero. In the original books and films, as played by screen giant Donald Sutherland, Snow was a cold-hearted, cruel dictator clearly meant to echo real world fascist leaders. Here, in the prequel story The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (say that five times fast), Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) is just a sensitive, emotional teen dreamboat whose main goal is to provide for his family in the wake of the violent revolution that tore apart Panem, the country formerly known as the United States of America.
It’s difficult to understand why author Suzanne Collins, who wrote the novel Songbirds is based on, made the decision to try to humanize a violent authoritarian when a core theme of the original Hunger Games books and movies was lashing back at systemic oppression. Nonetheless, director Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, I Am Legend) and his enthusiastic cast of talented performers make the best of the rather thematically confused story arc they’ve been given, turning in one of the most exciting, emotionally arresting entries in the franchise. Continue Reading →
Killers of the Flower Moon
SimilarA History of Violence (2005), Almost Famous (2000), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Apocalypse Now (1979), Apollo 13 (1995), Belle de Jour (1967), Ben-Hur (1959), Blade Runner (1982), Blood and Chocolate (2007), Blue Velvet (1986), Brubaker (1980), Caché (2005), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Chicago (2002), Con Air (1997), Contact (1997), Contempt (1963), Cruel Intentions (1999), Dances with Wolves (1990), Don't Bother to Knock (1952), Enough (2002), Fargo (1996), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Gandhi (1982), Gone Baby Gone (2007), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), I've Always Liked You (2016), Just Cause (1995), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), La Haine (1995), Léon: The Professional (1994), Manhattan (1979), Memento (2000), Metropolis (1927), Mississippi Burning (1988), Oldboy (2003), Predator (1987),
Primal Fear (1996) Random Harvest (1942), Rope (1948), Saw IV (2007), Schindler's List (1993), Shall We Dance? (2004), Sissi (1955), Solaris (1972), Strange Days (1995), Taxi Driver (1976), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Devil's Rejects (2005), The Elephant Man (1980), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), The Irishman (2019), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Straight Story (1999), The Tin Drum (1979), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Titanic (1997), To Die For (1995), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Leave the World Behind (2023), Napoleon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Saw X (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Killer (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioApple Studios,
To talk about The Killer is to strip away pretense. Well, one can try. Cold it may be, but David Fincher's latest is an incredibly open film. The houses are made of glass; the windows are ceiling-high; the voiceovers from the title character (Michael Fassbender) give infallible insight into his worldview. The film is his worldview, simple in its machinations and complex in its philosophy. In most other circumstances, this would unfold over time. And it does here, at least to an extent. Continue Reading →
The Marvels
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Aladdin (1992), Aliens (1986), Armageddon (1998), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Batman Begins (2005), Batman Forever (1995), Batman Returns (1992), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Catwoman (2004), Constantine (2005), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Ice Age (2002), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004),
Live and Let Die (1973) Mars Attacks! (1996), Men in Black II (2002), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Sin City (2005), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Solaris (1972), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Superman Returns (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), Napoleon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Killer (2023), Wonka (2023),
StarringSamuel L. Jackson,
Most films don’t come with homework. The same cannot be said of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new movie, The Marvels. Unless you’re a devoted MCU fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of both the movies and the Disney+ TV originals, it’s difficult to understand the mechanics of this disastrously convoluted entry in the floundering franchise. It feels like being dropped headfirst into a crossover episode based on three shows you’ve never seen -- mostly because it is. The Marvels kicks off with a bit of genuine visual interest (that never appears again) in the form of hand-drawn comics created by teenage superhero-slash-Captain Marvel fangirl Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), aka Ms. Marvel. Vellani, who previously appeared as Kamala on the little-seen Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, is a spunky, hilarious teenage heroine whose impressive comedic timing buoys the leaden, disjointed script. She so thoroughly steals the show that it’s disappointing this movie wasn’t just about her; instead, it's a confused mix of storylines involving Kamala, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and astronaut Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris, Candyman). It feels like the powers that be made a huge mistake in consigning her story to a poorly publicized streaming original, instead of letting her headline a film on her own. Continue Reading →
Miraculous - le film
SimilarArmageddon (1998), Batman Begins (2005), Batman Returns (1992), Ben-Hur (1959), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Constantine (2005), Enchanted (2007), Fantasia (1940), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), I've Always Liked You (2016), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Paris Can Wait (2016), Princess Mononoke (1997), Shall We Dance? (2004), Strange Days (1995), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Science of Sleep (2006), True Romance (1993), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), You Only Live Twice (1967), Zatoichi (2003),
Watch after1917 (2019),
Barbie (2023) Oppenheimer (2023) Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), The Flash (2023), The Suicide Squad (2021),
StarringAyane Sakura, Hisako Kanemoto, Junko Minagawa, Kotono Mitsuishi, Marina Inoue, Mariya Ise, Megumi Hayashibara, Sayaka Ohara, Shizuka Itoh, Shoko Nakagawa,
Studiodentsu, King Records, Studio Deen, Toei Animation, Toei Company,
When I was around thirteen, two classmates, Christina and Taylor (their real names, it’s not like they’re going to read this), played a prank on me that resulted in my eating dog food. In retrospect, it could have been worse: nobody else saw it happen, and for whatever reason they kept it to themselves. But when I think about my teenage years (and I try not to much at this point in my life, other than at a superficial pop culture level), my mind often goes to that moment. Continue Reading →
Memory
SimilarAnnie Hall (1977), Ben-Hur (1959), Cape Fear (1991), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Enough (2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), From Russia with Love (1963), GoodFellas (1990), Hitman (2007), King Kong (2005), Léon: The Professional (1994), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Manhattan (1979), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Poseidon (2006),
Shaft (2000) Sliver (1993), Taxi Driver (1976), The Apartment (1960), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Silent Partner (1978), The Terminal (2004), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), The Usual Suspects (1995), Twelve Monkeys (1995), War of the Worlds (2005), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Parasite (2019), Society of the Snow (2023), The Batman (2022), Top Gun: Maverick (2022),
StarringRay Stevenson,
Both the main characters in Michel Franco’s Memory are struggling to deal with the echoes of their past. Sylvia (Jessica Chastain), a recovering alcoholic and single mother to 13-year-old Anna (Brooke Timber), desperately wants to forget the unspoken traumas of her childhood. Saul (Peter Saarsgard), on the other hand, can’t grab a hold of his past. He’s powerless as early-onset dementia slowly but inevitably steals it from him. After their high school reunion, he wordlessly follows her home and spends the night standing outside her building. In turn, she visits him at the house he shares with his brother (Josh Charles) and niece (Elsie Fisher). Then she takes him for a walk and accuses him of participating in a rape that she endured at the age of 12, a crime that he has no memory of committing. Continue Reading →
The Hunted
At the risk of making a "getting a lot of Sorcerer vibes from this" guy out of myself, The Hunted—William Friedkin's 2003 old-master-hunts-rogue-student thriller really does make for a fascinating counterpart to his earlier men-on-a-desperate-mission masterwork. Both delve into the lives of damaged, forlorn, isolated men on perilous quests for deliverance. And both of those quests lead deep into madness. Both pointedly contrast man-made, flame-choked hellscapes (Sorcerer's exploding oil well, The Hunted's secret mission amidst the Kosovo War) with the vast, amoral green of the deep forest (Columbia and Oregon, respectively). Both turn on setpieces that thrill while maintaining a grounded (if not necessarily "realistic") feel and weave surreality in with care. Continue Reading →
Jade
After the aggressively negative critic and audience response to 1980’s Cruising, William Friedkin took a curious “hell with it, I’m going to do whatever I want” approach to projects. None of what he directed over the next decade, save for To Live and Die in L.A., came close to receiving the kind of acclaim his early 70s career did. If anything, it seemed as though he had given up his precise, occasionally unreasonable eye for perfection in favor of churning out the most generic cable-friendly nonsense possible. Continue Reading →
Rampage
Even before the internet, certain movies had reputations they didn’t quite live up to. Some, like Salo or 120 Days of Sodom, earn their mythical status as movies designed to make your skin crawl and your stomach clench. Others, like the Faces of Death series, while unpleasant to watch, were just empty, acting as a controversy delivery devices and nothing more. Others still, like William Friedkin’s Rampage, never courted outrage. But unlike those others, whatever reputation it earned before the public got a chance to see it didn’t much help. As a result, at least partially, it remains one of the more obscure releases in Friedkin’s filmography. Continue Reading →
To Live and Die in L.A.
It must have been easy to be cynical about William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. in 1985. After a blazing hot early 1970s, his critical and popular reputation bottomed out with four straight disappointments. So, it makes sense that someone might think Friedkin’s return to the cop-on-the-edge genre was a purely commercial decision, a hope to rekindle the fire he lit in 1971 with The French Connection. After all, that movie was both a commercial and critical smash. Continue Reading →
Meg 2: The Trench
Ever since James Cameron boldly wrote “S” after ALIEN on a chalkboard and then changed it to a dollar sign, the quickest way to sequel-ize your killer extraterrestrial/reptile/mammal/whatever has been to add more of it. You scored a hit with people fighting one giant mosquito? Great, here’s a sequel with six of them. Continue Reading →
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Though their core plots aren’t similar, all three movies in Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy share the common thread of emotionally immature men clinging to the relics of their youth, often to the detriment of their friendships and romantic lives. Specifically men of Generation X, who tend to glorify their younger days, and the pop culture associated with it, at a level that borders on delusional (and as a Gen X woman I can tell you we’re not much better about it). Continue Reading →
Free Fire
The plot of Free Fire, in many ways, could not be more straightforward. A mix of thugs, gun runners, and revolutionaries meet up to exchange weapons in a Boston warehouse in the 1970s. Things go wrong in a hurry. Continue Reading →