30 Best Movies To Watch After Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Skywalkers: A Love Story
Eons ago, a wise philosopher named Scott Stapp turned his head to the heavens and screamed, "Can you take me higher?/to a place where blind men see/Can you take me higher?/to a place with golden streets?". Whether or not he ever got to those grand heights is unknown. However, daredevil Russian climbers Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus took a different, more active route to reaching those beckoning skies. They’ve dedicated their lives to climbing incredibly tall skyscrapers without harnesses or safety nets. Imagine if the Free Solo guy was also Ethan Hunt mounting the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. That's this romantically infatuated couple.
Rooftopping is the name of Beerkus and Nikolau's game, and it's most certainly a dangerous exercise to which one's life is devoted. However, for this duo anchoring the new Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story, the unthinkable is just ordinary reality. Nikolau, especially, was destined to push boundaries and put her safety in jeopardy. After all, she grew up in a circus family, with her bravura mother serving as her idol for how one should exist. Once she got into the rooftopping game, though, she needed a mentor. This is where the experienced Beerkus came into play.
Eventually, their dynamic transformed into something more romantic. Simultaneously, their scaling of iconic massive landmarks turns the duo into celebrity sensations. Everyone loves the couple that smooch and defy vertigo with equal ease. Come 2022, though, Beerkus and Nikolau’s finances are dwindling, and their relationship is under enormous duress. It’s time for “one last job.” The Warisan Merdeka Tower in Malaysia (the second-tallest building in the world) is calling their names. Their skills and love are about to suffer enormous challenges. Continue Reading →
Daddio
SimilarA Real Young Girl (1976), Antonia's Line (1995), Awakenings (1990), Basquiat (1996),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Boys Don't Cry (1999) Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), City of God (2002), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Copying Beethoven (2006), Desert Hearts (1985), Do the Right Thing (1989), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Fame (2009), King Kong (2005), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Maria Full of Grace (2004), Michael (1996), Monsoon Wedding (2001), My Life Without Me (2003), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Pi (1998), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Sliver (1993),
Strange Days (1995) Stranger Than Paradise (1984), The Apartment (1960), The Bone Collector (1999), The Godfather Part III (1990), The King of Comedy (1982), The Terminal (2004), The Usual Suspects (1995), The Wanderers (1979), Transamerica (2005), Valley of the Dolls (1967), When Harry Met Sally... (1989),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022) Barbie (2023) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Fast X (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), Joker (2019),
Oppenheimer (2023) Poor Things (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 Batman (2022), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021),
From Certified Copy to Mass to the Before trilogy, cinema is replete with examples of great movies that wring transfixing drama out of an intimate scope and a cast of characters you can count on one hand. Christy Hall’s feature-length directorial debut Daddio aims to follow in the footsteps of those features, but stumbles mightily in the process.
Daddio begins at a New York airport, where Girlie (Dakota Johnson) plops into a taxi after a trip to her home state of Oklahoma. Driving this cab is Clark (Sean Penn), a grizzled man in his sixties who loves shooting his mouth off. Initially, the focus of his ramblings is typical old-man material. He gripes about the ubiquity of apps and credit cards in the modern world. Gradually, though, the duo gets trapped in traffic. Stuck on the road, Clark begins asking Girlie increasingly intimate questions. They started this car ride as strangers. But conversations ranging from the raw to the ribald will have Girlie discovering the listener she didn’t know she needed.
Unsurprisingly, Daddio started as a concept for a stage play. What's surprising is how the final film's visual impulses seem determined to avoid comparisons to something you could watch on Broadway. Hall, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, and editor Lisa Zeno Churgin act furiously to avoid lengthy single-take shots. Nobody will ever compare this to a Chantal Akerman or Chung Mong-Hong movie. Instead, images default to close-ups and medium shots. Hall and company continuously jostle viewers around the cab. Maybe this is out of concern that moviegoers will see a more staid visual style and immediately ask, “Why isn’t this a play?” Continue Reading →
Janet Planet
SimilarA Beautiful Mind (2001), A Real Young Girl (1976), Antonia's Line (1995), Awakenings (1990),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Boys Don't Cry (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), City of God (2002), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Copying Beethoven (2006), Desert Hearts (1985), Frida (2002), Italian for Beginners (2000), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Michael (1996), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Monster (2003), My Life Without Me (2003), Mystic River (2003), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), Sleepless in Seattle (1993),
Strange Days (1995) The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) The Piano (1993), The Queen (2006), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022) Dune (2021), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), Interstellar (2014),
Oppenheimer (2023) Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), Top Gun: Maverick (2022),
Janet Planet captures a girl caught in her mother’s orbit in the summer of 1991 as she struggles with what to make of the people who enter her mother’s life (friends, boyfriends, strangers) and what to make of herself. It’s also a brutal and empathetic reminder that of all the possible ages to be, 11 might be the worst, and in Janet Planet, 11-year-old Lacy would be the first to agree.
As desperate as adults are to regress to a world before endless Zoom meetings and the monotony of laundry, it’s easy for us to forget how utterly powerless you are at 11. It’s an age where adults still control nearly every facet of your life, and you bear constant witness to their bad decisions with no ability to either help or remove yourself from the situation.
“Every moment of my life is hell,” Lacy tells her mom, Janet, and if you’re honest with yourself about what being 11 actually felt like, you know it’s the most acceptable of hyperboles. But Lacy, observant and thoughtful, shows the kind of understanding I never did at that age when she adds, “But I don’t think it’ll last, though.” Creating moments of clear-sighted vulnerability like that is what playwright and now first-time director Annie Baker does best. Continue Reading →
Inside Out 2
SimilarA Bug's Life (1998), Aladdin (1992), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Armageddon (1998), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Back to the Future Part II (1989),
Back to the Future Part III (1990) Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Billy Elliot (2000), Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Bring It On (2000), Brother Bear (2003), Cars (2006), Chicken Little (2005), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dirty Dancing (1987), Edward Scissorhands (1990), F9 (2021), Fame (2009), Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Free Willy (1993), Frozen 3 (), Ghostbusters (1984), Good Luck Chuck (2007), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), I ♥ Huckabees (2004), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998),
Live and Let Die (1973) Look Who's Talking (1989),
Lost in Translation (2003) Mamma Mia! (2008),
Mary Poppins (1964) Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Night at the Museum (2006), Ocean's Eleven (1960), Oldboy (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Shrek 2 (2004),
Shrek the Third (2007) Snakes on a Plane (2006), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Superman Returns (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Jungle Book 2 (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Simpsons Movie (2007), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009),
StudioWalt Disney Pictures,
Save for that movie where Larry the Cable Guy supposedly urinated in public, Pixar sequels are rarely terrible. Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, and Monsters University are vastly preferable to the average Minions or Hotel Transylvania follow-up. Even Cars 3 wrung more pathos than expected out of its ill-conceived universe. The greatest problem with these sequels has been that they’re merely competent. They’re serviceable watches, but many are safe retreads of the familiar. Risks are minimal, idiosyncratic animation flourishes are scarce.
When absorbing these follow-ups, it's hard not to yearn for more challenging original Pixar titles like Turning Red, Ratatouille, or WALL-E. Still, details like the unexpected third-act detour of Monsters University or the charming new characters in Finding Dory are absent from your standard Ice Age or Illumination sequels. If we must live in this franchise-dominated pop culture landscape, Pixar has delivered more hits than most. Goodness knows the Toy Story sequels are outright masterpieces of long-form cinematic storytelling.
The newest example of the label’s pleasant, if far from groundbreaking, sequels, is Inside Out 2. Directed by Kelsey Mann (a new feature film helmer taking over for previous director Pete Docter), the sequel expands on the world of Riley’s mind established in 2015’s Inside Out. Continue Reading →
AGGRO DR1FT
SimilarBangkok Dangerous (2008), Conspiracy Theory (1997), From Russia with Love (1963), Hitman (2007), Léon: The Professional (1994), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Perhaps it’s best to talk about AGGRO DR1FT by specifying something: this isn’t a movie. It sometimes doesn’t even feel like art. Harmony Korine’s latest premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a mixed reception and has gone on to a limited theatrical run, but that doesn’t make it a film.
Stretches of it feature AI-generated visuals, the dialogue is barely present enough to be asinine, and there’s no true emotion behind its infrared photography. Some parts of it even look bad—like utter garbage, really. As for its 80-minute runtime? Well, even that has some boring pockets. And yet, despite all this, it works, perhaps because of it rather than against it. Whether about what’s onscreen or not, it makes the audience think. In that way, it’s incredibly stimulating, particularly given the material involved.
Korine’s work here follows BO (Jordi Mollà), a depressive Miami assassin whose voiceovers wax on about how much he loves his wife and two kids. “I close my eyes. They give me purpose,” he moans. Put this up against an angel-winged baddie who thrusts his pelvis and grunts, “Dance, bitches,” to women locked in go-go cages, and that’s about as deep as anything gets. One is good. One is bad, and maybe a drug lord or whatever. The former is trying to execute the latter. Again, this isn’t a movie. It’s an approximation of one, and any themes that arise during the experience of seeing it are unrelated to what it follows. Continue Reading →
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Similar28 Weeks Later (2007), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Back to the Future Part II (1989),
Back to the Future Part III (1990) Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Die Hard 2 (1990),
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) F9 (2021), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (1967), Frozen 3 (), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998),
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002), Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), No Good Deed (2002), North by Northwest (1959), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Shooter (2007), Shrek 2 (2004),
Shrek the Third (2007) Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Superman Returns (2006), The 39 Steps (1935), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Crow: Salvation (2000), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Toy Story 2 (1999), True Romance (1993),
StudioColumbia Pictures, TSG Entertainment,
Two questions face most rational people when confronting the existence of Bad Boys: Ride or Die. To the first, why did the filmmakers give it such an anonymous title? Especially while the previous installment had the seemingly more apt name Bad Boys For Life? For that, there is no answer. To the second? Yes, there is a joke involving Will Smith and someone getting slapped. And, yes, it is just as smug, stupid, and predictable as one would fear. The one compensating factor is one can describe the film as smug, stupid, and predictable too. That leaves hope most viewers will feel too numbed by the cacophony of crap to even register the slap gag.
The film begins inauspiciously with an extended and mostly pointless act in which Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) foil a convenience store robbery while on the way to Mike’s wedding to love Christine (Melanie Liburd). Shortly after that, Marcus upstages things by having a massive heart attack and near-death experience at the reception. Those beats out of the way, the cobbled-together plot finally kicks into gear. The local news fills with posthumous accusations that their beloved Capt. Howard (Joe Pantoliano) took bribes from cartels to allow drugs into the country. This cannot stand, of course. But when the two start an investigation to clear his name, everyone with information starts turning up dead. Continue Reading →
Stamped from the Beginning
SimilarA Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion (2013), I've Always Liked You (2016), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Shrek (2001), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022) Barbie (2023) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Joker (2019),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), The Batman (2022), The Menu (2022), The Suicide Squad (2021), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Wonka (2023),
The Netflix documentary uses historical evidence and modern scholarship to demonstrate racism's continued role in US society.
At the start of the new documentary Stamped from the Beginning, filmmaker Roger Ross Williams asks his various interview subjects, “What is wrong with Black people?” Considering that all the interviewees in question are also Black, it is unsurprising that the question’s seeming hostility initially throws many. However, once they recognize the context of that query—Williams is asking for a historical context as to what Blacks have done to deserve centuries of institutionalized racism and violence—they are more than willing and able to discuss the subject at length throughout this strong and often provocative film.
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s book of the same name inspired the Williams’ film, a karmic debt the director pays back by including the doctor among a number of knowledgeable Black female scholars and activists. Together, they discuss how the twin stains of racism and white supremacy permeate American society in ways that continue to fester today. They explain how the concept of deeming people as greater or lesser by the color of their skin was born out of slavery. The aim was to simultaneously remove enslaved people’s distinguishing characteristics to make them seem like one undifferentiated mass and drive a wedge between them and white “indentured servants” to prevent the groups from joining forces against their common enemy, the wealthy landowner. Continue Reading →
Once Within a Time
Watch afterA Quiet Place (2018), Avatar (2009),
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Barbie (2023) Black Adam (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Black Widow (2021), Dune (2021), Inception (2010),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019), Poor Things (2023), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), Society of the Snow (2023), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), The Batman (2022), The Whale (2022), Wonka (2023),
When Godfrey Reggio’s monumental experimental documentary Koyannistqatsi (Life Out of Balance in Hopi) first entered the zeitgeist, its radical nature as a postmodern film, with a thoroughly entrancing score by Phillip Glass, became intertwined with the rise of MTV and a new era of visual aesthetic being born within the music sphere. From the noise rock band Cows to electronic musicians Dr. Atmo and Oliver Leib to superstar pop singer Madonna, the film had an indelible effect on music and the music video. Continue Reading →
Dicks: The Musical
SimilarAlex Strangelove (2018),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000), Bugsy Malone (1976), Chicago (2002), D.E.B.S. (2005), Dirty Dancing (1987), Enchanted (2007), Fame (2009), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Go (1999), La Vie en Rose (2007), Mamma Mia! (2008),
Mary Poppins (1964) Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Shall We Dance? (2004), Transamerica (2005), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),
Watch afterAvatar (2009),
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Barbie (2023) Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Joker (2019), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019), Poor Things (2023), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), The Batman (2022),
Studio20th Century Fox,
A24
The audaciously titled Dicks: The Musical comes with an equally eye-catching tagline, boasting the honor of being “A24’s first musical.” That’s bound to intrigue cinephiles everywhere. After all, not every movie studio is trendy enough to regularly sell out of logo festooned merchandise. Or even make hipster merch in the first place. Continue Reading →
Suitable Flesh
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022) Evil Dead Rise (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Leave the World Behind (2023), Saw X (2023), Top Gun: Maverick (2022),
There have been numerous film adaptations of the work of H.P. Lovecraft, featuring everyone from Sandra Dee (The Dunwich Horror) to Nicolas Cage (Color Out of Space). However, it was the late filmmaker Stuart Gordon who best managed to capture the peculiar and often perverse charms of Lovecraft’s work. With their combination of weirdo humor, bizarre imagery, kinky sex, grisly bloodshed and better-than-expected performances, his Re-Animator and From Beyond became instant cult classics and unquestioned high points of the entire horror genre in the 1980s. Continue Reading →
Silver Dollar Road
Watch after1917 (2019), Avatar (2009),
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Barbie (2023) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Black Widow (2021), Evil Dead Rise (2023), Inception (2010), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), Interstellar (2014), Joker (2019), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), Saltburn (2023), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), The Batman (2022),
StudioMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Based on Lizzie Presser’s 2019 ProPublica/New Yorker article, Raoul Peck’s Silver Dollar Road starts by barreling headfirst. Its first 15 minutes are a crash course of talking heads, introducing family members with broad, expository precision. The film shows them but doesn’t fully introduce them. Rather, it relies on graphics to fashion a sense of context. What the subjects say to the camera may provide an identity for the story at hand, but Peck’s approach renders such words largely textual. The narrative may be propulsive. The film, however, tends to feel stagnant. Continue Reading →
Dear David
Similar50 First Dates (2004), 9 Songs (2004), Aladdin (1992), Annie Hall (1977), Apt Pupil (1998), Ask the Dust (2006),
Ben-Hur (1959) Boys Don't Cry (1999) Cruel Intentions (1999), Do the Right Thing (1989), Down by Love (2016), East of Eden (1955), Election (1999), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Forrester (2000), Freedom Writers (2007), Good Luck Chuck (2007), Heavenly Creatures (1994), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), Jules and Jim (1962), Let the Right One In (2008), Lolita (1997),
Manhattan (1979) Match Point (2005), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Notes on a Scandal (2006),
Rebecca (1940) Shall We Dance? (2004), Stand by Me (1986), Sugar & Spice (2001), The Karate Kid (1984), The Science of Sleep (2006), The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (2022), Titanic (1997), True Romance (1993), Valley Girl (1983), Wild at Heart (1990),
StudioNetflix,
Outside of Janicza Bravo’s Twitter thread turned feature film Zola, viral social engagements have rarely yielded great art. Nonetheless, Buzzfeed Studios wades into the fray with the horror film Dear David. Based on a series of Twitter threads from their former comic artist Adam Ellis, the story chronicles Ellis’s experiences with a possible supernatural presence in his New York apartment. That may seem like a fresh idea, but the film traffics in standard scary movie tropes, a stunted look, and an overreliance on the concept. Continue Reading →
ほかげ
Shinya Tsukamoto's film attempts to explore hope and sorrow in post-war Japan, with mixed results.
To make Shadow of Fire, Shinya Tsukamoto stitched together two films. As a result, it proves both unpredictable and unable to satisfyingly hit the tragic and devastating notes it aims for.
Recently, Tsukamoto has turned his attention away from the subversive and pulpy shock-oriented cinema that made him a cult figure among cinephiles. Instead, he’s pursued more soulful lamentations on the state and history of Japan. In particular, he seems preoccupied with stories about those who experience an aching sense of trauma following encounters with crushing violence. Continue Reading →
Sayen: La cazadora
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 →
The Pope's Exorcist
SimilarA Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), All the President's Men (1976), American Psycho (2000), Apt Pupil (1998), Arlington Road (1999), Buffalo Soldiers (2002), Carrie (1976), Chinatown (1974), Conspiracy Theory (1997), Constantine (2005), Die Hard (1988), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Fallen (1998), Ghost Rider (2007), Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Happy Death Day 2U (2019), I Stand Alone (1998), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), JFK (1991), Klute (1971), Minority Report (2002), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Silent Hill (2006), Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997), The 39 Steps (1935), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Crow: Salvation (2000), The Devil's Rejects (2005), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Godfather Part III (1990), The Omen (2006), The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999), The Shining (1980), We Own the Night (2007),
Watch afterAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023),
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Evil Dead Rise (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), Saw X (2023), The Equalizer 3 (2023), The Nun II (2023), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023),
If you like loud noise jump scares, you’re going to love The Exorcist: Believer. 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 →
Irena's Vow
SimilarAlmost Famous (2000), Anna and the King (1999), Antonia's Line (1995), Apollo 13 (1995), Awakenings (1990), Born on the Fourth of July (1989),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Brubaker (1980), Chariots of Fire (1981), Chopper (2000), Closely Watched Trains (1966), Donnie Brasco (1997), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Erin Brockovich (2000), Freedom Writers (2007), Gandhi (1982), GoodFellas (1990), Gridiron Gang (2006), Life Is Beautiful (1997), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Lorenzo's Oil (1992),
Manhattan (1979) Mississippi Burning (1988) Monster (2003), No Good Deed (2002), Random Harvest (1942), Schindler's List (1993), Something the Lord Made (2004), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Elephant Man (1980), The Godfather (1972), The Killing Fields (1984), The Last Emperor (1987), The Patriot (2000), The Pianist (2002), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Straight Story (1999), The Tin Drum (1979), Titanic (1997),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022) Don't Look Up (2021), Dune (2021), Elemental (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), The Batman (2022),
This year's TIFF featured three tales of lost souls forging their own paths -- some of them bloodier than others.
Tales of transformation are the order of the day at this year's TIFF, signposted by a trio of European films acutely concerned with the struggles women and AFAB people undertake to thrive -- or, in many cases, just survive. Take Héléna Klotz's spellbinding second feature, Spirit of Ecstasy, an icy but enthralling coming-of-age story centered around Jeanne Francoeur (Claire Pommet, best known under her French pop star alias Pomme) a non-binary child of a French gendarme who struggles to break through the glass ceiling of the French wealth management firm they work at as a quantitative analyst.
Jeanne cuts a mysterious figure, with their black bob, turquoise suit that acts like armor ("the new proletarian uniform"), the bindings that cut into their skin and make them bleed. At all times, Klotz paints Jeanne as a figure constantly struggling to break free of their environment, whose abusive upbringing in the French gendarmerie barracks pushes them inexorably towards a cutthroat, ambitious business environment ready to chew them up and spit them out at a moment's notice. Continue Reading →
Copa 71
Our first dispatch from the festival highlights an important milestone in women's sports history, and two tales of queer resilience.
Ahh, the Toronto International Film Festival -- while we've got boots on the ground up in the chilly climes of Canada, those of us who can't swing the travel expenses are here, tackling the lesser-known releases that don't get the attention they deserve among the splashy awards campaigns and A-list stars. (Of course, there being an active strike makes that far easier, with these smaller works in even greater need of appraisal.)
Opening the Docs program at TIFF for opening night was Copa 71, an intriguing if straight-across-the-pitch documentary about the first Women's World Cup -- but not the official one endorsed by FIFA in 1991, as professional women's footballers are shocked to learn in the opening minutes. The real one, it turns out, was in 1971, organized in Mexico City at their enormous Azteca Stadium. More than 100,000 attendees filled the stands, as teams from France, Mexico, the Netherlands, and more competed for the first-ever women's football tournament -- one of the biggest crowds such a tourney has ever seen. And it's been lost to history, until now. Continue Reading →
Sightseers
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn't exist. Continue Reading →
The YouTube Effect
Early in Alex Winter’s finely made and firmly inessential documentary The YouTube Effect, the edit takes the form of a firehose montage of the greatest hits of the nearly two decade old title video platform. The most striking edit places the viral phenomenon (and eventual NFT) Charlie Bit My Finger next to scattered footage of The Arab Spring, the global social media-mobilized revolution(s) from the 2010s. Despite a nearly boundless distance between these two subjects, The YouTube Effect pinballs back and forth between these two arenas of cultural influence, blurring the lines with a linearity that feels unsuited to a timeline in constant flux. Continue Reading →