MAESTRO (2023) review
written by: Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
produced by: Fred Berner, Bradley Cooper, Amy Durning, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg
directed by: Bradley Cooper
rated: R (for some language and drug use)
runtime: 129 min.
U.S. release date: December 20, 2023 (Netflix)
“I love people so much that it’s hard for me to be alone.”
Twenty years ago, “De-Lovely” chronicled the life of composer Cole Porter, played by Kevin Kline, a gay man forced into the closet by societal norms at the time, who nevertheless managed to carve out a strong and loving partnership with a strong-willed woman, Ashley Judd’s Linda Porter. It was an effortlessly charming film that might now be viewed as a sort of soufflé film, one which was deceptively hard to make look so effortless, but it remains a high water mark for the composer biopic genre. Read more…
LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND (2023) review
written by: Sam Esmail
produced by: Julia Roberts, Marisa Yeres Gill, Lisa Gillan, Sam Esmail & Chad Hamilton
directed by: Sam Esmail
rated: R (for language, some sexual content, drug use and brief bloody images)
runtime: 141 min.
U.S. release date: December 8, 2023 (Netflix)
Lately, Netflix has a thing for releasing post-apocalyptic thrillers around the end-of-year holiday season. As if viewers weren’t already stressed out enough during at that time of the year! Last year, there was the Dan DeLilo adaptation of “White Noise” and the year before that it was Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up”, both of which were comedy thrillers that leaned toward the satirical. Of course, there was “Birdbox” which became a huge hit when it dropped in December 2018, and was followed by a sequel that landed on Netflix this past summer. Now we have “Leave the World Behind”, in which writer/director Sam Esmail (“Mr. Robot” creator ) adapts the novel of the same name from Rumaan Alam about a global crisis that came out in October 2020, when the U.S. and the rest of the world was already in a heightened sense of awareness due to COVID-19. The result is a frustrating and uneven approach to a “What If?” psychological thriller, which found me defaulting to my “the book must be better” stance. Read more…
FAST CHARLIE (2023) review
written by: Richard Wenk
produced by: Ryan Donnell Smith, Brent C. Johnson, Jeff Holland, Daniel Grodnik and Mitchell Welch
directed by: Phillip Noyce
rating: not rated
runtime: 90 min.
U.S. release date: December 8, 2023 (select theaters & VOD)
Australian director Phillip Noyce made two of his best films in 2002 with the two impressive novel adaptations, Graham Greene’s “The Quiet American” and the “Rabbit-Proof Fence”, based on the work of Doris Pilkington Garimara. However, he’s primarily known for delivering action thrillers, from 1989’s “Dead Calm” and two Jack Ryan installments with Harrison Ford in the 90s. While he’s made plenty of films since then, many of them thrillers, the last great one was 2010’s “Salt” with Angelina Jolie. In recent years, Noyce’s work has been kind of erratic, with subpar pictures like “The Desperate Hours” and “Above Suspicion”, both of which revolved around distressed female protagonists. His latest is “Fast Charlie”, which combines violent action with charming comedy resulting in an engaging viewing experience. Read more…
GODZILLA MINUS ONE (2023) review
written by: Takashi Yamazaki
produced by: Minami Ichikawa, Kazuaki Kishida, Keiichirō Moriya & Kenji Yamada
directed by: Takashi Yamazaki
rated: PG-13 (for creature violence and action)
runtime: 125 min.
U.S. release date: December 1, 2023 (theatrical)
Godzilla has always been among us, surfacing now and then over the past 70 years to re-establish his force of nature status. The enormous kaiju creature has been a destructive threat, an ally to humanity and fellow monsters, and a reluctant hero. He’s been in all sorts of media and has been the subject of recent updates of movies over at Legendary Pictures & Warner Brothers since 2014’s “Godzilla” from Gareth Edwards (expect another one next year), but that’s from the American studios. “Godzilla Minus One” from writer/director Takashi Yamazaki is the latest from Japanese studio Toho, which is where it all started back in 1954 and it surprisingly winds up being one of the best movies of the year. Read more…
DREAM SCENARIO (2023) review
written by: Kristoffer Borgli
produced by: Ari Aster, Tyler Campellone, Jacob Jaffke, Lars Knudsen
directed by: Kristoffer Borgli
rating: R (language, violence, and some sexual content)
runtime: 102 min.
U.S. release date: November 22, 2023
“Why me? I don’t know, I’m special, I guess.”
Indie label A24 is now a brand unto itself, helping to make films with sometimes outrageous premises appeal to mainstream audiences. They are turning indie cinema into a hip, cool thing again, like in the early 90s Miramax days (god help us). Moviegoers are now savvy enough to see the A24 logo before a trailer and identify the film as something off-kilter and quirky. Read more…
MAY DECEMBER (2023) review
written by: Samy Burch (screenplay/story) and Alex Mechanik (story)
produced by: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, Natalie Portman, Sophie Mas, Grant S. Johnson & Tyler W. Konney
directed by: Todd Haynes
rating: R (for some sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language)
runtime: 113 min.
U.S. release date: November 17, 2023 (theatrical) and December 1, 2023 (Netflix)
When stories of a female elementary teacher having sex with a student hit the news in the States, there has been understandable immediate outrage. While nothing justifies such activity with a minor, rarely do we see any reporting that would give us an idea as to why an adult would behave in such a manner. At least none that I can recall. What will be remembered is the crime, the arrests, and any sentencing involved, but I know I’m not the only one who ponders the mental state or stability of such behavior from an adult. Later on, it may be reported that the teacher experienced trauma in previous relationships or her childhood, offering potential context that led to her criminal activity. With that in mind, it’s also natural to wonder what has become of the criminal and the victim years later, especially when such activity produced children. Read more…
SICK OF MYSELF (2022) review
written by: Kristoffer Borgli
produced by: Dyveke Bjørkly Graver and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
directed by: Kristoffer Borgli
rating: not rated (Received a 15 certificate in the UK)
runtime: 97 min.
U.S. release date: May 22, 2022 (Cannes Film Festival)
“I’ve got a major headache.”
Norwegian writer/director Kristoffer Borgli is about to see his profile explode thanks to helming the new Nic Cage movie “Dream Scenario,” but as a fan of the director’s very first feature film, “Drib,” I was curious to see how his first proper narrative film, 2022’s “Sick of Myself,” bridged the gap between the other two films. Read more…
THE KILLER (2023) review
written by: Andrew Kevin Walker
produced by: William Doyle, Peter Mavromates & Ceán Chaffin
directed by: David Fincher
rated: R (for strong violence, language and brief sexuality)
runtime: 118 min.
U.S. release date: October 27, 2023 (theatrical) & November 10, 2023 (Netflix)
An action thriller directed by David Fincher that follows an assassin played by Michael Fassbender from a screenplay by “Seven” screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker comes with great expectations. Count me in. It will look cool with cinematic style and artful composition with an intense lead and an absorbing story. It’s all that and then some, but the most surprising part is how darkly humorous it is. Granted, the delivery is subtle, but the humor is there in passing or under the surface or in the acerbic narration by the protagonist. The story, adapted from a French graphic novel series of the same name, may be straightforward, but with Fincher at the helm, the execution is fantastic as the director creates an absorbing revenge tale with equal amounts icy mood and stunning action, all with a hard-boiled noir approach. Read more…
THE HOLDOVERS (2023) review
written by: David Hemingson
produced by: Mark Johnson, Bill Block and David Hemingson
directed by: Alexander Payne
rating: R (for language, some drug use and brief sexual material)
runtime: 133 min.
U.S. release date: October 27, 2023
Director Alexander Payne is at his best when presenting audiences with films that accentuate the complexities of the human connection, such as 2004’s “Sideways” and 2011’s “The Descendants”. “The Holdovers” is an excellent return to form for director Alexander Payne after his last feature, “Downsizing”, an uneven comedy from 2017. Working from a script by David Hemingson, Payne reunites with Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”) for another examination of an arrogant man who is confronted with his own cold personality. “The Holdovers” is a fantastic character study of three nuanced characters who are unexpectedly brought together to experience a variety of mundane situations and unplanned misadventures. Filled with characters that feel genuinely real who perfectly portrayed and captured beautifully by cinematographer Eigil Bryld, “The Holdovers” is one of the best films of the year. Read more…
NEXT GOAL WINS (2023) review
written by: Taika Waititi and Iain Morris
produced by: Jonathan Cavendish, Garrett Basch, Taika Waititi, Mike Brett & Steve Jamison
directed by: Taika Waititi
rating: PG-13 (for some strong language and crude material)
runtime: 103 min.
U.S. release date: November 17, 2023
What I noticed within the first couple of minutes of Taika Waititi’s new movie, “Next Goal Wins” is that Taika Waititi is in it. By the time the underdog sports biopic was over, I realized it would’ve been better if this was a documentary without Waititi in it or directing it. His trademark brand of oddball humor overwhelms the movie from start to finish, in a movie that would benefit from not being an overt comedy. Too much of it backfired and tanked his last movie, “Thor: Love and Thunder”, and while at least he’s left blockbuster franchise material (for now) and gone back to smaller quirky stories, like his best movies “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”, there’s still too much of him getting in the way here. Read more…
