Broken Arrow doesn't get a lot of love but I think it's a minor classic, a very stripped down action movie with some good humor. Aside: Hard Boiled is my favorite "gun fu" movie; my fave martial arts (not wuxia) movie is Jet Li's Fist of Legend.
Still recommend you watch Chungking Express, Chinese Odyssey 2002 and Eagle Shooting Heroes. Besides Tony Leung Chiu-wai there's Takeshi Kaneshiro, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, Faye Wong, Joey Wong, Vickie Zhao, Chang Chen, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Leslie Cheung, Jacky Cheung, Carina Lau, and Athena Chu, all major stars in their own right.
Shang-Chi - Oh yeah, definitely one of the better MCU films. Terrific action (maybe with the exception of that final massive CGI climax), well written characters, performances ranging from solid to great, and one of the franchise's most developed and complex villains. Not often I would find myself hoping a ruthless, longtime warlord reunites with his family so everyone can live happily together, but there you go. And though maybe not the best Marvel origin movie, it may be my favorite origin story in how complete it is without feeling overlong. Thanks to the frequent flashbacks and developments we get throughout the film, Wenwu and his two kids all get rounded into real people whose actions and motivations make sense (okay, maybe a little thinner for Xialing, but something had to give). And though the climax has some of the usual issues with a massive sequence sporting dodgy CGI Marvel films can't seem to escape, I did kind of love how far they were willing to take it.
The Alpinist on Netflix. A harrowing documentary about a guy obsessed with free solo mountain climbing. This moves into an interest in scaling alpine mountains. Great stuff.
Jackass Forever - Who would have thought that Jackass would be one of the most wholesome things to come out of the early 2000's? This was a really pure, fun time. Everyone in the theater was dying laughing.
Nightmare Alley and The Worst Person In The World.
Two absolute fucking bangers that I watched back to back and they both jumped into my Top 5 of 2021.
Nightmare Alley is GDT at his darkest and most depraved and it’s glorious. Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett (and as always but to a lesser extent Dafoe) give really excellent performances, and the production design is PERFECT.
TWPITW is just a really beautiful slice of life movie about someone trying to find themselves when they have no idea what they want or who they are, and it’s the most affirming and relatable thing I’ve seen in awhile.
Legit blown away by this movie. Pattinson’s Batman/Bruce is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Gotham is the fully recognized character that I’ve always imagined it to be.
Every single character in this movie was fantastically portrayed. I can’t think of any real criticisms other than it definitely was too long. It’s the rare movie where it feels too long because there’s too much shit going on instead of being too long because it’s actually too long.
Operation Mincemeat (Netflix) - Mostly entertaining version of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat which has been told in other movies. Felt like they added a lot of drama not likely present in the actual events just to give Kelly MacDonald's character enough to do.
RRR - If you can ignore the subtext (https://slate.com/culture/2022/06/rrr-review-indian-blockbuster-netflix-hindu-nationalism.html) this is a mostly-entertaining grand spectacle about real Indian revolutionaries in a fictional scenario. Good introduction of the two leads to an international audience, though Jr NTR at least has more entertaining films to watch such as Yamadonga.
Raazi - Well done period spy film. Doesn't bring anything new to the table other than the setting in India/Pakistan in the 70's which is novel enough to make the whole film interesting.
Ambulance - Too much not good stuff overwhelmed what could (maybe) have been a tight drama. From the unmotivated drone diving shots to the overwrought emotional scenes to Garret Dillahunt as comedy relief with his tiny car and big dog and aw shucks act to too many other things of questionable value to mention, the movie seemed to be trying to get you to forget you're watching an unwieldy ambulance out maneuver every vehicle the police can throw at it.
Morbius - thought it was OK as a horror tale in the mold of Victorian horror like Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. Very mannered and deliberate, with the “hero” struggling with moral dilemmas. I can see clearly why this was a bomb at the box office as it’s quite far from the joke-a-minute Marvel style and has little in common with the DC style either. Maybe it will find its audience of old school horror fans on streaming.
Morbius - thought it was OK as a horror tale in the mold of Victorian horror like Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. Very mannered and deliberate, with the “hero” struggling with moral dilemmas. I can see clearly why this was a bomb at the box office as it’s quite far from the joke-a-minute Marvel style and has little in common with the DC style either. Maybe it will find its audience of old school horror fans on streaming.
I'm probably going to watch this soon.
The only Morbius knowledge I have is from the 90s Spiderman cartoon. That was also the only Blade knowledge I had prior to the Wesley Snipes movie. Doubtful Morbius can live up to the Blade movies... maybe the third one?
Doubtful Morbius can live up to the Blade movies... maybe the third one?
It's a completely different kind of movie. Minor spoiler, but think of movies where the "hero" has an internal struggle about doing the right thing, against turning into a monster, etc. There's more going on as well but IMO that's the core of the movie. It's not a "I now have superpowers, neat-o" movie.
12 Strong - Now on Netflix in the US. I enjoyed it, mostly. Very different feel from other recent war on terror films.
I found The Gray Man not only better than the book but it also did a better job of being a Bond film than any recent actual Bond film. Also very smart casting Dhanush as a principled hitman with serious moves; expect an Indian spinoff starring him. Jessica Henwick was completely wasted and given some of the worst dialogue in the movie.
Comments
The best way I can describe it is "Wes Anderson tried way too hard to make a Wes Anderson movie."
Two absolute fucking bangers that I watched back to back and they both jumped into my Top 5 of 2021.
Legit blown away by this movie. Pattinson’s Batman/Bruce is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Gotham is the fully recognized character that I’ve always imagined it to be.