Anatomy of a Fall
Did he jump or was he pushed? Exciting courtroom drama through a French perspective. The mom is so German, aloof and selfish. Guilty! Someone give the kid an Oscar. And the dog too.
Society of Snow
Powerful, elegant, inspiring. Instead of going for a Lord of the Flies angle where the castaways turn on each other, the film lets the bleak setting be the antagonist. Man vs. Nature. The people survived because they were fit, young men to start with; were lucky; and because they acted as a community caring for one another, sharing food and expertise. I very much liked two of his prior movies: The Orphanage and The Impossible, so for me, he’s a director to watch.
Killers of the Flower Moon
This is Wolf of Wall Street redux. The destructive power of greed. Perfect musical score. Including the news clips from the Tulsa Massacre along with the radio show studio conceit for the epilogue both worked for me. My only quibble is that Leo is way too old for that part. The real Ernest Burkhart was 26 when he married Mollie; Leo DiCaprio is 49. It matters because a younger man is more likely to be taken in by an evil svengali uncle than an middle-aged one.
Nyad
I only cried twice at the movies this year, during the baby shoe scene in Holdovers and the other during the final shot of Nyad. Spoiler alert: she makes it! An ode to the indomitable human spirit (or just plain stubbornness) as she tries and fails again and again, until she doesn’t. Annette Bening is astonishing in this role.
The Holdovers
The second time I cried at the movies. I love this movie. The screenplay brightens an old trope (goodhearted teacher bonds with difficult student and their lives both change), resulting in a smart, funny, genuinely touching film. An exceptional screenplay that managed to be affecting without slipping into sentimentality. Love the look of all those shaggy 1970s-era teens. Nostalgic, but also fresh.
May/December
An exercise in cringe, but oh so good. The two women are twin sides of each other, both manipulative and self-serving. Unrelenting sexual tension all round.
Barbie
They needed to dial back on this movie’s feminist manifesto by at least fifty percent. Overusing the word patriarchy gets tiresome fast. While this movie would have been incisive in 1973 or 1983, in 2023 its message of the powerless female underclass just doesn’t ring true. One giant Mattel commerical. Big disappointment.
Oppenheimer
Another big disappointment. Christopher Nolan tortures his audiences. You will sit for 3 hours bombarded by constant loud music. You will be forced to endure an entire third act shot at weird angles in flashbacks that don’t make sense. You will be not be emotionally attached to any of the army of characters thrown at you who seem important to the story but are actually irrelevant. After Dunkirk, I’m done with his movies.
Napoleon
Such good intentions. The battle scenes were intense and staggering but there were too many of them. Why not cut back on those expensive setpieces and include more character development? He was known as a brilliant strategist, show him devising his maneuvers or talking them through with a general, bring the audience in as a co-conspirator. Joaquin Phoenix seriously miscast. The real Napoleon must have been charming and compelling to move men and armies, not a weird misfit joker. I didn’t hate it, but it was a missed opportunity.
Maestro
Absolutely brilliant. Such a fascinating biopic. Both Bradley and Carey acting to within an inch of their lives, but it all worked for me. And you had me at Mahler 2. Seriously? Six minutes of Bradley conducting The Resurrection Symphony — for which he studied under Dudamel among others — was rapturous.
Zone of Interest
I wanted to love this movie. It is a well-crafted portrait of the banality of evil. But something about the filmmaking kept the viewer at arm’s length. Despite the horrifying subject matter, I never felt emotionally engaged. Watching was an intellectual exercise. My take: The mother comes in on the train, the family picks her up at the station, and the story unfolds through her perspective as she becomes increasing horrified as she reaches clarity about what is really going on.
Eileen
The perfectly executed piece of literature on film. Eileen works in a jail and has a cop for a father — she is literally and figuratively in prison. The glamorous Anne Hathaway character stands in for a metaphor of what Eileen’s life could be. The two women plan to escape to New York. When Hathaway doesn’t show up, it doesn’t matter — Eileen is awake now. She dons the red dress and fur coat of her late mother, the clotheshorse, and hits the interstate by herself.
Past Lives
The path not taken. I liked this film. Not earth-shattering or particularly new, but a well-made study of being an adult and looking back on one’s choices and sliding door moments.
Dumb Money
Good fun to watch the little guys take on the hedge fund billionaires in a lively David-and-Goliath story. Although GameStop became shorthand for the pump-and-dump phenom of the crypto industry, which literally is the definition of a pyramid scheme. But it was nonetheless fun to watch the kids do it. Diamond hands!
Taylor Swift Eras Tour
Not a Swiftie, but I’ve always admired Taylor. Unlike a lot of female stars, she doesn’t just sing and dance, she writes her own material and plays guitar and piano. Plus she’s humble and engaging and puts on a damn fine show. She brings it for over 3 hours through 34 songs. A triumph.
Air
I could watch this film on endless loop. While there are many great films we really don’t want to see again, this one is so bright that it bears repeated viewings. Fun to see Damon and Affleck pairing up again, and the 80s references are a treat for us Gen X/Boomers who came of age in the era of big hair and phones with cords. Terrific supporting roles: the marketing exec, the agent, the shoe designer, the ambitious mom. But mostly it’s about one individual who sees the light and risks it all to make it happen, and succeeds. Love letter to Capitalism and the American Dream.
Blackberry
The flip side of “Air.” Fast success, but then hit by the twin meteors of hubris and guys in the garage on the other side of the world building a better mousetrap.
Reality
A dramatization of the literal transcript of Reality Winner being interviewed by FBI Agents on the front lawn of her house and in a chairless backroom. Slowly the cinch gets tightened around her. Ultimately, she will be sentenced to 5 years in prison. Instead of Reality it should be named Irony. The one page she leaked to The Intercept proved that there was Russian interference in the 2016 election; she was not a traitor, but a whistleblower. Meanwhile Trump stole dozens of boxes of classified documents that sat unsecured in a Mar-a-lago bathroom and he will likely not see a minute of jail time.
American Fiction
Funny, smart, thought-provoking, poking holes in stereotypes and representation. Gets a bit meta and gonzo at the end, but is anchored by strong performances.