The Official Review Thread of 2021

[Mister Tee]

I think I'm close to Sabin on The Worst Person in the World -- given my long-held enthusiasm for Trier, and the reviews/awards mentions, I expected to love the film more.

I think there are two segments of the film that are truly excellent: the wedding flirtation Sabin mentioned (at that point in the running time, knowing there was an actor cited for prizes, I assumed it was Eivind, from the way he lifted the film), and then the post-hospital scene between Julie and Aksel (which permanently disabused me of that early reaction). There are plenty of other things I liked in the film: the freeze-frame sequence, the radicalization of Eivind's first wife, the talk show argument -- but, moving back for a long view, I never got a firm grip on what the film was trying to saying about Julie (beyond, as Sabin notes, "she's indecisive"). I think having your main character be that fuzzily drawn is problematic enough; when, in addition, the narrative is wobbly, I don't see where the connective tissue is. (Many people find Licorice Pizza's narrative equally meandering, but I don't think many would describe that film's chief characters as anything but vividly drawn.) I agree with okri that the film's ending is a swing-and-miss, but, honestly, it's hard to think of what ending could have been satisfying. I rarely go places like this (because I have most to lose from it), but I genuinely found myself thinking the film's failure to come into focus stemmed from the fact of it being two guys writing about a woman without a clear picture of her. (Among other things, it didn't seem to occur to them she might have a female friend or two.) Reinsve is a charismatic personality, but I don't think she does much to make the character emerge as a single entity.

The late dramatic turn with Aksel is certainly unexpected, but I wasn't bothered by it (I similarly wasn't bothered by how Terms of Endearment went surprising directions in its last reel) -- especially because the dialogue in that long conversation with Aksel just elevated the movie. I also liked the way Julie chose to react to the final news -- staying by herself, rather than joining Aksel's friends. This made clear exactly what Julie's relationship with him was (and the limitations of it): significantly in love with him, but not really interested in sharing his previously-established life.

I'm surprised your sister was so wild about it, Sabin. The woman I went with (who'd really liked Parallel Mothers) didn't like much of anything about the movie, for the failure-of-female-characterization reasons I've described.

[anonymous1980]

KING RICHARD
Cast: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Jon Bernthal, Tony Goldwyn.
Dir: Reinaldo Marcus Green.

This is the true story of the father of Venus and Serena Williams, Richard Williams and how his ambition and determination (and stubbornness) made his daughters the tennis stars they are today. Best Picture nomination notwithstanding, I did not have high expectations for this film. Yes, it was everything I sort of expected. But I was surprised by how much I got invested on it. The performances of the cast is quite excellent. While Will Smith seems to be the front-runner to win the Oscar and to be fair, he does give a very good performance, I thought Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney and Jon Bernthal gave performances that elevated the film for me. No, it's no masterpiece but it's a very solid sports biopic worth seeing.

Grade: B+

[anonymous1980]

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Vincent D'Onoforio.
Dir: Michael Showalter.

Based on the 2000 documentary of the same name, this film is a biopic of flamboyant, colorful and scandal-plagued televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker and her equally flamboyant, colorful and turbulent life. Jessica Chastain plays Tammy Faye and nobody can deny that she really gives it her all, making her come to life once again. She's matched almost equally by Andrew Garfield, playing her equally scandal-plagued husband Jim Bakker. Both make this film quite watchable but unfortunately the film fails to do anything deeper or any different than watching the documentary (which I haven't seen but would like to) or even reading a few Wikipedia pages would've done. So all in all, watchable for the performances but don't expect anything above a conventional biopic which would've been relegated to cable in the 90's.

Grade: B-

[Mister Tee]

Unless the film has been re-edited since I saw it a month ago, the sign language is purposely not subtitled. It is translated by the daughter in some scenes but not others although you can get the gist of what they're saying most of the time.

This sounds as if the version I saw (last night on Apple TV) is definitely different. Pretty much everything the family says -- the descriptions of symptoms to the doctor, the talk about Tinder, the haranguing of the boyfriend to use a condom -- was displayed in subtitles.

[Big Magilla]

Two things in response to Sabin's review: 1) Co-sign on, I spent most of the movie thinking she was applying to Berkeley, which was a whole lot bigger thing than moving to Boston. 2) You mention the signing not being subtitled at certain points, which I can't say was my impression. Is it possible the version I saw (on Apple TV; I managed to piggyback on a friend's subscription) is different from the one you watched?

Anyway...one of my least favorites of the year's Oscar slate. Can't believe the writers went for it! But I wonder if it might actually win the SAG ensemble prize. The voters who chose the equally phony Hidden Figures might just opt for it.

I think I was the first to cast a negative light on this thing on Jan 23:

CODA (Sian Heder)
Cast: Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Eugenio Derbez.

Sorry, but I'm not a fan of this one. At heart, it's a sweet coming-of-age story for teenage girls, but it's a simple story that goes on and on and then on some more. Most of the actors are appealing, but I don't get all the praise for Troy Kotsur as the father. If I were to pick one actor out of the cast worthy of awards recognition it would be Eugenio Derbez as the music teacher.

Grade C

It kind of reminded me of Gidget and not in a good way.

Anyway, I did get a huge laugh out of both the film and what you wrote about Berkeley because I had the exact same reaction. I had never heard of the Berklee College of Music before it is shown at the end of the film.

Unless the film has been re-edited since I saw it a month ago, the sign language is purposely not subtitled. It is translated by the daughter in some scenes but not others although you can get the gist of what they're saying most of the time.

[Sabin]

Mister Tee wrote
Is it possible the version I saw (on Apple TV; I managed to piggyback on a friend's subscription) is different from the one you watched?

I have no idea. It was months ago. That said, I can't say I care to see if I missed out on anything.

Mister Tee wrote
And the fact that what she wants to do in life is something that specifically excludes them from ever appreciating her talent is the strongest idea in the film. (And leads to maybe the most legitimately touching scene, where Kotsur tries to grasp what's she's doing by touching her throat while she sings.) I may have liked this movie if it had explored these things in complex ways --

Here's the thing. I can't claim to know what the filmmakers' intentions were when they made this film but I am seeing a rash of films and content that duck obvious, meaningful conflict with the rationale of (I'm going to use language I've heard) not wanting to regurgitate old tropes. The problem is "old tropes for who?" I could see them viewing a not-hearing family feeling incapable of sharing their daughters' talents or being insufficiently supportive as being a negative representation. I stopped believing I was watching real people and I checked out. I agree that this is a shame because there's a lot of very compelling conflicts that the film sidesteps.

I also think it could win the SAG for Best Ensemble. I'm also not counting out Troy Kotsur or its screenplay for wins.

[Mister Tee]

I guess one will be labeled a churl for not embracing CODA (I see several here have already braved the accusation; kudos). It's such a smooth thing, so wanting nothing but to warm the heart. But it really pissed me off. I have no problem with feel-good movies per se -- I still recall how elated I was walking out of Close Encounters back in 1977. But a movie that gets its feel-good points by setting up what seem hard choices and then swatting them away, with everyone getting everything they want, no visible sacrifice, annoys me no end. It pretends to be about real life, but is 100% phony showbiz-land: everyone wants the best for one another; all conflicts can be ended with a heart-to-heart talk and a hug. If someone had brought this script (or completed film) to me, I'd have said, start over, and, this time, write it as if they're human beings, not pawns for a bland TV series. (Sabin's reference to the CW is on the money.)

Because here's the thing: there are legitimate conflicts in the narrative, some of them not even stale. Yes, the child growing past the confines of the family is old-time stuff, but the deaf angle -- the fact that they're dependent on her in ways they've never had to question before -- is a fresh wrinkle. And the fact that what she wants to do in life is something that specifically excludes them from ever appreciating her talent is the strongest idea in the film. (And leads to maybe the most legitimately touching scene, where Kotsur tries to grasp what's she's doing by touching her throat while she sings.) I may have liked this movie if it had explored these things in complex ways -- if the mother's wish that Ruby had been born deaf was a mixture of good and bad motives, rather than the near-saintly one she offers; if the family's need for her wasn't so easily brushed away at the finale. Oh, and if all the sudden conversions of the locals hadn't happened -- Matlin suddenly laughing it up with all the "hearing bitches"; the brother now the life of the party at the bar. I suppose we should be grateful we didn't see Ruby elected prom queen, to put all the mean girls in their place.

As I say, the surface of the movie is smooth, and, I presume, makes it go down easy for lots of people. It isn't The Blind Side, where the cloying aspects get stuck in your throat. Emilia Jones is a very pretty, likable presence, with a lovely voice. The family, while broadly drawn (how do we get people to like our deaf characters? I know: have them sign lots of raunch and scatalogy!), perform reasonably well, and, as I said, Kotsur has that good scene near the end. And, while the music teacher is an over-familiar character, I thought he was a lively presence.

Two things in response to Sabin's review: 1) Co-sign on, I spent most of the movie thinking she was applying to Berkeley, which was a whole lot bigger thing than moving to Boston. 2) You mention the signing not being subtitled at certain points, which I can't say was my impression. Is it possible the version I saw (on Apple TV; I managed to piggyback on a friend's subscription) is different from the one you watched?

Anyway...one of my least favorites of the year's Oscar slate. Can't believe the writers went for it! But I wonder if it might actually win the SAG ensemble prize. The voters who chose the equally phony Hidden Figures might just opt for it.

[anonymous1980]

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE
Cast: Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Bokeem Wooodbine, Logan Kim, Celeste O'Connor, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Sigourney Weaver.
Dir: Jason Reitman.

Decades after the events of the last Ghostbusters movie, Egon Spengler's daughter and grandkids inherits an old house after his death and uncovers something supernatural is about to happen. You might as well call this Ghostbusters Fan Service Nostalgia The Movie because I feel that's all this is. I'm not completely against a direct sequel or a reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise but this film seems to overly pander on people's nostalgia for the original basically hitting every narrative beat the original had. It's a remix basically. It even has the same damn villain. Ivan Reitman recently passed so I'm glad he got to do this with his son Jason, who directs this.This will only appeal to fans who demand to be catered and are afraid of change or anything different. It's too bad because the new cast members like Mckenna Grace and Logan Kim are really good and appealing. They could've made something cool with a more creative and imaginative script.

Grade: C

WEST SIDE STORY
Cast: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, Mike Faist, David Alvarez, Rita Moreno, Brian D'Arcy James, Corey Stoll.
Dir: Steven Spielberg.

When I first heard this film was being made, I thought, "Do we really need this? The 1961 film version is about as perfect as it is." But now that I've seen it, I realize, yeah, we kind of needed this. Director Steven Spielberg and writer Tony Kushner did the impossible. They captured the original spirit of the source material while at the same adding more layers and nuance to make it relevant for today (in addition to casting more actual Puerto Ricans to play Puerto Ricans). Everything here is on point: The beautiful cinematography, the fantastic staging and choreography. And the performances! Sure, Ansel Elgort is adequate (the weak link but didn't ruin the movie). But Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Rachel Zegler and especially Mike Faist all deliver star-making performances. Is it better than the original? No. Is it as good? Maybe. I think so. I'm glad these two exists side-by-side. I see them as like beautiful companion pieces with each other. Yep, this is one of my favorite films of the year and Spielberg's best work in almost a decade.

Grade: A

[Mister Tee]

Watched Four Good Days and it's exactly what you would expect from a movie that premiered at Sundance 2020 and then sat around for over a year before a distributor picked it. The song is honestly what you would expect from Dianne Warren too. I know people on other forums and on Twitter have tried to rehabilitate her in recent years as someone who must have an Oscar, and I agree it's kind of cruel to keep nominating her over and over and over, especially for movies like this (and the one last year, and...well...most of her recent nominations) that no one has seen and no one will vote for, but honestly given the quality of the songs she's writing, the nominations are more than she deserves. It's not that this song is even that terrible, it's just the exact song you would expect it to be when you read a synopsis of the film. (And Reba McEntire's performance of the song is exactly what you would expect too, which is a shame, because I really think she has been an underrated singer over the years.)

I also watched this last night; running through all the Oscar nominees I can on the borrowed Amazon Fire. This didn't do the movie any favors: the original reason for getting the Fire was to watch Dopesick, which covers the addiction thing -- plus so, so much more -- that the threadbare nature of this film was underlined. But I think I might have felt deprived regardless. It amazes me people can raise the money and go through all the effort to make a film, with content so over-familiar I feel like I watched the same story 25 or more years ago. (I might have said 50, but the "you got my kid hooked when you prescribed oxy" angle makes it vaguely contemporary. Though I remember Julia Roberts throwing around the same claim in Ben is Back, several years ago.) There's really nothing more to the movie than a bunch of drug addict kid/exhausted parent scenes that you've seen a thousand times -- not a single fresh idea. Though there is an ending, which (trying not to spoil) seems to violate the movie's terms entirely; the characters do the thing they're told is perilous, but don't seem to pay for it in any significant way.

I might have bailed on the movie somewhere along the way, had the Diane Warren song (the only real reason I was watching) shown up earlier. But, in my heart of hearts, I knew it was going to be an end-credits thing. (Isn't that pretty much what she does, these days?) As dws says, it's not much of a song; it's just there. Like the movie itself.

[mlrg]

I was obsessed with James Bond films as a kid. I must have watched A View to a Kill (which happens to be one of the worst of the whole franchise) a dozen times.

[Mister Tee]

I made my parents rent 3 Ninjas 10 times. I would throw actual crying fits in the video store if they didn't rent it. They finally bought it after the tenth time and to this day it remains the film I've seen the most.

We didn't have access to such things in my long-ago youth.

However...one of our NY local channels had a thing called Million Dollar Movie, which would run certain old films three to four times in a single day -- and I think the same movie all week. I can remember watching Son of Kong enough times that my father finally yelled out "Not again!"

So, I guess it doesn't automatically wreck young brains.

[Okri]

I made my parents rent 3 Ninjas 10 times. I would throw actual crying fits in the video store if they didn't rent it. They finally bought it after the tenth time and to this day it remains the film I've seen the most.

[dws1982]

At the other end of the scale, a friend tells me her grand-niece watches Encanto EVERY DAY!

Young kids will just obsessively do this type of thing sometimes. My oldest nephew would do this when he was young. (I'm guessing the others did too, I just have first-hand knowledge with him.) And because I went out of full-time work right around the time he turned 3, and ended up helping my mom watch him during the days a lot, I can't tell you how many times I saw Mary Poppins, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, etc, during that period. Damn, he's now in 10th Grade and about to get his driver's license.


---
Watched Four Good Days and it's exactly what you would expect from a movie that premiered at Sundance 2020 and then sat around for over a year before a distributor picked it. The song is honestly what you would expect from Dianne Warren too. I know people on other forums and on Twitter have tried to rehabilitate her in recent years as someone who must have an Oscar, and I agree it's kind of cruel to keep nominating her over and over and over, especially for movies like this (and the one last year, and...well...most of her recent nominations) that no one has seen and no one will vote for, but honestly given the quality of the songs she's writing, the nominations are more than she deserves. It's not that this song is even that terrible, it's just the exact song you would expect it to be when you read a synopsis of the film. (And Reba McEntire's performance of the song is exactly what you would expect too, which is a shame, because I really think she has been an underrated singer over the years.)

[Mister Tee]

It's not that these things are awful; they mostly achieve perfect mediocrity. But I'd say the lack of narrative imagination has slowly eroded their (young) audience's capacity for stories...to the point they can't cope with a film that doesn't slot them into such a comfortable "I recognize this plot" position.

I'm tending to find the opposite with my 8-year old; we have seen all these movies, and despite her easy access to them on Disney+, she is much more likely to fire up a Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli movie. I'm confident she's watched Spirited Away at least a dozen times by now and stuff like Howl's Moving Castle or Nausicaa gets frequent play recently. I ask if she wouldn't want to watch Encanto instead and she's not interested, almost as if there's nothing to really engage her in that empty movie.

Congrats; you're obviously doing a stellar job of parenting.

At the other end of the scale, a friend tells me her grand-niece watches Encanto EVERY DAY!

[Sabin]

Okri wrote
My biggest issue with the Worst Person in the World is that I never quite bought that our two leads were from different generations/eras. Like, we're told he's too old for her from the start but I feel they miscast for that - Danielson Lie reads much younger than he is and Rensave reads her age. Both performers do have terrific chemistry so it goes a long way to making the film work and it's subject matter of figuring out who you are/where you want to go is always salient. The extended sequence between Aksel and Julie is exquisite work. Thought the ending was a bit of a whiff, though.

I don't think you're missing much, re Trier - I have seen all his features. They're not wastes of time (except maybe Louder than Bombs), but none are as good as Reprise or this one.

Yyyyyyes, I think you're right. On the one hand, I didn't have a problem with buying Aksel as older than Julie. As an Elder Millennial who's dated more than one younger Millennial and we end up looking the same but sharing very different generational experiences, I didn't have any trouble buying them from different generational cohorts or sub-cohorts. But on the other hand, their problem isn't generational differences. It's the fact that Aksel has his shit together and Julie doesn't. Julie wasted her 20s being indecisive about career and now she's stuck. Aksel could conceivably have been plugging away at the one thing he's been doing his life (drawing that cartoon) and gotten a degree of success. Thus the less that Julie could gleam from Aksel is more about focus=reward-excitement. I do buy Aksel as slightly older than her but that's not really the problem in their relationship.

That's a good point, Orki. This film really does have too meandering a focus.

Okri wrote
That said, Sabin, I do hope you tackle more Farhadi films. The Past and The Salesman are really good movies.

Yes, I intend on doing so.