There’s not a single thing I like more here than in Knives Out, but I do like almost everything almost as much.
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Author: Dan Stalcup
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After Last Season (2009)
It feels scientifically engineered to be as boring as possible: People having astonishingly vacant conversations in beige rooms, the central murder mystery given the urgency of a tax return. There’s a long stretch of inexplicable 1982-level CGI. I tried to find some avant garde vibes to love, but it’s just too dull.
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Final Flesh (2009)
I know this is intended to be a subversive investigation of the boundaries and biases in creating art, but I find it just to be mean-spirited and impish. (That doesn’t mean I didn’t laugh a bunch of times.)
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The Last Exorcism (2010)
The pitch is sound: 1973’s The Exorcist, but found footage.
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Knives Out (2019)
It’s often easier to remember the flaws of a movie than its strengths.
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Puss in Boots (2011)
The best Shrek movie, at least prior to 2022 (unless your nostalgia holds part 1 afloat like it does for so many millennials, myself included). And this comes from someone who thought the character was really stupid in the Shrek sequels. This is basically a big Zorro riff, but with a cat in the lead, and it’s quite charming and zippy. Something was going on at Dreamworks from 2009-2011. This isn’t Dragon tier, but it is Kung Fu Panda tier.
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The Menu (2022)
There is some irony inherent in writing and reading a review of a film like The Menu.
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Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (2022)
The characters are cartoonish and not especially deep, but the production is excellent. The settings have whiffs of Burton expressionism, the large-scale choreography is like a shot of cinematic espresso (especially “Revolting Children”).
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Goals for 2023
As the new year kicks off, I want to look ahead at some goals for the site for 2023
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Back to the Future Part III (1990)
There’s definitely some diminishing returns on the Back to the Future saga, but it stays fresh and fun enough, and feels slightly more coherent as a standalone story than Part 2. It’s also a very satisfying closer to a trilogy that has, against all financial incentives, remained a trilogy.