Quartlery Check-In: Movies
Official Quarterly Check-In: Movies
I have been putting off doing this for quite some time now as we are now halfway through April, but I wanted to make sure I put my current thoughts on the movies of the year out there. They are ranked against each other, so the order they are presented is the order of how I personally feel about their placement this year. Overall, I have been slightly disappointed by the year in terms of the movies I have seen and by the fact I have only seen 14 released this year so far. I have watched 54 (According to my Letterboxd) and 24 of those have been rewatches. Also taking a film class where I have had to watch 2 films a week has slowed me down on going out to the theaters. I am going to try and do better and see more in Quarter 2, but without further ado let’s get into it. Hold my hand and hold your breathe because at #1 we got…
The Must Sees
1. Apollo 11
This documentary was a film I was going in very excited for and left beaming. I was blown to the moon and back with how great the entire film was structured. Using solely the radio transmissions to tell the story of the mission from start to finish was something I did not expect and ended up loving. It helps the entire film play out more like a found footage movie rather than a traditional documentary. The footage itself was jaw-dropping. On the IMAX screen it looked crystal clear and looked like they had been filmed for a movie and then altered in post-production. I am mad that NASA has been holding out on us all these years until now because this is a movie, I think everyone should watch.
2. Shazam!
Anyone that knows me knows that I love me some DC. Whether it be at the theater, on my tv at home, or in a book in my hand, I can never get enough of these stories. Shazam was a movie I was probably more excited for than any other this year, because Zachary Levi has been one of my favorite actors since the early days of Chuck and seeing him on the big screen as Captain Marvel, in a movie where Big meets Superman, I was simply ready to drop my life savings to see this movie as early as possible. That is why I was so relieved that it worked and was fun and cute and charming and heartfelt, because I had been burned so many times already this year and I was happy a movie finally lived up to my expectations.
3. Arctic
Just like in Shazam, Mads Mikkelsen has been a favorite of mine since I watched him on an NBC show, but in this instance, he was Hannibal Lecter. I also used to absorb every piece of content MysterGuitarMan released, and now he’s out in Hollywood directing movies? That’s a sure sign of success and boy was I glad it worked out. It is a basic survival movie, watching a man go about his day of surviving and attempting to be rescued. I loved that the movie picks up in the middle of his adventure; it provided a fresh take on the survival genre. We generally see the accident and the reason for why the protagonist is stranded, but here we just see him in his mundane daily routine that he has got down to a science to ensure his survival. With a stunning score and cinematography accompanying it, this is a movie I think most people probably missed and need to fix ASAP.
The Good Ones
4. Fyre
I’m shocked at how high this documentary stands still, this far into the year. It is an awesome documentary that breaks down everything that went down at the now infamous FyreFest. It is a great piece for all of those interested even in the slightest at how everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. You learn to hate some involved and to feel bad for others that couldn’t stop the disaster from happening. They did a really great job at making this doc as captivating as possible and always leading to more shocking revelations throughout the entire runtime.
5. Waiting for the Punchline
This is a documentary that I’m sure most are unfamiliar with as it is a Rooster Teeth Original. It follows stand-up comedian, Nick Scarpino, as he works his way up through the San Fran stand-up scene. Nick is a co-founder and host at Kinda Funny, my favorite YouTube channel, and watching how hard he has worked at this to make his dreams come true is inspiring. This is a movie that was awesome to watch, but I don’t know how appealing it is to other people that aren’t familiar with Kinda Funny or Rooster Teeth. I think fans of stand-up comedy specials would love this because it’s impossible to imagine the amount of work it takes to get to the point to have that solid hour of content.
6. Us
This was probably one of the biggest disappointments of the year for me thus far. I never got around to writing a proper review, as school and overall laziness (and prioritizing the early Shazam review) got in the way of me talking through my feelings of Jordan Peele’s sophomore outing. I hate saying stuff like “The script was the real issue here” because I have no idea what the script looked like, I didn’t read it. There was just a really cool idea that I think left too many things unanswered or not answered clearly enough. I made a movie with an eerily similar plot and premise in high school, obviously no where near as good as this finished product, but it still contributed to me knowing the twist from the beginning of the film. I think it is one of the most visually engaging films of the year, Peele is clearly a visionary director, but I think this movie could have used another year to really iron out all of the kinks that hold it back from being truly remarkable. That’s where I think the problems lay. The acting is fantastic and the music is great just like every other aspect, but it just doesn’t click together because a few pieces are missing.
7. Alita: Battle Angel
While Us was a disappointment, right below it is a movie that blew my expectations out of the water. The trailers for Alita were cool and I liked the way her eyes looked, so I was all in on Robert Rodriquez’s latest effort. The CGI is really good throughout the movie, and I think it helps that they are mostly robots going around smashing each other. The style just works so well here and the fight scenes are mental. I was expecting it to be a cheesy movie that doesn’t look great and had bad fight scenes, but then I am over there just jumping out of my seat during the Motorball fight sequence which is unlike anything I’ve seen on screen before. If you missed this in theaters, consider renting it now because it is a really fun popcorn flick.
8. Glass
I think it is a pretty universal opinion that Glass was not the equal sum of its parts. Unbreakable was an awesome and original superhero movie, and Split was another cool movie that revealed to be in the same universe as the former. Glass never really hits those highs of its predecessors. I still thoroughly enjoyed the movie through the deconstruction of the superhero. It continued to be the best representation of what a world where there were super powered individuals would look like. I think if you are looking for a though provoking piece then Glass is for you, but if you wanted the “Avengers” style of Shyamalan movies then you might want to pass. The cinematography is bland most of the time, but the concepts and acting are what really shine here. The action is pretty forgettable as well, but I suppose that is because it is trying to be more grounded than the films it’s trying to deconstruct.
The Fine Ones
9. Captain Marvel
The latest Marvel movie was just about as good as the trailers and commercials. There is nothing particularly great in this movie, but nothing that is outright bad. Some strange decisions are what held this film back from greatness. Playing 90s music in the most random places was one that was glaring and took me out of the film, rather than enhancing it like in Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy. Brie Larson acting as a straight woman and not being her bubbly uplifting self was also hard for me to get used to. Especially as most Marvel movies actually cast stars that fully embody their character, it just really through me off. Lastly, the amnesia trope is rarely executed correctly and just is frustrating more than anything else. I would say this is the only Marvel movie in a while that you can skip, as it doesn’t seem to add a whole lot to the overarching plot. That’s not a bad thing, but the movie doesn’t stand strong enough on it’s own to have me scream that you’ve got to see it.
10. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
I love The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie, so I was pumped for the second main movie. Unfortunately, it fell flat for me, as it didn’t have the same charm as the other two and in general it just wasn’t as funny. I felt like both of those other movies had the fun of just seeing random other movie properties popping up for a second while this one didn’t seem to do a whole lot more of that past retreading the first movie’s gag. If it pops up on Amazon or Netflix, I’d give it a watch, but I don’t know if I would recommend it past that.
11. Fyre Fraud
This is the perfect companion piece to the Netflix documentary, Fyre. This one delves more into the ethos that is Billy McFarland. I don’t know how well this one stands on its own and that why I have it lower down here. If you watched Fyre and didn’t like it or felt satisfied by what you watch and don’t need more, then don’t watch this. If you were ravenous for some information on this train wreck then this is a must watch. While Fyre is the step-by-step breakdown leading into the event and the event itself, Fyre Fraud is much larger in scope providing the entire narrative from the rise of Billy until the end of the festival. This documentary was also able to interview Billy himself and just watching how this man operates and justifies things is an awesome look at the inside of a con artist.
12. They Shall Not Grow Old
I have never been the largest WWI guy, and this film did not do a whole lot to change my mind. I was pretty tired going into the movie, and it is a slow deliberate look at this war and almost put me to sleep. I’m not taking anything from the movie in that regard, I’m just saying that it is one of those movies. It is really cool that they used actual accounts of the war to illustrate the entire movie. The footage itself is amazing, and knowing the process and work that was done to restore the film is remarkable. Looking at the black and white grainy images and contrasting that with these beautiful shots full of color is jarring. The behind the scenes they showed after the film that went into the entire process really added a whole new layer of appreciation for the movie, I’m glad Peter Jackson and his team saved all this footage and made it accessible for a whole new generation.
The Bad Ones
13. Velvet Buzzsaw
This Netflix Original for the man behind Nightcrawler had me super excited. Then I paused the movie after what felt like 45 minutes to see I has 15 minutes in. It is a slow and boring slog for most of the time. The concept is really cool, where an artist’s work is cursed and kills anyone that profits off of it. But when the trailer spoils all but one death, it made me lose any sense of attachment to the characters because I knew they were going to die. There were a couple of visually unique shots, that have stuck with me for at least 2 months, as of this writing, but past that this is a largely forgettable film.
14. Hellboy
I’ll be upset and pissed at myself if I see a movie worse than Hellboy this year. It had potential, and then just dumps it all away. David Harbour seems to do a good job with what he’s given. And there was another character I liked, but I don’t remember her name. I saw this just a week ago and I already remember less about it than I do of Velvet Buzzsaw. There are a few really cool action scenes, but not enough to keep you engaged through the story that just seems to keep happening no matter how many naps I took in the middle of the movie (note: I didn’t actually take a nap but I reaaaaaally wanted to).