Still Pretty Good
This is where most of the films I see tend to fall, honestly. Nothing especially wrong with them, and most of them I highly enjoyed. But for whatever reason they didn’t really stick with me as much as other films did.
Breaking
This is a fairly straightforward heist-with-a-heart story, even if that definition seems horribly flippant, considering the real story (and this *is* a real story, based on an article written about a Marine Corps veteran who held up a bank after his disability check fell through a crack in the systemic failure in the Department of Veterans Affairs). This is a very effective suspense movie, and I was floored by how the audience I saw it with was silent and on the edge of their seats for the entire runtime. John Boyega is the star here and everything hinges on his controlled, emotional performance. But the MVP for me is the late Michael K. Williams, in the penultimate role of his career/life. His interactions with Boyega are the heart of the movie, and his frustration on this man’s behalf is palpable. In the end, everything goes about how you’d expect (in the worst way) and maybe that’s why it didn’t stick with me as much in the long run. It’s still a darn good movie and well worth seeing. (Available to rent on streaming services.)
Cha Cha Real Smooth
Straight white guys went nuts for this movie, and it *is* a fairly good example of hashtag-not-all-men. Our main character Andrew is extremely likable and doesn’t fall into the usual tropes of a young man who doesn’t know how to be a person. That might be the only problem I have with this movie – it feels a bit flat, and the character doesn’t really grow because he doesn't really need to. He’s pretty much the same person at the end of the movie that he is in the beginning, save being young and still having so much ahead of him (which is hardly a character flaw). Dakota Johnson is wonderful, as always, and she has a cool chemistry with star (and director) Cooper Raiff, without it being about whether they’re going to “get together” or not. The movie is perfectly fine and the epitome of what this category is all about. (Available to rent on AppleTV.)
Confess, Fletch
I haven’t read any of the Fletch novels, and I haven’t even seen the Chevy Chase FLETCH movies. So maybe I wasn’t the ideal audience for this. I know that people who are Fletch aficionados (or more so than myself, at any rate) were gaga for this, and I’m happy for them. Jon Hamm is very enjoyable here, in a role that’s not like what we most associate him with (i.e., Don Draper). He’s dry and funny and as likable as he needs to be (I rolled my eyes at his much younger love interest, but whatever). Marcia Gay Harden chews up every bit of scenery she can find and spews it back out all over the place, and it’s GREAT. This does make me curious about the novels, though, and I can only guess that I would have been way more into it if I’d been more familiar with the source material. (Available on Paramount+ and to rent or buy on other streaming services.)
Crush
This is very cute and I’m so glad that there’s starting to be so many more stories about gay characters, especially rom-coms, which straights have commandeered for far too long. I love how this takes the usual teen rom-com tropes and gives them a new spin (particularly the token straight couple). I do feel like the movie occasionally bends over backward a bit too far for its own good. Megan Mullally’s way-too-understanding mom is rather cringy (there’s supporting and understanding your gay kid and there’s being creepy, and this character leans way too close to creepy). It’s also a very strong argument against the insane notion that gay love stories are somehow more sexually explicit than straight love stories. There is a whole thing in this movie with a first kiss and a couple’s first kiss together being the first kiss period for one but not the other, and whether that’s a big deal and whether it should be. The movie does feel like it’s trying too hard at times, but it’s a worthy entry into the teen rom-com pantheon (and a welcome entry into the LGBT love story canon). (Available on Hulu.)
The Fallout
As sad and angry as I am to see “school shootings” become their own trope in teen movies (see also VOX from a few years ago), this is a thoughtful take on the aftermath of such an event. Jenna Ortega has had quite a year, between this movie and SCREAM and X and now WEDNESDAY, and she gives an incredible performance here. Her character Vada is in the school bathroom with a couple of other students when they hear the unmistakable signs of a shooting somewhere close to them in the building. She huddles in a stall with two other students, and the film really puts you in their shoes and makes you feel their fear, which is incredible but deeply upsetting. The three students become close in the aftermath of the shooting, but Vada at least starts to spiral while her best friend Nick responds in a very different way and becomes an activist. This is a lovely exploration of a specific kind of trauma, powered by some great performances from young actors, particularly Miss Ortega. (Available on HBOMax and to rent on other streaming services.)
The Good Nurse
I saw this mainly for the co-writing credit of Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who co-wrote one of my favorite movies of last year. This is fairly engaging, but also feels like a Lifetime movie – a high-end Lifetime movie, mind you, but Lifetime nonetheless. It’s based on the true crime story about a night nurse who begins to suspect her co-worker and friend might be a serial killer. Jessica Chastain is predictably great here, as is Eddie Redmayne. I love how complicated their relationship becomes once she realizes what he’s been doing (perhaps especially as he’s literally been keeping her alive so that she can get to the end of her probationary period at the hospital and can finally get health insurance, without which she can’t get much needed cardiac care). I also love the bureaucracy and how hard the hospitals are covering their asses. The fact that none of the hospitals were sued over Cullen’s actions feels shocking for a minute, then you realize what it would mean to go after a hospital and potentially shut it down. I did enjoy this story but my goodness I’m SO TIRED of these dang underlit movies! I get that an overnight shift at a hospital probably wouldn’t have all the lights on, but it shouldn’t be Battle of Winterfell dark! We know we’re watching a movie! We can accept that things have to be lit more than they would be in real life! (Available on Netflix.)
Hustle
This is a very solid sports drama and a good reminder that Adam Sandler is more than just his goofball comedic roles. He plays a pro basketball scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who finds an unexpected star player while scouting in Spain. The movie follows the scout, Stanley, and his discovery player, Bo, as Stanley brings Bo to America and goes through all of the various hoops (heh) trying to get Bo either signed to the 76ers or into the NBA draft. There are complications with Bo’s arrest record, and Bo has serious hang-ups and problems focusing when he becomes the target of trash-talk. But Stanley believes in him enough to put his own career and even his family’s livelihood on the line (which, honestly, is what he’s asking Bo to do as well). A solid feel-good sports movie that gives you a positive conclusion without it being a cookie-cutter happy ending. (Available on Netflix.)
Kimi
I really liked this, though it has a lot of familiar beats. It’s a tech horror and yet another entry in the “Alexa is evil” subgenre, but the setting and our main character (played by Zoe Kravitz, another actress having a great year) set this one somewhat apart. Kravitz plays Angela, an employee of the tech company that has produced a new smart speaker called KIMI. Somewhat controversially, KIMI makes use of human monitoring to improve its search algorithm. Angela’s job is to listen to KIMI recordings and make corrections to the software. She is also agoraphobic (a result of trauma from a sexual assault), which has been made worse by the COVID pandemic. She hears evidence of assault on one of the recordings and the bulk of the movie involves her trying to figure out what exactly happened and bring it to light, against a corporation that is invested in keeping it quiet. This is good, and Zoe Kravitz is great. (Available on HBOMax and to rent on other streaming services.)
The Lost City
The stars of this movie are Daniel Radcliffe and that purple sequined jumpsuit Sandra Bullock wears for most of it. What we have here is ROMANCING THE STONE for a more modern audience. I love the touches of how they visually present the writing of the novels, and there are loads of funny moments and a lot of entertaining adventure stuff. My biggest problem is that I don’t buy the romance at all. Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock are each separately very funny, but they don’t have a ton of chemistry to me (possibly due to the age difference?). In addition, they are outshone at just about every turn by the supporting players, namely Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe and Da’Vine Joy Randolph. They are the biggest reason to see the movie. This is plenty entertaining and well worth a watch, but it’s a story we’ve seen a lot of times before (and frequently better) and it’s not exactly reinventing the wheel. (Available on Paramount+ and to rent on other streaming services.)
The Outfit
I saw this pretty late in the year once it came to streaming, and it’s a cool little spy thriller that all takes place in one tiny location (one of my favorite tropes). Mark Rylance plays Leonard, a cutter (not a tailor, this is an important distinction) who trained on Savile Row in London but now (now being 1956) owns a shop in Chicago. One evening, after his assistant has left for the night, he finds himself mixed up in some gangster goings-on when he is forced at gunpoint to sew up a fellow’s gunshot wound before things start becoming increasingly complicated for him. I wasn’t wild about where this ended up, but it’s still a very effective one-room thriller, and it’s great watching the main character keep his head and outsmart these criminals who could very easily dispose of him. I think this was the first thing I’d seen Johnny Flynn in other than 2020’s EMMA and his character here is certainly cut from a different cloth (*rimshot*). Well worth watching for Mark Rylance and the competency porn of not just his keeping up with the gangsters but his loving devotion to his craft. (Available on Amazon Prime and to rent on other streaming services.)
The Roundup
I went to see this purely because it starred Ma Dong-seok (who played the hot heroic dad-to-be in TRAIN TO BUSAN). He makes a compelling action lead, but I found this film hard to follow. This is most likely a “me” problem but it took rereading the synopsis for me to even remember the basics of this movie’s plot. The movie starts with a cop being given a mission to repatriate a criminal who had fled to Vietnam. Once the criminal is found and seems strangely willing to turn himself in, the main character discovers a string of murders of Koreans and tourists that has been going on for years. There is some incredible action in this, and if you enjoyed Ma Dong-seok in TRAIN TO BUSAN, he’s an absolute beast in this. I should probably watch this again now that I have a better hold on the general plot. Perhaps I’ll get more out of it. (Available to rent on streaming services.)
See How They Run
There’s nothing exactly wrong with this but it does feel like a 90s or early 00s TV movie, which makes sense given the director has done a lot of television. It revolves around a murder at a theater in London doing a production of Agatha Christie’s play “The Mousetrap.” Our sleuths are a crusty-but-benign detective played by Sam Rockwell (with a British accent, which I’d never heard him use before) and a plucky girl detective constable played by Saoirse Ronan. There is a parade of quirky characters, at least half of whom I couldn’t really distinguish from one another. Many of them seemed like they were characters in a source novel that a screenwriter was reluctant to cut for the adaptation and left in for fanservice without being prepared to actually use them in the story. I was pleased to see Sian Clifford (FLEABAG’s Claire), for example, but she had very little to do and I could not tell you who her character was or what purpose she had in the story. Shirley Henderson is delightful in what is basically a cameo as Agatha Christie herself. But I was a tad boggled by the casting of Harris Dickinson (Carl from TRIANGLE OF SADNESS) as Richard Thee Attenborough – he plays the slightly self-absorbed actor thing well and I chuckled at his final line, but was there no one who physically looked even remotely like the actual Attenborough? “Dickie’s” appearance is fairly distinct. Surely someone with a pair of big sad eyes, if nothing else. The movie is fine and there are some funny moments and the tiniest moments of genuine suspense. But it lacks wit, and it’s just not as charming or clever as it’s trying to be. (Available on HBOMax and to rent on other streaming services.)
Sick
One of many Fantastic Fest offerings you’ll see throughout these lists, and a solid horror flick in a year chock full of great ones. With an original story by SCREAM scribe Kevin Williamson – his first time on a horror *movie* in over a decade – this is a pandemic horror story, taking place at the height of the lockdowns (April 2020). Our main character and her friend decide to quarantine at her family’s lake house. It’s supposed to be just the two of them, but this is a horror movie so that’s not how things play out. This is an above-average slasher with a bit of commentary on the times, and I like that it doesn’t really take sides the way it easily could have. I do wonder how this might play for someone whose life was upended by COVID (there’s a critic I follow whose father died of COVID and who is very vocal in his criticism of people who are flippant about the pandemic and masks and vaccines; I would really love to hear his thoughts in particular on how this movie deals with all of that). There’s not a ton of new ground being covered here – even as a pandemic horror movie – but it successfully plays the classic slasher-in-a-big-house tropes to great effect. (Available 1/13 on Peacock.)
Smile
This was the opening film of Fantastic Fest this year, and while I loved it and found it very effectively scary, it had the misfortune to come out in a year where there was an insane number of really, really good horror movies. It’s *really* good and is a rare horror movie that does good jump scares that feel earned. The star, Sosie Bacon (daughter of Kevin), is phenomenal as a woman who is completely falling apart. Kyle Gallner is a welcome presence as her hottie ex who’s trying to help her figure out what’s going on. Loved seeing Kal Penn as the caring boss who just wants the main character to take care of herself. I do think the strongest part of the movie, though, is the opening sequence with the unforgettable Caitlin Stasey, and the rest of the movie is never quite that good again. Don’t feel bad, SMILE – you’re in good company; I feel the exact same way about the OG SCREAM. Speaking of SCREAM, there’s a moment in this movie where the main character is talking to someone on the phone that forcibly reminded me of that first bone-chilling moment with Drew Barrymore (specifically, “I want to know who I’m looking at”) – just one of those moments where you can actually feel the blood freeze in your veins. (Available on Paramount+ and to rent on other streaming services.)
Violent Night
This is a fairly simple concept with a lot of familiar notes from other action movies (and Christmas movies). There’s a lot of DIE HARD, there’s a lot of HOME ALONE, maybe a little CHRISTMAS EVIL and a smidge of YOU’RE NEXT, among others. David Harbour plays a burned out Santa who’s just going through the motions until he finds himself in the middle of a heist plot with murderous robbers targeting an ultra-rich family. Said family is led by an unrecognizable (to me) Beverly D’Angelo, who plays the matriarch. The leader of the group of would-be thieves is played by John Leguizamo, and he’s a surprisingly effective villain who has no scruples about killing whoever he needs to to get what he wants. This movie doesn’t really care about the Santa lore and how it works – Santa repeatedly says he doesn’t really understand how it all works – but there are some fun details. The little girl’s “nice list” entry on Santa’s magic scroll is especially hilarious (one of her listed virtues is “invited weird kid to party,” which got the biggest laugh in my audience). This is a lot of fun, especially thanks to Harbour and Leguizamo, but it doesn’t add much to the holiday movie canon. It’s also hard to get invested in the safety of these rich assholes (though the little girl and her mom are alright). (Available to rent on streaming services.)
Year of the Shark
This was another Fantastic Fest film and it impressed programmer Annick Mahnert enough that she programmed a handful of other shark films around it. It’s very charming and its protagonist gets you on her side pretty quickly, even while you recognize the mistakes she is making. On the eve of her retirement, she has reason to suspect there is a shark in local waters, but is she really just postponing having to retire? The movie covers the ground of JAWS in the first half and then throws in some unexpected consequences and complications. Once the shark is caught, our heroine is determined to simply take it back to its home waters and set it free. Unfortunately, that becomes impossible and the woman’s compassion leads to more deaths by shark attack. This movie does the disgruntled townfolk bit really well, and in fact the shark aspect of the story is secondary to the character work, especially the relationship between the main character and her husband. It’s an enjoyable slice of French action-comedy and an actually meaningful successor to JAWS. (Not yet released.)
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