By Mark Fields
Worth Trying
Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is powerful but deeply disturbing — and a must see.
Christopher Nolan’s searing biopic about the creator of the American nuclear bomb is intentionally dense with historic detail and philosophical conflict. Nolan toggles the viewer between the early days of the bomb’s development with Oppenheimer’s team of brilliant scientists and later governmental investigations into the process and the man. The film features many great supporting performances, but the film belongs to the intense lead, Cillian Murphy. Murphy embodies the conflicted nature of the film’s subject: brilliant, arrogant, driven, anguished. A further shout out also to Robert Downey Jr. in an effective though restrained portrayal of Lewis Strauss. The film is hypnotic, powerful, and deeply, deeply disturbing.
American Fiction
American Fiction
Jeffrey Wright is the emotional core of Cord Jefferson’s artful satire of the publishing industry and contemporary white liberal guilt. Wright plays “Monk” Ellison, a failing novelist of serious work, who finds unanticipated success when he writes, as a joke, an intentionally bad novel about stereotypical (read thug) black culture. The book’s sensation requires Monk to perpetuate the lie in increasingly comical circumstances. All this nonsense is balanced against touching scenes of Monk’s family life. The sum is a thoughtful and very funny critique of modern racial dynamics.
Poor Things
Poor Things
Director Yorgos Lanthimos’ bizarre reimagining of the Frankenstein story centers on Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) who has been inexplicably brought back from the dead and who must start re-learning all of life’s lessons anew. As she develops and flourishes, Bella leaves the safety of her creator/father’s home and boldly strikes out on a journey of discovery, both of the world and herself. Lanthimos (who also directed the Oscar-winning The Favourite) sets Bella’s story against a stunning and rococo backdrop of a steam-punk Europe. Great supporting work by Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo. Unlike the original Shelley story where the creature is a victim of his maker and also society, this film celebrates Bella’s power and agency.
Asteroid City
Asteroid City
Wes Anderson’s highly stylized films are an acquired taste with minimal-affect acting, colorful yet static and artificial backgrounds, and inexplicable plot shifts. His latest is the most Andersonesque of all his films. Ostensibly a TV documentary about a stage production based on a play about an imagined convention in the desert Southwest (yeah, stay with me), Asteroid City is offbeat, funny, and strangely endearing.
Landscape with Invisible Hand
Landscape with Invisible Hand
This clever sci-fi film — focused on an alien occupation of Earth — sadly never broke through to mainstream attention, which is too bad. The narrative imagines a truly unique extra-terrestrial lifeform (non-humanoid with a distinct way of communicating). But the heart of the film are the teenagers trying to save their families and the future … through art. Special treat: a surprisingly subdued performance by Tiffany Haddish.
Dream Scenario
A frustrated academic, Paul, played against type by Nicholas Cage, discovers that he is passively showing up in many peoples’ dreams. This unexplained situation brings him some of the attention he has long craved, but when his appearances turn more sinister, his professional and personal life begins to collapse. Dream Scenario has a lot to say about many things — academic torpor, hunger for attention seeking, and mercurial viral fame. Its meta awareness, playing on Cage’s own gonzo place in modern celebrity, helps open the opportunity for one of the actor’s best performances.
All of Us Strangers
Stirring performances by Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal enrich this touching, melancholy tale of loneliness in modern-day London. Technical writer Adam (Scott) copes with his routine and isolated life by visiting his childhood home where he encounters his parents, curiously no older now than when he was a boy. Adam’s fledging relationship with a mysterious neighbor provides a grounding to balance his disorientating experiences with his family, or does it? A strange and evocative movie.
The Pigeon Diary
Documentarian Errol Morris — who has developed an unusual but absorbing narrative style for his non-fiction films — explores the intersection between John LeCarre’s spy novels and his strange English upbringing. Tightly focused on probing interviews with the author (born David Cornwell), the film is both insightful and lyrically moody.
Anselm
Wim Wenders, the German filmmaker, has crafted many evocative movies over the years, perhaps most notably Wings of Desire. He brings his formidable storytelling skills to this documentary about the life and art of Anselm Keifer. Unusually for a documentary, Wenders uses 3D technology to showcase Keifer’s art, which works strikingly well especially for Keifer’s sculpture. Very light on spoken words, Wenders captures the artist’s aesthetic by letting it speak for itself.
One Fine Morning (Un Beau Matin)
A very simple, understated film about a young French woman striving to balance the many conflicting expectations in her life: mothering an 8-year-old daughter, caring for an ailing father, finding temporary romance with a married man. Her story achieves deeper resonance due to the subtle but captivating performance of Léa Seydoux.
Worth Repeating
The Blackening
This sly send-up of horror films with an all-black cast is chock full of knowing but throw-away jokes, so many that you need to go back and watch again to catch them all.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse
The second film of three in the animated Miles Morales Spider-man story is a visual feast with shifting color palettes and telling background images that deepen the story with a second viewing. Plus, the action sequences are enthralling.
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1
The latest in Tom Cruise’s master spy series is one thrilling action scene after another. The fact that the core story is borderline ridiculous takes nothing away from the fun of the near-constant adrenaline rush.
Worth Waiting For (still on my to-see list)
Eileen
Two women working in a prison develop a connection that takes a dark turn in this psychological thriller starring Thomasin Mackenzie and Anne Hathaway.
The Boy and the Heron
The latest animated feature from Studio Ghibli caps the career of master filmmaker Hayao Miyasaki.
The Color Purple
Fantasia Barrino and Taraji P. Henson star in a musical version of Alice Walker’s powerful story of resilience and sisterhood.
May December
Natalie Portman plays an actress getting to know the woman (Julianne Moore) that she intends to portray in her next film. Things soon get intimate … and weird.
Menus- Plaisirs Les Troisgros
Renowned documentarian Frederick Wiseman embeds himself in an equally renowned Michelin-star French restaurant.
Worth Arguing About (new category)
Killers of the Harvest Moon
Despite featuring the star power of Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, Killers of the Harvest Moon was a missed opportunity for Martin Scorsese.
This historical epic directed by Martin Scorsese appears on a lot of critics’ year’s best lists, and it has many qualities to admire: the taut directing, the compelling history that inspires it, and stellar performances, most notably Lily Gladstone. But, in this critic’s opinion, strip away the unusual setting, and the film is just another familiar study of irrational greed and mindless violence. A missed opportunity by Scorsese to truly explore new territory.
Barbie
The summer was abuzz about this film, and it set box office records. Director Greta Gerwig takes the iconic doll and expands her world and perspective. But months later, can you remember very many specifics? Or do you think about it from time to time? No, neither do I.
Worth Avoiding
Beau is Afraid
An anxiety-ridden man has a dark (and bizarre) journey of the soul, while the audience struggles to care.
Strays
Just what the world needs, another movie with talking dogs, particularly these crude and unfunny mutts voiced by Jamie Foxx and Will Ferrell.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
If this had been the first film in the series, it would have been mildly entertaining. The third time around, it’s just boring and belittling.
Worth Mentioning
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt; Strange Way of Life; Past Lives; Showing Up; Fancy Dance
