Archive (2020) Review

rating: ****

summary: In the near future, memory can be downloaded in an archive for loved ones.

review: Sometimes you just don't know what's worth discovering, since these days there's very little interest in collating these things beyond "everyone seems to like it" or "everyone seems to hate it," which also demolishes the old model of cult discoveries, since you never really know if the people who hate something or love something are themselves a cult , especially if it doesn't have obvious metrics like box office results behind it.  Archive might be the last interesting find I discover on Redbox (which seems to be in death throws after a seemingly-in-hindsight ill-advised sale to new owners a few years back, not necessarily just because its model still relies on physical media).  It's the kind of movie I probably would have had no idea even existed if it weren't for Redbox or, say, the credits of an actor or two I might browse absently (Theo James, from the Divergent movies, or Rhona Mitra).  The fact that it was released in the dead zone of the pandemic in 2020 would also help account for this, although in earlier years it might've been able to enjoy a little more publicity.

Director Gavin Rothery came up with the idea when he was in the production pool for Moon, one of the great it's-probably-at-least-a-cult-classic-but-it-really-doesn't-get-enough-attention movies of the past dozen years or so, and visually it's really not much of a surprise, another lone science type trying to unravel what increasingly seems like a conspiracy against him.  There's a considerable twist at the end about just what the circumstances really are, and robot companions who are responsible for filling out the atmosphere, but Archive depends much more than Moon did on the lead character's greater narrative than just the story playing out on the screen.  He's trying to download his dead wife into a robot capable of more or less helping her live again.  His third attempts seems like it'll work out, but all three are basically incapable of reconciling to new circumstances, so it's really how any of them are willing to cope with the results.

James is in a much more mature mode than the Divergent films; this is the first time, I think, I've seen him outside of them, so it's a good way to confirm he has some actual worth as an actor, although depressingly he doesn't seem to have become any casting director's favorite.  Toby Jones, one of film's great character faces this era, shows up, Mitra, Stacie Martin as the wife.  It's immediately apparent that Rothery is more than competent directing all this.  With Redbox you just never know.  Much of it is dreck with no discerning ability to know what good filmmaking looks like.  He has yet to tackle a follow-up, but I'd certainly be interested.

A great discovery.

2020 Capsule Reviews

Crazy Samurai Musashi

rating: *****

review: Wow! In recent years an increasing number of filmmakers have pursued the "single tracking shot" concept, from Birdman to 1917 to even One Shot, and as far as I'm concerned it's always on the face of it impressive on that level alone.  Musashi is much like One Shot insofar as it's a horribly obscure movie, but it's such a brilliant execution of the concept, one samurai facing off against an entire clan, just a constant stream of sword-fighting, but always staged with keeping the action interesting.  For me I fell instantly and hopelessly in love with the results.  I doubt this even received a theatrical release in the States.  As far as I can tell distribution was negligible, and I only even knew it existed when I saw the movie at Walmart (and since physical media is rapidly declining, the chances of finding something like this outside an equally lucky find at Dollar Tree have only further diminished), and reviews have been hopelessly dismissive.  So this won't even show up in streaming platforms, probably.  I don't care.  I discovered it.  It's now one of my favorite movies.

Waiting for the Barbarians

rating: *****

review: Hollywood, and the press, and critics, often collude in destroying careers, and there's not a reasonable argument against this.  Barbarians costars Johnny Depp, in the period where everyone still believed he was probably the bad guy in the Amber Heard situation.  Now, of course, there's far more wiggle room, but people don't really re-evaulate movies, especially ones that were instantly obscure.  But this is another work of genius.  No doubt in my mind.

True History of the Kelly Gang

rating: *****

review: For me, Russell Crowe was one of the big cinematic heroes of the early pandemic, between his small role here and one of the wide releases that dared open in 2020.  Another hopelessly obscure work of genius.  That's three.

Emma.

rating: *****

review: Anya Taylor-Joy in a joyously inventive revisioning of the classic.

WW84

rating: ****

review: Everyone went gaga over the first one, but I instantly preferred this one, which was a better overall showcase for Wonder Woman, and had a memorable villain or two besides.  The opening sequence alone is a classic, and I guess I'm a sucker for ones showcasing someone in a cathartic flying experience, since I loved that best about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, too.

Tenet

rating: ****

review: Christopher Nolan was cinema's big champion that year, and he was widely criticized for it, but for me all I cared about was that Tenet was as close to matching the action scope of The Dark Knight as he'd attempted to that point.  I also love how it audaciously tackles the idea of combatting terrorism, which is basically the whole point of the movie.  Plus a lot of visual gimmicks to satisfy viewers who still think Inception was his best movie.

Bill & Ted Face the Music

rating: ****

review: One of the pandemic miracles, or so it seemed then, was the appearance of this late third entry in the series, thereby further solidifying Keanu Reeves as a modern master of franchises, if somehow anyone still doubted it.  Probably bolsters the reputation of the whole series.

The Gentlemen

rating: ****

review: Critics kind of fell all over themselves trying to explain why Guy Ritchie no longer had it (they're still trying to make the fatuous argument here in 2023), but at least this played out before the pandemic hit.  For me, a great cast, and a standout supporting role for my favorite actor, Colin Farrell.

Capone

rating: ****

review: I can think of very few actors who without the benefit of some scandal have garnered such undeserved scorn from critics as Tom Hardy.  For anyone else this would've been hailed as a genius showcase.

The Way Back

rating: ****

review: Gavin O'Connor has been one of my favorite directors of the past decade.  Ben Affleck has surprised a lot of people by how much they liked him in the same period.  Here they work together for an affecting sports drama that's heavy on the drama and light on the sports. A great combination.

Sonic the Hedgehog

rating: ****

review: The hedgehog is entertaining, but for me it's a hugely welcome spotlight and return to form for Jim Carrey after years of exile.

News of the World

rating: ****

review: For years I was uninterested in the movies Tom Hanks was making.  For me this was a comeback of interest.  Kind of a later spiritual sequel for Road to Perdition, but one that allows him to have a little fun, too.

Downhill

rating: ****

review: Wow, so Will Ferrell, I don't know if you've noticed, isn't as popular as he once was.  Downhill came and went I think without the pandemic affecting no one noticing.  But it's a great dramatic film for Ferrell, from filmmakers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, both still somehow highly underrated.

Greenland 

rating: ****

review: Gerard Butler can sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) seem as if he chooses projects without regard to quality, but this was an exception, a standout survival drama that feels like a blockbuster in the style of Independence Day, but keeping things at a strictly human scale.

Ava

rating: ****

review: I keep mentioning in these capsules how critics are inexplicably undervaluing major talent, and Jessica Chastain is a favorite victim of this.  Here she's combining her penchant for human drama with the needs of action films.  Another supporting spotlight for Colin Farrell.  He had a banger year for those.  I never have gotten around to seeing the Disney+ exclusive Artermis Fowl, in which Farrell is literally plugged into the movie post-production to try and save it.

Let Him Go

rating: ****

review: One of the benefits of starring in a critic-proof, stubbornly hugely successful TV series like Yellowstone seems to be Kevin Costner gets to once again revive his movie career, and this was well worth his time in doing so.

Unhinged

rating: ****

review: A critical darling for a few years, Russell Crowe fell from grace years ago, and it's only freed him to make increasingly interesting choices.  Here he's an unabashed villain.  Whatever publicity he gets now shamelessly mocks his weight gain, in an era that's supposed to be tolerant of such things.  So you kinda know how hollow such campaigns really are.

The Night Clerk

rating: ****

review: For me much of the early pandemic meant as releases thinned out there was at least a greater chance of minor films getting noticed, and many of them evoked classic Hollywood, and while all the attention of course instead went to streaming services (critics ended up being slavish in their new devotion, so that if awards are given out, they go to streaming releases almost exclusively), films like Night Clerk gave good material to stars like Tye Sheridan.

Bloodshot

rating: ****

review: An attempt at jumpstarting a new cinematic superhero universe for most viewers, even before the pandemic, was instead a nonstarter, with Guy Pearce gamely trying to rub off whatever remaining Memento magic he had on Vin Diesel.  But Vin Diesel never really has fans outside of the Fast & Furious movies, alas, even if he makes decent action movies out of the concepts driving them.

Birds of Prey and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

rating: ****

review: After the belated popular failure of Suicide Squad (one of those unpopular box office successes), even if Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn was an instant icon, it really didn't matter what she appeared in next.  But for the life of me I don't understand ignoring an obvious spotlight like this, and object lesson in proving that no matter what's happening around her, she still shines.

Bad Boys for Life

rating: ****

review: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return for this belated sequel that revived interest in Smith's career, and wisely acted as if it was basically a Smith spotlight in the style of the bright '00s period of it.

The Burnt Orange Heresy

rating: ****

review: Like Night Clerk a bright throwback spotlight vehicle for a worthy aspirant, this time Elizabeth Debicki.

The Rhythm Section

rating: ***

review: Tagged with some of the worst reviews of the year (and before the pandemic!), this one stars Blake Lively and Jude Law, and it's a movie I'll need to revisit, since I remember liking it, but I have few specific memories of it.

The New Mutants

rating: ***

review: Holds the dubious distinction of being the last of the Fox productions of X-Men movies, with a troubled release date history that no doubt benefited from the pandemic for finally happening.  Not a bad movie by any means, but its existence in a vacuum is disappointing given how most of the other films in the franchise went out of their way to provide some tangible link to the rest of it, usually with a throwaway cameo or two.

The Last Full Measure

rating: ***

review: In a prior era this would've been a standard adult drama anyone would've known existed, but in this one it falls into instant obscurity.  Features the likes of Sebastian Stan, Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Peter Fonda...Worth assembling such talent.

Mulan

rating: ***

review: For me the original animated version was Mushu (as voiced by Eddie Murphy).  This live action version doesn't even have Mushu.  But I guess the greater point of the story still stands.

Archenemy

rating: ***

review: After The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Big Foot, I kind of wanted another cult-sized experience.  Joe Manganiello, as great as he is, turns out to not quite be Sam Elliott, but the results are still worth a look.

Irresistible 

rating: ***

review: It turns out Jon Stewart reuniting with Steve Carell wasn't quite the second coming of The Daily Show for critics.  But it's still a biting political satire well worth checking out.

The Hunt

rating: ***

review: A totally different political satire!  But worth watching, too!

Jungleland

rating: ***

review: Not quite Warrior.  But worth a look.

The Tax Collector 

rating: ***

review: David Ayer's career plummeted after Suicide Squad.  But that doesn't mean he's any less interesting a filmmaker. If you still like End of Watch, you'll like this, too.

Infidel

rating: ***

review: Jim Caviezel still gamely pursuing the audience of The Passion of the Christ.

Emperor

rating: ***

review: It's a testament to how shallow the movie era is when one of the most famous and infamous figures in American history, John Brown, shows up as a supporting character in this and the results are completely ignored.

The Vanished

rating: ***

review: There was a time when Jason Patric's unusual career choices interested critics.  That time is long past.  But this is another of those, and it's worth a look.

Fatman

rating: **

review: Mel Gibson has been pumping out b-movies.  They're not all terrible.  In fact he's made some brilliant choices!  But this Santa Claus thriller ain't necessarily one of 'em.

Legion

rating: **

review: Mickey Rourke was another critical darling tossed to the scrapheap whenever the mood struck them, and this is another lean period.  It was suggested his turn here was an embarrassment.  It isn't, and it's also the best reason to watch.

Robert the Bruce

rating: **

review: Another very belated sequel!  This one sees Angus Macfadyen reprise his most famous role, from Braveheart.  This one's less rousing.

The Empty Man

rating: *

review: Very, very unfortunately, James Badge Dale cashed in all his chips from his small-scale career revival for this mainstream horror movie.  If I ever try watching it again, it'll again and this time emphatically be for Dale alone.

The Warrant

rating: *

review: I remain a big fan of Neal McDonough, who I first saw in Star Trek: First Contact and later starred in the brilliant but short-lived TV series Boomtown.  This is a low budget western.  Alas.

Oscars 2021

The Oscars were this past Sunday. Somehow I don’t think I’ve even blogged about the Oscars here before, but I figured it was worth it for this strange past year. If you read this blog you know I had very different ideas about the best films of 2020, but it’s interesting that Hollywood felt conciliatory to the Americans it’s kind of spent four years despising by handing Nomadland Best Picture and Frances McDormand her third Best Actress for as many similar roles. 

I actually used to be quite devoted to the Oscars. In recent years they seem to have gone out of their way to honor niche films, which is all the funnier because for years the complaint has been that they have abandoned populism (even though, at least in the past twenty years at least, every time they have the popular choice ends up as an “it didn’t deserve it” argument, except inexplicably Return of the King, which was only a return to diminishing rewards for a trilogy that began brilliantly and then just muddled along). I suppose they had no choice but to honor a niche film from 2020, because that’s really all there was.

Personally, if a movie is released exclusively on a streaming platform, it shouldn’t be eligible for an Oscar. It’s a TV movie. TV movies are eligible for Emmys, not Oscars. Or Golden Globes, which cover both. I get that streaming has excellent prospects these days, but it’s temporary money, and hopefully everyone knows it. Even HBO can’t find projects like it used to. Clearly it’s just me, but I’m also tired of these services (not all of them) keeping these projects locked up, even rare things like the completed The Other Side of the Wind, which is just criminal. That’s also the opposite of the theater experience. Eventually we have options. When that’s no longer the case, it creates a warped effect that strangles art. Imagine if we weren’t allowed images of Banksy’s art. His work would be lost forever!

But, anyway, congrats to Nomadland and McDormand.  Maybe this is another step in bringing people back together. 

2020 Movies Viewed/Ranked

Viewed/Ranked

1. Crazy Samurai Musashi 
2. Waiting for the Barbarians 
3. True History of the Kelly Gang
4. Emma.
5. WW84
6. Tenet
7. Bill & Ted Face the Music
8. The Gentlemen 
9. Capone
10. The Way Back
11. Sonic the Hedgehog 
12. News of the World
13. Downhill
14. Greenland
15. Ava
16. Let Him Go
17. Unhinged
18. The Night Clerk
19. Bloodshot
20. Birds of Prey and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn 
21. Bad Boys for Life
22. The Burnt Orange Heresy 
23. The Rhythm Section 
24. The New Mutants
25. The Last Full Measure
26. Mulan
27. Archenemy 
28. Irresistible 
29. The Hunt
30. Jungleland
31. The Tax Collector
32. Infidel
33. Emperor 
34. The Vanished
35. Fatman
36. Legion
37. Robert the Bruce
38. The Empty Man
39. The Warrant 

Crazy Samurai Musashi (2020) Review

rating: *****

the story: One samurai versus four hundred.

review: Audacious, assured storytelling is my favorite kind. As such, it’s tough for me to experience something like Crazy Samurai Musashi (also known as Crazy Samurai: 400 vs 1) and not fall instantly in love with it, which is of course what happened.

The showcase of the movie is one take that stretches for nearly the whole feature, an hour-plus of continuous fighting for the eponymous figure, with a few grateful breaks. If you’re going to do something like that, you need to keep things interesting, and the assured directing of Yuji Shimomura does exactly that:

The action, framing, scenery, and score are constantly shuffled.

As the showdown continues, Musashi tires but never gives up. It’s what the movie needs to propel it to even greater heights, a believability that can sometimes be lost in such artful presentation. Long takes, whether real or implied, can sometimes be dismissed as gimmicks, especially if pushed to feature-length, as if that’s most of what’s being achieved. This is an experience that takes that into account, and pulls the audience into the drama.

The story seems simple enough, and barely there, but sometimes simplicity is exactly what is needed. Far too often filmmakers rely on the same decisions others have made, however executed. Crazy Samurai has had a complicated reception, I think, because it breaks so many rules, expectations viewers tend to use as crutches. Yet it remains vivid throughout, telling a complete story, even as it swerves away from the expected, dives into myth at the end. It’s a samurai John Wick at that point. This is not a bad thing! All you really need to know is that this one guy probably has more honor than all his hundreds of opponents combined, a point suggested but hardly belabored. 

And that may be the best thing to say about it. It’s a movie whose appeal seems obvious, too obvious. But ends up being more than earned, a new blueprint in a seemingly exhausted template. For a movie that took a long time to have an official release, it has become, officially, my favorite of 2020.

Emma. (2020) Review

rating: *****

the story: A young society lady is master of everything except her own heart.

review: Happily, Anya Taylor-Joy is experiencing one of those rare conflagrations. She’s someone I’ve grown to enjoy watching who also happens to be having a moment of critical popularity. Emma. is one of several recent projects she’s appeared in to help her reach that status, and I can say that I am utterly enchanted with it.

Of course, it’s based on the oft-adapted book by Jane Austen, though in the hands of first-time director and herself a remarkable discovery, Autumn de Wilde, it’s beyond fresh. It’s like elevating Austen to the realm of Shakespeare while simultaneously freeing the material in the most lively ways possible.

The story itself is as relevant as ever, full of piercing social insight, and in this presentation (a period drama in the vein of The Favourite) as likely to be enjoyed as appreciated.

The casting is impeccable. Taylor-Joy, of course, unleashed to her full potential, surrounded by equally inspired actors, including the perennial standout Bill Nighy as well as breakthrough performances from Callum Turner and Johnny Flynn. Turner particularly intrigues me here; in the Fantastic Beasts films he’s struck me as the least fantastic element, but he now strikes me as a revelation of physical presence alone, a Stan Laurel smile pressing itself against the starched collars out of the many lush costumes on display.

The score alone deserves recognition! I always love when a film is truly complete like that, in direction, staging, acting, and music. That’s how to reach the brass ring with me. 

It’s the kind of film you can happily share with those who think the classics are stuffy, or even if you don’t want to fuss over Emma.’s origins at all. It stands on its own. A classic crafted from a classic.

WW84 (2020) Review

rating: *****

the story: Wonder Woman learns and helps others see the danger of wish fulfillment.

review: Sometimes, I admit, if a movie receives overly glowing praise I start to look for reasons other than the movie itself. It goes the same for negative reviews, of course. Generally I will outline all the reasons I did, or didn’t, like a movie in my reviews for this very reason, total transparency. Wonder Woman was a movie that received glowing reviews, in large part, I always suspected, because it was what people thought the DCEU should be like. I hate message reviews. If you like a movie, like it for its own merits. So I kind of put off watching it for a while, and maybe as a result of all this I wasn’t overly wowed by it. 

Well, I was certainly wowed by WW84. Absolutely. This is the kind of confident achievement I expected from the first one, a bold statement that also works as a full spotlight for Wonder Woman herself. So yes, it works on at least two levels.

I suspect part of why people in general aren’t wowed by it is because it hinges itself on a message that seems to fly in the face of all current logic. It seems to say that getting what you want, and perhaps even deserve, might inherently be a bad thing. Most of the people casting wishes in the movie are asking for seemingly good things. Well, as the old saying used to go, careful what you wish for. Funny enough, the movie even references the equally old curse of the monkey’s paw, a magical solution that comes with a terrible price. Genie magic traditionally comes with the same catch, which Disney’s two versions of Aladdin are careful to explain, too.

Yet when Wonder Woman does it, it might actually seem like a bad thing. We’re in a strange era of empowerment at the moment. Somehow in order to be seen as worthy, everyone has to fit into some sort of stereotype. Wonder Woman is of course a woman, and as such empowerment should simply mean she’s a powerful woman. I mean, right?

Except this is a woman who embodies truth, not power. She literally spends the whole movie fighting bad guys while simultaneously going well out of her way to rescue bystanders. Her idea of heroics isn’t to collect all the laurels (I’m almost sad that from the point we next see her she’ll have acquiesced to being a public figure) but merely to do the right thing.

Her rival in the movie has a similar attitude until jealousy leads her to forget it. That’s telling, too. The villain is motivated to make a success of himself. Both of them quickly lose sight of what they stand to lose well before they hold any real power as they pursue that “better version” of themselves.

The opening scene itself is edifying. The young Wonder Woman is so caught up with the idea of winning a competition that she overlooks both the fact that she is by far younger than her opponents and that her shot at victory only happens because she takes a shortcut, even if the opportunity presented itself by accident and not design. We never really see how she overcomes impatience except that in the present she has spent some sixty years leading a lonely life of little outward acclaim and convinced she’ll never love again. And maybe it’s the idea of patience itself that’s the point.

Patty Jenkins is a miracle of visual splendor in a movie that in a lot of respects looks like something we’ve seen as far back as Superman: The Movie. Yet she never once settles for something less than extraordinary. The whole movie pulses with vigor, packed with deliberate, calculated intention.

Gal Gadot and Chris Pine have even better chemistry this second time around, Gadot that incredibly rare idea of a humble superhero, Pine the movie star who never shies away from taking a backseat. Kristen Wiig, who never quite became a movie star despite killing it in Bridesmaids, pulls off her expected (and superhero movie trope) goofy origin mode into an increasingly credible threat. Pedro Pascal, who has become a geek darling thanks to The Mandalorian, is the best ‘80s throwback with his bad hair and cheap but flashy suits. Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen of course remain perfect elder Amazons.

Even the name of the movie was well-calculated. “WW84” can of course be extrapolated as “Wonder Woman [in] 1984,” but also “World War 1984,” or even simply “World War 84,” by which the movie acknowledges Wonder Woman’s WWI origins, and the wars that happened, and nearly happened, in the time between. It seems somehow forgotten that in 1984 the Cold War was in fact still happening. I don’t think that’s Reagan being depicted as president, meanwhile, or doesn’t have to be viewed as such. The nuclear race was raging long enough that just a few years later the most famous single comic book story (Watchmen) hinged itself on the apocalyptic outcome everyone had dreaded since at least the ‘50s.

It’s the kind of experience that isn’t about superheroes being cool. It isn’t a movie set in the ‘80s that tells you so by steeping itself in ‘80s music. It’s a movie set in the ‘80s, drawing on that time period for certain elements but is otherwise a movie about what makes Wonder Woman unique, what makes her special, what makes her, at last, worthy of starring in big budget movies. 

And you wonder what took so long. This isn’t an entry in the DCEU, this is its own experience, fitting in with things we’ve already seen, but most concerned with showcasing a vibrant new take on an increasingly well-worn genre, in which we think we’ve seen it all. If WW84 is any indication, we certainly have not. The best may in fact be yet to come. And WW84 is now in the conversation for the best we’ve yet seen.

Waiting for the Barbarians (2020) Review

 rating: *****

the story: An allegorical tale about an imperial outpost and the magistrate trying to keep it moral.

review: Mark Rylance found himself a late-career critical favorite, but until Waiting for the Barbarians I hadn’t really found something to enjoy him in. In it he embodies a gentle morality that’s as magnetic as the forces he finds himself up against, namely villainous roles for Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson.

Depp is particularly interesting, as he tends to be. Lately a pariah in Hollywood, it probably made it all the easier to accept roles like this one, at once the visually flourished look he tends to go for but also the same edge he brought to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (which I imagine, as he was selecting projects, these two were chosen in quick succession of each other for that very reason, even though their contexts and thus impact are vastly different). And as interesting as he is, he knows he isn’t meant to be the star of this thing, and seems content to take that backseat.

He’s assisted, in both senses, by Pattinson, who shows up late into the movie as a kind of stand-in. Pattinson could not possibly do a better job of picking interesting projects. To see him show up for something like this is a further affirmation that he knows exactly what he’s doing with his career at this point.

But again, it’s Rylance at the core, Rylance for whom the audience is meant to, and easily so, care about, as he stands up to the unforgiving forces Depp and Pattinson represent, apparently losing everything in the process.

And in the process, Waiting becomes a sort of less heavy-handed Lawrence of Arabia, less a story about some interloping hero and more about a man just trying to do the right thing, and all the more effective when he seems to have failed miserably. That’s where Rylance is so easy to depend on, how effortlessly he embodies the role of martyr without being needlessly flashy about it, what makes the whole movie work so well, steeped heavily in an era that seems to have rejected a figure like Rylance, as presented here, could possibly hope to solve anyone’s problems, let alone his own.

I’d like to imagine in an earlier era Waiting for the Barbarians would have been hailed as an instant classic, gotten all the buzz and even the Oscars to prove it. I don’t mind championing it in lieu of such acclaim. Not at all.

True History of the Kelly Gang (2020) Review

rating: *****

the story: Mostly the sort of fictional history of Ned Kelly.

review: True History of the Kelly Gang is a bold piece of filmmaking. It doesn’t really matter if you think Ned Kelly was thug or hero, Australian rogue or patriot. This is the kind of movie that throws up all kinds of reasons why he ended up the way he did, but isn’t particularly concerned if you agree or even think it has conclusions to reach. It’s complicated. And that’s a good thing.

Obviously the big draw of 1917 was the illusion of a single cut, but George MacKay did a good job of helping keep things interesting. By the time he shows up as Ned, ripped to a lean core, he’s holding his own against a backdrop of better known talents including Charlie Hunnam and Nicholas Hoult. The star of the early movie is Russell Crowe, the nasty figure who spurs on a resentful young Ned, whose domineering mother and disgraced father set him on an uncertain path of immigrants reacting against a British establishment.

And the whole is a kaleidoscope of rough moments, poetic in their way, from the cheerful, profane tune Crowe sings about constables to the dresses the Kelly Gang dons just to throw off their opponents. This is no ordinary biopic. It isn’t as weird as you may have heard, either. But by the time Ned’s fate is discussed by ostentatious politicians you can see its grandeur well enough.

I’m not heavily versed in Kelly lore. I’ve seen the Heath Ledger version. That’s about as much as I knew before True History. Nothing’s sacred here. And that’s what makes it so interesting.

It’s the kind of filmmaking that can’t help but be memorable, in all the right ways.

Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) Review

rating: ****

the story: Bill & Ted, thirty years later, still trying to find the song that will change the world.

review: Here’s my reaction in a nutshell: Most excellent!

Bill & Ted Face the Music may end up the entry in the series that’s most easy to enjoy years down the road, the kind of experience the series has been chasing since the start, taking all the familiar elements and finally knowing exactly what to do with them.

The idea of time-traveling dimwitted wannabe rockers was a fine novelty, guaranteed to stand out, especially since when we first met them Bill & Ted were in high school, like so many other movie characters in the ‘80s. They gave off a similar vibe as Back to the Future, but less complicated, wackier, and as it turned out, Keanu Reeves had better movie star chops than Michael J. Fox. He went on, aside from everything else, to launch two additional franchises with The Matrix and John Wick. Which is virtually impossible. Usually the max is two. Even more usually, one. A lot of stars would be very happy just to have one, especially in the modern era, but many can’t even pull that off.

I don’t think Face the Music works off nostalgia alone. I think you could watch it with no prior knowledge of its two predecessors and it would still be satisfying. Even the callback gags aren’t difficult to parse, and there’s more than enough new gags built directly into the plot (Bill & Ted meeting future versions of themselves, couples therapy) that even if you don’t settle into the air guitars you’ll be fine.

Then there’s Kid Cudi being a time travel physics genius. There’s Dennis Caleb McCoy, who only gets better as the film progresses. There’s even the idea of Bill & Ted not even being the heroes, but knowing not to lean too heavily into that.

It works. It absolutely works. This is how you solidify a cult classic. By making a sequel that only further justifies that status. And pretty much replaces it.

2020 thru November

I keep doing these updates partly because I haven’t written actual reviews for all the new movies I’ve watched from the very strange 2020 movie year, but it’s worth keeping track of them before I settle on formal rankings (which I informally did in August, before watching a lot of what will be covered here). So here’s a summary of things I’ve so far caught:

Ava - Wonderful spotlight for Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell mixing action with drama.

Bad Boys For Life - Puts the spotlight firmly on Will Smith in this follow-up, Gemini Man without CGI shenanigans.

Birds of Prey And the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn - Just the right amount of spunk.

Bloodshot - Better than a would-be superhero franchise starter has any right to be.

The Burnt Orange Heresy - Old school throwback featuring Elizabeth Debicki.

Capone - Tom Hardy in another sensational showcase.

Downhill - Hilarious and uncomfortable midlife Will Ferrell.

Emperor - Slave drama that diverges into fresh territory by dramatizing John Brown and focusing on a little-known true story around him.

The Gentlemen - An early favorite featuring an all star cast.

The Last Full Measure - Another old school drama that would’ve gotten far more attention previously, with an all star cast of aging Hollywood stars.

Legion - Critics seem positively allergic to Mickey Rourke, but his few scenes in this one absolutely emphasize all the right thought-provoking elements.

The New Mutants - Last of the original X-Men movies.

The Night Clerk - Yet another old school Hollywood production that deserves greater and better attention.

The Rhythm Section - Blake Lively has turned into one of the most fascinating actors we have. This spy drama only further emphasizes that.

Robert the Bruce - An improbable late follow-up to Braveheart.

Sonic the Hedgehog- Jim Carrey returns to form.

Tenet - Christopher Nolan. Doing what he does.

True History of the Kelly Gang - The leading contender for runner-up in best film of the year.

Waiting for the Barbarians - My leading contender for best film of the year.

The Way Back - Another great sports drama.

And there will be more watched later, by the end of the year itself and the usual lingering assortment in the months and years to come...Already at this point I think 2020 speaks well for itself. As I’ve said before clearing out the kind of material that has come to dominate Hollywood at least in the past decade has helped make room for movies that have become easy to ignore, which of course is what’s still happening to them. But the void they inhabit now might make them easier to rediscover later. This might yet become known as a renaissance year.

Downhill (2020) Review

 rating: ****

the story: A marriage hits a rough patch on a ski vacation.

review: Based on the Swedish film Force Majeure, Downhill is the third film directed by the duo of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants, The Way, Way Back). I haven’t seen Force Majeure. I have no earthly clue why it would be remotely relevant to worry about this when talking about Downhill.

Downhill is exactly like Faxon and Rash’s prior films. It’s a movie about awkward family moments that are both heavy and presented in as light a fashion as possible. There’s unpleasantness, and it might be uncomfortable to watch at times, but this is a legitimate way to make a movie, and is perhaps all the better for it.

George Clooney was the hook in Descendants, coming off arguably the best period of his career (Michael Clayton, Up in the Air). You care about his widower problems because of his inherent charm. You can put up with Steve Carell’s nastiness in The Way, Way Back because you also have Sam Rockwell at his most charming.

And you can cope with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who in Downhill is having the hardest time with a near-catastrophic event, because as counterpoint you have Will Ferrell. Before knowing anything about Downhill I really had no interest in it. I love Will Ferrell, but sometimes it just seems like his films are a Rolodex of every possible context for the same basic elements. Sometimes they work really well, and sometimes they don’t. I thought Downhill was just Will Ferrell in a skiing movie. But it’s actually one of his increasingly rare dramatic roles, insofar as he’s ever overly dramatic in his dramatic movies (which has actually made him refreshing as a comedian who sometimes does drama).

The only problem here is that Louis-Dreyfus comes off as a shrew because Ferrell feels more sympathetic. But that only emphasizes how awkward the whole situation is. If it were a matter of picking sides it would be more difficult. In the original movie the onus is more of the husband’s side, how he apparently obviously abandoned his family in the emergency. But so much emphasis is already on Ferrell before the (quasi)avalanche, and even how the ski resort doesn’t take the event seriously (the best scene of the movie), that it makes it that much harder to side with Louis-Dreyfus as she increasingly freaks out about it. And while Ferrell is not at all averse to showing his comedic instincts, Louis-Dreyfus is, making her even harder to root for.

But as much as I find myself siding with Ferrell, Louis-Dreyfus ends up giving him a generous opportunity to redeem himself, and then at the very last minute (this is how I currently interpret it) there’s a second moment of potential disaster, and it’s Louis-Dreyfus who pulls away....And cut straight to credits!

Even viewed as a Will Ferrell movie alone, Downhill is rewarding enough, but Faxon and Rash once again prove they have a winning formula, however unlikely it seems to be. Miranda Otto shows up in an equally unlikely supporting role, thereby somewhat proving that this is exactly how the movie is supposed to be received.

The Burnt Orange Heresy (2020) Review

 rating: ****

the story: A con artist art critic stumbles on the opportunity of a lifetime.

review: Sometimes titles alone are a hook, which for me anyway if you’re going to call your movie The Burnt Orange Heresy it’s practically irresistible. The other big draw is Elizabeth Debicki, who has also been a standout in Widows and Tenet. Technically she isn’t the lead actor here. Danish actor Claes Bang is (he comes off like a bootleg Cary Grant, where the movie itself feels like authentic classic Hollywood), playing the con artist art critic.

Here’s another movie worth talking about based off how terrible its reviews have been. It’s astonishing how terrible these things can be, so utterly obviously dismissive, because critics know audiences aren’t really going to care one way or another (especially thanks to aggregate websites that arbitrarily grant grades to movies based on the results, which somehow only emphasize how poorly critics do their jobs).

Anyway, this is to say that you don’t have to worry what critics have said about it. Their opinions are worthless.

The results are interesting for the very reason that Claes Bang is himself so hard to care about. You don’t need to care about him. So much of popular entertainment in recent decades has been obsessed with trying to make bad people look compelling, it’s refreshing to let the lead character in one of them suavely unsympathetic, emphasized by the actor himself having the lowest profile of the main cast. You get to see him for what he is, a conman willing to do anything to get what he wants, in an environment that’s considered high brow, and as a result diminishing attacks on the results as part of its message. Mick Jagger is an easy target as the smarmy collector who both facilitates the results and condemns them, Donald Sutherland the reclusive artist who ends up kind of welcoming his doom. 

The only victim here is Debicki, or at least her character, who actually becomes a martyr in her effort to expose the conman, who believes until the clever twist ending that he got away with it. But he absolutely doesn’t. The art world celebrates him, but he doesn’t get away with it, murdering Debicki, Sutherland. History will eventually expose him. 

Anyway, it’s a movie that’s sultry in all the right ways, losing itself in the glamour of the con, the patent romance of filmmaking, of art, and using it against itself.

So yeah, it’s a modern version of classic Hollywood. With a great title.

Ava (2020) Review

 rating: ****

the story: A hitwoman is targeted for elimination by an associate who views her as a liability.

review: Here’s a movie I felt compelled to review based on the idiotic reviews I’ve so far seen for it. They seem fixated on its familiar plot. You can boil even the most innovative plot to something familiar. In this case the selling point is absolutely Jessica Chastain as the title character. Of course it is. To even begin to suggest anything else is to completely fail to comprehend the art of filmmaking.

But if you really want to boil it down, Ava could be called the Jessica Chastain John Wick. What made John Wick so much fun was how it helped viewers see Keanu Reeves as exciting again. Reeves has been pretty good at finding defining roles over the years. He’s got three recognizable franchises under his belt at this point. Ava was never going to be as popular as John Wick, for the same reason that Chastain doesn’t have the same kind of career as Reeves. It’s arguably tougher now than in Hollywood’s golden age for actresses. When it’s gotten tougher for actors in general to stand out in a blockbuster-saturated era (which has actually made 2020 refreshing, with so many blockbusters relocated away), women will especially struggle for attention. You have a few that critics can’t seem to get enough of, and then you have ones like Chastain and Cate Blanchett who more often than not are taken for granted.

Simply put, if this were an earlier era, it’d be a lot harder to say “blah, another Katherine Hepburn movie” (fully aware as I am that even Hepburn could be taken for granted, but the greater point here being Hepburn is a widely acknowledged cinematic treasure, and Chastain is not). The fact that Ava is a Chastain movie is absolutely itself a good enough reason to pay attention.

It’s like the John Wick version of her best movie(s) The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, if anything. As much attention is given to her professional problems (and prowess) as her domestic problems. This is a good year, if anything, for human women action stars, counting Blake Lively’s Rhythm Section. And while Lively is very human in all aspects, Chastain is given no room for doubt in her ability to survive a brutal fight, even if little space is even given how much her background hurts her, and the family she had to leave behind.

So the perceived limitations critics see in Ava are quite calculated. It’s a movie bold enough to let us know what we need to know but not dwell on it, and have flashy elements but not dwell on them.

The other reason I had to catch it was Colin Farrell, who costars as the guy who decides Chastain has become a liability. He shows flashes of real passion, something Farrell usually keeps below the surface. It’s one of his villainous roles, and yet another that also proves his utter lack of vanity, which is what has continually cost him mass appeal (early in his career, for instance, Farrell exhibited few qualms to looking less obviously heroic than his more famous costars, Tom Cruise in Minority Report and Bruce Willis in Hart’s War). It’s a great role at this point in his career.

Chastain’s ally against Farrell is John Malkovich, who gets to have an epic fight scene but also the kind of death that leaves you guessing until the end. Her mom is Geena Davis, and the one weak acting link is Common as her ex-lover. I don’t know why Common is so common.

If the problem is that it confounds expectations, then that’s a very good one for Ava to have. When people get around to appreciating Chastain, it ought to be remembered as the kind of thing only she could pull off.

A brief summary of some brilliant movies I’ve watched during the pandemic, including some 2020 highlights

 I haven’t been updating this blog as much as I should. I’ve seen some pretty great movies while sitting through the pandemic. Two were months ago, stuff I came across by sheer chance.

One was Bill (2015), which strictly speaking is not a theatrical feature (which is what this blog typically discusses), but a BBC production, a farcical, brilliant fictional account of Shakespeare’s formative development. Since I grew up adoring Monty Python, it’s always nice to see something that resembles the level of satirical insight of Holy Grail, which is exactly what Bill does, as The Death of Stalin did a few years later. Pythonesque is officially a film genre, I guess.

The other was Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011), a Japanese film (in case it weren’t obvious from the title) in which the ramifications of a feudal lord’s decision to force a supplicant to perform seppuku play out in unexpected ways. It’s a hugely affecting drama in all manners, that cuts well beyond the romance of samurai life we normally see (but still has an epic showdown).

Funny thing is, I also finally watched what will likely go down as the last Monty Python production, a little more recently, what has turned out to be the obscure Absolutely Anything (2015), directed by Terry Jones and featuring all surviving members in vocal performances, as squabbling aliens, as they decide what is to become of humanity based on... Simon Pegg’s ability to wield infinite power. Yes, Simon Pegg. You’d think we were screwed, right? But his dog, voiced by Robin Williams in one of his last roles (which is what made me interested in the movie in the first place, not Monty Python), has...other ideas. Williams is surprisingly committed to a specific scope for the role, so unlike...every other animated role he tackled he’s pretty subdued. And Kate Beckinsale is pretty in general, of course, and Pegg’s would-be girlfriend. The basic outline of the movie is similar to Bruce Almighty, but the results are ultimately very different. I think they’re well worth celebrating, at any measure.

I’ve finally watched The Wiz (1978), which is a bit ridiculous because I had been working on an Oz project earlier this year without having done so. Turns out Michael Jackson’s whole career pivoted around this thing, and watching him in it is a real treat.

For films to be considered 2020 releases, in a year that couldn’t possibly be more challenging, in every regard, if it tried, I’ve seen two that are now contenders for my favorite of the year.

The first is Waiting for the Barbarians (2020). Mark Rylance has sort of been a critical favorite, out of nowhere, in recent years. This is my first Rylance, and as far as this one’s concerned, he was absolutely worth the hype. Somewhat a pity he has such a worthy adversary in Johnny Depp, in another recent villainous role, as a government official auditing an imperial outpost and finding Rylance...entirely too sympathetic to the locals. Rylance’s deep convictions aren’t presented in a preachy fashion but a personal concern. He isn’t looking to convince anyone of anything, and yet he finds Depp’s attitude appalling. Robert Pattinson has a supporting role as Depp’s supercilious subordinate. It’s the kind of allegorical tale that’s both timely and timeless. Before I cracked the other film, I thought I’d found the best movie of the year.

The other one’s True History of the Kelly Gang (2020). This is the kind of movie that’s designed to be the exact opposite of everything you’d expect, so of course a lot of what I’ve read about it assumes it’s everything you’d expect it to be. It’s supposedly too violent, even though it doesn’t actually show most of the violence (or even young Ned Kelly saving another boy, perhaps the only time he’s unabashedly a hero). It’s a complicated study of gender, even though most of that is kind of incidental, merely a part of the intricate web of motivations that led to Ned’s infamy. George MacKay (1917, which I’ve also finally seen and absolutely loved) is Ned, and Charlie Hunnam, Nicholas Hoult, and especially Russell Crowe are the males in his life that only complicate it, to say nothing about his domineering mom. I had to keep trying to watch it to make it all the way through. But it was absolutely worth it. This is an unusual film that’s unusual in all the right ways, forcing you to consider Ned Kelly in a lot of different ways, if not sympathetically then certainly as a product of his experiences, which is also a hugely pertinent message for these times.

Watched lots of other movies, of course. I finally gave Jojo Rabbit (2019) the time of day, and, yeah, absolutely worth it. If I blogged here as much as I watched, it would be clearer how much I love movies. Yeah. It’s a great medium. In a different lifetime I would have loved to have pursued a career in it. Well, still time, I guess.

The New Mutants (2020) Review

 rating: ****

the story: Young mutants in a kind of rehab center.

review: The X-Men film series began in 2000 with a girl named Rogue who was trying to get over the traumatic way she discovered her mutant abilities. In a lot of ways, it ends on the very same note. That’s as appropriate as it gets.

The problem, if it can be said to be one, with that first film was that Rogue’s journey was completely stolen by other plot elements (and a breakthrough performance by the best-known X-Men actor; you know his name). By the time she makes her last appearance in the series (X-Men: Days of the Future Past), it was apparently possible to pretty much cut the part entirely but later release a different cut of the film with it, and actually market it that way. 

Anyway, New Mutants focuses squarely on the archetype Rogue established. Most of the cast is unknown, including the actress who plays lead character Dani Moonstar, Blu Hunt, who is unlikely to garner a bigger career from the role. Alice Braga is the authority figure running the center. Among the other young actors are Game of Thrones alum Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy, who turns out to be the highlight here, just as she’s been an emerging star in general (among other roles she starred in the Unbreakable sequels, Split and Glass).

It seems any time someone’s powers are a problem in these X-Men movies, it involves perception of reality. Several attempts were made to explore Jean Grey (including the nominal final X-Men, Dark Phoenix), and X2, originally received by fans as a standout superhero movie (since lapsed), as well as the Legion TV series. Dani’s of course part of that trend. No powers in the movie are especially unique, but they’re used effectively (as is a sock puppet, which is eventually...not a sock puppet), as extensions of character rather than the whole character (which can sometimes be a problem in superhero movies).

Bottom line here is that you don’t even need to be a fan of the series, or even superhero movies in general, to enjoy the results. You can follow the story as recovery and acceptance. As part of the series it’s a fitting final statement, and finally puts all distractions to the side and lets the audience dwell on the customary mutant (and Marvel in general) concept that powers usually cause equal amounts trauma as anything else. 

I’ve enjoyed the series all along, so it’s nice to enjoy the last one, too.

Tenet (2020) Review

 rating: ****

the story: In order to prevent the end of the world, a man must travel back in time.

the review: All of Christopher Nolan’s films are about cause and effect. Usually but not always it’s easy to tell which, um, comes first. Of course, he made his name with Memento, which plays out chronologically in reverse. Tenet is sort of like that, except this time it isn’t merely for storytelling effect but built into the plot.

So I’m a big fan of Nolan’s. His existence in a persistent blockbuster moviemaking state, the sheer scale of his ideas, has of course existed since The Dark Knight. The opening of Tenet is perhaps the first time he’s consciously sought the feel of that particular achievement, which for a fan of that particular film was a great way to kick things off.

From there we eventually reach the time travel element. It’s called “inverting” in the movie, but it’s time travel. The cleverness is in how it’s executed. Visually it looks like effects being played backward. It’s memorable in that regard to how Inception most obviously presented its conceit, with the cityscape folding in on itself.

The cleverness, however, is that “inverting” essentially means time travel in Tenet is “rewinding the tape.” It reminds me of Source Code, another high concept movie using a repeating time conceit that turns into a chance to actually prevent (not merely inhabit the circumstances, as is originally believed) a catastrophe from happening. 

Unusually, Nolan lets the concept sell itself more than rest on the star power of the actors (although he did this in his last movie, Dunkirk, too). Since Memento (which for the general public was in casting a mini-reunion of actors from The Matrix), Nolan has consistently gone for as well-known a cast as he could get. His star this time, however, is as close to an unknown as he’s gotten since his first movie, Following. John David Washington (son of Denzel Washington) has one prior lead role to his credit (BlacKkKlansman), in which, for me anyway, he sported a distractingly fake-looking afro. Chances are more people viewed that as a Spike Lee movie than a John David Washington one. As a known commodity, then his screen presence is minimal. That allows the audience to follow him along in the movie far more than linger on him alone (which is half the danger of the rabbit hole Leo DiCaprio leads us through in Inception).

Robert Pattinson, still popularly known for starring in the Twilight movies, costars. He’s been making a new name for himself in recent years by pursuing the kind of “interesting project, interesting role” career that Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp previously pursued as “pretty boy actors,” though they never really succeeded in avoiding the spotlight. But these are far different cinematic times. Now if you aren’t starring in obvious blockbuster material your career plays out in relative obscurity. Pattinson plays his part in Tenet with no desire to upstage anything, and in the process is perhaps inhabiting his first mature role (a knack for which Nolan should be well-known).

The rest of the cast is filled with highlights. Clémence Poésy (like Pattinson a veteran of Harry Potter, same entry and all! as well as In Bruges) and Michael Caine trade off early efforts to guide the audience along. Elizabeth Debicki, who was a standout in a cast of standouts in Widows, takes on the role that might have been the lead in a previous Nolan project, the woman whose life unravels and is the chief beneficiary from the opportunity to rewrite things. Her nefarious husband is played by Kenneth Branagh, perhaps the best strictly villainous figure Nolan has yet conjured, in yet another mid-careee standout performance. Himesh Patel, so appealing in Yesterday last year, has a fun supporting role (which itself is not normally a feature of Nolan movies), while Aaron Taylor-Johnson, so often robbed of his ability to be the movie star he deserves to be, is unrecognizable in a performance that seems to riff on Christian Bake (a familiar Nolan presence).

The whole affair is a trademark example of Nolan’s effortless ability to create sensational moviemaking magic. It plays out like James Bond (that’s how a lot of observers seem to be simplifying it) but is fueled by clever execution of yet another stylistic gimmick, which to my mind Nolan has so far failed to make anywhere close to a routine affair. Christopher Nolan is the opposite of routine. If nothing else Tenet is the latest example of this.

I hesitate to boost the results too far. It’s bravura but stops just short of wanting to be seen as much more than an exceptional action movie. If you can wrap your head around rewinding time travel, then you aren’t left with the ambiguity that made Inception so intoxicating. It really feels as if it’s Nolan saying he could do Dark Knight without Batman. Where that film examines the surveillance state that was then hotly debated, Tenet is essentially an argument for intelligence agencies, which most often end up viewed with suspicion and distrust. It’s a sensational depiction of such work being incredibly effective.

So it’s very interesting, sometimes in ways Nolan hasn’t really pursued before. In the years to come, depending on what he does next, Tenet might be viewed differently, as the movie that transformed Nolan’s already extraordinary career. We’ll see!

2020 thru August

 Here’s a list of 2020 movies I’ve seen thru August, my thoughts. And how I’d rank them:

1. The Gentlemen - The latest Guy Ritchie (I’m not overly versed in his work, so I don’t love this one, much less would’ve hated it, based on that alone), a great ensemble flick told interestingly.

2. Capone - The latest example of Tom Hardy’s brilliance.

3. The Way Back - The latest Gavin O’Connor, another great spotlight for Ben Affleck.

4. Sonic the Hedgehog - For me, Jim Carrey’s mainstream comeback.

5. Birds of Prey and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn - This definitely worked for me.

6. Bloodshot - An attempted Valiant comics universe starter, it’s a fun vehicle for Vin Diesel that actually works really well as a meta response to costar Guy Pearce’s best-known film, Memento. Totally unexpected. Totally works.

7. The Night Clerk - A great spotlight for Tye Sheridan and Ana De Armas.

Obviously I hope to see a lot more 2020 releases one way or another. But this has been a solid set so far.

Capone (2020)

 rating: ****

the story: Al Capone in his last year, riddled with dementia.

the review: Sometimes great acting is its own reward. Capone isn’t just about great acting but great storytelling, too, though.

Getting films released obviously got a lot harder when the pandemic hit. Capone started out as Fonzo but metamorphosed to get its release. Whatever hassles were involved, they were well worth it. Tom Hardy is the “great acting” in question, even if he’s absurdly hard for critics and mass audiences to love. He scored a box office hit with his last movie, Venom, despite a considerable amount of doubt, but for the most part he’s the rare instance where critics and audiences converged to scoff at the hype he’s amassed in the ten years since his breakout appearance in Inception.

And he’s playing Al Capone here, the second time he’s done a gangster movie (after the criminally underrated Legend, dismissed by the critics as “just another Kray Brothers rehash”...despite the fact that no one outside of England had ever heard of them).

Only, he’s not playing “Al Capone,” as in the dude at the height of his powers, but the guy after he’s been released from prison because it’s been determined...he’s no threat to anyone anymore.

(Ah, unless he imagines it.)

It’s not as if we’ve never seen deconstruction in film before. My personal favorite is The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, for instance. But to do it to a gangster, let alone a famous one, let alone a real one...We’re used to glorifying these guys, since at least The Godfather, since the nauseatingly acclaimed Goodfellas. We hear Capone fart. There’s nothing pretty here. This is a guy even the feds realize isn’t worth anything anymore.

The folks who still love him are his family, those who work for him. He’s got bills that need paying, things that need selling to pay them, a museum of a home that gets gutted to do so. The movie bookends itself at Thanksgiving and the granddaughter who in all innocence idolizes Capone.

Hardy’s Capone is practically catatonic. He’s an actor who can be compelling almost entirely by looking compelling, and director Josh Trank is brave enough to let him. Trank knows deconstruction. He did Chronicle, he did the Fantastic Four remake, which dared to sideline three of four major characters, for the most part. Nothing is sacred to him except the dramatic results. 

Surrounding Hardy are Linda Cardellini in the traditional long-suffering wife archetype, Kyle MacLachlan as the guy trying to keep Capone’s remaining wits together, and Matt Dillon as the guy who thinks it’s still possible to find his hidden treasures. They ground the movie in enough traditional expectations that it’s easier to accept it on Trank’s and Hardy’s terms.

For some reason we find it increasingly difficult to appreciate great acting. The less ambitious Daniel Day-Lewis got, the more he was loved. I don’t get it. Hardy remains as ambitious as they come, and he’s yet to dip into Johnny Depp levels of cartoonery. There’s always the sense that he believes in the integrity of his creations, even the bombastic Bane. He’s one of the few actors, or perhaps the only actor, who could sit in a car the whole movie, literally the whole movie, and be the only actor we see throughout it, and still be completely compelling (Locke). Hardy’s Capone is a great performance.

And on that level alone, this is a must-see. But the whole movie works.

2020: The Year Ahead

We've already seen the release of Bad Boys for Life this past weekend.  Here's some other notable upcoming 2020 movies (all release dates subject to change):

• Birds of Prey (2/7) The long-awaited return of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (2/14) For me it's Jim Carrey's big screen comeback.
• Bloodshot (2/21) Vin Diesel attempting to launch another superhero cinematic universe.
• The Way Back (3/6) New from director Gavin O'Connor starring Ben Affleck.
• My Spy (3/13) Another shot at solo stardom from Dave Bautista.
• A Quiet Place Part II (3/20) I've yet to see the first one.
• Mulan (3/27) Disney's biggest live action remake gamble.
• The New Mutants (4/3) The last Fox/first Disney X-Men movie.
• No Time to Die (4/10) Daniel Craig's final Bond.
• Black Widow (5/1) It was finally made.
• The Personal History of David Copperfield (5/8) Starring Dev Patel.
• Greyhound (5/8) Starring Tom Hanks.
• The Woman in the Window (5/15) New from director Joe Wright, starring Amy Adams.
• Fast & Furious 9 (5/22) Latest in the series.
• Wonder Woman 1984 (6/5) Sequel.
• Top Gun: Maverick (6/26) Sequel thirty years in the making.
• Minions: The Rise of Gru (7/3) They're back.
• Free Guy (7/3) Sort of the test pilot of Disney Deadpool.
• Ghostbusters: Afterlife (7/10) They're back!
• Tenet (7/17) Latest from director Christopher Nolan.
• Infinite (8/7) New from director Antoine Fuqua starring Mark Wahlberg.
• Bill & Ted Face the Music (8/21) Keanu Reeves is sort of a demigod.
• The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (8/28) Sequel.
• Unhinged (8/28) Starring Russell Crowe.
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 (9/25) New from Aaron Sorkin.
• Last Night in Soho (9/25) New from Edgar Wright.
• BIOS (10/2) Starring Tom Hanks.
• Death on the Nile (10/9) Kenneth Branagh's next Hercule Poirot.
• West Side Story (12/18) Spielberg's update.
• Dune (12/18) Denis Villeneuve's update.
• The Last Duel (12/25) New from director Ridley Scott starring Adam Driver, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck.
• News of the World (12/25) New from director Paul Greengrass starring...Tom Hanks.