Tale of Tales

Interwoven fantasy yarns featuring an astonishing amalgamation of cheesy dialog and emotionally impressive performances. Big-budget visuals are given an odd tone by slow editing and a monotonous but pretty score. Passionate project allows complexity to consume its own heart and the method of telling is telling but ultimately lacks any

Game Night

Fincheresque cinematography alludes to and elevates The Game while simultaneously sending it up and ripping it off. Plemons’ arresting performance perfectly complements his neighbors’ development while supporting cast play perfect pieces in this deliberately opaque puzzle. Constant callbacks craft a clever comedic model, nearly as perfect as the establishing shots.

The Nun

Conjures up all of franchise’s religious weight but nun of its trademark subtlety and suspense. Sister acts well but Demian’s Damian-hunter feels like even more of a caricature than Frenchie the Frenchman. Branches out from base series to hang itself on a fraid yarn and bury itself in shallow shocks.

Shazam!

DC’s E.T. manages marvel-ous mixture of comedy and heart to easily hurtle past decade’s low bar. Though inconsistent with Asher’s performance Levi’s caricature hero untangles problematic plot while diverse and talented supporting players band together to out-sparkle their third act avatars. Even ends alarmingly well because that’s the exclamation point!

First Reformed

Hawkes’ wings are clipped in Taxi Driver’s tight, tense second re-formation, which manages to achieve an impressive intensity through simplistic cinematography (carpet ride, aside) and terrifying timeliness. Startlingly human realism keeps plain-spoken message from becoming too heavy-handed, while organ-ic religious elements feel appropriately barbed without binding themselves to cheap mockery.

If Beale Street Could Talk...

…it would say an awful lot in very few words. Unfortunately, images are so poetically effective that they convey content too quickly and much of movie feels redundant, sustained only by beautiful score. Though narratively too concise, cleverly illustrates conundrum of conflicting prejudices against victimized women and falsely accused men.

Green Book

Despite cliched cover, Green is hardly just black and white. With wit, compelling comedy and impressive empathy, simple story traverses tricky territory, driving past race into territories of class, sexuality & self-defeatism. Deftly spins savior setup so both broken heroes require redemption and each ultimately achieve it without heavy-handed Help.

Polar

Mikkelsen gets Mad when stylistically inferior superiors force him from clean to clichéd and the Dominos start falling predictably. Anti-hero’s chilly warmth and clever third act twist of Le Chiffre serve as sole selling points while jaunty jumps from gratuitous gore to intensive introspection make it hard to Buy Polar.

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Solo

Set longer than long time ago, this space spectacle successfully stands alone. An appropriate amount of camp and coolness lend further fuel to a film that doles up the right ratio of references to revelations and, ‘trust’y tropes aside, manages to maintain tension despite obvious direction and less obvious directors.

Glass

Lacks both shine and clarity of origin’s origins. Fractured characters are grafted together but rather than lending each other narrative strength, they take turns bashing holes in panefully fragile premise. Shyamalan’s characters fuse while he cracks open his neglected tank of tired twists and dramatically drowns his franchise in frivolity.