is a blog about design, technology and culture written by Khoi Vinh, and has been more or less continuously published since December 2000 in New York City. Khoi is currently Principal Designer at Adobe. Previously, Khoi was co-founder and CEO of Mixel (acquired in 2013), Design Director of The New York Times Online, and co-founder of the design studio Behavior, LLC. He is the author of “How They Got There: Interviews with Digital Designers About Their Careers”and “Ordering Disorder: Grid Principles for Web Design,” and was named one of Fast Company’s “fifty most influential designers in America.” Khoi lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn with his wife and three children.
There was probably no other film in 2022 that I was looking forward to as much as Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave.” I’m a huge fan of the director’s previous work; his 2006 revenge thriller “Oldboy” is one of the great, truly twisted cinematic mind-benders and a modern classic, of course. But I also thought his 2016 period romance “The Handmaiden,” in addition to also being very twisted in its own way, was a true five-star masterpiece.
“Decision” started rolling out in theaters back in the spring—but only in markets outside of the U.S. I happened to be in France when it debuted there in early July, but my French is not nearly good enough to follow a two-hour-plus Korean language film with French subtitles. So when the movie finally made it to the States in October, I bought tickets as soon as I could.
And it was…good. Really good, actually. Unfortunately, it’s just not as revelatory, as wildly unexpected as either “Oldboy” or “The Handmaiden.” Park has talked about making a concerted effort with “Decision” to rein in his usual predilection for blood and violence, and one can really feel an atypical sense of restraint throughout this lengthy, densely detailed homage to Hitchcock. In many ways it works; his two central characters are drawn to one another while also being incapable of fully opening up to one another, and Park’s almost fastidious sense of restraint makes their would-be romance feel appropriately muted, even suffocating. But there’s also a nagging feeling of incompleteness in Park’s self-discipline, and the narrative feels like it never quite ignites. Still, I did go back and watch the movie again a few weeks later and felt rewarded by the new details that came into sharper focus. I can imagine it growing on me with each additional viewing.
All in, I watched seventeen movies in October. Here they are.
“Elvis” (2022) ★★★ A terrific music video, but not much of a movie.
“Deep Cover” (1992) ★★★ An intense, ambitious policier with a commanding performance from Lawrence Fishburne, but the script is undercooked.
“Car Wash” (1976) ★★★ Breezy, loose-fitting hangout flick that pulls off a surprisingly meaningful ending.
This is the latest roundup of my monthly movie consumption. You can also see what I previously watched in September, in August, in July in June, in May, in April, in March, in February, in January, in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
Back in 2014 I was as excited as anyone by the energy, invention and polish of “John Wick,” directed by former stunt coordinators Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. It was an unexpectedly transformative action movie that went on to basically redefine, or at least reshape, how we think about the genre. Stahelski went on to direct, by himself, two “Wick” sequels, each sadly more tedious than the previous. Leitch largely repeated the same pattern: as a solo director he turned out “Atomic Blonde,” “Deadpool 2,” “Hobbs & Shaw” and, last summer, “Bullet Train,” which I saw in theaters back in September. All of them tested audiences’ tolerance for an unending procession of violent stunts, comic book gunplay, and poorly articulated revenge fantasies, and the overall trend has been one of diminishing returns.
To be fair, there’s some fun to be had with most of these (except maybe “Hobbs & Shaw”). In “Bullet Train” most of the pleasure comes from the game performances from Brad Pitt, Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Johnson. But by the end I felt past the point of saturation for this kind of highly polished, minimally thoughtful action fare. The elaborately staged fight choreography, which was a revelation nine(!) years ago, now seems pro forma, and the convoluted script, which focuses more on hipster posing than any real narrative velocity, feels perfunctory at best. What I’m hungry for is the next “John Wick,” a new, left-field action movie that will show us a different way of thinking about the action genre, ideally with an emphasis on thinking as much as on action—and one that will be as surprising and energizing as Stahelski and Leitch’s work once used to be. Things to hope for in 2023.
Here are all sixteen movies I watched in September.
“Bullet Train” (2022) ★★½ Admittedly rather fun for a while, but probably about twenty minutes too long.
“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” (2021) ★★½ Over-the-top bonkers Romanian morality play that’s really just a one-act show stretched out to feature length.
“On the Count of Three” (2021) ★★★ A tidy little indie film made with heart and smarts, but maybe not quite with enough ambition.
“Police Academy” (1984) ½ Vacillates wildly between slapstick farce, horny 80s comedy, bland actioner and limp morality play, with the only consistent throughline being its utter incompetence from start to finish—and its utter lack of laughs.
“Do Revenge” (2022) ★½ Another frustratingly self-aware yet clueless Netflix original that no one will remember in thirty minutes.
“Heat” (1995) ★★★★½ Rewatched. They’ll never make a heist film to top this one.
“Petite Maman” (2021) ★★★★ A wildly simple premise executed with so little fanfare, and yet it’s both mind blowing and heartbreaking in a wholly unique way.
“Blue Collar” (1978) ★★★★ Doesn’t even try to hide its plainly political agenda, but hangs onto its humanity throughout. Richard Pryor is amazing in a straight role.
“Bad Day at Black Rock” (1955) ★★★★ Rewatched. Understated, highly economical, searing noir that feels like it almost stumbles onto its own story. Superb.
This is the latest roundup of my monthly movie consumption. You can also see what I previously watched in August, in July in June, in May, in April, in March, in February, in January, in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
Happy new year. If you’re just tuning in, I’m catching up on my monthly movie roundups for 2022. This post covers August but you can also see what I previously watched in July, in June, in May, in April, in March, in February, and in January.
The start of a new year is a good time to talk about the nearly complete uselessness of many movies’ officially recorded release dates. Some of the best films often debut late in the year at film festivals or in very limited release in theaters so as to qualify for awards season early the following year. As a result, they are listed with a release year that’s out of sync with when the vast majority of audiences actually get to see them. So does that make them a part of the conversation for the current or the previous year?
I ask because I’ve been thinking about my best-of-the-year list for 2022, but also because back in August I saw a surprising number of movies with 2021 release dates, even though no one was really able to see them until 2022. This included “Ted K,” a fictionalized account of how the Unabomber lived; “Official Competition,” a Spanish satire about the making of an arthouse movie; “Paris: 13th District,” a romantic fairytale about life outside of the city’s tourist traps; and “Happening,” a raw look back at a time when abortion was illegal in France. Except for “Happening,” these weren’t all masterpieces, but they were all way, way better than the average movie. (To be clear, “Happening” is a stone cold masterpiece.) It’s just a shame that they get lost in the weird shuffle between best-of lists from the previous year and the following year. I guess that’s showbiz, though.
Here’s the full list for August.
“Last Night in Soho” (2021) ★½ A horror movie that’s barely even scary, made by a director more concerned with visual spectacle than fundamental storytelling.
“Oblivion” (2013) ★★★ Visually impressive post-apocalyptic action flick that manages to be surprisingly engaging, despite its many blatant rip-offs from other, better sci-fi movies.
“Spider-Man 2” (2004) ★★½ Rewatched. Much more heavy-handed than I remembered, full of useless moping and unconvincing histrionics.
“Die Hard” (1988) ★★★★ Rewatched. The script is the real winner here but somehow everything else—performances, music, editing, cinematography—is great too.
“To Be or Not to Be” (1942) ★★★★½ Rewatched. Lubitsch’s genius in full bloom; he sees the inherent silliness of theater and drags it out into the coldness of wartime.
“All the President's Men” (1976) ★★★★★ Rewatched. The mesmerizing beauty of grunt work in the service of something much, much bigger.
“To Be or Not to Be” (1983) ★★ Really hard to see why Mel Brooks would remake this without really having anything new to add.
“Bringing Out the Dead” (1999) ★★★★½ An incredible, harrowing journey through the underside of sanity.
“Dirty Harry” (1971) ★★ Shot with great style but little more than an abysmally stupid piece of copaganda.
“Emily the Criminal” (2022) ★★½ A “topical” thriller with some interesting ideas, but loaded with rather boring filler.
“Only the Brave” (2017) ★★ A souped-up, made-for-TV weepie aimed straight at the red states.
“The Outfit” (2022) ★★½ Amusing, small-scale mob drama that’s showier than it is convincing.
“Ted K” (2021) ★★★½ A little bit long, but compellingly imagined and staged. Deducted half a star due to the titles being typeset, ostentatiously, in Arial.
“The Badlanders” (1958) ★★★ A heist flick/Western mashup based on the same source material as the superior “The Asphalt Jungle,” but that manages to deliver its own kind of whallop.
“The Lost Weekend” (1945) ★★★★ An agreeably overwrought message film elevated by Billy Wilder’s unflinching honesty.
“Tenet” (2020) ★★★★ Rewatched. A rare thriller where it’s as enjoyable to not understand as to understand what’s happening on screen.
“The Sea Beast” (2022) ★★★ A pedantically woke script with few surprises, but for some reason they decided to direct the hell out of it.
“Official Competition” (2021) ★★★½ Little more than an excuse for the three leads to clown around, but their clowning is magnificent.
“Happening” (2021) ★★★★½ A bare knuckled, uncompromising story for our time, set sixty years ago.
“Miami Vice” (2006) ★★★★½ Rewatched. Hits a frequency that few other filmmakers have even heard.
“Paris: 13th District” (2021) ★★½ Buoyed for long stretches by its two ridiculously watchable leads, but never figures out where it’s going.
“Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) ★★★★★ Rewatched. Every viewing is like peering into an impossibility.
Don’t forget: you can also see what I watched in in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
Back in July, deep in the middle of my summer break, I went to see “After Yang,” the second feature film from YouTube video essayist-turned-film director Kogonada. This artful, incredibly subtle indie flick is a great reminder that technology in movies is rarely as convincing—or frightening—as when it’s boring. Like many science fiction films, this one asks what it is that makes us human in a near-future world where tech has subverted our idea of humanness. But it frames that question in much more quotidian terms than we’re used to seeing on the silver screen.
Instead of treating tech with the awe and reverence that other filmmakers employ, instead of conspicuously pointing at how mind-bendingly fantastic it is, Kogonada presents it off-handedly, almost as a matter of course. The story is nominally about an android companion, but not one that’s super humanly strong or wildly intelligent—rather one that’s literally broken down and in need of repair. The quest to restore him to working order gives us glimpses of unauthorized A.I. repair shops operated by conspiracy nuts; genetically engineered clones so commonplace that the neighbors have them; driverless cars doubling as miniature gardens; massively multiplayer, global dance competitions that whole families join after dinner; and much more.
The result is a supposition of not just of how technology might change the world around us, but of how we might be changed by technology—a more lucid and plausible understanding of the broad impact of tech than any film at least since “Her.” It’s also incredibly touching. All of the delicate, nuanced thoughtfulness that Kogonada brings to his vision of tech is applied in equal measure to the emotional toll those advancements take on his characters. All of the innovations are ostensibly there to make their lives easier, but the director has an uncanny understanding of how it exacts its own cost—not just financially, but also in terms of time, dependence, morality and humanity. His expression of the complex relationships that people form with technology is wonderfully singular, and this movie is very special as a result.
Here are all fifteen movies that I watched in July.
“Jurassic Park” (1993) ★★½ Diverting at times but also a bit of a slog.
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022) ★ Really feels like no one over at Marvel really gives a damn about anything other than buying themselves new vacation homes.
“Confidence” (2003) ★½ Rewatched. Completely undersells the thrill of the grift.
“Highlander” (1986) ★ Bombastic and undercooked. Makes sense only through the lens of a heavy metal afternoon spent in your parents’ basement.
“The Fourth Protocol” (1987) ★★★½ Rewatched. Serviceable, late-Cold War spy thriller featuring Michael Caine in a ridiculous 80s dad ski jacket.
This is the latest roundup of my monthly movie consumption. You can also see what I previously watched in June, in May, in April, in March, in February, in January, in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
Now is not the time to explain why I avoid documentaries as a rule, but I did make one exception back in June when a good friend had an extra ticket to see “Turn Every Page–The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb” in its worldwide debut at the Tribeca Film Festival. The reason I went is that I’m a sucker for anything having to do with the author Robert Caro, whose seminal biography of Robert Moses and ongoing, multi-part biography of Lyndon Johnson have made for some of the most thrilling reading I’ve ever done. Caro’s work is widely recognized among the most acclaimed non-fiction books of our era, winning two Pulitzers and three National Book Critics Circle Awards, in addition to being essential to Zoom backgrounds.
“Turn Every Page” was directed by Lizzie Gottlieb, daughter of Caro’s longstanding editor, Robert Gottlieb, a titan in his own right who has edited an astounding number of high profile titles of both fiction and non-fiction. (He’s also a published author himself.) As far as I’m aware, this film is the first time either man has ever gone on the record about their working relationship. Though founded on a high level of mutual respect, it turns out that their collaboration is also incredibly fraught, frequently contentious, and borderline adversarial. In fact, when the younger Gottlieb proposed the idea for the documentary to Caro, the author initially refused outright, and then only acquiesced with the stipulation that he should never be filmed in the same room as his editor. Fast friends, they are not.
Nevertheless, this is the professional relationship that has produced some of the most important books ever written about the way American democracy truly works. Capturing that weird dynamic alone makes “Turn Every Page” a gem. I can’t say that the film really transcends all of my reservations about documentary as a form, but I enjoyed every moment of it all the same. In fact, I’m sure that even audiences who aren’t familiar with these books or these men will still enjoy the rare look at how authors and editors work together, a too little discussed aspect of how the books we all read come to be published.
As it happens, the timing of this ridiculously delayed write-up of this movie turns out to be fortuitous. After making the rounds at film festivals throughout the second half of the year, “Turn Every Page” is today starting a theatrical release in New York and Los Angeles, and hopefully expanding to more screens soon. If you’re lucky enough to live near a theater that’s showing it, this has my heartiest recommendation as a truly great way to avoid seeing “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Here are the other fourteen movies I watched back in June.
“Edge of Tomorrow” (2014) ★★★★ Rewatched. The character building throughout is masterful.
“The Bad Guys” (2022) ★★★ Sharply styled, marginally above-average kids movie.
“Hustle” (2022) ★★ Spend a career making crap and you too can can get applauded for half-trying every once in a while.
“Five Graves to Cairo” (1943) ★★★ A weird little World War II movie where none of the accents are right, but it’s still just smart and cynical enough to be worth it.
“The Package” (1989) ★★½ Quite old fashioned, novelistic take on an action movie, but Gene Hackman is mesmerizing in every frame.
“Mr. Bean’s Holiday” (2007) ★★ Not much of a movie, but they tried to make it into something interesting.
“Lightyear” (2022) ★★★ Not the best, but certainly not the worst thing Disney has put out this year—so far.
“That Darn Cat!” (1965) ★★ Basically nonsense, but delightfully naive in its idiocy.
“No Way Out” (1987) ★★★★ Rewatched. Holds up as a crackerjack, Reagan-era neo-noir.
This is the latest roundup of my monthly movie consumption. You can also see what I previously watched in May, in April, in March, in February, in January, in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
Back in May, the only movie that mattered was Joseph Kosinski’s wildly retrograde, politically dim, conservative fantasia “Top Gun: Maverick,” in which defiantly ageless madman Tom Cruise revisits his absurd, jingoistic blockbuster from 1986. I hated the original, not just for its politics but also for the fact that it wasn’t much of a movie. Here’s what I wrote when I revisited it two years ago:
The hackneyed, tedious script is an impoverishment of ideas and of character development, enlivened only by Tom Cruise’s irrepressible mugging—not a performance, really, as much as a continual series of guest appearances in his own movie.
All the same, I enjoyed the heck out of the sequel. After seeing it on the largest IMAX screen in North America on its opening day, I dragged my kids with me to see it again the very next afternoon. The movie’s many, many absurdly macho conceits aside, it delivered everything that you want out of a summer blockbuster: a singularly theatrical experience that lets you turn your brain off without feeling like your intelligence is being insulted. I attribute this not to director Joseph Kosinski, whose otherwise consistently mediocre filmography practically proves that the real creative force behind this film is the uniquely productive collaboration between Cruise and writer/director/producer Christopher McQuarrie. Over the past decade-plus, the two have created a remarkable body of work within the contemporary Hollywood studio system, and I look forward to each new project with tremendous excitement. I haven’t been disappointed yet.
Here’s the full list of twenty movies I watched back in May.
“Happy Hour” (2015) ★★★ A very long, complex journey through the lives of four women friends. Starts very off strong but eventually can’t resolve itself.
“The Player” (1992) ★★★★ A zippy, entertaining compromise between a true Altman film and a great Hollywood script.
“Z” (1969) ★★★★½ A fantastic political thriller that feels borne from the heart of 1960s era social unrest, made with shocking confidence.
“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969) ★★½ Rewatched. They really were trying to do something different with James Bond in this movie; they just weren’t trying hard enough.
“The Cheat” (1931) ★★ This morality play sports an incredibly rudimentary script but features a fascinating performance from its lead, Tallulah Bankhead.
“Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers” (2022) ★½ Movies that are acutely aware of how clever they are have become a scourge.
“Django & Django: Sergio Corbucci Unchained” (2021) ★★★ Watching this documentary about the great Italian director of spaghetti westerns is like storytime at Uncle Quentin’s place.
“The Color of Money” (1986) ★★★★ I’d always heard that this is lesser Scorsese but it still rocks.
“The Adam Project” (2022) ★ Ryan Reynolds has become the face of the overbudgeted, undercooked Netflix era of film.
“The Man Who Never Was” (1956) ★★½ Rewatched. A much better (if still kind of unremarkable) recounting of the events behind “Operation Mincemeat.” I saw this as a kid and I’ve been fascinated with this story ever since.
“Top Gun: Maverick” (2022) ★★★★ A cinematic triumph of conservative ideas that even a lefty can dig.
“Top Gun: Maverick” (2022) ★★★★ Rewatched. I went back to see it again the very next day.
“The Parallax View” (1974) ★★★★ Rewatched. Still fascinatingly paranoid, but the real star is Gordon Willis’s gorgeous cinematography.
This is the latest roundup of my monthly movie consumption. You can also see what I previously watched in April, in March, in February, in January, in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
For a few months earlier this year, everyone everywhere all at once was talking about “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a break out sci-fi adventure film from the directing duo Daniels. I found a lot to admire in this movie but I just couldn’t get fully on board, despite my best efforts.
For Asian Americans in particular this movie is a big win. Not only does it rescue the film reputation of actor Ke Huy Quan, who played the infamous “Short Round” in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” but it also provides a triumphant, stateside victory lap for the iconic Michele Yeoh, all the while earning more than US$100 million at the box office, making it the highest grossing release ever for famed indie distributor A24.
I can’t argue that this film doesn’t deserve accolades, but after seeing it a second time within a few weeks of the Nicolas Cage-starrer “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” I was able to hone in on what irritated me so much about both: a hugely self-congratulatory streak that seems to stand in for genuine invention. As I wrote in my review of “Massive Talent”:
“These movies are all about echoing back to the audience the stuff we know already, and they’re measured in the frequency of chuckles and hoots of approval from the audience when we recognize something pulled out from our media memory trunks, when our past purchases are flashed in front of us and the value of those transactions are reasserted. They wink and nudge at us and say, “Hey, we’ve all seen this stuff before and here it is again but in a slightly different context. Isn’t that hilarious? And aren’t we all great for being in on this joke?”
By contrast, I was much more energized by Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” a triptych of much more straightforward—and much less bombastic—dramas focused on the romantic lives of young women in contemporary Japan. Hamaguchi hit the jackpot at awards season with “Drive My Car,” which I also watched in April; that film was also released in late 2021 but went on to much greater attention, even winning an Oscar for best foreign film. Nevertheless, “Wheel” is the better film for my money; each of its tales is delicately crafted to achieve a subtle, bittersweet kind of magic. What’s more, the third story, titled “Once Again,” a truly heartbreaking reminder that you can never go home again, is as virtually perfect as anything I’ve seen in recent memory.
Here are all fourteen films I saw in April.
“The Great Beauty” (2013) ★★★½
A somewhat preposterous protagonist makes for a movie that is shallower than it thinks. Still, Paolo Sorrentino’s incredibly vivid direction turns it into something exactly as rapturous as his aspirations.
“Drive My Car” (2021) ★★½
Is Haruki Murakami really that good of a storyteller, or are we all just deluding ourselves? This movie really made me wonder.
“The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil” (2019) ½★
This Korean gangster flick looked promising, but it was so dumb and boring that I…I…yawn…zzzzz.
“France” (2021) ★★★
Not fully successful but still quite compelling blurring of the line between the real and unreal for those who live in the media spotlight, starring Léa Seydoux.
“Rescued by Ruby” (2022) ★½
Ripped-from-the-headlines story of a hero dog that no grown up will ever enjoy.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022) ★★½
Rewatched. I went back because my wife wanted to see it, and I liked and understood it a little better, but it still fell short for me.
“Shiva Baby” (2020) ★★★
Scrappy little indie film with great performances compensates for a shaky script.
“Dune” (2021) ★★★★
Rewatched. For the fifth time. Guess what? This movie is still amazing.
This is the latest roundup of my monthly movie consumption. You can also see what I previously watched in March, in February, in January, in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
As I’m writing these long-delayed roundups of my monthly movie consumption from earlier this year, I’m finding that the movies I want to talk about most are the smaller scale productions that went little noticed at the time. That’s not out of a disdain for Hollywood blockbusters—well, not entirely. I admit, I am a movie snob, but I’m also a guy who went to see Matt Reeves’s “The Batman” twice and really liked it, after all. Nevertheless, there are so many unsung triumphs out there, and I really enjoy trying to point more folks in their direction.
One film I saw in March that’s actually kind of a treat to discover sight unseen is “Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes,” a seventy-minute Japanese indie directed by Junta Yamaguchi. It debuted in Japan in 2020, made the rounds at film festivals for a year or so, and only made it to American audiences earlier in 2022. This is an utterly charming, family-friendly and incredibly winning flick with a script that’s tight as a drum and performances and dialog that work like a beautiful, high-end watch movement.
I’m being intentionally vague regarding what it’s about or even what genre it is because, if you’re not already familiar with it, then great! It’s a movie that really, really ought to be watched with as little prior knowledge as possible, which is exactly the way I watched it. I knew nothing about its cast, crew or plot beforehand, and that made it all the more richly satisfying. I’ve since recommended it to friends, lots of them, with the advice: “Don’t read anything about it beforehand. Don’t Google it. Don’t look it up on IMDB. Don’t even read the movie description if you can avoid it. Just watch it.” None of them have been disappointed, and I bet you won’t be either. As of this writing, it’s streaming on Prime Video, so what have you got to lose?
Here are all fourteen of the movies I saw in March.
“A League of Their Own” (1992) ★★★½
Rewatched. Formulaic but fun, with a full slate of irrepressibly genial performances.
“Steamboat Bill, Jr.” (1928) ★★★★½
Buster Keaton’s masterwork of invention, completely undiminished, even ninety-four years later.
“The Batman” (2022) ★★★★
Takes itself way too seriously but does what we can only wish more super-hero movies would attempt: do away with the fan service and tell a story with a real point of view.
“Morocco” (1930) ★★★
When you’ve got two smoldering hot leads like Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper, having a plot is almost unnecesssary.
“Joker” (2019) ★★★★
Rewatched. Didn’t expect to be as impressed with this—or enjoy it as much—the second time around.
“Irma Vep” (1996) ★★★★
Fleetfooted and nimble and hilarious in ways that so many indie movies, including this same director’s, just aren’t.
“Sherlock, Jr.” (1924) ★★★★
Went back for more Buster Keaton and just bowled over by this genius deconstruction of the fourth wall.
“Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes” (2020) ★★★★
Totally delightful, mind-bending sci-fi comedy from Japan. Highly recommended—but don’t read anything about it beforehand!
“Seven Chances” (1925) ★★★½
Early Buster Keaton; takes a while to get in gear, but it’s worth it.
“Red Desert” (1964) ★★★½
Rewatched. Antonioni’s uncompromising vision is conceptually rewarding but also exhausting.
This is the latest roundup of my monthly movie consumption. You can also see what I previously watched in February, in January, in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
Continuing my catch-up of the past year of movie posts, here’s my roundup of the twenty-seven movies I watched in February.
Mid-winter is the worst time for movies in general, and this slate reflects that. On the one hand, I was still watching holdovers from the previous year’s prestige season, though what remained on my list was not exactly the cream of the crop: “Old Henry,” a mediocre revisionist Western; and “Nightmare Alley” Guillermo Del Toro’s unremarkable remake of the classic carny noir. Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” doesn’t necessarily fall into this bucket, but I found this to be little more than a decent romantic tragedy that’s frankly undermined by its clickbait title.
This was also the time of year when film studios empty their coffers of unpromising dreck, most of which I was smart enough to skip. As a whodunnit fan though, I nevertheless felt compelled to watch “Death on the Nile,” in which director Kenneth Branagh continues his overwrought abuse of Agatha Christie’s catalog and star Gal Gadot continues her unbroken streak of never appearing in a genuinely good movie. February is bleak times.
Still, there are some gems to be found in the rough. One of them was director Philip Barantini’s “Boiling Point,” a deep dive into the inner workings of a London restaurant on one of its worst nights, shot in a single, continuous take. I’ve been a bit of a sucker for one-shot films ever since seeing Hitchcock’s “Rope” as a kid. The ingenuity required to stage the action and camera movements, plus the storytelling nimbleness required to maintain a cohesive narrative in “real time” fascinates me. I enjoyed “Boiling Point” so much that I immediately went back and watched the original 2019 short film on which it was based, also directed by Barantini and starring several of the same players, including the superb Stephen Graham. The feature length version is definitely recommended, and if you enjoy it, I think you’ll find the short film worthwhile too.
Here’s the full list.
“Light Sleeper” (1992) ★★★★ An absurd premise but executed so well; Paul Schrader creates a somnambulent version of Manhattan that Willem Dafoe glides through like a wounded ghost.
“Boiling Point” (2021) ★★★½ Scrappy indie film about a restaurant staff basically on fire. Not perfect but very worthwhile.
“Boiling Point” (2019) ★★★ The original short film that formed the basis of the 2021 feature-length version. Also very worthwhile.
“Old Henry” (2021) ★½ The terrific Tim Blake Nelson in a western, but fighting against a mediocre plot and casting.
“To Live and Die in L.A.” (1985) ★½ Rewatched. Aside from a car chase clearly meant to one-up “The French Connection,” the rest of this is satire-level macho posturing.
“Nightmare Alley” (2021) ★★★ Both better and worse than the 1947 original, but not a movie that really sticks with you.
“Radio On” (1979) ★★★ A gorgeous, dissonant tone poem in the form of a road movie.
“My Cousin Vinny” (1992) ★½ I can’t believe this sitcom plot of a movie made any kind of cultural impression at all, much less garnered an Oscar for Marisa Tomei.
“Paper Moon” (1973) ★★★★½ Rewatched. A grand slam of a movie, with a walk-off home run ending that’s spot on perfect. The Coen Brothers learned so much from this.
“What’s Up, Doc?” (1972) ★★★½ A remarkable recreation of the wit and spirit of screwball comedy, but still a recreation. Streisand is fabulous though.
“5 Fingers” (1952) ★★★★ A corker of a spy tale but in the old fashioned sense, so don’t expect explosions and golden girls. Instead what you get is a comedy of manners, rendered with extreme elegance by James Mason in the lead role.
“All About Eve” (1950) ★★★★½ Every bit as good as everyone says it is.
“A Letter to Three Wives” (1949) ★★½ Post-war melodrama sports three terrific leads and digs into some interesting territory for a while, but never really breaks through.
“Kimi” (2022) ★★★½ Capable, small scale noir unexpectedly set in the world of smart speakers defies expectations and manages to be terrific.
“The Worst Person in the World” (2021) ★★★ I would’ve enjoyed this exact same movie more if it didn’t have that clickbait title.
“Gaslight” (1944) ★★★★ I’m amazed that the 21st century reached way back in time to this terrific but fairly obscure noir and turned its title into a culturally incisive colloquialism.
“Lifeboat” (1944) ★★★★ Hitchcock’s specialty: a sparse, limited set; richly drawn characters; and a taut, morally ambiguous conflict. Genius.
“The Hit” (1984) ★★★★ An existential odyssey disguised as a gangster flick.
“Speed Racer” (2008) ★★★★ Rewatched. This might be the best f all of the Wachowski’s films, even that one with the sunglasses and trench coats.
“Rushmore” (1998) ★★★★ Rewatched. Holds up, and shows how Anderson’s early characters were sometimes more internally coherent than they are today.
“The Thief of Bagdad” (1940) ★★ Dunderheaded plot logic, but interesting to see how special effects were pulled off in the dark ages.
“The Addams Family” (1991) ★★★ Rewatched. Raul Julia and Angelica Huston were perfect.
“Phantom Boy” (2015) ★★½ Gorgeously animated, as expected, but not much of a progression from “A Cat in Paris.”
“A Whisker Away” (2020) ★★★ The story, a teenager’s fairy tale in every aspect, is delicately executed, but the main reason to watch this is for the long string of exquisitely, lovingly rendered backgrounds.
“Air Bud” (1997) ★½ There’s not a moment here where naturalism of any kind creeps in, even for a second.
“Napoleon Dynamite” (2004) ★★★ Rewatched. Charming if only mildly impressive.
“Death on the Nile” (2022) ★★ Reasonably entertaining if intermittently bombastic and unconvincingly woke take on a classic drawing room (on a boat) whodunit.
This is the latest roundup of my monthly movie consumption. You can also see what I previously watched in January, in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
Following my much-delayed recap of the movies I watched in 2021, here’s a roundup of January of this year. February will follow in a day or two, then March, etc., until I’m all caught up.
Looking back, I watched almost a full third of my year-end top ten list in January: “A Hero” (now somewhat notorious) “Bergman Island” (wonderful but esoteric) and “Titane” (only for the brave). I was of course still catching up on all of the prestige releases from late 2021, which also meant I sat through some real stinkers: Ridley Scott’s completely air-headed “The Last Duel” and Jane Campion’s excruciatingly shallow “The Power of the Dog.” Don’t let anyone try to convince you that these are good, ’cause they ain’t.
A word though on Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Bergman Island,” which seems to have slipped by unnoticed by many. I went in with somewhat dire expectations; the title alone suggested slavish imitation but this ode to the great director Ingmar Bergman somehow pays tribute while remaining fully distinctive. It’s also got a wonderfully intricate, story-within-a-story construction that dovetails at the climax with such grace and lyricism that it beautifully recolors its preceding hundred minutes; a nifty trick. I wasn’t familiar with Hansen-Løve before this, but based on what I saw in this film, I’m desperate to see the follow-up she released this year, “One Fine Morning.”
Here’s all seventeen of the movies I saw in January.
“The Power of the Dog” (2021) ★★½ Exquisitely made prestige drama without a lot of substance.
“Yesterday” (2019) ★★★ Rewatched. Leaves a lot unexamined in its “Only one guy remembers The Beatles” plot, but it has a real soul.
“Polytechnique” (2009) ★★★★ Powerful, hypnotic meditation on a mass shooting.
“Bergman Island” (2021) ★★★★ I expected this to be flimsy fan fiction, but it manages to be both faithful to Bergman’s legacy and uniquely its own expression as well.
“Titane” (2021) ★★★★ This movie has everything in it and I couldn’t stop watching it, even if its images are so excruciating that I also couldn’t wait for it to be over.
“Raging Fire” (2021) ★½ Thick-headed, sad echo of what was once great about Hong Kong action flicks.
“Encanto” (2021) ★★ Wake me when people finally get over Lin-Manuel Miranda, please.
“Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop” (2011) ★★★½ Rewatched. Inspired look inside the mind of one of our comic greats.
“A Cat in Paris” (2010) ★★★★ A kids movie that’s also a revelatory reminder of the power of hand-drawn animation.
“Howl’s Moving Castle” (2004) ★★ I’m sorry, Ghibli fans, I was so bored watching this.
“The Tragedy of Macbeth” (2021) ★★★ Appropriately wry take from Joel Coen that results in a lot to admire, relatively little to truly love.
“Nightmare Alley” (1947) ★★★ The original version is a bit hokey, but still full of wonderfully raw desperation.
“A Hero” (2021) ★★★★ Absolutely gut-wrenching portrayal of what it’s like to be a nobody in a world of bureaucrats.
“Shadow of a Doubt” (1943) ★★★★ Rewatched. Hitchcock crystallizes the ideal of “Small Town USA,” then slashes it to pieces.
“The Last Duel” (2021) ★ Colossally stupid morality tale directed by an overrated production designer who has somehow masqueraded as an auteur for more than three decades.
“The Prisoner of Zenda” (1937) ★★★★ A fairy tale of benevolent monarchies that’s also a marvel of old school Hollywood storytelling.
This is the latest roundup of my monthly movie consumption. You can also see what I previously watched in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Also, you can always keep up with what I’m watching by following me on Letterboxd—where I’m also writing tons of capsule reviews.
