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Beau Is Afraid 2023
Synecdoche, New York by way of Jackass and Tim & Eric, the year's most theoretically audacious film is actually just an overblown spectacle of gleeful stupidity. It's a monotonous riff on a single thematic idea, which is disappointing considering Aster’s track record of mining weighty thematic ideas for horror and comedy alike. All that said, it’s consistently entertaining, and occasionally hilarious, for its three-hour runtime, and I got enough out of it on a surface level that the lack of substance didn’t bother me much.
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Scream VI 2023
Lazy, formulaic slasher horror with some of the cringiest dialogue I've seen since, well, Scream (2022). The self-aware mythologizing is so tired at this point, and there's genuinely not even a new angle to this one. If you're itching for a horror movie to drone on and on about franchises, IP, and se-requels—since we aren't inundated with this bullshit enough already—look no further! Absolutely brainless garbage, and made worse by Ortega's committed performance which is so good, it further highlights how lifeless everything else is around her.
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College 1927
Keaton’s least consistent effort, featuring at least one sequence that ranks among the best in his career (soda jerk) and at least one which…does not (blackface waiter). The comedic highs elevate it, but between the cringey racist sequence and the somewhat repetitive second half, it’s not one I’m eager to return to.
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BlackBerry 2023
From the little I've seen of the recent wave of Corporate Dramas, this is definitely the strongest, though it falls prey to some typical biopic issues. Johnson takes a less polished approach to the filmmaking, the cinéma vérité-esque cinematography lending authenticity to the drama which helps ground the somewhat cartoonish performances. The third act unfortunately lost me entirely, though, not only falling into convention, but rushing through character and plot developments which are barely, if at all, set up. Had…
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Us 2019
Starts off strong, effectively building tension through striking cinematography and sharp editing/pacing, but once the table has been properly set, it's a gradual nosedive to the perplexing finale. The acting is undeniably committed and the child actors are pitch-perfect, but the exaggerated, go-for-broke lead performances teeter into overkill and would have been more effective if reined in a bit. Also, the frequent attempts at humor, though sometimes successful, completely undercut the unnerving tone. It felt like Peele wasn't confident in…
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The Dead Don't Die 2019
Jarmusch's work occasionally falls flat for me but with The Dead Don’t Die, he goes beyond anti-comedy and anti-horror, essentially creating an anti-film so lazy and uninspired—the cop car's number is “001”—it’s as if complete apathy is his entire approach. Some may be charmed by the lack of style, substance, character development, purpose, and, well, anything to really latch onto, but to me, Jarmusch's refusal to commit to anything is maddening. The social commentary is so thin, it almost feels…
