Movie Reviews

Spider-Man: No Way Home

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  • Title: Spider-Man: No Way Home
  • IMDb: link

Because there’s so little plot in Spider-Man: No Way Home it’s hard to discuss the film without revealing its many secrets. What writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers tee-up for fans is a loose structure that allows for the film to throw everything but the kitchen sink, with an almost overwhelming amount fan service (admittedly pretty good fan service), into a single film. While it doesn’t measure up to the film that obviously inspired it, Spider-Man: No Way Home turns out to be a pretty fun ride. 

Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is fucked, and his friends (Zendaya and Jacob Batalon) are paying for his mistakes. In classic Spider-Man fashion, Peter’s attempts to rectify that situation caused by Mysterio revealing his identity to the world only make it worse. After finding a wizard and loophole to set things right, Peter’s interruption of  Doctor Strange‘s (Benedict Cumberbatch) spell to prevent anyone in the world from remembering he is Spider-Man backfires opening up cracks to the Multiverse allowing anyone who knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man from any other reality to bleed through. Let the chaos begin.

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Silent Night

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  • Title: Silent Night (2021)
  • IMDb: link

At the end of the world, we come together and celebrate with those we love. That’s the basic idea behind the dark comedy Silent Night which sees old friends reunite for Christmas as the whole world is slowly being enveloped in a deadly gas cloud. Governments have given up and have provided suicide pills for their citizens, to avoid the more painful death brought on by the gas (which, if the children are to believed, may either be caused by environmental factors or the Russians).

The hosts for the Christmas party are Nell (Keira Knightley) and Simon (Matthew Goode) along with their twin boys (Hardy Griffin Davis and Gilby Griffin Davis) and younger son Art (Roman Griffin Davis) who is one of the few guests not so keen on mixing suicide and yuletide cheer. The other guest who is anti-pill is the younger wife (Lily-Rose Depp) of another member of the group (Sope Dirisu) who has recently discovered she is pregnant.

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Agnes

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  • Title: Agnes
  • IMDb: link

Agnes is an odd film. Actually, it’s two odd films strung together loosely by a single thread, neither of which leaves the audience with any kind of resolution (although one could argue that’s the point of the second storyline). In some ways it’s the most frustrating film of 2021 as so much is wasted on a bi-polar tale that at times seems as lost as the nuns themselves.

The first-half of the film is a delightful exorcism plot of a priest (Ben Hall) who is facing damning charges of inappropriate behavior with children, but also with experience in the act of exorcism, but who doesn’t really believe in the rights or demons, and a neophyte (Jake Horowitz) who has not yet taken his vows, sent to a nunnery where Sister Agnes (Hayley McFarland) has shown signs of possession. We also get a defrocked priest (Chris Browning) turned sleazy celebrity for his work in the field, added to the mix when our overwhelmed priest turns to him for help.

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West Side Story

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  • Title: West Side Story (2021)
  • IMDb: link

It’s been 60 years since Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise gave us their award-winning adaptation of Robbins’ stage musical West Side Story. That’s a long time to wait for a remake. Enter Steven Spielberg to create a new version which may last for the next 60 years in a throwback musical that should delight both old and new fans.

Choosing to keep to the play’s original timeline, the opening feels a bit dated, but that is quickly excused for the vibrant spectacle Spielberg offers complete with large-scale song and dance numbers. The director also gives us a talented cast that avoids the whitewashing of Maria from 60s film by casting Rachel Zegler in the role who, along with Ariana DeBose as Anita, are the movie’s real stand-outs. The only casting I question is Ansel Elgort in the role of Tony who looks like a lumbering catalog model completely out of place compared to the rougher characters making up the competing gangs of the Sharks and the Jets.

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Being the Ricardos

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  • Title: Being the Ricardos
  • IMDb: link

Being the Ricardos is aptly named as even though a large portion of the movie takes place on the set of I Love Lucy the film is really about the relationship between real-life husband and wife Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem) and Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman). While neither of the actors much resemble who they are playing, and Kidman’s look for the movie more closely resembles bad BOTOX than Lucille Ball at times, there’s an interesting story here which is helped by the witty dialogue and pace of writer/director Aaron Sorkin‘s script.

The best aspect of the film is it showcasing how Lucille Ball fought for everything (and against everyone) to try and make the best show possible, which is the only place her marriage really worked. As if the show and her husband’s womanizing weren’t taxing enough. Ball also faces charges of being a Communist during the height of McCarthyism that threaten both her career and the future of the show.

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