2023 was a challenging year for many reasons, both personal and across the movie industry, but in the end it also gave us a number of quality films. Here’s a look back on the year that was and my countdown of the best movies of 2023.
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Top Ten Movies of 2023 Read More »
A far cry from the overindulgent train wreck of 2022’s Elvis, writer/director Sofia Coppola‘s latest film casts the spotlight not on Elvis Pressley (Jacob Elordi) but on Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) and how Elvis’ fascination with her changed her life in both positive and disturbing ways. Those who place Elvis on a pedestal may take issue with Coppola’s screenplay, as did Lisa Marie Pressley. However, the film is adapted from Priscilla’s own 1985 biography, notably toning down some of the more shocking moments of their lives together, and Priscilla served and as an executive producer to the film.
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On the Basis of Sex examines Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s (Felicity Jones) road from one of only a handful of women granted entry into Harvard to arguing a landmark decision in front of the US Court of Appeals, while fighting sexual discrimination in some form or another every step of the way.
Broken into two parts, the film examines the discrimination and struggles Ruth went through both in college and as a graduate unable to find any firm interested in hiring a female litigator. While there’s plenty about the woman’s life left untold, such as the span and scope of her career following these events, the film spends quite a bit of time on Ginsburg’s family life and personal struggles which dovetails into the larger themes of the script allowing for the plot to climax in Ginsbrug’s argument before the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in the first case of her career. Jones proves to be the movie’s greatest strength, handling a complex range of emotions over the course of the film leading to Ginsburg’s big moment and, as the film frames it, finding her purpose.
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On the Basis of Sex Read More »
Writer/director Adam McKay‘s Vice is a look into the life and political career of Dick Cheney (Christian Bale). There are plenty of amusing moments which are bolstered by terrific performances by both Christian Bale and Amy Adams.
However, McKay takes a relatively safe approach here and the film fails to sink its teeth deep enough into the subject matter to elicit more than a handful of great moments. While not exactly toothless, the film lacks the bite and satirical wit to truly have fun with Dick Cheney’s political career. It’s too… nice. And it’s not like McKay was lacking in material to pull from. Remember, Cheney once shot a man in the face and had the political power to make the victim apologize to him on national television.
By the end of the movie, McKay is able to put Cheney’s vice presidency into historical context while cherry-picking diverting sequences to showcase along the way. That said, it’s in the performances more so than the subject matter where Vice finds the most success. Along with Bale and Adams, Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell add some comic relief as Cheney’s mentor Donald Rumsfeld and President George W. Bush.
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I enjoyed 2013’s Pacific Rim as a throwaway action flick with sci-fi influences featuring robots fighting monsters, but aside from the possibility of having the robots fighting big-name threats like King Kong and Godzilla I wasn’t much interested in a sequel. Without director Guillermo del Toro, who is replaced here by Steven S. DeKnight, and returning stars only in supporting roles, Pacific Rim: Uprising has all the flaws of a bloated, over-complicated sequel trying to out-do the original. It also doesn’t help that the number of robot vs. robot scenes remind the viewer (painfully) of Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise.
Set a decade after the original film, the sequel centers around the never-before-mentioned son of Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) who is forced to re-enlist after trouble with the law. John Boyega works fine as Jake Pentecost, even if the script can never quite decide how disinterested or invested he should be in the Jaeger program. The sequel also plays fast and loose with the core concept of paired drifting being as much art as science by throwing pairs randomly together once the action gets fast and furious. Cailee Spaeny co-stars as a troubled but talented teen who also joins Jake in the program as part of a plea deal.
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Giant Robots vs. Giant Robots vs. Monsters on the Pacific RimRead More »
Giant Robots vs. Giant Robots vs. Monsters on the Pacific Rim Read More »
