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 »
Evil in film is often overt, larger than life. A clown torturing children. A giant monster trampling cities. A high-priced killer or alien leaving a trail of bodies in its wake. Real evil, however, is more insidious. Killing with a smile, insidiously operating with no compunction or fear of reprisal. Adapted by Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth from the book of the same name, Killers of the Flower Moon centers around the Osage Indian murders in the early 20th Century.
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As the documentary’s title suggests, Once Were Brothers: Robby Robertson and The Band focuses on Canadian-American rock group primarily through the lens of guitarist and songwriter Robby Robertson. Filled with terrific music, interviews, and some fun archival footage, the film by director Daniel Roher may not offer much in the way of surprises but does deliver a solid music documentary on how the group came to be.
From their time as a backup band to rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins and later Bob Dylan to The Band’s mainstream success, we get the story behind the band’s inventive nature embracing a wide variety of influences to create their own sound which continues to influence musicians to this day. The film also covers the more common themes of drugs and the fallout of the group. Included here are interviews from Martin Scorsese (who shot the group’s 1978 concert film The Last Waltz), Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, Van Morrison, and others.
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Family was a strong theme in many of my favorite films of 2019. My list includes some famous directors, one super-hero, secrets, mystery and deception, strong ensembles, the search for the truth, and the horrors of war and divorce. Tying for an honorable mention (I couldn’t decide on which to include as #10 on the list) are the equally good, yet very different, Dolemite is My Name and Motherless Brooklyn. Without further ado, it is time to count down the nine best movies of 2019.
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Director Martin Scorsese assembles several familiar faces in examining the life of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (Robert De Niro). While the structure of the film is a tad odd, flashbacks within flashbacks, the story (adapted from Charles Brandt’s book) slowly peels the onion of Sheeran’s life and his close connection to both Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino).
Despite it’s 209-minute running time, there’s little I would cut from Steven Zaillian‘s screenplay, although an argument could be made for trimming the outer layer of the film focused on Sheeran’s elderly years. However, even that plays into the film’s larger narrative about what kind a man the Irishman was and the toll of living the life he did took both on himself and his family.
While there some minor issues (such as De Niro not exactly moving like a young man in the earliest flashbacks), the story Scorsese weaves is a fascinating one that includes some pleasant surprises along the way (such as casting Pesci against type as the level-headed negotiator of the group).
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