This movie is a great back-and-forth thriller, full of backstabs and turnarounds to keep the audience guessing. It has excellent production value, as is at this point expected of Steven Soderbergh, and the acting and script do not disappoint.
Closest comparison: It’s like Jackie Brown mixed with Mad Men and Uncut Gems.
Setting: Gangster
Plot: Crime
Tone: Thriller
This movie has an infamously bad reputation, but it’s not entirely warranted. The premise is great and in a few choice parts the execution is as well. But there are just so many bafflingly terrible plot, character, and directoral decisions that it bring down the good parts, making them fewer and further between as the movie goes on.
Closest comparison: It’s like Army of the Dead (2021) by way of Justice League (2017).
Setting: Disaster Action
Plot: Super Hero
Tone: Action Comedy
This movie could have been so much better than it is. Taskmaster is completely wasted as a villain, never getting the choreography and cinematography to showcase the fighting skills that make the character unique. Florence Pugh is easily the best part of this movie, and while that’s great and I would gladly see a Marvel movie starring her as Yelena, it overshadows Scarlett Johansson’s erstwhile time in the sun, though this is also Scarlett’s weakest performance as Black Widow. The script also keeps trying to redeem characters without earning the turn-around, and it sours the overall story.
Closest comparison: It’s like Close (2019) by way of X-Men: The Last Stand.
Setting: Espionage
Plot: Super Hero
Tone: Action
This season of Stranger Things is a strange case of inconsistency. The direction, editing, and acting are all phenomenal, and the plot is better constructed and more memorable than season 2. The first six episodes are exciting and binge-worthy, but after that it starts going downhill fast. The show constantly portrays bullying and bickering as an integral part of natural, healthy relationships which is offensively tone-deaf, and it only gets worse in the last two episodes. Most of the intriguing build-up gets squashed by shoe-horned character moments and one blindingly out-of-place experiment in bathos whiplash (using comedy to cut dramatic tension) that grinds on painfully for the duration of an entire song. This season had the makings of something great, but the last two episodes drop it from an almost 5/5 to a mid-tier 3/5.
Closest comparison: It’s like a conglomeration of ‘80s pop horror movies with modern production values.
Setting: ‘80s Horror
Plot: Mystery Thriller
Tone: Pop Horror
This movie’s main draw is its visual aesthetic, which is so Metal that it looks like it was taken directly from an Iron Maiden album cover. It overemphasizes the goriness wherever it can, but if that’s your thing you’ll probably like this movie more than I did. There are lots of fun locations and characters, with a few sequences that were exceptionally well done. Unfortunately, there are too many plotting problems, with unclear character motivations and stakes. Unless you’re really into the visual style, just rewatch Guillermo Del Toro’s 2004 classic again instead.
Content warning: language, gore, dead children, brief female nudity
Closest comparison: It’s like someone read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and thought, “This needs more demons, intestines, and severed limbs.”
Setting: Hidden World
Plot: Adventure
Tone: Horror/Splatter
The Duffer Brothers did it again! Season 2 is really good in so many of the ways the first one was: cinematography, writing, acting. The pacing wasn't as good (one episode, though iconic, didn't have a lot to do with the rest of the season), but they managed to subvert my expectations over and over again which is always important. The main flaw comes in the form of what they did with a certain character's story arc, which was just not ok (at the lab). All in all there's lots to like and it is a surprisingly good follow-up to the first season.
