Bad Times at the El Royale - 3/5

This movie is wonderfully acted conglomeration of characters, each of whom has a sordid past that is slowly revealed over the course of the film. But the draw is the vivid characters chewing the scenery more than anything, and while it starts off very strong the third act is one of the more boring climaxes the screenwriters could have chosen. Still, it’s fun watching the fireworks.

Content warning: brief background nudity

Closest comparison: It’s like if The Hateful Eight were directed by the Coen Brothers.

Setting: Mystery
Plot: Crime
Tone: Thriller

No Sudden Move - 4/5

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

Invincible (Amazon, 2021) - 3/5

This show takes the Spider-Man high school drama, combines it with a broader Avengers-style narrative, and wraps it all up in the gore that is much more realistic to the physics at work. The story isn’t as clever as it thinks it is, but it keeps the audience sufficiently curious and pays it off decently well in the end. It certainly lags in the middle and a few of the main side characters are insufferable, but they’re not a big enough part to ruin it completely. If you can stomach the extreme gore, it’s a fascinating watch.

Content warning: extreme violence, extreme blood, extreme gore

Closest comparison: It’s like Spider-Man by way of Kick-Ass with a Dexter (2006) plot woven in.

Setting: Marvel-Adjacent Super Heroes
Plot: Super Hero Origin
Tone: Brutal Action

Richard Jewell - 4/5

This movie is an intimate character portrait that masterfully juggles story, character, and pacing. It’s slow in places to get the audience into the headspace of the protagonists so that when everything starts happening at once we can follow what’s really going on. Of course Sam Rockwell and the legendary Kathy Bates are fantastic, but the true standout performance is Paul Walter Hauser who disappears into the starring role. The film is appropriately tense and somber but lets out the tension enough to keep from being too depressing. This is the way docudramas should be made.

Closest comparison: It’s like a cross between The Blind Side (2009) and The Fugitive (1993).

Setting: Family Drama
Plot: Biography
Tone: Tragedy

Tag - 3/5

It's mostly very funny, on occasion very irreverent, and every now and then a bit dull. Mileage may vary depending on how this combination hits you. The tag scenes are a blast, which is why the movie works as well as it does, and the filler is kind of entertaining, too. Knowing it is based on a true story is fun, though the real footage in the credits is somewhat underwhelming after just watching the high-gloss movie version.

Baby Driver - 5/5

First of all, this is not a comedy -- it's a thriller. There are laughs, sure (because it's Edgar Wright) but there are more white-knuckle sequences than there are comedy sequences. Secondly, I've been waiting for a movie like this ever since I saw the trailer for the movie 9. It's got great music as an integral part of each scene, choreographed beautifully in time with the on-screen motion. In parts the acting is a bit wooden, but it really doesn't detract from the film as a whole and I can't think of any other reason to drop this below a 5.