The Batman (2022) - 4/5

This movie is yet another reinvention of Batman, this time both more grounded and more gritty than Nolan’s trilogy. It chooses style over convention many times, which could have made the chase scenes hard to follow, for example, but the direction masterfully guides the audience to keep up with the action. Pattinson is good as Bruce Wayne but really shines as Batman, and the script focuses on the intimidatingly silent detective more than the super-human super-rich super-hero. The Riddler’s riddles aren’t sublime, but they’re more than good enough to carry keep the audience intrigued until the answers are revealed. This film’s primary sin is its length, clocking in at four minutes shy of three hours, when a deft editor could have trimmed it down by a solid half hour if he had been allowed to do so.

Closest comparison: It’s like Batman Begins by way of Joker (2019).

Setting: Crime
Plot: Detective
Tone: Thriller

The Lost City of Z - 1/5

This is a beautiful, dreary wilderness exploration film that loses its way trying to obliquely shoehorn fake woke musings into an otherwise straightforward narrative. It’s a rainy slough that not only meanders aimlessly like a run-on sentence but ends without much of a resolution. In a more competent film this would seem audaciously presumptuous, but here it just feels like the writers forgot to write the story toward an ending. The only standout elements are the beautiful landscapes and Robert Pattinson’s acting, both of which are excellent and not enough to make the film worth watching.

Closest comparison: It’s like House of Sand and Fog by way of Apocalypse Now.

Setting: Adventure
Plot: Exploration
Tone: Drama

Tenet - 4/5

This movie is bonkers. It’s very good, but it has its flaws as well. Some of the dialog is difficult to understand and the film moves at a breakneck pace which leaves the audience and characters trying to keep up. Mostly you’re just going to have to accept what you’re seeing and analyze it on a second viewing, but surprisingly the movie doesn’t suffer for that and instead uses it to its advantage. If you’re willing to go along for the ride, it’s a fantastic film, and pairs with Memento as Nolan’s most daring and avant-garde films. This movie is intense and may be hard to wrap your mind around at first.

Closest comparison: It’s like Memento by way of Inception, wrapped in a cold war thriller.

Setting: Cold War Thriller / Romantic Drama / Sci-Fi War
Plot: Heist / Sci-Fi Action / Romantic Thriller
Tone: Pop Action / Slick Thriller / Romantic Tragedy

The Lighthouse (2019) - 4/5

This movie is an artsy drama that lets the audience go a bit mad along with the characters. It’s surprisingly funny in quite a few places, made all the more unusual by using it neither as bathos nor as a jarring juxtaposition. The dialogue may seem unusual at first, but the filmmakers have taken great lengths to replicate authentic antiquated verbiage and it lends a lot to the overall feel of the performances. Above all this film is atmospheric and it encases the story in its claustrophobic isolation. It’s an excellent, strange, sometimes harsh curiositie with enough ambiguities to keep the audience thinking long after leaving the theater.

Content warning: masturbation, brief female nudity

Closest comparison: It feels like M (1931), but written by H.P. Lovecraft and directed by Wes Anderson.

Setting: Nautical Thriller
Plot: Decent into Madness
Tone: Stage Drama