Dune: Part One (2021) - 5/5

This movie is a paragon of adaptation, sticking incredibly closely to the source material and making only the changes necessary to deliver the same emotional beats on the big screen. It is the masterpiece Denis Villeneuve was born to film, making his previous work look like practice by comparison. The few parts I didn’t like or made me uncomfortable were taken directly from the book, which made me feel the same way reading them and instead of being drawbacks only serve to make the film a better adaptation. And it manages to convey convoluted political intrigue with ease, due in no small part to the outstanding acting, which is second only perhaps to the cinematography.

Closest comparison: It’s like Blade Runner by way of Ad Astra.

Setting: Sci-Fi
Plot: Political Intrigue
Tone: Arthouse Drama

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - 1/5

This movie is a meticulously, even beautifully handcrafted telling of a story so grim, gritty, sordid, and vile that it doesn’t merit being told. It’s remarkable how good the film-making is, being one of the only movies that makes long-form research genuinely compelling, interesting, and even gripping. But there’s no redeeming value to the story’s conclusion, no satisfactory result that makes the slough of watching the story unfold worth having been watched. Daniel Craig’s accent goes in and out (mostly out), but it barely rates mentioning against the mountain of other flaws in the film.

Content warning: female nudity, graphic sex, rape

Closest comparison: It’s like Dolores Claiborne (1995) by way of Se7en.

Setting: Police Procedural
Plot: Detective
Tone: Psychological Horror

The Hunt for Red October - 5/5

This is far and away the best submarine movie, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s an exciting political thriller that never gets lost in a nerve-racking haze of ambiguity but instead keeps the audience constantly informed of the stakes while somehow maintaining the perfect level of tension. The music is epic and Soviet, equal parts symphonic and sinister. The characters are understated, and the actors are all giving some of the best performances of their careers. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a bar-none must-watch.

Closest Comparison: It’s like U-571 by way of The Manchurian Candidate.

Setting: Cold War
Plot: Political Thriller
Tone: Drama

The Avengers (2012) - 5/5

This movie does Character better than almost any other. Joss Whedon accomplished the almost insurmountable task of combining the six main characters and several side characters in a way that lets each of them shine unimpeded by the others. The brilliance of the one-on-one confrontations each main character gets with the villain that highlight the unique strengths they bring to the team cannot be overstated. It also contains one of the most dynamic and multi-faceted arguments ever put to film. It combined three existing character-based film franchises, reinvented a fourth, and added in two main characters to boot. And it did it so well that it became the gold standard by which all action films and all team-up films are measured.

Closest comparison: It’s the super hero team up movie that started them all

Setting: Super hero
Plot: War Spy
Tone: Action Adventure

Thor (2011) - 3/5

This is Marvel’s first attempt at mashing up two different genres, and all things considered it works really well. The action is quite good, the story is solid, and the CGI is fine, kept in dark environments as needed. The Shakespearean dialogue is essential to the core of the Asgardian characters, evoking the sense of royalty with ease and meshing perfectly with the ‘royal drama’ nature of the plot. And no review would be complete without mentioning the Dutch Angles that are just everywhere in this movie, but only work well about half of the time.

Closest comparison: It’s the bisection of the line between He-Man and K-Pax, but with much better production values.

Setting: Fantasy
Plot: Super hero
Tone: Action Comedy