Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Here’s what you’ve been waiting for: my 2023 cinematic favorites! You can also check out fellow film critic Chad Liffmann’s list here to compare and contrast and see who you agree with more. Will Oscar voters agree with us? We’ll find out when the nominations are announced on January 23rd!
Continue reading “Film Feature: Carrie’s Top 10 Films of 2023”
Back in 2017, in my review of the lackluster film A Ghost Story, I declared that Manchester by the Sea was the “finest movie about grief ever made.” Fast forward to the present day, however, and I now retract my statement. Writer/director Andrew Haigh’s devastating new film All of Us Strangers has usurped that designation, and at this point I can’t fathom that another picture could even come close to knocking it out of position. An emotionally wrenching, achingly true, and deeply affecting story about trauma, grief, and memory, Haigh’s film is one of the year’s best.
Your mileage may vary on how much you care about wrestling. Wrestling only became major sports entertainment in the late 1980s with the growing popularity of the WWF (World Wrestling Federation). But in the early 1980s, the Von Erich family sought fame on wrestling’s biggest stages, but tragedy continued to get in the way. The Iron Claw, a new sports drama named after the family’s trademark wrestling move, hastily captures this incredibly sad, hard-to-believe true story, but lacks emotional thoroughness in between its wrestling matches.
It’s been a great year for movies. All the hubbub about the ‘worst films of the year’ list that Variety put out is making a lot of noise, so I’d like to fire back with a Top 20 of the year list. There are so many to choose from, just look at the thirty movie posters above, all of which I’d consider very good films, great films, and even a few masterpieces. This is not a year to point out the worst, but rather one in which we should highlight the surplus of quality films released. Without further ado, here’s my ranked top twenty of 2023:
A criminally underseen indie film in which Lily Gladstone gives another memorable performance playing a resident of the Seneca–Cayuga Nation Reservation searching for her missing sister.
Continue reading “Film Feature: Chad’s Top 20 Films of 2023”
In 2018, writer/director Paul King’s Paddington 2 earned the coveted number one spot on my Top 10 list. After a few years working in television, King has returned to the big screen with his Paddington 2 co-writer Simon Farnaby to bring us Wonka. The picture is a similarly delightful and warmhearted holiday treat.
The hesitation that I had, and I imagine many people will have, about seeing The Zone of Interest was the fear of having more Holocaust imagery seared into my memory. There have been many Holocaust films made, all difficult to watch, and almost all important to see. It’s necessary that films, books, and oral testimonials accurately depict Nazi atrocities, so that they are never forgotten. That being said, it’s hard to be “in the mood” for a Holocaust film. Shortly into watching The Zone of Interest, I understood that the film’s intentions were not the same as previous Holocaust films. The Zone of Interest is as much about what you do see as what you don’t see, which is just as harrowing, if not more so. The film depicts the banality of evil, showing us a story of chilling complacency.
Cord Jefferson has been a writer on a few of the most celebrated television shows of the last six years, including Master of None, The Good Place, Watchmen, and Station Eleven. Transitioning to films, he makes his writing and directing debut with American Fiction. Jefferson focuses all his storytelling wit on creating a prescient satire, and as a result, American Fiction becomes not only a powerful introductory statement for the filmmaker but also one of the year’s finest cinematic works.
Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has divided audiences as long as he’s been making movies. To help you resurface some opinionated rage and confusion, or delight, his films include Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and The Favourite. His films bend surrealism together with absurdism, glittered with idiosyncratic dialogue and characters. They also don’t shy away from weirdness and sex, or weird sex, even. Lanthimos implores you to face brutal honesty and vulnerability, and Poor Things is no different. Cradled within a vibrantly designed world in which to explore themes of sexual freedom and liberation, Poor Things is a masterpiece of creative ambitions.
Remember Peter Pan? Remember Snow White? Do you remember them, they’re on Disney+ right now! These half-hearted, frantic, nostalgic questions, and brand reminders, seem to be at the heart of Disney’s new animated film, Wish, which bears the weight of Disney’s 100th anniversary celebration. Borrowing the beautiful simplicity of Disney’s most iconic song, “When You Wish Upon A Star,” Wish twists the song’s message into a convoluted plot with forgettable characters. The film is a new fairytale that catchy tunes and pretty animation can’t rescue.
Sir Ridley Scott, the legendary director of Blade Runner, Alien, and Gladiator, is eighty-five. In an impressive stretch for his age (or any age) and profession, he has directed eight feature films in the last decade, with Gladiator 2 slated for next year. Who can blame Scott for working so prolifically — he loves making movies! It’s a treat to have a talented filmmaker churn out a steady flow of films, covering a wide range of genres. His latest, Napoleon, adds another historical epic to his filmography. Despite a few off-kilter artistic choices, Napoleon is an astounding visual achievement, a throwback Hollywood epic that only a few directors, like Scott, can still deliver.