The Power Of The Dog (2021)

A heavy mood hangs over the entirety of the film. Tension. The soundtrack makes you feel uncomfortable, but the acting pulls you in. 

Rating: C+

Stillwater (2021)

 

The plot is fairly mundane. A father somehow manages to hang out in France without a visa for months on end to secure the release of his daughter from prison. Unfortunately they wrote the daughter as an obnoxious dumbass. The little French girl is an incredible actress though. 

Rating: C

Language Lessons (2021)

 

Let’s be honest. The movie is a 90 minute Zoom call between two people. The good news is that Mark Duplass and Natalie Morales are charismatic actors that keep you from getting bored. You might just learn a little Spanish as well. 

Rating: C

Pig (2021)

Fine acting by Nic Cage. I think I would have liked the movie more if he had previously been a mercenary rather than a chef. And instead of taking a beating on his journey to find his beloved pig, he was handing out the beatings–working his way to the top until he was reunited with her. This was fine though. 

Rating: C

Licorice Pizza (2021)

I’ll see anything Paul Thomas Anderson makes. He earned that after Magnolia. But I think he peaked back then. Nothing since has come close to his early stuff. This was an interesting period piece, with a focus on quirky characters. It meanders without really going anywhere. 

I did find it quite funny at times. My two favorite scenes were the interactions with the casting agent lady and the conversation before the home waterbed installation. 

Rating: C

Spontaneous (2020)

 

High school seniors begin spontaneously blowing up, or popping, if you will. As far as movie premises go, I’ve heard worse. It really comes down to execution. And no, the teens weren’t being executed. 

My big takeaways from the film:

1. The two teen girl leads have perfect eyebrows. None of that blocky or blading crap. Just normal, perfectly shaped eyebrows. 

2. I didn’t buy the community’s reaction to exploding teens. There would have been mass hysteria, and much sooner. 

3. A couple nice callbacks to films from my childhood–Back To The Future and E.T.

4. Their dry/dark sense of humor spoke to me. 

5. Blood sprays everywhere when they combust, but where did their skin, bones, teeth, etc run off to? Major plothole. 

6. The number of students they had in quarantine is way less than they show later exploding and running around. Come on people. Math!!

7. Also, why are they always running when there’s nothing to run away from? 

8. If I explode into a pool of blood, I hope my family doesn’t get suckered into buying a fancy coffin. 

9. There is no way they would permit or ask any of these kids to go back to school. Ever. 

10. Not a fan of ambiguous endings. Explosions suddenly stop? No explanation as to why or what caused them? Lame. 

Rating: D+

The Gardener (2021)

B-level home invasion flick with Charles Bronson look-a-like Robert Bronzi. The acting isn’t good. Character choices don’t feel authentic and editing goofs take away from the suspense. Fights look like they were choreographed by Van Damme’s understudy. Bad guys could have been easily finished off, but instead are left to recover and wreak more havoc. Please send scripts to me for proofing. I have cheap rates. 

Rating: D

Nightmare Alley (2021)

 

Had to check out the new Guillermo Del Toro release. Even if his films aren’t always good, they are always interesting. Excellent cast, acting, and direction. Didn’t love the story, but mainly because I didn’t buy the ending. 

Rating: C

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

 

This should have been called Meta Matrix. I get that they were going for tongue in cheek, wink-wink, story writing. But instead of coming off as clever, it felt forced. Another mostly tired reboot. Take the blue pill. 

Rating: C-

Encanto (2021)

I enjoyed this a little more because of the terrific theater sound. Strange Colombian tale about a magic house that gives out special powers to its occupants. 

Rating: C

Shazam! (2019)

Kids transform into adult with superpowers, which causes almost no shock, concern, or bewilderment among the general public. The script appears to have been written by a child inhabiting the body of an adult screenwriter. 

Rating: D