About Time was a movie I watched for the first time a year after its 2013 release date. Despite relatively high Rotten Tomatoes scores (70% critics, 81% audience), I recall being unimpressed by it. Many accounts I follow on TikTok are of people giving film reviews. While most, if not all, of those I follow in this niche, are younger than me, more often than not, I generally agree with their assessments (hence, my reason for following them). So often, About Time is referenced in a video. The film is often called beautiful, poetic, and devastating. Some have gone so far as to call it a gut punch. Those characteristics I seek out in my romantic dramas, so I signed up for the rewatch, thinking I must have missed something. It turns out that I didn’t. My second viewing did hold my interest more than my first, but it still felt very average. I’m even more uncertain now about what others see in this film that I missed.
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Air (2023)
Ben Affleck continues to prove that he is the closest person, past or present, with a chance (however slight) to unthrone Clint Eastwood as the greatest actor/director combo ever. It will take a herculean effort to unseat Eastwood’s five Oscar nominations for directing (wins for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby) to go along with over 35 other directing credits, as well as nearly 60 acting credits. Affleck, at just 50 years of age, very well could surpass Eastwood’s acting credits, but another 35 directing credits seems like a stretch. Air is Affleck’s fifth feature-length film. Three of his previous four (Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo) have resonated strongly with critics and audiences, while his fourth (Live By Night) wasn’t that far of a drop-off. What’s great about Affleck as a director is his drive and creativity. The staples of his directed movies are taut scripts, formidable, seasoned casts, and expert artisans (cinematographers, sound engineers, production designers) who he allows the freedom to shine. Air delivers on all fronts. It’s a movie that would be difficult not to enjoy.
65 (2023)
The first major letdown of 2023 is, without a doubt, the Adam Driver-led (Marriage Story, Paterson) 65. The trailer was amazing. There is much-deserved credit to those video editors for making a movie that felt bland and like it would be so much more. I really wanted to like a movie. Even as the poor critic reviews started coming in (34% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), I remained hopeful. Sadly, that hope was distinguished throughout a poorly-directed movie that tried too hard to build mystique and tension before failing to deliver.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Sad memories are the worst kind. Of all the memories, these are the ones that can flip the switch of a day at a moment’s notice. It could be the waft of a familiar fragrance once worn by a significant other who has since left your life. Or it might be a forgotten song that pops up on a playlist, instantly transporting you to the time and place you first heard it. Or perhaps it’s a photo, once a bookmark now wedged between a pair of books, that falls to the floor when reorganizing a room and evokes a memory you weren’t prepared to face on a particular day. If we could rid ourselves of our sad memories so that we no longer need to experience the pain associated with them, would we? Some of us would do this in a heartbeat, while others would never choose to do something so drastic. Most of us lie in between, and our resiliency to these emotional triggers places us somewhere along that spectrum. Michel Gondry’s (The Green Hornet, Be Kind Rewind) universally revered cult classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
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Creed III (2023)
What I initially thought was nothing more than a cash grab using the Rocky moniker with the 2015 movie Creed, the Michael B. Jordan-led franchise has effectively carved out a niche in sports cinema. Dare I make the blasphemous claim that the first three Creed movies are better than the first three Rocky movies? I’m not willing to go that far, though I can confidently say that Creed III is much better than the cartoonish Rocky III, the weakest of the first four Rocky films.