Score another victory for Netflix in its ongoing battles with Hulu, Apple+, Prime Video, Peacock, HBO Max, Disney+, etc. The original streaming movie streaming service has seen many peaks (and a few valleys) since it moved from its strictly digital base platform in 2007. Fifteen years later, with fierce competition, including the likes of Amazon and Apple, two of the most influential companies in the history of the world, the 1997 start-up company continues to be the clubhouse leader with both its quantity and quality of original content. Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre follows up The Mustang, her breakthrough directorial effort, with Lady Chatterley’s Lover, a heartwrenching retelling of the classic D.H. Lawrence novel.
After Christopher Nolan’s fabulous trilogy of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, I was sure we wouldn’t see The Caped Crusader in a standalone film for a long time. Nolan’s series was pure perfection. Whichever director attempted to bring, arguably, the most storied superhero in comic book history was already behind the eight-ball before a script was even imagined. With its 29% Rotten Tomatoes score, 2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was far from what we all hoped it would be. 2017’s Justice League (39%, 68%) didn’t help much. However, However, Zach Snyder’s 2001 director’s cut, while chalking in at over four hours, faired much better (71%, 94%). Matt Reeves’s (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Cloverfield) The Batman is a darker, more mysterious take and is the perfect movie to bring the iconic superhero back to the big screen in his own story.
Better than The Postbut not as good as Spotlight, Maria Schrader’s She Said tells one of the most important stories of this century, one that helped ignite MeToo. This movement dismantled 30+ years of silence around the subject of sexual assault in the movie/television industry. I wanted to like this movie more than I did. Unfortunately, because there is so much recency with this story and its fallout, it limited opportunities to learn something new. That’s not this film’s fault, but it was something that I carried with me as the story unfolded. Films about newspapers breaking stories may have lost their place in today’s environment. There is so much information that anyone interested in learning about a particular case can research online before a story is developed into film, television, etc. Unfortunately, social media has not helped the newspaper or television reporting industry. However, films such as The Post, Spotlight, or She Said can help us separate fact from fiction when we are inundated with information overload.
It’s unfortunate that Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front wasn’t given a theatrical run. This is one of the best war films I’ve ever seen, up there with the likes of 1917, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Hacksaw Ridge, The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket, and The Thin Red Line. While it’s ultimately not quite as memorable as these, there is not much of a gap where each mentioned above receives an Oscar nomination (or win) for Best Picture. Still, All Quiet on the Western Front can’t even get a theatrical release. 2022 is a different era than 1978, 1986, 1998, 2016, or even 2019. The film doesn’t do itself any favors with its no-name cast or the fact that it’s filmed in German. However, this film is incredibly well made and overcomes any obstacles that may preclude viewers from enjoying it.
Armageddon Time, James Gray’s (Ad Astra, The Lost City of Z) 1980 take on the pursuit of the American Dream, is a film with good intentions, but one that felt plagued by a plot that we’ve seen hundreds of times in cinema before. Even more detrimental to its predictable story was its attempt to impart wisdom to its audience, almost all of which we are already keenly aware of, especially in its release year of 2022. Unfortunately, The United States of America has been notorious for its class privileges, inequalities, and injustices. While we all have the opportunity to pursue the American Dream, specific paths often have far more obstacles to overcome than others. Gray successfully showcases this, but it’s hardly a discovery, and its overarching story has become quite a cliche.
Score another victory for Netflix in its ongoing battles with Hulu, Apple+, Prime Video, Peacock, HBO Max, Disney+, etc. The original streaming movie streaming service has seen many peaks (and a few valleys) since it moved from its strictly digital base platform in 2007. Fifteen years later, with fierce competition, including the likes of Amazon and Apple, two of the most influential companies in the history of the world, the 1997 start-up company continues to be the clubhouse leader with both its quantity and quality of original content. Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre follows up The Mustang, her breakthrough directorial effort, with Lady Chatterley’s Lover, a heartwrenching retelling of the classic D.H. Lawrence novel.
After Christopher Nolan’s fabulous trilogy of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and 
Better than 
It’s unfortunate that Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front wasn’t given a theatrical run. This is one of the best war films I’ve ever seen, up there with the likes of 
Armageddon Time, James Gray’s (