As I’m not the biggest fan of director Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, Election, and even less of one of Paul Giamatti (Saving Mr. Banks, Straight Outta Compton), I was lukewarm, at best, about seeing The Holders, a reunion of the director/actor duo that combined for 2004’s Sideways, a beloved critic and audience favorite, but a film I suffered through for 20 minutes before deciding that it was not for me. Sideways was a movie I was sure I would not enjoy, but I attempted it anyway because of the hype. I was miserable. After watching the trailer for The Holdovers, I anticipated a similar type of dread. However, I was willing to give this one a chance after hearing from critics and audiences that this film, while heartfelt and poignant, still maintained some edge.
All posts by bryanbuser
Napoleon (2023)
Gladiator, The Last Duel, Blade Runner, or Alien, it is not. Ridley Scott’s Napoleon was my most anticipated movie of 2023. The elements were in place. It had the director. It had the actor (Joaquin Phoenix – Walk the Line, Joker). It had the story. Yet, the pieces never came together. Instead, it was a two-hour and 38-minute chaotic mess that offered no logical transition of scenes, little connection between characters, and easily forgettable battle scenes that left much to be desired. This film was a catastrophic failure in many ways.
May December (2023)
Continuing a recent string of watching movies that I knew almost nothing about before my viewing (the underrated Saltburn and the mystifying Infinity Pool being the two most recent), Todd Haynes’s (Carol, Dark Waters) May December rewarded me with an experience I won’t soon forget. First and foremost, watching this film is somewhat disturbing, making the viewer frequently feel uncomfortable. While not for everyone, this harrowing portrayal is a diligent, albeit flawed, portrayal of a family after the fallout of a story that was so taboo that it was the cover story for tabloid magazines across the country.
Saltburn (2023)
I knew so little going into my viewing of Emerald Fennell’s (Promising Young Woman) Saltburn that I thought this movie starred Paul Mescal. Imagine my surprise when his name was not mentioned in the opening credits. Furthermore, I wasn’t able to identify the name or face of either the film’s lead character (Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) or primary supporting character (Jacob Elordi – HBO’s Euphoria). As I reflected on the movie afterward and thought about each of these actors’ performances, I was impressed as I compared them to their other roles. Likewise, though Fennell’s film (which she also wrote) was as outlandish in premise as Promising Young Woman (a movie that earned her an Oscar nomination as a debut director, nonetheless), Ambitious, the film excelled more visually than it did in substance. That’s not to say there wasn’t an intriguing, underlying story. Rather, the lack of cohesion, inconsistencies, and reasons for some of the character’s actions left us with a less-than-satisfying conclusion.
The Killer (2023)
Michael Fassbender, it’s been a minute. We haven’t seen the once-up-and-coming next big thing in a movie since 2019’s Dark Phoenix or anything good since 2017’s Alien: Covenant, it’s been over a decade since his incredible back-to-back-to-back collaborations with director Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave). Fassbender seems to deliver his best performances when coupled with an established director. His portrayal as the lead in David Fincher’s (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network) fantastic assassin-for-hire The Killer is another example of proof.