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.
Category Archives: Action
The Woman King (2022)
Living Legend Viola Davis (Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ) captivates each scene she’s in, regardless of the movie. With as much range as anyone in Hollywood, Davis has earned her share of accolades, amassing four Academy Award nominations in the last 13 years. But she’s never had the opportunity to headline a big-budget movie on her name alone. In Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, Beyond the Lights), The Woman King, Davis gets the opportunity to do just that. Davis’s performance well could earn her a sixth Oscar nomination (in a very competitive year). The film, filled with epic battle scenes, told an important true story. Ultimately, though, The Woman King failed to live up to my expectations.
Beast (2022)
What was that 2022-released movie about some terrifying, highly intelligent entity that identified and hunted its targets in a way that was anything but human? It might have been called Prey. Wait, maybe it was called Beast. Correct. Both movies (each with an equally unmemorable name) revolved loosely around the same premise. The studios of each movie didn’t do each other any favors with what they could have done, if anything, with the release date. Each film is worth a watch, though I wonder if a home viewing would translate to the enjoyment of a theater viewing. Each was designed to be seen on the largest screen possible.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
There is a moment between the previews and the opening credits of Top Gun: Maverick where Tom Cruise appears as himself, seated in a director’s chair, and welcomes the audience to the film. This is not the first time a film’s lead actor has welcomed an audience and thanked them for coming since the Coronavirus Pandemic began in March 2020. John Krasinski famously did this in the spring of 2021 before the much-delayed A Quiet Place Part II, arguably the biggest and most anticipated movie (with all due respect to Tenet) that made its return to a wide-release audience.
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
It feels rare when the same person likes an original movie and its remake. Often, it seems like if a person likes the original, they are resistant, even disgruntled, to giving the remake a chance. I am the first to say that I fall into this group. Two of the biggest ones are the remakes of Point Break (2015 – 11% critics, 29% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and Flatliners (2017 – 4%, 32%), two of my all-time favorite movies. Likewise, there are times when we watch the remake without ever having seen the original. We like the remake so much that we don’t want to see the original because we either don’t feel the need or think it can be compared.