Talk about The tragedy of being bored. Now and then, a movie earns more undeserved praise than it is worth because of an established director securing multiple acting heavyweights. The most recent example I can think of was in 2017 when Steven Spielberg combined with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks for The Post; the movie was dubbed an Oscar lock, especially after 2015’s fantastic movie Spotlight (also about a newspaper reporting a highly publicized scandal) received six Academy Award nominations, including two wins. Drab, The Post failed to meet expectations, earning just six Academy Award nominations and winning just two.
Category Archives: 2021
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Say what you will about Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia). Whether you are a fan of his directing or not, his movies feel like they are so much longer than they need to be. Painfully so, sometimes. He hooks you with his rich characters (often played by some of the finest actors in the industry) and what feels like is going to be a soft, gentle story. But then his movies tend to drift aimlessly, going down so many different wormholes before finally arriving at an unsatisfying conclusion. Such is the case with Licorice Pizza, a boy meets girl, coming-of-age story that is likely to earn some Oscar nominations despite its waning story and crawl to the finish line.
Jockey (2021)
2021 has been a year filled with disappointing movies. The pandemic has played a crucial factor, with many studios opting to push back their release dates to 2022 (or 2023), hoping that theaters can lure audiences back once those who are more tentative feel safe again. Movies, as a whole, couldn’t get worse than the 2020 batch. Unfortunately, 2021 has proven to be worse. There are still a handful of films that I haven’t seen that I hope will elevate the year (Dune, Nightmare Alley, Belfast, Spider-Man: No Way Home, C’mon C’mon, Being the Ricardos, Licorice Pizza, Red Rocket, Spencer, Last Night in Soho).
A Hero (2021)
I recently took an annual leave day off from work. The plan was to attend my local independent art-house theater and see a movie that would receive a nomination for some Academy Awards. I watched an early morning showing of Jockey, a quiet, little film in its own right that will be what I review next. Upon leaving, I spotted a poster of A Hero. It was a film I had seen pop in advertisements on some of my other frequently visited movie websites. It had intrigued me, but I knew it was a subtitled (Persian) movie. I need to be in the right mindset, or I’ll get distracted and miss everything. Still, I debated buying a ticket and doing a double feature. But then I saw it was an Amazon Prime movie. I looked up the film on my phone and noticed that the movie was available on Prime starting that day. So, I decided to skip the theater viewing and watch it at home instead. I’m glad I did, but only because the film was a bit longer (127 minutes). I wanted to break it up into a couple of chunks (full transparency, I also took a quick nap between Jockey and A Hero…by the time I started the second movie, I was ready to go).
The Power of the Dog (2021)
II listened to Thomas Savage’s The Power of the Dog on a whim earlier this year. I loved the first couple of chapters, but it ultimately went nowhere. I understood the idea and thought it had the potential to drive home an important point. However, despite its setup, it missed its landing entirely. Shortly afterward, I saw that there would be a movie based on the novel. Not only that, but it was set for release later that year. On top of that, there has been some early Oscar buzz surrounding the movie, both for Best Picture, Best Director (Jane Champion), Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), Best Actress (Kirsten Dunst), and Best Supporting Actors (Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee). Even in 2021, which has proven to be one of the worst years for movies in my lifetime, The Power of the Dog deserves some of the praise it’s already receiving and will likely continue to receive.