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.
Category Archives: 2023
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.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Martin Scorsese’s (Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street) Killers of the Flower Moon and Oppenheimer were my most anticipated movies of 2023. It had so much of what I look for in a movie. First and foremost, it had Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant, Revolutionary Road), my favorite actor. Secondly, it looked like a tension-driven drama with fiery characters enriched in their story and setting. Thirdly, it was based on a true story. When all things else are equal, I lean on based on actual story films as a deciding factor. Even with a ridiculous run time of 3 hours and 26 minutes, I was convinced that the gripping tale wouldn’t have me counting the minutes for the film to end, which I did on multiple occasions with Scorsese’s last film, the insufferable The Irishman. While Killers of the Flower Moon might struggle to finish in my end-of-year top ten list, it was a worthwhile theater-going experience. While it felt long at times, it certainly did not drag in the way that I feared it might. Scorsese dignifiedly shed light on an important story in our country’s history.
She Came To Me (2023)
The biggest compliment I can give Rebecca Miller’s (The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Maggie’s Plan) unmemorable She Came To Me was that it was creative. I crave originality. While none of the singular components were necessarily imaginative, the sum of the parts brought a freshness that kept me engaged. Unfortunately, I left feeling uninspired and disappointed as Miller dipped in and out of genres. Pegged as a romantic dramedy, I never felt involved enough with the characters to take the film seriously. Likewise, the comedy was a miss for me, though I heard some chuckling from the other ten or so people in my theater. And, while the film centered around intimate relationships at its core, this was far from checking off the romance genre checkbox. In all, it was pretty messy as it crawled towards a predictable finish line, misusing the talents of three of Hollywood’s biggest names in the process.
Dumb Money (2023)
I love it when a movie is timely and relevant. I refer to The Social Network, the 2010 origin film about the social phenomenon of Facebook. This social media platform had been made available to the public less than four years earlier. Aaron Sorokin and David Fincher worked magic to create such a masterpiece quickly. I still maintain that The King’s Speech beating The Social Network for Best Picture was one of the biggest shams in Oscar history. It showed just how antiquated and set in their ways The Academy had become. While Craig Gillespie’s (I, Tonya, Lars and the Real Girl) Dumb Money is not entirely on the same level as The Social Network, its timely significance cannot be overlooked. Though in a completely different way, the events in Dumb Money are (to many individuals, organizations, and sectors) as impactful as to those in The Social Network.