Entertaining, engrossing, and educational, it’s hard not to leave James Mangold’s (3:10 to Yuma, Ford v Ferrari) A Complete Unknown disappointed. While many will call it a paint-by-numbers musical biopic (which is completely justified), it does three things that recent films, such as Bob Marley: One Love, Rocketman (Elton John), Back to Black (Amy Winehouse), Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, and Elvis couldn’t do. It held my interest throughout its 140-minute runtime. It implored me to read Bob Dylan’s Wikipedia page. It led to an interest in looking up the songs performed in the film that I had not heard before. The musical biopic genre has been bad for nearly 20 years (Bohemian Rhapsody and Straight Outta Compton are outliers). A Complete Unknown feels like a companion piece to two fabulous turn-of-the-century musical biopics with terrific lead performances in 2004’s Ray (Jaime Foxx as Ray Charles) and Walk the Line (Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash). Each film landed the lead performer an Oscar nomination, including a win for Foxx.
Category Archives: 2024
Juror #2 (2024)
While viewing Clint Eastwood’s (Sully, American Sniper) thrilling court drama Juror #2, my mind kept wandering back to an unnerving thought. There was a good chance that many would go without ever knowing about this film, let alone watching it. Juror #2 had a minimal theatrical run before going straight to streaming. The reason for having a theatrical run at all was so that it could be eligible for any end-of-year awards. Eastwood is one of the greatest directors of all time. There is something about a critically and audience-acclaimed film such an esteemed director not receiving a wide release that doesn’t sit right.
The Substance (2024)
Stimulating, combustible, nauseating, and repulsive are all perfect adjectives to describe director, writer, co-producer, and co-editor Coralie Fargeat’s (Revenge) explorative and provocative The Substance. This film doesn’t just knock on the door of critiques of the societal obsession with youth and beauty but blows off its shutters. The Substance offers no subtlety in its themes. This film is designed to make its audiences feel as squeamish as the entertainment industry’s treatment of women, particularly older women. The impossible beauty standards and society’s preoccupation with youth (particularly young, attractive women) are nothing new. Fargeat meticulously brings this to the forefront and apologizes for nothing. Nor should she.
Trap (2024)
Veering away from the supernatural-themed movies with unique twists that defined the first decade of his career, M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, Old) ventures into a genre designed to induce a different type of suspense. While unique, Trap is so farfetched and full of contraptions, conveniences, and implausibilities that it almost finds itself in the unenviable “it’s so bad, it’s good” category. Fortunately, the first two acts built enough tension that not even the ridiculous conclusion could derail the film completely.
The Bikeriders (2024)
Director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) is an expert at creating ordinary characters, putting them in everyday situations, and allowing interactions and relationships to carry the story. He has masterfully accomplished this through films I adore, such as Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, and Mud, and through films, such as Midnight Special and Loving, that aren’t quite as good as a whole but still have well-crafted characters. The Bikeriders, his most recent film, follows a similar blueprint but fails to tell an exciting story or have a single character we genuinely care about. While well made with a stellar cast that put forward the effort, the film was a snoozefest.