Every 2023 Release I Saw

January 6, 2023 6/10

"Living is a remake of Ikiru which is a film I watched not too long ago and absolutely love. This iteration follows the same story but set in 1950s London starring Bill Nighy who gives a great performance here. The story is about a bureaucrat who is diagnosed with cancer and tries to find a purpose in life. Somehow being 40 minutes shorter, this feels much longer than the original because you don’t live in the moment with the character like you do in the original. Even not comparing it to the original, you never get a full depth of the lead but rather brief moments that when you start to get pulled into the scene it will cut to the next. It feels like just runs through the check points of the original. There’s still great themes here, it’s still a pretty potent story and it’s shot really well but even when the film does it’s own thing and doesn’t feel like cliff note, it’s almost whimsical in a while that feels clashing with the weight it’s trying to carry. There’s definitely some good pieces here."

January 13, 2023 6/10

"The Old Way stars Nicolas Cage as Colton Briggs, a hardened gunslinger with a reputation. After a mysterious man from his past kills his wife, he and his daughter go on the hunt for revenge. This being clearly inspired by True Grit, The Old Way does have it’s moments. The film is pretty well shot and stays true to it’s western roots with never really spaghetti-ing the tone. Cage is definitely one of the standouts but most of the performances can be a little shaky in comparison and some of the writing, especially lines of dialogue, don’t help. The final showdown can feel a little disappointing too but I do like the overall direction they took with it in the terms of how the story wraps up. I just wish the end set piece was done with more flair and time. Musically the film feels like stock western and tension music but as a pretty standard western with Cage at the helm, it was an enjoyable ride."

January 27, 2023 9/10

"Close is a film that really got to me. The film follows to young boys who are maybe a little too close of friends but that leads to some bullying which leads to some tension between the friends. This causing other issues that will lead you to absolute heartbreak. There's a since of loss and wandering that puts you in the mind of the main character that's hard not to get wrapped up in the emotional core of the film. Both lead boys give some absolutely outstanding performances as these are some of the best child performances of all time. The cinematography is great and compliments the realistic nature of the film. This is a story that very easily could have been over dramatized but instead it keeps itself very grounded. This is one that really pulled me in and never let me go."

February 21, 2022 7/10

"A House Made of Splinters is a documentary set in Ukraine about a children’s boarding house who house children on custody trails. The film mainly follows three children that can lead to sometimes a happy end but most is heartbreak. The presentation of the film feels less documentarian and more of a traditional narrative and is pretty well shot as well without shying away from the pain, fading hopes and false promises these kids deal with. It’s hard not to get emotionally attached to the story. I do think the film has some pacing issues, where the first act we follow mainly one kid until they leave and then the rest of the film follows two kids intercut until the end so the first chunk feels somewhat misplaced. For me, the film really took off after the first section, it felt like it starting to get it’s footing more and had a more natural flow until the end. This is some heavy material that’s handled with care to give you an honest peak into these tumultuous time in these kids lives."

February 28, 2023 5/10

"Sometimes you watch a documentary that you just don’t find the subject material that interesting and that’s exactly what’s happened here for me with All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. The documentary follows Nan Goldin through her art career and fight against big Pharma, in particular Purdue Pharma. The film, broken into chapters, goes through different pieces of Nan’s life and work, leading up to a recent demonstration again Purdue Pharma. These demonstrations being rather impactful. I just couldn’t get into this one. The opioid epidemic is something a lot of us can relate to and it’s nice to see someone have an actual impact but the way the film is structured feels a little unguided and disjointed. I knew nothing about Nan Goldin before going into this one and I don’t know, I just didn’t find myself Al that interested in the story or the way it’s presented."

March 2, 2023 7/10

"Spoonful of Sugar is an acid trip of a horror film about a young woman applying to be a babysitter for a young boy with a lot of problems. However, this babysitter has problems of her own that leads to some really interesting and haunting visuals. This isn’t a horror film built with jump scares but one that tries to borrow into your brain as a fever dream of unsettling moments that work most of the time. Morgan Saylor does an amazing job as the babysitter but there are some really bad and unbelievable performances that took me out of the experience. Breaking that tone and atmosphere the film was trying to set. There’s also some inconsistency with it’s visual where some moments look amazing and some others that I personally didn’t like the framing or blocking. Overall though this is a pretty solid fever trip that had some nice twist and turns."

March 3, 2023 9/10

"The Quiet Girl is an Irish film about a young girl who’s large family can lead to a loud home with the best of parents. One summer she goes to live with some foster parents and as she’s there she really gets to come into her own. I really loved this one. It’s absolutely beautifully shot, like this not getting a cinematography nomination is insulting. The performances are great, even the young girl gives a solid performance, I mean it’s pretty stoic but far better than most and the film did a good job at hiding her shortcomings. The film is perfectly paced and organically grows the family dynamics. There’s a real emotional core that really resonated with me. This is a low impact film in the sense that it’s more focused on the family than any kind of forced drama or unrealistic tension. It’s a pretty light hearted film that’s expertly crafted."

March 15, 2023 4/10

"Money Shot: The Corn Story is a documentary following the adult entertainment mega website and some of it's controversies, towing the line between pro and anti against the industry and the site with no real clear vision. Presenting both sides of the story and letting the viewer lean into one side of another can produce and interesting experience for the viewer but instead, this film seems more focused on arguing with itself by constantly trying to undermine each side it presents. This is another documentary in the seemingly long line of Netflix docs that have been coming out where a 20 minute YouTube video would have serviced the story more than a feature length venture. It does raise some good questions, presents some probably lesser known information and a good insight into the business but it's still a lacking drawn out documentary."

March 24, 2023 8.5/10

"I don’t know how they keep ramping up the John Wick series like they do but here we are, another awesome action film with some of the best action sequences out there. This is nearly a 3 hour non-stop thrill ride that paces it’s action perfectly to never feel the runtime. The choreography mixed with the cinematography makes for some beautiful action moments that is above the rest. The score and sound design is top notch and they do reuse some music from past entries that worked really well. My only real gripes are small things like, in the club scene why don’t background dancers react to the violence happening around them, they do much later in the scene. There’s other scenes where background people don’t react. The ending scene looked really fake as well like with either the sky replacement or green screen, I don’t know it just looked weird. Still though this is another amazing entry into one of the best action franchises and I loved it."

March 31 ,2023 7/10

"The new Dungeons & Dragons movie Honor Among Thieves is a lot of fun. I’ve never played D&D but Ive always been interested in it so I’m not sure how truthful the movie is to that world but on it’s own I found it to be a pretty fun fantasy adventure with a fun cast of characters. The banter between the group is the best part and honestly this might be one of my favorite roles from Chris Pine. What really surprised me was just how funny the movie was. A lot of the humor really landed for me. There’s a grand sense of scale to the world even though they pretty much on spend time in one area. The plot is pretty thin but it bolstered by side quests and characters that keep the pacing even. My biggest hang up is just how fake the film looks. Most of it is green screen and it’s very noticeable. There is some puppetry that was cool though. Overall, I just had a fun time with this one."

April 5, 2023 5/10

"The Super Mario Bros. Movie has some things that I really loved and somethings I found to be super annoying. I might end up making a bigger video on this one but for now my biggest issue really boils down to the cast and story. The Mario Bros get ported into the Mushroom Kingdom when they are separated and Mario must save Luigi while helping Princess Peach save the kingdom from Bowser. The way the film just jumps from point to point without developing anything make the story feel really disjointed like it's suffering from ADHD. They spend so much time trying to cram in all the fan service and easter eggs that the story ends up suffering. The cast is also super miss cast. Jack Black is probably one of the better performances but even though there's moments that Jack cuts through too clearly to not make me think of Po. Chris Pratt is pretty awful throughout though. There are moments though where I thought the world design and the inclusion of some of the games elements were clever and the animation is pretty great throughout. It's really just held back by it's poor, empty story and bad casting."