THE TOP 10 MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2021 REVISITED

1- UNTITLED PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON FILM: While this got good reviews, it was unfortunately titled Licorice Pizza, one of, if not the, worst titles in movie history. While I "get" why they called the movie that, it's just awful. And while this film did, in fact, come out in 2021, I haven't seen it yet.

2- UNTITLED SPIDER-MAN SEQUEL: I haven't seen this movie yet, either, even though it did come out in 2021 and is already the 6th highest grossing movie of all time. And since I'm harking about bad titles, what's the deal with the title of this movie being so fucking close to the last one? The last one was Spider-Man: Far From Home and this one is Spider-Man: No Way Home. I mean...this is the 8th Spider-Man movie in the last 20 years so creativity isn't exactly a part of this niche.

3- MONA LISA AND THE BLOOD MOON: This movie played at the Venice Film Festival in September and got great reviews but then disappeared completely. I wonder if the director ever started that all-female Cliffhanger re-boot we were promised as well. 

4- THE SUICIDE SQUAD: Wow, the first film on this list that I actually saw. It probably helped that thanks to the pandemic and HBO starting their own streaming service to rival Netflix, this movie went straight to TV in August. While this film is entertaining, it's not as good as James Gunn's two Guardians of the Galaxy films. It's also inferior to the Peacemaker TV show that just came out on HBO Max that Gunn wrote and directed and which spins out of this film. The one huge problem I had with this film is some of the violent shooting sequences that are played for joy and entertainment and laughs. And people wonder where mass shootings come from. **1/2 (out of ****)

5- THE MATRIX 4: This also went straight to HBO Max. It's also terrible, an unwatchable, uncreative mess. I was never even a big fan of the original Matrix film, but that looks like The Wizard of Oz compared to this sad sack excuse of a film. 1/2*

6- NIGHTMARE ALLEY: This I didn't see, though I did watch the original which, shockingly, isn't a very good film. Usually when you remake a movie it's because the original was, like, actually good. Baffling, really. I suppose it's not a surprise then that this was one of the year's biggest box office duds.

7- THE NORTHMAN: I just watched the trailer for this and it looks amazing. Unfortunately it's not coming out until March 2022.

8- DECISION TO LEAVE: This never came out. It was made but the release date is up in the air.

9- THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH: This came out on Apple+ a few weeks after being released in theaters. It's a total bore. It probably doesn't help that it's in black and white with spare sets and mostly green screen backdrops. Kenneth Branagh knew that Shakespeare on film needed lavish sets and colorful costumes and huge backdrops. Frances McDormand is good in this but Denzel Washington is not. I suppose Ethan Coen was the genius of the two. *

10- MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7: This never came out, which is kind of shocking considering they were filming this in the summer of 2020. 

THE BEST FILMS OF 2021

1- DUNE

2- LICORICE PIZZA

3- CUSP

4- WOODSTOCK '99: PEACE, LOVE & RAGE

5- CRUELLA

6- ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE

7- FEAR STREET PART 1: 1994

8- ARMY OF THE DEAD

9- SPENCER

10- THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

Review: NO TIME TO DIE

     

   

    Director Danny Boyle and writer John Hodge worked together to create some very memorable 90's films; Trainspotting, obviously, but also Shallow Grave, The Beach, and A Life Less Ordinary. The duo was set to make the next James Bond film until creative differences entered the picture and they left the film. While it would be interesting to have seen what their vision for James Bond was, it would have been a hell of a lot more interesting if they had been chosen to make a James Bond film back in the late 90's when their creative juices were at their peak. Can you imagine how weird, cool, bizarre, fun, and wild that would have been? Maybe it would have been a mess, but sadly we'll never know. But the heirs to the James Bond franchise would have at least made a bold choice and tried something new. And that's the huge problem these days with the James Bond films. They're all the fucking same. When the opening credit title sequence starts in the new James Bond film, No Time to Die, I groaned. 'This again?' I thought, as Billie Eilish's boring song played over a typical, been-there-done-that title sequence featuring guns shooting, silhouettes, people falling. These credit sequences are basically a joke these days. At least in the good old days when James Bond movies were fun it didn't bother anyone that they were all the same...but now that they're dour and serious and visually pristine instead of down and dirty, these films have become stagnant and unwelcome. What happened? How do we fix this? Why is this even still a thing?

    Your personal favorite James Bond memories are probably something to do with Sean Connery fucking a blonde, killing someone then delivering a wry joke, or saving the day to worldwide cheers. My personal favorite James Bond memories always involve Roger Moore, because those films were awful and stupid but super amusing and entertaining in a total camp sort of way. It's actually really shocking that the fun loving James Bond films of the 60's and 70's have morphed into what occurs at the end of No Time to Die; a super serious, supposed emotional warhorse of a finale. Dude, we just want to see James Bond save the day and get the girl. Why are they attempting to make these, like, real Oscar-worthy affairs? They're dumb spy movies. 

    When Daniel Craig appeared in the franchise it was a welcome surprise. Casino Royale was fantastic. Quantum of Solace was also fantastic but everyone hated it. Then Sam Mendes made two totally forgettable Bond films: Spectre and Skyfall. Even the producers probably realized they needed to do something different by attempting to get Danny Boyle on board. That failed, although they did bring in Fleabag writer Phoebe Waller Bridges to punch up the script. I'm fairly sure the, "Another child?" joke is hers, as she's a fantastic writer and that's the best line in the film. While the rest of the script for No Time to Die is same-old, they did at least score Cary Joji Fukunaga to direct. He is, without a doubt, one of the best directors working today. I'm still a little mad we never got to see his Stephen King It adaptation that took place in a metropolis. Fukunaga directed the excellent first season of True Detective along with the excellent Netflix series, Maniac. The one good thing about No Time to Die is that visually it looks exceptional. There are so many cool, precise, compelling shots in this film; from the stealth army guys repelling down a building at dusk in London, to the fog filled Norway forest, to the power lines sparking and exploding along a dark Cuban street. The film looks great. And while the story here is the usual, villain-wants-to-kill-the-world bullshit we've seen before, the actors are all top notch. Daniel Craig acts like he's tired of doing this, which he admitted to, but Lea Seydoux is excellent, especially considering she has to act like she's madly in love with a man as old as her father. Mr. Robot, Rami Malek, is at least creepy, but considering he's the big bad it's a shame he doesn't get much to do and is barely in it. The big deal in this film that the woke mob probably has nightmares about is that James Bond has retired and the new 007 is a black woman played by Lashana Lynch. She's forgettable, though Jeffrey Wright and Ana De Armas are great as Bond compadres. 

    Since the Roger Moore comedy gold is long gone, lately the films have been known for their action sequences. Unfortunately, for a 2 hour and 45 minute movie, there's not a lot of action in this. The opening car chase in a mountainside, Italian town is great...and that's about it. The other action scenes are just random, run-and-gun melees. The first hour of No Time to Die is actually excellent...and then it never really heats up into anything remotely engaging. The huge problem, besides the hour-too-long length, is the atrocious ending. The set up is there. It's as if a pitcher decided to throw a softball to the batter in the bottom of the 9th. The homerun is there for the taking! We've got a villain on his evil island and Bond is going to go after him. How could this ending not be incredible? Well, it is. The ending isn't just underwhelming, it's about as sad as Schindler's List. They do know we've bought our ticket and popcorn to see girls, guns, quips, and action, right? Do we want to leave the theater weeping into a tissue and contemplating our life choices? Who's genius idea was it to end the film like this? 

    If you're going to just keep making Bond films until the end of time, then fine, do it, but at least make it a fun, enjoyable ride that makes us revel in our happy days of watching gems like The Spy Who Loved Me for the first time. **1/2

Review: DEAR EVAN HANSEN

  

   There aren't many original hit Broadway musicals these days, are there? It seems like the majority of musicals on Broadway that are certified hits are those old-school shows from long ago like Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and South Pacific. I could go on...forever. This year the biggest musical coming out is a new version of The Music Man starring Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman. It's not that Broadway doesn't have new ideas, it's just that a known entity already has a place in some people's heads so they at least aren't wary of buying a ticket to the unknown. And while Hamilton was the last smash Broadway hit, it wasn't exactly an original story or anything. The Book of Mormon was probably the last hit Broadway musical not based on a book or film or story or real life character. They're rare; a new, fresh, original musical that not only makes it to Broadway but becomes a hit. Dear Evan Hansen was just that. It premiered on Broadway in 2016 and is still running. It won multiple Tony awards. Ben Platt became a star. And now it's a movie...that's getting ripped to shreds by movie critics and the Twitter schadenfreude maelstrom. 

    Dear Evan Hansen has to be the darkest hit Broadway musical since at least Sweeney Todd, a musical about a serial killer. Dear Evan Hansen has some humor in it and at least one fun, light, danceable song...but it's such a dark and depressing story that I'm shocked it became a popular, hit musical. The basic story is that the main character, Evan Hansen, is a depressed, suicidal teen with no friends, a missing father, and a mom that's never around. Cue the showtunes! When a student at his school commits suicide, Evan Hansen ends up somehow tricking everyone into thinking he was the dead kid's only friend, which leads him into spending time with the dead kid's family, being noticed at school finally in a good way, and kissing a girl for the first time. Suddenly his life is fantastic, except it's an elaborate lie that will probably come crashing down someday. Suicide. Depression. Teenage angst. Lies. Trickery. Family problems. Holy shit, how is this a hit Broadway musical? How are there even songs about all of this? How did this even get greenlit? 

    The funny thing in all of this is that the main gripe the critics have for the film version has nothing to do with the plot, story, or songs. Nope. All the critics care about is Benn Platt's hair and his age. Weird that they're not concerned that there's song and dance numbers in a film about suicide and depression. They only care about Benn Platt's hair. Is his hair that big a problem? It's a curly mop, probably grown to hide his receding hairline since he's 27 years old and is supposed to play a High School senior. And is a 27 year old playing a High School kid that much of a problem? It's certainly not great, though it doesn't ruin the film. I'm wondering...have these critics never seen High School movies like Grease or Dazed & Confused where everyone looks like they're 30 years old? Sure, Benn Platt looks like an old man playing a teen, but what's the alternative? Platt supposedly gave a powerhouse performance on Broadway and won a Tony for his role. He even admitted that the movie probably wouldn't have gotten made if he wasn't the star (his dad was also a producer, probably one of the reasons). It's a catch-22. Do you give Platt, who made the role famous & is obviously great at it, the role? Or do you give it to a true High School age kid that looks age appropriate but a) the movie probably isn't going to make any money and b) the actor probably won't do as good a job as Platt. The studio went with Platt and now the critics have their knives out. I wonder...did he look that old on Broadway (he was 23 when the show started)? Or are Broadway critics different than film critics? 

    For whatever it's worth, I never saw the Broadway version but I did enjoy the film. Granted, I love musicals, and the music is good in this. There is only one stand-out hit, the song when Evan and his psuedo-friend are crafting fake emails between him and the dead kid to show the dead kid's parents. "He smoked crack." "Crack?" I dyed laughing at that bit. And what am I doing...laughing during a movie about depression and suicide? It's certainly a strange mix of a film. The other songs are mostly quiet emotional tunes but they're all very well done. And the story, which, let's face it, is definitely original but definitely bizarre, is very engrossing. The only problem with the story I had is that the ending is obviously going to be a downer, and thus it kind of peters out instead of ends with any kind of emotional catharsis or wise moral victory. Since Evan Hansen is suicidal, depressed, and has no friends but suddenly becomes a star and a stud when he lies...what are we supposed to get out of this? Don't like? Why not? He lied and scored the hottie. He tricked the world and suddenly everyone smiled and said "hi" to him in the school hallways. There is no moral to the story then, right? Or is the underlying theme that anyone popular, rich, and successful is just a liar and fraud and not truly themselves? Is there something about the way we create a false narrative about ourselves through social media woven throughout this? I suppose you could write a book about what's going on in this film, which is a good thing. Most Broadway musicals are just forgettable, colorful fluff. This one is strange, dark, and hard to put your finger on. 

    The acting by Benn Platt, Julianne Moore, and Kaitlyn Dever is great. The direction by Steven Chbosky is top-notch; the film looks fantastic. The musical numbers work, the songs are good. The story is compelling. You can rag on the fact that the High School kid looks like a forty year old man all you want, but this is a good, unique, and interesting movie regardless. ***

     

Review: DUNE

 

    About a year and a half ago, the first trailer for Denis Villeneuve's Dune came out. A good movie made out of that classic sci-fi book is like the white whale of cinema, so the excellent first trailer got me excited enough to not only finally read the book (it's good, not great) but also watch the David Lynch version (it's a silly, unwatchable mess). The first book came out in the 60's, so it's kind of sad that it took until 2021 for a decent filmed version to come out. One of the reasons why Dune has always depressed film buffs is not only because the Lynch version was a disaster but also because of Alejandro Jodorowsky's never filmed version. His version is so infamous someone even made a documentary about it. It was supposed to have music by Pink Floyd and star Orson Welles and Mick Jagger. What people don't realize, however, is that Jodorowsky's Dune would have been fucking terrible. Jodorowsky has admitted to never reading the book, which is one problem. The other? His movies are awful! 

    Denis Villeneuve, however, has actually made some good movies like Sicario, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049. Villeneuve also made the smart decision to cut the book in half into two films. And while Blade Runner 2049 was gorgeous, the reason it never achieved greatness was because it was all cool visuals with a lame story. Dune, however, is actually a really good story. So...could it happen? Would it happen? Would someone actually make a good movie out of Dune? It didn't help that the film was postponed an entire year thanks to the pandemic. And it certainly is quite cruel that it's been released in 18 countries before coming out in the U.S. next month. 

    The book was first published in August of 1965. I can officially say that it's September 2021 and finally a worthy film version has arrived. Denis Villeneuve's Dune is phenomenal. It's everything you want to see in a film. I'm so shocked that it's actually good. The one reason the David Lynch version was so terrible was because it was silly. And probably the one reason why Denis Villeneuve's version is so great is because it's not silly. And I'm guessing, unlike Jodorowsky, Villeneuve probably actually read the book.

    The basic story is that the Atriedes family is powerful and runs a whole planet. They're assigned to go and take over a desert planet, Arrakis. The problem? Arrakis is a "death trap." But Arrakis has spice, which helps power spaceships going long distances across the galaxy. Arrakis is, quite basically, Tatooine from Star Wars (one of George Lucas' many rip-offs in that film). Arrakis has giant sandworms. It also has thousands of mysterious desert people. So the Atriedes family go to Arrakis. The problem? The Harkonnen run Arrakis, and they're not too happy about being kicked out. While all of this is going on, Paul Atriedes, played by Timothy Chalamet, in his best performance yet, is having strange dreams about a girl and about his destinty in the world. He also happens to be learning a powerful force not unlike The Force in Star Wars. But unlike a film like Star Wars, Dune isn't a crowd-loving popcorn type of a film. In fact, I'm guessing the majority of Marvel superhero movie fans won't like this Dune. This is definitely more arthouse than blockbuster. There are no elaborate action sequences. There are no humorous sidekicks. There are no jokes. This is art. It's serious. It's gorgeous. Hell, even the Hans Zimmer score is beautiful. This is all probably one of the main reasons why Dune was never a big, Hollywood franchise like Jurassic Park or The Avengers. I can't even fathom how this got made. The scope of this film is vast. While most of it is CGI, it's all still epic and grand. The spaceships are the size of skyscrapers. The sets are Cleopatra-like. There are armies of thousands. And all of this is serious, poetic, and dream-like. Shockingly, everything works. The film is fantastic in almost every aspect. It has the feel of high drama, of watching a great, big, old-school Hollywood epic with a cast of thousands and a budget unheard of. The kind of thing you start watching and you feel goosebumps. It definitely goes beyond mere cinema into something else, something rare. You just don't see films this big that are this good very often, if ever.

    While the acting is all top-notch, from Oscar Isaac as Paul's Father, to Batista and Stellan Skarsgard as the evil Harkonnens, to Josh Brolin and Jason Mamoa as Atrides soldiers, the real reason this film is so good is because of how it looks. The thing is quite the sight to see. Everything is larger than life, but it's the details that make it stand out. That one beautiful, eerily creepy shot of the soldiers in white quietly descending down to the ground. The ripple of sand when a worm is approaching, and the way the earth starts to give way. That beautiful shot of Chalamet holding onto Josh Brolin at the edge of the spaceship as they look down at a sandworm devouring a harvester. I could literally just look at pictures from this movie and be impressed. But the story it tells works as well, as you become transfixed in this world, this journey. And it certainly helps that the films only covers the best part of the book, which is only about the first 1/3rd of it. But the final scene, with the soldiers marching across the desert to a future unknown, doesn't make you angry that the film is continued. No, it makes you dying to see the next part. And that's about as good as it gets. And this film is just about as good as it gets. It's been a long time, but we've finally gotten a great Dune film. ****

Review: F9

  

    The summer movie season finally started last weekend when A Quiet Place Part 2 and Cruella came out in theaters (Cruella, which is fantastic, was also released on Disney+). This is different than last year when the summer movie season didn't start until the end of August when Tenet was released in theaters. That was officially the beginning and end of the summer movie season of 2020, as Tenet was the only big budget film to be released in theaters last year. Most of the films coming out this summer are just ones postponed from last year, like Black Widow. And since A Quiet Place Part 2 made $50 million in its first weekend, things are almost back to normal (granted, if the pandemic didn't happen, A Quiet Place Part 2 probably would have made $150 million in its first weekend). The release schedule for every movie these days is kind of confusing, though. A Quiet Place Part 2 was postponed from March 2020 to September 2020 to Memorial Day 2021. One of the big guns of this summer, part 9 of The Fast & the Furious series, dumbly titled F9, was already released in Taiwan and China, though it won't hit the U.S. until June 25th for unknown reasons. It's already spawned controversy when star John Cena mentioned that Taiwan was one of the first countries to show the film. China doesn't recognize Taiwan as a country, though, and Hollywood needs China to keep their profit margins high, so John Cena awkwardly posted a video in Mandarin apologizing that he referred to Taiwan as a country. CM Punk, the former WWE wrestler, changed the byline on his Twitter account to simply read: Taiwan is a country. 

     Is it strange that there's controversy swirling around a dumb action movie? Yes. Did I mention yet that this Fast & Furious series has run out of ideas so that in this new one they go to space? Nope. Is Hollywood so void of creativity that they've made 8 sequels to a car chase movie? Yes. 10 if you count the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff. Or is that spinoff a part of the 9? I couldn't tell you, as this is the first F&F movie I've actually seen. I still have an idea of watching every F&F movie, one a day, and reviewing them, since I've never seen any of them until now. One of the reasons I never got around to doing that is the same reason I never watched any of them in the first place; they never looked any good. Did they get good reviews or just make money? Why are there 9 of these movies? What is the appeal? 

    F9 starts off with Vin Diesel living a normal, everyday, family life with a girlfriend and daughter in a house off the beaten path. He's given up the life of racing and action and violence. Didn't Rambo: First Blood Part 2 start off that way? With Stallone living as a monk in a monastery before he was sweet talked into rescuing hostages and blowing up Vietnam? So the F&F movies aren't exactly new or fresh in terms of plot. Of course Vin Diesel (who would probably be working at an Amazon fulfillment center these days if it wasn't for this series) ends up back in the fray when some bad guys threaten to blow up the world or something preposterous. The big bad in this ends up being John Cena, who's Vin Diesel's character's brother even though isn't Vin Diesel Puerto Rican and John Cena is just a white dude? But wait! John Cena's boss is the real big bad, Charlize Theron. Charlize Theron is such a bad ass that by the end of this movie she's piloting a drone that chases Vin Diesel and tries to blow him up. 

     I'm not sure about the other films in this series, but I'm guessing that the plot of these films are pretty much secondary to the action sequences and the laughs/wise cracks. Vin Diesel is a part of a rag tag gang of thugs that I guess work for the U.S. government? That's fairly vague, as Diesel and his crew are kind of like blue collar James Bond types...although I'm not sure why they're the ones saving the world. Why do they care? Are they getting paid for this? 

     The one good thing I can say about this film is the action scenes are fantastic. Most of them involve ridiculousness, like a car attached to a rope swinging across a ravine, or the ludicrousness of a car driving in space attempting to destroy a satellite. But the car chase sequences are a lot of fun. The one new idea they came up with in this film is a giant magnet that's inside a van. When Vin Diesel is driving the van and the bad guys are chasing him he simply turns on the magnet and suddenly cars and bikes are flying through the air towards the magnet creating mayhem and car wrecks and explosions. Director Justin Lin has concocted some very cool scenes involving this magnet, some of them seemingly filmed with actual flying cars smashing through glass and across real city streets. 

     The big finale involving an armored truck pummeling its way through the city and everyone trying to stop it is impressive and exciting. That it ends with Charlize Theron piloting a drone is a little silly and thus deflating, though it isn't too much of a problem as this film tries to excel in entertainment, not serious drama. Case in point: Helen Mirren involved in a high speed police chase for unknown reasons that don't entirely seem to link to the film's plot. 

     The summer popcorn films aren't exactly meant to be profound, they're supposed to be fun and enjoyed with a raucous, drunk, Friday night crowd cheering at the screen. And while this film is forgettable fluff, it's exactly the pure dose of dumb fun everyone wants this summer. **1/2

     

THE ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS (BEST PICTURE) REVIEWS

THE FATHER: 2020 was obviously a fucked year for Hollywood. Pretty much everything after February except for Tenet went straight to your TV screen instead of a movie theater. But while most of the Hollywood blockbusters were postponed, I don't think too many Oscar-type films were (Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and Spielberg's West Side Story might have been in the mix). So without a huge blockbuster like Titanic steamrolling through the Academy Awards, expect zero ratings and minimal chatter this year. They also postponed the show two months for no good reason (I guess so Judas & the Black Messiah could be nominated?). The Father is the only film on this list that went straight to theaters. It isn't even being released on demand until next week. This one stars Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. Hopkins is terrific as a man with dementia and Coleman is his daughter who's hesitant to put him in a home. It was adapted from a 2012 play...which means it's mostly talking with very little plot, action, or...well, much of anything besides Hopkins chewing the scenery. It's a short movie and it's good but there's not much to it. Hopkins is great but it kind of feels like retreading the same ground Haneke's Amour did...and that was much better. **1/2

JUDAS & THE BLACK MESSIAH: This went straight to HBO Max. It's about Fred Hampton, a Black Panther that was murdered by the Chicago police. The film is well made, well acted, and looks terrific. It's also kind of boring. The story the movie is based on is so interesting that I kind of would have rather watched a documentary about it. Lakeith Stanfield gives a great performance as an undercover FBI informant, although honestly he pretty much plays the same character he does in FX's Atlanta. **1/2

MANK: For whatever reason, I loved this film and nobody else did. Maybe it's because it's about a writer and I'm a writer plus I love old Hollywood. I also love David Fincher's films...and Gary Oldman...and Amanda Seyfried. So this movie is kind of perfect for me. The script, by Fincher's now dead dad, is terrific. I actually put on the closed captioning while watching this just so I could catch all of the witty lines (Gary Oldman also mumbles his lines because he's supposed to be an old drunkard). The picture, in black and white, looks phenomenal. This was my 3rd favorite film of 2020...but the first two (Palm Springs and The King of Staten Island) weren't nominated for anything so this is the only horse in the race I'm rooting for. ***1/2

MINARI: This is the tale of Korean immigrants trying to make it in mid-west America in the 80's. It's a good film but kind of dull in a lot of aspects. Steven Yeung, of The Walking Dead fame, stars as the father. It never quite hits that emotional peak it attempts to achieve for whatever reason. **1/2

NOMADLAND: This is the favorite, and one of the better films on the list. Francis McDormand stars as a lady without a home who travels around the country working out of a van. Obviously, the scenery is spectacular and the director Chloe Zhao has done a good job at repurposing the non-fiction book into a drama that also stars some real people playing themselves. I still can't believe they got Zhao to make a Marvel movie after this. ***

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN: This is also one of the better films nominated. It's a rape-revenge film, a genre that some women are uneasy about but has kind of blossomed after #metoo. I guess the uneasiness lies in the fact that women would rather have rapists accept their crimes and apologize instead of victims having to become superhero murderers and turn into criminals themselves. Carrie Mulligan stars as a defeated, broken, shell of a woman that still lives with her parents and secretly goes out at night to clubs, pretends she's too drunk to stand, and when the men take her home to take advantage of her she shocks them by showing that she's not drunk and makes them admit they're monsters and will have to change their ways. It's an interesting premise and the script is well done. Bill Burnham steals the movie as Carrie's new boyfriend and it's too bad he wasn't nominated. The ending doesn't entirely work, but it's at least as strange, weird, and exciting as the rest of the film. ***

SOUND OF METAL: This movie is about a drummer in a metal band that starts losing his hearing. I didn't really like this movie at all. It's not terrible or anything, it's just not that compelling. Riz Ahmed got nominated for Best Actor and he's okay but the only reason he probably deserves a pat on the back is because he learned sign language. All of the elements of an emotional, heartbreaking, Rocky-esque, rising-like-a-phoenix-from-the-ashes masterpiece are there...but the film never gets to that level. **

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7: Picture the gritty, bloody, confusing, chaos of the infamous Chicago Democratic Convention riots in 1968 and then slap of coat of Hollywood gloss over it and you get this movie. I usually enjoy Aaron Sorkin's screenplays, but this one just doesn't pop like The Social Network. The entire movie just feels too sanitized and safe. It's about dirty hippies in the 60's but looks and feels like an episode of Law & Order from this century. Sasha Baron Cohen got nominated for his role playing Abbie Hoffman...but he was a hell of a lot better playing Borat but wasn't nominated for that (his co-star was). I did watch this whole film so I guess it's not awful, it's just disappointing thinking what it could've been. **