The Official Review Thread of 2020

[Sonic Youth]

Magilla, you linked to the Nomadland trailer.

[Big Magilla]

While I was there, I watched most of the first episode of The Undoing for which Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman also received Golden Globe nominations, before nodding off. It looks like a good one. Grant is at his droll best and Kidman so far is right up there with him.

It's a super campy show. The plot is full of holes up to the last episode.

Somewhere in episode 3 or 4 there is Donald Sutherland monologue that is so ridiculous that it was turned into an internet meme

Actually it's episode 5. I googled Sutherland's name and the infamous word he uses to dress down the elitist middle school principal and found quite a bit on it in addition to the YouTube repeat of the scene.

For anyone who wants to check it out, it doesn't spoil the mystery:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfmm1-CdgIc

As for the show, I thought it played out like an extended episode of Law and Order or one of its franchises. I can't think of anyone other than Jack Nicholson in his prime who could have pulled off what Hugh Grant does in this. Sutherland is in serious Christopher Plummer-Max von Sydow territory in this. His best role may still be ahead of him. Noah Jupe continues to be an impressive child actor. The rest of the cast, including Nicole Kidman, is a mixed bag.

[Sabin]

There are other people that can parse through the problematic aspects of this film. This is just something some people did during COVID with a budget and talent. Good for them. It didn't like it. I am absolutely here for a movie about a director and his muse waiting for the reviews to drop over the course of the night. I didn't find anything interesting about what any of these people did with the subject matter.

It is worth noting two things:
A) The most interesting thing about it is how many people it's managed to piss off. That is no meager feat. I would be more impressed if I thought that this wasn't the result of the film being totally up its own ass.
B) The black and white looks better than Mank.

[dws1982]

Oh I'm fine with it here. I'm definitely not a big stickler on only discussing something in the "proper" thread, unless something gets spoiled in a thread where I'm not expecting to read about it at all.

Also saw, not that it merits discussion, The Little Things, and I really don't get those Jared Leto Globe/SAG nominations, not even a little bit. (Washington is solid, Malek is okay, although no one could really pull of what it asks of him at the end.) If this had been made twenty years ago, it's probably a Clint Eastwood potboiler, which he was making a lot of at the time, and honestly, a lot more fun. (And a reminder that John Lee Hancock, who wrote and directed this, wrote one of Eastwood's greatest movies--A Perfect World.)

[Big Magilla]

I hated Malcolm and Marie. (Although I guess we should actually be talking about it in the 2021 thread.)

Technically, yes, but since it's part of the 2020 Oscar discussion, it's OK here.

[dws1982]

I hated Malcolm and Marie. (Although I guess we should actually be talking about it in the 2021 thread.) I don't entirely agree with the take that it is Levinson airing his grievances towards Internet critics, because those grievances are aired through the Malcolm character and I think the movie makes clear that Malcolm is toxic. (Although as one Letterboxd reviewer pointed out, it does portray his toxicity as a byproduct of his genius.) My main issue is the much more general issue of I'm sick of watching movies/TV Shows that are basically two hours of people yelling at each other. In something like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, where it's clearly working on a higher level than just people yelling at each other, it's different, but this is clearly nowhere even close to that level, as much as Sam Levinson wants us to think it is.

Also watched Irresistible, which, as a political comedy, couldn't seem more irrelevant in 2020. Other than some time-specific references, this could've been made in 2007 and kept in a vault. Completely pointless, seems written and made with an unearned air of confidence, but it's also amateurishly shot and edited. Stewart got a good cast, but they're poorly used and poorly directed. Chris Cooper is good, but everyone else sinks.

[anonymous1980]

MALCOLM & MARIE
Cast: Zendaya, John David Washington.
Dir: Sam Levinson.

A up and coming director and his girlfriend return home from the premiere of his latest movie, which was highly well-received. He forgets to thank her during his introduction speech and this leads to an argument to end all arguments. This is basically a millennial Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by way of John Cassavetes. It is a two-character, single location film, beautifully shot in gorgeous black & white. Both John David Washington and Zendaya deliver nearly flawless performances. But unfortunately, the script fails them. You can tell writer-director Sam Levinson is using this film to air out his grievances towards film critics and Film Twitter with all their reviews and hot takes. It gets in the way of this film ever being something that is truly compelling, interesting and human. It just ends up being a bit much. The performances make it worth it though. The two actors really sell it but after watching it, you just pretty much shrug.

Oscar Prospects: Actor would be a tough get for Washington but Zendaya could make a play for Actress.

Grade: C+

[mlrg]

While I was there, I watched most of the first episode of The Undoing for which Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman also received Golden Globe nominations, before nodding off. It looks like a good one. Grant is at his droll best and Kidman so far is right up there with him.

It's a super campy show. The plot is full of holes up to the last episode.

Somewhere in episode 3 or 4 there is Donald Sutherland monologue that is so ridiculous that it was turned into an internet meme

[Big Magilla]

So, OK, I woke up and finally realized that as an HBO subscriber to Xfinity/Comcast, I don't have to pay extra for HBO Max.

After figuring out how to sign up without having to pay, I watched The Little Things just to see if the Globes' nomination of Jared Leto was as head-scratching as everyone is making it out to be. It is.

Denzel Washington is good for the most part as the seasoned cop and Rami Malik's hotshot detective has his moments, but the rest of the cast is under-utilized. Leto's sad sack weirdo is one-dimensional. It's not the actor's fault, he plays it as written, and to his credit, Leto says he was "quite shocked" by the nomination. Let's hope it's the last one he receives this year.

While I was there, I watched most of the first episode of The Undoing for which Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman also received Golden Globe nominations, before nodding off. It looks like a good one. Grant is at his droll best and Kidman so far is right up there with him.

[flipp525]

The Little Things

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About 40 minutes or so into the movie (whenever Rami’s wife was introduced), I was convinced that Rami was the killer. His wife looked exactly like the woman who was killed in her apartment. I thought that Rami was using Denzel to find out what he knew about his past murders that Denzel had been obsessed with years ago.

I also thought he was going to be someone who secretly hated his wife so he murdered women who looked like her.

I was actually surprised when he wasn’t the killer, to be honest. It would have made the movie much better.

The movie was written in the early ‘90s and feels like it. Too many scenes that don’t go anywhere. And Leto is just weird not in a great way. Denzel - who has kind of bothered me the past couple of years - is actually quite good, but the movie around him just does not succeed. There are too many scenes where the characters’ actions just don’t make sense (especially the scene where Baxter gets in Sparma’s car).

[criddic3]

The Father ★★★★

Anthony (played by Hopkins) is an aging Welshman with a fierce determination to fight what is happening to him. He is experiencing a mental decline due to dementia. His daughter Anne (Olivia Coleman, who recently won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Favourite) tries to help him with this struggle but becomes increasingly frustrated as the situation grows worse.

The film seeks to deepen our understanding of Anthony's confusion and paranoia by taking us into his experience through fluid camera work and editing that suggest time lapses and murky realities. It is an immersive approach that enhances our empathy for the character.

Mr. Hopkins gives one of his strongest performances here, diving into a complex and proud man who is fighting an unwinnable battle with his mortality. It certainly belongs up there with his humanizing portrait of Nixon and his iconic Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs in a career that has now spanned six decades.

Florian Zeller, the author of the French play this is based on, makes an impressive directorial debut. Taking a fairly simple concept and revealing the complicated realities of the dynamics of a horrible disease, he avoids making a stagy or distant film. It is rich with emotion and flows naturally in a way that maximizes audience participation. It is one of the best films of the year.

[Okri]

I quite liked First Cow. I don't have a whole lot to say about it, though. I really liked John Magaro's performance and am glad to see he's gotten a couple of citations this season. I think the most interesting details in the film comes from how he and Riechardt/Raymond characterize Otis. It's not about gender by any means, but the way the movie shows him casually taking on the more domestic duties intrigued me. I liked the central friendship. I didn't even mind the amiable set-up, even if it leans too close to prosaic for full on enthusiasm.

I'm not as big a fan of Reichadrt as the Indiewire/Dissolve gang - I adore Old Joy, haven't seen River of Grass and could basically take-or-leave everything else, but I'll always seek her films out.

[anonymous1980]

THE WHITE TIGER
Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
Dir: Ramin Bahrani.

Based on the award-winning best-selling novel, this film is about an ambitious but lower-caste Indian man who becomes the driver of a couple of an upper-class Western-educated couple then discovers the true cost of climbing up the ladder in his society. The "rich people suck" film trends continue with this film from writer-director Ramin Bahrani, whose previous films I haven't seen but I'll be sure to check them out someday. This starts out as a satirical comedy but slowly and inevitably turns darker as it moves along. It may be about the Indian caste system but it manages to tackle some topics that are universal (and relevant even in my own country). It feels a bit overlong and it doesn't quite go as deep as it needed to be in order to take this over the top but overall, it's a very good, very well-acted piece of work.

Oscar Prospects: A longshot contender for Adapted Screenplay.

Grade: B.

[Reza]

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom[/i][/b] (George C. Wolf, 2020): Boseman is fine, but I don't see the second coming many are seeing: the best performance of the year (for me, that title belongs to Ahmed, for now). In fact, it seems to me that sometimes he tries too hard and his acting becomes too noticeable.

I agree. In fact if Boseman has to win the Oscar I would rather he got it for Da 5 Bloods in the supporting category. I preferred him in that.

That would leave the room open for Hopkins or Ahmed to win. Both far more complex performances.

[HarryGoldfarb]

Emma (Autumn de Wilde, 2020): A new adaptation of Jane Austen's renowned play (which we had seen as recently as 1996, when it was made as a vehicle for Gwyneth Paltrow), this film is a visual delight and entertaining enough (thanks primarily to the source material) to have a fun if innocuous time with a type of cinema that I would simply call "decent". I'm not a fan of Anya Taylor-Joy, but she does a competent job here, creating a less pleasant and lovable Emma than in other adaptations. The rest of the cast are solid too, doing what they can with the material they've been given, but Johnny Flynn is a revelation to me since he is the one who comes out better off. The costumes are wonderful, but so is the art direction, with an unexpected penchant for pastel colors that work very well on screen. And I agree with the comment from dws1982: the music is intrusive and sometimes even out of place. Overall, it's a nice movie, it doesn't give more than it can, and it doesn't even try, but it does leaves you thinking you saw a nice little movie.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (George C. Wolf, 2020): I think everyone here is familiar with the plot, so I won't waste time outlining it, but this movie is a solid example of how not to adapt a play to the cinema. Let's not lie to ourselves: this is a filmed play, with all the flats and flaws that this implies. It is a pity that they have treated the original material as a sacred writing that cannot be touched and must be presented as it is, because the subject matter is rich enough to generate a better film. This approach was detrimental to the adaptation, and we had already seen this effect in Fences, but here it looks exaggerated. For me, Viola Davis is the one who comes out better off, offering a different performance than what we are used to from her, and the truth is that she fills the screen every time she is in it, so I am sorry that we do not see more of her role in the movie. The musician scenes in the rehearsal room are only sustained by the excellent cast, but still, it's maddening that they didn't try to make something more cinematic. For example, each memory of Boseman’s character, lent itself so that we could go to those scenes instead of listening to them just as big “moving” speeches. Boseman is fine, but I don't see the second coming many are seeing: the best performance of the year (for me, that title belongs to Ahmed, for now). In fact, it seems to me that sometimes he tries too hard and his acting becomes too noticeable. The subject is important for its validity and resonance today, that is undeniable, but that, by itself, does not make a great film. Kudos to Anne Roth for the wonderful costumes, and to those in charge of the art direction.

The Life Ahead (Edoardo Ponti, 2020): I have not seen Madame Rosa (1977), so I have no way to compare this film with its predecessor. As it stands, it is an inconsistent movie, in tone and aspirations. It is supposed to be, first and foremost, a vehicle for Loren's epic comeback, but what a strange vehicle it is, in which Loren disappears for long periods of time in the film. Loren shines in the opening scenes, and I prefer her in the first acts of the film, as a commanding figure, and not so much at the end when we see (*SPOILERS*) her formulaic deterioration from illness. If Loren does nominate for an Oscar, I think it will be, in part because of her stature as a star and the lack of contenders in an outlier year. While I enjoyed the movie, it is one of the disappointments of the year for me.

Adú (Salvador Calvo, 2020): Three storylines related to the African immigration to Europe come together in this wonderful film. A six-year-old boy (Adú) and his older sister make a desperate attempt to flee Cameroon for Europe while a Spanish activist against illegal hunting face issues with his daughter, recently arrived in the country. Far from there, in Melilla, the border of the EU and Morocco, a group of civil guards face a mass assault on the Melilla border fence by Africans desperate to gain access to Spain. This is the most nominated film of the next edition of the Goya Awards, having achieved 13 nominations, an apparent surprise, but it is a film that I admire technically and in content. The entire cast does a great job, and while I think the stories don't connect enough in the end, I appreciate they avoided the easy way out of resorting to silly coincidences to solve the plots. Highly recommended.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin, 2020): This is a movie that I enjoyed from start to finish, perhaps helped because I was totally unaware of the facts portrayed. A solid cast (I hope to see them nominated at the SAG Awards for Best Cast), and a smart script, full of memorable lines and exchanges. While Sacha Baron Cohen deserves all the recognition she is receiving, I must say that this is Eddie Redmayne's performance that I liked the most, more content than usual and without his many mannerisms, creates a credible character. The small doses of humor scattered throughout the film are, I think, evidence of genius on Sorkin's part as a writer. I confess that nothing in the movie prepared me for the final scene.

Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, 2019): A young drummer faces sudden hearing loss and all the consequences it brings to his life. Ahmed deserves to be nominated for an Oscar, as does Raci, and it has been said ad nauseam that the sound design is the jewel of the film and elevates it, but that is the case and it must be said. Despite having been released at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2019, it was released theatrically on November 20, 2020. My favorite movie of the year so far.