The Official Review Thread of 2022

[OscarGuy]

As to Top Gun: Maverick being anti-"woke," you need to check your definition there because the original was white straight male dominant with a single token black guy. This new one is chockfull of minorities. Several black actors, Asian characters, a couple of women, and even an Hispanic character. I would say it's not a rejection of "wokeness," but an embrace of it.

[OscarGuy]

Do not use the term "woke" in a negative connotation. It's a bull shit word made up by conservative bigots to castigate those pushing for equality for everyone, not just the straight, white, male power structure.

[mlrg]

Interesting to see that the biggest box office hit so far this year, and probably the whole year, is by far the most non woke film released by a major Hollywood studio.

Maybe people are just sick any tired of the whole woke message.

[taki15]

If you look at the reviews and the public reception, it also appears to have been poorly received in general. Granted, the trolls at IMDb have trolled it down, but even critic responses were generally tepid. And you should see the audience score at MetaCritic. woof.

It has been "poorly received" only in comparison with other Pixar films. Its RT scores are on par with Dr. Strange 2 which is approaching a billion.
I'm more inclined to agree with those who say that releasing the three last Pixar features on Disney+ confused audiences which believed that the same will happen with Lightyear.

[OscarGuy]

If you look at the reviews and the public reception, it also appears to have been poorly received in general. Granted, the trolls at IMDb have trolled it down, but even critic responses were generally tepid. And you should see the audience score at MetaCritic. woof.

[Big Magilla]

Here's another explanation from USA Today:

The family audience has proved a little more reluctant than other segments to return to movie theaters. Many studios, including Disney and Pixar, have opted for streaming or hybrid releases for their animated titles. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the company has sent its Pixar titles — "Soul," "Luca," and "Turning Red" — directly to Disney+ free for subscribers. Disney's other big animated titles, "Raya and the Last Dragon" and "Encanto" got hybrid releases.

“There may have been a little confusion about whether it’s just in theaters,” Dergarabedian said. “This is a movie that is going to have to be marketed in real time as family audiences connect the dots.”

[Sabin]

The big story of this Father's Day weekend is that Lightyear underperformed, pulling in $51 million, some $20 million below expectations, and coming in second place to Jurassic Park: Dominion. That's surprising. To contrast, Onward opened with $39 million amidst COVID panic. The only PIXAR films to open similarly were Cars 3 with $50 million (signaling the end of a franchise) and Coco with $50 (which opened around Thanksgiving and was not built on a preexisting franchise). To say this was not their hope is an understatement.

Who's to say why this happened? Maybe conservative families stayed home when they heard about the same-sex kiss (if so, fuck 'em). Maybe people were confused as to what the film was exactly. Maybe both. But in some ways, this is probably the biggest disappointment in Pixar's history. This is an extension of the Toy Story franchise and audiences are not interested.

[anonymous1980]

SPIDERHEAD
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett, Mark Paguio.
Dir: Joseph Kosinski.

A group of inmates volunteer to have themselves tested for drugs and chemicals in order to reduce their sentences. But of course, something's more sinister's afoot. There are lot of good ideas in this film. In fact, there are flashes of the good, even great version of this film all throughout but unfortunately both the script and the direction can't seem to get the handle of the material. For one thing, it's a bit of a tonal mess. Being a dead serious techno-thriller on some parts and turning into a dark comedy into another. It also tries to throw in some things for audiences to chew on but does it in a very clumsy manner. The actors are very good but it doesn't hold everything together. All in all, it's far from bad but not very good either.

Oscar Prospects: None.

Grade: C+

[anonymous1980]

LIGHTYEAR
Cast: Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Isiah Whitlock Jr. (voices).
Dir: Angus MacLane.

This is a spin-off movie from the Toy Story franchise and it is said to be the movie that Andy loved which spawned the Buzz Lightyear toy. In it, Buzz Lightyear goes on a mission to rescue a colony of space travelers from a planet they are stuck in. First things first: This is a good movie. A really good movie. It is a funny, well-made, super entertaining space adventure with a lot of nice moments with some laughs, thrills and some really good voice acting and characters (especially that damn robot cat!) The problem is...it's PIXAR. To call it a "good" movie is to be a bit disappointed with it, really because they have such high standards. It's strictly lower mid-tier PIXAR. But it's still a really fun time at the movies and you could do worse.

Oscar Prospects: It COULD make Animated Feature. Also a long shot for Sound and Score.

Grade: B.

[Big Magilla]

GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE
Cast: Emma Thompson, Daryl McCormack.
Dir: Sophie Hyde.

Thankfully, this is being streamed on Hulu or I would not have otherwise caught this new release for which Emma Thompson may finally receive her first Oscar nomination since Sense and Sensibility for one of her best performances.

This is basically, a two-character talkathon like Louis Malle's My Dinner with André featuring the exploration of a sexually charged relationship between an aging star and a much younger co-star of the opposite sex as was the case with Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. The difference here is that the aging star is Emma Thompson who at 62, was fifteen years older than Marlon Brando was at the time of filming Last Tango in Paris. Her co-star is Daryl McCormack, 28 at the time of filming, eight years older than Maria Schneider was at the time of filming Tango. That's where the similarity ends.

It's basically a tender story about a retired uptight widowed schoolteacher who has never had an orgasm. At 55, according to the film's publicity though her age is never mentioned, she buys time with a male prostitute or sex worker as he prefers to be called. He gently brings her along over the course of four get-togethers.

The film is about more than sex, though, touching on aging, class distinctions, mother-son and daughter relationships, and a bromide as old as Dickens' A Christmas Carol that one is never too old to change.

Thompson and McCormack are both excellent, but Thompson's awards chances are probably better considering her legendary status. She also has Matilda the Musical coming up in which she plays the malevolent headmistress played in the stage version by an actor in drag. She could conceivably become the first actress to be nominated twice for lead and supporting Oscars in the same year.

Oscar Prospects: Best Actress, Original Screenplay.

Grade: B+-A-.

[Sabin]

EDIT: As is increasingly the case, I have to write out my thoughts to realize what they really are.

Cha Cha Real Smooth is a charming little movie that pitches a new generation's Mrs. Robison scenario (ish). It's about a Zoomer and a Millennial this time, as Andrew (writer/director Cooper Raiff) is a recent college grad who finds a job as a Bar Mitzvah party host, and falls in love with Domino (Dakota Johnson), an engaged single mother to an autistic kid. It's not really about a sexual situation but an emotional entanglement. I can appreciate that. The film isn't avoidant of sex. One of the touches that I like is that Andrew hooks up with an old classmate his age after kissing Domino for the first time. I think there's a lot to explore in this generational divide but the film doesn't really delve into it, instead opts to just keep things on the surface where it's safer and (tbh) more about Andrew. Cooper Raiff has a persona at this point. The charming vulnerable knucklehead. You believe him when he says he doesn't like being alone. He's got a manic quality. If you haven't seen Raiff's better previous feature, Shithouse (which has an even worse ending), you haven't seen him on-screen and that's reason enough alone to see Cha Cha Real Smooth. He's very funny, and as a writer/director he's good with his co-stars and writes some very funny scenes (a joke about throwing a condom away killed me). The biggest problem with the film is that it never quite threads the needle on what this guy needs to learn. It settles on the idea that he's in over his head in this adult situation, and that's believable enough. But it still feels too much like a celebration of youth rather than an education. I'm old enough to believe a film (especially one about this particular idiot, of whom I've been) can be both. I think that holds it back from being anything terribly special, save for an interesting relationship with his bipolar mother (Leslie Mann). Mothers play an interesting role in Raiff's films.

Cha Cha Real Smooth has no idea how to end and ends up feeling ten minutes or so too long, but I remain interested in Cooper Raiff's career. It also lifted my spirits after a lousy day.

[Greg]

I've never seen the original. I think "Let it Slip Away" is the ugliest 80s ballad I've ever heard. Am I really required to have an accompanying visual to go along with it?

Do you mean “Take my breath away “?

You know, I had that discussion with my wife this morning. She also corrected me.

I actually thought you were being sarcastic when you wrote that.

[anonymous1980]

JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION
Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Isabella Sermon, DeWanda Wise, Campbell Scott, Mamadou Athie, Justice Smith, B.D. Wong, Omar Sy, Daniella Pineda.
Dir: Colin Trevorrow.

The third installment of the legacy sequel series of films in the Jurassic franchise has the original three cast members teaming up with the new cast members to stop an evil billionaire from using dino cloning technology to take over the world. As I was watching this, I keep find myself thinking, "You know what I would rather be watching right now? The first Jurassic Park. And as the film went on, I also thought, "Colin Trevorrow is definitely no Steven Spielberg" and of course, "Man, Spielberg is a great director because he can actually make something like this entertaining". It does somehow get better in the third act, I must say, but it's too little, too late. It is boring and silly in parts and the visual references to the first film gets really annoying after a while. It's good for undiscriminating fans of the franchise, I guess.

Oscar Prospects: Maybe Visual Effects.

Grade: C.

[Sonic Youth]

I've never seen the original. I think "Let it Slip Away" is the ugliest 80s ballad I've ever heard. Am I really required to have an accompanying visual to go along with it?

Do you mean “Take my breath away “?

You know, I had that discussion with my wife this morning. She also corrected me.

[mlrg]

I've never seen the original. I think "Let it Slip Away" is the ugliest 80s ballad I've ever heard. Am I really required to have an accompanying visual to go along with it?

Do you mean “Take my breath away “?