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grigori77 · 1 year ago

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Movies of 2023 - My Summer Rundown (Part 2)

10. HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE – it’s always nice when a sharp little indie banger sneaks in under the radar to place impressively high on one of my lists for the year, and this impressive critically acclaimed underdog thriller is definitely shaping up as one of this year’s most memorable examples. Treading very different ground from the likes of To Catch a Killer, this is a very low-fi, gritty down-and-dirty procedural slice-of-life thriller about a motley collection of eco-terrorists banding together to sabotage an oil pipeline in West Texas, focusing almost entirely on this core group of disillusioned youths played by eight uniformly EXCEPTIONAL actors each handing in genuine (ahem) dynamite performances. Ariele Barer (Marvel’s Runaways), The Revenant’s Forrest Goodluck, American Honey’s Sasha Lane and Marcus Scribner (probably best known as the voice of She-Ra & the Princesses of Power’s Bow) are the undeniable stand-outs here, but all of these kids are ON FIRE throughout, showing they’ve got truly BRIGHT futures ahead of them indeed, while Irene Bedard (Smoke Signals) also impresses in a supporting turn as Joanna, an FBI agent who may be onto their plans … the film bounces about between the varying points of view of the characters, gradually unveiling their motivations to commit a morally complex terrorist act through a series of scattered flashbacks punctuating the planning, execution and aftermath of the bombing itself, with writer-director Daniel Goldhaber (Cam, here co-adapting Andreas Maim’s incendiary non-fiction novel with Ariele Barer herself and Cam’s co-writer Jordan Sjol) weaving a suitably taut and atmospheric slowburn path throughout the flawlessly executed narrative, the film brilliantly building its wire-taut tension to a rewardingly cathartic climax which is as provocative as the film’s challenging subject matter. This is a film that asks some VERY BIG QUESTIONS and delivers some suitably complicated and rightfully TROUBLING answers, a razor sharp piece of indie cinema which definitely deserves the critical acclaim and guaranteed future cult hit status it’s already earning …

9. THE FLASH – oh boy … yeah, this one is gonna be a COMPLICATED talk, I just know it. This was one TROUBLED project from day one, from the major shake-ups surrounding the Joss Whedon-compromised Justice League film and the subsequent mess THAT unleashed, through the whole conflicting debate over Zack Snyder’s original vision for the DCEU, and then the eventual collapse of the Cinematic Universe itself, this film, originally entitled Flashpoint (which personally I like A WHOLE LOT more, actually, since it really does pay DIRECT reference to the actually storyline they went with) went through a whole collection of incarnations and reiterations and, for a while, it was starting to look like we might NEVER see it hit our cinema screens at all … and that’s without even mentioning star Ezra Miller’s ongoing legal troubles and essential CANCELLING after their continued outrageous, unacceptable off-set behaviour, which looked set to torpedo the film all on its own.

Honestly, I have to admit I was MYSELF a little wary going in, not because of these particular problems but more just the prospect of what I would actually do if, in spite of all this, I actually still LIKED IT … unfortunately for me, that was VERY MUCH the case, which is why we’re here in the first place. But I must forge on, and so I’m gonna just take this film on ITS OWN face value and ignore the external problems … at least until THE END of the review … because The Flash is, actually, pretty fucking GREAT. Barry Allen (Miller) is finally coming into his own as a fully-fledged member of the Justic League, even if this does frequently mean he’s kind of cleaning up the extreme messes that are left behind when Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) gets involved in a particularly BIG potential world-shattering event, as brilliantly illustrated in the film’s suitably SPECTACULAR opening set-piece, which does a BEAUTIFUL job of not only letting us know EXACTLY what this incarnation of the Flash is actually capable of, but also revealing Barry’s own distinctly unique, offbeat and, frankly, really rather ADORABLE personal style of superheroism. Then the plot itself kicks off when Barry’s father Henry (Ron Livingstone), serving life in prison for the wrongly-convicted murder of Barry’s mother Nora (Pan’s Labyrinth’s wonderful Maribel Verdu), sees his latest (and, it looks like, FINAL) appeal fall flat due to a crucial new piece of evidence turning out to be useless, and Barry decides he's had enough of ignoring a particularly potent aspect of his superpowers – the ability to run SO FAST that he can actually GO BACK IN TIME!!! So he races back to the day of his mother’s death and tweaks circumstances so that she survives, only for Barry to then get punted off track before he can return to the present by an unknown entity within “the Speedforce” which then lands him in 2013, just days before Earth’s invasion by the hostile Kryptonian forces of General Zod (Michael Shannon), as seen in Man of Steel. Still with us so far? Yeah, well it gets EVEN MORE complicated, cuz it turns out that, while his mum is now STILL ALIVE, Barry hasn’t got his powers in this universe, which means that he has to reform the Justice League himself in THIS timeline in order to defeat Zod. Except that there are FAR MORE consequences to messing with time than Barry ever took into account set to make things all but insurmountably complicated for him to succeed …

beyond this we’re getting into DANGEROUS spoiler territory, beyond the fact that these new developments give rise to whole fresh and very complicated ideas of alternative universes somewhat akin to what the MCU’s already started experimenting with (which is also, actually, something that the DC comics universe does ALL THE BLOODY TIME), which gives rise to whole new incarnations of beloved characters from the established DCEU, some of which HAVE already been revealed in the trailers and beyond, but others not so much, so … yeah, anyway, it’s a glorious MESS of a narrative, but somehow this film does a REALLY IMPRESSIVE job of navigating this jumble in an impressively coherent and breezy way that ultimately makes this a whole lot of fun to watch, actually. Of course, the lion’s share of the praise for this HAS TO go to screenwriter Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey & the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) for wrangling the UNHOLY MESS of development done for the previous incarnations into an actual WORKING script, which was then brought to life with suitably brave and adventurous SKILL by director Andy Muschietti (Mama and It Chapter One and Two), but the uniformly EXCEPTIONAL cast shoulder a good deal of that responsibility too – Miller may be problematic in real life, but there can be no denying that he is FUCKING BRILLIANT in the role here, crafting a hyperactive, ultra-awkward social misfit of a superhero that us various underdog kids just can’t help rooting for, while it is a MASSIVE pleasure to get to see MY PERSONAL FAVOURITE Batman return to the role as this AU’s altered version of Bruce Wayne, the legendary Michael Keaton himself finally getting to prove why he really is THE VERY BEST VERSION of the character out there (and I will accept NO ARGUMENT AT ALL about that, I swear you can all FIGHT ME on this particular hill upon which I am determined to DIE if I must), and Livingstone and Verdu bring an IMMENSE amount of pathos to their characters throughout which makes it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR why Barry tries SO HARD to save them both, and it’s also great fun getting to see Michael Shannon back as the Big Bad here again, I always really liked this spectacular scenery-chewing version of Zod.

For me, though, the biggest win here has to be The Young & the Restless’ Sasha Calle, making her big screen debut as the most impressive and DCEU-consistent incarnation of Kara Zor-El, aka SUPERGIRL, that we could ever have hoped for. She’s a truly AWESOME creation, EASILY as badass as Henry Cavill’s Supes but also a good deal more complex as a character too. Ultimately it’s a shame that circumstances mean that we likely won’t get to see more of her in future projects, much like Keaton’s returning Batman, as they’re definitely the unexpected heart and soul of the film, easily delivering in the most impressively iconic set-pieces and memorable character beats. Indeed, this is SO BLOODY BRILLIANT all round as a film – from its spectacular action sequences, through its frequent gleefully anarchic screwball humour, to a variety of impressively jaw-dropping game-changer twists in the narrative – that the fact that the DCEU itself is essentially over and all of this means PRECISELY ZERO in the face of where it’s all going in James Gunn’s incoming Cinematic Universe reboot makes this feel all the more ultimately pointless, which lends any viewing a bittersweet aftertaste no matter HOW enjoyable it all is. I mean granted, it’s NOT perfect (there is, famously, some pretty clunky CGI that ALMOST takes you out of the experience, especially in the late sequence when we see the timelines start to collide), but then very few of the DCEU movies HAVE BEEN anyway, and this one still essentially works just fine for what it is. So it may not have any actual VALUE for the series moving forward, but it’s still a really great movie that MORE THAN deserves to be seen for its own merits, and I highly recommend you give it a chance anyway. At least Gunn and co have seen the sense to keep Muschietti onboard for their reboot (namely helming the new DCU’s Batman reboot The Brave & the Bold), and if they’ve any more sense they’ll bring Christina Hodson back for more too …

8. THEY CLONED TYRONE – while cinemas may finally be properly getting back into the full swing of things now, with many of the big budget offerings that were long delayed by COVID finally emerging to fill up the year’s international moviegoing calendar, streaming services don’t seem to be letting that slow their own steam (granted, it’ll be interesting to see how things look in a year’s time, when the fallout from the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes really starts to hit, but I’m not about to get into THAT debate here), and Netflix is no exception, still leading the pack with their Original filmmaking offerings. BY FAR the most interesting, original and downright FIENDISHLY INGENIOUS offering they’ve landed so far this year HAS TO BE this thoroughly unique sci-fi satire from up-and-coming screenwriter Juel Taylor (Creed II, Space Jam: A New Legacy), who makes his feature directing debut here in truly BLINDING fashion. The concept itself is an absolute belter, although while the title may sound DECIDEDLY spoiler-heavy already, it’s actually just the very tip of the iceberg, and giving much of anything about the plot away would reveal some pretty key twists to anybody who didn’t already see the trailer. So if you DON’T wanna get spoiled, just rest assured this is a PHENOMENAL FILM and it really MUST BE SEEN, and just check it out good and cold … still here? Okay then … John Boyega continues to stretch his legs away from Star Wars as Fontaine, a mid-level drug dealer in a suburban ghetto simply known as The Glen who’s gunned down in a turf dispute, only to wake up unharmed the next day with no recollection of said events. As he investigates this uncanny twist, he ropes in the dubious help of two acquaintances – pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) and hooker Yo-Yo (If Beale Street Could Talk and The Marvels’ Teyonah Parris) – only to discover a dark and twisted labyrinthine conspiracy that stretches far beyond the urban confines of their beleaguered neighbourhood.

The results are one of the slickest and most brain-bakingly twisted chunks of speculative science fiction I’ve come across in a good long while, constantly throwing the viewer narrative curve balls while posing a dizzying series of moral and socially critical thematic quandaries, all the while presenting a brilliantly off-beat reimagining of classic “blaxploitation” tropes (indeed this is among the very best examples of this quirky little sub-genre I’ve EVER come across). It’s also got a LETHALLY devious sense of humour to it, beautifully subverting expectations to bring a delightfully skewed inner-city slice-of-life POV to proceedings which it then mines for the purest nuggets of comedy gold it can find. That being said, there are times it also gets pretty dark too – while it’s never particularly violent or harrowing (despite some of the obvious elements of its subject matter), the way the conspiracy itself unfolds as its monstrous nature is revealed gets truly existentially terrifying at times, and in the current political climate feels a little TOO possible … and then there’s the cast, who tie everything together PERFECTLY, the three leads in particular taking what could have been a joke set-up trio of the genre’s classic trope archetypes and invest them with genuine heart, soul and complex nuance – Boyega is endearingly vulnerable and effortlessly likeable as our sort-of hero, while Foxx brings both requisite quirky charisma and surprising deeply-hidden sympathy to what’s usually one of the most classically despicable character tropes out there, but the real STAR here is Parris, who effortlessly steals the film out from under her peers as a smart, plucky and brilliantly resourceful amateur sleuth who’s frequently miles ahead of everybody else as the mystery unfolds around them; meanwhile Kieffer Sutherland brings delightfully sleazy “cracker” energy as Nixon, the brutally amoral bureaucrat nominally in charge of this nefarious far-reaching plot. Taylor handles proceedings with admirable skill and an impressively artful visual flair while crafting one of the years most intriguing and thought-provoking films so far, and immediately marks himself as a clear rising star with a hell of a lot of one-to-watch potential for the future. I look forward to whatever it is he does next …

7. BLUE BEETLE – as for moving the big screen DCU moving forward, here’s a project that, apparently, is actually making the leap from old to new very much in one piece. Despite being long developed as a flagship film for the original DCEU, Gunn has folded this cinematic origin story for the second generation of one of the DC Universe’s lesser known (but still suitably iconic) superheroes into his new vision. Which basically means that THIS, right here, is our first real taste of what’s to come in the NEW vision … and, if I’m honest, if this IS a good indicator, then I’m actually all for it. Marking the big break of up-and-coming Puerto Rican filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto (who made a small but potent impact with his feature debut Charm City Kings), this is also EXTREMELY notable for being the first major studio movie about a Latino superhero, namely Jaime Reyes (Cobra Kai’s Xolo Mariduena), an impoverished young pre-law graduate from the fictional metropolis of Palmera City’s Edge Keys who finds himself essentially FORCED into taking up the long-vacated mantle of the new Blue Beetle after accidentally symbiotically bonding with a mysterious alien superweapon system simply known as the Scarab. Unfortunately, this device is being zealously sought by psychopathic weapons corporation CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), who wants to use its unique programming as the basis for her world-changing OMAC weapon system, and she’ll do ANYTHING to get hold of it … that’s really all you need to know about the story, the film proving to be a welcomely lean and impressively streamlined classic archetypal hero’s journey original story which also EFFORTLESSLY sets up all we need to know moving forward into what are, I’m sure, gonna be some EVEN MORE impressive adventures once the DCU proper gets off the ground, and the end result makes for one of the year’s most genuinely ENJOYABLE superhero movies. Mariduena makes for an endearing young hero here, investing Jaime with wide-eyed innocence and precociously earnest charm that belie some pure steel when he has to learn to man up and get in the fight for real, and the rest of the Reyes clan are similarly well established here too, particularly wildly popular stand-up comedian George Lopez (who here shows he has ONE HELL of a high pitched scream) as conspiracy nut Uncle Rudy and Hocus Pocus 2’sBelissa Escobedo as Jaime’s sweet, acerbic and FANTASTICALLY sassy little sister Milagro, while almost IMPOSSIBLY beautiful Brazilian actress Bruna Marquezine thoroughly impresses as Victoria’s granddaughter Jenny, the tough and resourceful daughter of original Blue Beetle Ted Kord. And then there’s the villains, and OH MY GODS does this film pay off BIG TIME by genuinely OUTPERFORMING when it comes to the all-important job of giving the hero suitably heavyweight antagonists by providing us with a pair of genuine STARS here – Sarandon is frequently downright CHILLING as a stony PSYCHOPATH who doesn’t care about ANYTHING but making her own twisted, perverse technological dream a reality, while Apocalypto’s very memorable Big Bad Raoul Max Trujillo handles the muscular side of things with consummate professionalism and brooding feral intensity as her pet special forces killer Ignacio Carapax, the recipient of the OMAC prototype and therefore, essentially, Jaime’s first nemesis.

There’s some INCREDIBLE action on offer here, the visual effects delivering magnificently to bring the Scarab AND OMAC’s versatile capabilities out in fine style, but for the most part this is a film which rides high on a glorious mixture of good old fashioned light-hearted humour and a massive dollop of emotional heft and pure HEART, delivering some genuinely POWERFUL heartbreaking character beats once things get REAL before finally paying off in a wonderfully cathartic old fashioned Hollywood happy ending. In many ways this film feels almost like a THROWBACK to simpler times, but it also paves the way impressively well for the future of the franchise if Gunn and co are INDEED intent on following this formula moving forward. Certainly this is a prime example of how to do a bright and cheerful primary coloured superhero movie WELL, and I look forward to plenty more of the Blue Beetle when they finally get their shit together again …

6. EXTRACTION 2 – back in 2020, when the Pandemic was really ramping up and not only the Summer but the whole year’s cinematic calendar looked like it was going in the toilet, the streaming services stepped up and took up the slack in fine style, and none carried more of the weight than Netflix with their Original Films. One of the year’s most impressive offerings was the fascinating team-up of MCU filmmaking heavyweights the Russo Brothers, who produced and co-wrote the first Extraction, an unadulterated two-hour adrenaline shot of an action movie that blew all our socks off and announced to the world that debuting stuntman-turned-director Sam Hargrave was going to be a proper future star in his own right in the most demanding of cinematic genres. Needless to say Netflix was IMMEDIATELY clamouring for more, just like the rest of us, so Hargrave and co returning with this equally blistering non-stop thrill-ride of a follow-up was a genuine no-brainer. Thor himself Chris Hemsworth returns as former Australian special forces soldier-turned mercenary hostage extraction expert Tyler Rake, battling to recover from his near-death experience at the end of the first film in order to rescue Ketevan Radiani (Abigail’s Tinatin Dalakishvili), the sister of his ex-wife Mia (Olga Kurylenko), and her children from the brutal Georgian prison they’re trapped in alongside Ketevan’s monstrous husband, Davit (Tornike Bziava), who’s facing a ten year stretch for his crimes as a bigshot in the Georgian mafia. Except that during the breakout Tyler’s forced to kill Davit, which sets the whole mafia, led by his furious brother Zurab (Tornike Gogrichiani), hot on their heels … like its predecessor, this is a film that, after taking a little time to set things up, hits the ground running with one INSANE action sequence on top of another and keeps going like that for pretty much the entirety of its remaining runtime, Hargrave and his RIDICULOUSLY hard-working and committed stunt teams delivering some of the year’s most spectacular set-pieces as they constantly up the ante on EVERYTHING they did in the first film.

Once again the absolute highlight is a genuinely INSANE unbroken single-shot sequence that takes at least twenty minutes all told to tell its mesmerising story, and this set piece alone really is the equal to anything we got in the John Wock movies. Hemsworth once again proves that he really IS the God of Thunder even when he ISN’T playing Thor, kicking arse and taking names like few other action heroes are capable of doing, but this time it's an absolute JOY to actually get to see returning co-stars Golshifteh Farahani (Body of Lies, Paterson, Invasion) and, in particular, Adam Bessa (The Blessed, Mosul, Harka) both get a MUCH bigger slice of the action themselves as brother and sister Nik and Yaz Khan, Tyler’s trusted mercenary partners, both proving as viciously lethal in action as our main protagonist; Gogrichiani, meanwhile, makes for an agreeably FERAL villain as a grieving butcher determined to get blood for blood no matter the cost, while Dalakshvili tugs hard on our heartstrings as a desperate mother willing to go to extraordinary lengths to keep her children safe. Altogether this is another undeniable POWERHOUSE action thriller, relentlessly effective and blissfully engaging from start to finish, and in many ways it’s EASILY an improvement on the first film. Needless to say a third film is ALREADY in development, and after this I’m SUPREMELY confident it should be just as much worth the wait …

5. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 3 – time for the obligatory MCU entry, then … but for once, this doesn’t feel like I’m trying to dress up a pig, either – YET AGAIN writer-director James Gunn has proven that he is, quite simply, THE BEST, most consistently ON-FUCKING-FIRE filmmaker working in the franchise, which perhaps makes the fact that he’s now OFFICIALLY jumping ship to permanently defect to DC particularly bittersweet, I guess. This is WITHOUT A DOUBT the very best MCU movie since Captain America: Civil War, and it couldn’t have come along at a better time since the series has been in SUCH a tough spot of late … anyway, the worst, least reliable, most unrepentantly despicable bunch of space-faring, for-hire A-HOLES in the entire galaxy are back, now set up full time in their base of operations in Knowhere and looking to get back to business now the Universe has finally gotten over all that unpleasant post-Thanos Snap fallout. But the crew themselves are still suffering some lingering after-effects from that shake-up, particularly Peter Quill/Star Lord (Chris Pratt), who’s a pretty much permanently drunk, despondent, emotionally broken MESS since the Gamora (Zoe Saldana) who came back after Endgame ain’t HIS Gamora, which leaves Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Nebula (Karen Gillen) propping things up in his essential absence as the current nominal leaders of the crew. This shaky status quo is then torn asunder when an explosively violent encounter with the Sovereign’s new superpowered agent of vengeance Adam Warlock (The Maze Runner’s Will Poulter) leaves Knowhere in chaos and Rocket badly injured and in need of urgent emergency care due to a previously undiscovered proprietary kill-switch built into his cybernetic implants making it impossible for them to heal him without killing him, leading them to enter into an uneasy alliance with Gamora in order to steal an override code from Rocket’s creator, the High Evolutionary (Peacemaker’s Chukwudi Iwuji), a megalomaniacal evil genius obsessed with manufacturing a perfect race in order to populate his envisioned utopian civilisation. Not only is this one of the very best films in the entire MCU canon to date, but it’s EASILY the best in Gunn’s trilogy, essentially a pitch perfect shake-up reinvention of the classic overblown science fiction space opera archetype which also pays immense respect to the fascinating core group of characters it’s helped to introduce cinemagoing audiences to.

It’s also a film expressly about ROCKET himself, even though he doesn’t actually have all that much screentime here, spending much of the film fighting for his life in the sick bay, but we’re treated to extensive flashbacks to his origin story as he was created, refined and essentially brought up by the High Evolutionary, and found his first makeshift found family among his fellow pieced-together cyber-augmented animals, sweet and gentle otter Lyla (Linda Cardellini), wheeled goofball walrus Teefs (Click & Collect’s Asim Chaudry) and spider-limbed bundle of hyperactivity rabbit Floor (The Suicide Squad’s Mikaela Hoover), who are the cutest bunch of anthropomorphic critters you could possibly imagine and, as a result, responsible for some of the biggest feels (and BY FAR the most thoroughly devastating emotion sledgehammer moments) in the entire movie. Needless to say Cooper is on top form throughout, as are the rest of the eclectic, irreverent and absolutely TOP DRAWER cast – while you may still be making unfair jokes about him being “the Worst Chris”, I think this is the best performance Pratt has EVER put in, he’s an absolute REVELATION in this one, plumbing previously unfathomed depths of raw intensity and naked vulnerability as Quill is forced to get over his shit in order to save his best friend, Saldana gets to bring a much darker and more edgy, unhinged take to Gamora to the one we’re previously used to, Gillen finally completes Nebula’s redemption arc to bring her fully into the realm of true HERO, and Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff, as Drax and Mantis, continue to be THE ABSOLUTE FUNNIEST, most full-on unapologetically HILARIOUS agents of chaos in this entire trilogy, all while getting to further expand and develop their own characters too … and, of course, Vin Diesel once again brings a hell of a lot of range to just three words as walking talking tree Groot; meanwhile it’s also nice to see other returning faces get plenty to do again, such as Sean Gunn’s endearingly prickly former Ravager Kraglin, Elizabeth Debicki’s bitchy Sovereign despot Aisha, the GOTG Holiday Special’s fan favourite Cosmo the Space Dog (again adorably voiced by Bodies Bodies Bodies and Fairyland’s Maria Bakalova), and even Sylvester Stallone, returning from GOTG 2 as mighty Ravager hero Stakar Ogord. Then of course, there are the series newcomers, who bring their own brands of intriguing new charm to proceedings, particularly Poulter, who does a fantastic job of taking a truly badass, virtually unstoppable supreme being like Adam Warlock and then essentially makes him a thoroughly clueless, emotionally immature man-baby who largely doesn’t have a clue what’s going on half the time, Gunn-regular Nathan Fillion, stealing every one of his scenes in another brilliantly arch comedic cameo, and, of course, Iwuji, who brings us what HAS TO BE the trilogy’s VERY BEST villain, investing the High Evolutionary with a supremely entitled sense of moral superiority and truly monstrous ego while simultaneously managing to make him a genuinely credible intellectual THREAT to our heroes. Needless to say, this amazing cast are just part of the precisely concocted recipe that’s brought this franchise highlight to such exquisite life, Gunn and co creating a pitch perfect sci-fi adventure chock full of action, suspense, thrills, wonderfully weird new extra-terrestrial locales, yet another gold calibre eclectic soundtrack, a TRULY MASSIVE amount of winning humour and a genuinely humongous dollop of pure, unadulterated FEELS. Congratulations James Gunn, you made me cry again. TWICE, damn you. And I love you for it …

4. NIMONA – we almost didn’t get this year’s most important animated feature. When Disney acquired Twentieth Century Fox and everything went tits up for its various affiliates, animation house Blue Sky Studios bit the dust just as this long-awaited adaptation of influential She-Ra & the Princesses of Power showrunner ND Stevenson’s beloved fantastical graphic novel from Spies In Disguise directors Nick Bruno and Troy Quaine was nearing completion, and it looked like it might never see the light of day … at least until Annapurna Pictures and Netflix swooped in to the rescue, snapping it up, funding its completion and getting it out on streaming to the delight of all of us who’d thought it was essentially LOST. The end result is just about THE VERY BEST movie I’ve ever seen about the struggles being non-binary and not conforming to any set gender identity in modern society, viewed through the fantasy prism of a shapeshifting “teenage girl” who effortlessly steals her own film. Chloe Grace Moretz is perfectly cast as the voice of the titular misfit anarchist troublemaker supernatural being, who finds an opportunity for some fresh chaos by joining forces with Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a newly-knighted commoner who becomes public enemy number one after being viciously framed for the murder of the queen of a futuristic medieval society built around chivalry and the righteous smiting of monsters. Ballister’s determined to prove his innocence, while Nimona just wants to create havoc, while they’re both being hunted by his former fellow knights, led by his ex-boyfriend Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang of The Try Guys), a direct descendent of the Kingdom’s legendary original monster slaying heroine Gloreth. It’s a gloriously original piece of work, the animation presented in a truly GORGEOUS brightly coloured 2-dimensional 3D graphic style that at once riffs on the ingenious visual inventiveness of the Spider-Verse movies while also creating something COMPLETELY NEW but also simultaneously lovably reminiscent of the classic Blue Sky cartoony look, while the frequently chaotic action is just as infectiously anarchic as the lead character herself. It’s also fiendishly brilliant in its subversive message and twisty logic, making the viewer question what being a monster REALLY means, and if what we see someone as REALLY IS their true identity. Needless to say, Moretz THOROUGHLY runs away with the whole film, while the character of Nimona herself is a truly ENCHANTING and thoroughly inspiring creation that’s destined to become an iconic hero for non-binary and trans kids around the world, but Ahmed and Yang are also both clearly having a great time here too, as is Frances Conroy as the Director of the Kingdom’s knights, clearly having a blast bringing icy menace to her deliciously duplicitous villainous turn. It’s an incredibly FUN movie, shot through with a rich and rewardingly infectious sense of humour, taking classic fantasy tropes and turning them on their head in new and wonderfully inventive ways, but it knows JUST when to get serious too, and there are some truly powerful moments when it takes hold of your heart and just DESTROYS YOU emotionally, especially in the incredibly evocative climax.

Ultimately this ISN’T an overly faithful adaptation of Stevenson’s original graphic novel – he was in a darker place when he wrote and drew it, going through his own complicated struggle with his gender identity before finally making his personal transition last year – but it certainly is rewardingly true to the book’s spirit and deep-down message of inclusion, positivity and being true to your core identity, which makes it one of the most important animated films to be made in a very long time indeed. I’m so happy this film’s receiving the TRULY MASSIVE amount of attention and LOVE it’s being garnering since its release, and I thank Netflix and everybody else who made the effort to get this movie out after all when Disney seemed so reluctant to take a chance on it after all. This deserves to be seen, it NEEDS to be seen, and I urge you to check it out.

3. SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE – the most exciting animated feature of the last DECADE getting a sequel was pretty much a no-brainer, but it didn’t make the wait any easier, and after COVID put a dent in so many of the big releases coming forward this was definitely one of the most painful delays for me. Finally getting to see it was, therefore, ONE HELL of a cathartic release of tension, so much that even later discovering that not everything was exactly GOOD in the production studios at the time (namely the animators being crunched LIKE CRAZY by the ever-shifting nature of the vision they were being asked to realise, leading to a toxic working environment for many, which is NEVER cool) still didn’t dent my truly AWED appreciation for the finished film. Seriously, this is THE BEST animated feature we’ve seen this year, ARE LIKELY TO SEE this year, and ALREADY a strong candidate for the best animated feature of this decade (although that’s likely to change if the incoming sequel turns out to be as good, if not BETTER, which it probability WILL). Honestly, I could end the review right here just with that recommendation, it’s GENUINELY THAT GOOD, people. But I still got a job to do here, so … once again, Miles Morales (Dope’s Shameik Moore), the new Spider-Man in his world, is at the centre of a whirlwind of narrative chaos as a new arch-nemesis he never knew he had emerges to hold him to account for what he did when he destroyed the Kingpin’s interdimensionally destructive supercollider in the first film – the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a former scientist at Alchemax who got turned into a walking mass of unstable wormholes when he got hit with the full brunt of all that quantum energy. As he embarks on his quest to take his misguided revenge on Miles, his interdimensional spree of carnage leads our Spider-Man to become connected with a Multiverse-spanning cadre of Spider-People, led by the spectacularly stern Spider-Man of Earth 2099, Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac), who police the various Earths in order to combat and remove “anomalies” that arise to threaten them … and the Spot is a BIG ONE of those. Oh, and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), the Spider-Woman Miles most definitely fell for in the first film, has started working with them too after her own father, police Captain George Stacy (Shea Wigham), who’s had it in for their Spider-Woman after she was mistakenly framed for the death of their Earth’s Peter Parker, discovered her secret identity and made her run from her own dimension as a result …

Yeah, it sounds pretty complicated, but this whole twisted labyrinth is, nonetheless, unveiled in the exact same super-slick, viewer-friendly way the first film pulled off its own exposition, which just makes more room for all the FUN as we get to follow our old favourites and a whole host of fascinating NEW incarnations of our favourite arachnid-themed superhero on their various insane adventures. This is JUST AS SPECTACULAR in terms of action, character work, pure invention and sheer, unrivalled SPECTACLE as its predecessor, in many places upping the wow factor SIGNIFICANTLY (particularly during a particularly colourful visit to the distinctly Indian-flavoured alternative version of New York called Mumbattan, which is the stomping ground of one of the film’s most memorable new Spider-folk, the irrepressibly chipper Pavitr Prabhakar, voiced by Deadpool’s thoroughly brilliant Karan Soni). Indeed, the most fun we have throughout this movie is definitely getting to hang out not only with our old friends but all these newcomers too, with Pavitr being joined by the fascinating likes of the very coolest Spider-Woman after Gwen, Jess Drew (Awkward Black Girl’s Issa Rae), digital avatar Margo Kess/Spider-Byte (The Hunger Games’ Amandla Stenberg), overly-angsty living Todd McFarlane comic panel Ben Reily/Scarlet Spider (the incomparable Andy Samberg) and even Mayday Parker, the impossibly adorable new baby daughter of Jake Johnson’s welcome returning big fan-favourite OG Peter Parker (and, of course, Miles’ original mentor from the first movie), who’s ALREADY got her spider-powers, while Miguel is a FANTASTIC character, brooding like a champ and sometimes proving to be as much of an EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE villain in the story as the Spot, especially once his beef with Miles is revealed … but at the end of the day, ALL of these new arrivals thoroughly PALE in comparison to one of this film’s BEST secret weapons, Hobie Brown/Spider Punk (Daniel Kaluuya getting to use his normal accent for once), a misfit non-conformist anarchist JOY with one hell of a problem with authority (Miguel’s IN PARTICULAR) who effortlessly steals our hearts just as much as EVERY SINGLE SCENE he’s in. That being said, it really is SO GREAT having our old crew back – Miles and Gwen are SO SWEET, their chemistry is just OFF THE BLOODY CHARTS without them even trying, and I adore every single scene of them together, never mind their own individual storylines (it’s PARTICULARLY great getting to see Gwen herself get a SIGNIFICANTLY enlarged narrative presence this time round, becoming JUST as important in this story as Miles himself), while any time we get to spend with Johnson’s Peter is pure gold, and we get to spend even more time with Miles’ wonderful, loving, hard-working parents Jeff and Rio Morales (Brian Tyree Henry and Lauren Velez), which is ALWAYS a plus. Needless to say, this is a whole LOAD of fun, shot through with the same classic winning humour, wild invention, visionary experimentation, thematic resonance and pure geeky in-joke easter egg-packing FAN SERVICE that made the first film such a winner, but it also comes through BIG TIME with more of those wicked FEELS, this time ramping things up FAR MORE with the serious emotional HEFT as we’re presented with some truly DEVASTATING character arcs whose after effects are gonna be felt for A VERY LONG TIME after. The fact that this is just the first half of a two-part SAGA, with Beyond the Spider-Verse currently in the works, means that we can look forward to PLENTY MORE, although here’s hoping that this time they give their animators a little more BREATHING ROOM to get it done right WITHOUT having to break their backs in the process, yeah? Then again, with the writers AND actors on strike right now, the likelihood of THAT is pretty strong …

2. OPPENHEIMER – really, is there ANY SURPRISE over this placing so high? You know what a MASSIVE Christopher Nolan fan I am, and him making a proper EPIC historical biopic examining the career and achievements of the father of nuclear power was GUARANTEED to not only grab my attention but also thoroughly please the serious high-brow cinema appreciator buried inside me under all that action junkie, superhero fanboy and sci-fi-nut stuff … but yeah, this was ALWAYS gonna be a fucking amazing film, wasn’t it? Nolan’s most regular acting collaborator (outside of Michael Caine, anyway), Cillian Murphy, stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who spearheaded the Manhattan Project which led to the creation of the very first viable nuclear weapons which were then used by the American military to destroy the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and end the Second World War. On the surface he seems like a driven, visionary man with a real fascination for the science he’s pioneering, but also a cool pragmatism which makes him the ideal man to usher in this astounding technological achievement, but as the film unfolds in Nolan’s typical non-linear narrative fashion we discover a far more complex man than we first supposed, Murphy unveiling Oppenheimer’s deep-seeded fears about the frighteningly real dangers his Project could give birth to. After all, he may have been the father of the Modern World, but this particular creation also gave rise to a century of technological horrors and a whole new, long lasting Cold War.

Anyway, this is UNDENIABLY the greatest performance of Murphy’s career, if he doesn’t at least get an Oscar nod for this there’s no justice in the world, while, in typical Nolan fashion, the rest of his rich ensemble cast is a genuine embarrassment of riches, from Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s long-suffering wife Kitty and Florence Pugh as his ill-fated Communist mistress Jean Tatlock to Matt Damon as his nominal “boss”, Gen. Leslie Groves, Kenneth Brannagh as his mentor and idol Niels Bohr, the mighty Tom Conti as the even MORE awesome Albert Einstein and even Robert Downey Jr. in a particularly KEY role as Oppenheimer’s one-time colleague and later rival, Atomic Energy commissioner Lewis Strauss, who dominates the parallel narrative throughline presented over the course of the film as his own efforts to discredit and destroy the great man ultimately end up coming back to bite his own political ambitions. To a man, they’re all as MAGNIFICENT as the rest of the film, which is a fascinating journey into the dark heart of one of the greatest but also most historically and socially destructive scientific achievements in the history of the world, the man who ushered it in, and the hell he then went through afterwards when he then tried to make sure we didn’t make it SO MUCH WORSE once we had the power to destroy ourselves. It’s a film that raises extremely tough questions, and what answers we ARE able to come to are every bit as terrifying as any of the consequences that are either seen or suggested here. Nolan is, as always, A MASTER in the director’s chair as much as in the screenwriter’s corner, bringing his usual visionary flair and artistic brilliance to craft yet more of his trademark IMAX-rocking BEAUTY and opulence, while his sneaky, snaky narrative shenanigans once again frame things in ingenious, challenging and sometimes emotionally DEVASTATING ways before we’re brought to the bittersweet denouement. Tenet composer Ludwig Goransson’s expansive, evocative score is, ultimately, just the icing on the cake, making an already amazing film even more noteworthy. If this film isn’t the toast of the Awards Season then they really ain’t paying attention …

1. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE – really, there should be NO SURPRISE that this has topped off my list for the summer. I may have grown up with James Bond, and I LOVE the Jason Bourne movies too, but Tom Cruise’s cinematic adaptation of the classic TV spy show has been MY ABSOLUTELY FAVOURITE espionage-based film franchise ever since JJ Abrams established the tried-and-tested formula for the series with 2006’s seminal classic third entry. That being said, the franchise didn’t find its strongest voice until Cruise brought his Jack Reacher writer-director Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun) on board for the dynamite fifth instalment, Rogue Nation, which was so fucking brilliant and well received by both critics AND audiences that Paramount saw fit to retain his services on the EVEN BETTER follow-up, Fallout, which came DAMN CLOSE to equalling the heights of Sam Mendes’ Bond masterpiece Skyfall … so of course it was a NO-BRAINER for him to return once again for this two-part intended send-off for Cruise’s seemingly immortal superspy, Ethan Hunt, as he not only faces his deadliest foes to date, but also some very dark ghosts from his own past. As with its predecessor, this is another spy flick where knowing as little as possible going in works best for your enjoyment, suffice to say that this time Ethan and his loyal friends, master hacker Luther Stickel (the legendary Ving Rhames), tech wizard Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and former MI6 spook Ilsa Faust (Dune’s Rebecca Ferguson), really have their work cut out for them when they’re forced to go rogue yet again in order to track down and deactivate a supermassive AI program known as the Entity which has become fully self-aware, broken free of its constraints and is now wreaking havoc throughout the internet and beyond.

Unfortunately this seemingly unstoppable digital force has enlisted the aid of a particularly dangerous “avatar” to represent its concerns in the real world, a mysterious terrorist known as Gabriel (Ozark’s Esai Morales) from Ethan’s pre-IMF days who seems to be following a dark agenda of his own. The ensuing race against time takes in a grand tour of impressively picturesque locales, a collection of winningly well-written characters and a series of knuckle-whitening, visually arresting action sequences that have long since proven to be McQuarrie’s bread-and-butter just as much as his ingeniously twisty labyrinthine plots and sparky, sharp-witted quickfire dialogue, again showing that he really is THE VERY BEST filmmaker that Cruise and Paramount could EVER have found for this franchise. Needless to say, Cruise is as spectacular as ever in what really has become the very best role he’s EVER HAD, by this point basically just INHABITING Ethan’s easy charm, admirably solid, unswerving moral principles and truly INCREDIBLE physical prowess, delivering equally well in the truly insane stunt-work which WE KNOW FULL WELL IS ALL HIM as he does in the acting stakes; meanwhile Rhames, Pegg and Ferguson once again shine bright in their now comfortably well-established roles while still managing to bring fresh depths and interesting new arcs to their well-worn characters, we get a lot more of The Crown-star Vanessa Kirby’s intriguing notorious second-generation arms dealer Alanna Mitsopoulis/the White Widow, and it’s an IMMENSE pleasure to finally welcome back the first film’s prickly yet verbose antagonist Eugene Kitteridge (Henry Czerny), Ethan and Luther’s former boss in the IMF, in a far much expansive role this time round. Meanwhile the franchise newcomers all impress as well, Morales easily proving to be the series’ VERY BEST VILLAIN to date as he menaces, seduces and murders his way through the story, brutally tearing our heroes’ lives apart as he pursues his mysterious master’s nefarious ends, while we get a brand new series heroine in the form of Grace (the MCU’s own Peggy Carter, Hayley Atwell), a sly and duplicitous professional thief who essentially stumbles into the thick of the action before becoming Ethan’s EXTREMELY unwilling accomplice; meanwhile there’s strong support from Shea Wigham and Greg Tarzan Davis (who previously worked with Cruise on Top Gun: Maverick) as Briggs and Degas, a pair of US Intelligence agents sent to chase down the rogue IMF crew, and Cary Elwes as Denlinger, a particularly duplicitous US Director of National Intelligence. And then there’s Paris … ah Paris, my sweet, psychotic demon child. Guardians of the Galaxy’s Pom Klementieff actually gets to be FRENCH again as Gabriel’s unpredictably lethal pet killer, and she’s an absolute JOY throughout, so delightfully unhinged that she makes every second of her screentime an undeniable pleasure, and as a result she’s BY FAR my favourite character in this. Altogether, this is about as perfect as spy cinema gets, McQuarrie and his cast and crew working tirelessly to deliver not only the very best film in the series to date, but also the best film I’ve seen this summer, very nearly my action cinema highlight of the whole year (so far, anyway), and one of the VERY BEST spy movies I have EVER SEEN. Given the state of the Strikes it’s not clear if we’re REALLY gonna get to see Dead Reckoning Part Two when it’s been set to release next summer, but whenever it DOES finally arrives, I KNOW it’ll be worth the wait … it just has to be bloody INCREDIBLE to be better than THIS ONE …

... By the way, I am SUPREMELY pissed off with tumblr about their suddenly blocking big blocks of text for making me chop up my reviews just to allow this shit to post in the first place. Shame on them ...

#movies 2023 #2023 in movies #how to blow up a pipeline #the flash #the flash movie #they cloned tyrone #blue beetle #blue beetle movie #extraction 2 #guardians of the galaxy vol 3 #nimona #nimona movie #spider man across the spider verse #oppenheimer #oppenheimer movie #mission impossible dead reckoning part 1

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