For now, like Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune, this Wicked manages to end on a note of “to be continued” while still feeling like a complete story. If only its imagery had a little more magic!
Furiosa can’t possibly be as mind-blowing as its predecessor, but it does allow us to spend a little more time in this world and Miller’s mind. No other working action filmmaker sees the world the way he does.
Haynes’ camera often perceives these characters from around a corner, or from the other side of a mirror, or inside what they think is a safe space — always giving the viewer the simultaneously icky and exhilarating feeling of being a trespasser on private secrets.
This is not a movie made for second-screen viewing; anyone glimpsing at their phone for even a moment may miss a key character moment or plot detail that is conveyed visually. It will be best to see in a theater during whatever release window Netflix provides — but even when viewed at home, Maestro deserves the same level of respect from viewers as one of Bernstein's public performances of the music of Mahler.
Though they may seem disparate, the many elements of Oppenheimer refract and reflect each other, like a bunch of atoms creating a chain reaction or a group of scientists building off each other's ideas to forge something new.
It's a little sad to say that aside from certain surprises, much of Across the Spider-Verse's contents were in the trailers. The job of a trailer is to show viewers the premise of a movie without spoiling the conclusion — but there's no conclusion here!
It's all quite fun, with a good sense of humor and a consistent computer-animated aesthetic — plus, at 90 minutes including credits, it's short, sweet, and over before anything can get annoying.
What's especially welcome about the humor in Honor Among Thieves is that it doesn't wink or mock its material; the characters just say funny things and bounce off each other as organically as a real-life friend group. The fantasy elements are played straight, and the central story is a relatable romp about how people who fail as individuals can still succeed together.
