DHReviews

The Menu attracts with a fresh idea for a premise and tantalizes in its opening 20 minutes. Unfortunately the film burns through its intriguing premise and plot too quickly and one is left feeling like the film could have been better served with more style and substance like the variety of dishes it's narrative serves. It's plot is simple but with some amount of finesse. It's characters are stylistically paper thin but serviceable. A delightful if not entirely predictable ending twist brings the film to a decent finish. Overall The Menu is an enjoyably average film. Easily digestible and filling.

Shakespearean, maudlin, and with all the wit, charm, and nuance we expect from a Martin McDonough picture. The Banshees of Inisherin is a delightful trip to a less notable emerald isle and features a story straight out of a theater production put to film (it seems). A black tragicomedy by definition, I found the film quite enjoyable. Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleeson, frequent McDonough collaborators, bring believable performances to their characters, though standout among the cadre is Kerry Condon, whom I want to see more of in the future. The narrative is quite simple, concise, smartly written, and delightfully macabre. Cinematography delights in showing us the landscapes of Inishmoor and Achill Island near Irelands coast thanks to the eyes of DP Ben Davis. Though not my personal favorite of McDonough's films (In Bruge will always take that cake), Banshees is an enjoyable film from beginning to end.

Smile is the full bodied follow up to director Parker Finn's initial short film, Laura Hasn't Slept and his directorial debut. Following quite literally in the footsteps of the previous effort, Smile broadens the titular premise into a fully fleshed out and enjoyable horror piece. Standout performances include the lead of Sosie Bacon, supporting actor Kyle Gallner, and the ever illustrious but underused Robin Weigert. While the film dips several toes into well worn genre tropes, is a tad overlong, and will not be amongst its more groundbreaking peers, Smile brings it's own color to the spectrum and it stands out from the majority of the pack of this years horror/thriller offerings.

As complex as a concerto and crafted with poise, gusto, and beauty, Tár is a fantastic film. Cate Blanchett is no stranger to bringing audiences to a theater for simply being in a film and she finds another beautifully delicate and vervacious role here. The story itself is a welcome departure from the standard fare of movies these days, and while somewhat overlong and lacking in drive in parts, the film weaves the concert of this composers fall with grace and deftness.

While it may be hard for some to return to the Top Gun world after such a long distance between the films, Tom Cruise and company bring the franchise back into the limelight with the force of a F16. While nervous about the film in general, I knew I would have a good time watching it thanks to the sheer fact that Tom Cruise does nothing halfway. The cinematography within each cockpit, unique in its execution, is the major highlight of the film. While some aspects such as a relatively lackluster script and some average acting by supporting characters keep Top Gun: Maverick from reaching truly death-defying heights, lovers of popcorn movies will feel right at home and rightly thrilled. An enjoyable flight to say the least.

Robert Eggers continues to prove his talents this film. His third feature overall, The Northman evokes a classic Norse epic at grandoise scale. Written by Eggers himself and the well known Sugarcubes alum, poet and lyricist Sjon, the story of the Northman in language and visual content comes across as a tale straight out of the Edda. The films epic scale and visceral storytelling comes across equally as powerfully within its cinematography, mastered by a returning Jarin Blaschke who joined Eggers on his previous film, The Lighthouse. Norse themes and motifs come alive in brilliant and traditional fashion thanks to a mighty score by Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough. Acting is also one of the films many triumphs, as Alexander Skarsgard, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, and Claes Bang all bring their A-Game to this film. Eggers has proven to be an exciting new voice in Hollywood and thus far his films have held few missteps. If anything relatively negative comes from this third outing of his, it's that the film's a slow burn may not be some viewers cup of tea, and even for me (a large fan of his), the runtime lingers right on the edge of being a tad overlong. It's ending is also relatively abrupt considering the pacing of the film, which left me maybe yearning for a more resounding and drawn out finish. Still, the Northman is yet another well fletched arrow in this inspiring directors quiver, and Eggers continues to carve a strong path into the filmsphere.

I'll be honest, I was not a fan of this version of Spider-Man either in Homecoming or Far From Home, thinking originally that both films were inferior to previous iterations, but that the character works within the context of the MCU. However, the final film in the "Home Trilogy" of Marvel's MCU Spider-Man brings my rocky opinions of Tom Holland's Spider-Man to a very fun, very endearing finish. This film tugs at the heart of the characters journey and brings him full circle. Thanks to the excellent, Spiderverse inspired joining of different characters joining the film from other iterations of Spider Man, No Way Home flies higher than its predecessors and settles on a close 2nd place to Spider-Man 2 in the rankings of best films with the character.

Matt Reeves' The Batman is not a masterpiece, but it is damn near close. So many elements of the film, from its detective noir story following a Jeffrey Dahmer esque Riddler villain, (masterfully played by Paul Dano), to its more internal struggle of Robert Pattinson's Batman two years into his fight for Gotham city. Matt Reeves The Batman is a spin on the caped crusader that has not been put to film in quite this same way by other directors. The film is crafted masterfully by excellent directing, acting, beautiful cinematography, and a great score. While weighing in at nearly three hours in length, the film surprisingly doesn't have much drag to it because of the expert pacing. With a trilogy and a pair of television shows planned from this point, Matt Reeves' The Batman is an excellent first step into a new universe.

Witty, clever, if not a film that hits a little too close to home at times. "Don't Look Up" delivers in it's star studded cast and fair amount of quirky, dark, and sometimes hilariously offensive caricatures of how our modern dystopia handles a world threatening comet. Leonardo Dicaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, and an ever witty Meryl Streep deliver the talent and most of the laughs when they do come, which is thankfully more often than not. That's in thanks primarily to Adam McKay's punchy dialogue and solid work in the editing room. It's a shame the film gets bogged down by a few too many dumb jokes, genre tropes, and a disastrous, and cringe inducing performances by Jonah Hill and Ariana Grande. That and the film could have definitely been streamlined and simplified by cutting a solid twenty minutes from it's lengthy 2hr and 18min runtime. Still, "Don't Look Up" achieves what it set out to accomplish. Some will laugh. Some will cringe. Some will be nonplussed.

I very nearly jettisoned right out of the film after the utterly misguided and atrociously written first 20 minutes, but I steeled myself, gripped my chair a little bit harder, and bit my tongue against the wave of absolute garbage that was propelling at me from my home screen to give this movie the smallest of chances (because for the love of god who would see this in theaters). After a truly bitter first taste the glimpses of 1/2 of the Wachowski genius started to seep in through the cracks. A taste of brilliance here, a dash of somewhat decent writing there, before I began to slowly settle in to what this movie has to offer. Unfortunately the small taste was all this film had going for it. I stand firmly in the camp of not completely disliking either Reloaded or Revolutions. To put them next to this film makes both hated sequels to an undeniable classic seem like Empire and Return of the Jedi. The Matrix Resurrections is a deeply flawed picture. It begs the question if it should exist at all. So much of the style, the exciting life of the former movies of the late 90's and early 2000's had is nowhere to be seen. The writing plops off the page like wet dog excrement. Iconic characters are recast for the worse. Action set pieces and, god forbid I say it, kung fu action sequences the previous films were known for are completely absent in favor of cheap, jump cutting "thrills". There was perhaps a solid 10 minutes of decent storytelling near the middle of the film that shone a bit brighter amongst the miasma before it inevitably took a nose dive into mediocrity. All in all the film is a shocking mockery of the franchise, built to fail.