Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off)
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The Woman King (2022) directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
Action, drama, supposedly with historical basis. Very well done as a production. The romantic side plot is a bit extraneous. I get the sense that it wants to be a "war epic" but never quite get there. Would probably have been more celebrated by Hollywood for having an almost all Black cast if Black Panther has not come before it. The idea of a woman warrior or a woman army? Wonder Woman and the Black Widow got those covered too. (The Chinese also have their Mulan and the Yang women generals.) This is still a good movie, just not quite "great" or "epic" with historical comparisons.
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Ticket to Paradise (2022) directed by Ol Parker
Romantic comedy. Middle-aged divorced couple reunites after their daughter's wedding on a tropical island. Go watch it if you like George Clooney or Julia Roberts. Not that the other actors did not do a good job or the tropical island's sceneries are not beautiful, but there is just not much more to the movie than the two established stars.
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Triangle of Sadness (2022) directed by Ruben Östlund
Satire, dark comedy. Seems like a movie that tries to be intellectual and artsy. From watching the trailers I thought I would like the movie but when watching the film I ultimately found it too long and too pretentious. The plot and dialogue are rather contrived. It was trying way too hard, so to speak.
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The Menu (2022) directed by Mark Mylod
Horror, comedy, satire. The brilliant, eccentric, but misguided head chef of a fine dining establishment ultimately redeemed by a good ole cheeseburger. The comedy/satire part makes fun of super expensive but ultimately pretentious abstract "fine dining" and the associated kitchen operation. The horror part has human mutilation and killing in a fine dining "experience" (no cannibalism, so no worry about being grossed out in this way). Good concept, interesting plot, good acting, good direction. It's a good movie.
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Strange World (2022) directed by Don Hall and Qui Nguyen
Animation film by Disney. Definitely has that Disney quality as far as the animation goes. Creative imagination of the "strange world" with colorful, polished visuals to match. The "moral of the story" has a strong environmental message to it. A fun movie to watch. Disney animation usually comes with good music, but in this film none of the music leaves much of an impression with me. For you snowflakes out there, know that there are depictions of homosexual and interracial relations in this film, just in case some of you are easily triggered by these things.
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Violent Night (2022) directed by Tommy Wirkola
Action, comedy. It has many elements of a traditional Christmas movie, with a Santa that has magical Christmas powers and a little boy from a troubled family who still believes in Santa. The twist is that, like the robot Santa from Futurama that violently guns down those on the naughty list, this movie's Santa engages in violent battles to mow down terrorists and kidnappers in all sorts of creative, bloody ways. It also pays a lot of homage to Die Hard, complete with heavily armed terrorists dressed in white snow attires arriving on snowmobiles. It's an entertaining Christmas movie.
I would say bookmark this movie for streaming around next Christmas, especially if you're the sort who thinks Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
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Babylon (2022) directed by Damien Chazelle
Drama. A lot like "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," it's a movie set in an alternate history of the movie business, with some DEI social commentary mixed in. Very good acting and direction in general; Margot Robbie gave an outstanding performance as the wild and wildly talented starlet-turned-star protagonist. I couldn't help thinking of "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" as I was watching this movie, though this movie is even wilder, more excessive than "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood." I suppose if you like "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," you will likely like this movie too.
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M3GAN (2023) directed by Gerard Johnstone
Sci-fi horror, think human sized Chucky in robotic/AI form. I like this movie, much more than I thought I would. AI powered robot developing into a good friend/nanny to a young girl, then evolved to become a super killer robot. The plot sounds trite in the sci-fi genre, yet it works so surprising well in this movie. Don't know how the film maker did it, much the robot's facial expressions came off surprisingly convincing (and surprising creepy when warranted) on screen. Really exceptional dance-like action sequences performed by the robot as it moves in for kills that are both artful and creepy at the same time. Not for little kids (this is a horror film after all), otherwise highly recommended.
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A Man Called Otto (2022) directed by Marc Forster
Light drama, comedy. Difficult, suicidal retiree learns new meanings of life, friendship, and community through interactions with a new young family that moves into his neighborhood. Well acted and well directed, this is a heart-warming film. If you are not already sick of Tom Hanks and want a nice movie to pass a couple of hours, this one will fit the bill just fine without being braindead.
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Plane (2023) directed by Jean-François Richet
Action. Airplane struck by lightning and forced to land in a tropical island controlled by heavily armed terrorists who like to kidnap Westerners for ransom. Ex special ops captain proceeds to heroically rescue the kidnapped passengers. Pretty trite plot for the genre. Nicely done, above average within the genre, just not outstanding or special within the genre.
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The Devil Conspiracy (2022) directed by Nathan Frankowski
Sci-fi, fantasy, horror. Czech made movie built on elements of Christian mythology. Something about a demonic cult trying to resurrect the devil by creating a godly body using the DNA collected off the Shroud of Turin. Archangel Michael took over the body of a dead good guy priest to battle the cult. Exciting actions, good visuals and what not. Well done as a movie production, just not outstanding or special within the genre, but noticeably different in its portrayal of Michael the archangel compared to American made films/TV that also depict Michael the archangel.
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Missing (2023) directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson
Screenlife thriller. Yeap, "screenlife" is a new genre now, for plots that unfold mostly on phone/tablet/computer screen. After a teenager's mother gone missing on vacation, the teenager uses all sorts of social media and gig services to figure out what happened to her mother. In many ways this movie reminds me of the "Searching" (2018) movie, where a father uses electronic records and social media to figure out what happened to his missing daughter. The genre is relatively new, and the social media landscape changes very fast, so not a lot of comparisons at this time. Still, this is a good movie IMO. Good plot, good character development, heart warming and intelligent in many places. Worth a watch.
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New Gods: Yang Jian (2023) directed by Zhao Ji
3D animation from China. Very good animation, stunning visuals that warrant watching on a big screen. Very imaginative, intricate, and majestic "world" designed and rendered with impressive details. China has really made a lot of progress with 3D animation lately, to the point where I look at it and I figure "dang, this is even better than Disney/Pixar."
This movie is based on characters in a Ming dynasty novel that is in turned based in part on ancient Chinese mythologies and ancient Chinese history (Zhou dynasty ancient). This movie reminds me a lot of the Cowboy Bebop (1998) animated series, completely with ragtag crew of bounty hunters, a "lazy" team leader impressive fighting skills, and machines that have a bit of that steampunk feel. But this being a movie made under the CCP's censorial regime, the content is decidedly not as "edgy" as Cowboy Bebop. Still, there is a lot to draw from given the richness of the original Ming dynastic novel and thousands of years of mythologies. Overall this is a good movie with very good animation. Highly recommended.
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Living (2022) directed by Oliver Hermanus
Drama. British, very British. Old civil servant with terminal diagnosis uses his remaining time to cut through bureaucratic red tapes to do some good, inspiring a young civil servant in the process. Well directed, well acted. Not exciting, very restrained, a little slow even, but heartfelt and thoughtful with lots of understated nuances and subtleties.
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80 for Brady (2023) directed by Kyle Marvin
Comedy. Four old ladies, all old friends of each other, embark on adventure to attend a Super Bowl game and to meet Tom Brady. These are all established actresses who know what they're doing. The plot is somewhat predictable given the premise. Good for 98 minutes of entertainment without needing to use the brain much.
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Pathaan (2023) directed by Siddharth Anand
Action, thriller, in Hindi. Basically a super cop, super government agent type film. Exciting and entertaining with a Bollywood flare. I used to appreciate India's different action/fighting styles in Bollywood films, but lately the Bollywood films (like this one) seem to have shifted over to imitating Hong Kong/Hollywood action/fighting styles; so a little of disappointment there for losing something unique to Indian/Bollywood productions. Oh, yeah, this one has got a big Bollywood dance number with dancers in police/military tactical outfits, so that's different. While extolling nationalism, the film also acknowledges the Hindu-Muslim tension in India and portray collaborations between Indian and Pakistani agents. In some sense, I suppose these reflect India's national psyche and geopolitical aspirations.
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The Amazing Maurice (2022) directed by Toby Genkel and Florian Westermann
Animation. Something about some mice working with a cat and a couple of humans to defeat the villainous rat catcher and the "rat king." It's supposedly based on a novel. The novel is probably very nice but the film just wasn't remarkable or memorable to me.
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Shehzada (2023) directed by Rohit Dhawan
Drama, action, in Telugu. Basically a prince and a son of a pauper switched at birth type story. The true prince grew up to be a good person while the son of the pauper grew up to be a spoiled brat. True lots of trials and tribulations the true prince was finally reunited with his rich family. Different culture, different sort of humor, different style of action/fighting, different type of contrition needing different suspension of disbelief. Not bad, not outstanding either, basically 2.5 hours of OK entertainment.
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Cocaine Bear (2023) directed by Elizabeth Banks
Some thrill, some comedy, I suppose. The premise is easy to grasp: drug smuggler air dropped a large amount of cocaine into a forest, a big black bear ingested the cocaine and gone berserk, mauling and killing many people. As shocking as the premise is, there is really not much else to the movie. The actors did the best they could with the rather limited material, there is just not much more to be had.
