Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off)
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Inside (2023) directed by Vasilis Katsoupis
Drama. Basically a one man show with Willem Dafoe carrying the whole movie. Story is about a lone art thief trying to steal from a fancy penthouse who is then trapped inside that penthouse. With the resident away on vacation, the penthouse's many automated systems are shutoff, making life increasingly miserable for the trapped art thief -- physically and psychologically. The script gives the actor a lot of opportunity to show off his acting chops, in that sense Willen Dafoe got to show off a lot in this movie much like Joaquin Phoenix got to show off a lot in Joker (2019). Treat it like an art film, watch it if you want something off the beaten path and appears like it's exploring something deep, or if you really, really like Willem Dafoe.
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65 (Million Years Ago) (2023) directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
SciFi. Story about some space pilot traveling back in time and crash landed on Earth 65 million years ago, with one little girl as the sole survivor among his passengers. The duo had to deal with many hazards, including dinosaurs, to try to get back to the future. Not that actors do not try, and the CGI and special effects are professionally done, but it's just a trite concept in SciFi. There just isn't much in the plot. Watch it if you really like Adam Driver.
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Paint (2023) directed by Brit McAdams
Comedy. Story revolves around a character based on Bob Ross (painter with an afro who paints on TV). It tells the story of a celebrated public TV star painter falls from grace and then rediscovers love. Overall I would say it is well done and has its moments with sparks of brilliance, with laughs, heart, and at times understated yet piercing social commentaries. The acting style is very much typical of Owen Wilson. Not a blockbuster, but a nice movie nonetheless, one not completely brain dead.
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Mafia Mamma (2023) directed by Catherine Hardwicke
Comedy. Story about a somewhat neurotic American woman suddenly being told that she is an heir of an Italian Mafia boss, who then has to return to Italy to inherit the Mafia empire after the old boss was killed. Then follows the trite arc of a bumbling American somehow conquers the world of Italian organized crime and make them all nicer. Not much new there, but good effort.
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Renfield (2023) directed by Chris McKay
Horror, comedy. This one is entertaining and enjoyable. Story about Dracula's servant with special powers who is tasked with bring blood to sustain and ultimately revive the severely weakened Dracula. Said servant ultimately found love and wakes up to some new meaning of life and has to reevaluate his relationship with Dracula. Lots of blood and gore, often framed in funny settings. Colorful cinematography. Somewhat edgy, lots of laughs without requiring many brain cells, good entertainment.
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Say I Do To Me (2023) directed by Kiwi Chow
Romantic comedy. Story about a pair of YouTubers trying to "make it" it as YouTubers and kept failing until they stumble onto the idea of going a "solo wedding" and selling the idea of "self love" with the message of "independence" to the online world. From there the couple stage a breakup, with the woman going down the path of being the "solo wedding" princess and the man making up another online identity to play a masked villain flaming online antagonism against the "solo wedding" princess. Many fans and supporters on both sides getting into the flame war, which predictably spills into real life. Not sure how it goes down with the far eastern audience, but the plot seems contrite to me. Not completely brain dead, there are tender, thoughtful moments for sure. The original dialogue is in Cantonese, not sure how well it will translate to another language.
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Chevalier (2022) directed by Stephen Williams
Period drama. Story about a mixed race prodigy, born of a French plantation owner and his African slave, rises then falls through French high society, around the time of the French Revolution. Many scenes dealing with racial discrimination for sure, also plot around the protagonist's struggle to accept the black/African side of his identity. Some very good classical-sounding music, supposedly composed by the titular character who was an accomplished musician and fencer in real life. (I haven't look into how true that claim is about the music, or how closely the movie adheres to history.) I am usually not into European period drama, but I gotta say this one is very well done. Some emotionally heavy material. This is a thoughtful and well polished movie.
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Suzume (2022) directed by Makoto Shinkai
Japanese anime, drama, fantasy. Story about some school girl needing to navigate a lot of supernatural quests to save the world. Not that there isn't competence and creativity (e.g., I like the three legged chair character), and there are funny moments for sure, but other than high resolution and sharp graphics, the whole thing feels like it was made 20 ~ 30 years ago. Be it in concept or in execution, these days I expect animated feature films to be more 2020s than 1990s. Watch it if you really like anime (as they are still few and far between in American theaters), otherwise there is not much new in this movie.
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Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (2023) directed by Farhad Samji
Action, romantic comedy. Story about a buff, heroic big brother who is a father figure to his younger siblings finding love and having to fight many bad guys (with much blood spilled) to protect not only his own family but also his new bride's family. Very typical Bollywood, many good looking people in big dance numbers. Not a lot of social commentary. You might miss some jokes for not understanding Hindi and not reading the subtitles fast enough, but words are really not that important to follow the plot. It's a nice pop corn flick, good entertainment.
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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023) directed by Kelly Fremon Craig
Coming-of-age drama, adapted from a novel from 1970. Story follows a middle school girl dealing with faith and puberty. Not having read the book, I don't know how closely the movie adheres to the book. The movie itself is fine, very competently done. It feels dated to me (cannot blame it, it's adapted from a 1970 novel after all), not detecting much of more contemporary sensibilities. I suppose this is one those films where you will like it more if you like the original book more, and you'd be more indifferent it you are not already familiar with the original book.
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Polite Society (2023) directed by Nida Manzoor
Action comedy drama. I like this one. It follows the story of a Indian teenage girl in the UK, one with an overactive imagination and wishing to be a stuntwoman, somehow getting the idea that her big sister is being forced to give up art school to go into an arranged marriage. Thus starts a series of kung-fu action shenanigans as she tries to rescue her big sister from that fate. This is not the first film about Indian immigrant angst or about Indian teenager coming of age, but this is the first that incorporates lots of kung-fu action, in that it is fresh and new. The action sequences are quite respectable too, and inspires new, interesting aesthetics when performed in elaborate, colorful Indian saris. Highly recommended.
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Somewhere in Queens (2023) directed by Ray Romano
Nice little family drama. Warm, thoughtful, many established actors giving solid, respectable performances in the film. Story about a family with a son very talented in playing basketball but also extremely introverted. The son falls in love than breaks up with a girl. The father, fearing that the son will lose a college basketball scholarship, started meddling. Everyone ended up learning some new life lessons and gaining some new perspective on life by the end. Nice, warm and fuzzy, commendable performances, but ultimately not all that special.
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Fool's Paradise (2023) directed by Charlie Day
Satire, comedy. I like this one. Tells the story of a mentally challenged man bumbling through show business and briefly brushed by politics. A lot like "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood ...", the plot goes all over the place yet don't really go anywhere. It impresses the sense that the whole world is mad and only the mentally challenged protagonist is the sane one living through the mad, mad world. Use of brain optional -- you can think about it if you want to, but you don't really have to to enjoy the movie. This movie is something different, yet still entertaining. Highly recommended.
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Master Gardener (2022) directed by Paul Schrader
Drama. Story about a reformed white supremacist who found redemption through gardening. The gardener works for a graceful rich woman who later turns out to have a dark side. The rich woman's poor, mix-raced niece got thrown into the mix early in the movie, who then drives a lot of the plot. It's a complex story that does not always make sense. In the beginning I almost gave up on the movie for what I perceive to be bad acting and bad directing. But then it got better (or I got more used to the directing style or the aesthetic of the movie). This movie is certainly different, maybe even thoughtful (or it tries to be, I think).
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About My Father (2023) directed by Laura Terruso
Comedy, drama. Story about working class Italian American and his immigrant Italian father spending a a weekend with his wealthy fiancée's family. Trite tropes about supposed cultural clash that do not really go anywhere and not that funny anyway. Not that the actors don't try hard enough, but there just isn't much in the material for them to work with.
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You Hurt My Feelings (2023) directed by Nicole Holofcener
Drama? Something about a couple (who have been married to each other for a long time) overhearing each other saying unflattering things about each other's work to other people, hence feeling are hurt, that then takes various twists and turns to resolve. Not a lot of there there.
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The Machine (2023) directed by Peter Atencio
Comedy. I like this one, surprisingly a lot more than I thought I would. Story follows a stand-up comedian telling jokes about his experience with Russian organized crime when he took a trip to Russia as a college student. The comedian's story attracted the attention of a Russian mob boss that then led to the comedian being kidnapped to Russia. The comedian's father also shows up attempting to save the comedian. Within the Russian mob family, the mob boss' children are also busy trying to hurt one another as they vie to inherit the mob family from the sick, aging mob boss. The comedian and his father got caught in all this. Hilarity ensues.
I expected laughs, this movie delivered. I did not expect much heart or emotional tug, but the movie delivered those too, in spades. That elevated the movie from comedy into something quite a bit more.
The mob boss' daughter started out really cold, giving out that stereotypical assassin ice queen boss lady sort of vibe. She gets slightly warmer as the movie progress. But at the end she cracks two killer jokes that floored me. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, completely out of character for her, yet somehow fits so brilliantly in the movie overall, her last joke is like a bow that wraps up the movie nicely.
Highly recommended. Heck, watch it as a Father's Day movie with your adult children.
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Sanctuary (2022) directed by Zachary Wigon
Psycho drama? More like a two person play than a movie. It involves two people playing psychological domination games, a business man paying a professional to do so. It's about people playing psychological games, so lots of contrition in the plot. Nice ending, but most the rest of the movie felt like a waste of time.
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@89th and @Aqua-Letifer how do you feel about Ax stealing your movie review format? I feel you should get a cut of the revenue from this thread.
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@Horace said in Original Movies (not sequel, not reboot, not spin-off):
@89th and @Aqua-Letifer how do you feel about Ax stealing your movie review format? I feel you should get a cut of the revenue from this thread.
I don't feel threatened. Reading Ax's movie reviews is like reading a peer-reviewed study on Reggae.
