#36: Knives Out

So the mystery is essentially solved before the first hour half, the rest is seeing a bunch of famous people be characters. Some of it's surreal, all of it's interesting.

My notes for this are a mess, forgive me.

People will say that 'the big standout is Chris Evans!' but that's because you're used to seeing him as Captain America or as a baby-eater in "Snowpiercer" or something that no one but dedicated Stans saw.

He's certainly way more compelling than he ever was in a MCU film. There's nothing wrong with him here. Honestly, the standout for me is Toni Collette ("Hereditary", Ari Aster, yes, the man who brought us "Midsommar").

Also, Daniel Craig with a Colonel Sanders type infliction and accent is amazing and I love it.

So, you know how Star Wars films, modern ones, will sprinkle faux progression or mentioning minor that insists the creators are 'woke'?

This is more of a genuine attempt from our old friend Rian Johnson (And yes, I desperately miss him in Star Wars already). It's not far enough because it turns into 'rich white people try to get an immigrant framed for the crime'.

Even the white liberal turns on her. Surprise, right?

#35: Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker

I don't think I've heard people ask so much about 'family names' in Star Wars before.

I flat out forgot that new characters were intended to be added. It was a surprise (but a welcome one, to be sure) when Lando showed up, but Zorii and Jannah were negligible presences.

Also I mean, Rose was already there, and they sidelined her. Imagine going through all that abuse because Star Wars fans were so against people of color and women of color in their space movie to be 80% ignored.

It was funny to finally see our sequel trio interact and actually have an adventure...together. Even the bickering was funny. This is the first time I have ever liked C3P-O.

That's the big problem with this franchise, is that JJ listened to the fans for both of his sequel series movies. (Sorta).

Let's introduce a diverse cast, and when adults pitch a fit that boils down to "I hate everyone who doesn't look like me", the series is pretty quickly adjusted to be mostly nostalgia based upon the white characters and their legacy.

Instead of going "Wow, let's explore the concept of an escaped Stormtrooper.", it's "Cool, what if this famous person in the galaxy had an unknown descendant until now."

#34: Cats (2019)

Um.

Okay first off, let's say it - This movie has no plot besides 'Cats introduce themselves to enter 'American Idol', and the reward is death'.

 The production value is lovely.

For the sets. I was genuinely interested in the environment these weird hybrids inhabited. Why is everything a cat pun when there are clearly humans in this world?

There's a segment early on with Jennyanydots and her dancing mice and cockroaches and it all looks just cheap and terrible. I hope the Graphic Patch for the movie updates those in particular, as the rest cannot be saved.

(The mice themselves? Actually adorable!)

The characters themselves...every so often, I'd go "This is okay." and then the characters would turn their heads or their bodies in a particular way and it would just look awful.

I'd wince.


Visibly.


More than once.

Just when you think it's okay-adjacent, you get the rumpled-fur rug look of Idris Elba's Macavity or cat Taylor Swift's chest and it's very distracting.

#33: The Lighthouse

Surprisingly, not the A24 release of this year I had expected to see. I had initially planned to see "The Farewell" but it simply didn't grab me.

Unlike old timey sailor speech, hallucinations, and forni-mermaid-cation.

Another award season, another role in which Willem Dafoe is probably the only nomination for a movie. Remember last year and "At Eternity's Gate"? That was certainly more accessible than this, a rather "Mandy"-ish assortment of a different, secluded life that just might drive one mad.

Yes, it's all black and white, with a lot of striking light sources. The aspect ration is also very akin to an older picture.

This movie can be summed up as 'Who's mad here? Who isn't mad? We're all mad here?'.

I'm not the person who says 'All movies need to adhere to a strict storytelling outline', there are some like this that are just nice to watch, not pretend you understand, but watch for the visuals and wondering just how far down it can go.

Guess we can also give Robert Pattinson props to being much more of a looker now than he ever was in "Twilight".