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crowdvscritic · 17 days

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crowd vs. critic single take // THE LOST WEEKEND (1945)

Photo Credits: IMDb.com

What’s one weekend away? For an alcoholic, torture.

Struggling writer Don (Ray Milland) is dreading a trip with his brother Wick (Phillip Terry), who monitors what he imbibes. He keeps a covert stash in the crannies of their New York City apartment, but it won’t be easy to sneak it out of town alongside his brother and his girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman). Part belligerence and part willful ignorance convinces him perhaps it’s best not to go at all. A weekend spent only with himself—and a few fellow bar patrons—would be better.

CROWD // One of the reasons I love movies is they’re the closest to time travel we’ll ever get. Like Harry Potter dunking his head into the Pensieve, a screen always reveals more than the filmmakers intended because it's a literal portal into the past. The Lost Weekend’s portrayal of alcoholism feels melodramatic today, borderline heavy-handed, but in 1945, The New York Daily News called it "the most daring film that ever came out of Hollywood.” Turner Classic Movies notes it had a special relevance in a year when soldiers were returning from a traumatizing war, and it was “the first to treat drinking seriously and not play it for laughs. Gone were the inebriated Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man movies.” Just a few years later in 1949, Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell died when she was was hit by a drunk driver. When Malcolm Gladwell explored it on his podcast Revisionist History, he observed, “The fact that his drinking might have been the reason he was speeding somehow didn't seem to occur to many people... but in the mentality of the time, the driver was irrelevant. He was as unlucky as the victim." All that to say, how we feel about alcoholism has changed in the last eight decades.

Though the context feels foreign today, the characters do not. If you’ve ever known someone struggling with crippling mental health issues, watching Helen and Wick waffle between support for Don and total exasperation will feel too familiar. You’ll also recognize the truth in Don’s statement that there are two versions of himself—the one who would love to be a writer, and the one who believes he’s a failure. One version wants to be the man Helen deserves and a responsible brother who pays the rent, but the other cons and manipulates them, even swiping the maid’s paycheck for his habit. (Writer/director Billy Wilder would create another unstable, manipulative character in Sunset Blvd., but Norma Desmond would add a sinister edge.) Even if The Lost Weekend doesn’t feel congruent with modern depictions of substance abuse, it’s still moving because its heart is empathetic to those struggling as well as their friends and family.

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 7/10

CRITIC // That success is largely thanks to the cast. In another film, Don could have been a villain or comic relief—here is treated with as much care as Milland took in preparing for the role. His commitment is an early example of the strategy many Best Actor hopefuls still take today, volunteering a physical transformation to become this character. In addition to changing his diet to lose weight, he took the initiative to stay in Bellevue Hospital for a time (where some of the film was shot, though Bellevue later regretted it) to experience their treatment of alcoholics. Though he was unsuccessful at achieving drunkenness, he was successfully mistaken as public day drinker by acquaintances who were gracious enough to mention it to the press. Without Milland, Matthew McConaughey might have still lost weight for Dallas Buyers Club, Brendan Fraser might still have gained weight for The Whale, and Leonardo DiCaprio might still have gone through the tortures of The Revenant, but perhaps Milland's win is the source code for actors going to extremes to show commitment to their craft.

In addition to nominations for editing and cinematography, Billy Wilder won his first Oscars for writing and directing The Lost Weekend. (He’d already lost five times, including for Ninotchka and Double Indemnity, and he’d win four more for Sunset Blvd. and The Apartment. Yeesh, what a career!) A Best Score nod brought to the tally to 7 total nominations, though that’s less impressive when you know the Academy recognized 47 nominees in 3 different music categories for the year of 1945. (The following year each category was narrowed down to the traditional five.)

One more indicator of the Ghost of Oscars Yet to Come: The Lost Weekend is the first social issues drama to win Best Picture. Previous winners danced around what is now a staple during Awards Season, but Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Grand Hotel were really slice-of-life character dramas, The Broadway Melody and Going My Way were really musicals, and It Happened One Night and You Can't Take It With You were really comedies, although all six of those titles were conscious of money, class, marriage, and religion. The Lost Weekend is the first winner about everyday people facing a present day challenge not set during war or a historical period. For the first time, the Academy affirmed the value of a "small" story with its highest honor, giving dignity to people and concerns that could be mistaken as unimportant.

ARTISTIC TASTE: 9/10

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crowdvscritic · 24 days

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round up // MARCH 24

This March Round Up is one of the most media-diverse I’ve ever published. Two books! Two miniseries! One museum! One telecast! And somehow, most of them eventually come back to the same topic: movies.

Now that the Oscars have named their 2023 victors (“My eyes see Oppenheimer!!!”), it feels like the 2024 movie year has finally started, and one major Awards Season contender is already out. (Keep reading to see if it is Kong x Godzilla!) Three of my top 10 picks this month are new films, but this brief pause between Awards Season and summer blockbusters means I have time for indulgent activities like reading books and playing Turner Classic Movies roulette on the DVR. May lulls like these between your busy seasons be just as enjoyable with these pop culture faves…

March Crowd-Pleasers

1. The Fury by Alex Michaelides (2024?)

You know it’s a good book when it’s already past your bedtime, you see that you have 100 pages left, and still say, “Yeah, there’s no way I’m not finishing this tonight.” I made this my January Book of the Month because it sounded like Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (my favorite movie of 2022), but this doesn’t center on a Benoit Blanc-style detective. At the center is a charming, unreliable narrator (one I kept picturing as John Mulaney) recounting the murder of a starlet (whom I kept picturing as Carole Lombard) while on vacation with her friends and family. I read 75% of this murder mystery set on a private Greek in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down!

2. Road House (2024)

Thank goodness Jake Gyllenhaal seems to be losing interest in prestige projects because he’s best when he’s a lil’ crazy. That’s just one reason this Road House is even more fun than the original. Read my full review for ZekeFilm. Crowd: 10/10 // Critic: 7/10

3. Barbie: The World Tour by Margot Robbie and Andrew Mukamal (2024)

I have referenced Barbie in almost every Round Up since it came out, and I'm not slowing down now. This new book from Margot Robbie and her stylist Andrew Mukamal catalogs each of her Barbie press tour looks inspired the doll’s historical closet, giving side-by-side comparisons the head-to-toe looks on the doll and on Robbie. With designers’ sketches and insight into how Robbie and Mukamal made their sartorial choices, it makes for a gorgeous coffee table book.

4. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Big things go smash! I stopped by KMOV to chat about the newest Godzilla/Kong team-up with Joshua Ray, which won’t send you away smarter but probably in a better mood. Watch the full review. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 4/10

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5. SNL Round Up

I’m noticing my Saturday Night Live Round Ups are shorter this year, which is probably thanks to a greener cast. But I am always rooting for Studio 8H, and these three were worth re-watching and sharing in the text thread:

“Detectives” (4913 with Sydney Sweeney)

“Loud Table” (4913)

“Moulin Rouge” (4914 with Josh Brolin)

More March Crowd-Pleasers: Morgan Freeman, Keanu Reeves, and Rachel Weisz get caught up in a murder plot surrounding a new energy source in Chain Reaction (1996) // Before Zodiac, Kurt Russell was a Miami Journal reporter investigating a serial killer in The Mean Season (1985)

March Critic Picks

1. Art in Bloom at the St. Louis Art Museum

Every spring SLAM invites floral artists to create arrangements inspired by pieces in the museum’s collection. As always, this event inspires me to look at works I’ve seen dozens of times in new ways, and I always discover flowers that make me wish my thumbs were more verdant.

2. Dune: Part Two (2024)

Dune is weird, but I love that it hasn’t stopped it from sourcing an endless supply of memes. Even more, I love that a vision as grand as this one has taken root in pop culture, that a new crop of young actors are catapulting movie stardom into the next generation, and that this epic is as concerned with philosophy and the craft of filmmaking as much as blockbuster-style spectacle. Crowd: 8.5/10 // 9/10

3. The Sixties (2014)

And now I’ve finally finished CNN’s decade miniseries. Though these series aren’t revolutionary—The Sixties episodes include “The War in Vietnam,” “The British Invasion,” and “The Space Race”—they provide more depth and insight than a Wikipedia article with plenty of interviews and primary source footage. (And perhaps too much insight with an 85-minute episode about the JFK assassination, which is steeped in more conspiracy theories than are worth mentioning.) Each of CNN's decade series has impressed me with the connections drawn to today, and The Sixties is no exception.

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4. The 96th Oscars

It’s a treat when the consensus is that the Oscars ceremony was…good? It’s been a few years since that was the popular opinion! Not only were the winners a pretty solid selection, but most of the bits worked, most of the musical performances were solid, and it finished…early? These were my favorite moments during the brisk evening:

Past Best Supporting Actress winners celebrate this year’s nominees and winner, Da’Vine Joy Randolph

Past Best Supporting Actor winners celebrate this year’s nominees and winner, Robert Downey Jr.

Past Best Actor winners celebrate this year’s nominees and winner, Cillian Murphy

Past Best Actress winners celebrate this year’s nominees and winner, Emma Stone (even though I was rooting for Lily Gladstone)

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito rib Michael Keaton and present Best Visual Effects to the charming Godzilla Minus One crew

John Cena demonstrates the value of our Best Costume nominees

Kate McKinnon and America Ferrera present Best Documentary (though they’re not always sure which films are fact and which are fiction)

Ryan Gosling (and many more Kens) perform “I’m Just Ken”

“My eyes see Oppenheimer!!”

5. The Power of Film (2024)

Onetime UCLA professor Howard Suber walks us through some of the most popular and memorable films in history in this new Turner Classic Movies miniseries. He explains why they’ve passed the test of time, analyzing storytelling motifs and themes like destiny, love, heroes vs. villains, and paradox. I’m still thinking about some of his insights (e.g. there are no good characters, only good character relationships), and I compiled the 275 films he uses as examples on in a Letterboxd list.

More March Critic Picks: A Letter to Three Wives (1949) is a light-on-its-feet melodrama about three women wondering which of their husbands is about to leave them // Naughty Marietta (1935) pulls off the princess-with-a-mistaken-identity rom-com trope with a dash of music // A Double Life (1947) is a killer thriller (pun intended) about the dangers of taking inspiration from Othello in real life // Before Mr. Deeds, Gary Cooper was a more earnest small town simpleton who stumbles into millions in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) // Susan Hayward more than earns her Oscar for her performance based on a semi-true story about a woman on death row in I Want to Live! (1958) // Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor didn’t make me cry like the remake does, but their relationship in Father of the Bride (1950) is still sweetly moving 70+ years later // Even if it didn’t star Rock Hudson and Lauren Bacall, Written on the Wind (1956) would still look phenomenal because it’s directed by Douglas Sirk, but thank goodness they both get to cook in his Technicolor vision

Also in March…

I chipped in on a ZekeFilm piece on the Oscar-nominated live action shorts with a paragraph about Wes Anderson’s “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”

I also reviewed the perfectly pleasant Kung Fu Panda 4 for ZekeFilm…

…and for KMOV, where I also made some Oscar predictions before the big night.

Photo credits: The Fury, Barbie. Art in Bloom my own. All others IMDb.com.

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crowdvscritic · 2 months

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round up // FEBRUARY 24

In some ways, February is a manifestation of Crowd vs. Critic.

Each year Vulture updates an article called "Which January at the Movies Was the Most January?" When I stumbled upon it this month, I couldn’t believe how closely it captured a phenomenon I was already thinking about: “January at the movies is a tale of two seasons. It’s the month where Oscar contenders traditionally open nationwide, allowing moviegoers across the country to experience the best that Hollywood has to offer. But for that reason, it’s also the month where the rest of the industry tries to stay out of the way, offering a mixture of counterprogramming and low-risk fare — we’re talking horror films, inexplicable sequels, and lots of movies about grim middle-aged men firing guns.”

From there, Vulture attempts to rank every January in recent memory by their bad movie slates, but my follow up question is, why stop at January? “Dumpuary” does not end January 31st—I’m not even sure it ends on February 29th. Pardon my French, but I’ve watched a lot of doggerel this month so mediocre it’s not worth recommending here. However, February is also Oscar prep season. I’ve spent the month reading more deeply about the nominated films and planning my annual Oscar watch party. And because I’m caught up on nominated films and there are so few new releases worth checking out, I’m creating a watchlist of classics I’ve missed. This year I’ve decided to dig into films recommended in TCM’s The Essential Directors by Sloan De Forest, which I recommended during Dumpuary 2022. I just finished the book’s top picks from Steven Spielberg's filmography, and before the year’s end, my goal is to complete their recommendations from Mel Brooks, Frank Capra, George Cukor, Michael Curtiz, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, Ida Lupino, Oscar Micheaux, Sidney Lumet, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Elaine May, Leo McCarey, Vincente Minnelli, Martin Scorsese, Douglas Sirk, Preston Sturges, W.S. Van Dyke, Billy Wilder, and Robert Wise. (Full disclosure: for most of them, I only have one or two titles to go.)

So please enjoy a Round Up of recommendations featuring several of those directors and Britney Spears, as well as a book of interviews with Oscar winners and a Bennifer marathon. Plus, a Leap Day bonus with a Finnish flair!

February Crowd-Pleasers

1. Scary Movie 3 (2003)

Because sometimes you don’t want to laugh with something sophisticated—sometimes you want to laugh at something stupid. After years of my brother recommending something I wouldn’t peg as my taste, I finally checked out this spoof of 8 Mile, American Idol, The Ring, Signs, and more things that were extremely popular in 2003. I doubt future generations will find much to appreciate here, but this Millennial got a kick from the nostalgia and the stupid humor courtesy of Anna Faris Regina Hall, Leslie Nielsen, Simon Rex, and Charlie Sheen. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 6/10

2. Catwoman (2004)

This movie is not good, but is it objectively way better and way more fun than The Flash? I’d rather have this silly, superficially-girl-power trash than that self-serious Flash trash any day. The Razzies did not deserve this movie! Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 5.5/10

3. Bennifer Marathon!

It's a real If You Give a Mouse a Cookie situation. After you go to a screening of This Is Me…Now: A Love Story (2024), you're going to need to watch the behind-the-scenes documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told and listen to Jennifer Lopez’s new album This Is Me…Now on repeat. You're also going to decide you need to watch Jersey Girl (2004) and Halftime (2022) because you can never have too much of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez! (I also watched Gigli and What to Expect When You’re Expecting, but these Round Ups only focus on pop culture I recommend.) What can I say? I’m rooting for love!

I reviewed J. Lo’s new music film for ZekeFilm, which explores her public history in a personal, musical romantic comedy. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7/10

4. Crossroads (2002)

Zoe Saldana camping in curlers: To me, that is cinema! Like Catwoman, this Lifetime-movie-meets-Britney-Spears-star-vehicle is not good, but it is a perfect sleepover movie. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 5/10

5. The Beekeeper (2024)

I look forward to 30 years from now when I am a Turner Classic Movies host and introduce this movie 12 times in a single calendar year:

January: Star of the Month Jason Statham

February: Star of the Month Josh Hutcherson

March: 31 Days of Oscar - Movies that would be Oscar-nominated if the Academy had a Best Stunts category

April: Special Theme - Vigilante Justice (Lee Marvin makes an appearance, too)

May: Mother's Day marathon (between The Manchurian Candidate and Psycho)

June: Birthday Tribute - Phylicia Rashad (leading into a Creed marathon)

July: Guest Programmer Pick - Bona fide action star is promoting his new artistic action blockbuster and calls Statham one of his inspirations

August: Summer Under the Stars - Day 23 devoted to Minnie Driver (airing before Good Will Hunting)

September: Birthday Tribute - Jeremy Irons (airing after The Mission)

October: Spotlight - Secret organizations (showing right before The Parallax View)

November: Diane Warren Tribute - she finally won her Oscar for her theme for The Beekeeper 2

December: Primetime Theme - Bees (in marathon with Akeelah and the Bee, The Bee Movie, The Secret Life of Bees, The Wicker Man, and for some reason Beetlejuice)

Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

More February Crowd-Pleasers: Cold Pursuit (2019) is the platonic ideal of a Liam Neeson’s formulaic thrillers // I would’ve been obsessed with the martial arts mayhem of Bulletproof Monk (2003) if I had seen it when I was 12 // Not everything in the corporate satire Head Office (1985) works, but what does is savage // When Book of the Month announced The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak (2023) as a selection just a few weeks after my first trip to Finland, I immediately knew my November pick. This Jason Bourne/Jack Ryan-esque spy thriller didn’t disappoint. (More on my trip to Finland below!) // Though the politics of The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) have aged poorly, it’s the most thrilling movie about killing lions I’ve seen since The Lion King

February Critic Picks

1. The Teachers’ Lounge (2023)

If you’ve ever survived an anxiety-fueled environment driven by politics, prejudice, or, frankly, middle schoolers, Germany’s nominee for Best International Feature at the Oscars will ring true. Read my full review for ZekeFilm. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9.5/10

2. 50 Oscar Nights: Iconic Stars & Filmmakers on Their Career-Defining Wins by Dave Karger (2024)

Let me repeat what I said last month: The Turner Classic Movies Library has yet to miss! In TCM host Dave Karger’s new book, he interviews 50 different winners from Oscar ceremonies as far back as 1962 about what the award means to them and how it has impacted their careers. This breezy read digs into the inspirations, outfits, and relationships of Nicole Kidman, John Legend, Rita Moreno, Meryl Streep, Sofia Coppola, and more, and you can find all of the films featured on my Letterboxd list.

3. Double Feature - Legal Dramas: The Verdict (1982) + Class Action (1991)

In The Verdict (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9.5/10), Paul Newman is a jaded ambulance chaser who happens on a medical malpractice suit that might be his best case in years. In Class Action (8.5/10 // 8/10), Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are a father and daughter facing off in a courtroom centered on a car manufacturer’s potential negligence. Both are excellent legal genre examples and excellent opportunities to let their actors cook.

4. Good Reads

Lately, I’ve been reading about…

…2023 in Review:

“Biggest Hollywood Winners and Losers 2023: From Margot Robbie to Marvel,” HollywoodReport.com (2023)

“Taylor Swift Is TIME's 2023 Person of the Year,” time.com (2023)

“Goodbye DC Extended Universe: We Hardly Knew You (Yet We Knew You Too Well),” HollywoodReporter.com (2023)

…our current Awards Season:

“Critic’s Notebook: A Flailing, Fun-Free 2024 Golden Globes Telecast,” HollywoodReporter.com (2024)

“The Golden Globes Should Just Forget About Hosts,” VanityFair.com (2024)

“Barbie Is Adapted? Maestro Original? Let’s Fix the Screenplay Categories,” NYTimes.com (2024)

“Anatomy of a Fail: Inside France’s Dysfunctional Oscar Committee,” variety.com (2024)

…big cultural shifts:

“A Shift in American Family Values Is Fueling Estrangement,” TheAtlantic.com (2021)

“The Great Freight-Train Heists of the 21st Century,” NYTimes.com (2024)

"A ‘Failure to Launch’: Why Young People are Having Less Sex,” LATimes.com (2023)

“From Swiping to Sexting: The Enduring Gender Divide in American Dating and Relationships,” AmericanSurveyCenter.org (2023)

…and a hodge podge of other things:

“An Oral History of ‘Washington’s Dream,’ the Best SNL Sketch in Years,” IndieWire.com (2023)

“Panera’s 'Lemonade That Kills You' Is Really a Story About Our Broken Country," slate.com (2023)

“Annie Meyers-Shyer’s Holiday-Decorating Handbook,” NYMag.com (2023)

“Madeleine Albright Has Sent Some Very Spicy Messages Through Her Accessories,” InStyle.com (2021)

“The Crown and What the U.K. Royal Family Would Like Us to Forget,” NYTimes.com (2023)

“What Did Dakota Johnson Actually Say?” HollywoodReporter.com (2024)

“Why Deleting and Destroying Finished Movies Like Coyote vs Acme Should Be a Crime,” RogerEbert.com (2024)

More February Critic Picks: Even if Love Affair (1939) hadn’t inspired An Affair to Remember and Sleepless in Seattle, it would still be an all-time romance // In Lured (1947), Lucille Ball gets dramatic as she looks for love and her best friend’s killer // No Way Out (1950) is a stellar character drama and thriller thanks to Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark // You can’t be sore at the heightened emotion in Manhattan Melodrama (1934)—it’s right in the name! // The Trouble With Angels (1966) is The Holdovers but for the girlies // Gosford Park (2001) isn’t an Agatha Christie adaptation but it’s a worthy imitator // The Bigamist (1953) proves thrillers can be short and sweet // I love a juicy behind-the-scenes melodrama like The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) // Are you surprised that The Color Purple (1985) moved me to tears? // Though it took me a few scenes to acclimate to the rhythms of the Company National Tour, are you surprised the music of Stephen Sondheim won me over?

Leap Day Bonus

In 2020, my Leap Day Bonus was a Jonas Brothers music video I’d forgotten to mention in my January Round Up. This year, I’m using it make up for forgetting to mention…my entire trip to Finland? (I'm blaming it on the fog of the holidays and Awards Season kicking into high gear when I was writing my October Round Up.) These are the top cultural spots my sister and I found in Helsinki and Rovaniemi…

Temppeliaukion Kirkko - In their Ultimate Travel book, Lonely Planet calls this one of the top 500 places to see in the world. I’m not sure I’d rank it that high (even if I’ve yet to see a lot of the world), but it was worth a stop. Built in 1969 into a rock that split during the Ice Age, it is an architectural feat with amazing acoustics.

Anteneum Art Museum - This national gallery houses Finnish art classics

Finnkino Movie Theater - The real highlight of checking out Finland’s cinema was not watching Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with Finnish and Swedish subtitles but it’s insane candy bar!

Santa Claus Village - If you can embrace a tourist trap, this one is worth the trip to the Arctic Circle. Meet Santa, feed his reindeer, and get lost in the kitschy gift shops in this acres-wide complex

Dog sledding - We hopped on a buggy pulled by eight of the goodest dogs courtesy of Bearhill Husky—a dream come true!

Arktikum - This science museum in Rovaniemi dives into the history and culture of Lapland (northern Finland)

Marimekko - This Finnish designer is chock full of mod florals, and we budget travelers found great deals at the outlet in Helsinki

Porvoo - This little town just a bus ride from Helsinki is filled with picturesque wooden houses, cutesy shops, and historical home museums

We visited Finland in the autumn, which is tourist off-season, but we’re not sure why—it’s beautiful! Whenever you choose to go, be sure to indulge in a korvapuusti ja kahvi (cinnamon roll and coffee) in one of their many kahvilat (coffee shops)!

Also in February…

On KMOV, I did my best to sum up why Casablanca is a perfect Valentine’s movie, and then I squeezed in a short review of Argylle, which is not so much a perfect Valentine’s movie.

I also reviewed Argylle in more depth for ZekeFilm, and the piece turned into a lament for for its failure to follow through on a great premise.

I added two more entries to my Best Picture Project this month! I continued on with 1944's Going My Way, which is a feel-good story about the power of music starring Bing Crosby, and last year’s winner Everything Everywhere All at Once, which is a weird story about the power of googly eyes.

Photo credits: 50 Oscar Nights, Good Reads. Finland my own. All others IMDb.com.

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crowd vs. critic single take // EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (2022)

Photo credits: IMDb.com

What do you do when everything in your life is dissatisfying everywhere you look?

For Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), there’s little she loves about her life above the laundromat. For her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), there’s little love left in the marriage he staked his whole life on. For their daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), there’s little in her life to inspire her namesake. Their days are filled with laundry, taxes, and family tension, all dipped in a glaze of aching malaise. But everything changes during a meeting with the IRS when a man who looks like Waymond—but acts nothing like him—warns Evelyn of a battle to save the multiverse only she can win.

CROWD // Nothing is not weird about Everything Everywhere All at Once. Fanny pack kung fu? Hot dog fingers? Center-of-the-multiverse bagels? I swear I’m not just squishing random words together. Though comic book heroes have leaned into multiverses for some time, it’s not the stuff of movies that want awards or even ones that want to branch out beyond sci-fi genre tropes. Everything throws you into its complicated plotting and its (at times) puerile humor with little explanation, and it gives you precious few moments to catch your breath. I have watched it three times, and I still can’t explain everything back to you.

Everything can be indiscriminately loud for its own sake, but it also feels like the brain child of a cast and crew obsessed with finding afflatus in every moment, which is makes it hard not to give them credit even if they don’t always achieve it. (What does achieve it: Raccacoonie!) The movie cares equally about dazzling the audience with fun ideas and about creating a catharsis for its characters, which come together in the symbol of an everything bagel of all things. In the bagel: joy, pain, compassion, loneliness, loyalty, nihilism, choice, fate, pride, fear, and…googly eyes? It may be literalizing the Second Law of Thermodynamics, but if you're willing to go for the ride, you'll have a blast.

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 8.5/10

CRITIC // Nothing is weirder about Everything Everywhere All at Once than the fact that it won Best Picture—except maybe that it’s the third most-decorated Best Picture winner of the 21st century after The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (11 wins) and Slumdog Millionaire (8 wins). (2013’s Gravity didn’t win the top prize, but its seven wins are tied with Everything’s total.) Individually, its 11 nominations all make sense. Yeoh and Quan are undeniable, and Best Supporting Actress winner Jamie Lee Curtis is as delightful as ever. The script has no comparison in film history, the editing feels like watching a flawless Simone Biles routine, and good luck keeping track of all the changes in costumes and musical style. Somehow the Daniels directed it all into one package—that’s no easy feat!

If only the sum of Everything was as great as its parts. The line, “In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you,” is one of the most romantic lines in modern cinema, but the film’s shambolic energy lacks the focus and maturity to fully develop its ideas or world building. Like the title suggests, this film cares more about quantity than quality.

ARTISTIC TASTE: 8.5/10

#Everything Everywhere All at Once #Everything Everywhere All at Once review #Michelle Yeoh #Jamie Lee Curtis #Best Picture #Best Picture Project #Oscars #Academy Awards #Crowd #Critic #Single Take #Stephanie Hsu #Ke Huy Quan #James Hong #2022 #8.5/10 #Gravity #Slumdog Millionaire #The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

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crowd vs. critic single take // GOING MY WAY (1944)

Photo credits: IMDb.com

The Church of St. Dominic is dying. Enter: Father O’Malley (Bing Crosby), who has been sent by Catholic Church leadership to revive an unenthusiastic congregation meeting in a building they can’t pay for. Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald) has been leading St. Dominic's for 45 years, and change doesn’t come easily. As they fight to relieve the church’s mortgage and support the struggling members of their parish, though, Father Fitzgibbon begins to see maybe he does need help after all, and maybe he needs it from someone less orthodox like Father O’Malley.

CROWD // Going My Way straivags its way through an episodic story. Fitzgibbon fights a cold and negotiates with creditors. O’Malley supports a runaway teen who dreams of being a singer, bumps into an old flame, and plays baseball with the boys in the neighborhood (with a shout-out to my shuttered hometown team the St. Louis Browns!) The duo plays checkers and golf, and we watch a full song performed from the opera Carmen. The adagio pace is a feature, not a bug, though perhaps it’s why, in a rare move, I needed to watch this Best Picture winner a second time because I couldn’t remember what happened not long after my first watch.

That said, the tone is also why this is a rare feel-good Best Picture winner. If Bing Crosby is in your movie, almost by default one of your themes becomes the power of music. Music gives hope to all of the parishioners of St. Dominic’s, and it literally solves life’s big problems for several of them. While the plot may not move with the efficiency and humor of White Christmas, it’s hard to complain about any story that gives Crosby the chance to sing.

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 7.5/10

CRITIC // The Best Picture winner this film reminded me of most? 2022’s CODA, another feel-good narrative about the power of music. The biggest reason I kept comparing them in my mind, though, is the eras they were released. CODA was a heartwarming story released as we were exiting a pandemic, and Going My Way won Hollywood’s highest honor just two months before V-E Day. Sometimes when the world around you feels almost too much to bear, you need an escape. The same could be said for last year’s winner Everything Everywhere All at Once or this year’s Best Picture nominee The Holdovers. (We’ll see how world events play out in 2024 and if this trend continues, but it’s unlikely we’ll see another feel-good nom about Catholic priests given the baggage we have now, as outlined in 2015’s winner Spotlight.)

It may have less of a legacy today than competitors Double Indemnity and Gaslight, but at the time, Going My Way was a big winner. In addition to the top prize, it brought home trophies for Best Actor (Crosby, which Christian Blauvelt’s book Hollywood Victory noted was new range for this superstar), Supporting Actor (Fitzgerald, the only person to be nominated in both lead and supporting categories before rules prevented it from happening again—talk about category fraud!), Director, Original Story, Screenplay, and Original Song. Today’s audiences may not find it innovative, but it hits all its marks, and its arcs are universal, such as an older generation dealing with its obsolescence or the rich holding those meant to help a community hostage with their finances. (The Bishop’s Wife and It’s a Wonderful Life would go on to explore this idea with more depth.) Though there is a surprising lack of spiritual experience with God given the setting, it is also refreshing in our moment to watch the clergy devote their lives to bettering their neighborhood.

ARTISTIC TASTE: 8.5/10

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crowdvscritic · 3 months

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round up // NOVEMBER 23 + DECEMBER 23 + JANUARY 24: CROWD vs. CRITIC vs. CHRISTMAS!

November and December push me to the limit—how many movies can I fit in before the end of the calendar year? In 2023 (plus a few bonus days), the answer was more than 130 new releases. And who wants to skip all of their favorite Christmas movies? Because I extend my holiday viewing into January, I fit in almost 90 this year, adding a few more to my all-time must-watch list. Once the Oscar noms were announced, I was already back to my usual shenanigans and had watched my 400th unique movie on Turner Classic Movies. Whether these statistics are cool or pathetic (erm, don’t tell me), I’m grateful for the slowness of Dump-uary and the depth that comes with thinking about the same Oscar-nominated films for several weeks. (Too bad we need to revisit Melissa Villaseñor’s Oscars snub song from SNL.)

To help sum up these three packed months, I’m resurrecting Crowd vs. Critic vs. Christmas: five crowd-pleasers, five critic picks, and five Christmas treats. Who says you can’t make these holiday recommendations part of your February entertainment?

Holiday Crowd-Pleasers

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1. SNL Round Up

Studio 8H is making up for lost time after those strikes:

“Question Quest” (4906 with Emma Stone)

“Beep Beep” (4907 with Adam Driver) - #SoMidwest

“Weekend Update: Chloe Fineman’s Save the Last Dance Holiday Gift” (4907)

“Tiny A** Bag” (4907)

“Christmas Awards Cold Open” (4908 with Kate McKinnon)

"North Pole News: Killer Whale Attack” (4908)

“ABBA Christmas” (4908)

“Yankee Swap” (4908)

“Please Don't Destroy - Roast” (4910 with Dakota Johnson) - As one who still has yet to understand the appeal of the PDD guys, this resonated with me

“The Barry Gibb Talk Show: 2024 Election” (4910)

“Weekend Update: A Guy Named Ethan on the 2024 Oscars Snubs” (4910) - I am...probably only a few years away from turning into Ethan?

2. Triple Feature - Big City Crime Thrillers: No Way Out (1987) + Cop Land (1997) + Widows (2018)

The stars aligned on all of these! In No Way Out (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8/10), Kevin Costner is assigned to investigate the murder of his secret lover (Sean Young) in Washington D.C. The twist? The person who assigned him the case was also her lover, Secretary of Defense Gene Hackman. In Cop Land (9/10 // 7.5/10), Sylvester Stallone sheriffs a New Jersey town that houses a corrupt batch of New York City cops (including Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, and Robert Patrick) that Robert De Niro is investigating. In Widows (8.5/10 // 8.5/10), Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, and Michelle Rodriguez are completing the heist that killed their husbands (including Liam Neeson) in a corrupt Chicago run by Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, and Daniel Kaluuya. All are twisty, gritty, and thrilling.

3. Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Oh no, there goes Tokyo—but at least it’s going to a spectacle as fun and well-crafted as this one. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

4. Double Feature - ‘90s Matt Damon Dramas: School Ties (1992) + The Rainmaker (1997)

Because Matt Damon has always been good! Though he’s not always been the good guy: In School Ties (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8.5/10), Brendan Fraser must hide his Jewish identity to survive at a prep school in the ‘50s, and bullies like Damon are who he’s most afraid of. In The Rainmaker (9/10 // 8.5/10), Damon is the good guy as a baby-faced lawyer who wants to protect Claire Danes, Teresa Wright, and Mary Kay Place from villains like slick lawyer Jon Voight. Here’s hoping Damon has another coming-of-age movie (as a teacher) and legal thriller in his future.

5. The Jerk (1979)

Not every moment of this movie would fly if made today, but Steve Martin’s episodic adventures in his first journey away from home gave me some of my biggest laughs in months. Crowd: 9.5/10 // Critic: 8/10

More Holiday Crowd-Pleasers: Three Men and a Little Lady (1990) reminds us how much fun it is to let three charismatic movie stars (Ted Danson, Steve Guttenberg, and Tom Selleck) cook // The Mrs. Doubtfire National Tour is fluffy fun // Maggie Moore(s) (2023) is a true crime story that makes me wish Tina Fey and Jon Hamm could become the new Myrna Loy and William Powell // Quiz Lady (2023) lets Will Ferrell live out his Alex Trebek dreams // John Mulaney in Concert Tour is making me count down till his next special is released to get memes about his grandfather, his bus driver, and his son // Reacher Season 2 is the perfect action show to watch with my dad // I’m not sure if Man of the Year (2006) was prescient about the future of politics or if it just understood human nature well enough to anticipate the populist movement and election fraud conversations we’re having today, but this Robin-Williams-as-Jon-Stewart comedy is underrated // The real-world implications of V for Vendetta (2005) are…confusing, but this literary-inspired adventure is still thrilling // Desperado (1995) is an over-the-top, shoot-'em-up Western

Holiday Critic Picks

1. The Best of 2023

2023: a year of products, greed, put-upon employees, and artificial intelligence—and not just in the actors’ and writers’ strikes! It was also a great year for movies, which is why I couldn’t narrow down my list to just 10. Read my top 10 picks for 2023 movies, as well as 28 honorable mentions at ZekeFilm, and then check out the accompanying list on Letterboxd.

I also dug deeper into some of the films mentioned in my Best of 2023 in these reviews:

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes - ZekeFilm review

Maestro - ZekeFilm review

Priscilla - ZekeFilm review, KMOV review, Do You Like Apples discussion, updated Letterboxd Sofia Coppola rankings

2. Double Feature - New Baseball Documentaries: It Ain’t Over (2022) + The League (2023)

I am not a Yankees fan, so who would have guessed that the Yogi Berra documentary It Ain’t Over (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10) would make me cry? And my baseball history knowledge always has room for improvement, so The League (8/10 // 9/10) is a phenomenal fix to many of my blind spots. Both are now inducted in my Baseball Movie Hall of Fame.

3. Triple Billing - Come From Away + Tina: The Tina Turner Musical + Funny Girl National Tours

Looking for a true story turned into an excellent musical? Try Come From Away, which captures the chaos of flights rerouted on 9/11 with the pathos you expect (and the comedy you don’t). Or try Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which is one of the best—if not the best—jukebox musical I’ve seen because the songs are integrated into the story instead of just as a musical revue of a a well-known career. Or catch Funny Girl, which captures comedienne Fanny Brice’s life with the help of a powerhouse singer channeling Barbra Streisand’s powers. Better yet, I recommend not skipping any of them when they come to town if you can swing it.

4. Happiness Falls by Angie Kim (2023)

What do you do when your dad goes missing in the middle of a global pandemic and the only one who was with him when he disappeared is your non-verbal brother? That’s the central mystery of Angie Kim’s latest novel. Instead of an edge-of-your-seat-thriller, it’s a story that propels us forward with the questions that plague its characters.

5. Hollywood Victory: The Movies, Stars, and Stories of World War II by Christian Blauvelt (2021)

The Turner Classic Movies Library has yet to miss. Hollywood Victory doesn’t just provide an in-depth overview of Hollywood from 1933 to 1945. It’s an exploration of Hollywood’s inextricable relationship with American politics, its contributions that helped the Allies win the war, and a unusual but informative lens of movies and the war itself. It’s also a long set of additions to my watchlist—of the 260+ films referenced, I’ve only seen a quarter. Thank goodness for TCM and a DVR with unlimited space!

More Holiday Critic Picks: American Symphony, Chevalier, Fallen Leaves, Freud’s Last Session, and Master Gardener were all films in consideration for my Best of 2023 // Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl short film adaptations Poison, The Rat Catcher, The Swan, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023) are bite-sized, beautifully manicured delights // Debbie Reynolds paves the way the way for Kathy Bates’s Titanic role with her charismatic starring piece in the musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) // Barbara Stanwyck is wonderful as always in the melodrama All I Desire (1953) // Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) is filled with some of Preston Sturges’s most fun mixups and hijinks

Holiday Treats

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1. Ken The EP by Ryan Gosling and Mark Ronson

I don’t care if these are barely Christmas songs—let’s give Ryan Gosling seasonal updates of “I’m Just Ken” for all of 2024!

2. Mixed Nuts (1994)

Hot take: Steve Martin has not been in enough rom-coms. A kookier—but nonetheless delightful—brand of Nora Ephron stars Martin and Rita Wilson as co-workers at a crisis hotline who are clearly meant for each other. If only they—and Madeline Kahn, Juliette Lewis, Adam Sandler, Liev Schreiber, and Garry Shandling— could get out of their own way. Crowd: 7.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

3. Fitzwilly (1967)

Christmas Ocean’s Eleven! Dick Van Dyke is as charming as ever and the vibes are as ‘60s as ever as he tries to pull off a heist at Gimbels on Christmas Eve. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8/10

4. Metropolitan (1990)

Before Chris Eigeman was Jason Stiles on Gilmore Girls, he was essentially playing the same character in Whit Stillman’s comedy riff on The Great Gatsby. A young, bougie group is attempting to survive debutante season (also the Christmas season), debating the pros and cons of wealth and falling in and out of romance. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)

Hollywood Victory informed me I’m not the only who can’t believe this was allowed to play for audiences in 1944! Betty Hutton marries a soldier on a whim, but the next morning she can’t remember which one. Her BFF with an unrequited crush (Eddie Bracken) is the only one who can help her figure out who her husband—and the father of her child—is before the scandal gets out and destroys her reputation. Because this is a Preston Sturges feature, it’s actually a hilarious quest. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

More Christmas Treats: Klaus (2019) is a hidden gem on Netflix // Okay, the ick factor in Susan Slept Here (1954) is real, but Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds are just so darn charming! // 8-Bit Christmas (2021) is a better-than-it-needed-to-be update of A Christmas Story featuring a Nintendo instead of a BB gun // How did I never see Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) all the way through before this year? Once I realized I’d missed some scenes in my umpteen cable watches over the years, it shot up on my John Hughes rankings // Pocketful of Miracles (1961) is a delightful Cinderella tale that proves Bette Davis always had it

Also this Holiday Season…

I reviewed even more new movies, including Next Goal Wins (ZekeFilm), The Marvels (KMOV), and the new Mean Girls musical (ZekeFilm)

The St. Louis Film Critics Association nominated and voted on our Best of 2023 films. You can see every winner and every film we nominated on Letterboxd, and you can read my summary of how I voted here on Crowd vs. Critic. Keep scrolling if you’re on the home page to my last post, or read it here.

Photo credits: Funny Girl, Happiness Falls, Hollywood Victory. All others IMDb.com.

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crowdvscritic · 4 months

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behind the scenes // ST. LOUIS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS (2023)

The winners have been revealed! The St. Louis Film Critics Association has announced its picks for the most outstanding filmmaking in 24 categories. Like all of the Nobel Prize winners in Barbie, they all worked hard for and deserve the recognition.

If you’re interested in the mechanics of how critics’ voting works , I recently provided a behind-the-scenes look at last year’s voting with a more logistical view. (Read it here or just keep scrolling to the next post if you’re on the home page of Crowd vs. Critic.) For this year's behind-the-scenes look, I’ll be sharing more about why I chose my nominations and how I decided on final voting. Of note, I had not seen every film that ended up being nominated before I submitted my nominations ballot, so if you’re wondering why I ignored Anatomy of a Fall, Bottoms, Evil Dead Rise, The Holdovers, Godzilla Minus One, Knock at the Cabin, Menus Plaisirs - Les Troisgros, Perfect Days, Poor Things, Robot Dreams, Skinamarink, Talk to Me, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, or The Zone of Interest, the simple reason is that there are only 24 hours in a day!

Unlike awards shows, I’m starting with the big kahuna: Best Picture! The SLFCA decided to up this category’s number of nominations to 10 from 5, and you’ll keep seeing these 10 titles in my voting:

Priscilla - My favorite Sofia Coppola movie since 2006’s Marie Antoinette. It just missed a lot of nominations, which I suspect is because too few in the group had seen it, but those who had seen it ranked it highly. Unfortunately, every critic in the group only has 24 hours in a day!

Air - I rewatched this just before submitting my nominations, and it still rules! Based on chatter from my colleagues, I suspected the first six films on my list didn't have a ton of support across our group, which is why I ranked them higher. As you can see, my suspicion was correct since none of them made the final cut

BlackBerry - Another film that just missed nominations by a few votes, including Glenn Howerton’s performance as a most terrorizing boss

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. - My first notable theater cry this year

Asteroid City - The 4th of 7 movies in my top 10 that were released before October—a rarity! I’ve been thinking about all of them for months since their release, which tells me it's not just Awards Season hyping them up in my mind

The Iron Claw - This is the most recent viewing to make my list, and it's also the one that made me cry the most

Past Lives - I ultimately ended up voting for Past Lives because its simple elegance moved me so much that it has stayed with me since seeing it in June

Barbie - The funniest movie of the year and one with big ideas...aka the heart of Crowd vs. Critic!

Oppenheimer - Practically eligible in every category—what wasn’t well-done here?

Killers of the Flower Moon - The same note as Oppenheimer, which is to say, no notes! I correctly assumed Past Lives, Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon would earn nominations without ranking them at the top of my noms, which was why I ranked them low even though I think they are all outstanding

Also on my long list: Creed III, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, The Killer, You Hurt My Feelings

Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor are two categories I never wavered on how I would vote. Lily Gladstone and Ryan Gosling put performances for the ages on the screen this year! I also wanted to recognize the incredible year Jason Schwartzman has had between Asteroid City, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. His lead role in Asteroid seemed like the best bet for widespread support, but basically every time he breathed in The Hunger Games, I laughed.

More actors on my long list: Matt Damon, Air; Scarlett Johansson, Asteroid City; Anthony Hopkins, Freud’s Last Session; Florence Pugh, A Good Person; Jason Schwartzman, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes; Zac Efron, The Iron Claw; Michael Fassbender, The Killer; Carey Mulligan, Maestro; Jessica Chastain, Memory; Jodie Foster, Nyad; Teo Yoo, Past Lives; Colman Domingo, Rustin; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, You Hurt My Feelings

These categories are always difficult for me to pin down. For Ensemble, is it about the breadth of performers and the number of familiar people I am happy to see? For Director, is it the size of the production and the level of difficulty the shoot appeared to have? Those are all factors, but I think it comes down to weaknesses being nigh invisible in both categories. For example, in The Iron Claw, it was difficult to identify which actor stood out the most because they worked so well in tandem. In Past Lives, the camera work, performances, and writing aligned perfectly to support its theme in every moment. Barbie ended up being my final vote in both categories because Greta Gerwig's vision of Barbie Land was inspired and every member of the huge cast found a moment to shine.

More directors on my long list: Ben Affleck, Air; Matt Johnson, BlackBerry; Sean Durkin, The Iron Claw; David Fincher, The Killer; Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon; Bradley Cooper, Maestro; Todd Haynes, May December

More ensembles on my long list: American Fiction, The Boys in the Boat, The Color Purple, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Leave the World Behind, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Which stories felt clever, sharp, and authentic to the human experience? Which felt fresh with a unique point of view? Which created moments I've never seen before onscreen? Which explored its ideas with honesty, empathy, and thoroughness? It’s no coincidence 8 of these screenplay 10 nominations align with my picks for Best Film.

More screenplays on my long list: American Fiction, The Boys in the Boat, Freud’s Last Session, A Good Person, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, The Iron Claw, The Killer, May December, Memory, Oppenheimer, Polite Society, You Hurt My Feelings

There’s no such thing as objectivity in criticism, but it really goes out the window when looking at these focused categories. Animated and Documentary films aren’t as plentiful as live-action narrative films, and I’m not naturally drawn to Horror and International films as much as other genres, though I’m trying to grow in those areas. (Seeing Cocaine Bear, Renfield, and A Haunting in Venice in theaters felt like big risks for me!) Not including My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 on my ballot would have felt dishonest since I saw it three times in theaters, and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is one of the most fun theatrical experiences I’ve had in years. Perhaps my most unpopular vote this year was for Elemental over Spider-Verse—I'm one of the few people who liked but didn’t love that sequel.

More genre films on my long list: Cocaine Bear (Comedy), The Covenant (Action), The Equalizer 3 (Action), Extraction II (Action), Gran Turismo (Action), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Action, Comedy), A Haunting in Venice (Horror), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Action), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Action), Kandahar (Action), The Meg 2: The Trench (Action), Polite Society (Comedy), Renfield (Comedy), You Are So Not Invited to My Bar Mitzvah (Comedy), You Hurt My Feelings (Comedy)

In many ways, Stunts and Visual Effects are extensions of the Action Film category, with a few exceptions. The Iron Claw is a drama with insane wrestling stunts, and Polite Society is an action-comedy that centered on the art of stunt work.

More stunts on my long list: Creed III, Extraction II, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Kandahar, Sisu

More VFX on my long list: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, John Wick: Chapter 4, M3GAN

This is where my Spotify Top 100 comes in handy. The Air, Barbie, BlackBerry, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Priscilla soundtracks all charted for me this year, which made those votes no-brainers. Asteroid City, Creed III, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Past Lives all had soundtracks I spent time with as well, and May December’s score almost acts like a narrator, adding comedic and dramatic punch when needed.

More music on my long list: Creed III, A Good Person, The Iron Claw, The Killer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Leave the World Behind, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Wish

These come down to wow(!) factor, and the categories were some of the hardest to rank. I voted for Priscilla for Costume Design in the final round because I hoped that movie would win something, but to be honest, I adored the costumes in Barbie and Killers of the Flower Moon, too. Same with Production Design: I picked Asteroid City, but it's a three-way tie between Asteroid City, Barbie, and Killers for me.

More editing on my long list: Barbie, BlackBerry, The Iron Claw, Leave the World Behind, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Missing, Oppenheimer

More cinematography on my long list: The Iron Claw, John Wick: Chapter 4, Killers of the Flower Moon, Leave the World Behind, May December

More costumes on my long list: Asteroid City, The Boys in the Boat, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Oppenheimer

More production design on my long list: The Boys in the Boat, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Iron Claw, The Killer, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Sisu

I saved Best Scene for last when picking my nominations since I'm better at remembering how a movie makes feel as a whole than its scenes. I started thinking through my favorite movies of the year, and these moments were the ones that left the biggest impressions (more wow factor!). Barbie’s scene of tricking the Kens made me laugh so hard I cried, but I happily voted for America Ferrera’s monologue in the end since it just made me cry, period.

More scenes on my long list: Killers of the Flower Moon, lots of choices!, Maestro, lots of choices!, May December, hot dogs; Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, the train falling; Past Lives, bar conversation

See more about the St. Louis Film Critics Association picks for 2023 at STLFilmCritics.org.

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crowdvscritic · 4 months

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behind the scenes // ST. LOUIS FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS (2022)

Have you ever wondered how Best of the Year lists are chosen? Each year publications like Entertainment Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter conduct anonymous interviews with Academy members to reveal their Oscar votes, often with article titles like “brutally honest” and “juicy.” I understand not wanting to burn any bridges with friends or colleagues, but I usually finish those pieces annoyed. If you’ve got an opinion, own it! How do know if I can trust your judgment or taste?

In the spirit of transparency, I’m doing my small part to be the change I wish to see in the world. (Exactly the scenario someone had in mind when altering Gandhi’s words to fit on a bumper sticker.) Last year I voted in the St. Louis Film Critics Association Best of the Year for the first time, and I’m sharing my behind-the-scenes look at how we narrowed down the 800+ eligible films of the year to our 23 winners and how I chose my votes. Apologies in advance it's not a "juicy" take—there's not a lot of drama in our group!

These were the key 2022 dates for our decisions:

Saturday, December 10th: Individual nominations due to SLFCA leadership

Sunday, December 11th: Tie-Breaker Meeting to determine final nominees

Saturday, December 17th: Final ballots due

As a reminder, I can’t speak for how every critic in the group prioritizes viewing or votes. Another critic in the group may have completely different strategy even if we end up voting for the same nominee!

How the Ballots Work

Like many awards shows, I’m kicking this explainer off with Best Supporting Actor and Actress. I didn’t have any cuts when I submitted my ballot—I was looking for people to fill my five slots. The real decision-making was about their order.

In the first round of voting, our ballots are ranked, with our first choice earning five points toward the performer’s total and fifth place earning one point. For example, I contributed five points each to Andre Braugher and Carey Mulligan’s totals for their performances in She Said as well as two points to Angela Basset’s total for her Black Panther role. While those three made the cut for SLFCA’s nominations, not enough of the other critics ranked Adrien Brody, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dolly De Leon, Kate Hudson, Rami Malek, Pedro Pascal, or John David Washington highly enough for them to make the final nominations. Curtis and De Leon were just a few points away from making the cut.

More performers our critics loved: Jessie Buckley, Women Talking; Hong Chau, The Whale; Tom Hanks, Elvis; Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway; Anthony Hopkins, Armageddon Time; Nina Hoss, Tár; Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once; Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin; Keke Palmer, Nope; Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse; Mark Rylance, Bones and All; Jeremy Strong, Armageddon Time

Watching as Many Movies as Possible

More than 800 eligible films were released in 2022 . (One of our members compiled them all into a Letterboxd list.) In the 10 days before my nominations were due, I watched She Said, Triangle of Sadness, Vengeance, and White Noise, all of which made my picks for Best Screenplay. I also watched titles I nominated in other categories (Babylon, Emily the Criminal, The Fabelmans, RRR, “Sr.”), plus a few that didn’t make the cut (Armageddon Time, Devotion, The Menu, Something From Tiffany’s, The Wonder).

But what about the films I hadn't seen that SLFCA nominated? That’s what the week between the Tie-Breaker Meeting and the final ballot due date is for. In those seven days, I checked out The Banshees of Inisherin, Tár, and Women Talking, which were movies I had expected to be nominated regardless of my support.

More screenplays on my long list: Amsterdam, The Menu, See How They Run

More screenplays our critics loved: After Yang, Aftersun, All Quiet on the Western Front, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Elvis, Empire of Light, Happening, Nope, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Till, The Whale

Choosing Nominees

In the Cinematography, Editing, and Visual Effects categories, I focused on an advocacy strategy. Before I met most of my fellow St. Louis Film Critics Association members, I was regularly updated with their film recommendations in a private Facebook group. As early as September, members shared headlines about the Awards Season, and based on chatter I’d seen in the group and in the film world at large, I figured support would be strong for films like Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, She Said, and Top Gun: Maverick. I was less sure about sentiment for Amsterdam, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, See How They Run, Triangle of Sadness, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, so I prioritized them on my ballot.

More films on my long list: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (VFX), RRR (Editing), She Said (Editing), The Woman King (VFX)

A few more films our critics loved: All Quiet on the Western Front (Cinematography), Avatar: The Way of Water (Cinematography, Editing), The Batman (VFX), Decision to Leave (Editing), Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (VFX), Empire of Light (Cinematography), Three Thousand Years of Longing (VFX), Women Talking (Editing)

Breaking Ties

After we submitted our ballots, we met as a group at a restaurant to hash out ties. The longest and most passionate debate broke out over the Best Scene category because there was a six-way (!) tie for third place. We ultimately decided to keep four of those six scenes and nominate six films total. We typically only include five nominees, but exceptions can be made in the case of a tie.

A few more scenes our critics loved: Scarlet Witch vs. the Illuminati in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, the Home Alone-inspired sequence in Violent Night

Prioritizing Nominees

After nominations were finalized at our our Tie-Breaker Meeting, I counted 20 nominated films I had not seen, 14 of which were only nominated in 1 category each. (I did not join the group till the summer, so I was not watching for most of the year knowing about this deadline!) I knew I would not have the time to watch them all, so I prioritized by asking these questions:

How many nominations did each film have? The Banshees of Inisherin, Women Talking, and Tár each earned between 4 and 11 noms, so they were highest priority

Could I watch every nominee in a category? All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Apollo 10½, Jackass Forever, and Wendell & Wild each only earned one nom, but I prioritized them so I could complete the Animated, Comedy, and Documentary categories

Had I watched enough noms to vote in a category? To vote in a category, I had to watch at least three nominees. I prioritized the twice-nominated in Decision to Leave so I could vote in Best International Feature, but I decided to skip voting in the Horror category because I would’ve needed to watch four films to vote (and because this horror-averse viewer probably would have found all four of them quite upsetting!)

More films on my long list: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Action), The Lost City (Comedy), Marry Me (Comedy), Minions: The Rise of Gru (Comedy), See How They Run (Comedy), The Woman King (Action)

A few more films our critics loved: Bad Axe (Documentary), The Bad Guys (Animated), The Banshees of Inisherin (Comedy), Barbarian (Horror), The Batman (Action), Broker (International), Bros (Comedy), Clerks III (Comedy), Corsage (International), EO (International), Lightyear (Animated), Navalny (Documentary), The Sea Beast (Animated), Smile (Horror)

Announcing the Winners

For me, the final round of voting is a combination of picking clear favorites in a category and trying to get your favorite films represented somewhere on the ballot. Winners are announced in a press release and shared on the SLFCA website. And in just a few weeks the process starts all over again with the new year!

You can see the full list of winners and nominees for 2022 at STLFilmCritics.org, and here are how my nominations shook out in the categories not featured above:

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crowdvscritic · 6 months

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round up // OCTOBER 23

It’s official: October is the best weather month of the year for the Midwest. When else can you leave your screen door open and keep the air off while you rewatch Gilmore Girls and Stranger Things?

This month’s pop culture top 10 is full of new-to-me tricks and treats for your TV, your earbuds, and your bookshelf, including our first major contender for Best Picture, a Turner Classic Movies marathon, and returning TV shows worth keeping up with.

October Crowd-Pleasers

1. Taylor Swift-palooza!

And to think this isn’t even my first Taylor Swift-palooza! As you scroll through an Instagram feed full of Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce couple costumes, let’s not forget what else happened this month:

On the 13th (natch), Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour hit theaters, and because Swift is a “Mastermind” always “scheming like a criminal” to make us love her and “make it seem effortless,” it’s no surprise this is a home run for fans new or returning to the Eras Tour. Read my full review for ZekeFilm. Crowd: 10/10 // Critic: 9/10

She dropped a live version and remix of “Cruel Summer”

She released 1989 (Taylor’s Version) with six killer new vault tracks

And because I’m me, I finally watched Taylor Swift: The 1989 World Tour - Live (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10) to inform my review of the Eras film, which was a fun blast from the 2015 past

Girl can write a song!

2. Only Murders in the Building Season 3

Three things I did not know I wanted in one of the two shows I keep up with on a weekly basis: Paul Rudd! Meryl Streep! A musical! Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short’s sitcom is still zinging jokes at an impressive rate, and the Agatha Christie murder mystery plotting is still delightfully twisty. Full of both tricks and treats—and more beautiful coats on Gomez!

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3. SNL Round Up

As for the other show I keep up with on a weekly basis, we’re back in Studio 8H for season 49! (Side note: IMDb has 954 episodes listed, which means we’re on track for an 1000th episode celebration in season 52!) Since last season was cut short by the Writer’s Strike, it felt like an extra long (or “cruel,” in Tay’s words) summer without our not-ready-for-primetime players. These have been my favorite sketches, bits, and camoes so far this season:

“Fox NFL Sunday” (4901 with Pete Davidson) - This also would’ve been a valid entry of this month’s Taylor Swift-palooza

“Protective Mom 2” (4902 with Bad Bunny)

“Biden Halloween Cold Open” (4903 with Nate Bargatze)

“Nate Bargatze Stand-Up Monologue” (4903) - Yes, I am also from the 1900s

“Hallmark Horror” (4903) - Let’s make this movie a reality

“Washington’s Dream” (4903)

“Chef Show” (4903)

4. Death Becomes Her (1992)

Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, and Bruce Willis turn Ethan Frome into a zany comedy! Author Hawn and Broadway star Streep are youth-obsessed divas vying for Willis’s affections, but Isabella Rossellini’s promise of eternal beauty makes their rivalry more complicated. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8/10

5. Good Boundaries and Goodbyes by Lysa Terkeurst (2022)

While the editor in me thinks it could lose 20-30 pages, this book is full of crunchy thoughts and questions about setting healthy boundaries, why we people-please, and what Scripture says about saying goodbye to relationships.

More October Crowd-Pleasers: Dolly Parton: Here I Am (2019) is a solid documentary about a delightful (and enigmatic) country star // Colombiana (2011) is a solid action thriller starring a pre-Guardians Zoe Saldana

October Critic Picks

1. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Martin Scorsese’s latest is less about murder and more about the lies we tell ourselves, about talking about both sides of our mouths, and about the discrepancy between our public and private lives. It’s very good (and very 3 ½ hours). Read the full review at ZekeFilm. Crowd: 7/10 // Critic: 10/10

2. Gothic Movies

I have discovered my perfect Halloween film formula: a naive young woman marries a wealthy man with a giant mansion, but plot twist: he might be a murderer! (Also see: Rebecca.) The October Spotlight on Turner Classic Movies was Gothic Movies, and I caught every one of these spooky literary adaptations I hadn’t seen before. Most of them follow some variation of that formula, and many of them star Vincent Price. These were the standouts:

The House of Seven Gables (1940) - George Sanders and Vincent Price war over the family’s cursed home, and Margaret Lindsay’s kind heart is caught in the middle

Jane Eyre (1943) - Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles star in Charlotte Brontë’s classic

Experiment Perilous (1944) - Hedy Lamarr’s fancy pants husband may be gaslighting her, and only George Brent’s doctor can help her find out

Dragonwyck (1946) - Gene Tierney becomes a governess for wealthy Vincent Price’s daughter, but his mansion has as many secrets as rooms

Secret Beyond the Door… (1947) - Joan Bennett elopes with Michael Redgrave but then discovers his hobby is recreating murder sites in his mansion

The Woman in White (1948) - Eleanor Parker plays two roles as a sister engaged to be married and as a mysterious woman escaped from an asylum in Victorian England

House of Usher (1960) - Vincent Price refuses to let his sister wed or to remodel the family’s riven mansion that would fail every inspector’s test in this Edgar Allan Poe adaptation

Bonus: Many of them qualified as new additions to my Letterboxd list “’40s Gals Just Trying to Live Their Best Lives BUT SOCIETY.”

3. The In-Laws (1979)

Neurotic dentist Alan Arkin and carefree criminal Peter Falk’s children are getting married this weekend, but first, they’re going to get mixed up in a international espionage hijinks. Falk is just doing comedy Columbo! Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 9/10

4. Do We Get to Win This Time? (2023)

In this eight-episode series on The Big Picture feed, journalist Brian Raftery digs into the history of Vietnam films, including Apocalypse Now, Born on the 4th of July, Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, First Blood, The Green Berets, M*A*S*H, and Platoon. Because of their bleak outlook, these films are not my favorite, but the each episode gives new context to the filmmaking and ‘70s culture. Listen to the series here.

5. Good Reads

A grab bag of good stuff about tech:

“The Internet Is About to Get Much Worse,” NYTimes.com (2023)

“Blessed Are the Rich, for They Can Afford to Limit Their Kids’ Screen Time,” ChristianityToday.com (2023)

“Streaming Has Reached Its Sad, Predictable Fate,” TheAtlantic.com (2023)

About workplaces at varying levels of functioning:

“To the World, McCarthy’s Exit Is Just Another Example of U.S. Disarray,” NYTimes.com (2023)

“The Magic Number: 32 Hours a Week,” NYTimes.com (2023)

"‘I Just Wasn’t in the Mood to Work.’ American Employees Reinvent the Sick Day,” WSJ.com (2023)

About the movies:

"‘Who wasn’t complicit?’ How Martin Scorsese Won the Trust of the Osage Nation,” TheGuardian.com (2023)

“Dan Harmon Gives Update on ‘Truly Terrifying’ Community Movie,” HollywoodReporter.com (2023)

“Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 50 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (So Far),” HollywoodReporter.com (2023)

“The 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time,” HollywoodReporter.com (2023)

Also in October…

In 2023, we think of the March on Washington as the ideal standard of a peaceful, history-changing protest. At its best, Rustin (Crowd: 7/10 // Critic: 7/10) reminds us that was no guarantee in 1963. Read my full review for ZekeFilm.

Photo credits: Good Boundaries, Do We Get to Win This Time?, Good Reads. All others IMDb.com.

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crowdvscritic · 7 months

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round up // SEPTEMBER 23

My fellow Fall Goblins, we must usher in the Autumn by force!

One of the joys of not using TikTok and minimizing your Instagram use over time is any content you do watch is even more tailored to your interests than an algorithm because only people who know and love are sending it to you directly. I am embracing my Fall Goblin status (as @taryndelaniesmith coined it) with the new iced pumpkin chai at Starbucks and rewatching Gilmore Girls. (Sorry to sound like an #ad.) Less related to the latest equinox, I’ve been catching up with 2023 releases, digging into women’s memoirs, and, yes, still thinking about Barbie. If these September picks don’t tide you over all through October, add these movies with Autumn vibes to your watchlist.

September Crowd-Pleasers

1. The Equalizer 3 (2023)

If the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it mentality is what you’re looking for in the action genre, this more than delivers because Antoine Fuqua is one of the best at making action that is both beautifully shot and easy to follow. (Just a reminder that his Magnificent Seven remake is deeply underrated!) Setting this adventure on one of the dreamiest coastal towns in the world means this is the best-looking Equalizer yet, but even that isn’t the real draw. Read my full review for ZekeFilm. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7/10

2. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023)

Someone’s ex shows up unexpectedly, family secrets are unearthed, and we have to find something for Joey Fatone to do! Fortunately, even with all that story, this is still a good time and also a step up from the Netflix and Hallmark-style movies that have become the de facto purgatory for rom-coms and family comedies in the last 10 years. Read my full review for ZekeFilm. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

3. A Haunting in Venice (2023)

To use a Moneyball metaphor, if Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building are hitting grand slams and home runs, these Agatha Christie movies are focused on getting on base. Haunting is like watching your favorite team win 1-0—you may not remember the game the rest of your life, but it’s still a win. Read my full review for ZekeFilm. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

in the Building are hitting grand slams and home runs, these Agatha Christie movies are focused on getting on base. Haunting is like watching your favorite team win 1-0—you may not remember the game the rest of your life, but it’s still a win. Read my full review for ZekeFilm. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

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4. GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo (2023)

Queen! The opening track’s satiric take on the unattainable expectations for modern women goes right up there with America Ferrera’s speech in Barbie, and “pretty isn’t pretty” and “teenage dream” are excellent companions for those themes. “bad idea right?” is a hilarious anthem meant for shouting at the top of your lungs, and “get him back!” is one of the flat-out best pop songs since, well, “drivers license.” While GUTS may not have a track that transcends that generation-crossing ballad, this album is a step up because it avoids the repetition of the breakup tracks from SOUR.

5. Gran Turismo (2023)

A movie about gamer-turned-racecar-driver does not scream A Movie for Taylor™, but a movie starring Orlando Bloom and David Harbour sure does! I went in skeptical but ended up emotionally invested in this based-on-a-true-coming-of-age-story sports movie that was much better than it needed to be thanks to this charismatic cast and Neill Blomkamp’s innovative directing. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

More September Crowd-Pleasers: Our Lips Are Sealed (2000) is just an Annette and Frankie movie starring the Olsen twins, a baby kangaroo named Boomer, and Jason he-better-win-an-Oscar-someday Clarke // Did you know Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta reunited in Basic (2003)? It’s a fun thriller with plot in the vein of A Few Good Men from the director Die Hard // Accepted (2006) is cruder than my typical taste, but Justin Long and the script find heart and insightful comedy in an update to Animal House // Is Terminator Salvation (2009) an underrated gem of the franchise even without Schwarzenegger? // Iron Sky (2012), a sci-fi action flick in which astronauts find a secret base the Nazis fled to in 1945, is one of the most fun bad movies I’ve seen in a long time // Sisu (2023) is the John Wick of WWII Finland with all the fun and none of the baggage of world building // Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver are teaming up for the Strike Force Five podcast, and their conversations are as random and delightful as you’d hope

September Critic Picks

1. Girls on Film by Alicia Malone (2022)

Turner Classic Movies host Alicia Malone’s memoir looks back on her life through the films that influenced her growing up and through the ones the ones that have represented her life as a woman. She shares how Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Mad Love, National Velvet, The NeverEnding Story, and Smooth Talk have impacted her life, as well as behind-the-scenes stories from her career and her Hollywood adventures. (In one, she shares a life-changing conversation she had with an unnamed actor in Rome. I’m choosing to believe it was Andrew Garfield!) A thoughtful combination of reflection and cinema history, I had trouble putting this down.

2. And So They Were Married (1936)

In a Parent Trap-reverse plot, single parents Mary Astor and Melvyn Douglas fall for each other at a ski lodge over a Christmas holiday, but their kids (Edith Fellows, Jackie Moran) can’t stand each other. I will definitely be revisiting this charming screwball rom-com this holiday season! Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

3. The Beautiful Letdown (Our Version) [Deluxe Edition] by Switchfoot (2023)

Nostalgia overload! I didn’t know I needed the Jonas Brothers, Relient K, and more covering one of the core albums of my youth.

4. Archive by Sofia Coppola (2023)

If, like me, you love films about lonely women, scrapbooks so thick they can't close, photos of people in period costumes using modern technology, and learning everything you can about an artist’s process, you'll also love this 500-page collection of Sofia Coppola’s mood boards, character notes, and story inspirations.

5. Good Reads

If you’re still thinking about Barbie, these are great companion pieces for digging into the ideas it’s exploring:

“The Good Christian Girl: A Fable,” ChristianityToday.com (2010)

“Single Christian Women Are Much More Than Their Wombs,” ChristianityToday.com (2023)

“Men Are Lost. Here’s a Map Out of the Wilderness,” WashingtonPost.com (2023)

“Barbie Affirms the Goodness of Women's Embodiment,” KatelynBeaty.substack.com (2023)

"In the Beginning, There Was Barbie,” vox.com (2023)

And only tangentially related to Barbie, this piece:

“The Real Lesson From the Lizzo Saga: Don’t Deify Celebrities,” WashingtonPost.com (2023)

More September Critic Picks: The Big Short (2015) is the platonic ideal of an Adam McKay issues movie // Can we get more old school pop records like The Dip Delivers by The Dip (2019), please? // Before Forrest Gump, there was Being There (1979), which is a slow-burn comedy only someone as stellar as Peter Sellers could pull off // Hanna (2011) makes me wish more directors like Joe Wright were tackling action thrillers starring Saoirse Ronan-caliber actresses

Also in September…

My two takeaways from Dumb Money (2023) are that

Money is, well, dumb

We have not figured out how to make movies about the Internet yet

This comedy feels like scrolling through the Internet: always entertaining, needlessly profane, and featuring TikTok dances even when I’m not looking for them. Read my full review for ZekeFilm.

Photo credits: Alicia Malone, Switchfoot, Sofia Coppola. IMDb.com.

#Round Up #The Equalizer 3 #My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 #A Haunting in Venice #Gran Turismo #GUTS #GUTS Olivia Rodrigo #Olivia Rodrigo #Youtube #Alicia Malone #Girls on Film Alicia Malone #Girls on Film #And So They Were Married #The Beautiful Letdown #The Beautiful Letdown Switchfoot #Switchfoot #Archive Sofia Coppola #Sofia Coppola #Instagram

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crowdvscritic · 8 months

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round up // AUGUST 23

Well, it’s been a month. In August, I…

Quit a job

Started a new job

Went to the emergency room for two unplanned surgeries to remove my gallbladder

Celebrated a birthday

Yeesh, I’m exhausted just thinking about it, though not nearly as exhausted as I was just after surgery. My recovery has been steady, but it’s also been slow, which means little victories have included eating solid food and going a full day without napping. With that energy level, you can bet how I spent my short waking hours: watching a lot of movies! (I also read two books—I had some time!) My viewing in the two weeks at the hospital and recovering at home was a combo of Turner Classic Movies’ annual Summer Under the Stars celebration (with 24 hours of programming dedicated to classic movie stars like Stella Stevens, Jackie Cooper, and Greer Garson) and of comfort food faves (including ‘90s action flicks, ’00s rom-coms, and…Mary Kate and Ashley movies). You can see everything I watched in those two weeks on Letterboxd because between the sleepiness and pain meds, I needed a way to remember what was going on. I’m not sure what it says about me, but the idea of staying overnight in the hospital for the first time became a lot easier once I realized their cable packaged included TCM…

It’s also been four years. Yes, August marks both my birthday and the birthday of these Round Ups. In the last four years, I’ve rounded up…

6 stage shows

10 museums

14 concerts and events

15 series of Saturday Night Live sketches

20 podcasts

21 books

46 musical selections

49 TV shows

52 collections of articles, social media fun, and new movie trailers

421 movies

Yes, I’m excited just thinking about all those Crowd and Critic selections, though my pace going forward will slow some. Going through so many life events in just a few weeks makes you take stock of how you’re spending your time and energy, and my motto is becoming, “If it ain’t easy, it better be worth it.” If I hate cooking, why do I make myself do it every week? And if writing a Round Up with 20 picks is challenging to squeeze in every month, then it’s time to make adjustments. Author Ingrid Fetell Lee summarized this philosophy well (and provided some practical suggestions) in her blog post “12 Ways to Be Gentle With Yourself” this month. In that spirit, Round Ups are becoming more exclusive as two Top Fives. Keep reading to see which movies, concert, book, album, and articles earned coveted this month's coveted spots...

August Crowd-Pleasers

1. Meg 2: The Trench (2023)

I could summarize the plot of this big dumb shark movie, but Bill Hader said it best on SNL:

Since the trailer surprisingly didn’t give most of the best moments away, I’ll remain coy and just say I spent a lot of Jason Statham’s newest charisma-fest laughing out loud. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

2. Jonas Brothers: The Tour

68 songs! 5 albums! 1 night! As I have recommended Jonas content no fewer than four times in the last 4 years of these Round Ups, you should not be surprised to see this here. Like in 2019, I turned into an embarrassing fangirl freak at this show, singing along with every single song (though finding I really need to beef up on few Happiness Begins tracks) and shaking my sister with excitement every 15 minutes. (I think she was vibrating at the same energy? It's also possible she's just learned it's better to smile and nod when I'm like this.) The boys’ showmanship and knack for shelling out bops do not disappoint.

3. Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (2023)

A jaded comedy writer (basically Tina Fey) for a late night sketch show (basically Saturday Night Live) discovers a spark with a singer-songwriter rock star hosting an episode (basically John Mayer). So yes…this is an extreme overlap of my interests. Like SNL, this novel does at times lean into saucier and cruder content than I prefer, but the descriptions of the TV show’s behind-the-scenes process and of the relationship between a celebrity and a normie felt so authentic I had to Google Sittenfeld to see if these were based on her own experiences. The best part? A third of the book is a series of email exchanges in the style of You’ve Got Mail. Again, I told you it’s an extreme Venn diagram of my interests!

4. You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)

I mostly avoided Adam Sandler until 2020—somehow I’d only seen Happy Gilmore and Bedtime Stories before the pandemic. But since May of that year, I’ve watched 17 of them, and it’s time I finally just admit I’m an unironic fan of his, and now of his daughters, too! Bat Mitzvah is the update to Sixteen Candles we didn’t know we needed, and one of its pleasant surprises is Sandler is happy to stand back and watch his daughters shine (as Taylor Swift would say). His supporting role is the perfect choice for a comedy designed to launch his daughters’ Sunny and Sadie’s careers as leads, and Alison Peck’s sincere, funny script describes the pre-teen girl experience honestly. While there’s plenty of overlap with Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., it’s not a rehash, which makes the pair a perfect double feature. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

5. The Rocketeer (1991)

This action-adventure lives in the world we only imagine 1940s Hollywood to be, one where you could date an Errol Flynn-esque movie star (Timothy Dalton) after he notices you on set, one where you could accidentally find a rocket designed by Howard Hughes, and one where Bonnie and Clyde-style drive-by shoot-outs are everyday occurrences. With Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, and a dash of the spirit of Indiana Jones, my only regret is I didn’t watch this years ago. Crowd: 10/10 // Critic: 8/10

More August Crowd-Pleasers: Elvis goes gaga in Hawaii for Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), a musical comedy both corny and winning; Arnold Schwarzenegger goes ham on militants who kidnap his daughter in Commando (1985), an action flick both corny and thrilling; Michael J. Fox is a former child star who discovers a future child star in the comedy Life With Mikey (1993), the kind of family movie we don’t get enough of today; Sally Hawkins tells the true story of an amateur historian who discovered the remains of The Lost King (2022) Richard III in a drama with a fantastical twist; Paramount+ continues to abuse my nostalgia, but I continue to let them because Carly and Freddie are finally together in the third (and best) season of the iCarly reboot; like every Muny production, Sister Act was a blast on stage

August Critic Picks

1. Carole-thon!

Fun fact: Every Carole Lombard movie I’ve watched since starting this Round Up has become a monthly recommendation—why stop now? Lombard was TCM’s star of the day on August 18th, and it only took one viewing to realize I wanted to marathon everything on my DVR. Most of these titles are short and sweet screwball rom-coms, which means you can knock out quite a few of these in just an afternoon:

No Man of Her Own (1932) - Lombard falls for a con man (real-life future husband Clark Gable)—could she be the one to set him straight?

The Gay Bride (1934) - Lombard marries a gangster for his money, but her true love might be his second-in-command

Lady by Choice (1934) - Burlesque dancer Lombard “adopts” a mother for some positive PR, but she ends up getting more than she bargained for

Hands Across the Table (1935) - Lombard is a manicurist seeking a rich husband, but Manic Pixie Dream Boy Fred MacMurray throws a wrench in that plan

The Princess Comes Across (1936) - Lombard is a con woman pretending to be a princess on an ocean liner, but her plans get tangled with another person's secrets (MacMurray)

True Confession (1937) - Lombard is a compulsive liar married to a compulsive truth-telling lawyer (MacMurray again) defending her for a murder she didn’t commit

Swing High, Swing Low (1937) - Lombard and MacMurry (for the last time) are musicians caught in a romantic, bi-continental melodrama

Fools for Scandal (1938) - The cutest little rom-com about a hotheaded American actress falling in love with an affable European fellow this side of Notting Hill!

In Name Only (1939) - Lombard and Cary Grant fight for their relationship even though his bitter wife won’t allow for a divorce

2. Executive Suite (1954)

1950s Glengarry Glen Ross! William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, June Allyson, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, and Shelley Winters vie for the seat at the head of the executive table when the president suddenly dies, and together they create a summum bonum of character dramas. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

3. No Secrets by Carly Simon (1972)

I know I’m the actual last person on Earth to realize the greatness of this album from a career that, among many accomplishments, paved the way for songwriters like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo. “You’re So Vain” is a banger with no less bite than 50 years ago, and the record is filled with gems start-to-finish.

4. Edge of Darkness (1943)

TCM’s August 5th star Errol Flynn and their August 28th star Ann Sheridan are fighting for their small fishing village, their families, and their love against brutal Nazi occupiers. I couldn't find comprehensive resources to clarify how much of this action-thriller is historically accurate (the novel it’s based on doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page!), but this gritty story of Norwegian resistance captures a similar spirit to some of the best World War II films, equal parts Indiana Jones and Casablanca. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. Good Reads

#BillionGirlSummer:

"It's #BillionGirlSummer: Taylor, Beyoncé and Barbie Made for One Epic Trifecta,” NPR.com (2023)

“Talking With ‘Swiftie Dads’ at a Taylor Swift Concert,” GQ.com (2023)

“Nearly 1 Out of 4 of ‘Barbie’ Viewers Hadn’t Gone to the Movies Since COVID,” IndieWire.com (2023)

Hollywood appears to be meeting a long-overdue reckoning:

“The Binge Purge,” vulture.com (2023)

"Anonymous Strike Diary: ‘Our Souls Were Cracking … but Then the AMPTP F***ed Up,’” HollywoodReporter.com (2023)

“Orange Is the New Black Signalled the Rot Inside the Streaming Economy,” NewYorker.com (2023)

“Mandy Moore Says She Once Got a Check for a Penny for This Is Us Streaming Residuals,” HollywoodReporter.com (2023)

“David Zaslav, Hollywood Antihero,” NewYorker.com (2023)

Film history and criticism:

“The 100 Best Movies of the Past 10 Decades,” TIME.com (2023)

“The Fate of the Critic in the Clickbait Age,” NewYorker.com (2017)

“The Instrumentalist,” NYBooks.com (2022)

“The Bradley Cooper “Jewface” Controversy Isn’t Really About That Nose,” slate.com (2023)

And a grab bag of worthwhile thoughts, interviews, and news:

“Reese Witherspoon Is Starting a New Chapter,” HarpersBazaar.com (2023)

“To Help Cool a Hot Planet, the Whitest of White Coats,” NYTimes.com (2023)

“Beyoncé, Tumblr, and ‘Harlem Shake’: Revisiting Pop’s Most Pivotal Year,” TheDailyBeast.com (2023)

“Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule,” NewYorker.com (2023)

“Why You Rarely Believe Celebrity Apologies on Social Media,” BBC.com (2023)

More August Critic Picks: The kid-and-his-dog dramedy about one of the goodest doggos who ever did live, Tough Guy (1936), hits you right in the heart; Errol Flynn thrills again in a search for sunken treasure that might claim his soul in Mara Maru (1952)

Also in August…

The world’s slowest Best Picture Project continues with 1942’s Mrs. Miniver, a genuinely moving piece of war propaganda. Read my Crowd and Critic reviews.

Until September wraps, you can follow what I’m watching creating lists for on Letterboxd. In August, I updated my rankings of 2023 product movie rankings and Christopher Nolan films by Dead Wife Energy, and I also found some weird overlaps between the August releases Blue Beetle and Meg 2 (warning: spoilers!).

Photo credits: Jonas Brothers, Romantic Comedy, Carly Simon, Good Reads. All others IMDb.com.

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crowdvscritic · 8 months

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crowd vs. critic single take // MRS. MINIVER (1942)

Photo credits: IMDb.com

Mrs. Miniver takes place in two eras: the time before September 3, 1939 and the time after.

Before Great Britain declares war on Germany, Mr. Clem (Walter Pidgeon) and Mrs. Kay (Greer Garson) Miniver’s biggest concerns are about money. Specifically, they spend their energy convincing each other—and their upper crust neighbor Lady Beldon (Dame Mae Whitty)—their spending on little luxuries like hats and cars is worthy of their family’s middle class income. Though Lady Beldon does not care for blurring social lines, her granddaughter Carol (Teresa Wright) is more open-minded, catching the eye of the collegiate Vin Miniver (Richard Ney). But everything changes on September 3rd. Vin enlists, Clem volunteers, and Kay makes a bomb shelter comfortable for their young children. For the Minivers, World War II is not just on the battlefield on the continent—it’s here at home.

CROWD // And the Academy’s love affair with World War II begins! Mrs. Miniver is the first of 11 Best Picture winners set during or immediately after the war, which means more than 10% of the Academy’s top prizes have been dedicated to defeating the Nazis. Even among those titles, though, Mrs. Miniver is singular. Casablanca, From Here to Eternity, The Bridge on River Kwai, Patton, and The English Patient follow soldiers and resistance fighters; The Sound of Music, Schindler’s List, and The King’s Speech recount true stories of extraordinary individuals living through the conflict; and The Best Years of Our Lives and An American in Paris depict the struggle to rebuild the world afterward.

Unlike those epics, we only see the Minivers on the homefront. Vin joins the Royal Air Force, but like his mother, we only wonder what he sees from the cockpit. Clem supports the efforts at Dunkirk, but Christopher Nolan still felt the need to depict that rescue of troops in his own film because we never see Clem beyond the horizon of Britain’s shores. Yes, the episodic Miniver lacks the jet-fueled forward propulsion of Nolan’s film, but that wouldn’t be honest with the civilian experience. The family’s skirmishes with danger are few and unpredictable, and in some ways, that makes them more upsetting. When tragedy does strike, it hits a family we’ve laughed and rejoiced with around the dinner table, making this melodrama still moving today.

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 8/10

CRITIC // If there’s any criticism to be leveled at Mrs. Miniver, it’s that its affection for the titular family is blind. Character flaws? Complex motives? Who needs them when you’re trying to create a rousing morale-booster justifying a global conflict still in the court of public opinion? The Minivers and their neighbors are symbolic avatars more than well-rounded individuals, which is just one reason Winston Churchill called this film “propaganda worth a hundred battleships.” In fact, the last scene was literally re-distributed as print and radio propaganda!

Still, given that this particular fight against fascism is one with fewer moral gray areas, romanticizing these people fighting out of uniform has aged better than, say, a film about the Russian Revolution. In the history of cinema, a majority of war films focus on combat and political leaders, while Mrs. Miniver reminds us the people at home—including but not limited to the oft-disenfranchised women, children, elderly, and working classes—can be just as cudgeled by war without enlisting. They may avoid the trenches, but their food, shelter, life, and limb are just as uncertain, not to mention the future of their loved ones serving in the military. With that in mind, who’s to complain about making these hometown heroes so likable?

It’s also difficult to fault Mrs. Miniver for idolizing its subjects when its cast and its craft are working in tandem with its vision. William Wyler, who still holds the record for the most Best Director nominations at 12, assembled a cast as winning as the parts they were playing, none more than the Garson’s Mrs. Miniver herself. Her hopeful but clear-eyed face of determination creates a center of gravity for the rest of the actors, and the compassion driving her never becomes too syrupy.

ARTISTIC TASTE: 9/10

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crowdvscritic · 9 months

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round up // JULY 23

Spies! Josh Hartnett! Perfect 10s! They all made multiple appearances in July. This summer has churned out one of the best crop of blockbusters in years, and even though this Round Up is a bit shorter than usual, it’s a stacked lineup. Whether you’re looking for big thrills, big emotion, or big art, July had it all.

July Crowd-Pleasers

1. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

A redux of the 1996 original Mission: Impossible in all the best ways. Whatever you think of Tom Cruise, you can’t deny his commitment to the audience experience. Crowd: 10/10 // Critic: 9/10

2. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)

This is the kind of movie that you can tell within in three minutes isn’t totally working but it’s hard to tell why. It looks pretty good! There’s loads of style! Jason Statham is one of the best action leads in the biz! Every actor is doing something fun! (Especially Josh Hartnett, validating my major crush in his Pearl Harbor days.) But not a single character has an arc, and we should’ve opened on an action sequence introducing our heroes and villains so we don’t need so much dialogue to explain our characters or the inciting incident. But you know what? Call the butcher because I love a good ham! I had a great time with this cast doing the Guy Ritchie thing, which means I am gonna watch this so hard again on cable.

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3. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift (2023)

My attempt to swing last-minute tickets to the Eras Tour in Denver for less than $1000 was a no-go, but the treats that are “When Emma Falls in Love,” “Timeless,” and a Taylor Lautner music video cameo softened that blow. The article “The Unprecedented Weirdness of Taylor Swift” in The Washington Post captures some of the unique joys of her re-recordings.

4. Barbie (2023)

Is Barbie an instant classic? Perhaps it’s too of-this-moment for that kind of longevity, but it’s a comedy that made me laugh so hard I cried and also just that made me cry, which I don’t remember ever happening to me within a single movie before. Read my full review for ZekeFilm, and then be sure to listen to the soundtrack after seeing the movie. Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, Tame Impala, Haim, Billie Eilish, and Ryan Gosling(!!) made some bangers! Crowd: 10/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. Do You Like Apples Podcast

I’ve recommended the Do You Like Apples newsletter, and now I’m recommending Billy Rock and Drew Wendt’s new accompanying podcast. I may be biased since they invited me to join their Barbie discussion, but because I like filling my earbuds with thoughts on Wes Anderson’s oeuvre and the best of Harrison Ford’s career, I’m a regular listener beyond our collab. Listen to our discussion of Barbie and then browse through their rapidly growing feed about the world of movies.

More July Crowd-Pleasers: Airport (1970), Book Club: The Next Chapter (2023), Zoey 102 (2023)

July Critic Picks

1. The China Syndrome (1979)

Another ‘70s conspiracy thriller FTW! Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, and Jack Lemmon are getting suspicious at a nuclear power plant, and their investigation lands on my lists of favorite journalism films and movies that have made me cry. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

2. BlackBerry (2023)

Product-inspired films are still rocking and rolling in 2023, and BlackBerry is one of the best. It owes a lot to The Social Network, but it learned all the right lessons. I would love to see this cast in conversation for Oscars this winter, but until then, the rage-at-the-corporate-machine soundtrack is keeping me going. Crowd: 8/9 // Critic: 9/10

3. Oppenheimer (2023)

On average, me every 7 minutes in this movie: "Oh hey, I love that guy!” This cameo-packed historical epic/biopic is a clearer-eyed version of A Beautiful Mind, and perhaps most impressively doesn’t feel three hours long. The review in The Federalist and Vox’s analysis of the history of nuclear cinema are excellent companion pieces. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9.5/10

4. Suddenly by BØRNS (2023)

Like the rest of us, it sounds like BØRNS has been going through some stuff in the last few years. After a five year hiatus, he’s back with his lachrymose synth-pop in a six-track EP. My only complaint? I’m ready for a full album!

5. The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson (2021)

Haven’t I already recommended The French Dispatch as the best film of 2021? Yes, but because I’m a woman of limited interests, I’m now recommending the published screenplay. If you’ve ever wondered just how Anderson and his collaborators create their idiosyncratic stories, reading the complex script gives a new insight into their overlapping minutiae, much of which I missed just by watching.

More July Critic Picks: The Merry Widow (1934), Christmas in July (1940), Some Came Running (1958)

Also in July…

At the start of July, nine writers for ZekeFilm picked our top five movies of the year so far. You can read our individual lists as well as our aggregate top five in our “Best of 2023 (So Far)” piece.

I checked out Haunted Mansion, which was…at least better than the Eddie Murphy version? Read my review for ZekeFilm, which turned into a long list of theme park-inspired films for Disney, and watch more on KMOV to see me correctly predict that Barbie would dominate the box office yet again.

Thanks to a holiday break, I had a little time to finally add a few Best Picture Project pieces. Keep scrolling on the home page to read reviews of The Apartment (1960), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Rain Man (1988), Dances With Wolves (1990), Million Dollar Baby (2004), and 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Until August wraps, you can follow what I’m watching on Letterboxd and the site formerly known as Twitter

Photo credits: BØRNS, DYLA, The French Dispatch. All others IMDb.com.

#Round Up #Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One #Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre #Barbie #Taylor Swift #Speak Now #Speak Now (Taylor's Version)#Do You Like Apples #The China Syndrome #The French Dispatch #BlackBerry #BØRNS #Suddenly by BØRNS #Oppenheimer

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crowdvscritic · 10 months

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crowd vs. critic single take // THE APARTMENT (1960)

Note: This is a modified version of a review originally written for ZekeFilm. Photo credits: IMDb.com.

Need a creative way to climb the corporate ladder? C.C. “Bud” Baxter might have found the solution. To garner his bosses’ favor, he lends his apartment out to them for their extramarital trysts. But as if scheduling the time he can spend at home weren’t complicated enough, he discovers a new wrinkle: the co-worker he’s trying to romance (Shirley MacLaine) is one of the mistresses his residence accommodates.

CROWD // Writer-director Billy Wilder got a kick out of straightforward character dramas, and he found his mojo when he was writing “just” a man and a woman talking. He found it in Sabrina and Sunset Blvd., but his mojo arguably worked its magic best in The Apartment. (No matter how you rank those three, we can agree they all beat Love in the Afternoon.) Lemmon and MacLaine bring fully realized people to a New York City apartment, he an insecure conformist, she a wounded spark. They’re both dreamers of a kindred sort, ones who yearn for the stability that comes with unconditional acceptance. For something so simple, The Apartment digs deeper and darker than you’d think if you’ve only seen the image of Lemmon and MacClaine’s playful hand of gin rummy. Yes, it’s witty (“When you’re in love with a married man, you shouldn’t wear mascara.”), but it’s just as heartbreaking. (In the age of #MeToo, it weighs in a new way.) Today’s Hollywood may not be so enamored with stories that feel this small, but today’s audiences will find it just as moving and winsome.

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 8.5/10

CRITIC // I get a kick out of the original posters for this film: “Movie-wise, there has never been anything like The Apartment, love-wise, laugh-wise, or other-wise!” While that sounds like typical marketing hyperbole, the Academy seemed to agree: The Apartment was nominated for 10 awards and won 5, including top dogs Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture.

Would the today’s Academy be so enamored with Wilder’s writing/directing/producing gig? I don’t think so, but that says more about the their current tastes than about this title. Voters now like their films historical (12 Years a Slave, Argo, The King’s Speech), artsy/experimental (Moonlight, Birdman, The Artist, Parasite, Nomadland, Everything Everywhere All at Once), or issues-focused (Spotlight, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, The Shape of Water, Green Book), and they like them most when they can combine them. A straightforward, contemporary character drama about a 9-to-5 office job wouldn’t rank high their Oscar bait checklist; so much so, the only Best Picture nominees in the last 10 years with any resemblance are CODA, Lady Bird, Marriage Story, and Silver Linings Playbook. But even if this film isn’t the Oscar bait we’re familiar with today, don’t underestimate the poignant performances actors like Lemmon, MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray can find in a Wilder script or the commentary on corporate culture a Wilder script can find.

ARTISTIC TASTE: 9/10

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crowdvscritic · 10 months

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crowd vs. critic single take // MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004)

Note: This is a modified version of a review originally written for ZekeFilm. Photo credits: IMDb.com.

Frankie is stuck in every way you can think of. He’s stuck running an old boxing gym because it’s all he knows how to do. He’s stuck in so much guilt his priest asks him to stop coming to church so often. He’s stuck with his mistakes because his daughter won’t talk to him and he feels responsible for his best friend’s (Morgan Freeman) disability. He’s also stuck in his old patterns of thinking, which is why he refuses to train a woman (Hilary Swank). But Maggie is stuck, too, and she sees boxing as her way out—she won’t give up on her dream easily, no matter what he says.

CROWD // What a horrible, horribly well-made movie. I’ve added Million Dollar Baby to my list of movies I enjoyed until the end. Without spoiling the ending, I’ll say if you want to end your night in a good mood, you’re better off cutting it short at the 90-minute mark. The first two acts are triumphant, but a major plot point turns the last 45 minutes into a different story with a darker tone, depressing spirit, and disheartening message. All the goodwill director Clint Eastwood earned by pulling my heart into a world I never knew I could care about came crashing down. My tear-tinged pillow wished I’d stayed sheltered from this horrible ending, and I can’t in good conscience write about Million Dollar Baby without warning you that you’ll probably finish feeling dark, depressed, and disheartened. What a horrible, horribly well-made movie.

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 5/10

CRITIC // In the real world, I find boxing silly and pointless, but with Eastwood’s direction, the leans and pivots and swings are all-consuming. The script gives insight into why our fighters make each move, and the camera knows how to follow them. Unlike modern superhero fights that are often easy to tune out as one continuous BIFF!WHAM!POW!, I couldn’t look away from every HIT. PUNCH. and SOCK. in the ring. His skill as an actor’s director is the star of the show, though. All of his actors appear as comfortable on screen as he appears to be in his sky-high-waisted cargos, and the camera lingers long enough to let them rest in the emotional complications of each moment. Freeman and Swank’s Oscars for their roles and Eastwood’s for directing have no dispute from me—breaking my heart is only a point in their favor here.

ARTISTIC TASTE: 8.5/10

#Million Dollar Baby #2004 #Clint Eastwood #Best Picture #Best Picture Project #Academy Awards #Oscars #Hilary Swank #Morgan Freeman #Crowd #Critic #Single Take #Million Dollar Baby Review #5/10 #8.5/10

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crowdvscritic · 10 months

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crowd vs. critic single take // 12 YEARS A SLAVE (2013)

Note: This is a modified version of a review originally written for ZekeFilm. Photo credits: IMDb.com.

In 1841, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a free man making a living as a violinist in New York with his family. But because the claws of American slavery stretch beyond the Mason-Dixon Line, he is kidnapped and sold into forced servitude. For 12 years he is exchanged between different plantations in Louisiana, some masters conflicted about their role in his life (Benedict Cumberbatch) but more of them baleful (Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano). He befriends the laborers beside him like Patsey (Lupita N’yongo) and Eliza (Adepero Oduye), but he never stops looking for opportunities to contact his family and for escape.

CROWD // I’m not going to lie—12 Years a Slave was the only Best Picture winner I hadn’t seen when the 2010s ended. What’s more embarrassing to admit is why, which, clearly, wasn’t for lack of time. The reason I delayed my viewing six years was because I didn’t think I could hack it. I almost couldn’t finish Schindler’s List—why would force myself through another realistic depiction of brutality only a few generations removed?

If you’ve asked yourself the same question, know that those concerns are not ill-founded. If Tarantino’s stylized violence in Django Unchained made you squeamish, Steve McQueen’s study of the dehumanizing treatment of pre-Civil War slaves won’t gloss over anything to make you more comfortable. Of course, that’s not only warranted, it’s why this film works so well. But because the title tells us the ending, the small sliver of hope sustains us, and we know Northup’s true story will end with him overcoming one of history’s worst adversities.

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 5/10

CRITIC // Everything in 12 Years a Slave is a study of contrasts. Masters hang their slaves in the wild beauty of the Southern forests. Mistresses attack their slaves with expensive china. Overseers taunt their slaves with music to drown out their spirituals. The religious use the Bible as a weapon against the slaves who pray for deliverance. McQueen forces us to sit with these contradictions for long, unbroken shots. We sit and mourn with Solomon with every betrayal, watching and feeling his grief until it becomes our own. As he is moved from auction to house to plantation, his turmoil and those of his fellow victims becomes ours, too. We watch white actors we respect become weakly selfish at best, manically barbaric at worst, so we know why it’s so difficult for Solomon to know whom he can trust. It also reminds us if faces we thought we liked so much could portray such evil, we must be capable of such evil as well. (See Jojo Rabbit for another reminder of that.)

There’s no beauty or redemption in this chapter of America’s story, but the beauty of this film is it restores humanity to the memory of the millions of people who were denied it in their lifetimes. Instead of being grouped together as collective “slaves,” they’re Solomon and Patsey and Eliza and Emily and Robert and Jasper and Anna and Clemens. They have faces and names and families and scars, and 12 Years a Slave finds and shows them better than any movie about American slavery yet.

ARTISTIC TASTE: 10/10

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crowd vs. critic single take // A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001)

Note: This is a modified version of a review originally written for ZekeFilm. Photo credits: IMDb.com.

John Nash spends his life looking through windows. Though we know today that he will become a Nobel Prize-winning mathematician, he spends most of his life on the outside looking in, drawing equations between the panes. First he scrambles to develop his thesis at Princeton University, and then he struggles to be a good husband to fellow brainiac Alicia (Jennifer Connelly) and good father to their son. But his life becomes more complicated when a new (and highly classified) job opportunity arises. Will this role finally help him realize his dream of making his mark on the world?

CROWD // One of the beauties of this Best Picture Project is I keep getting to say, “That was not what I was expecting!” Once more, A Beautiful Mind is another excuse to dust off that phrase.

This Best Picture winner does check off a lot of boxes of modern Oscar contenders. It’s a technically accomplished biopic about an influential but misunderstood historical figure whose career competes with his family life, and yes, I could double the length of this piece by listing 21st century Best Picture noms featuring that arc. But there’s a twist to A Beautiful Mind, and it’s the jolt this biopic needs to stick in our memories. Somehow that twist wasn’t spoiled for me in the last two decades, so I’ll continue to withhold it in case you are just as lucky. Rest assured it saves what would otherwise be a stale historical drama with a penchant for shout-y melodrama.

POPCORN POTENTIAL: 8/10

CRITIC // In short, A Beautiful Mind is more than the memes of floating numbers it has inspired. Crowe and Oscar winner Connelly provide a narrative heart, making the most of the script’s unnatural, expository dialogue and looking especially polished in the chic period costumes. The scene stealers, though, are supporting players Paul Bettany and Ed Harris, who walk a fine line between caricature and archetype but ultimately energize the story. (Notably, they are not accurate portrayals of their real counterparts in Nash’s life.) They are also part of this film’s sneaky strength: making difficult-to-understand concepts digestible. Those memes may feel silly online, but in context, they are a creative and, at times, thrilling depiction of our hero’s superpowers. Reading Nash’s Wikipedia page, I know I will never understand the mathematical concepts he explored, but for a moment, Ron Howard made be me believe I could keep up—what could be more unexpected than that?

ARTISTIC TASTE: 8.5/10

#A Beautiful Mind #Russell Crowe #Best Picture #Best Picture Project #Academy Awards #Oscars #2001 #Crowd #Critic #Single Take #Jennifer Connelly #Ed Harris #Paul Bettany #8/10 #8.5/10 #Ron Howard

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