By, Sean Frank
FILM
1: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
This animated Spider-Man film surprised me. It is funny, thrilling, emotional, sincere, and irreverent. The script moves along briskly, juggling a large amount of characters while giving them all moments to shine. The main character; teen Miles Morales; has a great arc that finds him overcoming his uncertainty and fears. This helps convey the film’s message that, with courage and conviction, anyone can wear the mask.
Miles ultimately finds this courage from within but Spider-Mans from other dimensions as well as Spider-Gwen & Spider-Ham (A talking pig) encourage him. These characters and the world itself are animated in a distinct style unlike anything I have personally seen. The animation also takes direct inspiration from comic books using dialog bubbles and splash panels to great effect. All of this combines to create a film that is loaded with plot, character, and style but not overstuffed. Instead it is overwhelming in the best way possible.
2: Bad Times at the El Royale
Bad Times at the El Royale is set in the late 60’s and involves various characters whose lives violently intersect over the course of a night at a once glamorous hotel that straddles the California-Nevada border. It is long, tediously plotted, and slow. But it is also distinctly stylistic, genuinely thrilling, and unexpectedly moving. Writer/director Drew Goddard has crafted a film that uses the conventions of a thriller to comment on the ways our past defines us.
3: Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asians is a romantic comedy that is unabashedly romantic and unabashedly funny. It follows a young Asian American woman meeting her boyfriend’s extremely wealthy family in Singapore. She clashes with his mother over their divides in culture and class. Throughout, this film is engaging with a tight script and excellent performances. I have already seen it three times and each time I was just as surprised by how witty, well-crafted, and heart-felt this film is.
4: Mission Impossible: Fallout
Star Tom Cruise and Director Christopher McQuarrie are the perfect combination for the Mission Impossible franchise. After the very good Rogue Nation they have created an action masterpiece with Mission Impossible: Fallout. The plot may be fairly convoluted but it deftly pushes the protagonist and his team towards escalating scenarios. Tom Cruises’ willingness to participate in the stunts allows the camera to capture the star in the action and invest the audience in the inherent danger. An emotional through line about the many sacrifices Ethan Hunt has to make give the film its necessary beating heart.
5: Roma
Roma is not a film for everyone. It is subtitled, in black and white, and very slow. It is worth the effort though. Writer/director Alfonso Cuaron uses the pristine black and white widescreen image from the ARRI ALEXA 65 to capture the actors as well as the details and crowds in the background. It creates a great sense of place, specifically Mexico City in the early 1970s. Although Mexico City is an important part of the film, the main focus here is on Cleo, played brilliantly by Yalitza Aparicio. Cleo is a maid for a middle class family. The beginning of the film spends time with her during her average day to day life. The richness and deliberate nature of the character work here is transfixing. Because of this, when the traumatizing moments do hit, they land with an unexpected impact.
6: Eighth Grade
First time writer/director Bo Burnham has crafted an impressive feature-film debut with Eighth Grade. It follows the last week of eighth grader Kayla Day’s school year. She is very shy and anxious and uses Youtube to express herself in advice videos. Elsie Fisher does a great job with this role. I was especially surprised to see social anxiety expressed so clearly. Her anxiety and insecurity feels very real. There are no easy answers or simple fixes to the external and internal social pressure she faces. This film acknowledges that but is not entirely cynical either. The cringe-worthy moments are carefully balanced with moments of acceptance and resolution.
7: If Beale Street Could Talk
The best word to describe this film is poetic. From the evocative orchestral score to the fluid and carefully composed camera work, everything feels seamless and overtly expressionistic. The plot involves Tish and Fonny, a young African American couple in early 1970s Harlem. Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit, and the pregnant Tish fights for his release. Tish’s voice-over along with flash backs and the fantastic score reveal the depth of their love for each other. Barry Jenkins further cements his place as a world class director in this artful exploration of love, compassion, and racial injustice.
8: A Quiet Place
I have always thought that horror works best when paired with great drama. A Quiet Place accomplishes this paring brilliantly. It involves a family in a post-apocalyptic world doing what it takes to survive. The creatures that destroyed most of humanity have incredible hearing and now the remaining few must live in strict silence. This scenario allows for tense scenes of horror and expressive moments of drama. Though sign language helps with the plotting, it is the committed performances and careful camerawork that elevate this into a new genre classic. When the credits rolled, I felt exhausted, breathless from the action and moments of sorrow, regret, and sacrifice that drive it.
9: A Star is Born
I have always found Bradly Cooper to be a great actor. Though his impressive performance in A Star is Born further confirms this it also announces him as a great director. Sure, there are some Hollywood contrivances, but overall this film feels very raw and very human. Lady Gaga’s performance is full of depth. Perhaps, the best example of this is when Bradly Cooper’s veteran rock star Jackson Maine invites her to perform on stage. Her singing is of course excellent but it is her initial hesitation which evolves so naturally into disbelief and finally pure joy that elevates this scene into an iconic one. Though this scene proves difficult to top, topics such as fame, alcoholism, and depression are aptly explored by this ambitious film.
10: Searching
Searching is part of a new genre of film that takes place entirely on computer screens. Though this would seem limiting it actually expands this film in interesting ways. John Cho plays a father looking for his missing teenage daughter. We watch him do the investigative work of digging into his daughter’s digital life. This methodical approach is engaging instead of tedious as new plot details are revealed along with twist after twist. The director also uses video chat and video files found on the computer to keep us connected to the characters. This film may just take place on computer screens but the engaging mystery and committed performances make it feel just as cinematic as any other thriller.
TELEVISION SHOW
The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix 2018)
This show is about a family. It is also about trauma, depression, mental illness, and ghosts both literal and metaphorical. Sure it may be too ambitious but when it lands it lingers with you long after the episode is over. The plot jumps back and forth in time from when a family stayed at a haunted house during the summer of 1992 to present day when everyone is still dealing with their experiences. Most episodes have a unique mixture of terrifying scares and sincere drama. While this combination may not work with everyone I found it to be mesmerizing.
MUSIC ALBUM
Now Only by Mount Eerie
Following up the great album A Crow Looked at Me, Singer/Songwriter Phil Elverum is still dealing with his grief over the passing of his wife on Now Only. This album is more dynamic but still just as intimate and devastating. While there is some guitar distortion and more variety in melody and tone, the lyrics still cut deep. On the title track he sings the chorus in an upbeat voice but the lyrics are “….But people get cancer and die. People get hit by trucks and die. People just living their lives get erased for no reason with the rest of us watching from the sides….”. These songs are about loss, grief, and moving on while looking back. Just like his previous album, it is a difficult listen but worth the effort.
VIDEO GAME
Red Dead Redemption 2
I didn’t know what to expect after the excellent Red Dead Redemption but this sequel is a landmark in video game storytelling and open world immersion. Players control Arthur Morgan, an outlaw in the old west. Arthur is a member of the Van Der Linde gang. The gameplay can sometimes be tedious but there seemed to be valid reasons for this. One example is I couldn’t make Arthur run in the gang camps. Because I couldn’t run, I took the time to talk to the other gang members and create connections with them. One evening, when everyone celebrated after a rescue was a particular highlight. A few people were singing around the fire, a couple others drunkenly stumbling along, and as Arthur, I could interact with all of them. The story allows for time to interact with the world and all its inhabitants but it does move steadily along. I don’t want to spoil where it goes but by the end of this long journey I was stunned. Stunned by how a video game could tell a story just as grand and cinematic as any film or television series.
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