The Dead Don't Die (2019)

Jim Jarmusch's latest is a zombie movie unlike any other. It's not a horror movie. It's a comedy, an unconventional one at that. It breaks the fourth wall. It has a huge cast of familiar Jarmusch faces in bit parts. The humor is kind of awkward, off kilter. Bill Murray and Adam Driver are perfect for the dry, slow-paced, often deadpan jokes. I'm starting to like Adam Driver more in his comedic work. There are a lot of seemingly irrelevant characters. Surely there is something Jarmusch is trying to say about the outcasts of Centerville, a small American town (village?) with a cast of lonely characters. I'm not quite sure what. The movie takes a wonky turn at the end. It wouldn't have been how I ended it, but I'm not entirely unsatisfied cause it's appropriately bonkers.

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)

Terry Gilliam's long anticipated project has finally seen the light of day. Despite getting off to a slow first act, the movie is wildly funny. It is over two hours, and that's a bit too long. It's the middle act, following Don Quixote and Sancho Panza on their misadventures. It features two raucous performances from Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver, but it's kind of repetitive. The production value looks really expensive, and very Spanish. Reality blends with insanity in what I describe as magical realism/surrealism. It's certainly an unusual movie, but it's very entertaining and well worth a watch.

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Starting with the message, I think this film is a perfect example of historical dramatization usable as a primary source on the period in which it was produced. Spike Lee, never one for subtlety, is very on the nose about calling out Trump, featuring all his favorite slogans and footage of the man himself at the very end. So not only is the movie thematically poignant, it is necessary as blatant white supremacy rears its ugly head in public.

The style is not obviously Spike Lee. By no means is it slow, but it doesn't have the kinetic forward energy that pushes along some of his earlier works. There are some tinges of blaxploitation, alluded to directly. There are experimental cuts and edits that are a little too film school for someone so experienced--the floating heads watching Stokeley Carmichael's speech are sort of strange, the titles over the Charlottesville footage look a little childish (or rushed? as if the titles were so insignificant he just used the default in the editing software). The allusions to Birth of a Nation are obvious, but the opening scene from Gone with the Wind followed by Alec Baldwin's un-polished monologue are unusual directorial choices. I love the use of music. The main theme sounds exactly like an undercover cop soundtrack stereotype. There are also some tracks of more rah-rah Saving Private Ryan-esque music used subversively. The 1970s dialogue and costumes are right on. If not for that, well, it could have been 2018.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

It's good to see an Asian in a leading role! And she's a cool character. Admittedly, Rose and Finn's (two minorities owning the screen!) plot on the casino planet of Canto Bight is kind of irrelevant to the grand scheme of the plot. It's a beautifully designed planet and the chase scene on the streets of Dubrovnik is incredible. There is an anti-war, anti-weapons (slash class warfare) message that is a little on the nose, but I think it's a necessary and welcome addition to the Star Wars galaxy.

They really talk a lot about the Force in this one. It's a good refresher on what the Force actually is. And this one really stretches the limits of the Force. We see new the Force do new things we've never seen before. I can see why the fans might be complaining about this. But I don't think these new powers are too out there.

The movie is quite long. There were a few times I thought the movie was going to end. That has to do with the many subplots having to be contrived together. But they do come together and then culminate in a battle--it is war after all. The final hour of the movie is very exciting. Laura Dern's character gets a brilliant plot that terminates in the most stunning shot of the film, a silent and still frame.

The direction is a clear departure from the previous films, it's artsier. The solid colors stand out: Laura Dern's hair and garb, and the deep red of Snoke's lair, and the red soil against the white dust. Though the movie is clearly a call back to The Empire Strikes Back. It's a little darker, more pessimistic for the Resistance. I won't spoil it all, but what was supposed to be fan service, catering to the fans by recalling the greatest Star Wars movie and then they didn't like it... You know it's a strange world when the critics praise Star Wars and the super fans are the critical ones. I, for one, enjoyed it. 

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)

There was something really unexpectedly sweet about this family dramedy. I admit that I'm not all that familiar with Noah Baumbach's work but I'm going to describe this as Woody Allen meets Hirokazu Kore-eda. It has the liberal upper-class Manhattan sensibilities of Allen, and the bittersweet family saga of Kore-eda. I used to watch Woody Allen films wondering if that's really how rich, privileged, cultured white people live. I think it's something I aspired to, but I now think that version of affluence is not necessarily attainable or maybe not even desirable--the Meyerowitz's are pretty messed up. Their family dynamic is all over the place. They talk fast over each other (a very cleverly written, difficult-to-execute script) and there is lots of yelling. But they are compelling. These were perhaps the best performances ever delivered by Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller. Comedic actors, they manage a balance between their usual shtick and family drama. It's funny, it's sweet, and emotional at the same time. 

Silence (2016)

This movie has been Scorsese's passion project that he has literally been trying to get made for over two decades. It is an introspective movie that asks the big questions about religion. I didn't know that Scorsese was so deep into religion. It's no simple praise god kind of movie. It is not so unilateral. It is a huge, challenging movie. You can tell that he must think about spirituality a lot.

The movie is beautiful. Torture and death never looked so stunning. The cinematography is definitely a standout. When you have two and a half excruciatingly painful hours, it better look good. It's a lot to take. It batters you emotionally and mentally. It is not easy to watch, but I couldn't look away.

The acting is very good too. Andrew Garfield plays a Jesuit priest (another religious character in Japan, coincidentally similar to his role in Hacksaw Ridge this year).  He is the protagonist but I actually wish Adam Driver had a bigger role (proportionally), because I think he was very good, even better than Garfield. Issey Ogata plays the grand inquisitor. When you first hear his rather high pitched voice, he sounds like a caricature of a Japanese person speaking English. I don't think that is intentional, that might just be how he talks? I'm not sure, but it's worth drawing attention to at least.

The movie had me thinking a lot about religion naturally. What the Japanese did to the Christians was obviously terrible. And you can't compare tragedies. But I found myself recalling the Spanish Inquisition, in which the violence and torture was reversed. It is terrible, but it is certainly not unique to the Japanese, as the Christians too committed atrocious acts (in the name of God, compared to the logical but perhaps unsound reasoning of the Japanese). They speak in competing metaphors that keep the questions coming. And in the end, there are no answers, just more questions. It is a fascinating movie that will continue to marinate in my mind.  

Midnight Special (2016)

This movie has a Steven Spielberg feel to it. It is his brand of science fiction. It is a little bit Close Encounters and a little bit Super 8--all very prominently feature the night. It is about a young boy with mysterious powers who needs to get to the right place at the right time for something. It is all shrouded in mystery. There are three parties who have competing stakes. One party is the FBI, joined by Adam Driver from the NSA. Adam Driver is a little subdued, he kind of under acts. It is the same bland delivery of lines as in Paterson and Star Wars. Sure, I guess it fits the role but it's always the same with him. Another party is a religious cult that reads prophecies from the boy's powers. And the third party is made up of Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst, and Joel Edgerton. All three of them are excellent. I particularly liked Shannon's intense performance as a concerned father. The movie is engaging and mysterious, not to mention visually striking. 

Paterson (2016)

This is a movie about daily life for a bus driver in Paterson, NJ. And you know how exciting New Jersey is. The most action we get is his bus breaks down. I was waiting for his bus to get hijacked. But his life is too mundane for that. Their dog is cute, but I don't like to give in to animals. Even if Nellie won the Palm Dog posthumously for acting in drag.  It's cheap. Adam Driver plays Kylo Ren, essentially. His acting is flat and monotone, maybe a little less angsty. And he writes poetry, some of which is insufferable. His poem about the matches literally put me to sleep. He and his wife are perfectly content and their marital bliss is almost too perfect. The wife has her hobbies and the husband indulges her. It feels like manufactured happiness.  It is a slow movie that I didn't particularly care for.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)

Star Wars will become the biggest movie of the year, without a doubt, maybe even the biggest movie of the decade.  This seriously has Avatar potential.  What the two movies share in common are fun and visually thrilling action movies in galaxies far, far away.  JJ Abrams made a movie that is exactly what the fans have asked for. It is a movie that lives up to the fans' expectations, and as we all know, Star Wars fans care very much.  And it shows that Abrams put care into this movie too so as not to disappoint. The movie has gotten some criticism  for copying the original too much, but I see it more as an homage to the source material. It opens on a desert planet Jakku, not unlike Tatooine.  The key to the Resistance (no longer Rebellion) movement is tucked away in a droid that is found by the protagonist.  And without revealing too much more of the movie, rest assured there are a lot more parallels to A New Hope--the most glaringly obvious of which is the new and improved Deathstar-like weapon.  I personally loved the hiding underneath the floor of the Millennium Falcon, a throwback to Han Solo and Chewbacca.

The movie brings the same type of drama that the original trilogy did that is simultaneously exhilarating and emotion.  Reliable John Williams returns and wrote a rousing score that echoes the familiar themes.  And at the end of the massive credits, the chimes play the theme one final glorious time at a slowed down pace.  2015 brought with it modern special effects that show how far Star Wars has come since 1977.   This is a Star Wars for a new generation creating a new young following.

The characters from the original trilogy are back. They're a lot older but we are all so glad to see them. The audience at the IMAX theater literally applauded Han Solo and Chewbacca. And the returning characters all have plausible story lines that make sense for their characters following the close of the original trilogy. But this is about the new characters. Daisy Ridley plays Rey and it is refreshing to have a strong female lead. John Boyega is a reformed Storm Trooper, finally putting a (likable) face to the foot soldiers of the Dark Side.  And the new face of evil is Kylo Ren with his newly designed light saber.  He makes a formidable foe for a formidable sequel to America's cinematic treasure.