The Iron Claw

This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Iron Claw is a wrestling biopic following the lives of the Von Erich family, a dynasty of wrestlers who spent their lives attempting to break further and further into the wrestling world while facing exceptional tragedy. This is a very powerful film and one of the best biopics I have seen in a very long while. It highlights a family that is extremely tightly-knit, forged by a bond of brotherhood and family duty to one another. At the top of this film we see the Von Erich brothers as something kind of beautiful and aspirational; they are caring and work doggedly hard to protect one another. But the chink in the armour is Fritz Von Erich, the patriarch of the Von Erich family. This is a man who presides over his family with a stony dedication to the goal of triumph, he is indifferent to breaking or bending and despises percieved weakness. This family is often devastated as a result of the unrealistic and unforgiving expectations laid out by Fritz Von Erich; and the film does not shy away from the loss created as a result. Watching through Kevin Von Erich's perspective was so crucial because it takes the audience on the journey of learning how the family thinks, how inescapable that life is and that moment of grief by the end of the film where we are allowed to feel openly sad alongside Kevin. I also really did enjoy the way this film placed the period setting and the world of wrestling at this time, it was stylistic but in a way that non-wrestling fans could also find themselves learning and appreciating.

 

I loved how dynamic this film looked, every scene was treated with such importance when it came to style that it was such a pleasure to watch. I loved how the wrestling action was shot, it shows how full hits were pulled while also highlighting the physical damage that actually is achieved; the camera also takes you all across the ring and got insanely creative with some of those angles. I also love when the camera apuses on moments of grief and melancholia, slow lingering fatalistic frames that weigh up the pain being carried around more succinctly with visuals than with dialogue. The editing is very slick and almost glides between shots, yet sets a hurtling pace in scenes of high intensity or danger. The score is exuberant and joyful at first but grows dark and mournful at the narrative progressives. I was also entirely enraptured by the soundtrack with a number of great tracks from that time period but the track that stood out for me the best is the one that played during the credits: 'Live That Way Forever' by Richard Reed Parry, Little Scream and The Barr Brothers.

 

Holt McCallany, who played Fritz Von Erich, is one of my absolute favourite performances of this whole piece; McCallany crafts a pretty merciless taskmaster who rules his family like a bully and a tyrant. Maura Tierney, who played Doris Von Erich, is a more quietly eccentric performance that works very well; Tierney's depiction of a spiral into grief for Doris is well executed. Harris Dickinson, who played David Von Erich, is probably the most playful and charismatic of the Von Erich sibling ensemble; Dickinson's line delivery is incredible and you can really see how he gravitates to showcasing the best ring presence of the family. Stanley Simons, who played Mike Von Erich, is a bit more outside the box when compared to the more wrestling centred performers and that works to his strength; Simons gets to have fun with being more of a smart mouth and he leans in nicely to Mike's passion for music. Lily James, who played Pam, demands attention as this intent flirt who knows the man she wants; James portrays a love that is fierce  and fast and ultimately very strong over a string of tragedies. Jeremy Allen White, who played Kerry Von Erich, is the Von Erich who seems fated towards self-destruction; watching Allen White portray the conflict and total breakdown of Kerry in the second and final acts hurt like hell.

However, the best performance came from Zac Efron, who played Kevin Von Erich. This is a truly moving leading role for Efron and he handles it with such care and responsibility. When first we meet Kevin Von Erich he is a truly massive physical presence, extremely fit and imposing visually but the personality presented is a lot more down to Earth. Efron highlights the awkwardness of Kevin both in front of the camera and in a social setting beyond his family. It is clear from the go that this is a figure with self-confidence issues who is very dependent on his father's validation for a sense of worth. Yet the charisma Efron shares with his on-screen brothers is very special and where he comes to life, you feel a strong sense of sibling energy here that is truly the backbone of this movie. I loved moments like watching Kevin bumble his way into a relationship with James' Pam, or quietly inquire after his brother's health or even urge his Mum to ask their Dad to stop being so tough on his brothers. Efron plays a bit of a guardian here, one who falls apart a bit more every time he experiences loss. That breaking point moment in the scene with Ric Flair (Eisenberg) is terrifying and full of rage, portrayed intensely by Efron. I loved that final act too, the final condemnation of his father and that open display of grief in front of his children. The movie was a powerful one and a real pinnacle moment for Efron as an actor.

I found The Iron Claw a film that was almost entirely excellent but it was really varied and inconsistent with the presentation of sub-plots and some characters. The film had a decent story to tell in two of the brothers, Mike and Kerry, but Mike's screen time was quite inconsistent while Kerry took a long time to be properly introduced to the plot. I also felt the Pam and Kevin storyline suffered from similar issues, at times it was front and centre and then there were very long stretches where Pam didn't even so much as appear. A little more focus on how to make these small branches wind in neater would have been nice.

Aaron Dean Eisenberg, who played Ric Flair, felt like a comedic piece of parody that didn't sit well in this dramatic biopic; Eisenberg's attempts to really oversell that he was Ric Flair nearly took me out of one of the most important moments in the feature.

There is no doubt in my mind that this will go on to be one of the heights of Zac Efron's career in the best possible way. I would give The Iron Claw an 8.5/10.

Mean Girls

 

This review may contain spoilers!

 

Mean Girls is an adaptation of the Broadway musical and the 2004 comedy of the same name. It follows Cady, a foreign exchange student who has to learn how to navigate all of the social cilques of a modern American high school. When the queen of the 'Plastics' Regina George takes Cady under her wing what results is a comedic revenge story that shakes North Shore High School inside out and upside down.

 

This film works so well because it takes us right back to that heightened jungle of a social system called high school. The colourful cliques that decorate this setting and how Cady has to navigate them, partiuclarly the Plastics is so much fun. This film is somehow a little more camp than the original, which in part does come from the music but also from the tightrope manner in which this film tries to broaden the comedy to a wider audience. I found a lot of hilarity in the extremely quotable lines, the musical numbers that are there to draw a laugh ('Sexy') and the extremely heightened setting where nonsensical rules and character archetpes are the butt of the joke. The movie really draws off the tone of the first film and recreates that fast and loose sense of comedy, where every scene can be pulled by a well set-up line or circumstance. But more than this Mean Girls still works because it manages to remind us that you don't belong in a box, there's actually something quite important about being more than just a stereotype. It's a movie that spotlights the misfits and gives you permission to be one; hell, it reminds you just how cool it is to be one.

The editing for this movie takes some frantic shots and an erratic sense of style and provides an incredible level of cohesion to it all. The film has to flow quite quickly in the musical numbers especially and the timing or pace in which this film is pieced together is probably the best choreography of all. More than this, even if the film doesn't always know how to write a young cast or setting the editing team actually shows a level knowledge of how to lend a modern social media aesthetic to this feature. I also enjoyed most of the songs in the film, there are some real character ballads in this often headlined by the incredible Reneé Rapp and Auli'i Cravalho. Some of the best numbers stood out in a best way and highlighted why a film musical worked for Mean Girls, numbers like 'Sexy', 'Someone Gets Hurt', 'World Burn' and especially 'I'd Rather Be Me' were brilliant.

 

Reneé Rapp, who played Regina George, brings a Regina to life who feels much harsher and grounded than McAdams; Rapp really embodies this effortless confidence that sells her as the queen of this fictional high school. Avantika, who played Karen Shetty, very much gives Seyfried a run for her money in my opinion; Avantika still finds the comedic beats of the more 'ditzy' Plastic and she also wields her role's sexiness like a comedic tool in a way that doesn't undercut her. Bebe Wood, who played Gretchen Wieners, works well as the most high-strung member of the Plastics; Wood really lends herself to Gretchen's self-worth issues and constant state of anxiety.Busy Philipps, who played Mrs. George, was a real delight in her scenes; Philipps really ran with the Mum trying to impress her daughter's young friends bit to incredible effect. Tim Meadows, who played Mr. Duvall, gives the tired and dour principal role a great deal of justice; Meadows sense of comedy works subtly and quietly but is an important aspect of this feature. Lindsay Lohan, who played the Mathletes Moderator, gets to return to Mean Girls in quite a tasteful fashion; I enjoyed the little quips Lohan got to deliver and the passing of the torch sort of sense the scene evoked. Ashley Park and Connor Ratliff, who played Madame Park and Mr. Rapp respectively, were brilliant elements of the comedy ensemble in this film; Park and Ratliff each trying to stay trendy with the students to comedic effect was hilarious. Mahi Alam, who played Kevin Ganatra, wasn't in this movie too much but was extremely funny in the scenes he was in; the way Alam went absolutely all in on some of his role's gags in the final act was perfect.

However, the best performance came from Auli'i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey, who played Janis 'Imi'ike and Damian Hubbard respectively. These two start the film off as not only our introduction but also our guide to this film, they're not narrators but rather how we come to see the world of this Mean Girls. I enjoy the comedy that comes with Spivey, he leans into sassy quick wit that results in some exceptional one liners. If there's a comedic powerhouse in this movie it's Spivey by a long way. I also adored Cravalho being this angry artsy lesbian who feels entirely rejected by the school culture she's in. Coming to see this character as a vulnerable person who is so upset by the betrayal of Regina (Rapp) and later Cady (Rice), we really empathise with the hurt she experiences. I loved seeing Cravalho wear her anger, her excitement for revenge and even her character's pain so openly and honestly. I have to commend both Cravalho and Spivey though, they work phenomenally as best friend duo and in some ways are the real heroes of this Mean Girls tale.

I really feared for this movie when I started watching it, I genuinely felt like they had taken everything that made Mean Girls so brilliant and warped it severely. I say this because the first act is quite messy, it doesn't blend musical elements and comedy film elements well at all; with the musical numbers often feeling like intrusions than moments that are meant to happen. More than this, the story is just a safe retelling, outside of the music the movie isn't trying to tell anything very different; the jokes or plot elements either land exactly the same or fall flat on their face. An aspect of this is because the film creators clearly don't have their finger on the pulse of what a current high school setting or social media landscape would look like. There are a number of jokes, lines and visual elements in this movie that pulled me right out because it felt like something an older person would hypothesize young people say, act or look like. The storyline around Cady and who she was as a person feels a lot more underdeveloped, her interest around Aaron is her guiding bolt for most of the movie. Yet, this romantic subplot isn't particularly unique nor smattered with chemistry and without all that it leaves our protagonist feeling like one of the least interesting aspects of this whole storyline.

Mean Girls is a movie that jumps around in style, which is ironic given the original is a pretty clear cut aesthetic comedy piece. But this movie veers all over the place. There are musical numbers where the framing cuts out whole aspects of choreography, glaringly bad fisheye lens close-ups and multiple inconsistent points where the way the camera is utilised shifts entirely. The result is a very choppy final production that is only salvaged by a clearly talented post-production unit. I also have to reiterate where things went wrong in act one with some entirely tragic musical numbers that almost made me write this whole thing off, specifically 'What Ifs', 'Stupid with Love' and 'Apex Predator'.

Angourie Rice, who played Cady Heron, really struggles as a protagonist in a musical comedy; not only does Rice struggle to ever shed the wallflower archetype for Cady but she also really can't sing strongly. Christopher Briney, who played Aaron Samuels, is quite a dull love interest role; Briney doesn't really give much to this character so it's hard to see much of anything resembling a personality from him. Jenna Fischer, who played Ms. Heron, is a bit too meek to leave much of a mark on this film; more disappointingly I didn't really believe Fischer was the profession she was playing nor has much of a mother/daughter relationship with Rice. Tina Fey and Jon Hamm, who played Ms. Norbury and Coach Carr respectively, are some of the dullest members in the ensemble which is a surprise given their extensive comedic and acting backgrounds; Fey in particular is a letdown given her long attachment to Mean Girls and her part in creating this one.

Could've crashed and burned after that opening act but somehow managed to land on it's feet. I would give Mean Girls a 6.5/10.

The Beekeeper

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Beekeeper follows Adam Clay, a retired special intelligence operative known as a 'Beekeeper' who operates outside of the system to protect the hive/maintain the status quo. When Adam's neighbour takes her own life after being targetted by a financial scam, the Beekeeper sets off on a vendetta that will seem him escalate his action right up to the President of the United States.

 

I give credit where it's due to the final act of the film. It is here that all of the stereotypes or cartoonish action set pieces finally come together in a brutal, explosive manner. That final act has a real driving force behind, the action is so quick and precise that you really sit up and pay attention. Overall, I really considered this to be where the consistently great stuntwork hits a stride well worth remarking upon.

 

Jason Statham, who played Adam Clay, works solidly in the sort of action film he does best at; Statham's ability to look like the toughest guy in the room while stoically spitting out bee puns is a talent I genuinely think few other performers could pull off. Bobby Naderi, who played Agent Matt Wiley, is an excellent wry wit to Raver-Lampman's more erratic performance; I like how Naderi drew humour out without ever compromising the more severe tone of a scene. Jemma Redgrave, who played President Danforth, is quite impressive as the stately influential leader of the free world; Redgrave plays nicely with making the audience guess if her character is complicit in her on-screen son's criminal actions.

 

However, the best performance came from Josh Hutcherson, who played Derek Danforth. This role feels like something Hutcherson is really having a lot of fun with and seeing that kind of energy hooked me in almost immediately. You get so many of these preppy rich kid antagonist roles in action films who almost lean into the archetype so much it becomes parody. But Hutcherson really lives in it here, which is what makes it work so well. You believe Derek is quite aloof and throws his time into singing crystal bowl meditation (it exists I Googled it). But the crucial point is the flick into this narcissistic hateful entrepreneur who has built his empire on the back of real misery dealt to others. Watching the sheer lack of remorse and the almost careless way Hutcherson throws around his role's sense of violence and revenge is quite gripping. The Beekeeper might not stand tall alongside other action films of recent years but it does have a great leading antagonist in Josh Hutcherson.

 

Jason Statham action movies aren't the sort of film with a great track record, even if the actor himself can nail the particular parts he is playing. You pair that with David Ayer, a man with the claim to Bright and the bad Suicide Squad film, and you get a sense where this is all going. The Beekeeper is the sort of film that likes to get up on a soapbox and tell you the big message behind it; often acting as subtle as the blunt force trauma it's main protagonist is inflicting. The whole message that online/phone scams are bad and that preying on the elderly in our society is bad is a concept no one is going to disagree with; in fact it's so unremarkable a thought that it's hard to imagine a whole vendetta action flick about a guy called a 'beekeeper' being based around it. As an action film it is also riddled with a lot of played out tropes, just the worldbuilding around the Beekeeper organisation being a special forces types organisation that works 'outside the system' felt played out enough. Throw a back and forth FBI partnership in the mix and a big American megacorp behind it all and this film starts to feel like it doesn't have an original bone in it's body. Yet the moments that are unique to the film are perhaps the worst of all: the bee stuff. Obviously, our protagonist is something called a 'beekeeper' - it means he's a real badass apparently (though he does retire to become an actual beekeeper). Yet despite the core premise I don't know why the film felt brave to make every other piece of dialogue a bee pun or fact. The amount of times I had to listen to someone say a clunky line about getting stung was insufferable and immediately marked this as one of the worst action scripts I'm probably going to sit through all of 2024.

 

David Ayer directed Fury, a neat little war film that shows a crew piloting a tank and it is shot gorgeously. That beautiful film feels like a long time ago, especially as I watch the most stock standard shooting I have ever seen in The Beekeeper. Everything is just compactly framed, there isn't real much of an attempt for creativity here and it all just looks to simple to the eye. The editing also sets a weak pace, with some scenes even feeling a little too abrupt in places. Overall, this is a film you'd expect to be five deep in the Die Hard or Transporter series, not a fresh action vehicle. The score for the feature was a generic Hollywood blockbuster warble, almost deafeningly uninspired in the big action scenes.

 

Emmy Raver-Lampman, who played Agent Verona Parker, is quite a hard sell as an FBI agent; this role is so impulsive and all over the place in the course of the narrative that it becomes hard to root for her or even really understand her. Jeremy Irons, who played Wallace Westwyld, looks like he entirely hates his role and the script the whole way through; seeing Irons as this dottery old coward who tangents through Beekeeper exposition feels like a colossal waste of talent. David Witts, who played Mickey Garnett, is the rich kid antagonist stereotype Hutcherson managed to avoid in this film; Witts' performance is a such a clown that it becomes tough to really see him as any kind of criminal underworld type. Taylor James, who played Lazarus, feels like a figure out of a Neil Blomkamp sci-fi piece; from the physicality to the line delivery there is no part of James' role that made me feel like he could be a real character. Phylicia Rashad, who played Eloise Parker, gives no emotional range in her role; Rashad might be boxed in as the caring matronly type but she does no work to get herself out of that stereotype. Minnie Driver, who played Director Janet Harward, feels like she is barely off script with some of her line delivery; Driver just never feels like she has the severity or power that you'd attribute to a CIA director type. Megan Le, who played Anisette, could have come from a comic book and really doesn't belong in this film of all places; I also felt like Le's over the top role cost the concept of a 'Beekeeper' some credibility.

I don't know who has had the worse track record of late: Jason Statham or David Ayer. Both have clearly united for a career low. I would give The Beekeeper a 3/10.

Ferrari

This review may contain spoilers!

Ferrari is a biopic about Enzo Ferrari at a time in his life where his company was facing bankruptcy, he was living between two households and he was hedging all of his bets on the Mille Miglia, the last auto race of it's kind. 

This film was oddly transfixing at times, you felt the pressure of Enzo Ferrari faintly but present enough to invest you more and more as the film went along. One of the great feats this film manages to achieve is depicting the relationship between Enzo and his wife, Laura. There is such wild, heavy resentment from the outset here. Ferrari cannot reconcile that he lost a son while with Laura, while Laura blames Ferrari for the death of their son and abandoning her. The string of wild behaviour, lashing out and deep-rooted grudges that come to light between these two comprise the grit of the film. I think watching Laura unravel all the secrets Enzo has held from her and still remaining loyal in her way was a captivating character journey. I should also mention the horror I felt watching the events at Guidizzolo, it might just be the most alarming thing I've seen in cinemas for a long time. The audience I was in all expressed various outcries of shock, I felt arrested to my seat in that moment. A scene that makes you want to run away, but you take it all in at that moment as you wonder at the tragedy of this moment in history.

I wasn't much of a fan of the style of Ferrari, which feels like an ironic statement. However, I'll be the first to admit they captured the whiplash nature of the car racing scenes extremely well. In fact the Mille Miglia sequence was very pulse-pounding and creatively filmed. In my mind all of the creative energy really did pour into that last big moment leading into the final act. I also have to shout out Daniel Pemberton's brilliant score, his theme for Enzo evokes a melancholic sense of loss and tragedy that hangs faintly over our protagonist.

 

Adam Driver, who played Enzo Ferrari, marks a solid protagonist portrayal; Driver takes a cold role and finds the points where he can breathe a bit of life into him. Daniela Piperno, who played Adalgsia Ferrari, is a real viper of a role; Piperno really has some fun with some of the most cutting dialogue in the feature.

However, the best performance came from Penélope Cruz, who played Laura Ferrari. It has been a long time since I've seen Cruz in a film that really reminds me what propelled her to the top, but this was something truly remarkable. From the beginning we are treated to a very embittered figure, a woman who is worn out waiting for someone who is perpetually absent. Yet what I loved about Cruz's introduction is just how wild and unpredictable her scorn is, she explodes into sudden bouts of rage one moment or delivers quiet cutting lines the next. This is a role who feels like she should collapse but she turns into a completely vicious fighter out of spite if nothing else. I found the work her and Driver did to establish a broken relationship that still came together at times very complex work, it spoke tremendously to their talent as performers. The final scene we get from Cruz's Laura is something broken and sad, a bit triumphant but a hollow victory for sure. I have missed this type of performance from Penélope Cruz, I hope I see her in something equally good soon.

This movie is a difficult one to get immersed into at first, everything is held at arms length and the characters aren't especially likeable. Top of that list is Enzo Ferrari, who drifts from scene to scene with this dour, unrelenting lack of expression. As an audience member it becomes difficult to relate to a lead protagonist if they are entirely impassive, which is how Enzo is written for eighty percent of the film. There is also a real aimless quality to this film, it meanders through Ferrari's life and personal struggles, but there isn't a real sense of urgency to these problems. In fact, the stakes feel pointedly low until the Mille Miglia and even after this race the stakes get dropped right back down again. There are a lot of points in this film where the story of Ferrari feels full of inaction and impotence, it's a story with some impressive moments but as a whole it isn't thrilling enough to centre a movie over two hours long around. 

While I loved the racing visuals in this film I really cannot praise the cinematography as a whole. This film is riddled with poor framing, ugly close-ups and extremely janky movements that posit an unskilled hand behind the lens. The editing doesn't help matters at all, often taking too long to cut away or moving an a rapid confused pace. As a whole this is a feature that looks unappealling for almost the whole way through which really brought it down several pegs in my eyes.

Shailene Woodley, who played Lina Lardi, might just be one of the weaker performances from the main cast; Woodley's line delivery feels like something from a fresh table read and her chemistry with Driver is absent. Giuseppe Festinese, who played Piero Lardi, has set the bar very low for child actor performances this year; Festinese really overperforms in any scene where he has more than two lines. Gabriel Leone, who played Alfonso De Portago, is quite a featureless performance; Leone really leaves no mark on this character and would be entirely forgettable if not for a marked death scene. Patrick Dempsey, who played Piero Taruffi, is the worst performance in the film by a long margin; if that is the level of accent work we can expect from Dempsey then I struggle to understand how he was even cast. Lino Musella, who played Sergio Scaglietti, really lays his line delivery on a bit thick; really overselling his big poignant lines as if he were in a melodrama.

At times a very ugly biopic that is lifted up by that sucker punch of a final act and a masterful performance from Penélope Cruz. I would give Ferrari a 6/10.

The Best and Worst Films of 2023

In 2023 I watched over 140 films I had never seen before, according to my Letterboxd diary. While this is a bit of a step down from my over 230 last year it feels like a colossal number and I'm ecstatic I got to engage with so many stories. The 147 films I watched in 2023 is a combination of the 58 films I went out to see in theatres or as new release streaming; while the rest of that number comprises the recommendations I viewed from a range of people in my life. 

 

This past year has seen a lot of change for me, some of which I embraced and some I'm still learning to accept. What I like about change is that it makes you reflect on yourself and your place in the world. When things changed for me this year the constants that I valued were family and friends, it was rainfall and parties. It was also storytelling, which has always been extremely close to my heart - particularly cinematic storytelling. Watching a film and seeing how differently the visual medium can be used to tell a story is one of the most fascinating aspects of the way we tell stories in this day and age. I always have tremendous time for the cinema, more than most other storytelling formats.

 

In 2023 I felt like that love of cinema was challenged somewhat. We're all aware of the writers' and actors' strikes of last year, a moment that highlighted aspects of pay disparity these creatives face. It spotlighted just how much of a Wild West frontier streaming can be currently, with pay and how it's received finally getting a much needed spotlight. Most significantly, creatives were campaigning for security against how A.I. is either being used or will be used in this industry. There were many projects last year that looked ghastly because A.I. had a heavy hand in the writing process or the post-production process. There is a point where turning cinema into an efficient machine that treats itself entirely as a product becomes somewhat self-destructive. Audiences already proved their dissatisfaction with a number of these projects last year. While I'm not so narrow-minded as to reject the benefits of A.I., I do see the costs in a creative-fuelled industry and am curious as to what the next couple of years will have to show.

 

In saying all that, I felt like this year was really varied. I have had some split viewing experiences before but this year really yo-yoed in a way that was very unpredictable. Overall, the highs really earned their spot on my 'Best' list and the lows really are just...the Worst. Let's kick into it, starting with my faves of 2023...

 

The Best:

 

 5. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - 8.5/10

 

I know the world seems a bit tired of superhero films right now, but I'm unapologetically not. At least not when they look like the Spider-Verse films. These features have tested the boundaries of animation in recent years and in Across the Spider-Verse they up the ante by designing each visited universe with a different animation style. This means four main settings throughout the film have an entirely unique design and a whole host of minor universes do too. I adored this story of one hero standing up against what destiny has in store for him and choosing his own path, Miles Morales has become his own fixture in recent years and I'm loving it. But it is Gwen Stacy in this that really sets this animated feature ahead. Hailee Steinfeld delivers some extremely powerful voice work, the story arc is melancholy and her musical theme? Headphones on, volume up.

Check out my Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse review! 

 

4. Wonka - 9/10

 

Paul King has really just cornered the market for me on good family feature adaptations, he had me locked in with Paddington but now he has knocked it out of the park with Dahl. This is a movie not afraid to be musical when musical films aren't selling. It's not afraid to let the whole ensemble share the screen, when any other production would have made the whole thing about Chalamet. It's not afraid to be kind, when so many movies are dour these days. I liked Wonka if nothing else because it knew how to have authetic genuine fun. Granted, I can point to the wonder and splendour of a well-oiled production with perhaps one of the best depictions of a Roald Dahl character brought to screen. But don't count out what really makes it: humour, joy and kindness.

Check out my Wonka review!

 

3. Uproar - 9/10

 

 I'm the first to admit that I never give New Zealand cinema as much of a chance as I ought, but the past two or three years I have really done my best to turn that out look around. I have seen some delightful examples of New Zealand media: Rūrangi, Cousins, This Town and Savage immediately spring to mind. But this year we got Uproar and it left a mighty big impression on me. One of the defining aspects of New Zealand history I remember being taught in high school was the 1981 Springbok Tour, it's interesting how one feature film can really illustrate how little you actually know. A very moving narrative that shows a young Māori boy claim his heritage and learn more about his identity, all to the backdrop of the Springbok tour. The Māori view examined around the Tour was fascinating and a big learning moment for me personally. This is one of those must watch New Zealand films, an important piece of cinematic history for us.

Check out my Uproar review!

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - 9.5/10

Something that has gone right in the Marvel Cinematic Universe almost consistently over the years and that's the Guardians of the Galaxy series. This feels like a final chapter, with the creative talent behind this series, James Gunn, parting ways. Yet it ends on the most spectacular of high notes, delivering a closing chapter that feels like the team's best yet. Guardians of the Galaxy shows a range of humour, adventure, tension and emotional highs and lows. The visuals are so unique and joyful, while the accompanying soundtrack marks one of the best of 2023. These characters have grown a lot over their films and I've enjoyed every moment of that journey along the way.

Check out my Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 review!

 

1. Killers of the Flower Moon - 10/10

I don't normally rate a movie 10/10 on my blog, it's only truly happened once before and I still wonder if that one deserves it. But this one leaves me with no doubt. This is a beautifully crafted film with a rotten narrative at play, in my mind it is Scorsese's finest piece of work. There are many films out there with a Native American story to tell, fewer are the ones that talk about their land and very culture being stripped of them. This film is very damning of white America and all that was ripped from the Osage people. It felt like a horror at times because it was so blunt and candid about all the wrongs that had been visited upon others. I felt shaken from watching such a brutal feature but I wouldn't trade that experience, it was one of my best from 2023.

 

Check out my Killers of the Flower Moon review! 

 

I'm sure my usual audience isn't too surprised to see a couple of superhero blockbusters up on my best list, I sure had fun with them. But seeing a musical, a NZ feature and a Scorsese epic make me feel like I really watched a decent range this year. A range I'm sure will be equally reflected in my list of the worst of 2023...

 

 

5. Shazam! Fury of the Gods - 3/10

 

This year had some absolute standout superhero features in my Top 5 but overall there were a significant number of forgettable or downright bad superhero blockbusters. The king of them all being Shazam! Fury of the Gods. There were a number of things wrong in this movie, and I'm not just referencing skittle-eating unicorns. This film really recycled entire major elements of its plot from the original 2019 feature, in some ways I thought I might have been caught in a time loop watching this one. This film really zigged around, failing to prioritise the lead role but never really elevating the sub-plots either. Shazam 2 especially struggled with that balance of tone, a problem that has plagued it since the first film - it really failed to blend horror, comedy and adventure at most points. Also the fact we got a lot of jokes or an entire subplot around underage romances with individuals older than the kids wasn't it.

 

Check out my Shazam! Fury of the Gods review! 

 

4. Retribution - 3/10

 

Liam Neeson solo leading outrageously awful B-grade action or thriller films has become such a disappointing career trajectory. If I bother watching one of these on any given year he is almost certainly circling my bottom 5 for the year, as demonstrated this year. My issue with Retribution is that I don't really know who it's for. The lead character is a stock broker, a 'champion of capitalism' as he is proclaimed early on - call me crazy, but that's not normally someone I'd root for as my lead role. But watching the whole film devolve into a money fight between two greedy partners just feels so hollow, I really lost my whole sense of who would be engaged by this. The film is a slow plod in which you rarely feel the stakes. I also couldn't really stand the characters here, they aren't written to be very nice or redeemable people which just distanced me entirely from Retribution.

 

Check out my Retribution review! 

 

 

3. Ghosted - 2.5/10

 

Never thought I'd rate a Chris Evans/Ana de Armas team-up lower than a Liam Neeson film but that's just the year 2023 was. The whole driving thing behind Ghosted was just how romantic things were meant to feel between our two protagonists but this almost always falls flat on its face. Evans' role is a little creepy and obsessive and de Armas' role is cold and not reciprocating. But together? Well apparently hurling argumentative and abusive dialogue back and forth at one another is a new love language because that is all this film had to offer. If you told me the script of this film was mostly generated via A.I. I would believe you; there was no heart behind this production at any step along the way.

 

Check out my Ghosted review!

 

2. Family Switch - 2/10

 

For those at home keeping track, Family Switch marks one of two streaming original features on my Worst list this year - a decline in quality notable from streaming year round. Family Switch was such a busy mess to watch; it set out to be a comedy film, a body swap film and a Christmas film all in one bundle. A talented script would have struggled to present all of that, but this isn't a talented script: this is Family Switch. The comedy was nothing but easy, low-hanging fruit while the body swap treads little in terms of new ground; instead opting to reference bigger, more successful features that have already walked the path. Also, for a holiday family film that included the family body swapping with one another, why so many incest jokes/references?

 

Check out my Family Switch review! 

 

 1. Cocaine Bear - 1.5/10

 

Good as a meme, bad as a film. Cocaine Bear sat and waited at the bottom of my Worst list since February and there never really was a theatre experience I disliked more. None of the characters in this feature were especially interesting, in fact there weren't really performers in this film that could even stand out as a leading performance. This felt like a shoddy ensemble stoner comedy, just missing all of the...comedy, really. This film stumbles around from joke to joke, hopeful for a laugh but just falling upon it's face at every turn. The worst part of all? The visual effects on the bear looked absolutely awful. The movements look phony and it clips over scenes in a way that becomes difficult to watch. I enjoy Elizabeth Banks, but this isn't a great indication of where her directing talents are currently at.

 

Check out my Cocaine Bear review! 

 

So winds out another year! I'm cautiously looking forward to 2024, I'm hoping to find a few more hits this time around. To see where all of the films I watched in 2023 placed, I have them ranked below:

 

1. Killers Of The Flower Moon – 10/10
2. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 – 9.5/10
3. Uproar – 9/10
4. Wonka – 9/10
5. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – 8.5/10
6. Polite Society – 8.5/10
7. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves – 8.5/10
8. Scream VI – 8.5/10
9. Barbie – 8.5/10
10. The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes – 8.5/10
11. Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter – 8.5/10
12. John Wick: Chapter 4 – 8.5/10
13. Air – 8/10
14. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One – 8/10
15. Tár – 7.5/10
16. The Marvels – 7.5/10
17. Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom – 7.5/10
18. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania – 7.5/10
19. A Man Called Otto – 7.5/10
20. Cat Person – 7/10
21. Joy Ride – 7/10
22. Haunted Mansion – 7/10
23. Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guerre – 7/10
24. Babylon – 6.5/10
25. M3gan – 6.5/10
26. Mafia Mamma – 6.5/10
27. Anyone But You – 6.5/10
28. The Creator – 6/10
29. Five Nights At Freddy’s – 6/10
30. The Nun 2 – 6/10
31. Creed III – 6/10
32. Next Goal Wins – 6/10
33. The Little Mermaid – 6/10
34. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny – 5.5/10
35. Knock At The Cabin – 5.5/10
36. The Burial – 5.5/10
37. The Beanie Bubble – 5.5/10
38. Blue Beetle – 4.5/10
39. The Flash – 4.5/10
40. Fast X – 4.5/10
41. The Super Mario Bros. Movie – 4.5/10
42. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts – 4.5/10
43. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken – 4/10
44. No Hard Feelings – 4/10
45. Magic Mike’s Last Dance – 4/10
46. Strays – 4/10
47. Meg 2: The Trench – 3.5/10
48. Hypnotic – 3.5/10
49. Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child Of Fire – 3/10
50. Shazam! Fury Of The Gods – 3/10
51. Retribution – 3/10
52. Ghosted – 2.5/10
53. Family Switch – 2/10
54. Cocaine Bear – 1.5/10