A lot of new releases out this past month. Streaming is killing the movie theater business but also allows for me to see so much so quickly. So I’m not complaining in the moment; I’ll just look back in 10 years and bemoan Hulu and Netflix making it so easy for me to stay home.
It was also the Oscars last weekend. I watched 6 other 2021 releases just in time for the big night, where -other than Dune- basically nothing I wanted to win actually won. I didn’t write about CODA last year because I didn’t have anything to say. I thought it was a cute, near forgettable movie that few people would see and less people would remember. Good for them getting that win. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s on Apple TV+ and is universally enjoyed. Power of the Dog should have won instead.
So what new releases did I watch in March? Let’s see:
The Batman (2022)
Seen in theater, starring Robert Pattinson.
I wrote 1,000 words on this one. I quite liked it. 79/100.
Fresh (2022)
Seen on Hulu, starring Daisy Edgar Jones and Sebastian Stan.
This is one of those movies that if you think you’re going to watch it, you should just watch it. The main things that are worth talking about are all things best discovered as the movie unfolds. It’s a fresh take on the dangers and difficulties of modern dating and finding out too late what the guy you’re seeing is into.
68/100.
The Adam Project (2022)
Seen on Netflix. Starring Ryan Reynolds, a child, Catherine Keener, and Mark Ruffalo.
It’s a sci-fi action comedy that makes some lazy attempts being thought provoking and some slightly above lazy attempts at family drama. The sci-fi is fun until it isn’t and the special effects are terrible from start to finish. The whole movie rides on the audience enjoying how much this child actor act like Ryan Reynolds, who has made his career being an adult who pretends to be a child actor. Do you think I enjoyed the double Ryan Reynolds ride?
64/100 and that’s being generous.
Windfall (2022)
Seen on Netflix. Starring Jason Segel, Jesse Plemons, and Lily Collins.
This almost-thriller is almost thrilling and constantly sits on the line between being boring and engaging. I mostly stayed engaged because the movie kept hinting that it was about to get good. And then it ends. The movie is almost about class divides and how the people who have “made it” can still be seen as less-than. It’s almost about how the elites are people too and maybe they should be more sympathetic to the everyman. But it’s most a well-shot Almost with great actors almost doing something worth watching. It felt like the screenwriter/director had a strong 35 page script and decided to make a 92 minute movie out of it.
62/100.
Deep Water (2022)
Seen on Hulu. Directed by Adrian Lyne, based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas.
Nominally an erotic thriller. It certainly has its sexuality and a crime-mystery plot. And I actually love the central dynamic between the couple. She openly and shamelessly has affairs that he is well aware of. He passive-aggressively acknowledges the arrangement, sometimes to humorous effect. But the movie goes off the rails midway through, mostly because it reveals the murderer too quickly. The air goes out of the tires fast at that point. What happens with this information is a lot less exciting than the thrill of the audience wondering. Plus, the story is touched with some bizarre features like a snail farm that seem like they will be important but end up being confusing texture.
65/100?
X (2022)
Seen in theater. Directed by Ti West, starring Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Kid Cudi and Brittany Snow.
Horror is super hit or miss for me. Often it’s simply not scary, which isn’t a deal breaker, but if it’s not scary and kinda dumb at the same time, then what’s the point? I found this movie very scary. The director clearly knows and loves the history of horror films and I appreciate that he winks at the random nudity/sexuality in older slashers by making these characters/victims directly filming pornography. The nudity is not a diversion from the plot, it is directly due to the plot. And the exploration of sexual repression and frustration was very thoughtfully woven into the story. Probably my favorite pure horror movie in a few years.
77/100
Turning Red (2022)
Seen on Disney+. New Pixar.
I’m a sucker for coming-of-age stories and most Pixar films, so this was right up my alley. This is about a group of 13 year olds in 2002 and in 2002 I was 13, making this super relatable. The fake pop band and pop songs are great and I like the lore behind the red pandas. The story also does 2 interesting things with the genres this hits. First, the lead character is borderline annoying but the story isn’t about her being annoying or how that negatively affects her social life. Instead, she acknowledges and embraces who she is. And after a few minutes, you realize she’s not actually annoying, she’s just an active and chatty 13 year old. And second (and SPOILER for the resolution of this film I recommend): normally with movies like this that are about a young person grappling with their heritage, the emotional climax is them finally accepting their history. And here, it’s the opposite. Her family wants her to go against their family inheritance of turning into a magical panda, but our lead loves this part of who she and her family is and chooses to embrace the panda and live with it. The story nicely goes into another wrinkle by having the rest of her family understand where she’s coming from but still decide to hide their pandas away. A refreshing and thoughtfully written ending.
73/100.
So good month all around. I hope horror fans check out X. I’ll be back next month.
Greg Watched That 