Nolan James
Editor-In-Chief
Top Gun: Maverick – This is a visual treat, which Tom Cruise has been giving us a lot of lately. At 60, the man cannot keep doing his own stunts for forever, though if Harrison Ford can do another Indiana Jones movie at 80, perhaps Cruise still has a few decades left.
In any case, the best movies of his career have been made in the past few years, and while this belated sequel by no means reaches the exhilarating heights of Mission: Impossible – Fallout, it is a clear improvement over the mediocre original.
Unsurprisingly, the stunts and cinematography are top-notch. Unlike the first movie, the technology available can actually keep up with the ideas, and there are plenty of great ideas in terms of action, but that is not so much the case for the script. The writing is just as frustratingly banal as the original.
The insipid love story is thankfully toned down this time around, though every second spent on it is still a waste of time. The patriotic propaganda is sickening, and the film does not even have the guts to name its enemy.
The action scenes are great—much of the effects were practical rather than computer-generated, and the result is a film with scenes of tangible friction and blistering thrills—but the movie offers little besides that.
Nope – Jordan Peele has done it again, though Nope lacks the smart, visionary writing of his masterpiece debut. Nonetheless, this ostensibly Spielbergian-tribute, which is one-part Close Encounters of the Third Kind and one part Jaws, has a few scenes of true, genuine horror: body parts raining from the sky and a chimp becoming a crazed murderer on a TV set are amongst the most masterfully thrilling moments in recent horror history.
Admittedly, other than those moments, Nope is rarely scary, and the final act in particular eschews horror completely in favor of action-adventure. It works, though. Nope compliments the shallow action of the above film with its seemingly unfocused script that reveals itself over time to be deeper than one might initially think.
The Biblical imagery and constant references to the camera and history of cinema remain in the head long after the film has ended, which is far more than Top Gun can claim. Not every story arc goes anywhere, but why should it? The film is a master of tone, and it does not need a perfect script to succeed.
Jurassic World: Dominion – What an awful film. The fact that can be said about four of the five Jurassic Park sequels is truly sad, and the other one is not even good. This is the worst one yet, though.
There has perhaps never been a major blockbuster with as many blatant and careless editing errors as this movie. Either the characters learned to teleport around the screen, and even across miles of land in mere seconds, or the director does not respect his audience.
This film has five plots and none of them are good. It also features the three main characters of the original film, none of whom put any effort into their performances, the two protagonists of the Jurassic World series—Bryce Dallas-Howard gives the best performance in the film, but Chris Pratt could be replaced with a cardboard cutout; turns out the dude does not have real leading-man abilities—and two new characters, who do not do anything that could not be done by someone previously mentioned.
That is seven people to keep track of. None of them die. This film is cowardly, it is stupid, and it is an embarrassment.
Everything Everywhere All At Once – The best film of the year, by a not-insignificant amount. It is a comedic parody of Marvel’s vapid multiverse plotline, though despite—or perhaps because of—its satirical nature, the science-fiction elements are far smarter and more successful than Marvel could ever dream of.
All the performances are top-notch, especially leading lady Michelle Yeoh, who, coming off of her strong performance in the ultra-successful (and pseudo-progressive garbage) Crazy Rich Asians, has proven herself once again as one of the great actresses of our time.
The narrative is funny and then it makes you cry. There has not been a script this heartfelt in ages.
A film this absurd also has no right having as great action as it does, but the choreography combined with the steady and clear cinematography are once again, far superior to its more commercial action-movie brethren.
This is an astounding success that juggles so many different genres and ideas,dropping the ball with none of them. Not since Parasite has there been a film so clearly deserving of Best Picture.
The Black Phone – Nope is a good movie, but this is the horror film of the summer. Briskly-paced and genuinely tense, The Black Phone’s biggest flaw is a lack of originality. It takes from a handful of the most popular horror films—Halloween, The Sixth Sense and It in particular—and does not do much to distinguish itself beyond that.
It is hard to complain, however, when the film is so effectively made. What it lacks in ideas it more than makes up for in skill. The actors are phenomenal. Surprisingly, the child actors do not even have their own Wikipedia pages, though given how strong their performances are, hopefully that changes soon.
Naturally, Ethan Hawke is a joy to watch every moment he is on screen, though of course his character is far from joyous. Admittedly, “The Grabber” is not one of the unique or ingenious horror creations, but the film is not really about him; he serves as the set piece to a larger story about death and the afterlife and carrying on the torch.
Again, this is not a very deep or unique movie, but since the horror genre so rarely offers films as well put-together as this is, it is something worth celebrating.
