This is an excellent film. The acting across three generations is fantastic, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the soundtrack heavily features Van Morrison. Belfast presents a highly effecting look at a pivotal time in the history of Northern Ireland and a pivotal time in the life of a child. Despite the film's focus on difficult and heavy subjects, it manages to be buoyant and joyful. I left the cinema with a huge smile on my face wondering why there aren't more movies as wondrous and well-made as this one.
This movie made me cry Рtwice. While the beats of the story can feel a bit clich̩, the hearing child of deaf adults angle and the excellent acting from Emilia Jones in the lead role elevate this movie beyond other coming of age films and turn it into something truly special. There are many emotionally powerful moments throughout the film, driven by Jones and the rest of the superb cast (including Marlee Matlin), and their ability to elicit empathy to an impressive extent. The open captioning of the entire film drives home its message of inclusivity.
While his movie could be improved with a bit of tighter editing, it is still a very powerful film that I can't recommend highly enough. Blue Bayou draws attention to a horrible quirk of US law that allows adoptees from other countries to be deported if someone didn't file their paperwork properly at the time of adoption. Basically children who had no agency of their own and grew up as Americans can have their adult lives upended for a mistake other adults made when they were a child. So editing issues aside, this film will leave you not only angry at the government, but also crying your eyes out thanks to a heart-wrenching final scene and a child actor who should just get all the awards now. In fact, all the performances are excellent, ensuring that the film is filled with many emotionally raw, moving, and completely human moments.
This documentary is poignant and moving; Val Kilmer really puts himself out there in an incredibly brave and vulnerable way. While I would have liked some more insight into / backstory on some of Val's 80s movies, he did spend quite a while talking about The Doors and Tombstone, so I was pleased with that. I read his memoir (the amazingly titled I'm Your Huckleberry) last year, but this documentary adds so much more about Val's childhood, relationships with loved ones, and his recent trials with throat cancer. Val Kilmer is clearly a unique soul, and movie-lovers are lucky that not only has he chosen to share so much of himself and his creativity with us over the past several decades, but also that he continues to create and shine his light into the world despite the challenges he has faced and continues to face.
This is a challenging movie to watch because while Simon Rex gives an absolutely brilliant performance, the character he plays is actually pretty terrible, treats those around him horribly, and doesn't take responsibility for anything. As light and breezy as the film seems on the surface (it makes liberal use of "Bye Bye Bye" by NSYNC), it actually provides a lot to unpack emotionally and psychologically.
As sad as I am that Daniel Craig's tenure as James Bond is over, No Time To Die sends him out in the most dignified way while bringing closure to the character arc of this particular iteration of Bond. Overall, No Time To Die is perhaps one of the least flashy James Bond movies, but it allows Craig to showcase his range and depth as an performer, and of course he is supported by an excellent cast. Ben Wishaw continues to be an excellent Q, and Craig has great chemistry with Ana de Armas, making their scenes together some of the best and most entertaining in the film. While it does seem odd to me that such a definitive ending would be used within a never-ending franchise and an immortal character, Craig carries off his final moments with the utmost class and nobility. As the song goes, "nobody does it better."
This film is worthwhile simply for Adam Driver's excellent performance, and the scene where he flees to Switzerland on his motorcycle... while wearing signature Gucci loafers... in the winter. Nothing says "wealth" like being able to escae to your St. Moritz home at a moment's notice, which sums up the seductive glamour showcased by this uneven, but highly enjoyable, film.
This is a rare character-driven Marvel movie that wows with expertly choreographed fight scenes rather than giant set-pieces, making it fun and engaging in a more relatable way. It sort of reminds me of the first Captain America movie that felt like a throwback to Indiana Jones. It may seem like a stretch to link Shang-Chi to Indiana Jones, but two thing these movies have in common is an everyman hero and a knack for combining action with dry humor. That humor largely comes courtesy of Awkwafina, who steals pretty much every scene she's in, as usual. Simu Liu is also great in that everyman role, convincingly playing a normal guy drawn in to a world he didn't know existed. Then there's Tony Leung being the screen legend that he is and making the villain a sympathetic character, and Michelle Yeoh, who is both wonderful and apparently obligated to appear in any American film with an Asian cast. As a bonus, it it entirely possible to enjoy Shang-Chi without having an encyclopedic knowledge of the MCU.
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