I’m not one for sports films nor have I watched any of the entries in the Rocky franchise aside from the first one. I was persuaded to add this to my watch list by the excellence of Sinners and the realization that it was Creed that convinced Hollywood that Ryan Coogler could be trusted with a blockbuster film. It’s impressive that he not only directed this, he also wrote the screenplay. The result is as good a passing-the-torch movie as you could ask for while staying firmly within the established conventions of the franchise.
Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World stays in my mind for being one of the most subversive films I’ve watched and I always congratulate myself for figuring what it wants to express. Sentimental Value features the same lead actress Renate Reinsve but with multiple key characters in play, it’s harder to narrow down what it’s about. In the event, the theme of depression isn’t as unique but its intricate exploration of parent-child dynamics and perfect execution makes it fantastic anyway.
We’d previously seen the breakout film Wadjda by the Saudi Arabian female filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour. This one is naturally another film about female empowerment in the kingdom focusing on perhaps the ultimate form of it, participating in its politics. It actually seems to take place in a better environment for women under a government that is trying to enact some reforms and so isn’t quite as depressing. By taking on elections, this isn’t just a more serious subject that buying a bicycle but gives us a better look at the lives of adults in the country.
This Japanese series and the manga that inspired it is so beloved that there are Korean and Chinese versions of the show. My wife mentioned it in passing a while and since it’s leaving Netflix soon, I thought I should give it a shot. The format with its short episodes of straightforward stories, each highlighting a dish is easy to digest. It’s also as easy to like as the comfort food it features. Unfortunately it’s equally as insubstantial and far too sentimental. I can see the appeal for some audiences after watching one season but it’s not for us.
The Odyssey had a lot of negative press going in with critics zeroing in on his ahistorical choices and an overly modern interpretation of the Greek classic. But when the film finally hit the cinemas, it looks like Christopher Nolan has done it again and won over both the critics and audiences. I admit that I had my doubts as well and certainly it’s simplistic in how it casts Odysseus as a flawed hero but still a hero. But sitting down in the cinema before a huge screen, this level of depth is more than good enough as Nolan has delivered an epic, audio-visual experience like no other this year that will effortlessly keep you glued to your seats for its nearly three hours running length.
Political films usually make for heavy watching, especially when they’re about the politics of countries that one has little familiarity with. I’m Still Here is an exception. Despite being quite long, it focuses only on the travails of a single family during the Brazilian military dictatorship of the 1970s and so is fairly easy to grasp. There are plentiful scenes that show how the happy life of the family was shattered by the father being disappeared by the government. It’s well-made and is a worthy record of this family’s struggle. But it’s probably too conventional and too specific a subject to be of interest to non-Brazilians.
People keep talking up this German science-fiction series and how much of a mindbender it is. I was skeptical if it’s even really science-fiction for a long time and so held off. I’ve now taken the time to watch the first season and what do you know, I don’t really consider it to be science-fiction after all. Instead, it’s a mystery box show with time travel at its central conceit. What differentiates it is that it must have been meticulously planned out from the beginning whereas other such shows make shit up as they go along and pretend otherwise. I’m looking at you Lost. This means that in principle, it’s possible to figure out the clues they provide before they drop the big reveals. The show has its issues but the mystery is a fair one so I’m very much down for the next season.
