Recent Movies I Missed

The great thing about this time of year (aside from Christmas and Holiday seasons, the NBA returning, and the election advertisements being over) is the plethora of tremendous movies that are coming out. Honestly, if I took the time to write individual posts about each, I would not have time for my wife or my job. Today I wanted to write a post about some of these great movies that I did not dedicate a full post to. I’ll indicate where you guys can check them out as well.

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Slumberland (available on Netflix)

Are you interested in the love child of Inception and every fairytale ever? Then you should watch Slumberland! Starring Jason Momoa, Kyle Chandler, Chris O’Dowd, and newcomer Marlow Barkley, it’s a whimsical story about the relationships in a family and child-like wonder that persists in all of us even when we have grown up. Visually it’s heavily laden with CGI but its good computer work. It is definitely worth a watch if you are inclined to like these kinds of stories.

Spirited (available on Apple TV+)

A combination of a Christmas Carol, Ryan Reynolds, and Will Ferrell would not be something that usually interests me. But this new take on the classic story is fun and clever. Particularly I enjoyed it being turned into a musical with all new original songs, and Reynolds and Ferrell both showed off some strong singing chops. Of the 2022 movies I have watched thus far, it is best one in the Christmas genre.

She Said (in theaters)

Following the story of journalists as they uncover a story is a difficult task for a movie. The tension of a movie revolves around if some task or journey can be completed, and when you base your film around something that has already been reported in a news outlet it becomes even more difficult to write a compelling story. She Said is able to pull this off by relying heavily on their stars Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan. Both embody the courage and tenacity of the reports who broke the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault case in the New York Times. It is a timely and necessary story.

Disenchanted (available on Disney +)

I will not say this is the long-awaited sequel, but I was very happy to return to the universe of one of my favorite Disney movies of the late 2000s. Amy Adams was just as brilliant as she usually is in Disenchanted, and I am always happy to see McDre—I mean Patrick Dempsey on screen. I wish this movie could have gotten a proper release in theaters, but it was not quite up to the same quality as its predecessor. So I understand why it went straight to Disney +.

The Menu (in theaters)

Respectfully, this was the most self-indulgent movie of the year. The story of an artist chef complaining about the wealthy 1% who are destroying his life’s work by over-criticizing and focusing on it to a detrimental level. I can understand his point of view, but I know this message is coming from a writer and director who are trying to attack the billionaires who sign their paychecks and give them $100 million budgets to make their big movies. And then it comes off as ungrateful to the audiences who actually enjoy their work regardless. The movie is only saved in my opinion by the talent of performers Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, and Hong Chau.

Decision to Leave (in theaters)

A beautiful story about coincidence, secrets, and romance, Decision to Leave is definitely a contender for Best International Feature at the Oscars next year. With beautiful camerawork and intriguing characters, we follow the story of detective Jang Hae-jun (Hael il Park) as he investigates a pair of crimes that revolve around the same woman, Song Seo-Rae (Tang Wei). As the relationship between them becomes tenser with their feelings, it becomes clear that these cases may never get solved and neither will their feelings for each other.

Troll (on Netflix)

This Netflix original from Norway puts a classic monster in the modern world. When a hundred-foot tall mountain troll awakes from centuries of slumber, the Norwegian people are put in grave danger. The special affects on this beast are tremendous for a movie I really heard almost nothing about, and the action keeps us interested in watching the screen.

Strange World (in theaters)

Disney’s most recent animated picture may be structurally and visually quite similar to Avatar, but the fact that it got nowhere near the same advertisement push means it won’t make Avatar-levels of money or even regular Disney-levels of money. But the story about fathers and sons starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, and Lucy Liu makes for a fun time. It just shows me how the Mouse house is really losing track of what made them the biggest studio ever.

Until I see some more!

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An Open Apology to James Cameron (mostly about Avatar: The Way of Water)

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Miracle on 34th St. & Violent Night (and a list of great movie Santa Clauses)