This is the magical ride fans of the musical have prayed for for two decades. The casting is perfect, the choreography is special and the notes are all there. It defies gravity—we just have to hope they can land safely in next year’s Part 2.
All in Reviews
It Really Is - Everything Everywhere All At Once
Like the title of the film, their filmmaking style manages to feel like everything, everywhere, all at once. Funny and serious, poignant and irreverent, joyous and melancholic. If the rest of Hollywood would take swings half as bold as these guys, we’d have a much more intriguing movie landscape.
Memoir Mush - The Tender Bar
Equal parts navel-gazing and likely revisionist history, the whole thing just feels hollow. Like the concept of a literary bar itself, it all feels forced.
It's In the Plan - King Richard
Oracene is a force and Ellis does her justice, going toe-to-toe with Smith in multiple scenes and giving the movie an emotional core it would have otherwise lacked. Tennis is always a back and forth and thanks to her, King Richard serves it.
Dune: 1/2
There’s never a feeling that there is nothing behind the wall you’re looking at. This universe feels thoroughly imagined and thanks to Villeneuve, the screen adaptation is worth your time.
Say It - Candyman
This type of storytelling peaks when it feels like a fully formed story that just happens to hold elements that that speak to our world. But when done this way, it feels like a college essay.
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions - Let the Games Begin (Again)
The plot is kind of inane, the events are wholly unrealistic, and the characters are ankle deep water, but there is enough flare in the craft that it’s not a painful ride.
More 1984 Than Wonder Woman - WW84
The problem is that it never seems like they are very interested in telling a self-contained story. So much is shoehorned in in an effort to set up future entries and additional showdowns. As a result, it ends up being a solid 45 minutes longer than needed and like a watered-down soda, an overall terrible experience.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
The very real toll this existence takes on the characters in the film are the play within the play. The staging of August Wilson’s words are ostensibly about a legendary blues singer, but in reality, they are about everything Black people do to stay sane in an insane world.
Waste, Spend, Invest - Time
It is at once an intimate portrait as well as a loose exploration of the real costs of the passage of time. We can feel the weight of the story applied to our own lives and wonder what we would do if faced with the same set of circumstances.
The Point of Life Is Living - Soul
The jazz, the stylings, the familial interactions—they all feel authentic and like a genuine step forward.
Something Different - Words on Bathroom Walls
A peek at the reality of living with a severe mental illness. What does that mean for the people who love you? What sorts of consequences can that have on your path through life? What sorts of choices do you have in the face of something so all-consuming? These are the questions at the heart of Words on Bathroom Walls, a sweet and earnest look at the implications of a very real burden for many people.
Father Daughter Hijinks - On the Rocks
There’s a lot going on, but Coppola handles it well and creates a satisfying narrative that should go over well as the after-dinner movie choice.
Good Point - Bad Hair
For all of its manic hilarity, the film is actually a fairly nuanced take on the ways in which Black women’s choices are constrained by their daily circumstances. But it definitely has a point of view about how Black women should approach those choices and it is not clear Simien has a right to comment.
Sorkin's America - The Trial of the Chicago 7
Sorkin’s writing was never in question. It is always top tier. The real question posed in The Trial of the Chicago 7 is can he direct—can he use that flowery rhetoric to its fullest potential and create true dramatic heft? On that question, the jury is still out.
Long Live the Queen - Black Is King
She was expected to marry crisp visuals with a pure vision and leave audiences rapt at her artistry. For some, Black Is King might do that, and over time, in may grow in estimation. But for now, it is hard not to be critical of the final product, even if you have to applaud effort. If nothing else, she got everyone talking.
How to Find a Happy Place - Palm Springs
What does your perfect day entail? Would you want it to be a special day or a more mundane one? Would you do the same thing every day or switch it up? Is there someone you would want to go through those repetitive days with? These are the questions the film tries to grapple with and once it finds its footing, it reaches some surprisingly deep conclusions.
Review Rewind - No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson
Before he became ‘The Answer,’ he was ‘Bubba Chuck.’ Before he became a controversial NBA player, he was a controversial high schooler. And before we were who we are, we were who we are.
As Rough As It Gets - Uncut Gems
The Safdies’ vision is so refined and distilled that it is hard not to be sucked into this world. Like an exquisite meal where you get something stuck in your teeth, at the very least, I can assure you you won’t forget it.