12 Best Movies To Watch After The Marvels (2023)
Ferrari
SimilarA Beautiful Mind (2001), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Almost Famous (2000), Anna and the King (1999), Apollo 13 (1995), Belle de Jour (1967),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Brubaker (1980), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Crash (1996), Dead Poets Society (1989), Donnie Brasco (1997), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Enough (2002), Erin Brockovich (2000), Freedom Writers (2007), Gandhi (1982), GoodFellas (1990), Gridiron Gang (2006), La Vie en Rose (2007), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), M*A*S*H (1970), Manhattan (1979), Mississippi Burning (1988), Raging Bull (1980), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Schindler's List (1993), Shall We Dance? (2004), Sissi (1955), Stand by Me (1986), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Elephant Man (1980), The Godfather (1972), The Last Emperor (1987), The Pianist (2002), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Straight Story (1999), Titanic (1997), West Side Story (2021),
Watch afterDune: Part Two (2024), Leave the World Behind (2023), Poor Things (2023), Saltburn (2023), The Killer (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
Adam Driver does insightful, searching work as auto legend Enzo Ferrari in the filmmaker's study of a pivotal year in his life.
Michael Mann’s 21st-century work is, first and foremost, a cinema of feeling. When it comes to the details, he remains as much of a nerd as he was when he choreographed the thrilling terror of Heat’s climactic blowout. But Collateral, Miami Vice, and Blackhat pay special mind to the senses, to connection. It’s Colin Farrell and Gong Li finding a rare moment of joy as they dance to live music in Havana. It’s Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tom Cruise taking in the stillness of daybreak on an L.A. train. It’s Chris Hemsworth and Tang Wei clinging to each other on a near-empty subway as they try and fail to block out grief for survival’s sake. In Ferrari, it’s Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz sitting across from each other, laying out what they need from each other in their business partnership and estranged marriage.
But while Ferrari is unmistakably in conversation with Mann and his creative collaborators’ earlier work, it’s more emotionally reserved than much of his 21st-century filmography. While his John Dillinger picture Public Enemies is certainly a cousin (a period piece built on a specific period in the life of an iconic man), it’s as much about the time and place and the ensemble. Ferrari is, first and foremost, a character study. Continue Reading →
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
SimilarBack to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Batman Begins (2005), Batman Forever (1995), Batman Returns (1992), Ben-Hur (1959), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Blown Away (1994), Catwoman (2004), Code of Silence (1985), Constantine (2005), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), Face/Off (1997), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (1967), Hitman (2007), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Just Cause (1995), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Léon: The Professional (1994), Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Oldboy (2003),
Shaft (2000) Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), The Fifth Element (1997), The Legend of Zorro (2005), Zatoichi (2003),
Watch afterNapoleon (2023), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
StarringTemuera Morrison,
A decade's worth of superhero movies goes out with a big, stupid grin on its face.
One would hope that a film franchise with as much money poured into it as the DC Cinematic Universe would rage, rage against the dying of the light. Yet here we are, limping towards the end of a slate of superhero flicks marred by terrible reviews (Shazam! 2), controversy (The Flash), or sheer too-little-too-late-ness (Blue Beetle). As the superhero genre continues to flag in a year of duds, DC's set for a reinvention, a clean slate courtesy of former Marvel it-boy James Gunn and co-head Peter Safran. Before they can wipe the board and start all over with the label's slate of classic capes, though, there's a few rounds left in the last guy's chamber to fire off. That's what Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom feels like, easily the least objectionable of the DC films to come out in 2023. Problem is, that's not saying much.
A sequel to Aquaman should have been a slam dunk: Director James Wan's 2018 take on the King of Atlantis was a welcome breath of neon-soaked pop art in a franchise studded with Snyderesque dourness, leaning into the innate silliness of an underwater take on Flash Gordon. Jason Momoa is as effortless a casting as you could imagine for DC's hardest-to-pin-down superhero, brimming with giddy frat-boy energy. At its best moments, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom leans into its star's goofiness and even lets it infect some of the rest of the cast. But there's no escaping the feeling of weariness, both for a cast and crew who are just repeating the novel beats of the first and an audience that's just plain starved for something new. Continue Reading →
Napoleon
SimilarA Beautiful Mind (2001), A Real Young Girl (1976), Almost Famous (2000), Apollo 13 (1995),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Brubaker (1980), Copying Beethoven (2006), Dances with Wolves (1990), Erin Brockovich (2000), Freedom Writers (2007), Gandhi (1982), GoodFellas (1990), Gridiron Gang (2006), Manhattan (1979), Mississippi Burning (1988), Monster (2003), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Paris Can Wait (2016), Raging Bull (1980), Schindler's List (1993), Sissi (1955), The Elephant Man (1980), The Last Emperor (1987), The Pianist (2002), The Straight Story (1999), Titanic (1997),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023),
Barbie (2023) Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Society of the Snow (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Killer (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioApple Studios,
Ridley Scott’s surprisingly hollow biopic of the French military commander falters as a character piece and comes shy of victory as an epic.
For a film with as many contradictions as Napoleon, it’s odd for it to be so straightforward. It covers 28 years, but it never feels like a lot of changes. It’s over two and a half hours, which, while not a herculean runtime, never entirely slows down. Perhaps it’s because it never really gets started. Ridley Scott’s latest opens with a public decapitation of Marie Antoinette (Catherine Walker), giving way to the 1793 Siege of Toulon. The violence is often unsparingly graphic, so why, then, does it feel so cosmetic? Shouldn’t a live horse eviscerated by a cannonball to the chest do something to the viewer?
Maybe not when there’s such little context. If Napoleon is one thing, it’s episodic—ahistorical, even. David Scarpa’s script begins in the trenches and is content on staying there. Everyone and everything are simply window dressing. That includes Napoleon Bonaparte himself (Joaquin Phoenix), whom the film oversimplifies from intrinsically flawed leader to wholly externalized man-child. After the Siege, he wins the affections of Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby). The two soon marry. Continue Reading →
Wish
SimilarAladdin (1992), Batman Returns (1992), Catwoman (2004), Constantine (2005), Dances with Wolves (1990), Dr. No (1962), Enchanted (2007), Fantasia (1940), From Russia with Love (1963), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Hellboy (2004),
Live and Let Die (1973) Mary Poppins (1964), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Princess Mononoke (1997), Shrek (2001), The Big Blue (1988), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Leave the World Behind (2023), Meg 2: The Trench (2023), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), Napoleon (2023), Parasite (2019), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioWalt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Productions,
Kids deserve better than yet another dull, going-through-the-motions misfire.
The animation world was recently startled by Warner Bros.' announcement that they planned to shelve their recently completed feature Coyote vs Acme for a quick tax write-off, rather than spend money to release it. Not to be outdone, Disney Studios offers up Wish, an animated feature that is the kind of artistic misfire that deserves to be hidden away and never spoken about again. This is a creation so alternately bewildering and banal that it's implausible that at no point during the entire creative process did anyone point out the seemingly obvious fact that virtually none of it works on even the most basic levels.
Wish takes place in the kingdom of Rosas, which was founded and is currently ruled by Magnifico (Chris Pine), a seemingly benevolent sorcerer who offers peace and protection for all those who live there. The catch is that they must surrender their deepest wish to Magnifico, who stores them in the lab in his castle in bubbles and once in a great while returns one to the person who made it. Inexplicably, the people of Rosas think this is a good deal, none more so than Asha (Ariana DeBose), a teenager who is all in on both Rosas and Magnifico and is hoping that the latter will present her beloved grandfather (Victor Argo) with his wish to commemorate his upcoming 100th birthday. Continue Reading →
The Holdovers
SimilarA Christmas Carol (1938), Apocalypse Now (1979), Brazil (1985), Donnie Brasco (1997), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Fargo (1996), Forrest Gump (1994), Full Metal Jacket (1987), GoodFellas (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), Monster (2003), Mystic River (2003), Oldboy (2003), Scrooge (1951), Shrek the Third (2007), Solaris (1972), The Apartment (1960), The Departed (2006), The Fisher King (1991), The Party 2 (1982), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Silent Partner (1978), To Die For (1995), Wonder Boys (2000),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Anatomy of a Fall (2023),
Barbie (2023) Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Poor Things (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), The Killer (2023), The Marvels (2023),
StarringGillian Vigman,
StudioMiramax,
After stumbling with Downsizing, Alexander Payne bounces back with a gentle & witty comedy-drama.
The artist Dmitry Samarov one said to me that the ratio of good to bad late periods in an artist's life was depressing to consider. For every Sir Edward William Elgar there was an Eric Clapton (my example, not his), and that it was rare to see someone sharpen as they aged. Now, I like Dmitry and certainly respect his opinion, but I can’t help but feel that when film overtook painting as the dominant artwork that people engage with, the ratio shifted towards bizarre experimentation and welcome self-reflection as much as dull self reflection.
Take for instance 62 year old Alexander Payne, who, after the biggest disaster of his career (2017’s confused parable Downsizing), has started his fourth decade as a director by leaning hard back into what he knew (and what the royal “we” enjoyed) and rediscovered himself with The Holdovers, a movie no one can seem to stop comparing to Hal Ashby. No mean feat, of course, but even that sells its virtues short. This is no mere homage, no mere return to form, this is the movie that Payne’s been hoping to make since his 90s heyday, a film that earns both its jaundiced gaze and its catharsis. Continue Reading →
Songbirds
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 2046 (2004),
Blade Runner (1982) Brazil (1985), Desert Hearts (1985), Die Hard (1988), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), Mars Attacks! (1996), Metropolis (1927), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Random Harvest (1942), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Strange Days (1995), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Twelve Monkeys (1995),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Napoleon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Thanksgiving (2023), The Marvels (2023), The Nun II (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioLionsgate,
Despite a challenging premise and an overlong runtime, the Hunger Games prequel makes the most of the hand it’s been dealt.
The character of Coriolanus Snow is an odd choice for a Hunger Games hero. In the original books and films, as played by screen giant Donald Sutherland, Snow was a cold-hearted, cruel dictator clearly meant to echo real world fascist leaders. Here, in the prequel story The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (say that five times fast), Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) is just a sensitive, emotional teen dreamboat whose main goal is to provide for his family in the wake of the violent revolution that tore apart Panem, the country formerly known as the United States of America.
It’s difficult to understand why author Suzanne Collins, who wrote the novel Songbirds is based on, made the decision to try to humanize a violent authoritarian when a core theme of the original Hunger Games books and movies was lashing back at systemic oppression. Nonetheless, director Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, I Am Legend) and his enthusiastic cast of talented performers make the best of the rather thematically confused story arc they’ve been given, turning in one of the most exciting, emotionally arresting entries in the franchise. Continue Reading →
Priscilla
SimilarAli: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Annie Hall (1977), Belle de Jour (1967), Billy Elliot (2000), Blood and Chocolate (2007),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Contempt (1963), Crash (1996), Dead Poets Society (1989), Desert Hearts (1985), Dirty Dancing (1987), Donnie Brasco (1997), Enough (2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Forrest Gump (1994), Gandhi (1982), Italian for Beginners (2000), La Vie en Rose (2007), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lost in Translation (2003), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Raging Bull (1980), Shall We Dance? (2004), Solaris (1972), Strange Days (1995), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Elephant Man (1980), The Irishman (2019), The Last Emperor (1987), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Science of Sleep (2006), The Tin Drum (1979), Wonder Boys (2000),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Saltburn (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), Thanksgiving (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Killer (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
StarringDagmara Domińczyk,
StudioAmerican Zoetrope,
As daybreak bleeds from within the walls, Priscilla Presley (Cailee Spaeny) wakes up next to her husband, Elvis (Jacob Elordi). Her water’s broken and, as he calls for a car, she goes to the bathroom, where she applies the perfect fake eyelashes in silence. Continue Reading →
Five Nights at Freddy's
SimilarA Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Silent Hill (2006), The Shining (1980),
Watch afterBarbie (2023) Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Saw X (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Marvels (2023),
StudioBlumhouse Productions,
I have never played Five Nights at Freddy’s. I need to make that abundantly clear before proceeding with this review. Continue Reading →
She Came to Me
Watch afterBullet Train (2022), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), The Killer (2023), The Marvels (2023),
Seven films into her career as a filmmaker and Rebecca Miller is still a perplexing study. From 1995’s Angela, her symbolic unpacking of a lost childhood (presumably her own) to 2015’s Maggie’s Plan, a symbolic study of a desire for independence (presumably her own), she's made female pain and pleasure her subject without ever settling on a formal approach. Miller is an auteur in the sense that the peculiar combination of confrontational sexuality and highly personal discursiveness seem like the province of someone who both knows exactly what kind of things she wants people to think about, even if she’s never decided the way she wants us to think about them, other than “immediately.” Continue Reading →
A Haunting in Venice
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 28 Weeks Later (2007), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Armageddon (1998), Basic Instinct (1992), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987),
Blade Runner (1982) Blue Velvet (1986), Buffalo Soldiers (2002), Caché (2005), Carrie (1976), Contact (1997), Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), Don't Bother to Knock (1952), Dr. No (1962), Freedom Writers (2007), From Russia with Love (1963), Ghost (1990), Goldfinger (1964),
Jackie Brown (1997) Just Cause (1995), Klute (1971), Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Memento (2000), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969),
Primal Fear (1996) Rebecca (1940) Rosemary's Baby (1968), Sahara (2005), Saw (2004), Secret Window (2004),
Shaft (2000) Shooter (2007), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), Solaris (1972), Stand by Me (1986), Star Trek: Generations (1994), The Godfather (1972), The Green Mile (1999), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974),
The Name of the Rose (1986) The Outsiders (1983), The Shining (1980), The Usual Suspects (1995), Vertigo (1958), War of the Worlds (2005), Wild at Heart (1990), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterFive Nights at Freddy's (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Saw X (2023), Thanksgiving (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Killer (2023), The Marvels (2023),
Studio20th Century Studios,
The first two entries in director/actor Kenneth Branagh’s foray into Agatha Christie adaptation lost the magic of the English writer’s mysteries. With his third attempt, A Haunting in Venice, Branagh decides to make considerable changes to the story. Using the bones of Christie’s Hallowe’en Party, writer Michael Green changes the setting from a small town in the English countryside to a palazzo in Venice. Branagh emphasizes the gothic elements of Christie’s story, leaning on the horror of the location, the manic nature of the children’s Halloween party, and the gruesome moments before and after an unexpected death. Continue Reading →
Sitting in Bars with Cake
Watch afterBarbie (2023) Blue Beetle (2023), Elemental (2023), Shortcomings (2023), The Marvels (2023),
StudioMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
(Editor's note: A previous version of this review included the full name of the presumptive real-life inspiration for the film; upon a subsequent request to maintain their privacy, we have removed that sentence.) Continue Reading →
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
"What do you get for the man who has... everything?" Continue Reading →