12 Best Movies To Watch After Inception (2010)
Baghead
SimilarAlien (1979), Wild at Heart (1990),
Watch afterInception (2010), Joker (2019), Parasite (2019),
Sometimes when a loved one exits this mortal coil, they leave us something we don’t necessarily want. Outstanding bills, for instance. Or perhaps a piece of truly hideous artwork, or a cursed doll collection, or a house stuffed to the eaves with worthless junk, and we’re stuck dealing with it.
Or, like the main character in Alberto Corredor’s Baghead, you inherit an ancient malevolent creature with a connection to the dead. What do you in that situation? Do you try to foist it off on a cousin you never cared for? Maybe sell it on Facebook Marketplace? Well, if you’re Iris (Freya Allan), you turn it into a moneymaking venture, because why not? What could possibly go wrong??
Iris has inherited a pub from her late estranged father (Peter Mullan) that’s inexplicably in the middle of Berlin, even though every character in the movie is British and the pub looks like the Winchester in Shaun of the Dead. Despite it being a pub, it doesn’t appear to have paying customers, or at least not the kind you’d expect. Iris learns that hidden away in a hole in the basement is some sort of female creature wearing an Elephant Man bag over her head, and who can shapeshift into dead people. Whatever customers her father had came to the pub to communicate with deceased loved ones through the creature, paying a substantial fee for the experience. Continue Reading →
Dune: Part Two
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 2046 (2004), A Clockwork Orange (1971), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Ben-Hur (1959), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987),
Blade Runner (1982) Dances with Wolves (1990), Dr. No (1962), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (1967), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), King Kong (2005),
Live and Let Die (1973) Mars Attacks! (1996), Metropolis (1927), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Predator (1987),
Shaft (2000) Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Solaris (1972), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Stalker (1979), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Generations (1994), Superman Returns (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Fifth Element (1997), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Road (2009), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), War of the Worlds (2005), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Dune (2021), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Poor Things (2023),
StarringBabs Olusanmokun, Stellan Skarsgård,
Denis Villeneuve finishes his epic two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel with sprawling scope and thorny politics.
It's really a miracle that the first of Denis Villeneuve's Dune films penetrated the public consciousness as well as it did. It was released amid a worldwide pandemic; it was an IMAX-ready blockbuster that was simultaneously dropped onto people's streaming subscriptions same-day; it's based on a dense, impenetrable sci-fi novel Villeneuve patiently chose not to wholly adapt in one film. The results, blessedly, were commercial and critical success and a host of technical Oscars the following year.
That success was enough to secure Dune: Part Two, a chance for Villeneuve to complete his vision of Frank Herbert's seminal work of political science fiction. Where Part One worldbuilds, Part Two barrels down the road of its inevitable conclusion in satisfying style, even as it makes some noted changes from the novel or any previous adaptations -- some for the better, some for the worse. Continue Reading →
Stamped from the Beginning
SimilarI've Always Liked You (2016),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022),
Barbie (2023) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Dune (2021), Inception (2010), Joker (2019),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), The Suicide Squad (2021), Wonka (2023),
The Netflix documentary uses historical evidence and modern scholarship to demonstrate racism's continued role in US society.
At the start of the new documentary Stamped from the Beginning, filmmaker Roger Ross Williams asks his various interview subjects, “What is wrong with Black people?” Considering that all the interviewees in question are also Black, it is unsurprising that the question’s seeming hostility initially throws many. However, once they recognize the context of that query—Williams is asking for a historical context as to what Blacks have done to deserve centuries of institutionalized racism and violence—they are more than willing and able to discuss the subject at length throughout this strong and often provocative film.
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s book of the same name inspired the Williams’ film, a karmic debt the director pays back by including the doctor among a number of knowledgeable Black female scholars and activists. Together, they discuss how the twin stains of racism and white supremacy permeate American society in ways that continue to fester today. They explain how the concept of deeming people as greater or lesser by the color of their skin was born out of slavery. The aim was to simultaneously remove enslaved people’s distinguishing characteristics to make them seem like one undifferentiated mass and drive a wedge between them and white “indentured servants” to prevent the groups from joining forces against their common enemy, the wealthy landowner. Continue Reading →
Once Within a Time
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022),
Barbie (2023) Black Adam (2022), Black Widow (2021), Dune (2021), Inception (2010),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019), Poor Things (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), The Batman (2022), The Whale (2022),
When Godfrey Reggio’s monumental experimental documentary Koyannistqatsi (Life Out of Balance in Hopi) first entered the zeitgeist, its radical nature as a postmodern film, with a thoroughly entrancing score by Phillip Glass, became intertwined with the rise of MTV and a new era of visual aesthetic being born within the music sphere. From the noise rock band Cows to electronic musicians Dr. Atmo and Oliver Leib to superstar pop singer Madonna, the film had an indelible effect on music and the music video. Continue Reading →
Dicks: The Musical
SimilarAlex Strangelove (2018),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000), Chicago (2002), Dirty Dancing (1987), Enchanted (2007), La Vie en Rose (2007), Mary Poppins (1964), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Shall We Dance? (2004), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022),
Barbie (2023) Dune: Part Two (2024), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Joker (2019),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019),
Studio20th Century Fox, A24,
The audaciously titled Dicks: The Musical comes with an equally eye-catching tagline, boasting the honor of being “A24’s first musical.” That’s bound to intrigue cinephiles everywhere. After all, not every movie studio is trendy enough to regularly sell out of logo festooned merchandise. Or even make hipster merch in the first place. Continue Reading →
Silver Dollar Road
Watch afterBarbie (2023) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Black Widow (2021), Evil Dead Rise (2023), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Joker (2019), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), The Batman (2022),
StudioMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Based on Lizzie Presser’s 2019 ProPublica/New Yorker article, Raoul Peck’s Silver Dollar Road starts by barreling headfirst. Its first 15 minutes are a crash course of talking heads, introducing family members with broad, expository precision. The film shows them but doesn’t fully introduce them. Rather, it relies on graphics to fashion a sense of context. What the subjects say to the camera may provide an identity for the story at hand, but Peck’s approach renders such words largely textual. The narrative may be propulsive. The film, however, tends to feel stagnant. Continue Reading →
Killer Joe
Upon the news of the passing of William Friedkin, every headline reporting on the news focused on two films. It’s not surprising that the media spent so much time talking about The French Connection and The Exorcist, two bona fide masterpieces that paved the way for a new era of American filmmaking. What was disappointing was this seeming willingness to reduce a cinematic legend’s legacy to a burst of time in the early 1970s, thus dismissing the five decades that followed as either negligible or outright unworthy of interest. Continue Reading →
Jade
After the aggressively negative critic and audience response to 1980’s Cruising, William Friedkin took a curious “hell with it, I’m going to do whatever I want” approach to projects. None of what he directed over the next decade, save for To Live and Die in L.A., came close to receiving the kind of acclaim his early 70s career did. If anything, it seemed as though he had given up his precise, occasionally unreasonable eye for perfection in favor of churning out the most generic cable-friendly nonsense possible. Continue Reading →
Copa 71
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022),
Barbie (2023) Inception (2010), Joker (2019), Parasite (2019), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023),
Our first dispatch from the festival highlights an important milestone in women's sports history, and two tales of queer resilience.
Ahh, the Toronto International Film Festival -- while we've got boots on the ground up in the chilly climes of Canada, those of us who can't swing the travel expenses are here, tackling the lesser-known releases that don't get the attention they deserve among the splashy awards campaigns and A-list stars. (Of course, there being an active strike makes that far easier, with these smaller works in even greater need of appraisal.)
Opening the Docs program at TIFF for opening night was Copa 71, an intriguing if straight-across-the-pitch documentary about the first Women's World Cup -- but not the official one endorsed by FIFA in 1991, as professional women's footballers are shocked to learn in the opening minutes. The real one, it turns out, was in 1971, organized in Mexico City at their enormous Azteca Stadium. More than 100,000 attendees filled the stands, as teams from France, Mexico, the Netherlands, and more competed for the first-ever women's football tournament -- one of the biggest crowds such a tourney has ever seen. And it's been lost to history, until now. Continue Reading →
Mickey's Birthday Party
Friedkin’s second film is a bruising affair that finds the fledgling director wielding style to produce maximum psychological damage.
In the early days of his career, William Friedkin found himself playing second banana to his collaborators. For instance, one of his earliest biggest TV directing gigs was on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Then, when he made the leap to feature narrative films, his debut was in service of Cher and Sonny Bono’s cult of personality.
In The Birthday Party, Friedkin’s second film, more well know talent once again eclipses him. Playwright Harold Pinter, whose original stage play the film adapts, also contributed the film script. Even now, the cover of Blu-rays and DVDs, the only way to see it currently, bills it as “Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party.” Continue Reading →
The YouTube Effect
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022),
Barbie (2023) Inception (2010), The Whale (2022),
Early in Alex Winter’s finely made and firmly inessential documentary The YouTube Effect, the edit takes the form of a firehose montage of the greatest hits of the nearly two decade old title video platform. The most striking edit places the viral phenomenon (and eventual NFT) Charlie Bit My Finger next to scattered footage of The Arab Spring, the global social media-mobilized revolution(s) from the 2010s. Despite a nearly boundless distance between these two subjects, The YouTube Effect pinballs back and forth between these two arenas of cultural influence, blurring the lines with a linearity that feels unsuited to a timeline in constant flux. Continue Reading →
Singles
Most of Generation X has received our AARP memberships in the mail, as our lurching journey down the road towards irrelevance comes to an end. Both the smallest generation in numbers, and the first generation to not do better than our parents financially, we’ve long been caught in the middle of the endless battle for dominance between Boomers and Millennials, and now with Gen Z steamrolling over them both, we’re fading out of the cultural picture altogether, like Marty McFly’s brother and sister. Continue Reading →