I went to the theater to see a movie over 40 times this past year, which doubled the number of times I went to the movies (in theaters) in 2022. But it wasn’t all new movies that I saw in the theaters. I saw seven movies from Studio Ghibli, all but one I’d seen before. I saw three documentaries, two new movies from DC and six movies from Marvel (four new and two seen before), and three classic movies like the 1931 Frankenstein movie. Of the over forty trips to the theaters, 23 times were to see new movies. Here’s my take on what I saw in the theaters in 2023:
The Boy and the Heron, 2023-12-08. Last movie of the year, I saw this one in an IMAX theater opening weekend in the afternoon with a few Miyazaki fans. Imaginative as ever, but the ending felt forced or incomplete with at least one plot line left unresolved. This one, like most Miyazaki films would probably benefit from a second viewing.
Godzilla Minus One, 2023-11-30 & 2023-12-05. I loved this one so much that I saw it twice. This film pays tribute to the original Godzilla (1954) film and avoids the modern trap of making the film about the special effects by focusing on the relationships and struggles of the failed kamikaze pilot and those around him. The recent Godzilla/Monarch films have tried to make Godzilla into the good guy and buried the original environmental message and the national trauma of being a country to have suffered not just one, but two atomic bomb strikes. How do you come back from that? How do you hang on to your humanity? How do you hang on to hope? This one is so much more than a simple monster movie. Click HERE for my Video Fridays post.
The Holdovers, 2023-11-21. This one came and disappeared in the theaters. Set at a New England prep school in the early 1970s, it’s a classic disgruntled history professor versus spoiled rich boys, with the opening twist being that this professor has to supervise a handful of the boys who are left to stay at the boarding school over Christmas break. The filmmakers did not go with the simplistic “they hate each other but due to tragedy have to work together to survive, and come to love each other” plot line. Like the era the film is set in, the story develops slowly and focuses on primarily one student and his story. They don’t make movies like this anymore and that’s too bad.
Mr. Jimmy (documentary), 2023-11-18. I saw this movies at the Beverly Theater in Las Vegas and after the movie the director was available to answer questions about the movie. This documentary follows the career of Japanese guitarist, Akio Sakurai, who has taken it upon himself to recreate the performance(s) of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, particularly from a North American tour in the early 1970s. It’s an incredible story.
The Marvels, 2023-11-14. It’s an all-girls superhero team-up. The Avengers did it for 10-years, why not give the girls a shot? But, this movie is burdened by its characters having to deal with the fall-out from those Avengers movies with only one Avengers, Captain Marvel, trying to do it on her own. If there are any parallels in the superhero genre this one is more like a Wolverine movie, with the main character not wanting to “join up,” and the problem they need to deal with first is not being a team. While there are disasters a-plenty, they are decidedly not-bloody or remotely gory, which stands in stark contrast to the Wolverine movies. In fact (spoiler alert), if the problem with the big baddy of the movie are her possessing these magical/powerful bracelets, the problem could have been quickly dispatched if they had attempted to sever that body part or even learn from Thor and go for the head first. But they go to great lengths to get the bracelets off of her, hell, they even try to “reason with her,” which doesn’t work. That said, it’s a good story, but doesn’t quite deliver. It’s hard to identify with an all-powerful but kind’a flawed character like Captain Marvel. I’m surprised that Monica Rambo would hold a grudge and Ms. Marvel is the glue that makes it work, but it feels incomplete.
Ghost in the Shell, (1995 version) 2023-11-09. Classic Anime, dystopian violent future, where the unintended birth of self-aware A.I. needs the help of a cyborg-female-super-cop to break away from the evil corporations/governments. The core question is what makes us human? Also, is it really nudity if the body on display isn’t “natural”? It’s amazing how much philosophy one can slip into a violent movie. Funny that the movie has a quote from the Apostle Paul about seeing through the glass darkly and then seeing face-to-face as a metaphor for questioning one’s sense of self and existence. Typical anime to take what looks like a crime/detective drama and make it into a parable about humanity.
Killers of the Flower Moon, 2023-11-07. I appreciate that Hollywood is making an effort to tell stories outside of the mainstream narrative. It’s a good thing that people outside the assumed dominant culture have a voice beyond being the hero’s sidekick, that women’s stories allow them to exist beyond being the “love interest” in the narrative. I heard an interview of the director of production on NPR and the great care that he made to create an environment that would be authentic to the people and the era. That shows the dedication to giving the indigenous people portrayed in the story their own voice. At the same time, I understand why one of the creators of the Hulu series, “Reservation Dogs,” criticized “Killers of the Flower Moon,” because it follows the well worn trope when an injustice is committed it requires the intervention of a white man (or agency, in this case), for justice to be served. Like “The Green Book” (2018), I love the story, but I can see why it can be tiring that all non-white stories require some white savior to save them. Scorsese understood enough to move the center of the story away from the FBI agent which was how the original novel told the story, to focusing on the white husband. And as much as it would be nice for stories to be told entirely from the non-white perspective, this one is about the criminal actions of white people killing indigenous people to get control of their wealth, that’s the point of the story, so it can’t be told without the white husband or the white FBI agents. All of that said, it’s an important part of American history that needs to be told. I was struck by the ruthlessness and lack of any kind of decency by some of the characters, who felt that they had the right to treat non-white people any way they chose, saying this was their God-given right. It made me thankful that I was taught that you do the right thing and treat everyone with kindness just because it’s the right thing to do. I’m sorry that some feel that it’s unfair to keep parading these stories out, but it is part of our “American history,” and just because you didn’t pull the trigger doesn’t allow you to pretend that it didn’t happen and doesn’t affect the lives of some groups of Americans today.
Spirited Away, 2023-10-29. I probably see this Miyazaki classic in the theaters every year and it never loses it enchanting storytelling qualities. I love this world, I love the characters, I love the transformation of the little girl from a whiny self-centered child to a hero that cares about all of her new friends and her parents. It’s a perfect tale of someone doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. Even No-face finds its purpose because of the girls efforts and commitment to doing right.
Beyond Utopia (documentary) 2023-10-24. Here’s a horror story that shouldn’t really exist but does. This documentary tells the story of several North Korean families trying to escape to a better life and their almost impossible journey. It’s difficult to understand how a whole country can be ruled by a single family, in the person of one man and all of its citizens live in such unnecessary poverty and psychological control. Here’s another story that needs to be told, but is virtually unknown outside of a few scattered headline here and there. Very sad.
Frankenstein (1931) 2023-10-22. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the original “Frankenstein” film in one sitting, especially in a theater. I’m so glad that I got a chance to see the film at the Beverly Theater during their October monster/horror marathon. It’s such an important film to see as far as the history of movie making, the monster genre and even old time Hollywood. I’ve been following a YouTube channel, The Unapologetic Geek, who does deep dives on geek movies and TV shows and media and he did an episode on the 1931 Frankenstein film and it was a great guide from the original book to the movie (click HERE for a link to the episode). Having watched the episode really helped me appreciate the film and struggles to get it created. Loved it.
The Creator 2023-10-03 and 2023-10-31. Another movie that I had to see twice because I loved it so much. Again, it asks the question, what does it mean to be human? If (or when) we really do create physical creatures that are self-aware, are they really alive and should be treated as such or are they just “machines”? I love the line when the main character disparages the notion that the A.I.s are “real” saying, they’re just programming. There are a lot of modern thinkers who would say that that’s all we’re doing, running a program with almost no real free thinking. The United States did not come off too well in the film, being the big baddy with its orbital platform circling the globe and raining down destruction on any region thought to be friendly to the A.I.s. Hmmm, I wonder what this could possibly be a metaphor about? Sci-Fi has always been at its best when it tells the difficult stories that wouldn’t fly as ordinary dramas.
Howl’s Moving Castle 2023-09-24. Another Miyazaki classic, again with a not-so-slight anti-war message, set in European-esque country, early industrial age. It’s a wonderful tale about wizards and witches and curses and, again, doing the right thing.
A Haunting in Venice 2023-09-15. Another Hercule Poirot murder mystery story, I enjoy the previous movie, Murder on the Nile (2022) and found this current film a good spooky follow-up, perfect for it’s Fall/Halloween release date. I appreciate that I couldn’t really tell how this murder mystery was going to be resolved and that it was very much about the inner horrors of the past tormenting these individuals reluctant to face their fears. It was indeed, a dark and stormy night.
For the Record documentary short (IndyTalks event) 2023-09-13. “What happens if no one is doing this?” asks Laurie Ezzell Brown, reporter/editor/owner of the community newspaper, The Canadian Record. I saw the 30- minute documentary, For the Record, by Heather Courtney followed by a panel discussion on the struggles of local newspapers hosted by The Nevada Independent at the Beverly Theater in Downtown Las Vegas. It’s so sad what has been happening to local journalism and newspapers and this short documentary brings the struggle to the fore. Click HERE for my story on the event and documentary .
They Live – 35th anniversary 2023-09-06. I love movies, especially iconic movies, that some might think of as B-movies or low budget horror/sci-fi. John Carpenter’s They Live is one of the best. I love the improvised tagline, about chewing gum and kicking ass and being all out of bubble gum.
Blue Beetle 2023-08-29. I was never a comic book guy and have no feelings about the DCU versus MCU thing. I enjoy the storytelling and escapism of the MCU. In previous years, towards the end of summer I’d usually try to fit in as many movies as possible before the beginning of the school year but this year, having quit teaching, I didn’t feel the need, but this movie looked like a good escapist flick and it was. It was nice to see a Latino family story be part of a superhero story, even if the family was kind played at a comic book/stereotype level. It was an okay story. Given the shake-ups at DC, I wonder if there will be a follow up movie, that was hinted at in the post-credits scene. The large gaps between movies and the shrinking audiences can be a problem.
Jules, 2023-08-22. Another very small movie that I caught wind of and was able to see in the theaters before it disappeared. The makers of this movie found a way to tell a story about aging and relationships with performances by recognizable names, just by adding one element to the story, the crashing of a UFO in the main character’s backyard. The movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Click HERE for my Video Fridays post.
THE WIND RISES: Studio Ghibli Fest 2023: 10TH ANNIVERSARY (sub) (2023-08-21). This movie presents an interesting problem, How do you create a movie about an idealistic genius engineer, who just wanted to make things that fly because he’s in love with the idea of flight, but set the film in the years before World War II and make your idealistic character Japanese? I didn’t know what to expect with this movie, given Miyazaki’s tendency to employ supernatural elements into his stories. I love hearing, almost experiencing, the story of what it was like to live in Japan from the 1920s, through the war years without a Western-filter and without both glorifying war or demonizing anyone (except maybe the Germans..). This is not a fairy tale or legend. It’s similar in tone to Grave of the Fireflies (1988) and requires a lot of reflection to think about the scope and spirit of this beautiful story. I’m glad that I got a chance to experience this story. Click HERE for my Video Fridays post.
PORCO ROSSO: Studio Ghibli Fest 2023: (sub) (2023-08-20). I’ve seen this Miyazaki classic several times about a post-World War I pilot who was cursed to having the literal face of a pig on the body of a human man, living outside nationalism and fighting piracy over the waters of the Mediterranean.
Princess Mononoke: Studio Ghibli Fest: (SUB) (2023-08-06). It’s a very non-western story from a before-time about pre-industrial humans fighting against the supernatural powers of nature, that some might find difficult to appreciate. The English-language dub is interesting because the voices don’t always fit and are a touch too recognizable, but the action and the strong imaginative story overcome that issue.
Oppenheimer (2023-07-20). I got a chance to participate in the impromptu Barbenheimer double feature, and decided to watch Oppenheimer first, thinking that it would be better to watch the deeper, possibly more depressing story first. Seeing whichever movie first, especially on opening weekend wasn’t an issue. It was a lot of fun to see the movie theaters full and packed with lots of fans. The last time I attended a showing with packed houses was when I participated in a nine-hour Guardians of the Galaxy marathon in May where they showed all three movies back-to-back-to-back. Other than that night, most theater visits have been low attendance. Anyway, I knew the basic information about Oppenheimer and the development of the atom bomb, but didn’t know the specifics and found the presentation/storytelling fascinating. I’ve heard some criticism of the movie because they don’t show the test actual blast or footage of the bombs dropping over Japan. Nolan wanted to tell the story from the inside complicated head of Oppenheimer without vilifying or glorifying anyone or glorifying the creation of weapons of mass destruction. Like the man, this is not a simple good guys versus bad guys story, except the terrifying need to get the job done before the Nazis. The story isn’t about the bomb, but it’s about the toll this effort took on the persons and families that took it as their mission to do this thought to be impossible task. By the way, I saw this film in IMAX and I’m glad that I did. It’s not a movie easily conveyed on one’s home system. Even a 100-inch screen wouldn’t do it justice and I’d be afraid to crank my speakers up to the volume that I experienced in the theater. Click HERE for my Video Fridays Barbenheimer post.
Barbie (2023-07-20). I drove to a different theater to see the second part of my impromptu Barbenheimer double feature. Obviously Barbie is a very different tone in storytelling from Oppenheimer. I loved it. Stereotypical Barbie is having an existential crisis because her “owner” in the real world is having “issues,” and Barbie has to cross over to the real world to find out and fix whatever is wrong. I’m a little surprised that Gerwig and company got permission to tell the story that they told. It’s very much a “what’s wrong with this picture” kind of thing, that pokes fun at the huge gap between the promised world of Barbie, as in you can be anything you want to be, and the persistent limitations in the real world, right down to there not being any women in leadership roles at Mattel, the company that manufactures Barbie. Oops. I also love how Ken points out that there is no Ken story without Barbie and he’s not happy with that. That’s just what women have been dealing with with every Hollywood movie ever made! Enjoy. Click HERE for my Video Fridays Barbenheimer post.
Castle in the Sky: Studio Ghibli Fest: (2023-07-10). I don’t remember how many times I’ve seen this Miyazaki classic. I do get the story line confused sometimes between this one and Howl’s Moving Castle, given its general anti-war/magical fairytale aesthetic. A young girl with a magical stone in her necklace is caught between warring factions wanting to possess and control a magical place in the sky with its powerful and ancient technology. A young orphan boy and a band of good-hearted air-pirates come to her aid.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, (2023-07-04). I spent my Fourth of July going on what’s supposed to be Professor Jones’ last adventure. I loved the meme that the most truthful thing about this movie is that this 80-year-old professor is reluctant to retire. I loved that they made what looks very much like the Antikythera Mechanism into a device that creates a small time portal to the past. This was a much better story than the last Indiana Jones movie (aliens, really?).
The Flash, 2023-06-25. Another DC superhero movie that took a bit of time to make it to the theater. Again, not a comic book fan and I never bothered with the TV-version(s) of the story, so, other than this character’s appearance/intro in the Justice League movies, I had no expectations going into the movie. I think we’ve drifted past where multiverse/multiple timeline stories are going to feel “new.” That said, I like how this one allowed for several tweaks of the superhero universe, such that they brought back Michael Keaton’s Batman, replaced Superman with Supergirl and in one sequence had all the different versions of Superman, including the never produced Nick Cage Superman, make cameos. I liked it. It’s too bad that, given the actor playing the Flash, has run into legal issues, it’s unlikely that he’ll make future appearances in the role.
No Hard Feelings 2023-06-25. Saw this one same day as The Flash (no intended pun with my movie viewing choice…). It was an interesting take on the “teen needs to be helped getting out of his/her shell before going to college” trope. I can’t think of an example of when the parents were in on the effort. Usually it’s a group of randy guys desperate to pop their own cherries before high school graduation that sets the story in motion. I like the “modern” twist, with the somewhat coddling parents who are worried that their son won’t be ready to be on his own at college. I do love the quote during negotiation that Lawrence’s character promise to “date his brains out.” Enjoy.
Asteroid City (2023-07-04 and 2023-06-24). I love all things Wes Anderson. I was a bit disappointed to discover some things about the movie before seeing the movie. I hate it when trailers give away too much (or just tell the whole damn story). Once I got over that it’s a movie about a play, I loved it. I don’t know that not knowing that would have changed things, that said, I saw the movie twice in theaters because after the first viewing I realized that the story was being told a bit out of order it purposefully wasn’t a story about something, in fact that’s the question the main actor, Angie, asks throughout the movie/play. Loved it.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse (2023-06-03). Here we go with the continuation of the multiverse storytelling and this one is only the first part of this specific story. This one isn’t related to the Tom Holland/MCU spider-man and being an animated movie, can stretch conventions in a way that live action isn’t quite ready for. I do appreciate that the animated spider-man is an ethnic teenager with a less Middle-America, awe shucks take on the character. 2018’s “Into the Spider-verse” and 2023’s “Across the Spider-verse” a great stories without the complications or repercussions of the MCU connections/storylines.
John Wick Chapter 4 (2023-05-30 and 2023-04-07). I have enjoyed the over-the-top John Wick saga. I kind of miss that we don’t do any horses or dog-fu with this outing. The big baddy of this movie is perfectly villainous and soulless. The walk up the city stairs and fall down said stairs was a bit much, granted, he’d already fallen out of a two-story window onto a car roof and walked away, with some difficulty… so, I guess the scene was meant to demonstrate how determined the bad guys were that he not even make it to the duel. I don’t know why I like these movies, I’m not usually into violent revenge movies, but I guess I give Keanu Reeves a pass when it comes to this stuff. It’s good.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023-05-03 and 2023-05-30). As mentioned above, I attended an opening weekend showing with packed houses of a nine-hour Guardians of the Galaxy marathon where they showed all three movies, Guardians of the Galaxy, volumes 1, 2, and 3 back-to-back-to-back. And then I saw Volume 3 by itself a few weeks later. Again, I had no familiarity with the comic book going back to when I saw the first Guardians movie going back almost ten years to 2014. It was just a fun romp into a Sci-Fi superhero story that only later was connected to the MCU storyline. Seeing it as part of a nine-hour marathon was fun and as a stand alone experience satisfied my superhero movie need. This time out the focus was more on Rocket’s origin story and a mad scientist’s disrespect for life. It was also a follow up story on building community and family after the war(s) are over with each character finding their place on the team or other pursuits beyond the team. Interesting future possibilities, assuming that there will be future stories.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023-03-14). Another MCU follow-up story, post-blip, post rescuing Janet Van Dyne from the Quantum Realm, where she has a secret that she hasn’t talked about. Kang, introduced in the Loki Marvel TV series, is the big baddy in this story and the whole group, Ant-man, the Wasp, Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne and Ant-man’s daughter, Cassie, have to find a way to prevent Kang from regaining his power and from escaping the quantum realm. There was a lot of criticism of this movie that it wasn’t that great, etc. I don’t know what they were expecting. There was a pretty good father-daughter story, there was a whole new realm with new characters and civilizations to explore (Bill Murray’s character was a bit of a throw away), impossible odds scenario aplenty. It got the job done. I was entertained. There’s also a post-credit scene where King-variants are discussing what to do about Kang, hinting at a future Kang-centric movies. Question is whether that will happen given the actor playing King has been released from his Marvel contract following some personal legal troubles. Unintended/Uninvited MCU drama.
65 (2023-03-14). An interesting Sci-Fi story about a pilot taking passengers in stasis on an extended space voyage when their craft encounters an unexpected asteroid/comet that forces them to land on an uncharted planet. Only one other passenger, a little girl who doesn’t speak the pilot’s language, survives the crash landing. It’s pretty clear that the planet is prehistoric earth and that these two survivors need to escape before the asteroid, whose debris field is what cause their original crash, was going to hit the planet in 12-hours. It’s a good action-adventure Sci-Fi movie.
Cocaine Bear (2023-03-07). Fourth movie of the new year is an incredibly gory action/comedy, if there’s such a thing. The violence is horrific and the body count is pretty high, almost everyone. Based on a true story of a drug-smuggler who dropped his shipment of cocaine over a rural area when he thinks that he’s going to get caught. He parachutes away, but is presumed dead and the cocaine is discovered by a bear that then proceeds to ingest the drugs. In the real story the bear eventually dies from the drugs. In the movie the bear goes on a rampage and goes after anyone and everyone that it encounters. Of course, the local drug businessman wants to retrieve what’s left of the shipment, not knowing that it’s being sought after by the now-addicted bear. A few innocent folks fall victim and a lot of bad guys too. Elizabeth Banks directed this one and it certainly shows that she does not pull the camera away when there’s some ridiculous violence. Enjoy.
Jesus Revolution (2023-02-28). News of this movie popped into my feeds long before its release and the premise of the story, the 1970s Southern California Jesus Movement, intrigued me. It intrigued me enough that I did two podcasts on the movie: JBB’s Final Thoughts, episode 43: Jesus Revolution: Truth Seekers, Part 1 and JBB’s Final Thoughts, episode 44: Jesus Revolution: Truth Seekers, Part 2. As a recovered Jesus Freak from the 1970s Southern California I was curious what spin the makers of Jesus Revolution were going to take. Let’s just say, Christian Cinema has a reputation for outdoing Hallmark when it comes to formulaic plots, mustache-twirling villains and wonderfully unrealistic portrayals of “reality.” But in this case, the story of the beginning of the Jesus Movement in Southern California in the late 1960s/1970s felt firmly grounded. They focused on two main relationships, between Pastor Chuck Smith and Evangelist/Hippy Lonnie Frisbee and the beginning of the relationship between high school students Greg and Cathe. Obviously, I had a specific interest in the movie and feel that the movie makers did a pretty good job capturing some of the spirit of what happened in the early Jesus Movement. Thankfully they don’t resort to over the top supernatural events. They include the tensions that developed between Smith and Frisbee but gloss over how that story ultimately ended. It’s worth a watch to those who experienced the era or those curious about the Jesus Movement. After watch the movie, you might consider watching a documentary about Lonnie Frisbee called Frisbee: The life and Death of a Hippie Preacher . Please click the links above for a more complete review.
Oscar Shorts Live Action/Animation (2023-02-19). I remember very little from this event, except that I found very little of the animated short very compelling. I remember that the short film promoted by Apple about a boy, a horse and a fox pretty bland. I remember an animated short about a boy and his dad living very high in the mountains over a town and something happening that forced them to fly or fall down to the town with a parachute, I think. Only one of the live action shorts about a woman on a urban rail system accidentally stealing the train when the driver steps off to use the restroom and she can’t wait outside because of the cold, and then a transvestite woman is harassed by some men and the woman and the trans-woman flee the train, which continues down the track with the harassing men forced to take control and then get caught by authorities for hijacking the train. I think there was another live action short about a Muslim woman/girl who was being sent to meet her arranged-marriage fiancé and decides that she doesn’t want to marry this stranger and flees in the cargo hold of a bus. The shorts that I remember were good, but the collection of all the shorts were not as good as what I’ve seen in previous years.
Puss in Boots:The Last Wish (2023-01-15). From the Shrek series, this was a pretty good story about this rakish character being forced to face some of his hurtful choices from the past and do better with his one remaining life. Antonio Banderas, is reunited with Salma Hayek, whom he starred with in the Mariachi movies. It’s rated PG so not really for the kids, but then the Shrek movies tended to have humor that would not be really understood by kids. It’s a fun story.
