Colossal is really something different, fresh, and new! Anne Hathaway stars as an barely functioning 30-something alcoholic who goes back to her hometown after a break-up. She reunites with a guy from high school who gives her a job at his bar. Meanwhile, she figures out that at a certain time of the day, if she has been drinking, and if she is in the playground, she's somehow responsible for and can control the movements of a giant monster that suddenly appears in Seoul, South Korea. It's hard to make that synopsis short and sweet. Colossal is awesome. It's weird and funny and dark and serious too. It's a monster movie about addiction, toxic masculinity, resentment, and anger. 5/5
Paterson is the newest film by Jim Jarmusch. Paterson is about a bus-driving poet in Paterson New Jersey. Do you need to know more? No, you don't. Paterson is small and quiet and subtle and nuanced and beautiful...and the dog is the best movie dog! I love Adam Driver and I'll watch anything he's in. I love Jarmusch and I'll watch anything he makes. So, this was naturally a win-win. ...also, Method Man... 5/5 Moonlight is exquisite. This astonishing film is the second feature from Barry Jenkins (Medicine 4 Melancholy, 2008). Told in 3 chapters Moonlight follows Chiron, a young gay man, from his schooldays in inner-city Miami, through high school, and into adulthood. Moonlight is based on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell McCraney. This is the most beautiful, and important film of the year. I have never seen anything like this before. From the casting to the sound editing, Moonlight is stellar. Moonlight has won a lot of awards and I predict Oscars this coming February. Moolight is a MUST SEE! DO IT! 5/5 Toni Erdmann is a miracle. I went to see Toni Erdmann because I didn't feel like going to a sobfest, I wanted to laugh. I thought "a 3-hour German comedy? How could this possibly work?!" Let me just say, it worked. It really really worked. I can say with confidence that not only was Toni Erdmann 900 million times better than anything I could have imagined. I have also never laughed so hard at a German-anything before. This is a bizarre story about a goofy aging dad who goes to visit his daughter who lives and works in Romania. He creates a goofy character, Toni Erdmann, complete with nutty wig and silly teeth. And so, the daughter plays along halfway mortified. This film could have easily veered into cringe comedy territory. I loathe cringe comedy. I don't think humiliation is funny. Somehow, Toni Erdmann avoids meanness and sticks with silly fun. Without saying too much, Toni Erdmann is reminiscent of a Mike Leigh anti-farce. 5/5 |
LindseyHere is where I post new reviews as I see films throughout the year. Archives
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