The Great Movie Conquest of 2022: March

For this month's installment, I reached out to something like ten or so roommates I lived with over the course of three or four years. You can thank them for finally making me watch Baby Driver.

Despite everyone in my TMA 391 class abounding in love over Baby Driver, I wasn't expecting it to do much for me. Heist movies aren't really my niche, and I don't love Ansel Elgort. The sum total of my knowledge of the film pre-viewing was Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Lily James (?), driving, and a "really dope soundtrack." I guess the blank slate gave the film a lot of room to grow because I really enjoyed the film. I just want to know where they got the idea for "Baby" as a character. So much to unpack there.

Initially, I thought that About Time trapped itself in a premise with no tension since the entire film is about a guy who can press rewind on any given episode of his life, but I was grateful the story found a way to give his actions some weight, and it ended up taking me to a very profound place.

Knowing what I do about Werner Herzog, it's no surprise to me that he would be so fascinated by someone like Timothy Treadwell and make him the subject of one of his projects. I had a complex reaction to Grizzly Man that I've tried articulating a good half dozen times in this piece, to no success. I'll have to give it a try some other time.

Of the two reviews that I put out this month, only one of them was a theater experience, and I resent that very much. Turning Red was such a welcome addition to the Pixar canon, I've already gone back to give it a second viewing. The Lost City, meanwhile, was nothing to journal about, but I guess it filled a need.

I actually ended up seeing most of the nominees for this year's Oscars. (I've still only seen like two of the BP nominees from last year, and I only caught those in the last few months.) The two that I hit this month were Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley and Sian Heder's CODA. The former I thought was well-made, but not particularly to my taste, even with Bradley Cooper. I mostly like Del Toro when he's making monsters --like actual monsters, not just metaphorical ones.

CODA, meanwhile, was arguably the best item I've hit while doing this challenge. The film punched some really strong emotions without going for easy hits. I wasn't even counting on it taking home the big trophy on Sunday, but I was not complaining. I'm really excited to see what all the attention this movie is receiving will do for Apple TV+ as a service.

As I was reaching out to my old roommates for suggestions, they would sometimes preface their lists with, "I don't really know movies," or "you're the film guy, don't know what I can offer here." This was, of course, a non-issue. They had a plentitude of good suggestions.

But it did get me thinking about why we give more intellectual weight to certain kinds of films--why we might think that our favorite films don't "have a lot to offer." In my experience, when someone expresses this opinion, or one like it, they're usually admitting that they feel insecure about their tastes being too mainstream.

Without getting into an essay's worth of pontificating on the arbitrary divide between "high art" and popular entertainment, it's worth acknowledging here that intelligent discussion isn't limited to films in the criterion collection. The alchemy between the language of film and the complexity of the human heart is available across any range of film. Even a "brainless action pic" like the Clash of the Titans remake can elicit a complex response from me that will gestate over the span of several years. I always advocate for seeking out films that aren't in your comfort zone, but that's not as straightforward as devaluing superhero movies.

Looking forward, the votes are in for April, and I will be focusing on films from Japan for the upcoming month. (Will this be the day I finally see Seven Samurai?) Thanks to everyone who shared their voice.

Then in May I will be anchoring my viewing on a specific actor. I've narrowed the options down to the two handsomest devils in old Hollywood, James Stewart and Cary Grant. You can cast your votes here.

This is all just one really long way to say ... we are one quarter of the way through the year. Congrats.

--The Professor

Time to Move Ooooooon to April

March's Harvest:

A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

Guest in the House (1944)

About Time (2013)

Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)

Hell's Kitchen (1939)

Sunday in the Park with George (1986)

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)

Diner (1982)

Brute Force (1947)

The Green Mile (1999)

Turning Red (2022)

Baby Driver (2017)

Moby Dick (1956)

Empire of the Sun (1987)

Monos (2019)

Vertical Limit (2000)

The More the Merrier (1943)

My Führer (2007)

CODA (2021)

Dangerous Crossing (1953)

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

Nightmare Alley (2021)

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Grizzly Man (2005)

Theodora Goes Wild (1936)

The Lost City (2022)

Man of La Mancha (1972)

Peter Pan (1924)

Free Guy (2021)

Chronicle (2012)

Shane (1953)

Comments

We're Back! a Dinosaur's Story - Getting Lost in the "Last Frontier of Imagination"

Last month, Variety ran a piece observing, “Hollywood Can’t Survive Without Animation. So Why Won’t the Industry Respect It?” by Clayton Davis, who reported , “In the nearly five decades that domestic grosses have been tracked, an animated film has finished the year as the No. 1 release just seven times, beginning with Disney’s “Aladdin” in 1992. Now the medium is having an unprecedented run, with “Inside Out 2” and “Zootopia 2” topping the last two calendar years (a first for animated movies to lead the box office for two consecutive years) and the latter becoming the highest-grossing animated film ever domestically. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is leading 2026 so far and is the only film to cross $1 billion. Setting aside the 2020 and 2021 pandemic seasons, which emptied theaters of family films, animated features have made up about 20% of the year’s 10 top-grossing releases over the past decade. And yet, the artists who make these movies have rarely felt less valued: In May 2024, ...

REVIEW: A Quiet Place - DAY ONE

I remember back when I reviewed A Quiet Place Part II , the thing that was on my mind a world crawling out of a global pandemic. I now dive into Michael Sarnoski's newest take on the mythology with A Quiet Place: Day One having just this morning heard the news that a certain convicted felon is being granted immunity for his involvement in trying to overthrow democracy, and I am left wondering (not for the first time) what surviving in a world that already balances on borrowed time even means. This is more or less the mindset of the film's protagonist, Sam, a terminally ill cancer patient who was already done with existing well before killer aliens started dropping out from the sky. The only things she cares about in the world are her "emotional support" cat, Frodo, and getting a taste of some proper New York pizza before this cancer takes her, alien invasion or not! While the rest of the city is running off to catch the last boat off Manhattan, she just digs deeper ...

REVIEW: Spider-Man - Brand New Day

Somewhere in the multiverse, there's an opening chord of a review where I celebrate Spiderman: Brand New Day as some kind of welcome "return to basics" for the MCU, but that's not more than partially true. This movie is a lot more straightforward than cohesive than most Marvel pics from the early stretch of the decade. Feige finally feels confident that, yes, we know that there's a multiverse, and we don't need more reminders. But this is also not a budget Marvel movie. The film still designs an elaborate fireworks show for Peter Parker to dance around. There is also definite signaling for future Marvel adventures. Sadie Sink's stealth role in this movie (a sizzling introduction into the MCU) teases the integration of a new family of superheroes set to join the ranks of The New Avengers. But these sneak peeks feel like just that, and unlike sloppier Marvel pics, they aren't made to bear the weight of the e...

My Criminal Father Surrogate: Masculinity in A Perfect World

I've been wanting to tackle the subject of "masculinity" in film for quite some time now, but I hadn't quite known how best to do that. There's a certain buzzword, "toxic masculinity," that especially elicits a lot of strong feelings from a lot of different angles. While a post-#MeToo world has exposed some very disturbing truths about the way masculinity has historically performed, I'm not here to roast 50% of the world population. Actually, I really want to talk about a man's capacity for good. Ted Lasso (2020) There’s certainly a lot of discussion to be had for newer media celebrating men for possessing attributes not historically coded as "manly." But what's even more fascinating to me are the attempts to bridge the gap between traditional masculinity and new age expectations--to reframe an older vision of manhood within our modern context. Which brings me to Clint Eastwood’s 1993 film, A Perfect World. ...

REVIEW: The End of Oak Street

There's something vaguely Spielberg about The End of Oak Street , and I don't really even mean the dinosaurs, which look quite a bit different from the CG masterworks of the seminal '93 film. The Platts are a conventional American family living in 1980s suburbia who are caught in a bizarre time anomaly that sends their entire neighborhood back to the prehistoric age. What follows plays like a more visceral rendition of '95 Jumanji . There's a very PG13 level of blood onscreen. But most of the anxiety derives from just how unceremoniously the dinosaurs are seen snacking on the neighbors. Without ever feeling like it's trying to outsmart the audience, the film drives home the idea that, yeah, if your street was sucked into a wormhole, the dinos would get you too--and probably without even needing to try hard. Among many other things, the movie is a masterclass in filmmaking tension. Amidst a stampede of gigantic fang...

Thawing Disney's Frozen Heart

As a millennial Disney fan and film student in utero, I often thought about what it would have been like to be there when Aladdin or The Little Mermaid , or even “Snow White” or The Jungle Book , premiered to the culture. It’s one thing to grow up and realize you have a piece of film history with you here in your living room. It’s another to get to watch the culture transform as it engages for the first time with something And I have this envy for a great many cinematic works. Like, what I would give to go back to 1946 and tell those losers who dismissed It's a Wonderful Life how they had no idea what they were sleeping on. But the Disney canon’s place within the culture is also specific. Their commitment to delivering hopeful stories to an audience that believes itself beyond such frailties as faith or kindness is unparalleled, and that makes their contributions worth studying and celebrating. And so I didn’t take it for granted during that period in late 2013/early ...

REVIEW: The Rivals of Amziah King

The first note I made for this film is that I knew a bunch of cowboys growing up. But I regretfully did not know any who were just so willing to burst into song. I thought then that I knew what I was getting into with this movie. But I could not anticipate what this story would try to feed me. The movie sees Amziah King, a good-natured beekeeper, smalltown musician, and all-around good dude, sorting through some business deals as he happens to reunite with his former foster-daughter, Kateri. Crossing paths again allows them to mutually rediscover what they gave to each other as two people who lifted each other up. But when King's entire stock is stolen at the worst possible moment, Kateri gets to step-up and defend what is theirs. Amziah King is McConaughey at his most endearing. His ability to put the viewer at ease is the film's greatest trick. I've heard some buzz about this being his best performance ever. I'd...

The Banshees of Inisherin: The Death Knell of Male Friendship

I’m going to go out on a limb today and put out the idea that our society is kind of obsessed with romance. In popular storytelling, t he topic has two whole genres to itself (romantic-comedy, romantic-drama), which gives it a huge slice of the media pie. Yet even in narratives where romance is not the focus, it still has this standing invitation to weave itself onto basically any kind of story. It’s almost more worth remarking upon when a story doesn’t feature some subplot with the main character getting the guy or the girl. Annie Hall (1977) And it’s also not just the romantic happy ending that we’re obsessed with. Some of the most cathartic stories of romance see the main couple breaking up or falling apart, and there’s something to be gained from seeing that playing out on screen as well. But what’s interesting is that it is assumed that a person has a singular “one and only” romantic partner. By contras...

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Westerns Riding off into the Sunset

In both my Les Miserables and Moulin Rouge! pieces, I made some comment about the musical as the genre that receives the least love in the modern era. I stand by that, but I acknowledge there is one other genre for which you could potentially make a similar case. I am referring of course to the western film. See, musicals at least have Disney keeping them on life support, and maybe one day we’ll get the Wicked movie Universal has been promising us for fifteen years [FUTURE EDIT: All good things, folks ]. But westerns don’t really have a place in the modern film world. Occasionally we’ll get films like No Country for Old Men, which use similar aesthetics and themes, but they are heavily modified from the gun-blazing-horseback-racing-wide-open-desert w esterns of old. Those died, oddly enough, around the same time musicals fell out of fashion. Professors Susan Kord and El...

An Earnest Defense of Passengers

I've heard a lot of back and forth over what the purpose of film is and what we should ask from it. Film as a social amenity kind of has a dual purpose. It's supposed to give the population common ground and find things that people of varying backgrounds and beliefs can unify around. On the other hand, film also creates this detached simulated reality through which we can explore complex and even testing ideas about the contradictions in human existence. In theory, a film can fulfill both functions, but movies exist in a turbulent landscape. It's very rare for a film to try to walk both lanes, and it's even rarer for a film to be embraced upon entry for attempting to do so. Let me explain by describing the premise of one of my favorite movies, Morten Tyldum's 2016 film, Passengers . A key piece of this film ’s plot revolves around the main character, Jim Preston, a passenger onboard a spaceship, who premat...

Films and Feelings

Search This Blog