The Northman / ***½ (R)

 

Amleth: Alexander Skarsgård

Queen Gudrún: Nicole Kidman

Fjölnir the Brotherless: Claes Bang

King Aurvandil War-Raven: Ethan Hawke

Olga of the Birch Forest: Anya Taylor-Joy

Thórir The Proud: Gustav Lindh

Gunnar: Elliott Rose

Heimir the Fool: Willem Defoe

Seeress: Björk

Focus Features and New Regency Productions present a film directed by Robert Eggers. Written by Sjón & Robert Eggers. Running time: 136 min. Rated R (for strong bloody violence, strong sexual content and nudity).

To call Robert Eggers’s new Viking movie “bombastic” and “over the top” might be missing the point, and it is certainly missing the idea of what should be expected from a Viking movie. Eggers, who already has quite a reputation in Hollywood for producing intellectually challenging and visually stunning movies, offers us only his third feature with The Northman. The Northman may be the most authentic Viking movie ever made. Based on a well known Scandinavian folk tale, which also inspired some of the plot points of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it is a raw experience to say the least. It is filled with anger and violence and the raw visceral nature of man. It’s not surprising the same are calling it a little much. Perhaps we have become a sensitive lot.

His previous movies have notoriously been produced with an incredible attention to the authentic details that mark the periods which they depict. 2015’s The Witch used only props and sets that were constructed using the methods of its 1600s New England setting, while The Lighthouse (2019) was filmed using camera lenses from its 1890s time period. Both were also rumored to have been made under strenuous conditions for their casts and crews. Considering those facts, we can probably call ourselves lucky not to have endured what must’ve been months of near torture to produce this bloody, monsterous affair.

The Northman tells the story of Amleth, an Icelandic prince in the 10th Century, during the landnamsöld (age of land-taking)–the time Iceland was first settled. The boy adores his father, who upon his return from a campaign of conquering and acquiring riches is murdered by his own brother, Fjölnir. The boy escapes and swears vengeance for his father, rescue for his mother and death for his uncle. Years later, as an enforcer for another ruler, Amleth learns of the sale of slaves from his tribe’s latest conquest to Fjölnir and disguises himself as one of the slaves to be shipped to his uncle’s reduced kingdom of a mere shepherding community to enact his vengeance.

It’s a powerful story of betrayal and vengeance, and Eggers brings all the grandiloquence and passion necessary for revenge into every aspect of the filmgoing experience, from the culturally referential and thundering score by Robert Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough to the enlarged continent of body muscle that star Alexander Skarsgård must’ve ‘roided out to achieve. Everything in this movie is massive. The Icelandic setting makes for a beyond tormenting landscape, as unforgiving as these Viking marauders are on their missions of conquest. Although we don’t witness the conquest the king returns from at the start of the film, it is obvious they have devastated the people who are now enslaved by them and stolen all the riches their civilization had hoarded. As we are introduced to Amleth as an adult we witness one of these raids, in which Almeth is employed as a first wave enforcer–or wolf–a personality he seems to embody at his core, one of extreme brutality and entirely lacking in empathy. 

Amleth's methods of revenge are even more extreme in their implementation. Eggers’ lead for his first film, Anya Taylor-Joy, rejoins his company to act as an accomplice to Amleth’s vengeance–both having lost what was dear to them because of the same man’s actions. The two slaughter their tormentors in truly horrific ways, through poisoning and dismemberment, ultimately leading to a showdown between Amleth and Fjölnir at the base of an erupting volcano.

Despite the visceral and testosterone driven nature of the action, Eggers incorporates many of his signature themes of the supernatural and witchcraft. Willem Dafoe and Björk each show up in intense shaman roles, providing some of the film’s more psychedelic visuals and tripped out performances. Taylor-Joy seems to have graduated her character from The Witch to the seasoned trickstress. Amleth also sees visions that foretell of his revenge on his uncle and of his progenies’ rise to power. He sees his own journey to Valhọll, “hall of the slain”, riding on the wings of the Valkyrie. It’s all very visually stunning.

In press interviews leading up to the release of The Northman, Eggers said that Skarsgård had approached him to do a Viking film. While it had been a lifelong dream of the Swedish actor’s, it surprisingly hadn’t been one for Eggers. Clearly Skarsgård recruited the right director to fulfill his dream. While it is melodramatic and overblown, it also feels incredibly authentic for what it is trying to depict. It certainly isn’t a movie for everyone. It does play like the fulfillment of a dream–or perhaps a nightmare.

The Northman is currently playing exclusively in theaters.

The Lost City / ***½ (PG-13)

Loretta/Angela: Sandra Bullock

Alan/Dash: Channing Tatum

Abigail Fairfax: Daniel Radcliffe

Beth Hatten: Da’Vine Joy Randolph

Jack Trainer: Brad Pitt

Paramount Pictures presents a film directed by Aaron Nee & Adam Nee. Written by Oran Uziel and Dana Fox and Adam Nee & Aaron Nee from a story by Seth Gordon. Running time: 112 min. Rated PG-13 (for violence and some bloody images, suggestive material, partial nudity and language).

If the new adventure comedy The Lost City tells us anything, it is that we have missed the physical comedy of Sandra Bullock. This movie is many things. It’s clearly an homage to the now classic comedy adventure Romancing the Stone, taking many of its story cues and improving upon some of that film’s more dated aspects. It’s a reminder of Channing Tatum’s talents in making fun of his own buff physical appearance. It’s a chance for Brad Pitt and Daniel Radcliffe to shed some of the iconic status of their own public perception. It’s a fun time. It’s a laugh factory. But mostly, it’s a chance for Sandra Bullock to shine again in the type of role that made her famous.

The movie opens in a tomb. Our heroes, Angela & Dash (Bullock & Tatum), are tied up on the floor, surrounded by snakes with a villain monologuing at them. After questioning the plausibility of the situation, Angela says, “Delete!” and the snakes disappear. She says, “Delete!” again and the monologuing villain disappears. She says, “Delete!” again and we find Angela sitting at a computer in an apartment looking frustrated. Turns out she is actually Loretta, a romance novelist and recluse since the death of her archaeologist husband. Her own archaeological dreams were sidetracked by her surprise success writing a romance novel series focusing more on the sexual exploits than the archaeological adventures of Angela and Dash. 

At this point–and frankly, when all is said and done–The Lost City is essentially a loose remake of the 1983 Stone. Loretta’s agent, Beth Hatten–a force of nature in the form of De’Vine Joy Randolph–begs her reclusive client for the final chapters of her new book as the book tour looms. When Beth finally gets Loretta out of her cocoon of wine and bubble baths, the first stop on the tour involves a Q & A with Loretta and her forever cover model, Alan (Tatum), who needs to be reminded he isn’t really Dash. Loretta makes it clear to Dash and all her fans that the fantasy is over just before she’s kidnapped.

Daniel Radcliffe continues his journey successfully distancing himself from his most famous role as a titular wizard with his portrayal of Abigail Fairfax. “It’s a gender neutral name!” Fairfax is the second in line to a large family fortune wishing to make his name finding a rare artifact, since he was publicly passed up to run the family business. He has kidnapped Loretta because he believes her new book holds the key to where the artifact might be located. Radcliffe does a wonderful job keeping you guessing for the first third of the film as to whether he is tooth-nashingly evil or just has no idea as to how to properly deal with people. He plays well against his good boy image.

Alan, who clearly has feelings for Loretta, is determined to be more than just a cover model and sets out to rescue the real life version of his fictional love. He enlists the help of a professional rescuer, a mercenary played by Brad Pitt. Like Radcliffe, Pitt uses his own public image to build a solid comedic performance. His hero for hire is amiable enough to let Alan tag along on the rescue and the whole adventure just takes off from there.

Like its predecessor, Stone, The Lost City masterfully merges comedy with its adventure premise, relying heavily on the personalities of its cast of characters to anchor its laughs. All five of the leads have big laugh moments, but this is clearly Bullock’s and Tatum’s party. Even on that front, the script leans more heavily toward Bullock in a far more progressive leading performance for a female than Stone’s sometimes cringe-inducing treatment of its female protagonist from its male protagonist. Although Loretta is the one being rescued, Alan is never in control of her fate. She is never dependent on him, and she is the driver of every aspect of the plot, never the tool of it. Meanwhile, Tatum is more than willing to play a muscle-bound damsel in distress.

Like last year’s Jungle Cruise, The Lost City is a welcome escape of pure fun without the modern heaviness that comes with today’s typical blockbuster fare. This one is even more hilarious, however, thanks to the deftness of Bullock’s physical comedy. There aren’t really any serious moments here, except for one that gets glossed over until it’s finally dealt with in the closing moments for an unexpected laugh. I really can’t express how wonderful the comedic performances are in this movie. If ever we need to laugh and fantasize it is now, and The Lost City is here to deliver.

The Lost City is currently playing in theaters and streaming exclusively on Paramount +.

Morbius / ** (PG-13)

 

Dr. Michael Morbius: Jared Leto

Milo: Matt Smith

Martine Bancroft: Adria Arjona

Dr. Emil Nicholas: Jared Harris

Agent Simon Stroud: Tyrese Gibson

Agent Rodriguez: Al Madrigal

Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present a film directed by Daniel Espinosa. Written by Matt Sazama & Burt Sharples. Based on the Marvel Comics character. Running time: 104 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence, some frightening images, and brief strong language).

Sony finally gets around to expanding its Marvel Comics based universe of characters following its long running Spider-Man franchise and the more recent Venom pair of movies. Thanks, Covid! Like Venom, Morbius concentrates on more of an anti-hero than the wholesome character of Peter Parker in the Spider suit. Morbius, in plain pop culture speak, is a vampire. Like all vampire films, Morbius is often a dank, dark exercise in straining to see what is happening in the blackness. Like most superhero movies, it is also an origin story filled with CGI creativeness and excess, and all too often sloppiness that adds to the dank, dark, difficult to see action. 

We are introduced to Dr. Michael Morbius, played by Jared Leto, as an adult in an under-explained opening sequence in which he is taken to a remote cave in Costa Rica to trap a rare species of bat. His treatment of the crew of men he’s paid to bring him here is reckless to say the least. Then we are flashed back to his childhood to discover that he was born with a rare blood disease that requires him to “get an oil change” three times a day. We also meet another boy with the same disease whom Michael befriends and renames Milo. The explanation for this renaming is thin and obviously designed to divert the audience’s attention from the true identity of Milo. Considering this would only be understood by the few movie goers that are fans of the comic book character along with the fact that Milo’s real name is used when he’s introduced, this seems like a magician trying to convince you this isn’t a trick even though the cards already fell out of his sleeve. We also meet Michael’s mentor Dr. Emil Nicholas, played by Jared Harris in a bit of casting misdirection.

Back in the present, Dr. Morbius’s partner, Martine Bancroft, discovers that Michael is illegally experimenting with the bats in developing a cure for his blood disorder. Rather than firmly questioning the morality of his actions as she first suggests, Martine is quite supportive of Michael’s experiments. She joins him on a cargo ship in international waters to administer the potential cure to him. The credits fail to respect Martine with a doctor title despite the fact that she insists upon it when challenged by men with guns. Although Martine is underwritten as a love interest, Adria Arjorna is a competent and compelling choice for the role. 

Needless to say, the cure doesn’t work quite as intended. Although it does appear to at least temporarily cure the disease, its side effects are vampirism. Most of the side effects seem beneficial to our hero–increased strength and agility, augmented echolocation hearing, and even a form of flight. It’s just that pesky need to feed on human blood that is problematic. Luckily, Morbius’s previous scientific contribution to humanity was a synthetic blood that is a milky blue color for some reason. Unfortunately, this blue blood provides diminishing returns for the good doctor. Also unfortunate for the doctor is how a shipful of dead mercenaries washed up on the city shore draws the attention of two FBI agents. Also, Milo’s desire for a cure is so strong that he ignores Mobius’s warning that the cure is also a curse. Soon people are being exsanguinated all over the city. Look it up. The writers did.

Now, if it seems I’m being hard on the movie, it isn’t all bad. Most of my issues are aesthetically based, rather than structural. Unlike what so many jokesters on the internet have suggested, Jared Leto’s presence in the leading role is anchoring rather than disruptive. He carries the weight of the role properly, even when the screenwriters insist on putting out-of-character one-liners in his mouth. The plot and design of the characters and production are also sound, providing an intriguing origin to a complicated character without over-complicating it. 

Matt Smith, as Milo, can be a bit much at times. Unfortunately, Smith seems a little more willing to give into some of the writers’ and director’s worst instincts, especially in a scene where he dances while dressing for an evening out with his newfound muscles and powers. It’s the action sequences that are the most problematic, however. The editing is too quick and the scenes are so dimly lit that their murkiness is indecipherable to human eyes. Vampires might be able to see in the dark, but I can’t.

I’d hardly call this the worst comic book adaptation I’d ever seen, but it doesn’t live up to the more nuanced standards that Marvel has built an interlocked universe out of over at Disney. I welcome some of the simplicity of storytelling here that has all but been expelled from superhero movies these days. The movie does dip its toes into the Disney formula in its final moments, however. Thanks primarily to a surprise cameo, these are the best scenes of the movie. I wonder, though, if the MCU has spoiled us on the more straightforward storytelling of classic action/fantasy movies. Morbius isn’t the best of what comic book filmmaking has become and perhaps the old ways just can’t succeed anymore. It’d be nice if they could.

Critic’s Note: Actually, the less complex style of plotting that once served all of our spectacle needs is successfully on display in the second Venom movie, Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). In it the filmmakers embrace Tom Hardy’s unique characterization from the first movie and throw out most of the newer tricks of universe referencing and twist endings that make you reevaluate all you’ve seen. Well, if you don’t count the credit cookies, it does.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 / ** (PG)

Sonic (voice): Ben Schwartz

Dr. Robotnik: Jim Carrey

Tails (voice): Colleen O’Shaughnessey

Knuckles (voice): Idris Elba

Tom Wachowski: James Marsden

Maddie Wachowski: Tika Sumpter

Rachel: Natasha Rothwell

Randall: Shemar Moore

Wade: Adam Pally

Agent Stone: Lee Majdoub

Commander Walters: Tom Butler

Paramount Pictures presents a film directed by Jeff Fowler. Written by Pat Casey, Josh Miller and John Whittington. Running time: 122 min. Rated PG (for action, some violence, rude humor, and mild language).

My 8-year-old son really enjoyed this movie.

Favorite Music of 2021

In no particular order, here is my favorite music of 2021. 21 albums (well, one's an EP and one's a mixtape) and 13 film scores (Only Lovers Left Alive is a 2013 film, but the score was just released in 2021). The 4th album down is Ryley Walker's Course in Fable. The rest should be identifiable. 

Albums

Scores

Favorite Movies of 2021

 Covid has changed our lives in so many negative ways over the past two years. One of the most difficult for a cineaste such as myself has been having to find new ways to see all the movies throughout the year. Not really much of a problem in the grand scheme of things. In fact, it seemed such a trivial problem last year that as I struggled to catch up with the movies of 2020 to make my year end list of favorite movies, I eventually gave up. I had successfully seen almost all of the Oscar nominees by the time those awards finally rolled out at the end of April. At that point, the endeavor felt fruitless. This year we’ll see the Oscars a month earlier–around the same time of year they used to reveal them when I was a kid. 

And so, 2020 became the first time in 20 years that I did not reveal my favorite films of a given year publically. I’ve been doing this since 2000, starting with the films of 1999–considered by many to be the best year in movies ever. Arguments about the quality of films being released these days aside–there are plenty of good movies out there–just because I didn’t put out a list last year, doesn’t mean I didn’t have one in my head. Just in case you were wondering, my favorite film last year was Judas and the Black Messiah. Of course, that brings another quandary to the task of compiling favorite movie lists broken down into release years these days. Several films in 2020’s awards circuit never saw release to the public until 2021. This begs the question, what gets considered and what doesn’t? I try to keep it to what is eligible for any given year’s awards. Therefore several films that were released early in 2021 are not going to be found on this list, most notably the aforementioned Judas, The Father and Minari, which were heavily featured in last year’s awards despite their 2021 release dates. 

This year–as with most years–there are still a great deal of movies I didn’t get around to watching that will be heavily featured in this year’s awards. Most notable among those would be Liquorice Pizza (one that most assuredly would make this list), The Card Counter, Belfast, and The Tragedy of Macbeth. I will likely see these and other Oscar nominees before the late March date of the Oscar ceremony. For now, however, the movies listed below are my favorite movies of 2021.

10. Candyman (Rated R, running time 1 hr. 31 min. Dir. Nia DaCosta. Writers: Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Nia DaCosta. Based on the 1992 screenplay “Candyman” by Bernard Rose and on the short story “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker. Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Coleman Domingo.)

Jordan Peele continues his appropriation of the horror genre to tell scary stories of black life in America. Using a source franchise that was already bent toward a black urban setting with a story that originally took place in Chicago’s notorious Cabrini Green neighborhood, Jordan and his co-writers tell a story of gentrification in which his heroes are just as culpable as the white land developers who bought up the land around the crime ridden area to transform it into the illusion of safety it represents today. 

Director Nia DaCosta’s stylish handling of the material keeps the audience unsettled from the start with a visually disturbing opening credits sequence that contains no violence. She also recalls the events of the original film with expanded backstory using another unsettling technique involving shadow puppetry. She takes queues from Peele’s directing success by keeping the more traditional horror elements subtle and less sensationalized–a scene in a high school bathroom stands out with the amount of visceral horror it delivers without ever showing much violence to the audience.

9. Spencer (Rated R. Running time 1 hr. 57 min. Dir. Pablo Larraín. Writer: Steven Knight. Starring: Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins.)

Pablo Larraín’s Spencer imagines the biopic as horror movie. Considering its subject, that seems fitting enough. Larraín’s previous biopic, Jackie, was an impressionistic examination of Jackie Kennedy’s “Camelot” in the days following her husband’s assassination. Similarly, Spencer looks at a Royal Christmas following the revelation that Prince Charles has started a relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. Focusing on Princess Diana’s rebelion of attempted independence, Spencer shows the horrors of realizing that there is no independence to be had in a situation that is controlled by thousands of years of tradition. 

Spencer is not a document of how the events depicted played out in the press. It is a much more personal examination of Diana’s struggle to define who she is in the midst of a family that has no interest in letting her be an individual in any manner. With a haunting score by Jonny Greenwood, Diana sees the ghost of Anne Boleyn and even questions her own sanity in a remarkable performance by Kristen Stewart. Only her children anchor her to any reality that can be interpreted as normal, amplifying her tragedy by playing on the knowledge of what we know is to come for Diana and her children after that.

8. In the Heights (Rated PG-13. Running time: 2hrs. 23. Dir. Jon M Chu. Writers: Quiara Alegría Hudes, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Based on the stage musical by Miranda. Starring: Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera.)

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights is such a celebration of joy that it’s nearly impossible to dislike it. Oh there are some people who can disparage that notion just for the sake of it, and yet it seems if those who wanted to dislike it were truly pushed up against it, it would envelop them and they would be forced to succumb to its positivity. Or perhaps that’s just what it did to me. Whatever the truth of that matter, I cannot deny that this movie made me feel better than any other this year.

In this homage to the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights, director Jon M. Chu doesn’t shy away from its musical flights of fancy, creating a world in which gravity doesn’t always exist and a summer pool party becomes a modern version of a Busby Berkeley musical number. With wonderful performances by its surprisingly fresh-faced cast, it’s easy to see that Miranda’s inspiration meant a great deal to him and had a profound impact on his formation as an artist. Between this, Hamilton, and his Disney music contributions, it’s safe to say that Miranda promises to bring joy into the lives of his audiences for many projects to come.

7. The Power Of the Dog (Rated R. Running time: 2 hrs. 6 min. Director/writer Jane Campion. Based on the book by Thomas Savage. Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jesse Plemons.)

Upon my initial screening of this movie, I–like many–wasn’t as taken by it as the critical lauding suggested I might be. It seemed like a good character study of a man those around him find impossible through his bullying and forceful nature. However, upon reflection the movie began to grow on me as Cumberbatch’s and Plemons’s nuanced performances of two opposite brothers came clearer into focus for me. It’s easy to think they don’t have any connection or understanding of each other, when I suspect the opposite is the truth they don’t speak of.

Kirsten Dunst is the woman who gets caught up in the middle of their mostly passive rivalry, into which she also brings an awkward teenaged son, played deceptively by Kodi Smit-McPhee. You may not see the turn of events coming in this movie–which distracts where it can–but even if you do, its performances and study of human behavior offer incredibly satisfying insights and revelations. Give it the time it deserves to have its impact.

6. Pig (Rated R. Running time 1 hr. 32 min. Dir. Michael Sarnoski. Writers: Vanessa Block & Michael Sarnoski. Starring: Nicolas Cage and Alex Wolff.)

There are actors, and there is Nicolas Cage. Cage is like that sibling or cousin that everyone seems to have where when someone mentions his name, your first thought is, “Now, what’s he’s done?” There are a lot of wiffs with Cage’s big swings, but sometimes there’s one that flies out of the park. Pig is a performance that soars so far out of the park, I can’t believe more people aren’t talking about it.

One reason that may be is because it’s a little difficult to talk about Pig without ruining it. That’s not because you don’t want to ruin the big twist, although you certainly could say there are many twists in this fairly unusual story. It’s more like you don’t want to spoil an amazing soufflé by trying to describe it with insufficient words. I can say that Cage plays a truffle hunter whose pig is stolen. The amount of dialog he speaks would make many of Clint Eastwood’s less talkative characters look chatty. His search for his pig opens a great many wounds for the stoic man, and not all of them are his. Alex Wolff also puts in a poignant performance as Cage’s buyer.

5. The Rescue (Rated PG. Running time: 1 hr. 47 min. Dir. Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Featuring: Vern Unsworth, Rick Stanton, John Volanthen.)

In 2018, a team of juvenile soccer players went into a cave with their coach in Northern Thailand and became trapped when early monsoon flood waters cut them off from the exit of the cave. The Rescue documents the rescue efforts spearheaded by amature cave divers because professional cave divers don’t really exist, With an amazing amount of on site footage, the filmmakers document the efforts from the point of no plans to a last ditch effort that had a high chance of resulting in death for one or all of the juveniles. 

I remember this story quite vividly from when it was distributed through news stories throughout television sets in the morning and evening news slots. What this documentary reveals beyond the bravery of the men involved with the rescue efforts is the rather limited capacity with which televised news can disseminate information to the public. There was so much about this story that I had no idea about. But even more than the detailed information conveyed by this documentary, the filmmakers succeed just as effectively in matching the events with emotional impact. Hollywood is currently working on a dramatized version of this story. It’s hard to imagine it will match the impact of this doc.

4. Nightmare Alley (Rated R. Running time: 2 hrs. 30 min. Dir. Guillermo del Toro. Writers: Guillermo del Toro, Kim Morgan. Based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham. Starring: Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchet, Richard Jenkins.)

Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley could be taught in storytelling classes and film classes as a perfection of the form. In fact, this movie is so perfectly executed, its twist ending might not come as a surprise to many since it’s really the only ending that could give satisfaction to all that came before it. It’s no surprise that del Toro is a master of style and mood, but rarely does he work with such traditional elements as those encompassed by a classic film noir grift. To see a master work in such a common form is to witness artistry at its finest.

Bradley Cooper makes for a perfect protagonist in a story such as this with his looks that make it believable–to the audience and the characters within the story–as someone who has things work out in his favor a little too easily. He also embodies a darkness at his core that helps drive his story forward in a way that you know it can’t hold together. The setting of a freak circus in the late 30s is a perfect playground for del Toro to draw the audience into the grift. It also allows him to draw some parallels with today and the shadow of WWII setting out of focus in the background.. Within the scope of focus, he never missteps even after leaving the confines of the carny life, emphasizing that the world of the rich is inhabited by much freakier characters.

3. The Green Knight (Rated R. Running time: 2 hrs. 10 min. Director/Writer David Lowery. Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Sean Harris, Joel Edgerton.)

A boy hiding a not so imaginary dragon friend, a woman unknowingly living with her deceased husband, and a knight embarking on an unwinnable quest. These are the subjects that fuel the imagination of filmmaker David Lowery. The latter of those three stories is his latest film, The Green Knight, a retelling of the Arthurian tale of the headstrong Sir Gawain and his challenge against the titular Green Knight. It is a tale of ghosts and thieves and strange offerings. It is like no other film I’ve seen before. It is a fantasy film that is deeper than most, one about the human soul more so that it is about conflict and resolution.

Dev Patel plays Gawain as a knight perhaps not so noble as we see them in legend, and yet he is more noble than the rest of the round table to accept the Green Knight’s challenge. The journey he takes is one of personal discovery. This–next to Nicolas Cage’s journey in Pig–may be the most personal story of all the films I’ve seen this year. That personal journey gives the film a claustrophobic feel, this sense that the viewer would wish to shield himself from the possible threats held within this fantasy world in which Gawain finds himself. There are giants that thankfully don’t get any closer to the action. The movie is about the value with which we live our lives. That is what ultimately determines the value of our lives.

 2. West Side Story (Rated PG-13. Running time: 2 hrs. 36 min. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Writer: Tony Kushner. Based on the stage play, book by Arthur Laurents. Music by Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez.)

It is a rare thing to be able to improve upon a cinematic classic. When Spielberg announced that he would be remaking the 1962 Academy Award Best Picture winner, I thought to myself, “Dude, what are you doing?” It was no secret that Spielberg had always wanted to direct a musical. Maybe don’t set yourself up for failure in doing it. Boy, was I wrong. Spielberg has been my favorite living director for my entire life. I should’ve had more faith.

My faltering faith aside, Spielberg has made a second masterpiece out of a masterpiece by infusing it not only with his signature spectacular visuals and lighting, but with a new found thematic of racially bent gentrification and reconciliation. He does this by subtly changing settings and dialog but staying within the Shakespearean framework and retaining all of the stunning music of Bernstein and Sondheim. Like Robert Wise’s original vision, color plays a vital role in Spielberg’s new vision, with costumes delineating sides, declaring moods and most importantly shifts in loyalty. This is the monumental filmmaking a director like Spielberg was made for. It is dramatic and bold, like the characters and emotions it embodies. This is movie magic.

1. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Rated PG-13. Running time: 1 hr. 58 min. Dir. Questlove. Featuring: Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, The Staple Singers, Gladys Knight & the Pips, B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone.)

It took me quite a while to decide what “my favorite movie of the year” was this year. There was no question that this was my favorite documentary, but as an overall film it’s more about the music than it is about the story it tells. It was when I actually said that out loud that I decided. Music is my other major passion in life and the music here is amazing. Much of this footage is rare in its depiction of some artists in a live format. Nina Simone is a force of nature. There’s early Stevie Wonder footage. It’s one of the few places to see The Staple Singers and many of the other gospel acts featured here live. It is a remarkable music document.

In realizing that I also realized that there most certainly is a story being told here, and director Questlove tells it well and never lets that telling eclipse the music itself. It is a story that needs to be told because it is a story about a story not being told. For 52 years, the only music story of 1969 was Woodstock. I’d never even heard of the Harlem Cultural Festival until this movie came around. It was filmed for television, but never aired. A half century later, people are finally starting to hear the black voices that were talking at that time. It was also a time of strife for this country and the black voice that wasn’t heard then still needs to be heard. All of that is in here with some amazing music heralding it. No soundtrack album was released for this movie upon its release last summer. An album was finally released a couple of weeks ago, and it sounds amazing, better than the movie. Questlove understands what he is shining the spotlight on, and he meticulously works to assure that its focus is sharp and not wasted. This is a document of something just as monumental as Woodstock and its voice is finally being heard on equal ground with that landmark music documentary.

I also very much enjoyed Barb & Star Go To Vista del Mar, Being the Ricardos, Don’t Look Up, Encanto, Fin, Free Guy, The French Dispatch, Halloween Kills, King Richard, The Last Duel, The Matrix Resurrections, The Mitchells vs the Machines, No Time To Die, A Quiet Place, part II, Raya and the Last Dragon, Respect, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Suicide Squad, Tina, Val, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.