Movies, what’s new at the movies? It seems like my larger local theaters are devoting more screens to Indian and Asian films; that’s good, meet the needs of your demographic. Something called Terrifier 3 was also playing; I never saw a single commercial for it yet it was playing. Not playing: Juror #2 from 94-year-old director Clint Eastwood. Supposed to be pretty good, has a solid cast, might be Clint’s last movie ever, he’s been a hugely influential and popular movie star for many decades, but somebody at Warner Brothers thought, “nah, let’s dump it to streaming.” And of course more and more movies are being made exclusively for streaming. Maybe the all-important YOUNG PEOPLE don’t feel this way, but when I read that Happy Gilmore 2 will debut on Netflix, my gut reaction is, “Hmm, it must not be very good.” Like, they all would’ve tried harder if it was going to be a theatrical release. Sandler, Murphy, Seinfeld, all slumming on the subscription services.
Here are the best new releases that I saw in a theater last year. Annual caveats: I didn’t see everything I wanted to see, and you and I might like different movies and we’re both right.
10) Evil Does Not Exist The drama unfolds slowly and quietly in Ryûke Hamaguchi’s man vs. nature story. A Big Company has come to a rural Japanese village with plans to build a glamping site. Odd-job man Takumi and his fellow villagers are suspicious about the project. Ultimately this film is a meditation on nature and our feeble attempts to tame it.
9) Civil War Alex Garland, who stumbled just a bit with 2022’s Men after his opening triumphs Ex Machina and Annihilation, came back strong with Civil War. I was genuinely rattled by this all-too-plausible tale of a modern day U.S. civil war. Authoritarianism and racism are surely in play but Garland never tells us how things started or even which side is which. Instead we see events through a band of traveling journalists just trying to observe and report. The cast is superb, led by Kirsten Dunst as a veteran photojournalist. Her hubby Jesse Plemons kind of steals the show in a cameo; he’s terrifying as a hateful militant they encounter.
8) A Complete Unknown Filmmakers did Bob Dylan justice with their attention to period detail and wonderful cast. Possible Best Actor Timothée Chalamet captures Dylan’s evolution in four short yet pivotal years, from humble NYC newcomer, to the artist gaining confidence, to the star repulsed by his own fame who wants to carve his own path. Edward Norton is nearly as good as Dylan mentor/protector of the folk tradition Pete Seeger.
7) Megalopolis Francis Ford Coppola, the prototype uncompromising writer/director, leaves absolutely everything on the table in a film unlike any I’ve seen before. Megalopolis is a Roman epic set in modern times, Shakespearean tragedy and comedy, science-fiction tale, mafia saga, The Fountainhead, tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood, sweeping love story, and above all else, a satire — of politics, media, pop culture, the upper class, the 21st century U.S., and more. Not an easy watch, far from perfect, but entertaining throughout with an eventual big emotional payoff.
6) Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Seemingly reinvigorated by his Netflix Wednesday series, master of mirthful macabre Tim Burton delivered this belated but hugely satisfying sequel. He wisely plucks Wednesday herself, Jenna Ortega, to be the gloomy offspring of grown-up goth girl Winona Ryder. Catherine O’Hara is back too, as is — do I have to say his name? Three times? — Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice, having a blast with renewed manic comic energy. Just a super good silly time at the movies!
5) Will & Harper In this cross-country road trip documentary, Will Ferrell is our gentle guide for the questions many of us have about transgender life. Will’s longtime friend and comedy collaborator Harper is a recently transitioned woman who loves solo road trips, diners, dive bars, but wonders if she will still be welcome in these places in her new identity. Having Will Ferrell along certainly makes things easier, though they still encounter ugliness and hatred along the way. I teared up many times in what is also simply a story about true friendship, and how it can weather any challenge.
4) Problemista SNL and Los Espookys vet Julio Torres’ feature debut is loosely based on his own story, an immigrant trying to chase his creative dreams while overcoming the various indignities the system throws in his path. Despite Torres’ comedic magic realism pedigree, the movie is fairly straightforward, elevated by costar Tilda Swinton, a sweetness throughout, and a perfect final chapter that left me with happy tears in my eyes.
3) Small Things Like These A pitch-perfect adaptation of Claire Keegan’s wonderful novella. Cillian Murphy is tremendous as the family man and local coal man in a small Irish town who happens upon a “Magdalene laundry” where nuns are abusing the young women left to their care. The story’s central question: Confronted with such cruelty, can Murphy’s character stand to look the other way, and if he doesn’t, what will that mean for his work and his family? The exploration results in a low-key gem of a movie.
2) Dory Previn: On My Way to Where Co-directors Julia Greenberg and Diana Dilworth present the heretofore-unknown-to-me story of singer/songwriter Dory Previn. She first found fame cowriting tunes for big Hollywood films with hubby Andre Previn. Mia Farrow came between them, which sent already fragile Dory into a tailspin. What sets this excellent documentary apart from other rock docs about musical mad geniuses: Instead of letting mental illness cripple her, Previn “leans in” and reinvents herself, finding fame a second time. You can’t see the movie right now because they need to raise money to pay for the rights for the many TV clips and songs that add quite a lot to the overall story. I will gladly be contributing and will share any money-raising efforts, because this movie needs to be widely distributed and widely seen!
1) Kinds of Kindness Poor Things/The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos wrote a movie for the first time in 7 years, with his old buddy Efthimis Filippou. The happy (for me) result: His trademark extreme darkness and his particular twistedness were back in full force! We get three distinct stories with overlapping casts (Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, WIllem Dafoe) and overlapping themes — being cast into the wilderness (and how one responds), how far one person should follow or please another, and, um, “misplaced kindness.” It’s dark and cynical and really really funny, if you like that sort of thing. Definitely not a movie for everybody, but I loved it! A lot.
Honorable mentions: Alien: Romulus, Anora, Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story, Dune part two, Gladiator II, The First Omen, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Robot Dreams, Smile 2, Tuesday, The Wild Robot
Worst movie: Imaginary
New releases I saw in a theater this year: 35
My best-of lists from: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017/16, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009
You can check out all my movie reviews by clicking here.
Jack Silbert, curator