Monica, Roadhouse, Congo, Baby Reindeer, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

- Monica [2022] - 81
Monica is an excellently subtle and calm look at how to write meaningful inclusionary stories. Having left contact with her family sometime during her transition, Monica is thrust back into the center of things when her mother comes down with a terminal illness. Where most films of this ilk tend towards the dramatic and theatric, Monica takes a more serene and personal approach. We live in Monica’s world — one of “othering” and being misunderstood [intentionally or otherwise] — and we’re forced to simply sit with the things that she feels while experiencing truths that we don’t totally understand until context is slowly given to us through intelligent writing and humanistic storytelling. Certainly not a film for everyone, Monica is a great example of how to portray powerful and important experiences without exploiting those who have lived them.

- Roadhouse [1989] - 68
1989’s Roadhouse is the perfect example of “head empty, no thoughts” entertainment. If you think about this movie while you’re watching it, you’re both doing it wrong and going to have a bad time. Virtually nothing about this experience makes any sense… but it also doesn’t have to, because it’s so much fun. From inexplicable monster trucks, to nationally famous bouncers, Roadhouse is a film I’d have loved to experience as it was happening rather than 35-years later. I don’t often jive with these kinds of films [and I certainly have my gripes about it] but I had a genuinely good time watching its above average fights, extremely wacky plot, and very silly characters.

- Congo [1995] - -
What we call a “Cacciatore Classic” around these parts, Congo is a film my sister and I practically had on repeat as we grew up. Is it good? No. Is it fun? Kind of? Is it a faithful adaptation of the book? Not even close. But, look here, Congo still stands as a great amalgamation of both the ever popular 90’s creature-feature and disaster movie. If you’ve never seen it, I definitely recommend putting it on sometime just to experience how silly it is and, if you have seen it, I equally recommend reading the book it’s “based on”… because it is actually quite good.

- Baby Reindeer [2024] - 76
Difficult to criticize but far from perfect, 2024’s Netflix smash-hit Baby Reindeer tells a powerful and important narrative, wrapped up in student-film cinematography and first-draft worthy storytelling. This is a show that should have you on the edge of your seat with concern from almost start to finish, but instead has you often laughing at its comedy-style approach to the subject. Scenes where you should be bawling at the genuine vulnerability of the characters, instead leave you somnolent and wanting because of choppy editing and uninspired camerawork. It’s a weird mash of things that could [and should] have been great, but all just come out a little flat. Almost none of it is “bad” I suppose, but an equal almost none of it is inspiring or impressive either.

- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse [2018] - 91
Man, these movies really are simply excellent. I revisited this because neither my sister nor my partner had seen it, and I talk it up all the time. Spectacular animation, excellent [and rare] animated cinematography, great storytelling, and exhilarating action sequences set Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse comfortably among the all-time animated greats, and is one that the industry as a whole should look to for inspiration. I often bemoan animated films for not pushing the medium far enough — choosing to be animated simply for the sake of presentation and appeal to their intended audience. Both Spider-Verse films, however, do things with the medium that enhance and filigree their stories, characters, and atmospheres in ways that live-action simply wouldn’t be able to achieve. Both of these films are astonishing on their own, and groundbreaking within their genres.