June 5 - June 11
BlackBerry, Hardcore Henry, Shiva Baby, Moloch, Breaking Bad: Season 1
- BlackBerry [2023] - 8.9
While BlackBerry doesn’t eschew my typical problems with biopics [the, “okay… but what really happened” question], it is an absolutely excellent film. While I’m sure that being adapted from the book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff helps, the screenplay, cinematography, and performances are absolutely top notch and this is one of my easier all-around recommendations on the year. Unless you cringe at characters using bad language, this is very entertaining, very smart, and very engaging start to finish, almost entirely regardless of taste.
- Hardcore Henry [2015] - 5.7
A novelty film that lives and dies by how entertained you are by the “all in one go, shot on a go pro” look. Hardcore Henry was probably very cool 8-years ago, but doesn’t really hold up in today’s action environment. It feels like the kind of film that was started as a 40-minute short that garnered some decent attention, then got turned into a feature-length film. It’s got some good moments, fewer great moments, and is mostly full of entirely mediocre ones, but it’s not awful; just boring and forgettable. Check out 2018’s Upgrade if you want the same vibe with much better filmmaking.
- Shiva Baby [2020] - 6.4
My general “blah”-ness towards this film may be a case of cultural ignorance. That said, I feel pretty “blah” about it. Shiva Baby is a film shot over the course of a wake and features the awkward situations our lead, Danielle, gets into as she runs into both past and present contacts whom she shouldn’t be running into. The film has some genuinely great moments, is well shot, and superbly well acted, it just doesn’t amount to much more than an “oh this is awkward and gossipy parents are terrible” gag by the end of its runtime. Granted, the last shot is entirely cute and sweet, it’s just not a journey that really validates its existence.
- Moloch [2022] - 8.6
Moloch is a Dutch folk-horror that stands up well within the genre despite it being a debut for director Nico van den Brink and a near debut for co-writer Daan Bakker. While I don’t think the film treads much new ground, it does treads it in such a way that feels genuine and culminates into an ending that is both satisfying and perfectly folk-camp. It’s a great, modern rendition of a classic story. There’s been a slew of witch-centered films in the last few years that are almost all fantastic and very smart and 2022’s Moloch is no exception to the trend.
- Breaking Bad: Season 1 [2008] - 7.8
'Breaking Bad' is one of those "must see" TV shows that people feel genuinely changed [or _should_ have changed] the face of the medium. I never got around to seeing it... so I'm doing that now. Season 1 is the shortest by half and is generally great. Though the more theatrical/ silly bits are more spectacle than spectacular, when the show slows down and institutes heavier drama it is truly excellent. I hope it retains more of that moving forward.
