Movies reviewed this week: Free Guy, To Die For, and Don’t Look Up.
12/20/2021: Free Guy (2021): **1/2
Visually really cool. Also satisfyingly in touch with the gaming industry. Otherwise, eh, Reynolds needs a bit more gravitas and it relies a bit too much on incongruous needle drops.
12/24/2021: To Die For (1995): ****
Media, the ouroboros creating the conditions for its own destruction! “You have to be willing to do things normal people wouldn’t do.” Even Wayne Knight’s Ed Grant winds up caring more about his “nice credit” than the murder.
Excellent acting all around. I also dug the Sunset Boulevard nod when it came time for her closeup.
12/24/2021: Don’t Look Up (2021): ***
Adam McKay is some kind of angry and he can’t modulate a damned thing in this movie but I can’t blame him. The last ten minutes or so before the credits are tremendously affecting, and it’s really those still sad moments I want in a disaster movie more than the satire, but… yeah, I still can’t blame him.
DiCaprio did really well with the noble human corrupted by fame. (Is that Sirota working out his issues? Probably not, the timing seems wrong.) Everyone else is really funny but mostly don’t hit the human notes. No, I lie, Melanie Lynskey manages it too, it’s just such a small part.
Be First to Comment