March 31, 2023
Welcome to the first installment of my revamped look at the world of movies (and other things that interest me). As I mentioned in my 2023 film preview here, I’m changing the format of my blog to focus on a variety of topics in each post, and shift to a monthly cadence. A lot has happened in the industry since you last read my thoughts, so let’s jump right in with a look at Hollywood’s big night.
Every Award, Everywhere, All At Once
A few weeks ago, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences honored the film industry, bringing a close to the 2022 year in movies. While some people may think that the ceremony was “boring,” the powers that be were probably relieved after last year’s chaotic moment on stage. I actually thought the ceremony was pretty good – it is a network television program, after all. Jimmy Kimmel was great as a host, showcasing his comedic timing, and honoring some of the best films of the year in his monologue. I would have liked to see more movie stars in the audience. Tom Cruise bailed at the last minute. Denzel and Spike went to a Knicks game instead (not a joke). And there was no sign of Meryl, Leo, Julia, De Niro, Hanks, or Pacino. Maybe they were busy, or maybe they didn’t want to be there if it was another circus. Oh well, it was still pretty good and there weren’t too many bits that dragged the show on longer than necessary. It was still 3 ½ hours, but I don’t know how much more you could cut out without it feeling too rushed.
After last year’s disastrous decision to move some of the technical awards to a pre-show, and then edit the acceptance speeches into the main telecast, all of the awards were presented live this year. I can understand why some people don’t want to listen to the winner of Best Hair and Makeup or Best Animated Short Film, but I think it’s pretty cool to see all people involved in the making of a movie honored, as well as people who could turn their early Oscar win into a long career. For instance, four years ago, Domee Shi won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film and this year, her feature directorial debut (Turning Red, a very good Pixar movie) was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. And Martin McDonagh, who was nominated for writing and directing The Banshees of Inisherin this year, won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film almost twenty years ago. It’s pretty cool to think that one of this year’s winners could be a household name a few years from now.
As far as the awards go, I wasn’t overly excited or disappointed. Going into the ceremony, I resigned myself to the fact that my favorite films were probably not going to win anything, although I was thrilled to see Sarah Polley win for Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking. Everything else seemed to be, well….Everything Everywhere All at Once. The genre-bending sci-fi multiverse story of a middle-aged woman coping with keeping her family together while saving many worlds in the multiverse won in seven of the ten categories it was nominated. It became the first film since 1976’s Network to win three of the four acting awards, and the first movie ever to win five of the six top awards (Picture, Director, three acting spots, and Screenplay). It’s truly baffling to me how this happened, given that this kind of film has never been on the Oscar radar before. With the Academy’s efforts to get more international and younger in its demographic, films labeled as “Oscar-bait” may be finding the path to glory that is much harder to navigate compared to years past. Speaking of which, I find it stunning that The Fabelmans, TÁR, The Banshees of Inisherin, and Elvis (the kind of films that the Academy typically LOVES) won a combined ZERO Oscars. Other than Elvis, the other three movies were all among my ten favorites of 2022, so that aspect was kind of disappointing.
That being said, there were some feel-good winners this year. It’s hard not to root for the four acting winners, all veterans in the industry. Even if I wasn’t the biggest fan of Everything or The Whale (with Best Actor winner Brendan Fraser), I found all of the performances really good. And Fraser, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Ke Huy Quan all gave heartfelt speeches in winning their first Academy Awards. I do think that ten years down the road, we may wonder how Everything became an unstoppable juggernaut and other films were overlooked, but at the end of the day, the picture was a huge accomplishment, even if it wasn’t entirely for me. Ironically, I was fortunate to see Curtis and Yeoh on the big screen this last month, but not in Everything. Instead, I saw them in their breakout roles thanks to my local theater recently showing some classic films, which brings me to a quick tangent.
An Old Person’s Rant
I don’t wear a watch. Haven’t done so for years. If I want to know the time, I check my phone. So, naturally if I do that in a movie theater, it momentarily shines a light. But I’m not “on my phone” for an extended period of time in a theater, unless there is an urgent text message I need to respond to. So, I don’t care if I see a stray phone light up during a movie from someone doing the same thing. But some people just can’t help themselves.
A few weeks ago, I made the (in hindsight) ill-advised decision to see Cocaine Bear in the theater. I thought it would be a fun / campy movie, in the spirit of M3GAN. It was…..not. The whole movie centered on the premise of: “Don’t you get it? There’s a bear! And the bear did cocaine!! Can you believe it?!?!?” It just wasn’t funny enough for me, once you got beyond the premise. Anyway, for the first half of the movie, a guy a few seats away from me was on his phone texting the entire time. It was distracting, but I can see how someone can become a little bored during Cocaine Bear.
A few weeks later I was fortunate to be watching the original Halloween on the big screen (what a joy!), when I noticed a guy in front of me spending half the movie on his phone. Not responding to an urgent text. I’m talking about scrolling Instagram and websites. I mean, how can you disrespect Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Myers like that? I found it comical in one sense, but kind of sad in another sense. At least it wasn’t as bad as the person snoring during a movie I saw a few months ago. Yes, that actually happened (on two different occasions). That’s all for my old person’s rant – hopefully this won’t be a recurring topic.
The Beginning of the End
This past weekend saw the final season premiere of HBO’s Succession, which I consider to be the best show on television right now. The brilliant story of the Roy family who oversee a huge corporation, primarily in the media space, will come to an end after its fourth season concludes this year. On the one hand, I’m kind of sad to see it go because it features exceptional writing, perfect casting, and everything you’d want in a prestige television show. But, I can also appreciate creator Jesse Armstrong’s decision to wrap up the series after forty episodes. Much like Vince Gilligan did with Breaking Bad and Damon Lindelof did with The Leftovers, we’ll see Succession go out on top before it gets stale.
As the show was developing over the last three years, you started to wonder how many times the kids could try to topple their father’s empire and how they would manage to screw it up. Usually when series creators run out of new ideas, they come up with new characters or contrived plot devices to keep things going. As much as I’ll miss watching Succession after this year, I’m excited to see what Armstrong and this incredibly talented cast do next, and I also know that a series rewatch down the road would not be too burdensome of a time commitment. If you are not on the Succession bandwagon yet, I highly recommend it.
One other series to pour one out for – HBO also announced that the forthcoming season of Barry will be its last. Creator and star Bill Hader (who also writes and directs the show) will bring the crazy story of the assassin turned wannabe-actor to a close. This has been one of the funniest shows (albeit in the dark comedy category) that I have watched over the last ten years. More on Barry next month following its fourth season premiere on April 16th. HBO will have its hands full to replace two fantastic series, but if it’s one thing we know they excel at, it’s prestige television shows.
This Month’s Highlights (Movie Category)
As part of my 2023 movie preview, I noted that March would be coming in hot, and based on the results at the box office, we are off to a strong start for 2023. There were three movies I saw this month that I highly recommend, but your mileage may vary depending on your taste in film. First up is the newest installment in the Ghostface killer franchise, Scream VI. This time we are in New York City, with the survivors from the previous film having relocated to get away from the terror in Woodsboro. Naturally, a new killer emerges to chase down our protagonists, led by Jenna Ortega (reaching new levels of stardom thanks to her starring role in Netflix’s Wednesday). If you are a fan of the Scream movies, this is a worthy entry into the franchise, with good jump scares, some kills that seemed a little bloodier than previous Scream films, and fun meta commentary on horror films. I did have some questions about the realism of characters shaking off stab wounds so easily, but I guess that’s not something to worry about while watching a horror movie.
I was prepared to describe Creed III as the best film I’ve seen so far this year before a late entry knocked it from the top spot. That being said, Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut is very good. He returns as Adonis Creed, this time as the retired former champion turned businessman focused on his family. He is contacted by an old friend (Jonathan Majors, in an excellent performance) just out of prison who has his eyes set on becoming a champion boxer. It seems the old friends have a complicated past, including an incident which put Majors’ character in jail. Creed III features a tight story, outstanding training sequences (as usual), and boxing matches that Jordan said were inspired by anime films. So, there is a different feel to some of those scenes, but I liked them a lot. Another nice touch was the relationship that Creed has with his daughter, who suffers from the same hearing impairment as her mom, played by Tessa Thompson, who is excellent as always. One thing that you won’t see in Creed III is Sylvester Stallone. There is only a casual reference to Rocky, but he is not in the movie, and I think that’s ok. Jordan, Majors, and Thompson are such strong actors and the story is compelling enough that Creed III doesn’t suffer without Rocky in the picture. We’ll see where this storyline goes next. I’m sure they can come up with another sequel, and there is also talk of some spinoffs potentially coming from the studio that owns the franchise, Amazon’s MGM Studios.
I thought that Creed III would stay at the top of my favorite movie list for a while, but that changed a few weeks later when I saw the excellent (albeit too long) John Wick: Chapter 4. Keanu Reeves is back as the expert assassin who is running for his life following the events of the third film. This time, he is looking for a way to settle his debts with the High Table, the mysterious organization that oversees the crime syndicate with which he was associated. His actions at the beginning of the film set up an impending battle with a member of the High Table, played by Bill Skarsgård, in a wonderful performance. The plot is a little convoluted, but that’s not what is important here. What makes John Wick: Chapter 4 so fun are the incredible action sequences where Wick is defying death time and time again. The stunt work employed by director Chad Stahelski, Reeves, and his co-stars is amazing. There were many times during my viewing of this film where I kept asking myself, “How did they do that?” In a recent interview, Stahelski commented that it’s a shame that there is no Oscar for best stunt work. Let me tell you, between John Wick: Chapter 4 and the forthcoming new Mission: Impossible film, this needs to happen before next year’s ceremony. If you are a fan of the John Wick franchise, you will LOVE this movie. It is too long (2 hours and 45 minutes), but it doesn’t seem to drag that much. There are just a lot of fun action sequences. If you are not familiar with this franchise, be warned – it is VERY violent. It has a video game quality in the way that Wick dispenses with the killers that are after him, and the filmmaking was truly impressive.
The Other Highlight
Back in 1999, Bruce Springsteen announced a world tour that would be his first with the E Street Band in over a decade. At that point in my life, I hadn’t seen him in concert yet. Despite being a fan since junior high, I just never got around to seeing him in concert. The tour would start in Europe and after two months overseas, Springsteen and the band would tour all over the country for about a year. To say the tour was popular would be an understatement. It opened with fifteen sold-out shows in New Jersey, followed by five in Boston, and many multishow stops in major cities across the country, including six in Philly, four in LA – the list goes on and on. They wrapped up with ten sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, capping an incredible tour and ushering in the next phase of the band. The reunion revitalized Springsteen’s songwriting and touring energy and he has been working non-stop ever since. I’ll never forget talking to my wife about my excitement about buying tickets for that 1999 show in Boston. I rationalized the high-ticket prices by saying, “Look, they haven’t toured together in over a decade. This could be the last time they play together – you never know.” Little did I know that over twenty years later I would be heading to Boston once again to see my fifth Springsteen show.
In the fall of 2020, Springsteen released Letter to You (which I covered here), an album of new songs recorded with the full band in the studio. The theme of the lyrics on Letter to You centered on his appreciation for friendship and relationships that lasted decades, while recognizing that he is much closer to the end of his life than he was when he started his career. He wrote a song about being the last living member of his first band that he joined in the late 1960s. He dusted off a few songs that he wrote in the 1970s that he never recorded, and he recorded some newer tunes that work just as well. It is an excellent album that showed Springsteen still has strong songwriting skills to tap into when he is so inspired. When the album was released, there was talk of a world tour whenever the world health environment allowed it to occur. When I read the news, I texted my sisters two simple words: “We’re going.”
The tour kicked off in early February and last week was our turn to experience the joy of a brilliant group of musicians bringing their talents to an ecstatic crowd for close to three hours. Even though I read about the setlist and the energy of the earlier shows on the tour and heard some of the recordings, I was still amazed at how impressive they sounded. The original band members are all in their early 70s. My back is aching when I roll out of bed every morning, but these guys are killing it on stage three nights a week.
Springsteen prepared a well thought-out setlist that showcased themes of friendship, love, loss, and the growing reality of his own mortality. No Surrender opened the show, capturing the theme of young friendship, followed by Ghosts (from Letter to You) about his appreciation for his longtime band members, including saxophonist Clarence Clemons and organist Danny Federeci, who both passed away. He featured songs from his early years, his breakout album Born to Run, his monster hit album Born in the U.S.A., and some newer songs that fit the themes of the night. My highlight was Backstreets, my favorite song from his catalogue, about friendship and loss, from the Born to Run album. As expected, the encore was a party atmosphere featuring Dancing in the Dark, Rosalita and band introductions during 10th Avenue Freeze-Out. It was an exhausting night (in the best possible way), I’m thrilled that I could experience the show with my two sisters and my son, and I can’t wait to experience it all over again when I see the band again this summer at Gillette Stadium.
Coming Attractions
As I wrap up each month’s post, I’m going to provide you a sneak preview of what’s coming soon. There are two movies to mention here. The first is one that I saw back in October at the Philadelphia Film Festival, which is finally getting a wide release in April. How to Blow Up a Pipeline is an environmental heist film about a group of activists who plot to destroy an oil pipeline in Texas. The story was written in a way that moves back and forth between the day of their plot, and how the group met in the weeks and months leading up to the current day. Say what you will about the moral question of whether they should be planning this destruction, I found the film riveting in an Ocean’s Eleven kind of way, but without the jokes. This is definitely a thriller and I thought it was a lot of fun. How to Blow Up a Pipeline will open in limited theaters on April 7th, with a wider expansion later in the month.
The second movie to highlight on my list for April is Air, the inside story of how Nike signed Michael Jordan to his groundbreaking shoe contract. You may not think this would be an interesting story, but the film has received excellent reviews in early screenings, and the names at the top of the movie make this a no-brainer to see as soon as possible. Longtime friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon co-star, with Affleck directing the picture. Air looks like a feel-good story with a pretty deep cast, including Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, and Marlon Wayans. The film’s release is also a positive indicator of what we may be seeing in the movie industry, but more on that topic next month. Air will premiere in theaters on April 5th.
That’s all for this month’s report. I’ll be back next month with more highlights from the movie world. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe below.