The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

A lightweight Coen brothers presentation presented as a series of vignettes, of which most worked - the big-named ones with James Franco, Liam Neeson and Zoe Kazan dragged the most. Typically laced with black humour, the stories fell into a certain pattern which ended up diminishing the impact and/or the emotionality of the stories themselves. The Coens still had their wit with them and most of the cast capably handled the material, in particular Tim Blake Nelson, Tom Waits, Tyne Daly and Brendan Gleeson. This might have really worked better as an episodic series maybe in the vein of “Room 104”. Nonetheless, the film retained the usual standard and quality of the Coen brothers, think of it as a portmanteau of “Inside Llewyn Davis” with “No Country for Old Men” and “Fargo” set in “Westworld”.

The Favourite

A sumptuously filmed historical comedy-drama by Yergos Lanthimos that was witty, smart, and tremendously well acted with a fantastic ensemble cast. Co-led by three extraordinary actresses, Emma Stone, in her best performance to date, Rachel Weisz, who ruled the first third of the film with her clipped poise and polished cunnings, and lastly Olivia Colman in a truly tour de force performance that showcased an actor at her peak which demanded to be watched, learned and appreciated. Nicholas Hoult deserved special mention for his deliciously campy take as Lord Harley. The other scene stealers were the gorgeous costumes by Sandy Powell, the beautiful sets by production designer Fiona Crombie, and the stunning cinematography - all those candles and fisheyes - by Robbie Ryan. This was easily Lanthimos’ most accessible film, but at heart, it was still very much Lanthimos-ish, which, beyond the BAFTAs, might still make it a challenge for the Oscars. Regardless, it is definitely a shoo in for many nominations and hopefully a lock-in for Colman to win, who, unlike first timers like Lady Gaga and Yalitza Aparicio that were cast in roles almost made for them, really highlighted what it meant to be an actor and transformed oneself into a character (although a win for Aparicio would be great too). This film was enjoyable from start to end and a great way to spend 2 hours.

Roma

A simple story exquisitely told by Alfonso Cuarón that crept up on you until it entirely engulfed you in a complex cathartic emotional experience that only finally released you once the closing credits rolled. However, all of Cuarón’s artistry, gorgeous black and white cinematography and single-takes would not have elevated the film if not for the singular performance of Yalitza Aparicio. Aparicio gave a powerful, unvarnished, honest and affecting showcase that effortlessly carried the emotional weight of the film as we journeyed with her. It was simply astounding and breathtaking. Back to Cuarón, his direction in this film was brilliant. Technically superb but never to the detrimental story, instead his camera enhances the narrative and the emotionality of the scenes, and coupled with a gorgeous cinematography, this was easily a beautiful film to watch. In all, simply one of the BEST film of the year.

Velvet Buzzsaw

Although written and directed by Dan Gilroy, this was no Nightcrawler. A satirical horror-comedy about the art world that lacked bite and coherence. It should have either leaned into the camp or the horror or the intellectual wit, but instead Gilroy wavered between all three realms and ended up with a film that had something to say but only managed to just whisper it out.

The concept was great but there not really new; although at least it was set in an interesting subject field. The opening scene easily established the characters and the film's deceit, but it never lived up to its potential both in terms of plot and character development. Imagine Nocturnal Animals meet Scary Movie meet Thank You for Smoking

This was an ace cast with Jake Gyllenhaal re-teaming up with Gilroy and his performance bore some similarities to the haunted reporter from Nightcrawler. But unfortunately, other than a deliciously campy performance in the first act, he was never developed as a character...or even a caricature.

Rene Russo played the relatively straight character and again, like Gyllenhaal, she was just faintly outlined with no sense of purpose or agency.

Toni Collette was a hoot and she had great chemistry with Gyllenhaal. Although she was definitely way better in the fantastic Hereditary.

Zawe Ashton was a discovery. She has an engaging presence but this film may not have been the best showcase for her. Although it will likely open up doors for her, and it will be exciting to see what else she does.

Billy Magnussen, Daveed Diggs, John Malkovich, Natalie Dyer and Tom Sturridge also co-starred with each getting some focused screen time. Malkovich was a delight and Dyer, surprisingly, had the most interesting character-arc. Although, if Gilroy was trying to say something about her character, he was very subtle about it.

This was an entertaining-enough film that is suitable for Netflix-watching, i.e. at home and with distractions (Roma it ain't).

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

This sequel was a clear money-grabber that was created solely to bank on the success of the first one. It lacked originality and freshness. All the jokes were blatantly telegraphed and the entire plot was predictable and expected. The film lacked the kinetic, non-stop pacing that made the first film, and The Lego Batman Movie such great fun; and also missing was an emotional core that made the first film surprisingly touching. This actually managed to be a bore at times. Thankfully, we had Tiffany Haddish who stole the show with her incredible voice work and she got the best songs too! Her and Maya Rudolph were easily the highlights.

Plot-wise, Christopher Miller and Phil Lord's screenplay was decent enough. The film started off with a Mad Max-like setting that shifted gear to a sci-fi/alternate reality after the first act. The main concern was that their characters lacked any sort of development or growth beyond the perfunctory. Their journey was less exciting than figuring out how they were going to resolve the conflict.

In addition, after Miller and Lord's Into the Spider-verse, the bar for quality of animation has been raised, and this film really did not introduce anything new or exciting. And after a few entrants into the Lego-verse, fatigue may be settling in.

Christ Pratt and Elizabeth Banks reprised their roles with Banks doing more of the emotional lifting than Pratt dialing in his bro-voice.

Haddish and Will Arnett should have a show together. Their vocal chemistry was amazing, and Haddish simply owned this show.

The guest appearance by Rudolph, though brief, was legit funny.

It looks like The Lego Movie is heading more in the direction of Cars rather than Toy Story, and it may be time to leave it for the kids.

Alita: Battle Angel

A cyberpunk manga brought to the big screen with aplomb by Robert Rodriguez based on a script by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis and all their fingerprints were evident in the final product resulting in a final product that thematically and narratively felt recycled, but visually outstanding. From Rodriguez's directorial flair reminiscent of his last good work Sin City (incidentally also a graphic novel), Cameron's typical misogynistic, white male storytelling (no significant character of colour and a female lead - and other female characters too - that lacked her own agency and narratively driven/defined by her relationship to a male love interest...cue the eye rolling). and lastly, Kalogridis was just blatantly rehashing the world-building she did in Altered Carbon. 

Narratively, Alita presented nothing new, and unfortunately the quality of the writing did no favours to excite or engage the audience. Alita was an easy protagonist to root for, but neither Cameron or Kalogridis managed to find the soul within the cyborg. Whenever the story moved into emotional terrains, the film screeched to a stop and the film just fell flat. It did not help that all the characters were also just as flat and had no chemistry with each other.

At least Rodriguez gave us  great action sequences and fantastic special effects. Nothing less was expected from the creative minds of Rodriguez and Cameron. And again, like Aquaman, it just makes the anticipation of his Avatar sequels all the more expectant.

Rosa Salazar did a good job protraying Alita via motion capture, but she ain't no Andy Serkis. And her interactions with Christoph Waltz and Keean Johnson felt hollow. The chemistry between those two pairings, central to the story, just did not get through.

Waltz tried his best but, really, this was just another pay check for him

Ditto for Jennifer Connelly.

This film must have been to Mahershala Ali what Jupiter Ascending was to Eddie Redmayne.

(Come to think of it, Alita and Jupiter Ascending has quite a bit of similarity, although Rodriguez ain't no the Wachowskis...heh!).

The music was by Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL and although it sounded like him, it was not Mad Max: Fury Road, maybe more like a generic superhero action flick a la Deadpool or  Batman v Superman.

At 122 minutes, the film felt stretched with an ending that was obviously built for a sequel which may or may not materialise. And for that, it felt like a cheat.

Glass

Glass had an interesting concept with a fairly intelligent idea, and theoretically would have made a fascinating conclusion to this unexpected trilogy, except that M. Night Shayamalan is not really a good writer or a director. He has ideas - that is undisputed - but he is just unable to effectively direct and write a psychological thriller that relied heavily on four people talking in rooms.

And, mind you, this film was most closely related to a psychological thriller, and not a superhero, action flick - so do not expect to see any Michael Bay-esque or CGI-heavy sequences - which was both a bane and a boon to the film. It allowed Shayamalan to focus on story-telling but just not as effectively as it could have been.

James McAvoy remained the main draw for this franchise, reprising his magnetic turn from Split. Bruce Willis, on the other hand, did not appear to be as invested in his character any more, and simply walked through the film in a fixed, stoic glance. Then we had Samuel L. Jackson who really has been just collecting paychecks being Samuel L. Jackson, but at least here his maniacal glee was put into good use as a maniacal evil villain.

New franchise actor Sarah Paulson did not have much to do. Lots of exposition and talking but never did she appear to be anything more interesting than what she appeared. And this was true all the way to the end. She looked and felt like almost every other character she had played on American Horrot Story.

Returning actors Anya Taylor-Joy, Spencer Treat Clark (all grown up now and Werner von Strucker from the MCU), and Charlayne Woodard had precious little to do other than to anchor the three main characters. At least Taylor-Joy had more of a narrative purpose.

The film could have been tighter with a less indulgent second act. It could also afford to lose the epilogue. All that would have made the climax more intense and the ending more powerful. Shyamalan really just need to control and edit himself. His core audience are geeks, they are generally not too daft.