J.L. Caraballo, Author at GeeksHaveGame

July 11, 2023

EVIL DEAD RISE [Film Review] – Mommy’s With The Maggots Now.

J.L. Caraballo
IG @captzaff007
Letterboxd @CaptZaff

Nearly forty years after Sam Raimi unleashed his classic, splat-tacular cabin-in-the-woods horror film, The Evil Dead, to an unsuspecting audience, director Lee Cronin steps behind the camera to resurrect the deadites and bring the skin-etched Necronomicon screaming into the 2020s. With a change in setting, an inversion of sorts in characters, a few legitimate surprises, and a wildly unexpected (yet no less welcome) amount of gore, Evil Dead Rises has not only become the highest-grossing Evil Dead film in the series, but has cemented the fact that these movies have plenty of bloody mileage left in them.

The film opens in very familiar territory: a couple, Teresa and Caleb (Mirabai Pease and Richard Crouchley, respectively) and Teresa’s cousin Jessica (Anna-Marie Thomas) are in a lakeside cabin in the woods, where Teresa finds her cousin, Jessica, looking, sounding, and acting like one of our good old familiar deadites of old. A bloody encounter amongst the three ensue, the opening credits roll, and then we a thrown a day into the past, some hundred miles away at a condemned Los Angeles apartment complex. We are introduced to Beth (Lilly Sullivan), out for a visit to her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), looking for some advice and convalescence after learning that she is pregnant. Ellie has three kids of her own; Danny (Morgan Davies) aspires to be a DJ and musician; Bridget (Gabrielle Ecchols), who’s overwhelming trait is that she is very much Gen-Z…Very Online, overwhelmingly progressive, and like any other Zoomer you’re bound to meet; and then there’s Kassie (Nell Fisher), the youngest of the three, who is more than excited to have Aunt Beth visit for a few days. A low-level earthquake makes short work of the happy reunion, as it cracks open the subbasement of the family’s apartment building, revealing a forgotten bank vault underneath the building. Within this vault is where Danny stumbles upon a very familiar, yet very familiar human-skin-bound book, brings it back to their apartment and…well…you can imagine what ensues.

Unlike 2013’s rather ill-advised remake, the brutality and violence in this film is not without its sense of humor. The deadites here are not without their morbid, pitch-black sense of taunting humor, the kind that know how to get under the skins of the characters. The use of household items and props as weapons is also not without its dark sense of fun; the appearance of an industrial woodchipper in the apartment building’s parking garage, for instance, is put to obvious use. And, refreshingly, the change in scenery — from a cabin in the woods, to a condemned apartment complex — is put to good use. Air ducts, elevators, record turntables, and bathtubs are all utilized in unique ways. Director/writer Lee Cronin also thankfully allows for a clear sense of geography: at no point is there any confusion in where characters are in relation to each other. A lot of the long takes early in the film, when Beth and Ellie are reconnecting, act just as much to orient the audience spatially, and to get a layout of the apartment as it does to introduce these characters.

This movie also goes to some places that I wish more modern horror movies had the gall and nerve to go: it puts children in direct danger, and doesn’t shy away from killing off some unsuspecting characters. I’m gonna get a bit spoilery here, but Evil Dead Rises is absolutely brutal with its treatment of Danny and Bridget. Refreshingly so, as often modern mainstream horror and thrillers tend to shy away from targeting such specific types of characters (when you see it, you’ll know what I mean). And I understand that there’s perhaps an awareness that targeting such characters might leave an unpleasant taste in audiences…but in showing just how brutal the deadites are this time around, I think it’s safe to say that’s the point. The Evil Dead theatrical series is a far cry away from Ash grafting a chainsaw to his hand, and has returned to straight, brutal, blood-soaked horror.

Cinematographer Dave Garbett and director Lee Cronin together set a perfect mood of dread and danger, and many of the Raimi-isms are spot on. Cue the industrial droning sound design; cue the POV shots; cue the maniacal laughter; cue the whip-pans. An attack in a hallway against Ellie’s neighbors is so effective and damn-near goofy I was half expecting Raimi’s name to crop up in the credits as a co- or guest director. The sound design was especially gratuitous…and even more fun since it was none other than Bruce Campbell himself who did foley work.

Gritty, gross, oozing, and not without a certain panache, Evil Dead Rises is already a welcome addition to my annual Halloween movie watching playlist, despite it having the single grossest omelet ever committed to screen. Oh, and my wife and I watched this at Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema, where food and drink is provided; at one point the woman sitting next to us visibly shook and was hiding her eyes behind her hands during the goriest set piece…only to turn and see me laughing my ass off and shoving tater tots into my mouth. Man, I love genre films sometimes.

4/5 creepy crawlies in my tummy

Evil Dead Rises is now available via streaming.

June 11, 2023

65 [Blu-Ray Review]: It Was Earth All Along!

“El Sacerdote” J.L. Caraballo Letterboxd @CaptZaff IG @captzaff007

Hoping to perhaps parlay his involvement in one of the biggest franchises of all time into leading man/action/sci-fi hero, Adam Driver‘s prehistoric sci-fi actioner 65 was a decent sci-fi film that unfortunately came and went in theaters perhaps before an audience could be rallied in support of it. I, for one, missed it in its initial run, realizing a bit too late that it had been released. Having received a copy of the blu-ray, however, this is a solid film that gets in, gets out, and doesn’t tend to stray too far outside the lines of its concept, which, admittedly, is pretty straightforward. For a mid-budget science fiction actioner, 65 manages to get in, get out, and not overstay its welcome, which makes it a great, fun film to watch at home. Being conceived by the writers of the equally high-concept A Quiet Place, 65</> uses its fair share of sound and silence to bring equally thrilling scenes to life.

Adam Driver stars as Mills, a cosmic courier with a sickly daughter who signs up for a 2-year gig ferrying a ship full of hibernating humans to a far off planet. He is awakened from his own cryogenic freezing to find his cargo vessel, the Zoic, is struck by several asteroids. Severely damaged, the ship crashes onto what, to Mills, is an alien planet, but which the audience comes to realize is actually Earth…some 65 million years in its past. Discovering a young survivor (Koa, played by Ariana Greenblatt) of the Zoic, together they must survive a legion of reptilian, prehistoric dinosaur threats to traverse a mountain, where the last remaining functioning escape pods has landed, and escape Earth before a meteor collides with the planet. Yes…THAT meteor.

As stated, the movie is pretty cut and dry. It had the feel and scope and wonky high concept that would not have been out of place in the early 2000s, when similar mid-budget sci-fi, high concept actioners were in vogue (looking at you, Reign Of Fire). And given that this is ostensibly a one-man show, Driver’s natural intensity and physicality actually works to his, and the film’s, advantage here. He is entirely believable as a grunt ferrying cargo around the cosmos, dealing with dangerous, physical odds. Writing/directing duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have a keen sense of pacing, as well, and their use of sound design does wonders to create an alien landscape that has just hints of the familiar on Earth (sounds design is actually one of the most effective elements in this film that ratchet up the tension, I wish there was a whole special feature on the sound design and audio mixing alone).

This blu-ray release is not without it special features, though. I’m a sucker for making-ofs and behind-the-scenes documentaries, and this blu-ray features more than the usual token fluff piece that some newer releases tend to offer. One of the more interesting was a feature detailing the final confrontation between Mills and a carnivorous dino that makes up the climax of the film; from pre-conceptualization to pre-visualization, the entire process is explained in detail, allowing for even the most lay of laypeople to appreciate the work that goes into the filmmaking process. For a cinephile like myself, features like these are worth price of owning physical media in this age of streaming. And as for a home release…the picture and sound quality is PHENOMENAL. I can’t compare to how the movie looked on the big screen in a theater, but at home. depending on what screen you have an whether it’s calibrated properly, this is a gorgeous transfer with an absolute crisp audio track.

Fast, breezy, no-frills, and with a concerted, committed performance by Adam Driver, 65 is slick enough to guarantee a fun night at home. Given that one of the producers is none other than Sam Raimi, it seems fairly obvious that this film would have such a strong understanding of how to build tension, and to use sound to enrich its world. This film fills the big-concept studio fare that has since been taken over by franchise, cross-media universes, and is refreshingly self-contained. My wife and I had a good time watching it at home, and this is a worthy addition of our late-night weekend viewing.

3.75/5 brontosaurus burgers

June 4, 2023June 22, 2023

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE [Review] – 42 Times The Charm.

“El Sacerdote” J.L. Caraballo Letterboxd @CaptZaff IG @captzaffoo7

My first words as the end credits to Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse rolled were a loud “Holy FUCK”. EVERYONE in the theater heard me. Including the children. I cannot stress enough how ingenious this movie is. It makes me both giddy and extremely angry how almost inhumanly incredible every single aspect of this movie is. EVERY single aspect of this movie simultaneously justifies the entire mediums of motion pictures, animation, and comic books.

I realize I’m a full paragraph into this review and I haven’t even described the movie the plot, or anything about it because I’m too busy trying to describe this giddy, tingly feeling…this vibrant emotion about practically seeing entire abstract concepts and philosophies brought to motion. The only other movie that elicited a similar feeling was the equally multiversal Everything Everywhere All At Once.

I’ll keep the plot details to a minimum: after encountering a multiverse traversing villain calling himself the Spot (Jason Schwartzman), Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), with the help of Spider-Gwen (a never better Hailee Steinfeild) learns of the existence of the Spider Society. Led by Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac, who is doing his part to enter every single franchise in existence), the Spider Society is comprised of dedicated Spider People from multiple different universes, who work to try to undo the emergence of anomalous villains and characters being randomly plucked from one universe and winding up in another.

As Morales learns more about the spider-verse, and the effect his universe-hopping has on all of reality, the more he realizes his uniqueness amongst his spider-people, and how that uniqueness endangers them all, and how the Spot plans to use Miles’ own vulnerabilities to destroy all of reality.

That’s all the plot I’m going to get into, because really there are such rich themes and subtle symbolism at play here that getting too into any of it will ruin the film. Suffice to say that every single element that worked in Into The Spider-Verse to make that film a visual spectacle is augmented and expanded in this sequel. And even though there appear literally thousands — if not millions — of Spider-people in this movie, for each that is given a line or introduction, they are made distinct, unique, and — at times — a completely individual animation style. Case in point: Hobie Brown (Daniel Kaluuya), AKA Spider-Punk, a character who is apt to become a major fan favorite both as a cosplay, and for fans in general.

Kaluuya doesn’t so much steal the show as much as he helps it break free, as a member of the Spider-Society who (paradoxically) hates conformity and predictability (a paradox that is often the source of some of the best jokes, as well as crucial plot points), but Spider-Punk’s animation is utterly unique and so fascinating I wish I could just play it on loop in my eyes: a pastiche of torn-up newspaper and magazine pages forming a miasma of body parts, each animated at different frame rates and different hand-drawn styles: chaos, animated. I’d never even thought to imagine anything like it.

An entire essay can be written on this film, but, tempting as it is to do so, I will refrain. The Spot works well as a villain, but even better as a stand-in for the entire Spider-Verse series: on first meeting him, he is silly and the butt of many of Miles’ (and the film’s) jokes, much as how this series (and animated films more broadly) are often written off as “not serious”. As the film progresses and the Spot becomes more focused, he’s reassessed as a serious threat, at the exact same time that the audience has come to fully realize that the Spider-Verse films are much more adept at covering many of the same multiverse themes as its live-action counterparts (looking at YOU, Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness). The Spot being reassessed as a serious threat mirrors how this film series’ entire reception is reassessed, and whether the Spider-Verse series should even be considered “real”, in regards to the MCU (and, boy howdy, does this movie answer THAT question, as well.

There are so many smaller, quieter moments that resonated for much subtler reasons as well. The first scene with Miles finds him with his parents, talking to a school counselor about college, and how he should play up his disadvantages for acceptance as a mixed-race student; when Miles objects and says he didn’t have a hard upbringing, and that he and his parents are doing alright, he’s talked down, basically being told “it doesn’t matter, it’s just a better sell”.

As a Latino myself, I had nearly that exact same conversation more than once during my high school senior days, when my own merits were pushed aside in order to play up whatever small inconveniences I might have dealt with. In that one scene, I knew EXACTLY what Miles was thinking. And feeling. And there’s something telling about a scene near the end of the second act, when Miles is trying to outrun literally thousands of white-ish Spider-People telling him “what’s for his own good” that the only characters who immediately try to help him are also non-white. Maybe I’m reading too much into it than I should, but damn if I don’t love this movie for making me think there WAS something more to read into it.

Movies in general CAN be this good, and comic book/superhero movies specifically, if they tried and stopped being so damn lazy. Just tell a good, solid story, and do it in a unique and interesting way and make us invest in the characters. Cartoons can do it…why can’t the live-action stuff?

See this as many times as you can. See it in a crowd, on the biggest, brightest screen possible. The last time I remember an audience applauding a movie at its end was opening night of Return Of The King…and that was twenty years ago.

I can’t possibly write enough about this film, and can’t possibly recommend it enough. See it on the biggest, brightest, loudest (but most assuredly best-sound-mixed…early dialogue scenes here are…WAY off) screen, with as many people as you possibly can. Movies being told like this are the entire reason that the medium of film was invented. Martin Scorsese, eat your heart out.

4.75/5 Chai teas in cup cups with milk milk

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is currently playing in theaters everywhere.

May 5, 2023May 9, 2023

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 3 [Review]: Hooked On A Feelings.

“El Sacerdote” J.L. Caraballo Twitter @captzaff007

I’m a sucker for animals. I donate to animal shelters and rescues, and have had a zoo’s worth of weird pets. At various points of my life, I’ve cohabited with a rabbit, a rat, a cat, a gecko, several parakeets, some Siamese fighting fish, rescued at least 2 wild birds in my childhood, have lived with at least 3 dogs (one of whom is a rescue), no less than 5 turtles, and a grumpy, late hedgehog. You want me to pay attention, shove an animal in my face, is the point.

James Gunn must have been following me around throughout my life, because Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 3 is chock full of animals, anthropomorphic and otherwise, and pulls at the heartstrings in a way that at first seemed natural, but, the more I think of it, feels more like a safe bet. Does that take away from this film, featuring probably my favorite group of the Marvel Studios’ characters? No. But, again, this film feels like an easy, safe bet.

Picking up some undetermined amount of time after Vol. 2, which had a post-credit stinger revealing that Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) had created the overpowered, under-matured Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) to go after the titular Guardians, following their absconding with their batteries, this film opens with Warlock attacking the group in their home base of Knowhere, where they’d settled in quietly. Warlock’s attack leaves Rocket (Sean Gunn/Bradley Cooper) gravely injured, and on the verge of death, but with the rest of the Guardians unable to render aide due to a built-in kill-switch that was installed during one of the many experiments that granted Rocket his sentience and intelligence, at the hands of the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a scientist obsessed with creating a universe of “perfect” organisms, and doesn’t care how many living beings he has to rip apart and rebuild to do so.

As all this is unfolding, the remaining members of the Guardians are dealing with their own growing pains, in particular Gamora (Zoe Saldana), who, being a past version of herself, lacks the emotional connections to her teammates; and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), who is drinking himself into a stupor since this version of Gamora no longer loves, knows, nor cares for him.

The stakes are a bit lower this time out: no real “We need to save the galaxy, guys!” stakes this time out, which is a bit refreshing. Lately Marvel’s output has been upping the stakes so much that it is becoming harder and harder to actually care about what happens to these characters. But even with that in mind, it’s hard to really feel anything for the High Evolutionary. Iwuji’s performance is a bit over-the-top and scene-chewing, and at times it makes sense, given how insane the High Evolutionary is; but the performance seems to cut against the grain of how cruel this movie can be towards some of the animal characters (keep in mind how I opened this review: I’m a sucker for animals and extremely uncomfortable with animal cruelty and actively do what I can to remedy that).

My main caveat is that the scenes of Rocket’s backstory — which delve into animal experimentation, and vivisection, and some body horror, of all things — cut against the grain of what this mini-franchise had built itself on, and, the more I think of it, played off as slightly manipulative. It’s easy to feel strong emotions when a test subject is a wide-eyed otter or rabbit…but change that animal to a monkfish or some other hideous-looking thing, and see if you can wring the same emotion out of your audience. What’s my point in this? Animal cruelty is an easy way to wring some tears out of your audience. And it’s very effective here…but still, a VERY easy target to hit.

The cast is about perfect as can be, as they’ve always been. Pratt’s performance feels a bit more desperate this time out, which was a bit surprising, since this is ostensibly Rocket’s show. Quill’s actions and reactions to the plot have the sense that he’s trying against everything to keep some semblance of normalcy, some sort of stability, desperate to just maintain what he has; it isn’t hard to imagine that he hasn’t slept for days, except for the times when he drinks himself into unconsciousness. And it works.

The High Evolutionary suffers from that most annoying Marvel Studios trope, but the one that has become so much more pronounced during this current Phase: the villains are evil because they’re the villains, and the plot just occurs because it needs to occur. There’s no real “story” being told here; it’s just continued installments leading to the Next Big Event, and, yes, that can be exciting, but if I can’t care about the stakes of the individuals, it’s not going to add up to anything much larger just because now every character is in the same movie.

(L-R): Will Poulter as Adam Warlock in Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Photo by Jessica Miglio. © 2022 MARVEL.

Prior to this, the only Marvel film this Phase that generated any amount of emotion was Spider-Man: No Way Home. The more I think of it, the more that film coasted by on nostalgia, and emotions of stories told that had absolutely nothing to do with the story being told at the moment. Here, it seems like the emotions being sold were genuine, but brought about by slightly manipulative means (which, again I must admit fucking worked like gangbusters).

James Gunn created another gonzo story in the weirdest corner of the Marvel Universe, the one that remains my favorite (how much so? Guardians Of The Galaxy is the only franchise of which I own physical copies…along with my steelbook of the first Iron Man). Once again, he has an impressive ear for what to include in his soundtracks (who the fuck thought Florence & the Machine would feature in a major film made by someone who cut his teeth working for the studio that made fucking Poultrygeist?!), and composer John Murphy amends one of the few modern superhero film soundtracks whose main theme I can actually recognize and hum to myself.

This is the last time we’ll see the current incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy together, but hopefully not the last time well see them individually. But if this is the end of the road, it’s been worth the trip.

3.75/5 Nebulas opening the fucking door!

-J.L. Caraballo

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing in theaters everywhere.

March 24, 2023July 11, 2023

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 [Review] – Burning Down The House.

“El Sacerdote” J.L. Caraballo Letterboxd @captzaff007

This past week had found me introducing my wife to the indelible, cool, violent, hilarious, and almost orgasmically stylish world of John Wick, starting from scratch to the lead up to the special dress-up party screening of John Wick: Chapter 4 at the Alamo Drafthouse down in Brooklyn’s Albee Square. Director Chad Stahelski returns to the series that started the journey into hilariously creative ultraviolence, along with star Keanu Reeves, who hasn’t lost a single step along the way…even if John Wick himself has lost a finger.

Following up on the events of the third film, John and Winston (Ian McShane) find themselves once again on the run, and with few trustworthy allies. We get a few familiar faces along the way, including The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne, who seems to be enjoying every millisecond in the role), and Charon (the late Lance Reddick, who wound up getting the loudest, longest applause of the entire film…and also a dedication during the preshow).

John might have just uncovered a way out from under the crosshairs of the High Table, but before he gains his freedom, he has to survive a gauntlet of bounty hunters and fellow colorful assassins sent to sic him by the Grand Marquis (Bill Skarsgård). Globetrotting and expansive vistas ensue, as do incredibly well-staged fights in locations that offer nearly every possible weapon imaginable.

Stahelski and cinematographer Dan Laustsen can shoot the shit out of action scenes. One of the best bits of Laustsen’s tenure with the Wick series was the raid of the Bowery King’s lair back in Parabellum: the rich shadows hiding black-garbed assassins who pop out of nowhere and disappear back as if they were never there. In Chapter 4, most of the film is set in the same sort of darkened night world; even a neon-blazed nightclub run by Scott Adkins‘ Killa is lush in darkness — the neon acts more like a means to suck all available light out of the scene than to illuminate it, and it works to great effect.

As surprising as Scott Adkins is in this film (his appearance is…a choice, I’ll say that much), the absolute scene stealer is Donnie Yen as Caine. While just short of giving the protracted, multi-level fight between Wick and the Shinobi Twins (Yayan Ruhian, and Cecep Arif Rahman) that led into the fight with Zero (Mark Dacascos) in Parabellum a run for its money, what Caine lacks in an instantly iconic yet single clash is longevity. He and Wick cross paths multiple times, and never once does it feel like a rehash. This series — and this film, specifically — remains home to some of the most creative action set pieces in modern filmmaking.

What these films bring is a sense of fun through all the violence: all the characters know exactly what sort of movie they’re in, know exactly how outrageous their entire existence and universe is, and it is actually refreshing that while the inciting incident to this entire series of films is love (the taking away of it, to be more specific — and love not just of a person, but of places, things, objects, and purpose, to be even MORE specific, So don’t @ me), there isn’t a romantic subplot or any of that shit to bog down the film, or to make any of them feel perfunctory. And anyone who suggests that the lack of romance is a hindrance to ladies enjoying these films clearly has not met my wife, nor have they attended this screening: it was as close to a 50/50 split difference in guys to ladies in the screening.

These are movies that know what they are (silly action fantasies), know what they do (be as creatively, professionally violent as possible), and do it well (gorgeous people, costumes, and locales? Clear, shot composition and camera movements edited in a way that is exciting, energetic, and fucking easy for an audience to follow and know just where characters are in relation to each other).

Like the main character himself, these films probably the best of the bunch of modern action films, and endlessly creative. At nearly 3 hours long, Chapter 4 never loses its nerve, its energy, nor its focus. If only there were three more hours of footage to go.

The Alamo screening hosted a costume contest beforehand to judge best-dressed audience member (there were an INSANE number of well-dressed people.) Almost 20 contestants went on stage. The winner?

The woman who dressed as Wick’s dead dog. Stay beautiful, geeks.

5/5 Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat back tattoos.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is now playing in theaters.

December 24, 2022January 7, 2023

THE GEEEEK AWARDS [Best Geek Films of 2022] – Everyone, Everywhere!

1. Everything Everywhere All At Once – You’ve read my review. This is one of (if not the) the most creative, expressive, genuine, and heartfelt movies of the entire year. A welcome return to the screen for Ke Huy Quan, and a showcase for Michelle Yeoh that uses and pushes nearly every single one of her strengths. I never thought I’d bawl my eyes out for a rock tumbling over a cliff, but here I am. – 4.5/5

2. Top Gun: Maverick – This sumbitch has no right to be so slickly made and heart-pounding, and an exercise in building tension and projecting adrenaline onscreen. Utilizing ever single trick of filmmaking to build suspense, and making absolute full use of IMAX shooting (not just in the cameras, but in knowing why using such large format shooting is beneficial), the sequel 36 years in the making should not have been as successful as it is. And yet…here I am. “Maverick…needs…Top Gun.” I’m not crying. Shut up! – 4.25/5

3. Nope – Vastly superior to Us, Nope manages to broaden writer/director Jordan Peele‘s abilities and skills as a storyteller, at once adhering to — and subversing — the alien invasion trope. His use (or lack) of sound in key scenes shows the importance of sound design, and how sometimes hearing is scarier than seeing. I’ll never listen to “Sunglasses At Night” the same ever again. – 4.25/5

4. The Batman – The only superhero comic-based movie I willingly paid to see in a theater more than once. Matt Reeves somehow makes Batman more interesting than many of his recent iterations, and creates a Gotham that is at once frighteningly real, and a character in and of itself. Robert Pattinson — this generation’s second most interesting actor — knocks it farther out the park than I thought he could. And finally, Michael Giacchino brings back something these movies have been sorely missing: an amazing, thematic, epic, memorable score. – 4/5

5. Barbarian – I almost didn’t put this down here, but the more I think of it, the more I love it. A movie that is purely made for an audience viewing, where the reactions of fellow filmgoers actually builds the tension up more than a home viewing can ever do. A movie that goes in so many directions, you need a map. – 3.75/5

Honorable Mentions: Black Panther Wakanda Forever; RRR, The Northman, The Innocents, Glass Onion, X, Crimes Of The Future, Hatching, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Turning Red.

-J.L. Caraballo

1. Possessor – “Takes a simple hitman concept and adds a sci-fi body horror twist to it. The film is an unraveling of the mind that vigorously rips its on-screen characters from reality layer by layer. Brandon Cronenberg has created a vividly surreal horror film that titillates as often as it terrifies.” – 5/5

Full review: https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/10/02/possessor-review-a-worm-in-the-brain/

2. Soul – “Has meaning and purpose in its message. It leaves the viewer contemplating their own life, what their beliefs are, and what in their life is equivalent to jazz for Joe. Soul is an inspirational, laugh out loud funny, and purely joyous piece of entertainment for all ages that spans beyond our existential plane.

It’s the rare type of meaningful and heartfelt film, animated or otherwise, that sparks creativity and emotion in its audience that leaves audiences feeling more alive than before they watched the film.” – 4.5/5

Full review: https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/12/21/soul-review-the-art-of-jazzing-through-life/

3. The Wolf of Snow Hollow – The combination of comedy and horror is nothing new, but it doesn’t always work. Jim Cummings makes those two aspects gel so well that you kind of forget about people being mauled to death in the snow by a werewolf. This film has my favorite scene from any film in 2020 and it lasts all of three seconds.

After the werewolf rips off a female snowboarder’s arm, she attempts to crawl away while screaming in agony. The beast nearly stands up from a crouching position. It’s a wide angle shot, there’s the contrast of dark red blood with the bright white of the snow on the ground, and snow falls from the night sky as if it’s slowly crumbling away because this gruesome beast is so imposing. The Wolf of Snow Hollow is bloody, hilarious, mysterious, and it features the last performance of Robert Forster before his passing. – 4/5

Honorable Mentions: A Sun, World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime, Promising Young Woman, Minari, Freaky, Wolfwalkers, The Painter and the Thief.

-Chris Sawin

If you ever hear anyone complain that “movies aren’t what they used to be” or that “only comic book movies dominate the theaters”, kindly tell them to shut up. While 2022 might have been, hopefully, the last year in the “shitty-year” trilogy, the movies we received this past year have been fantastic.

5. Nope – After I walked out of Nope, the first thing I thought was this was Alien mixed with Jaws and I mean that in the best possible way. Jordan Peele knows horror and he knows suspense. He knows when to have the audience let their guard down and once again, he knows how to cast. Having Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings trying to survive was as fantastic as their acting in this film. – 4.25/5

4: Top Gun: Maverick – If you had told me that the sequel to Top Gun was not only going to be amazing but also just slightly better than the original, I would have laughed in your face and walked away. But if the Mission: Impossible franchise taught us anything, it’s that you don’t bet against Tom Cruise. – 4.5/5

3. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent – This movie is just Nic Cage being as Nic Cage as humanly possible and oh what a sight it was to behold. He was the perfect person to make this film and honestly, I can’t think of a better pairing than him and Pedro Pascal and the loveable yet aloof drug dealer who just wanted to be loved. This actually had one of the best lines I’ve ever heard come from Cage’s mouth (and he’s had a few). “Well, I never viewed it as a career, only as work. And what’s wrong with that? I mean, in any other job, hard work is something to be hold…. Hello? It’s my job. I pay my bills. I feed my family. You’re annoying.” – 4.5/5

2. The Menu – Who would have thought that two writers from The Onion and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver were going to make a movie that kept you guessing the whole way through? The Menu is part adult Willy Wonka, part vengeance, and 100% satisfying from beginning to end. Ralph Finnes and Anna-Taylor Joy are amazing as they spar against one another in a cat and mouse that lets you savior it until the last scene fades to black. – 4.75/5

1. Everything Everywhere All At Once – There were two movies this year that dealt with the multiverse. One left you awe-inspired, and teary-eyed, making you re-evaluate your life and the other was Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. That isn’t to say that Marvel has lost its touch, but EEAAO is so moving with backs up its amazing fight scenes and spectacular writing with a phenomenal story. And yes, the story isn’t new, but it feels different. While the cast was superb, Michelle Yeoh deserves an Oscar for this one. – 5/5

Honorable mentions: Bullet Train, Wakanda Forever, X, Prey, Glass Onion, Vengeance, The Batman, Smile, Barbarian, Confess Fletch, Black Phone.