We may be halfway through February at this point, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to talk about the movies I saw last month: a good mix of epic classics that I hadn’t yet gotten around to watching as well as this year’s Oscar bait.

Killers of the Flower Moon

United States of America | 2023 | 206m | English, Sioux

Not gonna lie, that 3-hour, 26-minute runtime had me intimidated going in. But having taken a strategic pre-movie bathroom break, I had no problems sitting through the length of this film. Martin Scorsese tells the little-known, true story of the Osage Murders with all the proficiency and competence we’ve come to expect from a director with that many decades of experience. Lead actress Lily Gladstone in particular does a phenomenal job, often conveying her character’s complex emotions with facial expressions rather than dialogue. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character behaves in contradictory and baffling ways, and yet thanks to the excellent script and acting, it still comes across as believable. This is a great movie.

4/5

The Zone of Interest

United States of America, United Kingdom, Poland | 2023 | 105m | German, Polish, Yiddish

The Zone of Interest is an avant-garde meditation on the banality of evil. Let me put it another way: the fact that it’s boring is the point. On the surface, the plot is so simplistic that it seems unworthy of anyone’s time, but the real meat of the film is everything that isn’t shown on screen.

If I’m being honest, though, I think the movie makes its point within the first 5 minutes. Okay, if I’m being brutally honest, I think this movie could have conveyed the same message – equally as powerfully – as a painting. Just look at the poster and you’ve basically gotten the point.

Towards the end of the film, the perspective jumps forward to modern day and we see a group of real-life caretakers working among the same facilities in just as banal a manner as the actors from earlier. To me, that was the most interesting and provocative part of the movie. That, and when the screen turned red all of a sudden. If nothing I’ve written so far as made you interested in this movie, then feel free to skip it.

2/5

American Fiction

United States of America | 2023 | 117m | English

American Fiction tells the story of a black American writer whose high-concept works of literature bring him little success in a culture where the most successful books seem to be those about downtrodden minorities. So one day, out of frustration, he decides to pander to this audience by writing a novel called We’s Lives in Da Ghetto that leans into every ridiculous black stereotype imaginable. This, of course, ends up becoming the book that puts him on the map. White literary critics fawn over it, piling on the awards and accolades, bemusing the protagonist while he deals with his own personal conflicts at home.

The satirical half of this movie was the most entertaining and thought-provoking; the dramatic flip-side weighed it down. I didn’t find any of the characters in this movie to be likable – not the protagonist, who lies to and defrauds his colleagues without a second thought; not the protagonist’s brother, who cheats on his wife with a man; not a certain other abrasive character, whose sudden, inexplicable death elicited zero emotion from me; not the white literary critics, who are portrayed universally as elitist, clueless morons. I could go on. What baffles me is the discourse around this movie. Did you know this won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival this year? This won the People’s Choice Award? It’s also up for Best Picture at the Oscars. To shower such inordinate praise on this movie is to be guilty of the very phenomenon it criticizes. The premise is interesting but American Fiction just did not do it for me.

1/5

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

United Kingdom | 1975 | 91m | English

This month, my local Cineplex aired a “quote-along” version of the British comedy classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You know, just in case you forgot what the knights say. I was surprised by how much I remembered, even though I don’t think I’ve seen this movie since high school. Almost every other line of dialogue has become a time-weathered meme by this point. Go ahead and watch this if you somehow haven’t already, but if you missed that prime window of opportunity during adolescence, I can imagine you might not see the appeal.

3.5/5

White Men Can’t Jump

United States of America | 1992 | 115m | English

“It’s all about respect.” White Men Can’t Jump is a fantastic movie about two street hustlers played by Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, who team up to con unsuspecting street basketball players with their surprising skills. Everyone in the cast is perfect, the story is thoughtful, and I found a ton of enjoyment in how thoroughly 90s it all was.

4/5

Schindler’s List

United States of America | 1993 | 195m | English, Hebrew, German, Polish, Latin

Perhaps because I saw The Zone of Interest first, I decided it was time to finally watch the entirety of Steven Spielberg’s celebrated masterpiece about the Holocaust, to see how another director would handle that subject matter. For what it sets out to accomplish, Schindler’s List does so perfectly. I really can’t think of any shortcomings of this movie. Some scenes will stay seared in your mind for weeks after you watch it, for better or worse. The ending scene had me in tears; what a legacy this man left. Schindler’s List is narrative filmmaking at its most effective.

5/5

The Ten Commandments

United States of America | 1956 | 220m | English

Now this is a real movie’s movie, if that makes sense. Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments was the biggest, grandest cinematic production of its time. That passion and pizazz still shines through, decades later. This is a long movie, but I didn’t mind it. The acting, dialogue, set designs, and music are all great, and even the 50s special effects have a certain appeal to them. It’s a classic for a reason.

4/5

Kanaval

Canada | 2023 | 112m | French, Haitian Creole

Kanaval tells the story of a young boy who flees Haiti for Quebec with his mother in the 1970s, and constructs an imaginary friend to cope along the way. What I found interesting about this movie is that the whole thing is essentially told from a child’s perspective – down to the height of the camera, most of the time. Rayan Dieudonné, the child lead, does a great job in the role. The special effects are a little wonky, and there’s not much levity in the film, but if you’re in the mood for a dramatic, somber, and distinctly Canadian coming-of-age tale, Kanaval is alright.

2.5/5

Godzilla Minus One Minus Color

Japan | 2023 | 124m | Japanese

For months I had been hearing nothing but stellar reviews for the latest Godzilla movie, so when I saw that it was being re-released in theaters in black-and-white, I figured now was the time to go. Far be it from me to say where this ranks among the rest of the Godzilla filmography (since I haven’t seen many of them), but it sure seems to me like Minus One represents the pinnacle of Godzilla movies. By that I mean that I literally don’t know how they could have done a better job with the general “anthropomorphized nuke terrorizes Japan” premise.

In Godzilla Minus One, the focus is on the human characters, who struggle desperately to get by in the wake of the devastation of World War II. This movie actually reminded me quite a bit of Shadow of Fire in that regard. But in addition to the poignant human drama, the intricate visual effects and terrifying score elevate the film to unfamiliar heights for the kaiju genre. Importantly, Godzilla himself never wears out his welcome, so it always feels like an actual threat when he appears on the scene. Minus One tells a nuanced take on duty and sacrifice to one’s nation and family, and the Minus Color black-and-white edit only serves to make that story even more dramatic and memorable. I highly recommend it.

4/5

Napoleon

United States of America, United Kingdom | 2023 | 158m | English, French, Russian, German, Italian

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is an overly long, sprawling mess of a movie. I didn’t feel like I gained any particular insight into who Napoleon the man was, or even how French history played out, given several blatant, unapologetic inaccuracies. Partway through a long battle scene, I noticed that I felt zero tension of any sort. And I don’t know about anyone else, but the idea of a movie about Napoleon where everyone speaks English filled me with a sense of wrong that just never went away. Vanessa Kirby is the one saving grace of this movie. Maybe the reportedly 4-hour, 10-minute director’s cut will fix this film’s many flaws, but I’m not holding out hope.

1.5/5