A Reel Preview - The Year in Film 2024: Episode II

The final month of Movie Siberia is a curious one; stacked with re-releases of past films along with the return of a few beloved filmmakers. Here’s what’s coming to the big screen for the month of February: 

 

 

 

ARGYLLE – Matthew Vaughn (STARDUST, KINGSMAN), returns with this spy comedy about a novelist (and her cat), who gets pulled into the real world of global espionage. The cast includes  Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, and Samuel L. Jackson. 

 

 

 

LISA FRANKENSTEIN – In this 80’s-set horror/comedy, a teenage goth girl re-animates a handsome corpse from the Victorian era. Its stars Kathryn Newton (ANT-MAN 3), and Carla Gugino. 

 

 

 

PIXAR’S TURNING RED – Pixar Animation studios is in the midst of releasing four of their films that never saw the big screen. Next up is TURNING RED; the story of a 13-year-old-girl who discovers a family secret. 

 

 

 

BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE – Kingsley Ben-Adir plays famed musician and peace-advocate Bob Marley in this biopic. It is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, who helmed the Oscar-winning KING RICHARD in 2021. 

 

 

 

MADAME WEB – Sony Pictures continues their mission to mangle the Marvel characters they own with this adaptation of the hero who can see future events coming. It stars Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney. 

 

 

 

DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS – Ethan Coen (one-half of the Coen Brothers), directs his first film on his own with this comedy about a road trip that goes badly. Margaret Qualley (ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD), stars with Matt Damon. 

 

 

 

TENET – Christopher Nolan’s time-bending film returns to IMAX for one week. 

 

 

 

LES MISERABLES (2012) – Tom Hooper’s Oscar-nominated take on the famous Broadway play gets a re-release, in celebration of the original show’s 40^th anniversary in 2025. 

 

 

 

DUNE (1984) 40^TH ANNIVERSARY – David Lynch’s take on the sci-fi classic also sees the big screen again, in celebration of the film’s 40^th anniversary this year. 

 

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Next month, Reel Speak previews the month of March. 

 

 

 

A Reel Opinion: Oscar Nominations - The Good, The Bad, & The Glorious

The 96^th Academy Award Nominations were announced this morning, honoring the best of the year that was 2023. Here’s how it all landed in The Good, The Bad, and The Glorious: 

 

 

 

THE GOOD

 

-A good presentation goes a long way. The nominees were presented by actress Zazie Beetz (JOKER), and Jack Quaid (son of Dennis). Both were pro’s and did well in a tight and breezy event. 

 

-As expected, the two films that have dominated the talk of cinema, OPPENHEIMER and BARBIE (or BARBENHEIMER), earned a boat-load of nominations. More on that in a bit, but as two of the highest grossing films of the year, it is refreshing to see two pop-culture hits earn some prestigious Academy love; an Academy that has been leaning towards stuffy drama for over 20 years. 

 

-Also earning multiple nominations were Martin Scorsese’s KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON with 10, Bradley Cooper’s MAESTRO with seven, and POOR THINGS with 11. BARBIE earned eight, including Best Picture. 

 

-Well-earned acting nominations include Robert Downey Jr. (OPPENHEIMER), Robert DeNiro (KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON), Emily Blunt (OPPENHEIMER), America Ferrera (BARBIE), and Carey Mulligan (MAESTRO). 

 

-Wes Anderson sneaks into the ballot for Best Live-Action Short Film: THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR. 

 

 

THE BAD

 

-The most watched category this year was Best Director. In a minor shock, Greta Gerwig did not get nominated for BARBIE…despite being a box office champion and multiple nominations across the board. 

-Along the same lines as Gerwig, other notable directors who didn't make the cut despite having their films nominated for Best Picture: Bradley Cooper (MAESTRO), and Alexander Payne (THE HOLDOVERS). 

 

-The magnificent GODZILLA MINUS ONE missing out on Best International Film. 

 

-Some oddball misses: No screenplay nomination for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, and no Best Visual Effects for OPPENHEIMER. 

 

 

THE GLORIOUS

 

-Despite Gerwig missing out on Best Director, she is now the first woman to have directed three Best Picture nominees: BARBIE, LITTLE WOMEN (2019), and LADY BIRD (2017). Also: this year women directors have three Best Picture nominees (BARBIE, ANATOMY OF A FALL, and PAST LIVES)…which is a record. 

 

-Lily Gladstone’s nomination for Best Supporting Actress in KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON makes her the first indigenous American to be nominated for acting. 

 

-John Williams, the greatest film composer of all time, earned his 54^th career nomination for INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY. 

 

-As expected, Christopher Nolan’s towering OPPENHEIMER lead the way with 13 nominations: taking a spot in every vital category from acting, directing, writing, editing, and most of the technical categories. The film has been in the conversation for Best Picture since day one, and the stage is set for it to end with a bang. 

 

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The 96^th Academy Awards are March 10^th. See all of the nominees HERE

A Reel Opinion: The Best & Worst Films of 2023

2023 is behind us, but we are now in the long wrap-up stage…with the Oscar nominations a week away and the overall Award Season handing out their prizes for the best of the year. And that brings us to Reel Speak’s Best and Worst of 2023. 

 

As always, the worst of the year is saying farewell and adieu to beloved actors, actresses, and filmmakers. In 2023 we lost Michael Gambon, Matthew Perry, Paul Reubens, Richard Roundtree, Cindy Williams, Raquel Welch, Tom Sizemore, Robert Blake, Ray Stevenson, Treat Williams, Alan Arkin, William Friedkin, Burt Young, Piper Laurie, Joss Ackland, Andre Braugher, Lee Sun-kyun, and Tom Wilkinson. 

 

Back on the screen, it was a turbulent year at the box office, as well-established franchises such as INDIANA JONES, Marvel, and DC Comics struggled to make bank. But it wasn’t just a demand for originality, as fresh films such as THE CREATOR and Disney’s WISH also struggled despite how good they were. Good films took it on the chin, but also taking it hard were the lousy ones: EXPEND4BLES, AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM, and SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS were the bottom of the toilet bowl. 

 

Despite the stinkers and bombs, the year still finished very strong, with great efforts from some of our best filmmakers and dazzling performances from some of our best actors and actresses. Here now are the Top 10 Best Films seen by Reel Speak in the year that was 2023. 

 

 

 

 

10. MAESTRO

 

Behind every great man there is an even greater woman, and that is the idea behind Bradley Cooper’s intimate biopic about the life of famed composer Leonard Bernstein. Cooper takes on the herculean task of writing, directing, and acting…and delivers on every front. Every shot is meticulously framed, and every nuance and tick from Bernstein is recreated in stunning detail. As good as Cooper is in front and behind the camera, he is matched equally by the always-great Carey Mulligan, who takes on another massive task in playing the woman who endured so much to get Bernstein into fame…and keep him there. 

 

 

 

 

9. ELEMENTAL 

 

Pixar Animation Studios gets away from the sequel business (for now), with this charming, opposites-attract love story using early American immigration as the backdrop. Funny and emotional, ELEMENTAL takes a way-out-there fantasy world inhabited by walking and talking elements of nature and gives it one of their best human stories. It cleverly uses history to tell a story that is very relevant today. 

 

 

 

8. THE CREATOR

 

Don’t let the weak box office be your guide because Gareth Edwards has created one hell of a film here. John David Washington (son of Denzel), leads the way as humanity fights for survival against a world-killing artificial intelligence. Breathtaking visuals, clever twists and turns, and some unexpected emotion makes this an excellent sci-fi flick. 

 

 

 

7. POOR THINGS

 

The old FRANKENSTEIN tale has been done to the grave, but not like this. Yorgos Lanthimos directs this twisted science fantasy about a regenerated woman (Emma Stone), who learns about life and love the hard way. Twisted and dreamy, POOR THINGS is packed with marvelous performances (Stone finds a few new gears here), and never lets up in messing with our minds. 

 

 

 

 

6. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART ONE

 

It seems that the last few MISSION IMPOSSIBLE films have us leaving the theatre saying, “that was the best one”, and DEAD RECKONING does the same. Tom Cruise reprises super-spy Ethan Hunt for the 7^th time since 1996, and powers his way across the world…doing his own breathtaking stunts in a film that thrills with nearly endless pulse-pounding action. The supporting cast of Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff match up with Cruise well, and director Christopher McQuarrie never lets off the gas in this thriller. 

 

 

 

5. BARBIE

 

The idea of making a movie about a toyline is not new, and Hollywood has done it to varying degrees of success and failure. With BARBIE, it is the former. Greta Gerwig directs and Margot Robbie stars in a tale that captures the impact the toyline has had on children for over 60 years, while boldly exploring women’s place in the world today. Visually stunning, funny, and sets a new standard for movies based on toys. 

 

 

 

4. THE HOLDOVERS

 

Alexander Payne has not made many movies so far, but every time he does the world needs to stop and listen. Paul Giamatti reunites with Payne for the first time since their successful collaboration with SIDEWAYS (2004), playing a strict teacher at a boarding school who gets stuck with a handful of students with nowhere to go on Christmas break. It’s a loose retelling of A Christmas Carol, which finds Giamatti and Payne exploring damaged human beings and how they can help each other. Emotional and funny, THE HOLDOVERS deserves a spot on everyone’s holiday watch-list. 

 

 

 

3. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON 

 

Martin Scorsese returned this year with this towering tale of murder and conspiracy in 1920’s Osage Nation, with white men marrying Native American woman for their coveted oil money…only for the wives to mysteriously die. Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, and an eye-opening Lily Gladstone lead the way in this colossal film that reveals a black spot in American history that should be studied and learned from. 

 

 

 

2. GODZILLA MINUS ONE

 

Speaking of colossal, it doesn’t get much bigger than Godzilla, and MINUS ONE stomps in as the best film in the series that started in 1954. Takashi Yamazaki directs this epic that takes place in post-WWII Japan, with a devasted country, scrapping for survival, suddenly having to deal with a rampaging monster. But it’s not all spectacle (which is amazing), as Yamazaki gives this GODZILLA flick a strong human element with characters looking for life again amongst post-war ruins. Huge in scale with a surprising amount of heart, GODZILLA MINUS ONE is This Blogger’s personal favorite of the year. 

 

 

 

1. OPPENHEIMER

 

Christopher Nolan delivers this epic biopic about the father of the atom bomb; its creation, impact, and time-altering consequences that can still be felt today. Nolan balances history with his trademark style of time-hopping, and lets this unfold with all of the mental conflict Oppenheimer dealt with in creating the bomb; it’s a race against time to beat the Nazi’s, but if he succeeds, he knows he may end the world in fire. It’s an internal struggle that lead-actor Cillian Murphy conveys in a single glance, and his ensemble cast of co-stars (Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh…for starters), all turn in career-best performances. It is a complicated story told with superior craftsmanship, and blows everything else away. 

 

 

 

 REEL SPEAK'S BEST FILMS OF 2023

1. OPPENHEIMER
2. GODZILLA MINUS ONE
3. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
4. THE HOLDOVERS
5. BARBIE
6. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
7. POOR THINGS
8. THE CREATOR
9. ELEMENTAL
10. MAESTRO

 

 

 

A Reel Opinion: The BARBIE Dust-Up

We are less than two weeks away from the 96^th Academy Award nominations, and there is already controversy surrounding one of the most popular films of the year, Greta Gerwig’s BARBIE. 

 

The fantasy/comedy film, which has finished as the highest grossing film of the year and (ahem), expected to earn several Oscar nominations, has been deemed by the Academy to compete in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, despite its campaigning to compete in Best Original. The classification has been met with social media outrage from fans of the film. 

 

Every awards voting group has its own rules for movies determining which category a screenplay falls into. BARBIE was likely considered for Adapted as its primary characters, Barbie and Ken…were based on pre-existing dolls, or characters, that have been around for over 60 years. Many films about pre-existing characters, such as previous Oscar nominees TOY STORY 3, BORAT 2, and BEFORE SUNSET were ultimately classified as Adapted Screenplay. The added wrinkle to this is: The Writers Guild of America (WGA), designated BARBIE as an original work for their upcoming awards. 

 

While it is true that BARBIE is an original story that was not based on any previous BARBIE short-film or cartoon, the roots of the film come from the toyline that has been around for decades. The term “adapted” simply means that the writers built upon specific pre-existing material. BARBIE is based on a copywritten entertainment product. Even if the story is new, without the existence of the toyline…there would be no BARBIE film. And after all, the film itself literally says “Based on Barbie by Mattel” in the opening credits. 

 

Most of the noise coming from socials seem to think that Best Adapted is a lesser category (not true at all, Best Picture winners come from this category all the time), and that it is disingenuous of the Academy to stick Barbie there. But maybe the real disingenuous move is coming from the campaign to get in the Original category…where it doesn’t have to compete with its year-long rival, OPPENHEIMER. When the nominations do come, BARBIE is going to land right where it belongs: a great story based on an old idea.

 

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The 96^th Academy Award Nominations will be announced January 23^rd. 

A Reel Preview: The Year in Film 2024 - Episode I

January begins the traditional trip to Movie Siberia; the annual two-month period where movies deemed not good enough for Summer fun are banished to die. This month brings a hodge-podge of action, animation, comedy, and horror. Here’s what’s coming to the big screen for the first month of 2024: 

 

 

MEMORY – Jessica Chastain plays a single mother who befriends a man who is suffering from dementia, played by Peter Sarsgaard, in this drama. It is directed by acclaimed director Michel Franco. 

 

 

 

NIGHT SWIM – A supernatural being haunts a backyard swimming pool in this horror flick. It stars Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt), and Kerry Condon. 

 

 

 

THE BEEKEEPER – In this shoot-em-up, Jason Statham plays an ex operative with deep secret connections who is pulled back into service. It stars Jeremy Irons, Josh Hutcherson, Minnie Driver, and Phylicia Rashad. It is directed by David Ayer (SUICIDE SQUAD, TRAINING DAY). 

 

 

THE BOOK OF CLARENCE – LaKeith Stanfield (HAUNTED MANSION), plays a down-on-his-luck man living in Jerusalem in 29 A.D. who tries to capitalize on the popularity of a young prophet, named Jesus. 

 

 

 

MEAN GIRLS – This teen comedy is another shot at the Broadway musical of the same name, which saw a 2004 film…only this time the music comes with it. 

 

 

 

SOUL – Pixar Animation Studios will be giving select films which went right to streaming during pandemic times to the big screen for the first time. SOUL, which won Oscars in 2020 for Best Animated Feature and Original Score, is the first one. 

 

 

 

THE END WE START FROM – In this survival film, a young mother and her baby try to get away from an ecological crisis that has flooded London. It stars Jodie Comer, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, and Katherine Waterston (daughter of Sam). 

 

 

 

I.S.S. – In this sci-fi thriller, American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts are ordered by their respective governments to take control of the International Space Station. Ariana DeBose stars. 

 

 

 

ORIGIN – Acclaimed director Ava DuVernay helms this biopic about the author of the equally-acclaimed novel Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, which looks at racism in America. The cast includes Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Blair Underwood, and Connie Nielsen. 

 

 

 

Next month, Reel Speak previews the month of February.