Mike’s top movies of 2023

I didn’t see that many films last year, I watched more in the way of TV shows. Or if I did see films they were older ones from the ’90s, or just ones that didn’t come out last year. As a result this list is going to be pretty light. But let’s try.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3

Credit: Marvel Studios

I was a huge MCU fan a few years back. One of those people that was with them from the start, right up to the completion of the Infinity War saga. But like many, I lost my love Marvel films in recent years. That said, Guardians 3 really did feel like the end of an era, and perhaps a final goodbye to a number of characters we’ve loved for almost a decade (Guardians of the Galaxy came out in 2014). Moreover, this final film had an air of melancholy hanging over it, and was more heartbreaking than the last two (mostly due to Rocket’s backstory), but still felt like it sat nicely in the trilogy, making James Gunn’s Guardians possibly the best set of three films in the MCU.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Credit: Paramount Pictures and eOne

I admit, I didn’t have high expectations going into this one, although I’d heard good things and the early buzz was promising. I have to say, though, it was a lot of fun. Chris Pine (the best Chris) looked like he was having a grand old time playing a bard, the de facto leader of this ragtag group of adventurers. And the film felt it captured the spirit of D&D in a way I haven’t seen too often in live action. There’s a reasonable chance that we may get a sequel too. Pine wants to come back, so let’s hope.

The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan

Despite this film receiving glowing praise across the board I am yet to really see it make an appearance in the ‘top films of the year’ lists, in any publications. Which is a shame, because it deserves a place. There have been many adaptations of Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel, and I’ve liked a lot of them. The ’70s ones with Oliver Reed and Michael Yorke still hold up well, and the ’90s one with Keifer Sutherland and Rebecca de Mornay was a lot of fun. The 2011 steampunk version with Mads Mikkelsen does different things, and is worth a watch. And now we have this two-part French adaptation with a French cast, which may be the best yet. Considering we have Eva Green and Louis Garrel (reuniting them from The Dreamers in 2003, perhaps?), Vincent Cassel, and Romain Duris, you’d hope it would be good, and it doesn’t disappoint. The direction from Martin Bourboulon is superb, in both the quieter moments and the action sequences. The second part, Milady, is out now, and on my list.

John Wick: Chapter 4

This seems to be another fantastic film that has dropped off of a lot of best of the year lists, which is a huge oversight. I’d argue this may be the best John Wick out of the four we’ve had. The set design, music, fight choreography and general action sequences, are the best in the series. It also perhaps feels the funniest, too. If you don’t believe me, watch this nightclub scene where John faces off against Scott Adkins’ wonderfully named, Killa.

Barbie

Credit: Warner Bros

What can I say here? This film was probably the most written and talked about one last year. It had a huge cultural impact. Hats off to writer-director Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie for what they managed to achieve with this story, and the character of Barbie. A nod of appreciation should also go to musician, Billie Eilish. Her What Was I Made For? song not only elevated the emotional climax of the film, but helped Barbie and its themes live on in the cultural consciousness, and continue to resonate.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Credit: Sony Pictures

I am somewhat torn on this film. Yes, it’s amazing, and yes the animation went up another level from the first one (something many people, including myself, thought would be impossible), but I have reservations. The story didn’t connect with me in the same way the first one did. And Across The Spider-Verse was incredibly long (2hr 20m). This is something that annoyed me even more when I realised this wasn’t even a complete story, but just the first half. Beyond The Spider-Verse is the final part, potentially coming sometime this year, although who knows. So whilst I loved a lot about this film, the run time did mean I found it a bit of a slog to get through, I’m sad to say.

Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Credit: Paramount Pictures

Speaking of the first part of a two-part film that’s too long, here’s another one (2hr 36m). Fallout, for me, remains the high point of this series. And let’s face it, Tom Cruise ain’t getting any younger. One of the key selling points of this franchise is he does the stunts himself. Something that blows your mind when you realise he jumped off a cliff on a motorbike, then opened a parachute. And then did it a whole bunch more times to get the right take. To be honest, if he dies making these films it’s probably the way he would have wanted to go. For Dead Reckoning Part One Hayley Atwell joins the cast, and was a nice addition to the team, but other newcomer, Pom Klementieff, was underused. I’m interested to see Part Two of this story, but I don’t relish the increasingly lengthy run time that it’s no doubt going to have.

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Honourable mention….

Cocaine Bear

This shouldn’t really make it onto my best films of the year list, at all, but it was vaguely fun. And the concept was inspired. Not least because it was somewhat based on real life events. This film had its moments, but didn’t push the concept of a bear high on drugs as hard as it could have. Either from a horror point of view or a comedy one, or a comedic horror one, come to think of it.

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Ones on my ‘to watch’ list

Sadly, this list is pretty huge. I didn’t really find the time to see that many films last year. Here’s a few I plan to see, sometime:

Pearl
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
How To Have Sex
Oppenheimer
Killers Of The Flower Moon
Past Lives
Tar
Anatomy Of A Fall
Infinity Pool
Bottoms
Saltburn
Godzilla Minus One

They Cloned Tyrone (2023): weird but cool

I literally stumbled on this film the other day browsing the old streaming service. Looked it up, read good things, not least of all the fact that some were comparing it to Sorry To Bother You (2018), which was apt. And, well, to cut a long story short I jumped in and had an enjoyable time.

The story follows three characters: Fontaine (John Boyega), Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) and Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx). Fontaine is roughly at the centre of things. The film has been described as a sci-fi comedy mystery, which I suppose is on the money. Fontaine is a dealer in a run-down neighbourhood called the Glen. One night he goes to collect money from Slick Charles, but when he leaves he’s shot by another dealer. Yet he wakes up the next morning and goes to do exactly the same thing, with no memory of his death or the night.

Now you might think the first set of events was a dream sequence, but the way it’s shot and told it’s clear that it happened. Particularly when Slick Charles is more than surprised to see Fontaine again, alive at least. At this point Yo-Yo becomes more involved and the three of them start asking questions and try to find out just what the hell is going on in the Glen.

Without going too much into the plot, that’s the setup. Suffice to say that the three of them discover their world is, essentially, almost a giant experiment, in which they are the pawns, and in fact have been so their whole lives. It might be heavy stuff, but the more comedic tone helps keep us plugged into things. Plus the performances from the three leads are all superb. I’d almost say, never have I seen Jamie Foxx having quite so much fun. Boyega has more of the serious role to play, but does so convincingly. Parris is a delight. The only things I’d really seen her in before this was miniseries Wandavision (2021) and the film If Beale Street Could Talk (2018). Here she gets a lot more to do, and she’s incredibly funny. As Yo-Yo she’s sort of controlled chaos.

The manner in which the film is shot and directed by Juel Taylor is also done confidently. From what I understand, this was his film directorial debut, and it was quite the achievement. I also hugely appreciated this film clocks in at around 2 hours, which was refreshing. Before this, Juel had written the screenplay for Creed II (2018), and he co-wrote They Cloned Tyrone as well as directed. I’m keen to see what he does next, as he sounds like a rising star. All in all, though, this is an entertaining movie with wonderful performances. It’s well shot and told, and tackles some chunky themes (particularly towards its final third).

I give They Cloned Tyrone 4/5 stars.

John Wick Chapter 4: the best yet?

I like Keanu Reeves. I mean, most people do, I suppose. I hope I get to see him as John Constantine again, especially after Constantine (2005) was so well received and has built a bit of a cult following over the years. According to IMDb Constantine 2 is in production but we’ll see if it happens. It’s been a will-they-won’t-they thing for years now. I also greatly enjoyed his performance as Johnny Silverhand in the video game, Cyberpunk 2077, in 2020. He made Silverhand as a character so edgy, charismatic and interesting. Not quite a bad guy, but definitely a bit of a bastard. I’d say he played it perfectly, slightly reminding me of his performance in The Gift (2000). He’s also reprising the role in a game expansion, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. There’s a fascinating video on the psychology of Silverhand worth watching.

The reason I mention these roles is because it feels like a Keanu renaissance has been happening in recent years. A Keanussance, if you will. And thinking back, this probably began with John Wick in 2014. Keanu had never gone away as an actor, but you could argue, perhaps after Constantine in 2005 he was fading away a little, but John Wick brought him back with a vengeance.

After which he gave an unexpected but delightful performance as the nicely named Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4 (2019), and returned as Ted in Bill & Ted Face The Music (2020), which I quite liked, although critical reception was less glowing. He also reprised the role of Neo, his most famous character, in The Matrix Resurrections (2020). Whilst that film didn’t recapture the magic of the 1999 original, his quieter scenes with Trinity (Carrie Ann Moss) in a coffee shop were some of my favourite moments. Their chemistry was still there.

Which leads us onto John Wick. The first film came out seemingly out of nowhere at the time, setting a new standard for action movies. And it has kept that standard up across all four movies: we had the sequel (Chapter 2) in 2017, the third one (Parabellum) in 2019, and this final entry (Chapter 4) in 2023. According to Rotten Tomatoes they keep getting better, and I’m inclined to agree. Visually, this fourth and final entry looked fantastic. From Chapter 2 onwards this series hasn’t been shy in terms of giving up sumptuous sets to ogle whilst we watch our hero kill bad guys, yet Chapter 4 takes things up another level. I was a little taken aback by how beautiful this film looked.

Early on there’s a sequence in Osaka, Japan, which was not only stunning to look at, but confidently put together, and kept delighting me with the inventive ways they had characters face off against each other. For example, at one point John fights with nunchaku, a notoriously difficult weapon to master. From watching I’d say Keanu can legitimately use that weapon. Move over Tom Cruise, you’re not the only ageing star that does stuff for real.

Following that, perhaps at the film’s midpoint, there’s yet another jaw-droppingly beautiful sequence in a Berlin nightclub. Water cascades down walls and balconies as attractive Berliners dance to techno, all while John has a tidy scrap with an appropriately named crime boss called Killa (played superbly by martial artist and actor, Scott Adkins). I genuinely thought Adkins was giving Vincent D’Onofrio a run for his money as Kingpin in these scenes. He made a perfect and formidable foil for Reeves’ John Wick to overcome.

The film’s final section takes place across various locations in Paris: there’s one superb sequence at the Arc de Triomphe, where John must kill wave after wave of bad guys whilst dodging the increasingly fast and lethal traffic. The sequence gets more outlandish as it goes on, and it’s glorious. Another segment takes place in a run-down house, complete with a directorial flourish from director Chad Stahelski, where, as John fights bad guys moving from room to room, the camera goes above the action and looks down. It gives us an interesting perspective and isn’t something I’d seen before, at least not in action. It put me in mind of a similar thing Steven Spielberg did in Minority Report (2002), which might seem like high praise, but I do feel Stahelski has earned it across these films. He’s in his element.

Beautiful visuals and assured direction aside, another argument to put forward as to why this film is the best so far is the cast: Reeves is still credible and convincing as assassin John Wick, not only selling the physicality of the action, but also the toll it takes on his body. He’s no spring chicken and the realism (well, sort of) that they give us in terms of the balletic fight scenes is quite spectacular. I know I’ve mentioned Tom Cruise but it’s worth reinforcing this point: Reeves does just as much action as Cruise. Keanu is 58 and Tom is 61. But what Reeves does with the close quarters fighting, in my mind, is just as impressive and difficult as Cruise when he’s riding motorbikes off cliffs.

In terms of the rest of the cast, Scott Adkins I’ve mentioned, but I also really liked Donnie Yen as blind man Caine, a fellow High Table assassin like John Wick. The world weary way Yen plays his character (outside of the fight scenes) was most entertaining. I felt like he added a lot to the lore of this world of assassins. And of course, with the fight scenes, he was, and is, still one of the best to ever do it. And like Reeves and Cruise, I’d also like to point out that Yen is 60. What he does on screen, with that in mind, is truly staggering.

And after all this, I haven’t even mentioned the script. I think the writing and dialogue for this Chapter 4 is the best we’ve had yet. Hats off to Shay Hatten and Michael Finch for the work they put in on this screenplay. The film’s final moments (above) were quite beautiful and poetic, with a satisfying nod to Highlander (1986) via Clancy Brown, which I appreciated. With all that said, I’m glad this series ends with this film. Go out on a high, I say. Although there is a spin-off movie coming with Ana de Armas called Ballerina (2024), co-written by Emerald Fennell, who worked on the TV show Killing Eve, and wrote and directed the acclaimed film Promising Young Women (2019). Which bodes well. And I imagine we might expect a cameo or some kind of appearance from John Wick as he passes the baton. I can’t wait. Incidentally, that’d also reunite Keanu and Ana de Armas after Knock Knock (2015), but I digress.

John Wick: Chapter 4 gets 4.5/5 stars.

I’m knocking off half a star because it’s almost 3 hours long, and no action film should be that long. Otherwise, it was superb.

My favourite A24 movies

I’d like to qualify this post by saying I’ve not seen all the movies that this studio has put out. My favourites are based on what I have seen, which is enough to make a list. Also, A24 rarely misses as a studio and the quality of their films is generally high. Right, these choices are in no particular order, let’s go.

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Moonlight (2018)

Barry Jenkins has yet to top this as a director. It was a tender and moving film, fantastically shot with great performances.

Ex Machina (2014)

This still remains my favourite Alex Garland movie, and probably my favourite Alicia Vikander performance. A great study on what it means to be human.

X (2022)

This film first turned me on to the wonder that is Mia Goth. I don’t know what it is about her as an actor, but she’s kind of fascinating, and unorthodox.

Amy (2015)

Director Asif Kapadia knows his way around a documentary, I’ll give him that. He also did the excellent Senna (2010), about the F1 racing driver.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

This is one of those films I liked but won’t watch again. It’s too hectic and too intense. I loved the ‘laundry and taxes’ scene. If you know, you know.

Uncut Gems (2019)

Another great film which was too intense to watch again. This was Adam Sandler’s best performance, and Julia Fox (in her debut) was magnetic.

Locke (2013)

Tom Hardy driving home at night on the motorway, often on the phone. That’s it, that’s the film. And it was gripping and excellent.

Midsommar (2019)

Another film I will happily never watch again, once was enough. Florence Pugh was good, although I feel she may have needed therapy afterwards.

Swiss Army Man (2016)

To hell with Harry Potter, I want to see Daniel Radcliffe as a farting corpse. I assume that was the pitch for this film. Turned out to be genius.

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Ones that didn’t float my boat…

Don’t get me wrong, these films were decent enough. Either I didn’t connect with them on any real level, or I just found them to be… OK.

The Florida Project (2017) – this was nice, I suppose, albeit a little sad
Slow West (2015) – slow is right. Some Westerns do this, god it bores me
Under The Skin (2013) – I love Scarlett, but this just never clicked for me
While We’re Young (2014) – this was nice enough, but didn’t blow me away
A Most Violent Year (2014) – stylish, with two great leads, but felt ponderous
mid90s (2018) – I liked this film, but it was somewhat slight
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2018) – I just couldn’t get into this, sadly
White Noise (2022) – arch dialogue, had its moments but felt like a stage play
The Bling Ring (2013) – this was alright, but not that memorable
The Green Knight (2021) – beautiful to look at, but nothing really happened

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Ones I still want to see…

Lady Bird (2017) – Greta Gerwig’s best film has been on my list for ages
Eighth Grade (2018) – from writer-director Bo Burnham. Meant to be superb
Minari (2020) – apparently has an excellent performance from Steven Yeun
The Farewell (2019) – I hear good things about this one, directed by Lulu Wang
Aftersun (2022) – Paul Mescal continues to shine as an actor
First Cow (2019) – two travellers on the run with dreams of striking it rich
Val (2021) – Val Kilmer was a great actor. I’m curious to see this
Pearl (2022) – part two of Ti West’s horror trilogy, starring Mia Goth
Saint Maud (2019) – I’ve heard Morfydd Clark is incredibly good in this
The Last Black Man In San Francisco (2019) – a powerful and moving story
Good Time (2017) – distinctive crime drama with Robert Pattinson
Mississippi Grind (2015) – from the directing duo that did Captain Marvel
The Witch (2015) – early Anya Taylor-Joy directed by Robert Eggers
Hereditary (2018) – Ari Aster’s best work to date. I still need to catch it
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) – I hear this horror comedy is a delightful watch
High Life (2018) – director Claire Denis doing sci-fi, starring Robert Pattinson
American Honey (2016) – coming-of-age drama from director Andrea Arnold
Enemy (2013) – early Denis Villeneuve thriller with Jake Gyllenhaal
Men (2022) – Alex Garland’s latest work, starring Jessie Buckley
Beau Is Afraid (2023) – Ari Aster’s new movie, with Joaquin Phoenix

Barbie (2023): I am become Barbie, destroyer of worlds

As part of the Barbenheimer hype I mashed the above phrase together the other day. Now I doubt I was the first to do so, but I was pleased with myself nonetheless (hey, it was a slow day). And funnily enough, whilst watching Barbie in the cinema yesterday this phrase came back to me. Not because our protagonist Barbie (Margot Robbie) destroys worlds exactly, but something does change which unsettles her, and forces her to go on a journey to fix things. Hero’s journey and all that.

I’m slightly dancing around the plot beyond that as I don’t want to spoil anything. Suffice to say Barbie goes on a bit of an existential journey of discovery, one which draws in a mother, Gloria (America Ferrera), and her teenage daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), as well as Ken (Ryan Gosling) who, in many ways, finds his world view dramatically changes as well.

It’s funny, I consider this a millennial and above movie, yet many teenagers (and younger) will likely go see it, which is no bad thing, but the film deals with some distinctly adult themes which may, to some extent, go over their heads. If reaction on TikTok is any kind of barometer, this film is catching quite a few people off guard. Many cinemagoers have gone in expecting a silly movie about a child’s doll and instead got something which digs into themes and issues around motherhood and sacrifice, modern feminism, the patriarchy, male ego and fragility, consumerism, general sexism, existentialism and life purpose.

I expected no less from Greta Gerwig (as director and co-writer).

But if the film does what the filmmakers intended, it will make you laugh, then creep up on you with some tough truths which will likely make you cry. Then question your entire existence. Not bad for Barbie (oh, and Ken was there too).

I give Barbie 4.5/5 stars.

PS. Stay for the end credits. If the film has done its job the music at the end will hit you hard in the emotions.

Is Guy Ritchie a good director?

I recently watched his latest movie, Operation Fortune, and whilst it was fun and I had a reasonably good time, it didn’t entirely feel like a Guy Ritchie movie (Aubrey Plaza doing ASMR?). This had me asking myself, what is a Guy Ritchie movie nowadays? Perhaps a trip through his filmography might help:

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Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

This is still a superb film and holds up pretty well, I’d argue. It feels directed by someone who was keen and hungry.

I give Lock Stock 5/5 stars.

Snatch (2000)

Ritchie feels more accomplished and assured on this film. It’s arguably a slicker and better put together movie than his debut, his style fully realised by this point. Brad Pitt added star power, and Statham continued to grow as an actor under Guy’s direction.

Snatch also gets 5/5 stars.

Swept Away (2002)

Then, for his third movie, we have, er, Swept Away. A comedy-romance with an IMDb ranking of 3.6/10. It starred (his wife) Madonna and went straight to DVD after being panned by critics. Ritchie said he wanted to do an experimental movie, but I feel it was far too early in his career to be messing around with art-house projects.

I’ve not seen it, but from what I’ve read Swept Away sounds like a 2/5 film.

Revolver (2005)

Licking his wounds from Swept Away, Ritchie returned to what he knew best, tapping up his muse, Jason Statham, to give us Revolver. It was a reasonable solid affair, but not a patch on his first two films.

Revolver gets 3/5 stars.

RocknRolla (2008)

I feel like he got his mojo back or at least got into his stride as a director again here, improving on Revolver with gangster flick, RocknRolla. Strong cast too: Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Gerard Butler and Thandiwe Newton.

RocknRolla gets 3.5/5 stars.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

This film feels like a turning point for Guy as a director: perhaps it was the slight step away from the gangster genre and a move towards Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams worked well with Ritchie, too, and seemed to fit his style and tone.

Sherlock Holmes gets 4/5 stars.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (2011)

Ritchie enjoyed the Hollywood experience so much he returned with a sequel two years later. Jared Harris and Noomi Rapace joined the cast, and whilst both good additions, this movie didn’t have the impact the first did.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows gets 3.5/5 stars.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

I wonder if Ritchie took some time out after Sherlock. Perhaps he’d lost his way a little again. Whatever the reason, four years later he bounced back with this spy caper, striking gold with the trio of Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander. The chemistry these three had was electric. Sadly, Hammer turned out to be an abuser and cannibal so Hollywood ex-communicated him, and quite rightly so. For Cavill, this felt like his James Bond audition.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. gets 4/5 stars.

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (2017)

The trouble with Ritchie, a lot of the time, is consistency. For every hit he’d have a miss. His King Arthur movie had potential and all the component parts to be an exciting adventure, with the injection of Ritchie’s directorial swagger. Buried somewhere within is a bombastic medieval heist movie, with Charlie Hunnam’s Arthur leading a group of bad boys against an evil Jude Law in a castle fortress, yet it never came together.

King Arthur scrapes 3/5 stars.

Aladdin (2019)

Continuing to operate from the ‘always keep them guessing’ playbook, the next film Guy would direct was a live action Aladdin. How anyone saw Ritchie as the guy to direct this sort of film is beyond me, but it happened.

Aladdin gets 3/5 stars.

The Gentlemen (2019)

To balance out Aladdin, and just to ensure Ritchie didn’t forget where he came from, he directed British gangster flick, The Gentlemen the same year. With an IMDb ranking of 7.8/10 this might be the third highest rated movie of his career (after Lock, Stock and Snatch). Working with Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant felt like smart decisions. Charlie Hunnam also returned after King Arthur.

I give The Gentlemen 3.5/5 stars.

Wrath of Man (2021)

Tonally, this film feels a little different to anything else Ritchie has done. Perhaps more like one of those slow burn crime thrillers from the ’70s. In general, it was alright but didn’t blow me away. It did reunite Jason Statham with Ritchie, though, as it had been a few years since they worked together.

Wrath of Man gets 3/5 stars.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023)

Which brings us to Operation Fortune. Initially, I thought this was Ritchie doing Bond again, having another crack at it after The Man From U.N.C.L.E. But in fact this film feels more silly, and sits closer in tone to The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (2022). Aubrey Plaza and Josh Hartnett were smart casting, Statham felt like he was playing the same part from Spy (2015), and Hugh Grant almost stole the whole thing. As a genre, this might be Guy’s sweet spot.

Operation Fortune gets 3.5/5 stars.

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From the above it’s hard to say one way or another whether Ritchie is a great director or not. I think he’s good, and from time to time he’s great, but he can slip, quite often, into playing the same song. I think he’s finding his path in that respect, and his favourite genre in which to play: which I think is maybe spy-action-caper movies. Speaking of which…

Next up he’s co-written and is directing The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024), an action spy film which will star Henry Cavill, Eiza Gonzalez, Alan Ritchson and Henry Golding. Good cast. The film is based on a 2014 book, Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII, by Damien Lewis.

I think this film has potential to be one of his best. Time will tell.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023): still awake?

It’s with a heavy heart that I put the above title for this piece, because I’m a fan of Paul Rudd and his performance as Scott Lang, our hero. But if I’m honest, I struggled with Quantumania. I found it difficult to care about anything that was going on, or any of the characters. It felt like the films Thor: Ragnarok and Doctor Strange had a baby, but some sort of second rate baby that no one wanted to keep. I get that sounds harsh, but it’s how I feel.

To explain: our hero, Scott (aka, Ant-Man) has a nice life post-Thanos, he’s reading his memoirs to people and basically coasting. His daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) gets frustrated and begins messing around with quantum realm technology, then accidentally gets the whole family, that’s Scott, Cassie, Hank (Michael Douglas), Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Janet (Michelle Pfieffer), sucked into the quantum realm. There they encounter Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), a time-travelling scientist who can navigate the multiverse and seeks to conquer as many worlds as possible. This particular variant of Kang is trapped in the quantum realm, and plans to escape. It’s up to the Lang and Pym family to stop him (and also get back home). That’s the setup.

I suppose my whole issue with this film is that I found it hard to care about anything going on. Maybe it’s still part of the post-Thanos phase where you’ve had half the universe be wiped from existence; it leaves a bit of hangover in terms of stakes. The key is to ground things again. To go small. And going small is something Ant-Man should be great at. Yet Quantumania goes the other way, and goes big, in a weird way, with Scott Lang and co. having to save the entire quantum realm and all its inhabitants. The trouble is, the filmmakers are asking us to care about an entirely new line-up of characters we’ve never met. And you’re then jumping to what is final-film-of-a-trilogy territory, with giant stakes and a huge final battles. Nothing has been built up over time and thus we aren’t emotionally connected to any of it.

Add to this the fact that it felt like this entire film was CGI, on some vast green screen. It felt like watching a video game, but in the worst way possible.

Before this all sounds like complete doom there were some things I liked. Cory Stoll’s return (from the first movie) as Darren Cross aka M.O.D.O.K was a highlight, and fairly unexpected. Majors gave a compelling performance as Kang (although he’s now got issues with his personal life going on, issues which could impact other MCU movies).

Ultimately, there are some nice lines, moments and performances in this film, but the fact that it exists in the first place, and they approach they took to this story, means it was flawed from the get-go.

I give Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 3/5 stars.

Extraction 2 (2023): Tyler Rake is back. Now it’s personal!

Was it not personal in the first time? From what I recall it wasn’t, at least not in a direct sense. When the first film came out in 2020 the plot was fairly straightforward. Tyler Rake, our fantastically named Australian black ops mercenary, had to rescue an Indian drug lord’s kidnapped son. Cue firefights and car chases, and the giant 6’3 frame of Chris Hemsworth kicking bad guys left and right, up and down. Other than ‘rescue the kid, kill the bad guys’ there wasn’t much in the way of plot going on, and even less in terms of character.

Happily, Extraction 2 is the same. I say happily, but to be honest I like a bit more of a story and a lot more character. But you know where you are with these films. Turn off your brain (almost entirely) and let Hemsworth loose.

Tyler Rake trying to get an ungrateful teenager out of prison

For this second film there’s slightly more incentive for Rake to almost get himself killed: he’s trying to rescue/extract his ex-wife’s sister’s family from their Georgian gangster father; who just so happens to be in a sketchy prison where he’s keeping his family more or less locked up because, you know, he’s not a nice guy. The first main action sequence involves Tyler breaking them out. It’s ambitious, and looks to be one take (or at least camera tricks to make us think so). We start in the prison then it becomes a car chase, complete with helicopters in pursuit. At this point it feels really like a long cut scene from a video game. I guess that was the idea.

Plot wise, once he gets the kid out Tyler and his team regroup in a building. Then get attacked again. Then there’s a final fight sequence in one other location. That’s it in terms of plot. There isn’t a lot to it, hence it’s not much of a spoiler to say. Those three locations are just placeholders upon which to hang the filmmakers’ insanely long action sequences. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they aren’t thrilling chunks of the movie, because they are – the gun fights are intense, and put me in mind of scenes from Heat (1995) and Smokin’ Aces (2006), particularly a brutal fight in an elevator from the latter film. That said, at 2hrs 3m it was a lot to take. I feel they could have shaved 20 minutes off and still kept the impact. But this is a minor criticism. One aspect of this film I liked was that Tyler’s team were much more involved this time round: siblings Nik (Golshifteh Farahani) and Yaz (Adam Bessa).

Nik and Yaz, taking a moment before killing more bad guys

In the first film they provided support in the film’s final sequence on the bridge, but this time round they were almost as much involved as Tyler; in terms of getting the family out of the prison and protecting them from the gangsters. Nik, in particular, had some cool fist and gun fights. (Apparently, they may even get a spin-off movie.)

Speaking of fights, another thing I like about these films, more so on this one than the first, is that scraps have consequences. People get knocked out and messed up to the point they can barely stand. I was going to say this feels real and authentic, but let’s face it, it’s only real in a movie sense. In real life, kick ass mercenaries or not, these lot would have died twenty times over based on the things they go through. I guess what I’m saying is that I appreciated the craft and detail that went into the action. Which you’d hope would be the case, given the director, Sam Hargrave, began as a stuntman and stunt coordinator, working on Marvel movies with the Russo brothers (Joe Russo wrote this one and the first film, as well as another recent action film, The Gray Man).

In some ways I think this film improved and built upon the first one. As long as you don’t expect much in the way of plot or character, and go into this film purely for action scene after action scene, you’ll likely enjoy it.

Looking at it that way, I give Extraction 2 4/5 stars (although I wouldn’t be mad if someone gave this three).

Nimona (2023): fun but bittersweet

For anyone that’s befriended/adopted a mad goblin in their life, this is the film for you. To explain: Nimona is an animated movie that was adapted from a science fantasy graphic novel by ND Stevenson (a non-binary and trans-masc cartoonist). Originally it was being produced by a studio owned by Disney but suffered delays and pushback, largely due to its queer characters and story beats. The studio (Blue Sky Studios) got shut down by Disney and the fear was this film wouldn’t see the light of day, but happily AnnaPurna Pictures picked it up, with Netflix distributing. (Disney showing that, once again, they’re too scared to back queer creators.)

The story is set in a retro-futurist fairytale kind of land, one where we have medieval knights in shiny armour who also have ray guns and advanced sci-fi tech. It’s quite cool, and slightly put me in mind of another animated film, Treasure Planet (2002), in terms of mashing a few influences together.

The story centres on a knight called Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), who ends up going on the run as a fugitive after he’s framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz), a shapeshifter who often takes the shape of a girl, befriends him at this point, wanting to be his evil sidekick. Although she reluctantly agrees to help him clear his name.

The beauty in this film largely lies in the interaction between Ballister and Nimona. He starts off as an upstanding knight, believing in certain ways and values. Nimona slowly but surely breaks those down, and gets him to see her as something other than a monster. He also begins to understand that maybe the precious realm to which he was previously so devoted, perhaps isn’t as virtuous as it claims to be. And it could be fair to say that the world isn’t as black and white as all that. Not every monster is a monster (something The Witcher books and games have taught us, the TV show less so).

I honestly found Nimona as a film quite delightful. It had one or two more tender moments that caught me a little off guard. And for anyone that’s into stories where a lead character is remotely different to the norm in society, this will ring true. For example, one flashback moment for Nimona where she’s in the forest changing shape, I thought was handled particularly well. There’s even a moment in the film’s final third where Nimona, after being pushed and pushed, finally becomes the thing everyone fears. The creature design for this climactic scene made me think of a video game called Sea Of Solitude, which dealt quite beautifully with grief, depression and mental health recovery. Despite that sounding dark as hell, I recommend that game.

One final point… in terms of stories with a stuffy protagonist paired with a somewhat wild and unhinged sidekick that has them see the world a little differently, Nimona goes well with two other animations I greatly enjoyed in recent times: The Sea Beast (2022) and Wolfwalkers (2020). If ever you’re looking for a triple bill movie day, you wouldn’t go far wrong with these films.

I give Nimona 4/5 stars.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3: a heartfelt goodbye

James Gunn is a weirdo. And I should know, I’m a weirdo. And it takes a weirdo to write about being a weirdo. And Rocket is a weirdo. This film opens with Rocket listening to Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ as he aimlessly wanders around Knowhere (the severed head of an ancient celestial that now operates as a mining colony and trading post and is home to space pirates, keep up). It’s a downbeat and melancholy start to the movie, but it tells us what we need to know: this final outing is Rocket’s story.

And as such, it’s one of the most heartfelt movies in the MCU. With a couple of the trailers I suspected it would go this way, although I hoped we’d still get some classic guardians fun, with the banter and bickering. That’s there, in a way. Although after one of the gang is gravely injured, the constant jabs between the characters feel more like them taking their frustration and concern out on each other as they try to save their friend. Because, at the end of the day, they’re family. Even more so than Vin Diesel’s lot in the Fast & Furious franchise (despite Vin being in this one too, as Groot, of course). And family binds this bunch of weirdo misfits together far more than any other group of characters in the MCU. I imagine it’s why, for many of us, it’s our favourite group of Marvel superheroes, myself included.

But all good things must come to an end, and an air of melancholy hangs over this movie. This is the last hurrah for a number of these actors (and their characters), and you can feel that as you watch events unfold. It’s clear, though, that James Gunn has a lot of love for these characters, and almost doesn’t want to say goodbye to them. But say goodbye, he must. And I think, by the film’s final moments, he lets them go in quite a beautiful way indeed.

I give Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3 4/5 stars.