Let Them All Talk (2021) - Movie Review

While there are certainly filmmakers out there that I personally like more, I have difficulty thinking of a filmmaker who outright fascinates me as much as Steven Soderbergh. His prolific and endlessly flexible body of work, his revolutionary approach to the art form and the industry that dominates it, his consistent championing of low-budget independent filmmaking; I have all kinds of respect for the man as an artist. So I figured it would be fitting to close out my reviews for 2021 with a double-feature of the man’s most recent films, starting with this little curio of a feature.

Waves (2020) - Movie Review

Trey Edward Shults doesn’t do things small. His last film, the increasingly-relevant It Comes At Night, is one of the finest depictions of social isolation and paranoia of the entire 2010s, and that effect came about through a combination of lung-invading atmosphere and an uncanny eye for acting talent. And his latest is no different, pushing even further in visual ambition and emotional impact to make for one of the hardest hits of the year.

Honey Boy (2020) - Movie Review

Shia LaBeouf. Actor. Performance artist. Meme in human form. Multidisciplinary plagiarist. Jack of all trades, master of none, not even himself. The man I’ve been calling ‘Shia LaBullshitArtist’ for as long as this blog has existed, out of respect for Daniel Clowes, the Anomalies crew, and pretty much everyone else Shia has ripped off over the course of his career. Is it clear enough yet that I don’t exactly have the highest opinion of this guy as a creative?

Or, at least, I didn’t use to. Between his place as the lead actor in the earlier Michael Bay Transformers movies, the way Hollywood kept trying to push for him as the next big thing with little success, and how much he basically imploded over the course of the 2010’s, he’s pretty much secured his place as everyone’s favourite punching bag. But after seeing him in The Peanut Butter Falcon, in a performance so fucking resonant that articulating my gratitude resulted in some of my best critical work to date, I’m more willing than ever to give the guy his fair due. And once I get into the contents of his latest, hopefully you’ll see why.

Ben Is Back (2019) - Movie Review

Addiction is not an easy thing to get right, either on the big screen or in the real world. There are few things more disheartening than seeing someone in the midst of a chemical dependency, and one of them is having to go through such a thing for yourself. Portraying that kind of heartbreak, that desperation, that body-flooding pain is a difficult tightrope to walk from a narrative standpoint. 

Going too far in either direction could result in a disaffected wake-up call that only reminds audiences of how good they have it, or a glorified Very Special Episode that treats the matter far too simply to really connect. In the hands of writer/director Peter Hedges, whose last work was the aggressively forgettable Odd Life Of Timothy Green, we get a surprisingly effective walk straight down that tightrope with nary a wobble in sight.

Boy Erased (2018) - Movie Review

Gay conversion therapy is a tough thing to write about. Partly because it is an extremely harrowing subject that doesn’t lend itself to easy composition, but mainly because I don’t want this review to devolve into me just ranting about the practice. At any rate, it’s something that continues to be administered in far too much of the Western world, and it serves as the main focus of the latest from Australian cinematic titan Joel Edgerton. Adapted from the memoir of Garrard Conley, which goes into the horrifying things that take place within ex-gay therapy centres, Edgerton finds himself in prime form, delivering a story that seriously needed to be told.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: When the police fail to find the person responsible for the death of her daughter, Mildred (Frances McDormand) decides to take matters into her own hands. To draw attention back to the case, she rents three billboards just outside of town with a direct message for local sheriff Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). As the police start to feel the pressure, and the townsfolk give their own reactions to a member of the community being called out in this fashion, the town of Ebbing, Missouri is about to get turned upside-down.

Manchester By The Sea (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Lee (Casey Affleck), upon the death of his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler), has to help his grieving family with the funeral arrangements as well as taking care of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). As he struggles with his menial job and socially withdrawn existence, Lee connects with Patrick and begins to come to terms with his past and his distant relationship with everyone around him.