Cocaine Bear (2023) - Movie Review

Elizabeth Banks’ last two directorial efforts (Pitch Perfect 2 and the latest Charlie’s Angels) were… alright. They had their strong feminist moments, and I’m thankful that the days of Movie 43 are far behind her at this point, but they weren’t necessarily the most memorable within their respective franchises. So when news hit that her next feature would be… well, a creature feature that looked destined to be a meme from the title alone, I wasn’t expecting much from it. But to be honest, this is the first time Banks has genuinely impressed me as a filmmaker, and the film itself is a whole lot of fun.

No Sudden Move (2021) - Movie Review

And now, for the other Steven Soderbergh feature from this year, and indeed my last proper review of 2021. After how far outside the margins he went with Let Them All Talk, I’ll admit to being somewhat relieved that we’re back in more familiar territory this time around. A crime drama set in mid-‘50s Detroit, it starts out as a small-scale hostage thriller, but ends up ballooning out into a much deeper conspiracy involving industrial espionage and (as is usually the case with Soderbergh) a look at capitalism’s lack of ethics.

Hubie Halloween (2020) - Movie Review

After Adam Sandler failed to get a nomination for his work on Uncut Gems (and it really speaks to the quality of that performance that it even qualified as a ‘snub’), he went viral with threats that he would go on to make, intentionally, the worst movie ever out of spite. With how much of a critical punching bag he remains to be, it’s quite easy to make jokes about how this is likely the first time he’s given warning for his latest film being terrible… but no. No, I’m not going that route. Instead, I’m going to point out how that kind of self-aware, not-really-taking-itself-seriously humour is actually a pretty good lead-up to yet another solid starring role.