Netflix Originals (2018) #10
Hagiography, but obviously necessary.
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The Outsider 2018
Netflix Originals (2018) #9
For someone who usually tries to act the hardest he can, Leto appears totally satisfied to coast on a single vacant stare for the entirety of this performance. His character never emotes, rarely speaks, and communicates effectively nothing about himself throughout the too-long two-hour duration of this film. (My best guess is that he's trying for an Alain Delon-type of stoic protagonist, to absolutely zero success.) Honestly, it's a good match for a gaijin-made yakuza film…
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Irreplaceable You 2018
Netflix Originals (2018) #7
Instead of watching what I'm sure was a painful Oscars ceremony, I watched this. Honestly not sure which would have resulted in less viewing displeasure, but at least this wasn't 4+ hours long.
Like a tearjerker and rom-com were Frankenstein-ed together, with mismatching parts forcefully sewn into a lumbering, bizarre mess of of a film. Manages to maintain some emotional resonance despite itself, so I guess the simile works on that level as well. Messiness and…
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Annihilation 2018
Been a while since I wanted to rewatch a movie right after it ends. Consider the rating tentative. Shame about the whitewashing.
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The Polka King 2017
Netflix Original (2018) #6
Maybe it's the slew of bad movies that proceeded it, but I found this to be far more enjoyable than its reputation would suggest. Jack Black's performance is borderline offensive caricature, so your mileage may vary depending on how tolerable you find terrible Polish accents and broken English played for laughs, but the actor's natural charisma and exuberant nature make him a good fit for the part. Formulaic structure and plotting make this hard to recommend…
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The Ritual 2017
Netflix Original (2018) #5
Competently generic spooky-woods flick with some pagan-Norse mythology thrown in for good measure. Tense and atmospheric, but like most monster films it loses something once explanations are supplied. Still easily the best of these so far, but we'll see what the Polka King has to say about that.
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Mary and the Witch's Flower 2017
So simple, so pleasant to watch, so narratively and visually derivative.
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Wonder 2017
Decent enough for a time-killer before Star Wars (the allusions to padowans and Chewbacca were a strange but pleasant coincidence) and Chbosky manages to find some genuine grace notes for such a baldly manipulative feel-good flick.
(Interesting how we see almost everyone's parents except Justin's mom, though. Hm.)
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Justice League 2017
Deserves the "Most Improved" Hollywood franchise award (aside from Wonder Woman) for managing to tell a purely functional story that's at least semi-coherent. Also deserves "Most Boring," "Worst Characters," "Most Soulless," "Worst Villain," "Ugliest CGI," "Worst Writing," and special recognition for Henry Caville as the "Worst Superman of All Time." But at least it isn't the incomprehensible clusterfuck of a non-movie that is BvS.