movies that came out this year (most favorite to least favorite)
Anora
super funny, cute, and humanizing
La Chimera
this is the first movie i’ve seen from this director (Alice Rohrwacher), but she also directed some episodes of My Brilliant Friend (TV show adaptation of some of my favorite books, final season aired this year), and her sister Alba Rohrwacher is in this movie, in addition to playing Elena as an adult in MBF. La Chimera is kind of about running around and having fun with your friends (graverobbing), mourning the loss of a lover, and death as an escape.
The Substance
loved how stylized everything was, the outfits, colors, everything looked amazing & obviously love a feminist body horror movie about aging
Kneecap
wild, funny, and super interesting (and effective imo) approach to anti-authoritarianism in ireland by reclaiming the irish language through music
Nosferatu
actually scary and gross (complimentary)
Queer
still kind of processing this one, i felt like the first half of the movie dragged a bit but i really liked it overall. the dreamlike scenes were my favorite part, and i’ve been meaning to read william s bourroughs books for awhile so maybe i will bump them up on my list next year. you can feel the characters’ isolation and grasping for connection.
Challengers
wow…
Dune 2
i have an ex who was obsessed with these books and used to preach to me about the matriarchal society in them while exhibiting some ermmm very patriarchal behavior towards me. anyways it turned me off from ever reading dune but i did love the movies, and i don’t think he actually internalized the points dune makes about power dynamics in general, and in relationships. this seems like a classic dune take in which i get to say someone “doesn’t get it” and i do haha.
Heretic
Alien Romulus
loved the focus on regular working people fighting for survival in this universe, rather than being about engineers, scientists, etc. rook looked so stupid though.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
the most twee vampire movie i’ve ever seen (complimentary)
Longlegs
yes it was overhyped and not scary at all, but it was basically just a fun x-files episode (i laughed so hard at the part where she draws an upside down triangle on the numbers where it’s supposed to show some kind of connection to the occult)
Problemista
i love love love los espookys & julio torres absurdism here is super fun and playful
Maria
this lady seems like someone i would be grateful to receive insults from. Alba Rohrwacher is in this one too!
Love Lies Bleeding
it stressed me out too much
Maxxxine
still haven’t seen pearl but i’m thinking this is probably the worst of the three. i really liked X! and heard pearl wasn’t as good but yeah i need to watch it still.
Trap
#1 movie i wish i didn’t pay like $15 to see in the theater
Venom 3
listen i am a huge venom defender – the first movie was hilarious and GOOD. the second one was ok. this one was awful, and the best part was the venom horse and frog.
Civil War
i HATED this movie. i’m super disappointed by alex garland – i thought Men was basically “men bad” and this movie is basically “war bad”. i also don’t typically like war movies; i don’t need to see a movie about war to think that war is bad. some people think this movie was interesting because it focused on journalists and their role in war. i did not think that. it was cowardly for not discussing any of the actual politics that led to “a divided nation”. i think alex garland is capable of making movies that have interesting things to say about society, like Ex Machina, Annihilation, and DEVS. but his last two have sucked!!
Alex Powelson 