Nosferatu (01.03.25)

 

The story behind 1922's Nosferatu is a fascinating one: as a clear rip-off of Dracula the film lost a lawsuit against Bram Stoker's estate back in the day and was almost wiped from existence as a result, but luckily some copies survived and it is now considered a cinematic classic in its own right. Like Count Orlok the film has proven hard to kill, with the original’s unlikely survival, a remake in 1979, and a remake in late 2024. This last one had a lot to live up to (and die down to?), but thanks to some stunning cinematography, exceptional performances, and a hauntingly beautiful score it is every bit as artistic and beautiful as its previous incarnations.

Vampires have always inexorably been linked with sexual metaphor, and 2024’s Nosferatu makes this much clearer than its predecessors by juxtaposing the blatantly sensual with the very, very gross. It can be an uncomfortable film in that way, but it never loses the beauty that results from some truly impressive filmmaking. The original was, of course, in black and white, and for some reason I expected this one to be as well. The reason for this became clear pretty quickly—there are moments where the 2024 version pays clever tribute to its predecessor by staging certain scenes entirely by moonlight, sapping the surroundings of warmth and giving the illusion of black and white filmmaking. Such interesting tricks give the film a haunting gothic quality that dominates even when color manages to leech in.

The performances in Nosferatu are not terribly subtle but they work. Bill Skarsgard plays the titular creature sublimely, and although it sometimes is a bit hard to understand what he is saying he nails the role just as much as he did Pennywise in the most recent It adaptation. The real star of the show is Lily-Rose Depp as the conflicted and haunted Ellen, a young newlywed tortured by tantalizing visions of Count Orlok. The broad nature of the acting, instead of being hammy, adds to Nosferatu’s feeling of epic tragedy.

The original film is sometimes given the subtitle A Symphony of Horror, and for this reason I paid particularly close attention to the music in the 2024 remake. The score by Robin Carolan is another impressive cog in the well-oiled gothic machine that is Nosferatu, never failing to enhance the horror, drama, and tragedy whenever it is called upon to do so. It is thrilling when all the pieces of a film come together so effortlessly, and Nosferatu is one beautiful puzzle.

The movie does feel a bit over-long in the final act, as if the characters and filmmakers sensed the end approaching and were determined to do everything in their power to procrastinate and prolong the inevitable conclusion to their pretty little gothic world, but this is a small complaint for a film that is destined to become a classic. It looks like, despite all odds, this old vampire has some life left in it yet.

Nosferatu is now playing in theaters.

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on January 3^rd, 2025. Visit at www.keizertimes.com

T.J.'s Top 10 Films of 2024

 

10. Alien: Romulus- a thrilling if unoriginal return to form for the Alien universe that proves that Xenomorphs can still be scary. 

 9. My Old Ass (Prime Video)- A pleasant coming-of-age tale with a charming hook, universal message, and bittersweet ending. 

8. Music By John Williams (Disney+)- John Williams finally gets the spotlight in a documentary that's more of a celebration than a revealing deep dive but is nonetheless highly satisfying. 

7. Nosferatu- Hauntingly beautiful and well-crafted, if a bit over-long and self-indulgent near the end (full review coming soon). 

6. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga- Although much slower paced than Mad Max: Fury Road (which happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time), this film is just as unhinged and almost as fun thanks to some rad performances from Anya-Taylor Joy and Chris Hemsworth and some cool action scenes. 

5. The Fall Guy- A love letter to the film industry that is fun from start to finish, everything in this movie works well, from the central mystery to the love story to the comedy. 

4. Deadpool & Wolverine- It mostly runs on fan service, but it's excellent fan service. Fulfills all of the promises of its premise and offers a great, irreverently fun time. There's no way they didn't have fun making this and it shows. 

3. Wicked- Colorful, full of life, and everything a film based on a musical needs to be. I loved it. 

2. Will & Harper (Netflix)- Beautiful and life-affirming, this feels like the most important film I watched this year. It is one that isn't afraid to get uncomfortable and tackle hard subjects, and it's funny and heartwarming to boot. 

1. Dune: Part Two- Big, big, big, and somehow even better than Part One, it is the perfect reminder that even though we live in a world of streaming the big screen will always have its place.  

Update (1/12/25): I watched a Norwegian film last night called Number 24 that was released on Netflix in the US on 1/1/25 but originally came out in Norway in 2024. It was really good (see upcoming review) and would be #4 if I cared enough to update this list, but I don't. Sorry, Alien: Romulus, but you're cut. 

Nutcrackers (12.20.24)

 

I’ve never been interested in participating in the never-ending “is Die Hard a Christmas movie” discourse. It’s annoying, and when it comes down to it, who really cares? But for the purpose of this introduction I will put in my two cents by saying that I believe there are Christmas movies and there are Christmas-adjacent movies. The latter may take place during Christmas, they may have Christmas songs and yuletide imagery, but the spirit of the holidays isn’t present so they aren’t true Christmas movies. This might be because the main character is shooting up terrorists in Nakatomi Plaza, or it might be a result of Christmas being mostly incidental to the plot and themes. Nutcrackers is Christmas-adjacent, and it’s also probably the most predictable film I have ever seen. 

Let’s see if you can guess what happens when Ben Stiller’s character, an uptight big-city businessman who is obsessed with business-y things like business meetings and spreadsheets, is asked to temporarily take care of his freshly orphaned and highly rambunctious (yet lovable!) nephews while an attractive and single social worker tries to find them a permanent foster home. Two weeks or so before Christmas, mind you, as the film occasionally sees fit to remind you. If you have seen a movie before, or read a book, or experienced any kind of narrative at all in your life you probably sussed out the ending of Nutcrackers as quickly as I did just now. And I’m sorry to tell you that the journey to that ending is just as banal as the destination itself, with overplayed moments such as a party at the rich guy’s house gone bad to the oldest kid needing love advice from an uncomfortable adult. 

That all being said, Nutcrackers does have a sweetness to it thanks to some genuinely good performances from Stiller and the Janson brothers, the four real-life siblings who play the four brothers in the film. You can sometimes tell that this the Jansons’ first foray into film, but their mischievous cuteness is enough to make their freshman attempt at acting memorable. Stiller, for his part, is muted, solid, and effective. Their performances and chemistry generally keep things from becoming boring, even when things are at their most routine. 

But Nutcrackers isn’t really a Christmas movie. Sure, the final act of the film revolves around a performance of The Nutcracker ballet (pretty much Christmas-adjacent itself), but this is the only significant tie to the holiday, and it is one that could have easily been swapped out for any other production at any other time of the year with little to no effect on the plot. This, to me, makes it Christmas-adjacent at best, no matter how many Christmas songs they throw into the scene transitions or festive trees they place in the background. 

Overall Nutcrackers makes for an underwhelming experience, especially if one is looking for cheer that is specific to the holiday season. There’s just not enough deviation from formula, not enough meat on its bones, and not enough magic. 

Nutcrackers is now available on Hulu.

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on December 20^th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/

Wicked (12.06.24)

 

As a wise frog once said, it’s not easy being green. The Hulk knows it, Shrek knows it. The Grinch had a pretty rough go of things even before the classic animated film colored him in, but the transformation surely didn’t help matters. Elphaba of all people should empathize with Kermit’s plight, but she should find solace in one fact—that the film she stars in is bringing in a very different kind of green. Wicked is, by all measurements both financial and critical, a huge hit, and after seeing it this last weekend I completely understand its success—Wicked is overlong, to be sure, but it is also magical, beautiful, and well-crafted from every angle.

At two hours and forty minutes in length, Wicked is just five minutes short of the entirety of its Broadway parent, which would be reasonable if not for the fact that the film is, in fact, Wicked: Part One. I actually understand and agree with the decision to split the adaptation into two halves, because although Wicked: Part One is not a complete story, it does at least feel like a complete journey for our characters. One could never bother with Part Two and still feel like Part One wrapped things up perfectly, at least as a prequel of sorts to the original Wizard of Oz. What I don’t agree with was the need to stretch the entire first act into something that is in desperate need of a trimming.

But to Wicked’s credit, the artificial bloating of the runtime is rarely annoying, as proceedings are, for the most part, very well paced. And then there’s the fact that the film is just very, very good.

I am not a musical aficionado by any means, but Elphaba, Galinda, and everyone else were still able to cast an extremely effective spell on me. The music is catchy, fun, and well-performed all around. The visuals are stunning and colorful, fitting the world that Frank Baum created all those years ago, and there were some interesting and cool bits in both the cinematography and choreography that simply could not have been done on stage. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande do wonderful jobs as Elphaba and Galinda, the eventual friendship between the two characters bringing an authentic warmth to the story thanks to the genuine chemistry between the two actors.  Wicked feels big, it feels joyful, and it feels fun. It's hard to fake fun like this, leading me to believe that the people who made this film genuinely had a good time doing so, which is always infectious for audience members. I should mention, however, that the family I saw Wicked with are much bigger fans of musical theater than I am and did not seem to like it quite as much as I did, so take that as you will. But for a cranky musical theater novice like myself Wicked: Part One was a uniquely enjoyable time at the movies.

Wicked: Part One is now playing in theaters.

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on December 6^th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/

 

Hot Frosty (11.22.24)

 

The only thing that is more annoying to me than Christmas encroaching more and more on Thanksgiving's territory each year is people complaining about Christmas encroaching more and more on Thanksgiving's territory each year. With that in mind I thought I’d give in and watch a new Christmas movie… in November. I saw that Craig Robinson was in a new one called Hot Frosty, and hey, the guy who played Alexis's boyfriend in Schitt’s Creek is in it too! Neat. How bad could it be?

Hot Frosty is pretty bad! But you might be into that for all I know?

The gimmick of Hot Frosty is fun enough on the surface. Christmas movie veteran Lacey Chabert plays a widowed lady who brings a snowman to life with a magical scarf, but unlike the many times this has happened before in fiction (and hopefully just in fiction) the snowman is hot. It’s allegedly supposed to be one of those cute fish-out-of-water romcoms where a hardened realist has her heart melted by a naïve newcomer that teaches her to love again, but the love story is bland and the stabs at comedy frequently made me want to hide my face in vicarious shame and embarrassment.

Jack (the snowman played by Dustin Milligan of Schitt’s Creek who might be hot if his hair wasn’t distractingly bad) is no Olaf or Buddy the Elf. What he knows and doesn’t know as someone who essentially just popped into existence isn’t consistent, nor are his moments of ignorance amusing. And just like with Buddy the whole “I’m an innocent baby man-child who falls in love with a grown person” thing is a bit disturbing in its implications, especially when he is getting oggled at by the elderly.

Craig Robinson and Joe Lo Truglio (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) seem to have a little bit of fun in their roles as the local cops, but even they can’t make most of the moments work. As for Lacey Chabert, well… as stated earlier, a quick IMDb search told me that she has been involved in a lot of Christmas movies, and I can’t imagine that her roles in those were in any way different than the character she played here. That being said she did fine.

I did chuckle a couple of times, truth be told. There was a reference to Mean Girls (which Chabert starred in back in the day) that was pretty good. And the movie is short. That’s… that’s pretty much it for the good parts of Hot Frosty. Other than that the film doesn’t rise above the most mediocre of your typical Hallmark-esque holiday fare, cast aside. If you need to know how bored I was, just know that this was the first review I actually finished writing while still actually watching the film. That’s not a great recommendation, is it?

But hey, it’s still plenty early in the season, and Hot Frosty didn’t kill my pet or anything. If you’re a connoisseur of cheesy Christmas movies you might not hate it. As my mom said when we were done, “It was a perfectly adequate bad Christmas movie.”

Hot Frosty is now available on Netflix.

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on November 22^nd, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com

 

My Old Ass (11.15.24)

 

Everyone wants to be able to tell their younger self something, if only to convince themselves to trust Rufus and get into the mysterious time-traveling phone booth at the Circle-K. Potentially universe-destroying paradoxes aside, it could be quite useful. One could change the world, gain riches beyond their wildest dreams, or at the very least get a good grade on their history report. My Old Ass is of similar scope to the latter situation, and the small story contained therein feels universal because of it, not to mention heartwarming, sad, and, most ironically of all, timeless.

Maisy Stella plays Elliott, an eighteen-year-old who is eager to leave home and move on to the next phase of her life, but not before she does mushrooms in the forest with her friends and somehow meets her thirty-nine-year-old self played by Aubrey Plaza. The two (one?) do what anyone else would in this situation—they freak out, reminisce, maybe kiss a little, and ultimately do their best to exploit the situation in order to create a more perfect life for themselves in the future. Most of the advice that Old Elliott gives Young Elliott is predicable and just common sense; hang out with your family more, don’t waste a moment of life, and, most importantly, stay away from guys named Chad. 

But these are lessons that every teenager should learn, and the growth that Elliott experiences is poignant, sweet, and feels applicable to everyone regardless of their situation. This emotional journey takes up the vast majority of the film, but the simplicity and straightforwardness of the story (which was aptly penned by Megan Park, who also directed) is an asset to the film in this case, as is the limited cast and beautiful settings.

Maisy Stella does a great job as our main character, someone who is young, naïve, yet fully three-dimensional. And Aubrey Plaza (who, regrettably, isn’t in it much but I guess is still technically the main character because she’s also Elliott?) shines by giving us just a hint of that classic April Ludgate sass but by also showing off a slightly more dramatic side that I have never seen her exhibit before. They make for quite the enjoyable duo, even if they don’t really look that much like each other and even if their actual shared screen time is limited. Embedded in the story of Elliott becoming a more present and appreciative person is a love story between Young Elliott and the aforementioned Chad (Percy Hynes White), and it is also very simple while also being satisfying and sweet.

We never learn why these time-traveling shenanigans happen or what the mechanics are, but My Old Ass is not the type of movie where this matters. The time-traveling via hallucinogenic mushrooms premise is more of an excuse to explore a classic coming-of-age tale that pulls some heart strings, elicits a few laughs, and leaves a glowing impression. What would I tell my younger self? Probably to see this film a little sooner than I did.

My Old Ass is now available on Amazon Prime.

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on November 15^th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com

Music By John Williams (11.08.24)

 

No composer has done as much for modern pop culture than John Williams. Go ahead and hum the first movie theme that comes to mind—there’s a pretty good chance that John Williams wrote it. Yet despite his omnipresence in some of my favorite films and franchises I did not know much about the man himself, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this. After watching Music By John Williams I still feel that way, as the documentary is really more of a celebration of the music and career of the composer rather than a deep dive into who he is as a person, but that might just be enough—as Williams himself says, there is a little bit of him in everything he writes.

Music By does go through some touchstones of Williams’ life—his birth, education, the tragic death of his first wife, etc. But once it starts focusing on his career and its impact it rarely touches on anything else. This telling is roughly linear, starting with Williams’ early days as an ensemble jazz pianist to his first composing gigs to his years of universal recognition as the guy who wrote the Jaws, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones soundtracks. Near the end of the runtime things do get a bit more scattershot, bouncing from Harry Potter to Jurassic Park to his various non-movie compositions as if dutifully crossing things off of a list as to not irritate any fans of a particular work by omitting their favorite. This makes for a rather rushed and awkward ending that could have used some more tweaking and streamlining.

There are some insights that I quite enjoyed in Music By, especially Williams’ explanation of the psychology behind the famous five-note refrain from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as well as the more general importance of character themes and leitmotifs. Keep in mind that while I greatly enjoy and appreciate music I am by no means any expert, so the fact that I understood the occasional intricacies discussed by Williams and the rest of the talking heads speaks to their ability to dumb things down for laymen like myself without making us feel like idiots.

Ironically it is the music itself that makes this film exceptional. Is it even possible to create a bad documentary when you're using John Williams’ music? Isn't it kind of cheating? Music By John Williams could have consisted of a two-hour shot of a monkey scratching itself or grass growing, because as long as Williams’ soundtracks are in there, it really couldn’t fail.

Even so, the filmmakers went the extra mile to make Music By visually interesting, mildly enlightening, and highly entertaining. I may not know the man behind the music much better than I did before, but if he is to be believed his personality and story were behind the notes all along, subtly zipping through our zeitgeist like a potato-faced Extra Terrestrial or a handsome Kryptonian. He will live for as long as we hum his songs, which will probably be forever.

Music By John Williams is now available on Disney+.

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on November 8^th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com