Dan Says its Alright

 How much you enjoy Tar will depend largely on how you feel about a film that begins with the credits. There's good reason for it (everything in Tar is considered down to the smallest detail) but if you can't get on board with that kind of self indulgence then you are in for a long two and a half hours.  One of the reasons for beginning with the credits may be that we are about witness a career in reverse. An opening interview lets us know that Lydia Tar is at the top of her profession, a conductor with a dream resume and an EGOT who is about to complete her masterpiece symphony recording. Over the next couple of hours we see her slipping down the mountain as past deeds and the way she treats people in general come back to take a bite out of her perfect life.  The film solely follows Kate Blanchett's Tar for the entire runtime, we see all events from her perspective and she is in every scene. Blanchett put its an astounding performance, indeed it is hard to imagine many, ...

 Playing like an extended, less serious episode of Black Mirror, M3GAN is more fun than frights. Fortunately, with some genuine laughs and just enough weirdness to keep things interesting you won't mind not watching from between your fingers. Violet McGraw plays young girl Cady who goes to live with her toy designer aunty Gemma(Alison Williams) after her parents are killed in a car crash. More interested in her work than building bonds with her niece, Gemma decides to kill two birds with one stone by letting Cady play with her prototype AI doll M3GAN. The doll learns through playing with Cady and essentially takes on the responsibility of caring for her with predictable consequences.  Like a modern day Victor Frankenstein, Gemma is more interested in what she can make rather than what she should make and in many ways is the real villian of the piece, although she learns her lesson in time for the final act so I guess we are meant to think she is ok. M3GAN herself is no Chuckie...

 The combination of established star getting on a bit, in this case Antanio Bandaras, and simple action-oriented title conjures up old man kicking ass vibes like "The Equalizer" or "Taken". This is not one of those films. Its not clear whether it isn't one of those films because it doesn't have the action budget or if it genuinely has pretentions towards being a Taxi Driver esqe hard boiled thriller. Either way the result is a snooze fest. There is nothing wrong with a minimal action thriller but the spaces need to build tension and intrigue, not have characters meander around until a contrived conclusion. Everything seems tiny in scope, with supposedly large scale criminal organisations run by a couple of guys and a cliche spouting crime boss who seemingly has one henchman.  Antonio Bandaras brings some class to the title role but there isn't much he can do with a character who's one trait is "estranged from his daughter" and who does less...

The definitive ranking list that no one else is qualified to make, mainly because its a list of all the movies I saw in the cinema. To make the ranking I need to have seen the film on the big screen and for the first time, rereleases don't count.  39. The Matrix Resurrection  Empty follow up starts out like it might have something interesting to say but soon settles into the cynical, corporate mandated sequel it mocks in its first act. You'll be begging for it to end long before the drawn out finale reaches its conclusion. 38. Jurassic World Dominion A plodding script and phoned in performances from the returning cast make this a limp end (please) to the franchise. Had it trimmed down its unnecessary length it might have been worth checking out, for dino fans at least, but at two and a half hours plus there is zero chance you can't find something better to do with your time.  37. The 355 Too stupid to be a serious spy thriller, too boring to be a fun romp. Also, for a fil...

 The Way of Water begins 14 years after the events of Avatar, long enough for Jake Sully and Neytiri to be raising a family and for the humans to have made the journey back to Earth and returned in force. In the real world nearly the same amount of time has passed, long enough for James Cameron to have done a bunch of deep sea exploring and come up with a whole host of new filming technology and techniques. Does this technical advancement make the film a must see? Yes. Sort of. Maybe. At its best, Way of Water is blockbuster filmaking of the highest level with visual effects and attention to detail that put the CGI in other films to shame. The underwater scenes on something like Wakanda Forever are down right laughable compared to what you see here. It also manages to shake the full on cartoon feel of its predecessor and you can almost believe you are watching a real alien landscape. Story wise you get very earnest filmaking with a hugely on the nose environmental message, blunt ...