Tag: Movie Reviews

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2 1/2 Stars

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

I know I was not alone in catching up with the other Indy films before the latest would drop.

A quick overview:

  1. Raiders of the Lost Ark: One of the very best adventure movies ever made.
  2. The Temple of Doom: Fun (thank you Short Round), despite its dark themes and cultural depictions.
  3. The Last Crusade: One of the best father-son duos in cinematic history.
  4. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Honestly, some decent moments and set pieces (despite falling completely flat at the conclusion).

Despite how you rank the films, one thing is universal: the role of Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. should only be played by Harrison Ford. To recast him would indeed seem nothing short of sacrilegious, meaning we “needed” at least one more Indy film as Ford is now an octogenarian. 

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1 1/2 Stars

The Flash (2023)

Until recently, I had that unbearable feeling that all maestro movie goers get: that they are agreeing too much with other critics.

Nowadays, all one has to do is go to Rotten Tomatoes and/or Meta Critic and see where one stands against one’s peers. As of late, it seems I have been agreeing with most people on the taste of recent movies. Now comes The Flash, which is sitting at 67% on the tomatometer. That it gives me a chance to disagree with the tomatometer is one of the few positives of the film I can think of.

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3 1/2 Stars

Elemental (2023)

(A recent text exchange with my little brother Connor)

Connor: (Star Wars Episode III) Revenge of the Sith is 18 years old!

Me: Finding Nemo is 20 years old.

Connor: Touché

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4 1/2 Stars

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Like many a nerd, I have spent the last few weeks glued to my Nintendo Switch playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (which I admit to playing as I do this review)

What makes it a truly effective sequel to the brilliant Breath of the Wild is not just the story (which has elements of Infinity War, time travel, and even Spirited Away) is that it expands upon its already vast world into new heights. The same can be said about Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse, the sequel to the animated masterclass Into the Spider Verse.

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4 Stars Movies

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023)

“Once more with feeling.”

I can’t remember the last time an MCU film truly lived up to the tagline on its poster. 

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4 1/2 Stars

Air (2023)

From the ages of 9-13, my closet was flooded with shoes. 

I can’t recall why I had so many shoes as a kid (being a small kid mean having a small shoe size, so I assume they were cheap), but I am sure I had some form of Air Jordans (most likely a hand me down): I do distinctly remember the dunking MJ silhouette. Did I think they would make me a better basketball player? Perhaps (I was never good at the sport), but there was no denying the fact that it would increase my cool factor in the class room (especially since I grew up in the Chicago suburbs.)

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Movies

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

There is no tiptoeing around the fact that I never played a single game of DnD in my life. The popularity of it seemed to have peaked just before I was born in the eighties, and I never got around to it.

 The closest I remember getting was playing a DnD type game with friends (“this is your character”, roll the dice to see what happens, etc), but all I remember of that was my character name was Squiggy.

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3 1/2 Stars

Cocaine Bear (2023)

Not since Snakes on a Plane has a movie’s premise been so wrapped in it’s title more so than Cocaine Bear.

As someone who has never used cocaine (and never plans to), all of my “experiences” with cocaine (or other drugs for that matter) have been through media (though, if I am to believe old rumors, some in my high school graduating class may know something about these endeavors).

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3 Stars

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quatumania (2023)

It wasn’t until after viewing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania that I realized we are already into Phase 5 of the MCU. 

Admittedly, the films of Phase Four have not been the best of the now thirty plus film series (and multiple TV shows). While I admit to not being the biggest of fans of the first two Ant-Man films (I am up for giving the first film a retry), launching the third film as the start of the new Phase seems daring in a sense, as if to make the public know there is still more quality left to milk out (and since we still have yet to see the MCU versions of the Fantastic Four and X-Men, there is no sign of this train stopping anytime soon). 

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"Top Tens", and others Movies

Top Ten Films of 2022

Like my 2021 list, I rounded out the number of films I saw in 2022 at about 70 films. Unlike 2021 (or the last few years, for that matter), this year is not a top 20.

I’ve always been vocal in saying there are no bad movie years, but 2022 was a tad dull when compared to the likes of 2021 (and certainly to the juggernaut that was the 2019 movie year). 

This also could factor into something that hasn’t happened to me in sometime: I did not get to rewatch any movies on my list (save one). That is more on me than the movies themselves (I did watch some more TV this past year than previously, and while not a movie, I can’t stop praising the amazing Andor.)

As always, I had my share of blindspots, so movies you won’t see on here include:

  • All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
  • Babylon
  • Barbarian
  • The Black Phone
  • Close
  • Devotion
  • EO
  • Living
  • A Man Called Otto
  • No Bears
  • Pearl
  • Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
  • X

Finally, the honorable mentions

Now for the top ten, which begins on the frontlines.

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