- The Fall Guy is a fun, laid-back, largely forgettable love letter to practical stunt work.
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Walker is confused as satire, and the deliberate anachronisms, which ramp up to a feverish pitch as the movie progresses, aren’t especially effective at conveying anything. And yet there’s something in the unhinged intensity of Ed Harris’ performance that holds the interest.
- Janet Planet is maybe too slow and quiet for its own good, and arguably nothing much happens in it—and, when it does, that leaves more questions than it answers and somewhat breaks the film’s realism. But still, the mother-daughter dynamic between Julianne Nicholson and newcomer Zoe Ziegler has plenty of charm.
- I can only imagine how shattering and raw Cassavetes’ New Life runs out of momentum and ideas at the end, but it’s a surprisingly effective little thriller, considering it’s obvious shoestring budget. A simple, scary premise and good performances go a long way.
- The Boy and the Heron was a lot stranger than I expected, and while it’s rightly been seen as the culmination of Miyazaki’s career (if not his swan song), I’m not sure I enjoyed it quite as much as some of those earlier films. It was maybe just too big and personal for me to really get a handle on it, or to keep up with the many odd turns the film took. At the same time, though, it’s gorgeous and captivating, and there are some truly spectacular moments of animation in it.
I also thoroughly enjoyed a rewatch of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
