Hamilton (2020)
This filmed performance of the original cast of the most iconic Broadway musical of the young twenty first century somehow exceeded my lofty expectations.
My only quibble is Anthony Ramos as the younger Hamilton in the second act. He’s very good as Laurens in the first half, but as Phillip Hamilton his performance is too frail.
David Diggs as Lafayette / Thomas Jefferson is transcendent in a career defining performance.
Lin-Manuel Miranda deserves enormous credit for creating this nearly perfect musical which made hip hop accessible to a larger, different audience.
“Guns and Ships,” “Wait for It,” “Say No to This,” “What’d I Miss,” “My Shot.” I will undoubtedly watch this numerous times.
The technical accomplishment is dwarfed by the power of the music, but this film’s seamless integration of multiple performances is an impressive feat and sets a new standard for recreating the theatrical experience on screen.
Midnight Mass (2021)
When a new priest arrives at St. Patrick’s Church on Crockett Island, the lives of everyone living on this remote island are turned upside down.
Mike Flanagan’s recent output (including Doctor Sleep and The Haunting of Hill House) is top notch. His work uses horror as a template for intense character studies and as a vehicle to explore penetrating philosophical / spiritual questions. Hamish Linklater is wonderful as the conflicted priest with a lot of secrets. Samantha Sloyan is chilling as the dyed in the wool true believer. I loved Rahul Kohli as the Muslim sheriff trying to find his way in a close knit Christian community. Flanagan’s wife, Kate Siegel, is fantastic as the film’s emotional center, Erin Greene. Zach Gilford, best known for Friday Night Lights, is a breathtaking revelation as Riley Flynn who returns home after a prison stint for killing a woman in a drunk driving accident.
When vampires and supernatural beings show arrive on Crockett Island, some immediately subsume this new information into an existing paradigm, while others cannot adapt to the ground shifting beneath their feet.
It’s a a scary miniseries about the supernatural, but it’s also about blinding, all-consuming ideology, which is potentially the scariest thing of all.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Housewife Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) is frustrated by her humdrum life with husband Wang (Ke Huy Juan), lesbian daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), and domineering father Gong Gong (James Hong).
While meeting Deidre (Jamie Lee Curtis), the IRS agent assigned to audit their family run laundromat, Wang is temporarily transformed into a different version of himself, Alpha Wang, and explains to Evelyn an alternative version of their daughter has gone insane from hopping between universes and is now attempting to destroy everything.
Alpha Wang convinces Evelyn she’s the last best chance to defeat their daughter and teaches her how to travel between universes.
A lot of recent films recently have focused on a multiverse, but few have pushed its limits this far. Evelyn goes to a world where she’s in a romantic relationship with Deidre and everyone has hot dogs for fingers. Then, to a world where she’s a famous movie star (a delightful meta reference to Yeoh’s real life). Another world resembles the film Ratatouille complete with a rival chef controlled by a raccoon in his toque.
Directed by the Daniels and originally envisioned as a Jackie Chan vehicle, this is an incredibly trippy film. It’s totally unexpected and transitions seamlessly from a bonkers action sequence to an absurd segment with nothing but inanimate rocks having a philosophical conversation about nihilism and purpose.
Michelle Yeoh is incredible, Jamie Lee Curtis is great, and it’s the best work of Jenny Slate’s career. Nice to see nonagenarian James Wong kicking ass. As a child star Ke Huy Khan was Short Round in Temple of Doom and Data Wang in The Goonies. He was an iconic part of my childhood and I’m thrilled to see him in such an awesome movie.
I was a few years ahead of 1/2 of the Daniels at the same high school in Birmingham, Alabama. I’ve enjoyed their work in An Interesting Ball (2016) and Swiss Army Man (2016), but neither prepared me for how much I loved this film. I’m a fan and will be expectantly seeking out their next film.
Asteroid City (2023)
The film version of a fictional play broadcast in a TV anthology series with different aspect ratio and color pattern to keep them separated. This is Wes Anderson style on steroids.
Some will argue it’s all style and no substance. In my opinion, this is an unfair attack; his style leans into the artificiality of storytelling, the way we construct stories and wall ourselves off.
The cast is beyond top notch. Scarlett Johannson is amazing. Jason Schwartzman is fantastic. Steve Carrell is amusing in a small role originally intended for Anderson muse Bill Murray. Margot Robbie adds another notch to her incredible summer with a pivotal cameo. Tom Hanks is good. Jeff Goldblum always brings a smile to my face. I particularly loved Bryan Cranston as the host of the TV anthology series / narrator.
Adrien Brody won an Oscar early in his career for The Pianist, but it’s only been in the last five years he’s come into his own.
Ed Norton is delightful as the play’s respected author, and Willehm Dafoe is electric as a famed acting teacher.
When Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Hope Lange, and Liev Schrieber are this far down the call sheet, you’re dealing with an abundance of riches. I don’t think there’s a false note in the ensemble, and everyone is equally committed to the hyper stylized acting Anderson demands.
I loved the scene with the kid singing an impromptu country song in honor of the alien, and loved even more that it was subtitled!
I’ve long admired The Royal Tenebaums and while he’s come close, I was doubtful Anderson would ever create another film which would so control my heart, but he’s done it.
A Wes Anderson sci-film with a decidedly unresolved plot is the joy I didn’t know I needed in my life.