David Fincher is back with his first feature film since 2014's Gone Girl. Considering his filmography (well apart from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button anyway...), any time he makes a movie it's always sure to be near the top of my most anticipated list. His examination of 1930's Hollywood in Mank was no exception. Mank is all about old Hollywood screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) and the writing of his magnum opus, Citizen Kane. "Mank," as everyone calls him, is a washed up alcoholic who gets hired by a rising talent named Orson Welles. Bedridden with a broken leg, he's got two months to finish the script, so he brings in a young assistant to dictate his words (Lily Collins.) He bases Kane on a famous newspaper tycoon named William Randall Hurst (Charles Dance) with whom he had a cordial relationship with. Mank also had a close friendship with Hurst's mistress, actress Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried) and the film is mostly a series of flashbacks of his interactions with the pair that inspire the characters and story of Citizen Kane. Mank is an old school Hollywood movie through and through. Fincher gets the look and feel of classic films from the 30's and 40's down pat. The editing and general storytelling master the techniques used of the time, making the film feel totally authentic (apart from some modern touches here and there such as the profanity.) In fact, it's almost crazy to think that this is the same director behind such modern fast paced films like The Social Network, Gone Girl and Se7en. Mank demands your full attention and its pacing requires a lot more patience. The film is very dialogue heavy delving deeply into politics from almost 100 years ago which makes it not a seamless fit for modern sensibilities that aren't used to classic cinema or the history surrounding it. As such, it isn't the most accessible film to general audiences. Gary Oldman turns in a really great performance as usual, but the real surprise here is Amanda Seyfried who gets absolutely lost in the role of Marion Davies. She undoubtedly gives the best performance of her career here and absolutely shines. RATING: 8/10

If last time Venom (2018) benefitted from my low expectations because reviews were going off on how TERRIBLE this film would be, this time Venom: Let There Be Carnage is suffering from the reverse effect. THIS time, everyone else had low expectations and were delighted, then turned around to rave about how surprisingly good the film is...thus overhyping the film. I walked out thinking "where did all that good buzz come from??" The main thing to say about Venom: Let There Be Carnage is that whatever the intended first cut of this film was, it has since been edited into oblivion by the studio. This movie moves at an unnatural pace; a breakneck speed that will never let you catch your breath. It's like taking a tour of someone's home and being pushed from room to room before you have a chance to actually look around and get a feel for the place. Any chance for characters to take a breath and reflect on the events happening around them is eliminated. The plot must constantly be moving along. Honestly, it would be exhausting if it all wasn't over so quickly. Aside from that, the whole thing feels cartoonish...but at least Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson are having fun. I just wish the audience was allowed to have that same fun. RATING: 5/10

After a year delay due to the pandemic, today we finally get to see the sequel to 2018's Halloween (itself a sequel to the original Halloween from 1978), Halloween Kills. Yeah... I know, it's confusing. Especially when this series has six different timelines of canon. Halloween Kills picks up right where Halloween 2018 left off. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), along with her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) and granddaughter Allyson (Andi Matichak) ride away from her house she left in flames. The house she designed as a cage to trap her longtime foe Michael Meyers and truly finish him this time. So she thinks. Unfortunately for Laurie, a sequel needs to happen so Michael will somehow escape yet again with his life and go on yet another killing spree. This time, Laurie spends much of her screentime away from the action, recovering in the hospital from her wounds, while a mob of angry townspeople decide to take matters into their own hands and hunt Michael down on their own. Halloween Kills, unfortunately, does not live up to the highs of its predecessor, a film that felt like a nice refreshing return to form for the series. Instead, it's kind of a hot mess with quite a few head-scratching moments (I'm looking at you subplot with the other mental patient in the hospital...) While I get the defense that this film is just a slasher film, and what slasher film is exactly high brow, I still just can't help but wish this movie was better. Yeah there are fun kills, but with Laurie stuck in the hospital and the spotlight off her (and on weird townspeople to boot...) there's just no one to root for here. Also knowing that it's the middle part in a trilogy totally removes the stakes, and what good is a horror movie when there's no tension? RATING: 5/10

Ryan Reynolds is one of those actors who as of late, mostly plays the same character in everything he's in. Usually cocky and sarcastic, his characters are varying versions of the persona he presents in real life. Sometimes that works and sometimes it gets old. Consequently, I find it's not too often that I get excited about a project he's involved in. This was very much my feeling prior to viewing Free Guy. In Free Guy, Ryan Reynolds plays Guy, an ordinary guy who over a series of events, discovers that he's actually an NPC in a video game (otherwise known as a non-player character for the people like me who aren't familiar with gamer lingo). While this naturally leads to an existential crisis, soon he learns he must team up with the real woman of his dreams (Jodie Comer) before the world as he knows it is destroyed. This is because meanwhile in the actual real world, the two software engineers who created the coding for the game (Comer along with Joe Keery) are told by the boss of the company that bought them out (Taika Waititi) that after a sequel for the game comes out he will completely erase everything they created. Free Guy plays a LOT like a live-action version of The Lego Movie, down to the films' hopefully naive protagonists and honestly, it's not a bad thing at all. It's really nice to see Ryan Reynolds playing against his usual type here and he's quite fun in this movie. Jodie Comer is also terrific as Millie, both inside and outside of the game. Together they work together really well and make a nice team. I only really had two problems with the movie. First, it definitely didn't need to be two hours long. If this had been trimmed down by a half hour the movie's pace never would have lagged. Second, a last-minute reveal that makes for an incredibly cute and sweet ending needed a lot more setup throughout the movie to have really felt earned. Overall though I had a lot of fun with Free Guy and I appreciated that for a big summer movie, it felt like something different than just another superhero blockbuster. RATING: 7/10

2016's Don't Breathe was one of my favorite horror films of the last decade. When I heard a sequel was in the works it didn't totally surprise me since the film leaves it open for one, but I was skeptical that anything could come close to reaching the same quality a second time around. Then I heard that star Jane Levy would not be returning and instead would focus on Stephen Lang's villainous "The Blind Man" character, this time turning him into the protagonist anti-hero. Then I became even more skeptical. Don't Breathe 2 picks up a couple of years after the events of Don't Breathe where the Blind Man has made himself a quiet new life and now has a daughter whose past he's keeping a secret. But, after crossing paths with the wrong people, he finds his home invaded once more and now he must exact his revenge. Here's the thing. You can't make a villain an irredeemable monster who is a rapist and kidnapper in one movie and hope the audience will cheer him on in a sequel. The filmmakers' remedy for this is by bringing in villains this time that are almost comically ridiculous amounts of evil so that you can't wait for them to get their comeuppance. To a degree, this does actually work, due in large part to how great the action setpieces are (though none reach the heights of the original as expected). Still, this film would have worked MUCH better as a prequel to show how The Blind Man became the way he is rather than trying to show another side of him here. RANKING: 5/10

Flashback to 2016 when Warner Brothers and DC were trying desperately to figure out a way to compete with Marvel Studios. In March their first effort toward an expanded film universe was released with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to scathing reviews. The next film slated for release in their new shared universe was Suicide Squad about a group of DC villains forced into working for the government on a secret mission. The trailer for Suicide Squad was very well received, but after Batman v Superman's poor reception, executives lost trust in the creative vision for this film universe and they panicked. With months to go until the film's release, Warner did some major recutting to the film in hopes to cater to audiences with more Marvel tastes. The result was a disaster. Surprisingly though, the studio didn't throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak, and they did recognize that there were parts of this movie that people liked--namely Margot Robbie's performance as Harley Quinn. So WB moved forward with a Harley Quinn solo spinoff (while also functioning as another team-up film introducing new superheroes as well). But what to do with Suicide Squad? The answer for the executives waws simple....time for a rebootquel (that is to say, a reboot sequel--a film that vaguely acts like the first film exists, but mostly does its own new thing). If there's one thing WB always wanted Suicide Squad to resemble it was Guardians of the Galaxy. So given the chance when James Gunn was suddenly free from Disney after being canceled for some old Twitter jokes, WB swooped right in and gave him complete artistic license to do what he wanted with the almost identically titled follow-up The Suicide Squad. His total creative freedom happens to be the best and worst thing about The Suicide Squad if that's even possible. Gunn once again brings back Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, along with Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Viola Davis' Amanda Waller, and Jai Courtney's Boomerang. The rest of the characters from Suicide Squad were scrapped. Instead of Will Smith's Deadshot, we have Idris Elba's Bloodsport. Gone without a trace is Jared Leto's Joker. But rounding out the rest of the new squad is John Cena as Peacemaker, Sylvester Stallone as King Shark, David Dastmalchian as Polka-dot Man, and Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher II. These new anti-heroes seem as purposefully outlandish as possible, which is definitely feels quirky and offbeat for a comic book movie. But that's what James Gunn seems to be going for--covering familiar bases but this time in an unexpectedly oddball way. You really get the sense that he really wants this to be a group of misfits out for both themselves and to save the world. There's definitely a lot of fun to be had here. Once again Margot Robbie is having such a great time with the role of Harley and her scenes are such a blast to watch (even if a large portion feel somewhat disconnected from the rest of the film). Idris Elba and John Cena's back and forth competition is certainly amusing to behold. Joel Kinnamon got a lot more to do here and his presence was very welcome. The other members of the team got laughs as well, but at the same time, their schtick felt a little bit more gimmicky and got old for me. Plus they kind of felt like extra baggage, not an organic part of the ensemble. All in all, I'm not entirely sure where I stand on this film. Entertaining? Yes. Necessary? Probably not. A little too eccentric for its own good, but also really refreshing because it is. Nice to see something outside of the usual formula. RATING: 7/10

Nearly twenty years ago, in 2003, Disney struck unexpectedly struck gold with Pirates of the Caribbean, an action-adventure film based on one of Disneyland's first rides. When the project was first announced, many scoffed at the idea that a successful movie (let alone a franchise), could originate from an amusement park ride. But with a standout performance by Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, a bombastic score and an overall swashbuckling adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean was an enormous hit. The live-action department of Disney has been chasing that gold standard ever since attempting to recreate the formula with duds like The Haunted Mansion and Tomorrowland. It seemed that Disney seemed to give up hope on the idea that there could be another Pirates of the Caribbean type ride turned movie, but they decided to give it one more try with Jungle Cruise. Jungle Cruise teams two of the most likable people in Hollywood, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt for an adventure with quite a few similarities to Pirates of the Caribbean. Actually, it shares some similarities to some other beloved adventure series as well--namely Indiana Jones and The Mummy. Blunt stars as Lily, a botanist who, along with her brother (Jack Whitehall) heads to South America in hopes of discovering a legendary flower along the Amazon River that can cure the body of any sickness. Once there, she enlists the help of a cocky riverboat captain named Frank Wolff. Problem is, she stole the map from German Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons as the mustache-twirling Nazi villain) who is in constant pursuit to get it back and retrieve the flower for his own evil purposes. Even while being somewhat derivative of some much better movies, I found myself enjoying Jungle Cruise...until I didn't. The biggest problem here is that the movie is 2 hours and 7 minutes long and it has absolutely no reason to be. The pacing of this just drags the movie to a halt and it just can't overcome its bloatedness. The other things that didn't work for me were a silly reveal about Dwayne Johnson's character that ultimately feels pretty pointless and just the overall feeling that as likable as both leads are I really didn't buy any romance between them (which itself felt tacked on in the last act). Jungle Cruise is just a bit of unoriginal fun until it turns more into a slog. Had a few sequences been trimmed down, or perhaps others eliminated entirely, this would have felt so much breezier and ended up with more of a bang than a fizzle. No matter what its charismatic leads do, they can't turn this into Pirate's gold. RATING: 5/10

Sundance 2021 is a wrap and I'd say that the first ever streaming version of the festival was a huge success!! While nothing can replace the experience of seeing the screenings in person and feeling all the excitement and buzz from your fellow festival attendees, the convenience and ease of this format can't be beat. I was able to see more movies than ever this year and the only movie from my most anticipated list that I wasn't able to catch was Passing, Now that everything is said and done, let's take a look back and round up my personal highlights of the festival. BEST OF FEST MASS This intimate drama about two sets of parents both affected by the same tragedy is sensational. The film focuses most of the duration on just these four actors having a very difficult conversation. The performances here are all incredible and I hope aren't forgotten when awards season hits. Everyone here is fantastic, but Ann Down and Martha Plimpton in particular blew me away. CODA CODA opened the festival and was so warm and winsome that many of the movies I watched afterward had a hard time measuring up. CODA is the type of coming of age movie I go to Sundance to see; humorous and heartfelt all at once. Plus it boasts a breakout performance from its young star, as well as an amazing soundtrack which she helps to perform. IN THE SAME BREATH This documentary about the origins of the pandemic in China from filmmaker Nanfu Wang is a must watch. She tells this story with an unflinching bravery and honestly, it is essential viewing to understanding how we got where we are and how we can try to understand where we go from here. ON THE COUNT OF THREE Two friends form a suicide pact in which they agree by the end of this day, they will each kill themselves. This movie was a hard watch, but surprisingly very rewarding about the fragility of life and the beauty it offers. EIGHT FOR SILVER There's nothing I love more than a good Sundance horror film and Eight For Silver happened to be my favorite horror film of the 2021 festival. It's better not to say too much because the reveal to what exact type of horror movie this is happens to be one of the funnest parts of the movie, but rest assured if you're a fan of horror you are in for a treat. IN THE EARTH In the Earth was my second favorite horror film of the festival and that might be entirely due to its creep factor. The atmosphere is just right all throughout with an underlying sense of dread. While it most definitely is a slow burn to get to that chaotic ending, it's definitely worth it. TOGETHER TOGETHER Together Together was a sweet and sincere dramedy exploring something not often explored in film: a platonic friendship. Ed Helms stars as Matt, a single man in his 40's who wants desperately to be a father. Since life hadn't given him that option yet, he decides to take matters into his own hands and hire a surrogate. The film follows the unexpected friendship that follows between the two and the unexpected complexness in understanding the boundaries of such a relationship. I really enjoyed this. These characters felt real and lived in. I only wish it had a stronger ending. JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH Judas and the Black Messiah features some of the strongest performances of the festival and will no doubt be recognized come Oscar time. The story of an FBI informant infiltrating the inner circle of the Black Panthers is incredibly compelling. Again I would have loved to have gotten to know some of the characters more to see more inner turmoil, but overall it's still an excellent film. HOW IT ENDS This quirky offbeat comedy about a woman coming to terms with the end of the world (with help from her younger self who joins her on her journey,) was light, fluffy fun in the midst of watching a lot of other movies with heavier subject matter. While the film mostly consists of one celebrity cameo after the other, I still just couldn't help but have a lot of fun with it. The humor was on point and everyone seemed to be having a fun time. CENSOR Another slow burn horror film to add to the list, Censor ties with The Blazing World (below) to take my tenth spot of my favorite films at Sundance 2021. This movie felt cold and distant; it was hard to love because I couldn't find myself warming to the lead with the way she was portrayed. It wasn't quite what I expected, but by the end I was along for the ride. THE BLAZING WORLD The Blazing World is a horror fairytale in the same vein of Pan's Labyrinth (definite Guillermo del Toro vibes all throughout). Sometimes it may be guilty of style over substance, but honestly who ever said style couldn't be substance too?? I have to hand it to the incredible production design for making this waking dream come to life. It truly had its own sense of dark magic. Well that's it for 2021. May 2022 bring us back to the screens of Utah so we can experience some of these films together.

I put off this list as long as I could because there always seemed to be more and more movies added to my watch list every single day. While I still haven't gotten to see everything I wanted, I knew I had waited long enough and had to get my list out sooner rather than later. So while there's still some movies that could weasel their way in once I've seen them, this will have to do for now! So without further ado, here's my list of my favorite movies that came out in 2020. 10. DA 5 BLOODS Okay, I'll be honest, this film took quite a long time for me to get into (honestly about an hour), but then suddenly the film gripped my attention and wouldn't let it go. The film follows a group of Vietnam War vets who return to Vietnam seeking to find treasure they buried there back during the war. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, and until they have to confront some of the ghosts of their past. Da 5 Bloods is shocking, thrilling, and devastating. You just have to have the patience to get through. 9. WANDER DARKLY Wander Darkly is a deep dive relationship exploration film, which happen to be one of my favorite types of movies. It feels almost like a spiritual sequel to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (except a tad bit more accessible) in both subject manner and the way this couple's story is relived. This is one of those films where the less said the better so as not to spoil how the movie gets where it's going, so I won't say much more than that... but I will say it made me cry like a baby. 8. NOMADLAND Nomadland is a quiet, understated portrait of grief anchored by another wonderful performance from the always solid Frances McDormand. Nomadland is a slice of life film, where there's not a lot going on aside from the observance of a lifestyle that many, myself included, may be unfamiliar with: the life of a nomad. While it's interesting to learn about this culture, the best material the movie has to offer are the character driven moments and there's a real beauty to the wisdom the film has to share. 7 TIE: HIS HOUSE, THE LODGE & THE INVISIBLE MAN I couldn't settle on which horror movie I liked best from 2020, so I'm cheating and giving you three for the price of one. Each play with the concept of ghosts in different ways, but to analyze each here would get us into spoiler territory. The Invisible Man is a fresh modern take on one of Universal's famous "movie monsters." It's thrilling and features one of the most gasp inducing scenes of the year. I saw The Lodge two Sundances ago, but it only made its debut last February or I would have included it on my 2019 list. It excels in giving the viewer both paranoia and claustrophobia that truly puts you in the characters' shoes. I saw His House at least years Sundance and it featured some of the most terrifying scares in recent memory pretty early on into the film's runtime and it just doesn't let up. Each of these films haunts their characters and the audience in different ways and all are excellent. 6. SWALLOW Swallow is such a bizarre movie based on a real life compulsion: swallowing weird objects. Swallow follows the life of Hunter, a newlywed who tries to convince herself she's blissfully happy, despite having in-laws who seem to find various ways of controlling her life. I found Swallow to be absolutely fascinating and captivating. I was on the edge of my seat about what could happen next, even though what happens in this film is mostly psychological. This film is certainly not for everyone, but I loved every minute. 5. PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN I saw this at last year's Sundance back when seeing movies with an audience was still a thing (sniff), and I have to say I'm so glad I did. This movie almost would be a totally different one without a crowd, which actually kind of shows how many layers it has. Seeing it at Sundance, the dark humor of it came alive, while watching it alone, I think the dramatic elements would feel far more prominent. The truth is, Promising Young Woman is both and features a firecracker performance from Carey Mulligan as a woman looking to teach men that take advantage of women very dark lessons. 4. SOUND OF METAL I can't think of another movie that more fully puts you in the shoes of its protagonist than Sound of Metal, the story of a heavy metal drummer who loses his ability to hear. The film benefits tremendously from both fantastic sound design that truly lets you experience what the character is experiencing, coupled with an outstanding lead performance by Riz Ahmed. Sound of Metal is truly a film that takes you on a journey and makes you feel pretty much every emotion in the book. 3. TENET Tenet seemed to polarize audiences, but I'm in the camp that really enjoyed the ride Christopher Nolan took us on. Sure, it wasn't one of his strongest creative efforts (like Inception or Interstellar), but it still was a blast featuring some of the coolest action sequences I've ever seen. I would have loved more character development, heart and backstory, but the creativity of it all wins major points with me and I still left the theater thrilled and amazed. 2. BLACK BEAR Black Bear is a tale of two halves and the whole picture it creates. I hate to say much about this movie because I really fear spoiling everything that makes it what it is. I thought about this film for days after I saw it because it's the type of movie rife with different interpretations and analyzations. In fact, my husband and I both came to different conclusions on what was real and what wasn't. It's the type of movie that reminds me why I love movies. 1. PALM SPRINGS Nothing ever really came along to knock the sunny time warp comedy off the top spot from when I saw it at Sundance (especially since my favorite from the festival, Nine Days, didn't get an official release last year). In a year where we all felt stuck in a time loop, this movie couldn't have come at a better time. I have a soft spot for romantic comedies, and seeing one so sweet and earnest, while also being hilarious was so refreshing. I love its message and it's one I see myself watching over and over. HONORABLE MENTIONS: MINARI, THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND, FREAKY, THE GENTLEMEN, MANK, COLOR OUT OF SPACE, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, BABYTEETH

It's a new year, and I wish it were time for a new list! But due to the craziest year ever, here we have almost the same list as last years. Thanks a lot 2020. When I wrote last year's list I definitely could have never foreseen a worldwide pandemic preventing most of these movies from coming out. The landscape of cinema looks a lot different, but hope is on the horizon that things will one day get back to more normal. So while this list is very tentative and could change at any moment, let's take a look at the movies we have to look forward to this year. 10. THE BEATLES: GET BACK Peter Jackson made this documentary with all new, never before seen footage of the fab four and as a big Beatles fan I couldn't be more excited to see it. The sneak peek Jackson posted to social media looked excellent and I was amazed at the quality of the footage. 9. SPIDER-MAN 3 I am in the small minority of movie goers who doesn't really enjoy the Tom Holland version of Spider-man, or the films in which he appears. That said, I can't ignore the intrigue around all the casting announcements of late which has this film poised to be a live action version of Into the Spider-Verse. I was a big fan of Andrew Garfield's portrayal and loved the Sam Raimi films with Tobey Maguire, so seeing both of them back on the big screen altogether would certainly be something. Still, I'm skeptical this will be nothing more than cameos and I'm keeping my expectations low. 8. A QUIET PLACE II We were so close to getting this movie, and yet so far. I'm not sure when this one will come out, but seeing the first was a very memorable theater experience and I really hope the sequel can live up to the original. 7. BOND: NO TIME TO DIE Another movie that was so close to its release date before the world shut down. I'm excited to see Daniel Craig's likely final outing as Bond and hope it can match the highs of his previous work as Bond (see Casino Royale, Skyfall) and not the lows (Quantum of Solace, Spectre.) 6. GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE I'm not positive the tone of this trailer is just right for a Ghostbusters sequel (it looks like it has a lot more of a Stranger Things vibe than a goofy comedy), but I'm definitely willing to see what Jason Reitman has up his sleeve. 5. HALLOWEEN KILLS We really could have used this Halloween sequel last Halloween, but alas... it gets pushed til 2021. Jamie Lee Curtis was having so much fun in the last movie, I'm excited to see her next rematch with the basically immortal Michael Meyers. Hopefully it's worth the wait! 4. THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT The first Conjuring film remains one of the best horror movies of the last ten years. While the sequel was a bit more uneven, it was still pretty solid and I absolutely love Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson in these roles. However, I'm really hoping the director change doesn't bring down the quality. 3. MALIGNANT So if James Wan was enticed away from making The Conjuring 3 for this, it must be really good right?? At least that's my sincere hope. Not much is known here as the plot details are being kept under lock and key, but as a huge lover of horror it's definitely on my radar. 2. LAST NIGHT IN SOHO Edgar Wright is one of my favorite directors and his last film, Baby Driver, was my favorite movie of 2017. I will watch anything he does. Pair him with Anya Taylor-Joy, Hollywood's latest "It girl", make it a horror/thriller and you have my undivided attention. Cannot wait. 1. DUNE I am so excited to finally see this film... whenever we get to see it. The novel Dune was a huge inspiration on the sci-fi genre in cinema, so it's pretty exciting to see the OG sci-fi story get a proper grand adaptation (granted, I've never seen the 80's version.) Denis Villeneuve is one of the best directors working today and after achieving the impossible in making a critically adored sequel to Blade Runner, he seems poised once again to give us something great here.