Judd Apatow's latest film, The Bubble is a star-studded comedy about the difficulties of making the latest installment in one of the world's biggest franchises, in the midst of the Pandemic. Karen Gillan stars as Carol Cobb, an actress who passed on the opportunity of reprising her role in Cliff Beasts 5 to try to chase some possible awards clout. But since she whitewashed the role, critics weren't a fan and her film flopped. Coming off that dud, her agent tells her that coming back for the sequel, Cliff Beasts 6 is a sure bet to bounce back in the eyes of the public. The only catch is the ongoing pandemic everyone on earth is going through, so in order for the movie to be made and keep proper covid protocols, all the cast must quarantine and live in a private hotel with no contact with the outside world. Will hilarity ensue once all of these pretentious stars go crazy with only their own egos to keep them company? Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding no. There's no sugar coating this, The Bubble is truly awful. It's honestly a shock that Judd Apatow could be capable of directing something that is so completely laughless. The cast he's assembled is incredibly talented, and everyone is spinning their wheels trying so hard to jumpstart SOMETHING...but their efforts are in vain as the film sputters along. When you're able to successfully waste Karen Gillan, Pedro Pascal, Leslie Mann, David Duchovny, Fred Armisen, Keegan-Michael Key, and Maria Bakalova, you're doing something wrong. The Bubble is over two hours long and let me assure you, you feel every second of that run time and more. It felt twice as long as it actually was and it was so hard to get through. Comedies, if done right, should be one of the easiest genres to watch. This just made me want to claw my eyes out. Maybe, it turns out that movies about the pandemic don't help us escape the pandemic? But maybe the most annoying thing about The Bubble is the sheer laziness of its comedy. It takes more to get a laugh these days than simply mocking Tik Tok or referencing Gal Gadot's Imagine video. Comedy writers, please do better. And audiences, do yourself a favor--if you find yourself tempted to watch this movie...just don't. Apatow kind of makes a half-hearted explanation for the film in the closing credits, with a line, essentially saying "Hey! people should just be happy we tried to entertain them in tough times." While I can kind of appreciate the sentiment, it kind of casts us all as beggars and tells us we can't be choosers. I beg to differ. RATING 2/10

"To see in theaters or not see in the theaters?" That is the question HBO Max asks of its subscribers with each new release. But with the case of Dune, it should not really be a question at all. Dune is the type of film that BEGS to be seen on the biggest screen possible, paired with the most amazing sound system you can find. It's the type of film that swallows its viewer up whole, in the absolute best possible way...if you'll let it. Dune centers on Paul Atreides (Timotheé Chalamet), a young man with a destiny that he doesn't quite know what to make of yet. Is he meant to be a leader like his father, the Duke (Oscar Isaac)? Or does he have greater powers like his mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson)? Or is he even more important than he can possibly imagine? Paul is only just learning about himself and where he fits into the world when he's thrust into the Empire's political conflict. On the alien planet Arrakis, Paul discovers a new way of life...but it is only just the beginning of his journey. Denis Villeneuve is one of the most reliable directors in Hollywood right now and I was confident of how good this movie would be in his hands. As always, he gets the finest people working alongside him, and as such, Greig Fraser's cinematography stuns, while the musical score by Hans Zimmer is downright incredible. Villeneuve definitely gets help from his talented cast though, all of whom are very good. Paul's relationship with his parents is key to who he is, and both Oscar Isaac and Rebecca Ferguson, in particular, are very effective. I've seen criticism about there being a lack of heart in this film, which I don't think is totally fair. To me, it just shows what type of cold, bleak and rigid world in which Dune is set. So much of the story too is one of survival, so I imagine we'll get into the consequences and the resulting feelings of what happened in this movie in the sequel. Going into this film, I actually had as little knowledge as possible about the Frank Herbert novel and its previous big-screen adaptation, which I have never seen. As a huge Star Wars fan, I knew that George Lucas had been inspired by Dune when creating his original trilogy, but I knew no other details beyond that. While the film was rich in details and lore that I tried my best to keep up with, it was just so immersive that I couldn't help but be swept up in all of it. Movies like this are special. Stories like this are special. They are few and far between these days and I can't wait to see what happens next. RATING: 9/10

The moment webheads have been waiting for is finally here. Spider-man No Way Home is finally out in theaters now and the internet can finally put to rest all their speculations, fan theories, and most importantly, give Andrew Garfield some peace. Spider-Man No Way Home picks up right where Far From Home's cliffhanger left off. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) has just been outed to the whole world that he is the true identity behind the famous web-slinger Spider-man. But not only that, he is a murderer. At least, that's what Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) told everyone right before he died. So even though Parker has helped save the world from an alien threat alongside the Avengers, everyone turns against him because of the revelation of a superhero who has been around for like a week. To me, this is not a believable storyline in the slightest and only seems to be used as a launchpad for the movie's eventual plot to happen. Heartbroken, he and his friends don't get into their college of choice. Peter shows up at Dr. Strange's (Benedict Cumberbatch) house one day begging him to help. Strange comes up with the idea that the whole world must forget that Peter is Spider-man, but during the spell, Peter keeps remembering people he wants to remember his secret. Why Strange didn't just make a spell that the world would never remember Mysterio I'm not quite sure...but due to all of Peter's interruptions, Strange's spell goes wrong and Peter soon learns of the disastrous consequences. These consequences come in the form of Spider-man's greatest villains dropping into his life...from other multiverses that is; planes of existence that are different than the one Peter was living in and aware of (for audiences: the villains from the previous movies not starring Tom Holland). If it all sounds pretty convoluted, it's because it is. It's all just a way to pay homage to the many of the Spider-man movies that came before. The plot here only exists just to make what needs to happen, happen. The question is, does that gamble pay off for the movie? The answer is mostly! Prior to these villains appearing, the first half of the film is a bit weak, and as I mentioned before, convoluted. It's hard to buy into this reality and Parker's sob story about not getting into college feels a bit weak. But life is injected into the film once Alfred Molina as Doc Ock appears with Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin not too far behind. Dafoe, in particular, slips back into the role effortlessly and makes it seem as though he was just playing this role yesterday. He's one of the strongest aspects of the film and he does an incredible job. The second half is where the film really gets good. Tom Holland gives his best performance as Peter here and you really start to feel some stakes for him. I've never particularly cared for Zendaya in these films, but this was her best outing here as well. I still think they fumbled their setup as a couple in the previous films, but they had some nice scenes together here. Overall though, I can't help feeling that if this film was in a better director's hands it would have been an all-time great. The action sequences are all fine, but they should be stellar given the tools he's been given access to in his toolbox. Spider-Man No Way Home works because of the camaraderie between the entire cast, both heroes and villains alike. As a lover of Raimi's trilogy and as someone who finds the Amazing Spider-man movies as underrated (albeit flawed) gems, this movie was filled with moments that were absolute treats. While it could have been better as a whole, I still really appreciate what they got right. RATING: 8/10

After years of waiting, Matt Reeves' The Batman is finally in theaters. After Christopher Nolan's masterful The Dark Knight trilogy, I felt like the character of Batman could have been left alone for a good while. Unfortunately, that's not how Hollywood works, and being that Batman is one of DC's most popular and profitable heroes, it wasn't long before he was recast and put in another movie. First, it was Ben Affleck in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and then again in 2017's Justice League. Both films were critically panned and Affleck chose not to continue on with his planned Batman film, so plans to continue on with him were scrapped and the series was rebooted once again. This time Warner Brothers tapped Matt Reeves, fresh off his excellent work in the Planet of the Apes prequel trilogy (Reeves directed the second and third films in that trilogy) to direct a story about a young Batman at the start of his career. While another Batman reboot felt unnecessary, once Matt Reeves was involved, I was totally on board. Like Christopher Nolan before him, Reeves keeps his version of Gotham grounded and gritty. Instead of another origin story, in The Batman, we are shown the vigilante hero Batman (Robert Pattinson) in the second year of his young career. This Bruce Wayne's alter ego hasn't quite figured everything out, but he is working with Lieutenant James Gordan (Jeffrey Wright) to help bring criminals to justice. When a series of public figures are murdered by a serial killer called The Riddler (Paul Dano,) the police find clues to a bigger puzzle--specifically left for Batman to solve. So, he must dive into the criminal underbelly of Gotham and solve the mysteries The Riddler lays out before another victim suffers, or worse...the entire city. Reeves freshens things here up by playing up the detective element more so than any previous Batman film. In fact, this film is much more a noir film than it is a superhero film. As such, it's not the typical action-packed outing that one would expect from a tent-pole cape flick. But what it is--"Batman meets David Fincher"--is so much better than its cinematic superhero peers and much more refreshing. It also helps that Reeves assembled a fantastic cast to fill his Gotham with. Pattinson makes a fine Batman in his freshman outing (more about his Bruce later) and Paul Dano is a chilling Riddler. Zoë Kravitz is terrific as Catwoman, and she and Pattinson have sizzling chemistry. Their scenes are a real treat and I hope we see more of her in a sequel. Reliable as always, John Turturro and Jeffrey Wright both, are solid as always; Turturro playing slimy mob boss Carmine Falcone and Wright as Lieutenant Gordon who always has Batman's back. Perhaps my favorite performance though comes from Colin Farrell who is completely unrecognizable in the role of Penguin and steals every scene he's in. For everything the film is trying to do, The Batman is exceptional. My only criticisms involve things the film doesn't do. As great as the film is, comparisons to Nolan's films are inevitable--especially as I found myself looking back to Batman Begins to fill in the narrative gaps this movie doesn't cover. That film does such a perfect job at telling the origins behind the hero; the how and why of the reason he gets to the point that he dons a cape. We come to know Christian Bale's Bruce and we understand his motivations. In The Batman, Pattinson actually hardly has much time playing Bruce Wayne at all, because his Bruce spends nearly all of his screen time as Batman. At this point in his life, he's a cold, withdrawn man and Batman is all he has. He keeps everyone, including the audience, at arms' length instead of letting us understand who he is. We never are quite privy to his humanity, though we do see flashes of it. As such, it's easy to be frustrated that we don't really feel like we have a handle on this version of the character even after three hours. Hopefully, we can delve more into Bruce and who he is in the sequels. The most common criticism of the film I've seen is the runtime and its pacing--namely that some have felt there was a false ending where the audience feels like the movie is over, only for the movie to continue for another forty minutes afterward. This never was an issue for me, since I was well aware of the length going in, so when said "ending" happened, I knew we had a lot more movie to see. I can see where it might be jarring for some, but I was honestly never bored with The Batman. I was always captivated and thought the pacing worked perfectly to eventually lead us to a bigger threat for Gotham as a whole. All in all, The Batman is truly impressive blockbuster filmmaking. While it's hard not to compare the film to Christopher Nolan's trilogy, The Batman carves out its own unique place for itself in the superhero's legacy and honestly, it's a spectacular entry. Matt Reeves proves that he was the perfect director to take on this hero and both fill Nolan's very large shoes, as well as step out from under his shadow. The Batman is Matt Reeves' own and I can't wait to see what he does with it next. RATING 9/10

So awhile back I was discussing movies that make us feel nostalgic with my roommate Anna, and she revealed something I found to be most shocking. Anna had never before seen any of The Back to the Future films. I must straight up say that the original Back to the Future film is one of my favorite movies of all time. How much do I love it? It's in my top 5 favorites. It is a movie I would take with me on a deserted island. So naturally, I had to indoctrinate the poor girl and show her what she was missing. In doing so, we opted to watch the entire trilogy. It's been years since I saw the two sequels to the original, so I thought I'd share some new insights and feelings that I had on them, as well as fully describe my love for the first film. So for now, let's start with that one. Back to the Future (1985) This film is practically flawless. It truly has it all. It's hilarious and fun...and incredibly tense too. No matter how many times I see it, the final sequence still will capture my full attention. To quote Adam Smith from Empire magazine, "To put it bluntly: if you don't like Back To The Future, it's difficult to believe that you like films at all." I really believe that Marty McFly's journey 30 years to the past to come face to face with his parents when they were his age is one of the cinema's finest adventures. As to the topic that got Anna and I talking about Back to the Future, this is a movie that I have loved since I was a little girl. While its nostalgia gives it a certain place in my heart, the film still holds up every time I revisit it. You see, it stands the test of time because it makes you care about its characters. Each one of the actors plays their part perfectly. I gotta say, Michael J. Fox has the perfect comic timing, and he gets a lot of help from a fantastic script. But honestly, Crispin Glover's George McFly is certainly one of the differences that make the sequels somewhat inferior. You don't really think of his character as being the one that brings the magic that the other ones lack, but most of my favorite moments in the original film he's almost always in! Anyway, every aspect of this film (script, acting, directing, editing, score, etc.) contribute to the love I feel for it, and that's probably enough said. I will leave you with some parting quotes :) I'm George, George McFly. I'm your density. I mean... your destiny. (What I really love is Lorraine's response and delivery of "Oh....") - George McFly Last night, Darth Vader came down from planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn't take Lorraine out that he'd melt my brain. - George McFly I can't believe you'd *loan* me your car without telling me it had a blind spot. I could've been killed! - Biff Tannen. This line is a family fave. Good to know: Michael J. Fox and Lea Thompson were the same age I am today when they made Back to the Future (boy does that make me feel unsuccessful). This movie ranks #3 on Emily's Top 100. In 2006, Back to the Future was voted the 23rd greatest film ever made by readers of Empire. The film is ranked #78 on IMDB's top 250 and has a Rotten Tomatoes ranking of 96%! In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed the AFI's 10 Top 10 – the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres – after polling more than 1,500 people from the creative community. Back to the Future was acknowledged as the 10th best film in the science fiction genre. Back to the Future is among Channel 4's (what channel 4, I don't know) 50 Films to See Before You Die, being ranked 10th. (facts from IMDB and wikipedia...and one from me!) To be continued....this post is getting long enough as it is. Look for parts 2 and 3 soon! P.S. RIP Back to the Future: The Ride @ Universal Studios. This ride was so great :( Seriously. Riding in replica DeLorean time machines was amazing. I know flight simulator rides aren't really the greatest....but come on...it's freaking Back to the Future! Sigh...at least there's still the backlot tour.

With a few more films to watch before I finalize my best and worst lists for the year, I really wanted to celebrate all the great horror films that came out in 2021! This last year was incredibly stacked for horror with some decent contenders (Candyman and Don't Breathe 2) even being left off the list and other gems I'm hearing about that I'll have to wait to discover next Halloween. But since I couldn't see them all, I had to start some place! So with that, let's get to the list. 10. CENSOR Initially, when I saw this a year ago at Sundance last year, I was a little let down due to my incredibly high expectations...but the more I've thought on it since the more Censor has grown on me over time. While it's very slow and incredibly restrained, I really respected its aesthetic and all that it attempts. It's the definition of a slow burn as the final fifteen minutes or so is basically where everything happens. But the closing imagery is just so haunting and truly makes the whole film worthwhile. 9. THE EMPTY MAN The Empty Man is pretty much a greatest hits of the horror genre and you can practically find all your favorites right here. Creepy cults? Check. Deadly curses? You got it! Supernatural occurrences? Yep. The Empty Man blends these all together with ease and somehow it all just works! I love the prologue to this film and how long it goes on, making the viewer double-check the summary of this film 3 or 4 times to make sure they're actually watching what they signed on for. My only complaint is it ended with more of a fizzle than a bang as far as a horror ending goes, but the journey was definitely worth it. If the ending had been tweaked just a bit more this could have been one of the horror greats of the decade. 8. ANTLERS Antlers benefits from an unceasingly moody atmosphere that fills the viewer with all kinds of dread. It also helps to have an always reliable Keri Russell as your leading lady. helping the viewer accept some of the more far-fetched aspects of the plot. While I would have loved even more backstory on her character, I appreciated the depth she brought to the character. Jesse Plemons was also solid as well, though I'm not sure what casting agent ever thought we'd buy them as siblings. While I wish overall Antlers was scarier and had more payoff, there is definitely enough creepy imagery to haunt my nightmares for a long time to come. 7. IN THE EARTH Another Sundance alum, In the Earth plays it really slowly until all insanity breaks loose. While the cast is small (only four actors), everyone here gives their all. The standout though has to be Reece Shearsmith as Zach who gives an unhinged performance. The finale gives major folk horror vibes and I loved it, even if they used a bit too much strobe effect so my husband who has epilepsy had to close his eyes and miss out on pretty much the entire ending. 6. EIGHT FOR SILVER While technically this one is due to release wide later this spring, Eight For Silver was my favorite horror movie from 2021's Sundance Film Festival, so I'm allowing it to creep onto the list. Eight for Silver perfectly mixes a period piece with one of the most classic subgenres of horror (no I'm not going to reveal which one, but maybe the title might give you a clue), and the results are deliciously wicked. Featuring some killer practical effects, I absolutely cannot wait to watch this one again with an audience to hear all the inevitable groans. EDITORS NOTE: Eight for Silver has now been retitled The Cursed (terribly generic name change!!!) and will be released in February 2022, so yeah I cheated putting it here. 5. THE QUIET PLACE II Okay, I'll be honest, it almost feels like a cheat to put The Quiet Place II on this list because while the first definitely felt like a horror film, the sequel feels more akin to an action-adventure monster flick such as Jurassic Park. A Quiet Place II was my first trip back to cinemas in 2021, and my first big film since Tenet in 2020. It was such a delight and reminded me how great it is to see a big movie on a big screen with amazing sound. Still, it gets a spot on the list because John Krasinski is coming even more into his own here perfectly balancing the tension between the different subplots during the film's climax. Its cliffhanger ending leaves us wanting more and honestly, I can't wait to see what happens next. 4. LAST NIGHT IN SOHO There seems to be two different camps for people who have seen Last Night in Soho--those who love it and those who hate it. Count me in the love category because this movie totally worked for me on every level, especially as things get more horrific during the final act. Both Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy are fantastic, and in the hands of less capable actresses, this just might not have worked. I love how Soho shows its horror both in the supernatural form, but also in the form of the past itself. Maybe it's a bit on the nose, but I dug it. 3. THE NIGHT HOUSE Rebecca Hall gives an absolutely stunning performance in The Night House, which premiered at Sundance 2020 but finally saw a wide release last summer. I didn't have a chance to revisit it last year, but it's definitely stayed with me since I first saw it back in January 2020. The sound design is so brilliant here, creating some of the most effective jump scares I've had in a good while. While I would have loved it if the film went even more in-depth with its final reveal, it's otherwise flawless. 2. MALIGNANT Malignant might be the greatest fun I've had with a horror movie in YEARS. It is so ridiculous, so absurd--it's the type of movie I'm amazed and grateful exists. There reached a point in this film where early on I wasn't quite so sure what to make of it, but then suddenly I knew I was along for the ride wherever it would lead. And boy does it lead to some pretty crazy places. Malignant is basically fearless cinema--it's James Wan having the confidence to do whatever he wants and very wildly succeeding. 1. SAINT MAUD While Malignant was probably my favorite horror film of the year, another film edged it out in terms of horror to reign atop this list. Saint Maud is one of the creepiest, most unnerving horror films I've seen since The Witch. Though I listed quite a few slow-burn horror films on this list, Saint Maud is the most effective of them all because it puts its viewer in a state of uneasiness right from the start that only grows as the film goes along. By the end, our anxiety almost feels unbearable. With help from the hauntingly dread-filled score, and the muted color grading, Saint Maud makes you feel agitated and apprehensive about every move Maud makes. But so much of the credit is due to the chilling performance of Morfydd Clark, whose pious Maude feels almost otherworldly in her creepiness. But all of the turmoil Saint Maud puts you through, pays off in the end with a stunner of a horror ending. Well, that's it for this list, but keep an eye on my best and worst lists of 2021, coming soon to a blog near you!

Last night, was an all-time low for the Academy Awards even without the now-infamous altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock. Cutting important filmmaking categories but finding time for nonsensical tributes just made no sense. For a celebration of film, the whole telecast was quite disrespectful. I truly hope next year they can regroup and come back from this. Let's make the movies the star again and let the show be about our love for them. In any event, let's recap the big category winners and I'll give my thoughts on what won, what should have won, and my rankings of all the nominees. BEST PICTURE WHAT WON: CODA. I love love love love LOVE CODA and I have ever since I first saw it at Sundance, but I don't think it was ever meant to be a Best Picture winner. It certainly was the little film that could and I admire the heck out of its pure resilience. It will always be a personal favorite of mine forever, but I do worry about its legacy and the vitriol that will be thrown at it in years to come on whether or not it was worthy. WHAT SHOULD HAVE WON: THE POWER OF THE DOG, DUNE, or BELFAST. While CODA is a heartwarming favorite of mine, a film that had more impressive craft all around would have made a stronger winner. WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Mass, The Last Duel, The Green Knight MY PERSONAL RANKING OF THE BEST PICTURE NOMINEES: 10. DON'T LOOK UP While I appreciated the commentary in this film, it kind of ended up being just one joke that we got hit over the head with for nearly three hours. You reach a certain point, where you want to just throw up your hands and say "Okay, we get it. Do you have anything else of value to say?" In the end, it comes off like an echo chamber of the rich and powerful patting themselves on the back because THEY care, but no one else can be bothered to. 9. WEST SIDE STORY An unnecessary remake of a beloved Hollywood classic offers an updated and diverse cast, and little else. So many choices in this were head-scratching, but the biggest fumble is the handling of the romance at the center of the film. You can have great side performances, cinematography, and choreography, but it all falls apart if we don't believe this love story is worth fighting for. Portraying this would-be Romeo and Juliet as puppy love rather than star-crossed lovers is a huge mistake while Tony and Maria's lack of chemistry sinks the film. Full review HERE 8. LICORICE PIZZA A lot of people REALLY loved Licorice Pizza, but I just never understood the hype. Yes it's got great performances, and yes I understand it's more of a "vibes" movie and less of a movie with a plot...but the plot it does have is just not my favorite. It's one thing to portray the relationship with a minor in film, but it's another to endorse it and honestly I never quite know where the film itself stands on the relationship between its two main characters. Is it being celebrated? Is it showing how dysfunctional it is? Maybe both? Either way, it's a bit hard to stomach when the ending comes off as so triumphant. At least end it on a The Graduate type note... 7. KING RICHARD King Richard tells the story of the rise of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, from the perspective of their father Richard, whose constant tutelage and unwavering persistence in the face of impossible odds facilitated their success. There are some great performances here and some truly inspirational moments. Where it trips up for me is the length and pacing, plus needing a bit stronger of an ending. 6. DRIVE MY CAR Drive My Car is a beautiful film with incredibly poignant moments, that I'm definitely not sure needed to be three hours long. It's a powerful story of dealing with grief and unresolved feelings towards one's partner, that also happens to be sandwiched between a lot of redundant, long scenes. It's a lesson in patience, but for those who have that patience, you do get rewarded in the end. But whether or not its worth the journey depends on the viewer. 5. NIGHTMARE ALLEY Nightmare Alley is an interesting one where it didn't really hook me until the last 30 or so minutes and then I absolutely loved it. It's a gorgeous-looking film with incredible production design, costumes, cinematography, and color grading. While I think it, like many of the nominees this year, also suffers from pacing issues, as well as some parts needing to be simplified, while others needed expounding. All in all, generally great performances and a truly solid film. 4. BELFAST Belfast is the beautifully told recollection of a childhood in the midst of turmoil. It's almost more a series of memories than a film with a clearly defined plot, which is what frustrated many viewers. But I found it to be a lovely film both in appearance and themes. Loving others despite our differences and knowing that we're all equal is a very pertinent message in our day and age. 3. THE POWER OF THE DOG The Power of the Dog was a supposed lock as it enjoyed the Best Picture frontrunner status for months. Had the awards been held back in February when they normally are, before there had been any turning of the tide to CODA's favor, this probably would have held on to win the big prize. While it wasn't my personal favorite of the lot, it was undeniably a powerful film that was incredibly well made on all fronts. It's definitely a film I more admire than love, but sometimes those are the best types to win Best Picture. 2. CODA So as I've said, I've absolutely adored CODA from the moment I saw it at Sundance in January 2021. It was a perfect coming-of-age crowd-pleaser. Is it the Sundance movie that I would have championed to be this year's Best Picture winner? No, that would have been the criminally underseen and overall superior film Mass. I truly love CODA for what it is, but I'm not going to pretend it's a spectacle of a film that should be a Best Picture winner. But, it still is one of my personal favorites of the year. CODA has heart and will put a smile on your face...which counts for a lot these days. Original Sundance review HERE 1. DUNE The sweeping cinematic Dune was my favorite film last year and would have been my dream pick to win Best Picture. Dune is a stunner. It's a tribute to the power of film and its ability to transport us into another world. Every element involved was top-notch and its artistry cannot be beaten. Dune received a lot of love at the Oscars and actually received more awards than any other film. Hopefully, if its sequels are just as good they can get the Return of the King treatment. Original review of Dune can be found HERE BEST ACTRESS Who won: Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye Who should have won: I'm honestly not sure. I think a case could be made for anyone nominated except Nicole Kidman. I haven't seen Penelope Cruz's performance so I can't comment, but I think Jessica did a good job, even if it wasn't the strongest win. Who should have been nominated: Lady Gaga for House of Gucci, Martha Plimpton for Mass, and Jodie Comer for The Last Duel. MY PERSONAL BEST ACTRESS RANKING: LAST: NICOLE KIDMAN Nicole Kidman was totally miscast as Lucille Ball and I found her performance pretty distracting. I was never not aware that this was Nicole Kidman as I watched. She never was able to completely disappear in the role which was required for this specific part. She had flashes here and there where her performance worked, but there were so many other actresses more deserving of a nomination than Nicole for this role. TIE FOR BEST: JESSICA CHASTAIN, OLIVIA COLMAN, KRISTEN STEWART I didn't have a favorite this year, all three of these performances were strong, but each had something I didn't love about them either. Olivia was solid and understated in an unlikable role. Kristen gave her strongest performance to date, but I didn't love her portrayal of Princess Diana as a fragile weakling...though it worked for her movie. Jessica was probably my favorite performance of the three, but this seems more like an oscar making up for her not getting one for Zero Dark Thirty. BEST ACTOR Who won: Will Smith for King Richard Who should have won: Andrew Garfield who was absolutely transcendent in Tick Tick...Boom! Who should have been nominated: Peter Dinklage for Cyrano. MY PERSONAL BEST ACTOR RANKING LAST: JAVIER BARDEM Like Kidman, Javier too was miscast as Desi Arnaz. He looks nothing like Desi and perhaps had too much gravitas for the role. He probably bothered me less than Kidman because he seemed a bit more committed to the part, but he absolutely should not have gotten a nomination for this role. MIDDLE TIER: WILL SMITH & BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH (Note: I did not see The Tragedy of Macbeth, so I cannot comment on or rank Denzel's performance). I think for Will, King Richard was a really strong performance. Was it the best of the year? I'm not so sure, but rather I think members of the Academy wanted to reward him for a strong role that was the culmination of his career. Benedict's performance was also strong, but more reliably so from him than anything necessarily truly remarkable. BEST: ANDREW GARFIELD Andrew Garfield was so dynamic in Tick Tick...Boom! He was absolutely magnetic and commands the screen. You can't take his eyes off of him, and he's really doing so much all at once. He exudes the perfect manic energy of a talented man procrastinating like crazy to avoid dealing with his writer's block, as well as everything going on in his life. Also, who knew he could sing?? BEST DIRECTOR Who won: Jane Campion Who should have won: Jane Campion. Of those nominated, she truly delivered beautiful and gripping work with The Power of the Dog. She infuses the film with an impenetrable sense of dread that you cannot shake. Everything is orchestrated together perfectly to achieve exactly what she wanted. Who should have been nominated: Denis Villeneuve for Dune MY PERSONAL RANKING OF BEST DIRECTOR NOMINEES 5. Steven Spielberg I know I'm in the minority, but I just don't love his version of West Side Story. It's a perfectly capable film, but it doesn't hold a candle to the original in terms of heart or intensity. His West Side Story simply is for people whose sensibilities can't handle classic films. 4. Paul Thomas Anderson Again, Licorice Pizza wasn't really my cup of tea, but I can see the value others find in it. Paul Thomas Anderson pulls out fantastic performances from all involved and truly makes some magic happen where maybe in the hands of someone else couldn't have pulled off what he accomplishes here. 3. Kenneth Branagh As I mentioned, I found Belfast to be a lovely film, and Kenneth Branagh's direction is very strong all throughout. It's not the showiest film, so it'd be easy to take his directing for granted, but he really crafts a beautiful film with really strong performances from everyone involved. 2. Ryusuke Hamaguchi Drive My Car is so unassuming, and yet it has some of the most powerful scenes of any movie from last year. The subtle character work that Hamaguchi carefully crafts gently pulls the viewer into the fictional lives. While not every scene worked for me, I can't deny that the film as a whole wasn't beautifully made. 1. Jane Campion To echo what I said before, Jane was a truly deserving winner of her Best Director Academy Award. It's magnificent to see two female directors winning back to back and this is definitely a win that should be celebrated! Well, that covers all of the big winners from yesterday and like the Academy, I don't have the time to cover everything. But here's hoping they wise up to their mistakes and turn things around next year.

In theaters now is X, Ti West's latest horror film that looks and feels like an ode to slasher flicks of the 1970s. X is simple at its core: a group of filmmakers attempts to make a porno on a remote farm and get more than they bargained for when they discover the owners of the said farm are not quite what they seem. But aspiring starlet Maxine (Mia Goth) is not about to let anything get between her dreams of stardom. X has a lot going for it. Ti West completely nails the era of the film; every frame feels authentic to the point where it almost feels like a movie made in the 1970s, not just one set then. It also has a totally committed cast in addition to Goth, with Brittany Snow, Jenna Ortega, Owen Campbell, Kid Cudi, and Martin Henderson each going all out with their performances. Henderson and Snow in particular are a hoot and make the movie as funny as it is suspenseful. X walks the line of comedy and horror incredibly well and is a delightful mix of the two genres, with a whole lot of sex thrown in for good measure (though honestly, probably too much for my liking). Though seeing how sex drives so much of the overall plot, as well as the individual motivations of these characters it makes sense how present it is, even if I personally felt that it could have been used a little less liberally. On a related note, X gives us one of the horniest and kookiest antagonists in a horror film in a very long time, and their actions all throughout are simultaneously fascinating, as well as absolute nightmare fuel. Though X is a really solid horror film, two things about it are keeping it from being truly great. The first is that it really takes its time to get going, which actually wouldn't be that big of a problem for me if it weren't for the second issue which is that once it finally does start moving along it resolves itself way too quickly. It feels like the real fun is finally starting right when it ends. As such, our final girl doesn't really go through hell and back to earn that mantle, she just kinda has it fall into her lap. It feels frustrating to have so much set up with not quite the payoff you hope for, even if it is still a really fun ride. Still, X is fun enough and likable enough to still appreciate its efforts and not feel too let down by the film as a whole. X is nothing revolutionary in terms of horror, but it's a really great throwback that feels old and new at the same time. It also is a horror movie with interesting things to say about both sex, as well as aging. I appreciated X on many levels, but I wouldn't be interested in what it had to say if it wasn't totally engaging first and foremost which it absolutely is. Its commentary only works because of how solid the film is as a whole. RATING: 8/10

Out today, streaming on Hulu is Deep Water, the erotic thriller by director Adrian Lyne--a director well versed in the genre (Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal, and Unfaithful). This time he pairs Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas as a dysfunctional couple who gets their kicks in demented ways. In order to keep his wife Melinda (Ana de Armas) from divorcing him, Vic (Ben Affleck) allows her to have as many lovers as she wants. She parades them around the house in front of Vic, constantly trying to get a rise out of him and getting off on his jealousy. However, when her lovers start to mysteriously go missing their world starts crashing down around them. Deep Water was unceremoniously dumped onto streaming without much fanfare to be swiftly forgotten, and honestly...it's pretty easy to see why. Watching the film, I really couldn't understand what attracted these two stars to the project. While there is talent involved both in front of the cameras, as well as behind, Deep Water quite simply, is a hot mess. Don't get me wrong, I love myself a trashy guilty pleasure from time to time, but there are too many stretches of the film that just fumble along and feel pointless. To be a true guilty pleasure you've got to at least be thoroughly entertaining, and there were definitely parts of this that were a bore. That said, the film does still contain some incredibly ridiculous content too...it's just more few and far between than I'd like here. One such absurd aspect is the film's ending, which honestly needs to be seen to be believed. I'm not sure who signed off on it, but it was unintentionally hilarious and almost makes the whole thing worth it. Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas definitely gave more to the roles than the film deserved, Affleck in particular does a good job channeling a similar scumbag husband to the one he portrays in Gone Girl. Meanwhile, de Armas brings a bubbly yet devious demeanor to Melinda. But unfortunately, the script doesn't give either of them enough to do and there's not much either can do to save it. In the end, Deep Water needed either more sultriness coupled with thrills or just complete and total absurd insanity throughout to be truly memorable. Instead, its clumsy mix of those ingredients makes for something that will be forgotten soon. RATING: 3/10

When I saw the first trailer for Turning Red I have to say I was very unimpressed. The animation style seemed so far removed from the likes of Pixar's previous classics--it just looked like an average animated movie. But it wasn't just how it looked that felt off to me. Turning Red looked like something from any other animation studio in Hollywood, both as far as style went as well as content...it certainly didn't look special in any way (no trace of that Pixar touch so far as I could tell). Then came the rave reviews leading up to its release claiming it to be one of Pixar's best films in years while simultaneously being the ultimate metaphor for periods and adolescence. I became even more skeptical. I was not really eager to see a film with this subject matter and I went in prepared that I probably wasn't going to enjoy it. Turning Red follows Mei Mei, a young 13-year-old girl who lives a simple life in Toronto until one day she discovers that she turns into a giant red panda whenever her emotions are out of control. Early on, the film was what I was expecting. An unlikeable protagonist, with unlikeable friends, who together all obsess over a silly boy band. Couple that with some teenage angst and unbearable embarrassment due to mommy issues and voila! You've got yourself Turning Red. A scene ten minutes in where her mother mortifies her was so cringeworthy, it felt like it HAD to be a dream...and yet the movie continued on. I felt as though I was in for a long ride ahead. But as the film went on, at some point my annoyance kind of melted away more into amusement, and I couldn't help but smile and laugh at some of the antics to be found here. In the end, it won me over because I couldn't help but find its oddball quality endearing. While I do find the subject matter to be a bit old for a children's movie, there's definitely an audience for it and most of it goes over the really young kids' heads anyway. For its intended audience, the film is a hoot. Turning Red is really funny and deals with adolescence in a comical, yet relatable way. That said, it's not the instant classic many are claiming and it does have flaws. I do think that a lot of the praise is mostly due to people respecting its boldness in even going here, but just because the film takes on these topics doesn't automatically give it the quality some are claiming it has. While I think Mei Mei and her mother Ming are strong characters, the rest feel underdeveloped and merely caricatures. While the friendship at the core of the film is supposed to be what grounds her, we as the audience kinda just take their word for it. It could have also benefited from a tighter edit as things really lag in the middle and before the film's climax. It felt a lot longer than it actually was. Turning Red may not end up having the broadest appeal that previous Pixar films have, but it's still enjoyable if you can let go and enjoy the ride. RATING: 7/10