Cry Macho (2021)

Director: Clint Eastwood. Cast: Stars Clint Eastwood,  Eduardo Minett, Natalia Traven. 104 min. Western/Drama.

• I solely watched this because I appreciate that Clint is still making movies at 90 years of age. Sole reason.
• Of course, you can see the old age has affected his abilities as a director. He's not noticing how bad the acting is all around - including his own. He's not noticing how many plot points of his road movie about a nonagenarian hero traveling deep into Mexico to pull out his American boss' son, just don't make sense. 
• The only charming element of the story, is how old age can act as the strongest cover to get through some of the most dangerous places. Maybe that's why Eastwood made this.
• The only non-kids movie you'll see with a rooster as a central character.
• Beautiful cinematography. It's a western, so you expect no less.
• Yeah ...if he makes more movies, I'll still watch. I like watching Clint Eastwood.

MoGo's rating: 6/10

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One-Way to Tomorrow (Yarina Tek Bilet) (2020)

 

Director: Ozan Açiktan. Cast: Metin Akdülger, Dilan Çiçek Deniz. 90 min. Drama/Romance.

• Two youngsters accidentally meet on a train and ... that's enough to remind you of Jesse and Celine in Before Sunrise. And this movie is an expansion of that, with a twist, as we later suspect the boy and girl may or may not have a past connection. But then again, the film is 90 minutes of (engaging) dialogue between the two in a minimal number of locations - predominantly in a train coupé.
• Both male and female counterparts of the story (unknown actors to me) shine. The female more so.
• Netflix's first original Turkish film. Yes, that's how far Netflix is expanding.

MoGo's rating: 7/10

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Stillwater (2021)

 

Director: Tom McCarthy. Cast: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin. 139 min. Crime/Thriller.

• From the director of the Oscar-winning Spotlight, reminiscent of Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners, and likely inspired by the Amanda Knox story, a father from Oklahoma will go any length to prove the innocence of his daughter, imprisoned in a Marseilles jail for murder.
• Through an engaging screenplay and fascinating turn by Damon as the polite, simple-minded, monotonous, no-nonsense Southern father, the context actually becomes a reflection on Trumpism around the world, and how the typical "American conservative" is seen ... and judged. By claiming "clueless gun-toting white Americans can be good people also", the movie eventually looks down upon them, instead of vindicating them.
• The film runs a tad too long. The entire romance subplot between the two main characters could've been cut short, as believing that these people from two sides of the political spectrum can co-habit and fall in love, is a tall order. 
• Abigail Breslin has lost her Little Miss Sunshine days charm.

MoGo's rating: 7/10

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Luca (2021)

 

Director Enrico Casarosa. Voices: Jacob Tremblay,  Maya Rudolph, Jim Gaffigan,  Sacha Baron Cohen. 95 min. Animation.

• Pixar continues its tradition of "What if ... had feelings?" (Toy Story asked "What if toys had feelings?", A Bug's Life asked: "What if bugs had feelings?", Cars asked "What if cars had feelings?", etc etc ...), this time by asking: What if sea monsters had feelings?
• Supposedly, the first Pixar movie (due to Covid times) made almost entirely at people's home(s).
• The first Pixar animation in a long time exclusively targeted to kids (Inside Out and Toy Story 4, with all their greatness, swayed the pendulum towards adults way too far).
• Nevertheless, that doesn't mean this lacks any message for kids: some good concepts, generally about racism and society's xenophobia, and specifically about homosexuality (the two old ladies at the end showing their true self) make this story about a young sea "monster" trying to find and prove his place in the world, a worthy watch.   
• Just that ... Pixar usually wowed me. This didn't wow me.

MoGo's rating: 7/10

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Without Remorse (2021)

 

Director Stefano Sollima. Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Guy Pierce. 109 min. Action/Thriller.

• Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October, Harrison Ford in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman in The Sum of All Fears. Then we had Chris Pine in Shadow Recruit, and now Michael B. Jordan in the lead of Without Remorse. Movies based on the late Tom Clancy's techno-thrillers have attracted big names in the past, but recently the celebrity-attracting status of the novels seems to be dwindling.
• There's a mid-movie prison brawl. Michael B. Jordan prepares for the fight like a boxer. I suddenly remembered: "Oh, he was in Creed." We don't waste actors' skills from other movies, do we.
• Make sure you've watched the 1994 Clear and the Present Danger before this. There's an interesting origin story for John Clark here - played in that movie by Willem Dafoe.
• Wait for the post-credits scene - to watch the attempt to create an Avengers-like multi-movie world (in exactly the same manner we were promised in Iron Man's post-credits scene), based on Tom Clancy's "Rainbow Six". What I couldn't understand, is why they started a presumed empire with such a dull movie, with such dull direction. Were they not sure? Then why try?

MoGo's rating: 6/10

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

 

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton. Cast: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Michelle Yeoh. 132 min. Fantasy/Action.

• A Marvel movie that does for the Asian community what Black Panther did for African-Americans: showing a highly advanced (but hidden) society, incorporating the cinematic elements of Asian culture (the logic of flying during martial arts fights, the uniqueness of the Chinese dragon), to create a movie that is independent of the Marvel universe - but can still be part of it.
• The ancient father-son themes are so Star Wars.
• Awkwafina rules. The most enjoyable presence of the entire two-hour plus movie.
• After Nobody, provides the second awesome bus fight in less than a year. Actually, this one's better.
• Revives a character that had been somewhat ruined in Iron Man 3 ... in many pleasant ways.
• The final half hour is a spectacle to behold. 

MoGo's rating: 8/10

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The Green Knight (2021)

Director: David Lowery. Cast: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris. 130 min. Fantasy.

• Based on the 1869 Arthurian novel "Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight" - unread by me so unable to comment on liberties taken by writer/director Lowery in telling the story; but apparently there are some.
• By the director of the beautiful A Ghost Story (one of my favorite movies of 2017), projecting the same themes of that current day movie (the loneliness of death, the possibility of parallel narratives) to hundreds of years ago - but a few times deeper and somewhat difficult to understand. I occasionally found myself lost among the multitude of (pleasant) surprises: what to believe, which part was a dream, and which part was actually happening.
• The Green Knight himself is a memorable presence. You will be thinking about him after the movie.
• Political correctness aside, not too sure about Dev Patel as Sir Gawain. And after Ex Machina, I've never quite connected with Vikander in any of her roles (Tomb Raider being the worst).

MoGo's rating: 7/10

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The Night House (2020)

 

Director: David Bruckner. Cast: Stars Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Stacy Martin. 107 min. Horror.

• Every few years a decent horror movie (with a horror situation devoid of dumb violence) comes along ... and this one is it.
• I have yet to see a bad Rebecca Hall movie.
• Story logic again has the Amityville Horror problem: heroine keeps sleeping alone in a house that is undoubtedly haunted.
• Contains a few great jump scares, but they're all "fair" ones, because you're forewarned in every instance. 
• Excellent use of production design: the moving architecture of the rooms help tell a story.
• Without spoiling anything - great ending with a message about depression.

MoGo's rating: 8/10

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The Suicide Squad (2021)

 

Director James Gunn. Cast: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Michael Rooker, Viola Davis, Taika Waititi, Sylvester Stallone. 132 min. Action/Fantasy.

• Major improvement compared to the original of 5 years prior. At least this one has a kaiju at the end. Credit to Guardians of the Galaxy director, James Gunn.
• Glad that Margot Robbie was still on for this one. I have a disdain for glamorizing violence (even for a cartoonish film), which is done heavily here - but the contrast is what makes Harlequin's flower-gushing scene such a delight.
• Amazing: Sylvester Stallone provides the voice of the shark. 

MoGo's rating: 7/10

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