Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Director: Ryan Coogler. Cast: Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Martin Freeman. 161 min. Fantasy/Action.

• Other than the small positive of having an interesting villain, the only major attribute I can assign this nth Marvel movie, is its beautiful send-off of its recently passed Black Panther role actor, Chadwick Bosman. And how do you make a sequel, when your main (beloved) actor is no longer with us? Simple: you respectfully don't include him, and as Persians might say, show how empty his spot is, because nothing can fill that spot. And that's exactly what Wakanda Forever perfectly does. Otherwise, no matter how hard Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett (as sister and mother of the deceased Black Panther) try, it's quite hard to keep this two and half hour plus movie (why are movies so long these days!!!) from getting boring. After all, the first time a superhero shows up, is almost almost two hours into the movie. Go figure.

MoGo's rating: 6/10

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Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Director: James Cameron. Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Edie Falco. 192 min. Rated PG-13. Fantasy/Action.

• You can say James Cameron's (first) sequel to his epic 2009 movie is too long, you can say it's a reiteration of the original film combined with a Titanic ending, and you can say the multitude of new characters makes this episode slightly confusing. But you cannot doubt one thing: James Cameron is the grandmaster of his craft. The movie is long, but you can sit there watching those stunning underwater scenes with their mind-blowing fantasy creativity ... forever. 
• One criticism I've had for George Lucas' fantasy worlds, is that in a battle between two alien species (in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, for instance), you don't care much about the casualties of the good guy aliens. Here, in a movie where almost all characters are non-human, you cry for the death of one of them. Show me a scene where Lucas has ever made you shed a tear for a space alien.
• To top it all, rarely does anybody choreograph action sequences as good as Cameron does (remember Terminator 2, or Aliens?). Your eyes are glued to the screen for the entire last hour of this movie. In the era of easy, boring computerized action movies, that is a grand achievement. 
• But it's not all just razzle dazzle. There are some hidden messages: the first movie was a Dances with Wolves in space (one of ours joining them to become one of them), this one touches on the hardships of immigration, and the resulting xenophobia. And the environment-friendly vibes exude throughout.
• Avatar: The Way of Water is the ultimate movie entertainment experience. I dare you name a movie as visually stimulating as this one. Watch it on as big a screen as possible.
• (And Jim, we love your movies, but can you do it a little shorter next time?)

MoGo's rating: 8/10

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X (2022), Pearl (2022)

X: Director: Ti West. Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow. 105 min. Rated R. Horror.

Pearl: Director: Ti West. Cast: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright. 103 min. Rated R. Horror.

• X is one of those films where from the very first Searchers-inspired frame (a dark room doorway opening to the horizon of a porch - in this case a blood-splattered porch), you know you're dealing with a great movie. After this introduction to the aftermath of a bloodbath in the house, with the chilling words of a priest preaching the Lord on TV in the background, we flash back to how this all happened, in 1979 - that most fun year in America. A group of young filmmakers embark in a van, under the sun, on a trip to a big house, owned by a creepy old couple, in a field in the middle of nowhere, with broken down cars in the vicinity (all obvious references to that other horror masterpiece, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), to film à la 70s vibes ... a porn movie. Although we know beforehand these youngsters will start getting killed off one by one in violent ways (like they used to in Camp Crystal Lake in Friday the 13th), it's the attention the movie pays to that old couple, particularly the old lady, whose name we're hinted to be Pearl, who longs the days she was young and pretty like these spoiled kids, that separates and elevates this from the usual gruesome horror genre of those years. And did I mention there are some truly scary moments here? Director Ti West shows that he knows (and loves) the medium, because X is that once-in-a-decade incredibly well-made horror movie.
• With Pearl, premiered this year a mere 6 months after the first movie, and set in 1918, we've already been primed that this will be the origin story of the old lady in X, that her husband is still fighting in one of those wars he was mentioned in X to survive from, and that she is waiting for her turn at acting superstardom. While not as scary as the first movie, the prequel continues X's simple love affair with cinema, this time in the form of bright colorful cinematography (as opposed to the dark gloom of X), multiple homages to the Golden Age of Hollywood, and Pearl's introduction to the hypnotism of watching something forbidden - on the screen. Not much of a surprise that legendary film director, historian and restoration artist, Martin Scorsese, has praised the movie. The shining light here is Mia Goth's portrayal as Pearl, with her long disturbing monologue towards the end revealing her descent into murderous insanity, and a final end-credits continuous close-up on her face, projecting a succession of contradictory emotions from a fractured mind.
• The third film of the trilogy, MaXXXine, is currently under development, and follows the story of Maxine from the first movie (played again by Mia Goth) and her acting career in the 80s.  

MoGo's rating (X): 9/10

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MoGo's rating (Pearl): 8/10

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The Menu (2022)

Director: Mark Mylod. Cast: Stars Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, John Leguizamo, Janet McTeer. 107 min. Thriller/Horror.

• A group of well-to-do people journey to a unique restaurant on a remote island to enjoy an exemplary dinner, hosted by a legendary chef. Their isolation from civilization creates the perfect setting for a horror movie, about the "obnoxious elitism" so accepted in the real world and so intentionally ignorant to the filth happening around them in the movie, you occasionally want to cheer at how these poor souls have sealed their fate by taking this luxurious trip. Nevertheless, some moments were so tense, I almost audibly gasped. Add to that Ralph Fiennes' villainous prowess, Anya Taylor-Joy's everlasting charm, and a subtle comedic touch, and you have an extremely watchable movie on your hands - even if it isn't able to maintain the thrilling tension it creates all the way till the end.

MoGo's rating: 8/10

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The Fabelmans (2022), Armageddon Time (2022)

The Fabelmans: Director: Steven Spielberg. Cast: Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogan, Judd Hirsch. 151 min. Biography/Drama.

Armageddon Time: Director: James Gray. Cast: Banks Repeta, Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Chastain. 114 min. Biography/Drama.

• We have two movies, screened within weeks: Spielberg telling his coming-of-age story in The Fabelmans, and James Gray telling his in Armageddon Time. Both show kids struggling in dysfunctional families, both show coming to grasp with a Jewish identity, both kids having an inspiring second degree family figure (Judd Hirsch as the uncle in the former, Anthony Hopkins as the grandfather in the latter), and both stories that are ... sloooow. The movies make you wonder: other than the fact that powerful directors have resources to make a highly stylish cinematic rendering of their childhoods with events as dramatic (or even less dramatic) as other kids and families, what's the reason to watch this? 
• Actually, while Michelle Williams does a tremendous job as Spielberg's conflicted mom, and The Fabelmans' best scene is the final moment with David Lynch as John Ford (it's truly a great scene), I'd consider Armageddon Time a better movie, because it carries a question of whether you'll have the courage to stand up for what you know deep inside is right - or just cower away into your hole.
• Watch The Fabelmans for multiple scenes showing the inspiration for some of Spielberg's best directed/produced movie moments, including E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Poltergeist, and Back to the Future.
• Watch for a short scene in Armageddon Time including Trump's father and sister (played by Jessica Chastain).

MoGo's rating (The Fabelmans): 7/10

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MoGo's rating (Armageddon Time): 7/10

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The Phantom of the Open (2021)

Director: Craig Roberts. Cast: Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins, Rhys Ifans. 106 min. Biography/Sport.

• From Forrest Gump to Maurice Flitcroft, the real-life-based protagonist of this film, I've always had problems with movies glamorizing simpletons. Based on this narrative, Flitcroft actually escalated the game, and through methods that would normally be attributed to con men, advanced in the 70's from knowing nothing about golf, to participating in the British Open ... several times. He even instructs his sons to follow his way of living, mindlessly pursuing their passions without any long-term plan in sight. But no, let's make a movie with uber-talented stars such as Mark Rylance and Sally Hawkins in the leads, to show how cute, innocent and adorable the man was - let's make people feel good about their mediocrities, because hey, you can exude ineptitude and still change history (and considering some recent political figures, that's not far from the truth). The ironic part is that this World's Worst Golfer's endeavors were celebrated in the form of an annual prize, awarded to the year's worst golfer, in of all places ... somewhere in the U.S. Why am I not surprised. 

MoGo's rating: 6/10

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The Glance of Music (Ennio) (2021)

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore. 156 min. Documentary. 

• It's true: Ennio Morricone is one of those rare movie music composers, that if you've seen just a few movies he's composed, when the next one comes by, you know it's him (Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri and James Horner are some other stylists with that attribute that come to mind). And this film is a tribute to that grandeur. Following his career through interviews with the recently deceased artist and some other shining stars of film and music (Clint Eastwood, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, Wong Kar-Wai, Dario Argento, Barry Levinson, Bernardo Bertolucci, Bruce Springsteen, Quincy Jones), in a film directed by none other than Giuseppe Tornatore (whose Cinema Paradiso was graced by the master's heavenly themes), we watch how some of Morricone greatest melodies came to fruition - from the coyote cry of The Good the Bad, and the Ugly, to the thrilling tension of The Untouchables, to the choir melodies of The Mission. And while his "Ecstasy of Gold" is certifiably one of the greatest synchronizations of film and music in cinema history, by the time he was describing "Jill's theme" in Once Upon a Time in America, I was almost teary-eyed. This long documentary is worth your time, even if you think you don't know Morricone's work ... to realize how well you do.

MoGo's rating: 8/10

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The Black Phone (2021)

Director: Scott Derrickson. Cast: Stars Mason Thames, Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies. 103 min. Horror/Thriller.

• When we were kids in the 70's, we would see black-and-white photos on milk cartons, or posters in grocery stores ... of missing children. I was always mesmerized by these photos, and would stare: what happened to this kid? Where is he now? While my imagination never ventured beyond that, to this day I'm still disturbed by the notion. The Black Phone is based on that horror. It happens in the late 70s, and it knows exactly how it felt to be a kid, and worry about a prowler jumping out of a corner in broad daylight, for your picture to end up on a milk carton.  
• The movie takes this horror one step further: it shows you what happened to that kid, or what will eventually happen to them. Trapped by one such monster (unfortunately played by one of my favorite actors alive, Ethan Hawke), the story's young hero discovers through an ingeniously written screenplay where those other kids are - via a black phone on the wall. Without spoiling anything, let's just say the movie adds another familiar element of horror, and plays that element extremely well, to the point that you can easily suspend disbelief, and follow along with the gripping story.
• Horror movies are too numerous to count. Good horror movies are a rarity. The Black Phone is a good horror movie - of the kind that comes every five years or so. My pet peeve in movies has always been violence against children, but even with its subject matter, the film didn't cross that cross that line for me. If you're a horror buff, don't miss it. 

MoGo's rating: 8/10

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Thirteen Lives (2022)

Director: Ron Howard. Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton. Adventure/Biography. 147 min.

• Generally, I consider Ron Howard a "director-for-hire". Yes, he has had some major hits (A Beautiful Mind, Willow), but based on his filmography, he looks like a guy whom they hire for a project, not him becoming excited about one and going after (like the major auteurs do). Great examples are how he botched the ending of Inferno, based on the third Dan Brown/Robert Langdon novel, and how he was brought in to complete the disaster Han Solo movie. Directors who respect their own status never do things like that.  
• That said, Thirteen Lives is a decent film. Based on the real-life 2018 rescue mission of a junior soccer team trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand, the film, although quite long, has its moments. There is some interesting character development here, making you feel for the scuba divers who occasionally lose it and break into tears under pressure, or others who are callous to what's at stake and are there just to get a job done. These moments compensate for the movie's flaws, such as when local farmers agree, too rapidly, to have their fields (their entire life investments) flooded to rescue the boys; or when one diver initially is hesitant to go in for one last dive, but then agrees to go without any explanation - as though the movie length was too long and some segments ended up on the cutting room floor.
• My biggest advice, is that if you don't know much about the event (specifically, about the manner and method of which the kids were rescued), don't read anything about it before seeing the movie. Because that part of the story is what took my breath away. That's what Hollywood is loved for, and why the likes of Ron Howard have a job. 

MoGo's rating: 7/10

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Ambulance (2022)

Director: Michael Bay. Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González. 136 min. Action/Crime.

• There used to be a time when in the realm of action, Michael Bay used to make fairly decent movies (I regard The Rock as one of the best action movies ever made). But then he started making those Transformers flicks, and now this is where we are: Ambulance. IMDb puts the synopsis very well: "Two robbers steal an ambulance after their heist goes awry." That's it. Two robbers steal an ambulance and the police chase them - the most simple, most primitive form of entertainment catering to the lowest denominator capitalism could have ever conceived. Just that now, in addition to the CGI technology he abused to its fullest in Transformers, Bay is equipped (or better said ... armed) with drone shots, twisting and twirling around cars and skyscrapers, for no reason other than to sustain an artificial momentum on an action movie. This movie is so crazy, the robbers listen to Christopher Cross' relaxing "Sailing" in the heat of one of its innumerable, boring chase scenes. By the end, I predicted I may have seen my worst movie of 2022.

MoGo's rating: 3/10

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Prey (2022)

Director: Dan Trachtenberg. Cast: Amber Midthunder, Dane DiLiegro. 99 min. Action/Fantasy.

• Finally, a Predator movie that, for lack of a better term, makes sense. Written as a prequel to the multitude of useless sequels after the brilliant 1987 original, this movie happens 300 years ago among Native-Americans. 
• I say this one makes sense, because both the Native-Americans and the Predator species are considered "warriors",  and the young heroine and her tribesmen's fighting skills are tested against the alien, to the point that occasionally you're not sure which side is the prey, and which the predator (hence, the movie's name). Secondly, one of the soldier characters in the original was a Native, and his resolve against the Predator there felt as if ... he'd heard of these stories before. 
• The fact that the cast are Native-Americans and speak the actual Comanche language, and the breathtaking cinematography of Canadian panoramas, make this take on the Predator legend even more refreshing. Quite violent, but you shouldn't expect any less from this franchise.

MoGo's rating: 8/10

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