Exceptional Original Movies Are Back!
Plus another edition of Retro Recs
Oh how the tides can quickly turn in Hollywood!
A few weeks ago I wrote about how bleak things were in the movie world during the first quarter.
While I wrote in that piece about many of the factors contributing to the poor start to 2025, there is only one that really matters to what this newsletter is all about - the quality of new release films.
And lets just say that things weren’t great from January through March.
Just look at my rating breakdown for new releases:
Bad movies (.5, 1, 1.5, or 2 star films) - 11 films
Mediocre movies (2.5 or 3 star films) - 11 films
Good movies (3.5 star films) - 6 films
Great movies (4 star films) - 1 film
Exceptional movies (4.5 star films) - 0 films
Perfect movies (5 star films) - 0 films
Like you can see, pretty bottom heavy with Black Bag being the only great film of the year.
Well folks, that changed pretty drastically over the past two weeks! We got our first exceptional movie of the year, another great movie to join “Black Bag”, and even a fun mediocre movie.
Lets dive into those movies!
Sinners (Directed by Ryan Coogler)
Plot - “Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their Mississippi hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.”
My thoughts - I never quite understood why many grouped Ryan Coogler into the same young director tier as Gerwig, Chazelle, Peele, Eggers, Aster, or the Safdies. After seeing Sinners I would like to formally apologize to Coogler because he is now firmly cemented in that group.
The film feels alive. It feels sexy. There is blues music that will rattle your bones. There is violence. There is Irish music that makes you want to get up and dance. There is temptation. There is longing. There is a sequence that makes you want to stand up and clap. There is the allure of the other side. There is culture. There is blood. There is a sex scene that will make you blush. There is a score that will leave you speechless. There is brotherly love. There is rekindled love. There is lost love. There is young love. There is community. There is family. It is gritty. It is bold. It is soulful. Oh and did I mention, there are even vampires!
There is just about everything here.
It’s remarkably deep & fully realized, yet at the same time is still SO much fun.
This is why we go to the cinema. In fact, if you don’t bother to go & see this one in the theaters, I don’t want to hear your thoughts on the film if you wait to see it at home.
The second watch in theaters confirmed for me that the film will be in our lives for a long time, but I still can’t wait to see it a third and maybe even a fourth time in theaters during its run.
Rating - 4.5/5
How to watch - SEE IT ON THE BIGGEST SCREEN POSSIBLE
Warefare (Directed by Ray Mendoza & Alex Garland)
Plot - “A surveillance mission goes wrong for a platoon of American Navy SEALs in insurgent territory in Iraq.”
My thoughts - There are certain movies where the filmmaking team behind the movie is almost just as interesting to me as the movie itself. Warfare is certainly one of those – you have a first-time director who served in the military (Mendoza) paired with one of the best screenwriters/directors of the last decade (Garland) who also happens to be staunchly anti-war. It is really neat listening to these guys talk about the film on the press tour because it is so clear that they are making the movie for completely different reasons.
Mendoza is doing it as an exercise to help his military brothers remember everything they experienced that day while Garland is doing it as a technical exercise in filmmaking & accurately depicting the horrors of modern war on screen. Mendoza isn’t concerned at all about whether the film is anti-war or not, in fact he has gone so far to almost suggest that it isn’t (because he is so laser focused on helping his friend remember everything he forgot about that day). While Garland has almost exclusively agreed to do the project because he sees the film as an anti-war movie. Same with actor Will Poulter who was beyond excited about getting a call because he wanted to work with Garland for years. That changed when he learned it was a war film. As a pacifist, he had no interest in portraying a war on screen. At least until he met with Garland and heard the pitch of the film & what it was going for.
What is so cool about this team all coming together to make this movie for different reasons & from differing views is that the film really works for each of their individual goals. It works as a way for those involved to remember the details of that day, but it also works as a portrait for why war shouldn’t be a first resort – both for the invading nation and the nation being invaded.
Since both directors are approaching it from such technical angles, it is a film much more focused on the “what” of war than the “why”, which seems to have many people flustered (just like they got flustered of Civil War). The irony about people saying this is military propaganda is that if you truly portray the “what” of war accurately, honestly, and without narrative compromise (like done in Warfare) you get a pretty good picture of why war shouldn’t exist. That is exactly what Warfare is doing. Anyone who says this glamorizes war hasn’t actually seen the movie. Anyone who says this makes the military out to be heroes hasn’t seen the moments where they try to use the translators as bait. The answer shouldn’t be no depiction, it should be proper depiction. Which is exactly what Warfare does.
One of the best moments of the film is when Will Poulter’s character is confronted inside the local house the US military took over. The screaming mother aggressively yells “Why” over and over. There is never an answer given because there isn’t one. At least not a good one. The pointlessness of the whole conflict is on display throughout the whole film in small moments like that. After the soldiers leave, we are left with the family & what remains of their house, their neighborhood, and their city. Maybe if the film were a short 30 second Tik Tok clip our society would actually have the attention span to get what the film is about instead of yelling propaganda because someone told them to.
On a technical level the film is astonishing from top to bottom. The sound design is rightfully getting high praise from many throughout Hollywood & I would love to see that praise carry all the way to an Oscar nomination. I am going to go back and see it again in theaters this weekend because it is so impressive technically that I am not sure I will be able to watch it again at home without the full experience.
Go see this movie in theaters. Give yourself over to this piece of art for an hour and a half & I promise you will feel things. It isn’t a fun watch, but it is important. And if you are one of the few people left who can make it 90 minutes without letting your phone distract you, heck, you may even have a new perspective on war itself.
Rating - 4/5
How to watch - Current in theaters!
Drop (Directed by Christopher Landon)
Plot - “A widowed mother's first date in years takes a terrifying turn when she's bombarded with anonymous threatening messages on her phone during their upscale dinner, leaving her questioning if her charming date is behind the harassment.”
My thoughts - It’s about time we have a serious discussion about how movies are marketed. I understand that studios feel as though they almost have to show more material in trailers to even get people out to the theater, but we’ve officially gone too far. I basically had already seen the first 2/3 of this movie just from trailers! And I am even someone who specifically goes out of my way to avoid trailers. I get that marketing a movie is tricky in a world where attention is the new currency, but we have to find a better way.
For Drop specifically, trailers are partially to blame but so is pacing. The slow moving first two acts may work if someone goes into the movie completely blind, but not when the "I want you to kill your date" text was prominently featured in the trailers. The film almost builds to that moment deep into the runtime as this demented twist to play for shock value, but in reality everyone went in already knowing that. Maybe that works when the characters are interesting enough to distract from that, but that really isn't the case here.
Once you finally get past the moments that were spoiled from trailers (essentially everything before the third act), the film is a lot of fun. In fact, it is so fun that the third act is pretty great. If only the first two had more moments like that & less time spent with the annoying waiter meant to be the comedic relief.
One final thought, in this era of cellphones, we have to find better ways to show text messages than flashing the text on screen. It looks terrible and is a horrific use of the cinematic medium.
All in all, a fun, but flawed movie!
Rating - 4/5
How to watch - Currently in theaters
See all previous Retro Recommendations here.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) (Directed by Joe Talbot)
Premise - “A flamboyant law firm secretary works tirelessly to gain justice for a small town wrecked by a utility company's pollution.”
Noteworthy cast - Jonathan Majors, Jimmie Falls, & Danny Glover
My thoughts - I remember one time I heard someone say (can’t remember who) that you knew you were watching a great movie when you could freeze the frame at any point & be okay with that frame being hung on your wall. Obviously it would be reductive to say that’s the only way to tell if you are watching a great film, but it’s no doubt a way to tell you are watching a gorgeous one.
I think there were about 400 frames throughout The Last Black Man in San Francisco that I would happily frame on my wall. So many draw dropping shots one after another that it makes you wonder how this all came from the mind of a first time director.
Genuinely one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. That score. The way it’s shot. The performances. The way it captures the heartbeat of a city. The fully crafted characters.
Only major bummer was being reminded of just how much talent Jonathan Majors had and tossed away.
Rating - 4.5/5
How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $4.63 million ($4.5 million domestically) on a $3 million budget
Did it win any Oscars? - In a stacked Oscar year, it didn’t even receive a nomination
Where to watch - Rent or buy on Amazon
That is all for now! Let’s hope that “Sinners” is the first of many exceptional films to come in 2025.
Until next time, enjoy some great films!
Aaron Nolan
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Agreed on the marketing of movies--does it really help sell a movie if you feel like you've already figured it out from the trailer? I've avoided some really worthwhile movies because of lousy trailers. I know that movies that aren't monster hits are really hurting right now but trailers have been a problem for a long time (also there are too many before the show begins!!).
I would have enjoyed Warfare—and respected its supposed antiwar stance—more without the on-screen text before and after the feature.
I also need to rewatch Sinners because outside of the dance sequence I do not understand the hype. And talk about a trailer that gives too much away!