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| Divorce, American style |
This year's hits you may have missed, flops that you should avoid, hidden gems to discover and more, plus where to watch 'em...
It's been a busy year for Adam Driver:
Marriage Story (now streaming
on Netflix):
Driver and Scarlett Johansson are both at the top of their game in this self-proclaimed "love story about divorce". Semi-autobiographically written and directed by Noah Baumbach (it is based on his real life split from actress Jennifer Jason Leigh), this
Story shrewdly doesn't make you choose sides as in, say, Baumbach's own
The Squid and the Whale or
Kramer vs. Kramer (although the son here is just as trying as Justin Henry). Scenes are allowed to play out naturally, veering from the mundane to the fervent and back again. Plus: Laura Dern's brilliantly bitchy divorce attorney, not one but two Sondheim songs and a (somewhat) happy ending. (9/10)
The Report (now streaming
on Amazon Prime):
Don't let the cinematically crowded year end make you miss out on Driver's other Oscar-worthy 2019 performance here as Daniel Jones, the US Senate investigator who uncovered the CIA's use of torture tactics following 9/11. Writer/director Scott Z. Burns (who also wrote the similarly scandal-ized
The Laundromat earlier this year) takes what is essentially guys in business attire shuffling paperwork and weaves a tense thriller in the mold of
All the President's Men. A sharp Annette Bening also shines as a no-nonsense Senator Dianne Feinstein. (8/10)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (in theaters now):
This grand finale of the protracted, newly-christened "Skywalker Saga" has turned out to be even
more divisive than its immediate predecessor, 2017's
The Last Jedi, a film I nevertheless consider one of the best of the series.
Rise doesn't, well, rise to the heights of Shakespearean space saga that the
Last chapter did; even as it barrels toward its inevitable conclusion it feels drawn out, tripping over a
deus ex machina here, some fan service there. And coming on the heels of Disney+'s mostly "Force"-free
The Mandalorian, all the magical mumbo-jumbo is even more cornier than usual. And yet, as someone who has been through all the highs and lows of
Star Wars for the past forty-plus years, "episode IX" still gave me a good ride, almost as good as a 9-year-old me took back in the summer of '77. (7/10)
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| Black-clad man |
Reviews by Kirby Holt, Movie Dearest creator, editor and head writer.
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