Film Babble Blog Is Back With A Post Summer Report

Hey folks, I’m back from the longest break in Film Babble Blog’s 22-year history. I haven’t posted since the Oscars in March because I’ve been extremely busy with several book projects, one of which, I’m happy to announce, is going to be published by University Press of Mississippi next year: Exile on Mean Street: The Music in Goodfellas and the Films of Martin Scorsese.

The book is an examination of the director’s use of music throughout his entire filmography with the soundtrack of the 1990 mob masterpiece at its center. But when I took a break from the endless writing, re-writing, and editing I saw a number of new movies over the summer so I thought it was time to collect my thoughts on them here.

  

I’ll start with Steven Spielberg’s highly hyped alien conspiracy thriller DISCLOSURE DAY, which opened last June to good reviews and big box office. Now, my all-time favorite Spielberg flick is 1978’s CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND so I was primed to see what some were calling a spiritual sequel, but I have to say I was profoundly disappointed. The story, involving Emily Blunt as a TV meteorologist, and Josh O’Connor as a cybersecurity whistleblower racing to expose proof of extraterrestrial life, was as predictable as it was familiar feeling – we’ve been through all these X-Files-style convolutions before. I mean, the largely forgotten 2011 Simon Pegg comedy PAUL was more enlightening about aliens living among us ’n shit. On the surface, Spielberg’s latest treatise on UFOs is a lively, watchable, well acted, and well made movie, but the 79-year old’s approach to this material is more cute than cutting edge.

Much more successful in its scope and majesty is Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY, which falls in line with the director’s streak of big-ass, war-minded spectacles like OPPENHEIMER and DUNKIRK. All of the idiotic complaints about the film being “woke” or a “DEI version” of Homer’s epic poem meant nothing to me, as the cast gathered here - Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron - were all convincing inhabitants of this mythological world. The imagery in the bombastic battle scenes and the passages involving sea monsters and sirens is incredible - expect an Oscar nom for cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema - and completely worth a high-priced IMAX ticket. But after such a towering achievement as this, I kinda want Nolan to scale way back and maybe make - I dunno - a rom com or some such.

 

Of course, the summer had plenty of sequels and franchise films, but the only ones I saw were Pixar’s TOY STORY 5, and the STAR WARS entry, THE MANDOLORIAN AND GROGU. Andrew Stanton’s newest adventure with Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack) and all them other wacky toys has a juicy premise involving what happens when playtime meets screen time, as our heroes have to deal with an iPad-type device that threatens their connection to Bonnie and, more ominously, the very idea of kids playing with toys at all. It mostly works and has a lot of laughs—particularly from Conan O’Brien as the toilet-training device Smarty Pants—but there’s some noticeable formula fatigue, and that pesky thought that the series probably should’ve ended with the third one never quite went away. Still, it’s an enjoyable romp all the same.

As for Jon Favreau’s THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU, it was amusing to see a STAR WARS movie get so little fanfare and come and go so quickly. I barely remember much about it, as it felt like another episode of the show, which I had stopped watching in season two. Having spent a year working on a book about Scorsese, I had to see it, as he has a small part voicing a multi-armed alien fry cook, but while that had its charms, it’s still odd that the legendary director took the role. On a basic level, like SOLO, the movie is a perfectly serviceable sci-fi action flick, but sometimes what happens a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away should stay there.

On my birthday this year (September 9), I wanted to take a break from writing and see something that was purely for fun, so I decided on going to either SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY or COYOTE VS. ACME. I chose the latter because I was more curious about director Dave Green’s long-shelved mixture of live action and animation concerning Warner Bros. cartoon characters that the studio had infamously shelved despite the movie being essentially finished. Former SNL cast member and MACGRUBER star Will Forte is perfectly cast as the attorney who takes the Coyote’s case, and the film is enjoyably crammed with cameos and gags from start to finish. I laughed quite a bit and thought I made the right choice, but I still plan to catch up with the latest SPIDER-MAN someday.

Alright, so that’s a handful of the movies I’ve seen lately, but I’ll be back to cover other, less mainstream movies, including some A24 titles. As the more interesting fall movie season is upon us, expect me to not be such a stranger, as Film Babble Blog is back in business.

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The Beatles Invade America All Over Again In New Disney+ Doc

BEATLES ’64 (Dir. David Tedeschi, 2024)

There was a sketch on the IFC show Portlandia in which comedian Fred Armisen decides he wants to make a documentary about the Beatles. Despite his friend/comedy partner Carrie Brownstein skeptically replying “seems like there are so many,” Fred isn’t dissuaded, and declares that he will bring a new spin to the oft told tale, saying it’ll be about “Four mop-topped lads from Liverpool who changed the world…forever!” 

 

The rest of the sketch has Fred telling anyone who’ll listen what he’ll have in his film - the Beatles arrival at JFK, their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, their psychedelic experimentation, etc. – obviously all the expected historical highlights of the band’s career that have been done to death. The joke that Armisen had no new angle, spin, or take on the Fab Four for yet another doc came to my mind when I first heard about BEATLES ’64, which premieres on Disney+ this Friday, November 29.

 

Now, this Portlandia bit was from ten years ago, and there have been lots of Beatles docs since then - even one funnily enough about the band’s 1965 visit to Portland – but I had to wonder what new could be brought to the table about a period that was pretty well covered by Albert and David Maysles’ THE BEATLES: THE FIRST U.S. VISIT or THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY or HOW THE BEATLES CHANGED THE WORLD or…well, you get the idea.

 

So the big selling point of David Tedeschi’s BEATLES ’64 (produced by Martin Scorsese) is that it features 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage that comes from the 11 hours of film the Maysles brothers shot for a program entitled What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A., which was aired on CBS in late 1964 as a special episode of the TV show, The Entertainers.

That show was later re-edited for the 1991 home video release, THE FIRST U.S. VISIT. Now, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that on VHS in the ‘90s, so I can’t say how much overlap there is here, but as a big fan of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, I am delighted to report that this third take on the material delivers a fresh, insightful exploration of that crazy time when the Beatlemania epidemic swept the country.

BEATLES '64 gives viewers quality time with their prized Pepsi vending machine replica transistor radio.

Tedeschi deftly packages the narrative of the Beatles arrival in America, and the days leading to their legendary appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, with present day commentary from Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr, who we see showing his collection of clothes and gear to Scorsese (so makes me want a mini-series of Marty and Ringo just hanging out). 

There are also fascinating and funny interviews with Ronnie Spector, Smokey Robinson, and most touching, David Lynch, who saw the Beatles in Washington D.C. a few days after their stateside debut on Sullivan. There’s also a sideline story that producer Jack Douglas tells about travelling to Liverpool to tap into that Merseybeat magic, but not being able to perform without a visa and work permits might perplex at first, but pays off amusingly.

 

Another selling point is that the black and white footage pops with sharp crispness, which isn’t surprising as it was restored in 4K by Beatlemaniac Peter Jackson. And, of course, the music all sounds terrific, not just the Beatles, but of their contemporaries like Robinson, the Supremes, and Little Richard. 

 

In moments that play like a real-life A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, we see the guys clowning around in their Plaza Hotel room with highlights being when a cheeky McCartney tells the cameraman to “defy convention!” and shoot them from a lower angle so the mike can be seen, which he does to clapping from the group and entourage, and when Lennon calls a reporter a “wanker.” Meanwhile, the hubbub happening outside the Beatles’ bubble plays like a real-life I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND (Robert Zemeckis’ 1978 comedy about fans trying to get close to the band at the hotel) with groupies praising their beloved in street interviews, and being caught in the hallways by cops and hotel security.

 

All of this comes together now as a highly worthwhile watch even if you feel like you’ve seen and heard it all before. It’s especially recommended if the Beatles are new to you, and you don’t know how it went down, but I doubt many of those people would’ve read this far. Three years ago this week, Jackson’s monumental, and wonderful three part/eight hour GET BACK project was released, so if BEATLES ’64 is supposed to continue the trend for future Thanksgiving weekends, I’ll say what Paul’s father suggested should be the repeated refrain in “She Loves You,” - “yes, yes, yes.”

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Finally, Film Babble Blog’s Favorite Films Of 2023!

As s it’s almost February, and the Oscar noms have been announced (and I finally got around to watching PLEASE DON’T DESTROY: THE TREASURE OF FOGGY MOUNTAIN), I’m finally posting my 10 Top movies (and some spillover) from 2023.

This has been a much better year for film than any of the last several, since before the Pandemic actually, so it was an easier time making these picks. Like a number of my choices, the first one was a movie that surprised me with how much I liked it. 

 

1. DREAM SCENARIO (Dir. Kristoffer Borgli) Nicholas Cage’s 11,875th film is one of his best, featuring an timely, inventive premise in which Cage’s schlubby college professor starts showing up in many people’s dreams, giving a new layer to going viral. It’s a profoundly cringy experience that I bet will stay with me longer than most of the other movies on this list. Read my review: When Nicholas Cage Dreams Become Nicholas Cage Nightmares (11/30/23).

2 KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Dir. Martin Scorsese) 

Master movie-maker Marty made a corker of a three and a half-hour thriller about the Osage Reign of Terror in early 1920’s Oklahoma set to the late, great Robbie Robertson’s superbly subtle, bluesy score, which should get him a posthumous Oscar (I'm not going to predict anything yet though). And the powerful film features a career best Leonardo DiCaprio, and a more invested than he has been lately, Robert De Niro together again, for the very first time (they worked together before in A BOY’S LIFE, but this is their first film under Scorsese’s direction together (DiCaprio has been in six Scorsese films; De Niro’s tally is 10). Read the Film Blog Review (10/19/23).

 

3. OPPENHEIMER (Dir. David Nolan)

Nolan’s epic biopic of nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, wowed the world in the wake of the crazy BARBENHEIMER movement by being a three-hour biopic about a scientist that grossed $955 million. Robert Downey Jr. is a lock for his portrayal of a political rival of our rail thin lead is a lock for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award, but with 13 noms, this film has a good chance of sweeping. Read my review: Christopher Nolan's OPPENHEIMER Is Kind Of A Big Deal (7/19/23)

 

4. THE HOLDOVERS (Dir. Alexander Payne)

Payne rebounds from the disappointing DOWNSIZING, with this charming, and very amusing early ‘70s-set dramedy with Paul Giamatti (for his second collaboration with Paybe after the superb SIDEWAYS) as a classics professor at a New England boarding school that has to baby-sit a few students (mostly the talented newcomer Dominic Sessa) who are stuck on campus during the holidays. Da’vine Joy Randolph definitely deserves her Supporting Actress nom for work here as school’s head cook, who’s grieving over son who just died in Vietnam, and the other four noms are worthy too, so this is one I hope more people seek out.

 

5. ANATOMY OF A FALL (Dir. Justine Triet)

The DVD screener of the first film I watched on New Year's Day, 2024

Oscar Best Acrtress nominee Sandra Hüller did double duty this last year in two majorly recognized films as she’s in this French courtroom drama, and Jonathan Glazer’s excellent THE ZONE OF INTEREST. Here she nails her role as a stressed writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death, and the screenplay by Triet, and Arthur Harari keeps us guessing as it goes through gripping court proceedings. Like #4, this also got five Oscar noms, and shouldn’t be missed.

 

6. GODZILLA MINUS ONE (Dir. Takashi Yamazaki)

Now this was a complete surprise as another Godzilla movie was not the most enticing prospect, but the 37th entry in the series that started 70 years ago, is an amazing, gripping action adventure motion picture that won me over early on with its engaging drama about Japan recovering from World War II, and having to band together to fight this nuclear-radiation created reptilian monster that is more convincingly depicted (thanks to state-of-the-art CGI) than ever before. I certainly agree with Keven Smith that it’s the best Godzilla movie ever. 

7. MAY DECEMBER (Dir. Todd Haynes)

This immaculately-made duel of a drama between Julianne Moore, as a woman who did time for the second-degree rape of a 13-year old, but 20 years later is married to the man who was that boy; and Natalie Portman as an actress who is visiting the couple at their lavish Savannah, Georgia home, for research for a film where she’ll play Moore’s character. The compelling narrative, with its tasty twists and all, helps it stand with Haynes finest work including VELVERT GOLDMINE, I’M NOT THERE, and CAROL.

8. PAST LIVES (Dir. Celine Song)

Another surprise here as a Oscar Best Picture contender, and as a movie that I liked enough to make the list, as this a small movie about a relationship between two childhood friends from South Korean who contain their spark, mostly online as they live far away from each other into adulthood. It’s a of unrequited love with naturalistic performances by Greta Lee, and Teo Yoo, with John Magaro putting in a nicely sensitive side character to the couple as Lee’s understanding husband. However, I doubt this will win anything Oscar-wise other than many viewers hearts.

 

9. BEAU IS AFRAID (Dir. Ari Aster) 

My placing of this weird ass A24 surrealist tragicomedy horror film (that’s what Wikipedia’s calling it so let’s go with that) shouldn’t be read as a recommendation or a warning or well, anything but that I couldn’t deny its hold on my troubled soul. It’s a grotesque, stressful, and just plain f-ed up story about Joaquinn Phoenix of a man living a hellish existence, who is going on a trip to his mother’s, but chaotic circumstances make his journey a nightmare. If you’re only going to see one Joaquin Phoenix 2023 movie, make sure it’s this and not NAPOLEON.

 

10. ALBERT BROOKS: DEFENDING MY LIFE (Dir. Rob Reiner) 

The life, and career of one of my all-time comedians, Albert Brooks, is explored over lunch with his best friend, Rob Reiner in this HBO biodoc that is so packed with great footage of Brooks’ legendary variety, and talk show appearances from the late ‘60s-‘70s that it should be mandatory viewing for aspiring comics. Brook’s classic comedies (like REAL LIFE, MODERN ROMANCE, and LOST IN AMERICA) are insightfully given discussion, with one of its best segments being about the film that inspired this film’s title, DEFENDING YOUR LIFE . A stand out moment, is when Brook's wife since 1997, Kimberly, says of her first wanting to meet him because of that movie, “This man, wrote, directed, and starred in this? That’s the kid of guy I want to marry. I swear to God I said that.” Touching stuff indeed.

Spillover:

THE ZONE OF INTEREST (Dir. Jonathan Glaser)

AMERICAN FICTION (Dir. Cord Jefferson)

TALK TO ME (Dirs. Danny and Michael Philippou)

Some franchise films I thought were better than okay:

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (Dirs. Joaquim Dos Santos,Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson)

JOHN WICK 4 (Dir. Chad Stahelski) 

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (Dir. Christopher McQuarrie) This film's title really needs a colon.

And finally, yes, it’s far from a great movie, but it’s still one of the most notable, and memorable films of 2023:

BARBIE (Dir. Greta Gerwig)

Okay, I’m done. 

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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: The Film Babble Blog Review

Opening tonight at a multiplex near us all:

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
(Dir. Martin Scorsese, 2023)

Early on in Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated adaptation of David Grann’s 2017 nonfiction novel, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, one can sense that this will be a film full of a lot of intense talk. This is apparent in the sit-down meeting between Leonardo DiCaprio as WWI veteran Ernest Burkhart, and Robert De Niro, and his uncle, William King Hale, a rich, revered cattle rancher.

 

Their conversation contains nothing surprising – it’s largely a set-up about what DiCaprio’s Ernest is going to do having come to Fairfax, Oklahoma to live, and work for his uncle in the early 1920s – but as an intro to these men, it’s a compellingly crafted scene that gives us a lot of hints via the advice of DeNiro’s King (as he wants to be called) as to not only what Ernest will face in the Osage community, but how he should and shouldn’t react.

 

But while that quiet scene sets the tone, and gives the audience plenty of foreshadowing; Scorsese aims to interject disturbing, stark shots depicting a number of the murders of the many Native Americans, killed because of the oil found beneath their land. 

 

We get to see their wealth being discovered in a stunning opening sequence, going back to 1897, that features several members of the Osage Nation dancing in celebration in slow motion as they shower in the bubblin’ crude from a burst oil well. Hard for a film buff not to recall THERE WILL BE BLOOD, but Scorsese’s distinct style keeps that thought from lingering very long.

 

Ernest works as a chauffeur for one of the rich Osage women, Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), and before long he takes a shine to her. After a courtship with an eager Ernest attempting to charm a sly Mollie, they marry, but as the ominous music below the surface tells us, evil is afoot. 

 

The murder of Mollie’s sister Anna (a bawdy Cara Jade Myer) is one of the movie’s main mystery threads, alongside the mounting murders of the Osages, and who planted a bomb under the house of Mollie’s other sister, Rita (Janae Collins); all true episodes in what has been called the “Osage Reign of Terror.”

 

In their first film together under Scorsese (their first and only film together previous was Michael Caton-Jones’ THIS BOY’S LIFE in 1993), DiCaprio, and De Niro put in career-best performances. The desperation, and greed in Ernest is captured by Scorsese six-timer DiCaprio in his most unlikable, yet most engrossing character, a guy who only seems truly passionate when he’s talking about money.

 

De Niro, who has often been criticized for walking through movies, brings crusty, lived-in layers to King. The grand actor’s portrayal of this political boss’s power stands with his best work, and perfectly falls in line with his past collaborations with Scorsese, this being their tenth time together taking on toxic masculinity.

Gladstone provides a stoic, knowing persona for Mollie, who gives us another quietly unnerving presence in a film full of them. It's being labeled a breakout performance, and I agree. The actress has been acting in film for over a decade in such films as FIRST COW, CERTAIN WOMEN, and THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY (which she co-wrote), but the strength of her acting here will undoubtedly put her on the movie map.

As in many Scorsese films, there are too speaking parts to give proper shout outs to, but Jesse Plemmons, who was also in the Director's last work, THE IRISHMAN, as a gruff, humorless FBI guy does a good job, and there are interesting turns by Jon Lithgow, Scott Shepherd, and Brendan Frasier, as well as notable cameos by musicians Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, and Pete Yorn.

 

Scorsese’s KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON joins David Nolan’s OPPENHEIMER in my forming best films of 2023 list. Both share the similarities of being historically themed epics with challenging running times (OPPENHEIMER is 3 hours; KILLERS is 26 minutes longer), but both justify what many might consider punishing lengths with their immersive pacing, and absorbing storylines. 

 

Scorsese’s latest isn’t as visually flashy as Nolan’s, but cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto gives the film a sepia-tone look that gives it authentic look. I also must mention the superbly subtle, bluesy score by the late, great Robbie Robertson (his 12th collaboration with the Director), and the use of ‘20s popular music, the perfect placing of such is a Scorsese trademark.

 

One of my only complaints with this immaculate masterwork is that the subtitles for the Osage language aren’t consistent. The film begins with captioning being present for a character speaking the language, but in other scenes it doesn’t appear. In one crucial moment, De Niro’s King makes a declaration to a crowd in Osage - seemed like that should be subtitled. 

 

That’s a small quibble as Scorsese’s 26th dramatic feature is a profoundly powerful picture well worth your three and a half hours. At age 80, Scorsese proves again that he’s still what it takes to make movies of vivid vitality. The excitement of seeing the legendary filmmaker bringing together his two biggest leading men to give us this magnificent piece of pure cinema is what going to the movies is all about. So don’t wait for streaming, go to it – you’ll be glad you did.

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For the Record, My First Big Screen Viewings Of The Top Directors

On Twitter last weekend, many folks in my feed were posting their responses to the above tweet. Film-minded folks were recalling the first films by the most notable movie makers, and it was fun to see how the titles would often reveal the age range of the participants. 

 

For posterity, I’m sharing my answers in my tweet here with some notes below:

 

Some notes: The first two films I saw at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Chapel Hill. I saw many crucial movie in my youth at the Carolina, which closed in the summer of 2005 (MARCH OF THE PENGUINS was the last film shown there). RUSHMORE I saw at another long closed venue, the Janus Theater in Greensboro; with BOOGIE NIGHTS and THE GAME at a few unmemorable multiplexes * also in Greensboro. Finally, DO THE RIGHT THING I saw twice in the summer of 1989 – first at the Ram Theater in Chapel Hill, and secondly at the Center Theatre 4 in Durham – both of which have also shut down long ago.

 

*One of these is still operating as the AMC Classic in Greensboro – the only theater that still exists of all the ones I’ve mentioned.

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Robbie Robertson’s Biased Version Of The Band

Now playing somewhere near you, I bet:

ONCE WERE BROTHERS: ROBBIE ROBERTSON AND THE BAND
(Dir. Daniel Roher, 2020)

When the legendary Canadian roots rock outfit, The Band, performed at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on Thanksgiving Day 1976, lead guitarist and primary songwriter Robbie Robertson conceived the event as the group’s farewell concert.

However, the other members of The Band, including drummer/vocalist Levon Helm, bassist/vocalist Rick Danko, and organist/keyboardist Garth Hudson (multi-instrumentalist Richard Manuel committed suicide in 1986), resumed touring in the early ‘80s and even went on to release three albums in the ‘90s.

But you wouldn’t know that from this new documentary as it only covers the period in which Robertson was a principal member of The Band. Now, that’s not surprising as it is right in the film’s title: ROBBIE ROBERTSON AND THE BAND. There’s also the credit that the doc is “Inspired by” Robertson’s 2016 memoir Testimony. This all gives us plenty indication that this is Robertson’s biased version of what went down from the late ‘50s to the late ‘70s.

Still, the doc too often glosses over crucial eras, and gives only passing mentions to the friction between Robertson and Helm over songwriting royalties and Helm’s disappointment over Robertson’s decision to end the group.

Robertson talks us through The Band’s evolution from a bar band named The Hawks, which had them backing rowdy rockabilly artist Ronnie Hawkins to being the controversial rock group that accompanied iconic singer/songwriter Bob Dylan on his legendary 1966 tour to creating a series of classic records including Music From the Big Pink (1968), and The Band (1969).

But as juicy as this material is, the film relies too often on footage that will be very familiar to fans such as segments from the epic 2005 Dylan doc NO DIRECTION HOME, and, of course, THE LAST WALTZ. Both of these films were directed by Martin Scorsese, who happens to be one of Robertson’s best friends (they’ve collaborated on 10 films together), so that makes sense, but the guys lived together in the mid ‘70s so that would be cool to hear about too. 

There are tons of photos sprinkled throughout, sometimes augmented with motion graphics by Charlie Shekter, and those alone will satisfy fans, but I bet they would prefer a deeper dive into one of the best Bands of the last half a century. I definitely would as I’m one of those fans and the film left me lacking.

In his later years before his death in 2012, Helm would complain about how THE LAST WALTZ was Robertson’s “vanity project.” The thing is that ONCE WERE BROTHERS, named after a song on Robertson’s 2019 album Sinematic, is much more of a vanity project than THE LAST WALTZ. 

In the future when fans (again, I mean me) reach for a film featuring The Band, it surely won’t be this one; it’ll obviously be THE LAST WALTZ. Despite Helm’s criticisms, it’s one of the greatest concert films ever which tells the story of The Band in so much more of a glorious package than Robertson’s self-promoting infomercial of a documentary.

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Film Babble Blog's Top 10 Movies of 2019

Usually I post these picks before the Oscar nominations are announced - which happened earlier this week – but things have been nuts lately. 2019 hasn’t been the greatest year for film, but any year that boasts two stellar Martin Scorsese movies shouldn’t be dismissed. So here’s my top 10 films with what I think are some of their crucial lines.

10. AMAZING GRACE (Dirs. Alan Elliott, Sydney Pollack) 

Reverend James Cleveland: “Many of you who never had the opportunity to hear Aretha sing Gospel, you’re in tonight for a great thrill. She can sing anything!”

9. DOLEMITE IS MY NAME (Dir. Craig Brewer) 

Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy): “Dolemite is my name, and fuckin’ up motherfuckers is my game!”

8. MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN
(Dir. Edward Norton)

Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton): “Okay, listen. I got something wrong with me. That’s the first thing to know. I twitch and shout a lot. It makes me look like a damn freak show. But inside my head is an even bigger mess. I can’t stop twisting things around, words and sounds especially. I have to keep playing with them until they come out right.”

7. JOJO RABBIT

(Dir. Taika Waititi)

“Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” - Rainer Maria Rilke

6. US (Dir. Jordan Peele)

Jason Wilson (Evan Alex): There’s a Family in our driveway!

5. MARRIAGE STORY (Dir. Noah Baumbach)

Charlie (Adam Driver): “You were happy, you just decided you weren’t now”

4. UNCUT GEMS (Dirs. Josh and Benny Safdie)

Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler): “That’s a million-dollar opal you’re holding. Straight from the Ethiopian Jewish tribe. I mean this is old-school, Middle-earth shit.”

3. PARASITE (Dir. Bong Joon-ho)

Kang Ho Song (Kim Ki-taek):“So, there’s no need for a plan. You can’t go wrong with no plans. We don’t need to make a plan for anything. It doesn't matter what will happen next. Even if the country gets destroyed or sold out, nobody cares. Got it?”
2. 1917 (Dir. Sam Mendes)

General Erinmore (Colin Firth): “They’re walking into a trap. Your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrow mornings attack, if you fail, it will be a massacre.”

1. THE IRISHMAN (Dir. Martin Scorsese)

Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro): “Whenever anybody says they’re a little concerned, they’re very concerned.”

Spillover:

THE LIGHTHOUSE (Dir. Robert Eggers)

THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (Dir. Joe Talbot)

ROLLING THUNDER REVUE (Dir. Martin Scorsese)

LITTLE WOMEN (Dir. Greta Gerwig)

KNIVES OUT (Dir. Rian Johnson)

THE TWO POPES (Dir. Fernando Meirelles)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (Dir. Quentin Tarantino)

FORD V FERRARI (Dir. James Mangold)

THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY (Dir. Petra Costa)

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