Movie review: "Black Panther"

THROND'S CHOICE
dir by Ryan Coolger
writ. by Ryan Coolger and Joe Robert Cole
It's widely acknowledged by now that the post-Iron Man superhero genre has been overwhelmingly dominated by stories about good super-powered white men defeating sinister villains and scary monsters. The current crop of Marvel movies so frequently rely on such traditional narratives that they've come under wide criticism for it, and while movies like Doctor Strange and Thor: Ragnarok added tweaks to the films' visual styles, they're nonetheless cut from the same template. It works, but it's been working for a full decade at this point, and understandably some people are starting to get tired of it. Black Panther could have been an unholy disaster, and it still would have stood out not only for swapping out the skin colour and cultural background of its cast, but also for making tweaks to these movies' expected plot structure.

However, what Marvel hasn't gotten quite enough credit for lately is how they've attempted to infuse many of their recent films with a greater degree of introspection. What they dub "Phase 3" started with the genuinely thoughtful Captain America: Civil War, a film in which the primary conflict didn't even have a proper villain, and which seemed surprisingly ambivalent about the fundamental tropes of its own genre. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 tied all of its characters back into a nuanced theme about finding one's family, and Spider-Man: Homecoming featured subtext about wealth and privilege in both the genre and in modern America. Black Panther, then, didn't come out of nowhere, but while it's more talky and heavy than much of Marvel's usually buoyant catalogue, it's also the studio's most dramatically compelling and thematically committed film to date, and generally its best since Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Movie review: "Lady Bird"

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dir. and written by Greta Gerwig
Teenagers can be terrible. Last year's The Edge of Seventeen understood that, and mined it for a lot of pathos and humour, presenting a character who's just beginning to see the world outside of her own mind. Greta Gerwig's directorial debut, Lady Bird, plays on many of the same themes, but imbues them with even more detail and specificity, with a more ambitious lead character and a much wider thematic range. It's just as funny, and boasts both more pathos and more irresolution, and by a wide margin it manages to eclipse last year's already wonderful entry in the genre.

But that's not to say that this is an iteration on already-explored themes. Here, Gerwig shows potential to be just as accomplished a writer and director as she is an actress, with a nuanced script which boasts loads of specificity, strongly developed characters, and powerful insight into the relationships between parents and their children. Specificity has a way of revealing universals, and as much as Lady Bird works simply as an uproarious teen comedy, the way it ends isn't with a big laugh but with one final note of soulful contemplation. This is a wonderful movie.

Movie review: "The Florida Project"

THROND'S CHOICE

dir. by Sean Baker

written by Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch

A couple years ago, Sean Baker took the festival circuit by storm with his thrilling, energetic comedy-drama Tangerine, a film about a transgender sex worker getting back at her cheating pimp/boyfriend. Tangerine featured a street-level, D.I.Y. vibe: its cast was comprised entirely of non-professional actors, and it was shot on three iPhones. Baker's new film, The Florida Project, has switched to conventional film stock and features Hollywood star Willem Dafoe, but it has the same down-to-earth authenticity which marked his debut, with naturalistic acting from what's still mostly a cast of unknowns, and the same delightful sense of humour.

What's different in The Florida Project, more even than the cameras and Dafoe, is an increase in ambition. Tangerine was largely a comedy, but while the new film is still very funny, it has much more on its mind than just its subtle progressive politics. The Florida Project is an often poetic look at the shadow of decadence, a portrait of people living on the margins and both the forces and cycles which work to keep them there. Its build is a little slower than that of Tangerine, but its cumulative emotional power is much greater, and if the earlier film demonstrated Baker's promise, this new one codifies him as an auteur to keep an eye on. 

Movie review: "The Big Sick"

THROND'S CHOICE
dir. by Michael Showalter
written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon*
Romantic comedies have a reputation for being contrived and artificial. They're associated with a very familiar set of tropes and plot structures and are often filled with silly reasons that the main couple needs to remain apart until the end. These movies are popular, but they're also frequently regarded as fluffy, disposable, and mindless.

The Big Sick is different. Unlike the standard Hollywood romcom, its twists and turns are based on reality. It's an authentic story in a genre which is so often phony, a funny movie but also a heartfelt story with a melancholy undertone. What its protagonists go through isn't easy, but those tribulations are not only believable, they feel true. It's that authenticity which makes the film feel so genuine and which gives it all of its emotional power. It's not packed with gags or comic scenarios. Instead, it's funny because it's witty and honest, and it's great because it's willing to take itself a little seriously.

Movie review: "Baby Driver"

THROND'S CHOICE
dir. by Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright spent the 2000s slowly rising to superstar status. Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and The World's End established him as a powerful voice in action comedy, and despite leaving the project in 2014, Marvel still built on his script for their Ant-Man film. However, he hasn't had a directing credit since 2013, and so when his follow-up to The World's End was revealed, it was a big deal.

This new film, Baby Driver, has a strong claim to being his very best to date. A very different film from the "Cornetto trilogy," it repurposes genre tropes around a thrillingly unique premise and perhaps an even stronger sense of style than Wright's prior works, and excepting the very occasional overwritten line, it's thrillingly idiosyncratic and beautifully stylized, boasting sublime action and some of the most satisfying rhythms of Wright's entire career.

Movie review: "John Wick: Chapter 2"

BEST NEW FEATURE
dir. by Chad Stahelski
written by Derek Kolstad

When 2014’s John Wick became an instant cult classic, it wasn’t merely for its beautifully choreographed action but also for its hinted mythology and the partial reluctance of the title character. Like many of the best action movies, it had an identity all its own, and was concerned with very little aside from what was necessary to set up and deliver its thrills. Three years later, this sequel takes everything which made the original great and doubles down, making for a film which is bigger, bolder, stranger, and at times even more poignant than its predecessor.

Movie review: "Moana"

BEST NEW FEATURE
dir. by Ron Clements and Don Hall
Moana, the latest animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios, is the film's first musical since 2013's Frozen, which gives it a very high bar to live up to. Frozen was a deserving phenomenon, containing some of Disney's absolute greatest songs and pairing them with visuals of immense beauty. While Moana never exceeds that film's audiovisual heights, it comes ever-so-close, and boasts a sharper narrative to boot, making for a truly enchanting experience.