After a relaxing break and holiday spent watching many new and old releases, here are five of my favorite movies, including a franchise, I watched this break:
The Brutalist
Written and directed by Brady Corbet and starring Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist” (2024) follows Jewish Hungarian architect László Tóth (Brody) as he comes to America in the aftermath of World War II to rebuild his life, his work and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet (Jones). The film is grand, intimate and thought-provoking. Brody and Pearce, who plays Tóth’s employer Harrison Van Buren, give career-best performances. Jones is really good, but I wish she had more screen time. Corbet, cinematographer Lol Crawley and composer Daniel Blumberg produce their best work as well. “The Brutalist” is nothing short of a monumental achievement in filmmaking, reminding moviegoers of great films of the past.
Rating: ★★★★✯
Mission Impossible Franchise Rewatch
In light of “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” coming out in May, I decided to do a marathon of all the films during winter break, starting with Brian De Palma’s 1996 “Mission: Impossible” all the way to the latest installment “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” (Christopher McQuarrie, 2018). Starring Tom Cruise as Impossible Mission Force Agent Ethan Hunt, this phenomenal franchise explores Ethan’s fight against the most evil and smartest villains as he saves the world countless times from deadly viruses and nuclear devices and always puts his friends’ lives before his own. After watching them all, I think the best installment is “Fallout” while the worst has to be “Mission: Impossible II” (John Woo, 2000). I also believe “Fallout” and “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” (McQuarrie, 2015) are two of the best action films ever made!
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Written by Mark Burton, directed by Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park and starring Ben Whitehead and Peter Kay, “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” (2024) is the long-awaited sequel to Aardman’s Award-winning 1993 short film “The Wrong Trousers.” Finally, after 31 years, we finally get to see our favorite cheese and cracker-loving best friends, one an inventor and the other a dog, go up against a mastermind thief who is also a penguin. Cinema, folks. “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” has all the charm, laughs and eye-popping stop-motion animation people have come to expect and love from this studio. Not just a family movie, but a movie that all can have a great time with.
Rating: ★★★★✬
Nosferatu
A remake of the 1922 German silent film by F.W. Murnau, which in itself is an altered retelling of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” (a lot of history there), “Nosferatu” (2024) is a faithful adaption of the original 1922 film. Director Robert Eggers has grown very popular in recent years with critical and commercial successes like “The Lighthouse” (2019) and “The Northman” (2022), and “Nosferatu” carries over his best traits as a filmmaker. The film has an engrossing atmosphere with rich and haunting performances from the entire cast, none better than Bill Skarsgård as the vampire, Count Orlok, who trained with an opera singer to lower his voice an octave for the role.
Rating: ★★★★✬
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Following the life and career of actor Christopher Reeve — best known for playing Superman in Richard Donner’s 1978 classic, “Superman: The Movie” — this documentary looks at how Reeve, who was tragically injured in a horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down, became a charismatic leader and activist for the cure for spinal cord injuries. The documentary also looks at his personal and family life during these times. All I’ll say is bring a box of tissues with you because I basically ran through an entire one!
Rating: ★★★★✬
