July 23 - July 31 2025
Sicario, Living, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Sing Street, Compliance
- Sicario [2015] - 87
Sicario is one of those action-dramas that just kind of lives within the zeitgeist now that it’s been around for 10 years… And for good reason. I hadn’t seen this movie since close to when it was new and only remembered two things about it: That I rather liked it, and the traffic jam/ border crossing scene. Upon my rewatch almost a decade later, those two things stand to be memorable. I’m always a fan of movies that aren’t necessarily about what/ who they portend to be, and Sicario does that with a very deft hand, keeping all but the most minor of characters interesting up through the final moments of the film. It’s an interesting one because, we all know where director Denis Villeneuve has gone since 2015, but writer Taylor Sheridan has taken a very different direction after another strong release in Hell or High Water in 2016, but then a string of mediocre ones in years to follow [including a sequel to Sicario that people choose to forget about], wrapping himself up in a number of acclaimed television series instead. It’s always interesting to see where artist’s careers take them, and if you haven’t seen this [or just haven’t seen it in a while], I highly recommend you check it out.
- Living [2022] - 83
2022’s Living was only on my list because of it’s Oscar nominations — Actor [Bill Nighy], and Adapted Screenplay. As can be seen by it’s 2022 release date and todays 2025 year mark… It took me a while to get around to it. Ultimately, I liked it and thought much about it was high-quality and interesting. I’m behind on these weekly updates, so I’m actually writing this a month or two out from viewing the film… And I don’t remember anything specifically about it anymore other than a few touching moments and a general vibe of watching something nice-and-different-but-flirting-with-saccharine… But I gave it an 83 at the time so… I’ll leave that as is.
- Fantastic Four: First Steps [2025] - 62
While it’s true that I’m writing this in October [October 23rd to be exact] and I watched these movies in late July [July 25th, also to be exact], I do remember this one and everything I felt about it at the time… And now. Fantastic Four: First Steps is as “fine” as Marvel has ever been. It’s clever in using its runtime not on origins, but on adventures, but it’s boring and frustrating by using its writing to force action and shotgun-style plot points down your throat instead of actually building on anything important. Characters are conveniently powerful when they need to be, villains are conveniently stupid when they need to be, and the entire story feels like it was supposed to be stretched through two movies, but was coerced to exist wholly within one instead. I wouldn’t say that First Steps was a “bad” movie… But it certainly was just a “movie”.
- Sing Street [2016] - 78
A coming of age tale about a bullied loner who lies to a girl about having a band has to then actually make a band to keep her attention… What’s not to like? Sing Street has a lot going for it and utilizes a lot of it well, even sporting a very fun cameo by Jack Reynor as the main character’s stoner brother who tells him all about what makes music cool. Movies about fake bands are always difficult, because their music has to be compelling for most of the story to matter… And it sure is here. This is one that you’ll wish was real just so you can buy the album.
- Compliance [2012] - 77
Telling the story about a man posing as a cop over the phone and tricking fast-food staff into strip-searching [among other things] an innocent employee, Compliance is a mostly excellent re-telling of the incident and mostly does a great job of making you want to turn away. The hardest part about the film is believing that anyone could be stupid enough to fall for this hoax but uh… they were, and it’s some small nuggets of truth left on the floor of the real crime that prevent this film from getting a higher score for me. While it does a good job of reviewing the incident itself, it does not do a good job of going over the after, and that’s too bad, because there’s a lot of really interesting [awful] bits and pieces there as well. While it does visit the after-effects, it doesn’t go over them in as much detail as the crime, and I wish that it did. Either way, while it’s difficult to “recommend” this one necessarily, I do think it’s something worth watching as an eye-opening experience of just how easily people can be tricked into doing horrible things.
