Film Fight 2022: January

#FF22 The Protege is a fairly forgettable action film, with two very solid leads.

Maggie Q and Michael Keaton both work well in their roles, but the story is underwritten and the wider character motivations basically unknown.

A few action sequences work well, but meh overall.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 6, 2022

#FF22 The Lost Daughter is a fascinating tapestry of moments and memory, emotions bubbling up and those held in, barely.

Colman puts in a layered performance, always seeming moments away from a snapping point (Buckley does well here too). Well explored.

Very good.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 6, 2022

#FF22 Licorice Pizza is a bit of a shaggy dog story, capturing moments disparately of a love story with a big question mark.

Funny in moments, and fun to watch, it's more about the mood than the story, and that's fine. A great film to sit and watch, and soak in.

Very good.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 6, 2022

#FF22 Swan Song is a Black Mirror-esque story about what it is that makes us who we were.

Avoiding the plot itself, Mahershala Ali is excellent as always, bringing depth to a difficult role. The back third needs a little trimming but it's all beautifully shot and engaging.

Good

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 6, 2022

#FF22 Mother/Android is a disappointingly flat take on a robot uprising story.

The two leads are good individually but lack chemistry (and natural-sound dialogue) to help sell it. There are some tense set pieces (in the house), but it's all a bit predictable and derivative.

Meh

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 8, 2022

#FF22 The Tender Bar is what happens when the subtext becomes the text, narrated loudly and bluntly stated.

There's no reason to care about the lead, a relatively quiet and charmless boy; his lack of goals; or to want his cliche-mandated conclusion.

Obvious, and dull.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 23, 2022

#FF22 Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time seems like it'll delve into a delusional cliche, but instead doesn't really do anything.

A tentative love story, creeps forward slowly, and lands... somewhere.

Fine, if unexciting.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 23, 2022

#FF22 The Starling is a clunky movie, full of heavy-handed symbolism.

A solid cast is entirely wasted on scene after scene of disconnected drama, with only the CGI titular character coming away as having done its job.

Skip.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 23, 2022

#FF22 Nightmare Alley left me feeling... indifferent.

It held my interest for the run time, but so much seemed obvious: from the tealy-orange grading, through other visual choices. The twist and the ending were entirely predictable, but seemed held up as big surprises.

Meh.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 23, 2022

#FF22 A Journal For Jordan is the slow but surprisingly sweet tale of unexpected and ultimately doomed love.

The end is very cheesey, but the rest works remarkably well. The two leads give solid performances, and have clear chemistry.

Watchable.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 15, 2022

#FF22 Friends And Strangers fails to engage much.

Intentionally meandering and largely plotless, it has moments of conversation that are interesting and then discarded. A scene at a rich family's home approaches unsettling horror... and stops.

Unsatisfying and languid.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 15, 2022