Film Fight 2023: July

#FF23 Blackberry is a dramatisation of the rise and fall of RIM, and the Blackberry phone.

Baruchel is good, but Howerton has never been than as the sociopathic executive who gets them early success. The film drags a little towards the end, but is very solid up until then.

Good

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 Fool's Paradise is about Hollywood and stardom.

While Charlie Day's physical performance is good, there's not enough of a plot or decent characterisation to make the film work. It feels cobbled together from a bunch of worse drafts. For a comedy there are few laughs.

Skip

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 Smoking Causes Coughing is an odd, French comedy.

It treats it's over-the-top premise (a Power Rangers like group on a team bonding camping session), with seriousness, even as things get weirder. It slides from this into a bunch of side stories that are a mixed bunch

Odd.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is the kind of big action we like to see in theatres

Bloated by having to explain the unusual (and eye-rolling) villain, when the set pieces kick off it's worth the wait. Cruise shows his trademark commitment to the stunts.

Good

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 The Flash has a handful of good ideas and fun action, squandered in a mess of a flabby film.

Keaton is great, but ultimately just in the movie as fan service (though not the most egregious). The visual effects are often terrible: like a bad Unreal engine demo.

Skip.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 How To Blow Up A Pipeline is a smart, focussed, methodical film about... well, blowing up a pipeline.

The structure, going back and forth between character's back stories, works well; the pacing is tight without being frantic; and the story pans out nicely.

Very good.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 Oppenheimer is a surprisingly intimate film for Nolan, focussing more on the man himself than the wider action around him.

Murphy puts in a career-best performance, shining in an absolutely stacked cast. Downey Jr too. At three hours, it moves quickly.

Excellent.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 The Out-Laws is a fairly flimsy comedy about in-laws who are bank robbers.

There's a bunch of flab in the middle here, but it's fun if forgettable and lightweight. Brosnan seems to be having some fun at least.

Fine.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 They Cloned Tyrone is an odd mix: at times a broad, goofy adventure, at others a little darker, with clear nods to blaxploitation films, and an underlying message around race in America.

Boyega, Foxx, and Parris all put in good performances that make it work.

Very good.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 The Artifice Girl is an excellent sci-fi indie about AI and trauma.

The second act is a little expositional, but the first and last acts of the three act structure are fantastic. Weighty ideas from which the director/write/star doesn't flinch.

An excellent feature debut.

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023

#FF23 Barbie is an outrageously big take on the franchise.

Robbie and Gosling are perfectly cast with their completely bought-in performances; it could've been goofy in less capable hands. Funny, knowing, with a good message. Doesn't know how to end but has fun on the way

Great

— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) July 30, 2023