The summer is just about coming to a close, leaving us all to look back on one of the most exciting film seasons of the whole year. You may have noticed that I haven't reviewed an awful lot of films in this time, and that's not because I haven't seen enough to review, it's for a number of reasons such as me not feeling I have anything interesting or unique to say about certain new release, the film in question being out for some time and thus not really being so relevant anymore, or, most of the time, just laziness. But, I've began to notice that this has slowly become commonplace for most films I see, as I now tend to only review the odd film here and there. So, today I thought I'd change that by briefly running through all the new releases I saw over the summer that I haven't discussed. These will be listed in the order in which I saw them and, unlike usual, I'll also discuss the new streaming releases I've seen as well, which I'll signify when necessary. So, you may want to put the kettle on as this will be a long one. Let's get started!
To quickly inform you, I won't be discussing Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World Dominion, Lightyear, Minions: The Rise of Gru, or Thor: Love and Thunder here, as I have reviewed them all in more detail.
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (Streaming - Disney+)
This was the very first film I watched this summer, all those month ago. With no attachment to the source material whatsoever, I was surprised that I found myself having a decent time with Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, as the film manages to be a fun time for anyone watching despite its many references and connections to what has come before. It also has the occasional clever aspect in being a more self-reflexive piece. However, I couldn't help but notice how much this film was essentially a rip-off of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a film that did basically everything this sets out to do many years ago in a far funnier, more creative, and smarter way. So, I did just spend a lot of the runtime wishing I was watching that instead. Still, I have to say, it certainly could have been a lot worse. 6.0/10
Men
This is the new film from Alex Garland, a director who I often forget how much I admire. His prior two films, Ex Machina and Annihilation, are both really solid pieces of work, with such well-crafted atmospheres and rich yet horrifying themes present throughout. So, I was intrigued to see Men. For the most part, this has a lot of Garland's signature trademarks, as the atmosphere created is just the right amount of unsettling, and in addition to this, it's got some great performances from Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear. Overall, I found myself very engaged in what the film offered. However, it's by far the director's weakest film to date. While something like Ex Machina felt very low-key but had a lot going on beneath the surface, this film is almost the inverse with lots of overtly horrific things going on but not so much thematic brilliance to make them feel worthwhile. It's essentially a story about trauma with a pseudo-political edge, which if I'm honest is something Garland is a bit beyond as a filmmaker and certainly doesn't need conveyance with such extreme means. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed Men and found it to be one of the more interesting films I've seen so far this year. 7.0/10
Brian and Charles
A simple film, but an effective one. Brian and Charles is a very gentle and charming comedy about a lonely man who makes a robot to keep him company. The dynamic between the two is really sweet and the overall nature of the film is quite hard to resist, even if there's not much going on. The plot is predictable and it doesn't say much that we haven't heard before, but as a pleasant bit of escapism, this more than sufficed for the ninety minutes it was on for. 7.5/10
The Sea Beast (Streaming - Netflix)
My expectations for The Sea Beast frankly couldn't have been any lower. It looked extremely generic in terms of both story and animation style, so I didn't have high hopes. Upon watching, while I certainly still think it is derivative and a bit plain, I was really surprised at just how much I found myself swept up in this delightful film. The adventure it displays has its charm and is exciting at times, the animation is ordinary but still stunning in its own right, the characters are basic but still really likeable, and there are some solid if unremarkable messages to be found. Along with The Bad Guys from earlier in the year, it's proof that my expectations can often be completely wrong, because this is probably my favourite animated film from 2022. 8.0/10
Elvis
So, this is obviously one of the biggest hits of the summer. I was ambivalent about Elvis going into it as I have no real connection to the real life figure upon whom the film is based, outside of his obvious recognisability, and I'm also not a fan of Baz Luhrmann. The two films I've seen from him, The Great Gatsby and Romeo + Juliet, are so obnoxiously frantic and overly glossy that not only are their stories undermined in places, but they're also just tiring for me to watch. Thankfully, Elvis is the first film from this director where this exact style wasn't terribly ill-fitting. The frantic and glossy nature actually alligned itself with the main character and the struggles he experiences, as well as evoking the time and setting very successfully, so even though I still don't particularly like it, I can at least say it worked here better than it has elsewhere. Performance wise, this was a mixed bag, with Austin Butler being brilliant as Elvis, but Tom Hanks not being so brilliant as Colonel Tom Parker. I mean, it's not a bad performance, but it just left a bad taste for me as I usually want to love Tom Hanks, so having him play such a horrible character wasn't nice at all. On a similar note, I did find the film quite questionable in terms of how it tried to make Parker, who narrates the story, a sympathetic character, as the way the film pans out makes him seem like anything but that despite its attempts to convince you otherwise. On the whole, I enjoyed Elvis - it's a suitable mix of insightful and enjoyable if a bit muddled here and there. Also it's way too long. 7.0/10
RRR (Streaming - Netflix)
I'd heard a bit about RRR earlier this year but didn't really have any interest in watching it. Well, I'm glad that I eventually did over the summer because this was an absolute blast. What impressed me about this was how seamlessly it managed to blend a variety of styles and genres into one piece. It's a period drama that addresses British colonisation and the rebellion against their rule, has the scope of an epic as well as an array of bonkers yet exhilarating action set pieces, also has a feel-good, somewhat comedic tone through the relationship of the two leads, and, on top of that, is also a musical. How this film isn't a complete mess is just beyond me. The story is fairly predictable and padded, but the level of brilliance on display elsewhere made this a terrific watch, and the three-hour runtime didn't bother me too much. Just thinking about it honestly makes me want to go back and revisit! 8.0/10
The Gray Man (Streaming - Netflix)
What a complete yawn of a film. With every passing second, I forget more and more about The Gray Man. It's got big stars who have been excellent elsewhere and a load of money behind it but not much else, with a dull narrative and tiring, CGI-filled action scenes. Honestly, when it comes to the Russo brothers, I'm starting to wonder if their MCU contributions (Infinity War, Endgame, etc.) were only as great as they were because the material they were working with was fun and interesting, because outside of this franchise, they've done nothing to prove themselves worthy of being such highly-revered directors. Cherry with Tom Holland from last year was barely okay, and this was just nothing. It's not terrible but I feel like it should be a lot better than it is. 5.0/10
Where the Crawdads Sing
I enjoyed this mystery thriller for the most part but couldn't help be disappointed with the overall path it ended up going down. With some great performances and a well realised setting, Where the Crawdads Sing is highly watchable. But, it falters in terms of how willing it was to commit to a particular narrative. For the vast majority of the film, it seems to be a story about how a dysfunctional and isolated upbringing can shape someone into a violent and generally dangerous person, which I liked as this idea feels very refreshing and to have an unsympathetic protagonist is something films can be afraid of committing to. However, in the literal last five minutes of the film, it suddenly backtracks and adopts a far safer thematic standpoint by being a story that's anti-discrimination and essentially tells the audience 'don't judge a book by its cover' - perfectly sound messages for sure but so much less subversive and less intriguing than what it was originally doing. What's then really confusing is the fact that one of the last shots of the film returns the story to where it originally was but doesn't give it the necessary development, almost as if it was too afraid to do so. This isn't a story that would likely go down well with general audiences, so clearly they attempted to make it more 'Hollywood happy', which is a shame because there was definitely something more interesting going on here. Keep in mind I have no knowledge of the novel it is based on but I'm assuming that sticks to the more unconventional narrative and themes, and that the film was just making it all more accessible. Overall, a fine watch but definitely something that feels like it's holding back. 6.5/10
Nope
Along with the likes of Jurassic World, Lightyear, and Thor, this was one of my most anticipated films of the summer season. Despite their immense popularity, I haven't actually seen Get Out or Us, the first two directorial outputs from Jordan Peele, though I do somewhat feel like I have due to how extensive the discussion is around both. However, I finally got around to watching one of this director's films with Nope, which looked brilliant and had me excited to see what it had to offer. Unsurprisingly, it was amazing. For the longest time, I planned on writing a full length review of this, but ended up not doing so because I didn't want to just drone on about stuff that had essentially already been said by countless others. But, here are a few of the things I really liked. The film expertly takes on tropes from several genres, namely sci-fi, horror and westerns, with clear influence from particular directors, namely Steven Spielberg, and creates an experience that is exciting, disturbing, thought provoking, and even funny at times, all without feeling confused, much like RRR. Peele crafts what is essentially a Jaws-esque monster blockbuster in a western setting that comments on society and our peculiar fascination with disastrous spectacles. The cinematography is stellar and I wish I could have watched this on an IMAX screen to fully appreciate its beauty. So many scenes vividly live in my mind because of how they manage to be extremely alarming yet somehow also full of awe. If I had one criticism, it would be that the pacing could have been a little more effective; we get enough of an image of the central evil force in the film a bit too soon, and I wish the film left the audience in suspense for a bit longer. But, this is still a vastly successful film and honestly one of the few new releases from this summer that wasn't underwhelming or disappointing in any way. In terms of 2022 summer blockbusters, this and Top Gun: Maverick have kind of been doing all the heavy lifting, so I'm very thankful mostly everything about it came together in the end. 8.0/10
Luck (Streaming - Apple TV+)
Luck feels like a poor man's Pixar film, which makes sense given that it's produced by former Pixar dream-team member John Lasseter, but for a different animation studio. I really enjoyed the first fifteen minutes or so in this film, as they explored the concept of good and bad luck in a way that was really charming and ever so funny. However, it takes a nosedive once it stops doing this and proceeds to do for this concept what Inside Out did for human emotions and memories; providing a completely literal take on the subject via the means of a 'secret world'. This is disappointing as it is more of what almost every animated film has been doing for the last five years, but it's made even worse by the fact that the secret world behind luck depicted in the film is so overly complicated and poorly thought out, to the point where you don't get the chance to engage in it as your stuck working out all the mechanics and logistics the whole time. Inside Out, while also providing a very literal interpretation of its themes, at least created a wonderfully inventive world that was easy to engage in, as well as also having emotional beats that landed perfectly, which Luck most certainly doesn't have. Beyond that, it's just terribly ordinary, with derivative characters, familiar themes, and animation that despite not being bad is lacking any unique flair. As the first film from Skydance Animation, I can't say I'm awfully excited to see where they go next. Well, except for Brad Bird's next film being one of theirs. 6.0/10
Fisherman's Friends: One and All
Of all these summer films, this is the one I have the least to say about. It's exactly what you'd expect from a film called Fisherman's Friends: One and All - it's simple and sappy, but very charming and certainly smile-inducing. That's not much, but it did the job. If there is one thing to note from my experience with this film, it'd probably be the fact that out of the twenty or so people in the cinema I saw this in, I was the youngest by a considerable margin. Make of that what you will. 7.5/10
Beast
Similarly, Beast also isn't a film there's much to say about. It's a disposable but fairly competently crafted survival thriller where Idris Elba faces off against a big old lion to protect him family. He's great in the film, the set-up was effective enough, and the cinematography was actually quite memorable, mostly due to the extensive usage of tracking shots. But yeah there's not really anything more I can say about this. I probably won't see it again but it worked fine. 6.5/10
Bullet Train
This was a wildly fun time with some really excellently put together action sequences and very funny character interactions. Brad Pitt is still a terrific leading man even after a couple decades of doing so, and the supporting cast all had something fun to offer each, namely Bryan Tyree Henry and Joey King. Tonally it's a bit of a mess, with lots of bonkers and comedic antics but also trying to be dramatic and profound too, which didn't go well together at all. Also, it does lose its uniqueness as it goes on, starting as a distinct, cleverly constructed and contained piece but ending up as a more commonplace, ridiculous, CGI-filled load of nonsense. So, while definitely one of the most entertaining films I've seen this year, Bullet Train certainly has its shortcomings and could've been a lot tighter and more intelligent. Still, as I said, I had a great time watching it and would happily revisit. 7.5/10
Spider-Man: No Way Home - The More Fun Stuff Version
To finish, I thought I'd briefly mention this re-release of one of the best films from 2021, which was mostly as good as before. The film itself is beginning to considerably lose its charm with each rewatch I give it, as a lot of the excitement from that first viewing is most definitely wearing off. Luckily, there's still plenty of excellence to be found, so I can't bring myself to think much lower of this film than I always have. As for the new stuff, some of it was good such as the additional scene with Matt Murdock and extensions of scenes such as that of the three Spider-Men bonding over their experiences, but a lot of it didn't really add anything and often felt abrupt in their inclusions, making it evident why they were excluded. It was funny to see that scene with Tom Holland's brother that he discussed on The Graham Norton Show though. Overall, still a brilliant film with a few neat additions. 9.0/10
Well, that's about it. I will try to do more in-depth reviews for upcoming releases as I do enjoy writing them, and it is a bit sad that I haven't done so for most of the things I've seen lately. There's lots to look forward to later this year, whether it be See How They Run, Don't Worry Darling, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, or Avatar: The Way of Water, among many others, so let's hope there will be plenty of detailed reviews for each of them when the time comes!
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