Bank of Dave: Movie Review

Fighting against the banking system in an hilarious, entertaining, genuinely feel-good movie.

Previously I referred to The Burial as the biggest crowd-pleaser of the year, so I’ll call Bank of Dave the best crowd-pleaser of the year. It’s very much a ‘little guys succeeding against systems designed to make them fail’ but it’s very funny, very entertaining, surprisingly smart and even a little inspiring. There’s a lot of predictable elements but all incorporated in a way that feels right and remains interesting.		2023 Directed by: Chris Foggin Screenplay by: Piers Ashworth Starring: Rory Kinnear, Joel Fry

Killers of the Flower Moon: Movie Review

An important and tragic moment in American history full of greed, racism and corruption.

Killers of the Flower Moon is based on a true story about a series of murders of Osage Native Americans in Osage County, Oklahoma in the 1920s. I would like to say shocking true story because it’s almost hard to believe that this actually happened, but knowing the racism at the time, it’s unfortunately rather easy to believe. The elements propelling the story forward are money, greed and racism. All of which are unsurprising motivators for murder.		2023 Directed by: Martin Scorsese Screenplay by: Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese, and David Grann Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Lily Gladstone

The Burial: Movie Review

Taking down greed and racism in an entertaining crowd-pleaser.

The biggest crowd-pleaser you’ll find this year. A highly entertaining court room drama about good guys vs bad guys. There might be a few minor misdirections on which one is which, but it’s all due to how they play the race card. A story which is seemingly not about race at all turns out to be very racially motivated thanks to a smart observant young lawyer.		2023 Directed by: Maggie Betts Screenplay by: Doug Wright, Maggie Betts, Jonathan Harr Starring: Jamie Foxx, Tommy Lee Jones, Mamoudou Athie

Rustin: Movie Review

A biopic that matches its lead character.

Rustin starts a little chaotically; a jazz score with Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo) in various political offices with various political bigwigs and African American leaders. It feels out of sorts and difficult to get into, and while it’s not obvious at first, this is very much on purpose. Rustin is a traditional biopic but it tries to skirt familiarity by giving the film the same personality as its subject.		2023 Directed by: George C. Wolfe Screenplay by: Julian Breece, Dustin Lance Black Starring: Colman Domingo

Reality: Movie Review

An FBI transcript turned into a riveting true story.

Reality takes a new spin on the based-on-a-true-story genre by presenting a word-for-word real-time account of something that most of us probably only know from headlines in the news. And wow does this style ever work. It is impressive how much our perceptions of the story and the people shift and suspense has been packed in as the filmmakers follow the actual transcript of the FBI raid and interrogation of Reality Winner.		2023 Directed by: Tina Satter Screenplay by: Tina Satter, James Paul Dallas Starring: Sydney Sweeney