Sydney🚀 has written 190 reviews for films during 2023.
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The Color Purple 2023
Best musical of the year I fear! I actually think making a musical version of this worked very well despite it feeling tonally grating a couple times while the film finds its footing, there is so much power in music and it offers new avenues for the cast (especially career musicians like Fantasia who is so good as Celie oh my lord) to bring emotion to the story. The soundtrack might not be groundbreaking but the songs and choreography are…
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The Nightmare Before Christmas 1993
The government is not telling you that Lock, Shock and Barrel are named after Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
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Anyone But You 2023
This is really charming when it’s not afraid to lean into the Shakespeare gimmick and function more like a self aware stage play but it doesn’t commit! So it’s mostly a stilted (I know Sydney Sweeney is a better actress than this?!) and predictable watch that made me actually laugh max thrice. Entered into the list of films where the blooper/credit reel is more energetic and funny than the movie itself. Feel the rain on yourrr skinnn
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Maestro 2023
I made the extra mistake of watching the Actors on Actors and a lot of interviews before this of Bradley Cooper being reeeeally concerned about people seeing the extent of his brilliance and commitment to this - besides being a little cringe I think it exposes something corrupt in his approach and is exactly what renders most of this emotionally juiceless. It’s very very pretty though and Carey Mulligan <3
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The Iron Claw 2023
I saw this how many days ago and still haven’t shaken the feeling of discovering the tragedy of this story, and then discovering there was more, and more. Fuck. An all-American cautionary tale and indictment of shitty parents. The artifice of wrestling makes it one of the coolest sports to explore cinematically, and Sean Durkin fully understands that here. Absolutely electric stuff. Zac Efron it’s only the beginning babe
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Society of the Snow 2023
My entire audience was dead silent through the credits of Society of the Snow, no one daring to so much as exhale and disturb the shock and stillness that had come over us during this film. I think this is the best man vs. nature/survival biopic I’ve ever seen, and certainly now the definitive telling of this story. Narratively it’s not anything entirely new, I wouldn’t imagine it playing out as well on a rewatch (or on Netflix sadly, see…
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Wonka 2023
Im sad to say I was less charmed by Paul King’s style and pathos here than I was with the Paddington films, which I enjoy a lot! Weirdly enough I think this would have come across better if it wasn’t about Willy Wonka, Paddington is kind of this moldable metaphor but here it’s hard not to consider what we have been given by Gene Wilder or even the world Tim Burton created despite that film not being very good. I…
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American Fiction 2023
The concept of American Fiction is hilarious and it has the script to back it up - one of the wittiest movies of the year, and sporting a cast this charming doesn’t hurt. Yet another Boston movie too! The satirical storyline can sometimes grind up against the more grounded family drama (the ending felt kind of out of place to me), but the final product is a breezy watch with a fresh angle on how our culture views Black stories and artists. I wish we always got this much Jeffrey Wright.