(L-R) Josephine Park and Fanny Louise Bernth in THE NURSE — PHOTO: NETFLIX / Tommy Wildner.
As Netflix tries to churn out local content, we get to see several Danish Netflix originals. For example, a couple of months ago, Nicolas Winding Refn got to show off his style with his Danish series Copenhagen Cowboy, which I admittedly have yet to see, and, a while back, I recommended The Chestnut Man and called it the best Danish Netflix release at that time. Today I want to talk about the latest major Danish Netflix original, which I think is mostly solid. But it must be said that in moments it is genuinely tense and gripping.
(L-R) Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Voiced by Bradley Cooper), Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Nebula (played by Karen Gillan), and Mantis (played by Pom Klementieff) in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 3 — PHOTO: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Directed by James Gunn — Screenplay by James Gunn.
“What a bunch of a-holes,” were the last words spoken in the very first trailer for James Gunn’s original Guardians of the Galaxy film back in 2014. Here was a trailer that introduced Marvel Studios’ biggest swing at that point in time — a team-up film built around a talking raccoon, a Chewbacca-esque tree, a wrestler in body paint, Avatar’s leading lady having swapped out her blue alien for a green one, and a minor supporting actor from Parks and Recreation, who was thrust into a stardom that he still enjoys. Back then it seemed like a huge risk to back C or D-list Marvel characters, but a lot can happen in nine years. Now, Rocket, Groot, Drax, Gamora, and Star-Lord are some of the most beloved characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they had their own Star Wars-inspired Holiday Special just last Christmas, and the films’ director, James Gunn, is about to end his time with Marvel after having been both fired from (due to social media ‘receipts’ detailing offensive jokes) and re-hired for this very film in the late 2010s. Gunn didn’t just revive Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling,” and make your mom and dad know who Groot is, Gunn also established himself as one of Marvel’s actual auteur filmmakers, which is a reputation that has landed him a huge job over at Warner Bros. as the shepherd of the soon-to-be rebuilt DC Comics cinematic universe. But first, he had to finish his Marvel Studios trilogy. And, so, how did it turn out? Well, let’s just say, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films go out on a high note, as they are now arguably the very best Marvel Studios trilogy.
Taron Egerton and Nikita Efremov in “Tetris,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
Directed by Jon S. Baird — Screenplay by Noah Pink.
Jon S. Baird’s Tetris is a biographical thriller about the struggle to acquire the licensing rights to the hugely popular video game Tetris back in the 1980s. The film follows Henk Rogers (played by Taron Egerton), a game developer, who, while advertising another game at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is introduced to a video game known as Tetris, which instantly hooks him. This love-at-first-play-session sets in motion an attempt by Henk to secure the rights to the video game for the purpose of reselling them to Nintendo. However, that is much easier said than done, since it was invented by a Soviet programmer and since he will have to travel to Soviet-era Russia to have any chance of securing the rights, thus putting his life at risk, while another far more wealthy potential buyer is willing to do whatever it takes to get the rights before him.
Dianna Agron in CLOCK — PHOTO: 20th Digital Studio / Hulu / Disney+.
Directed by Alexis Jacknow — Screenplay by Alexis Jacknow.
Alexis Jacknow’s Clock follows Ella (played by Dianna Agron), a woman constantly questioned for not wanting children of her own, as she decides to check herself into a clinical trial for cognitive therapy that could kickstart her biological clock. However, after having undergone behavioral therapy, Ella starts having these terrifying visions that interrupt her daily life and shake her to her core.
Ana de Armas and Chris Evans in “Ghosted,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
Directed by Dexter Fletcher — Screenplay by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers.
A romantic action-comedy from the director of Rocketman, with a screenplay from the writers of Deadpool and Spider-Man: No Way Home, and starring Captain America himself and the Oscar-nominated star of Blonde and Knives Out (who, notably, proved her action chops with a memorable appearance in the James Bond flick No Time to Die) sure sounds like a winning combination. Apple TV+’s Ghosted is a film with so much marketable talent that it has several major cameos that almost feel crammed in there. However, even though this is a project that has attracted a lot of talent, Ghosted is a largely ineffective romantic action comedy where neither the romantic, action, nor comedic elements work all that well.
Nicolas Cage as Count Dracula in Chris McKay’s RENFIELD — PHOTO: Universal Pictures.
Directed by Chris McKay (TheLEGO Batman Movie) — Screenplay by Ryan Ridley — Story by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead).
In Chris McKay’s Renfield, we follow R. M. Renfield (played by Nicholas Hoult) who, a long, long time ago, became the most trusted servant of Count Dracula (played by Nicolas Cage) and thus was granted immortality and the ability to be super powerful if he eats bugs. However, in the present day, Renfield has grown tired of serving his abusive master. In an attempt to find a way to deal with these feelings of exhaustion and depression, Renfield has sought out a self-help group for people in co-dependent relationships. And because he still needs to feed his master, Renfield has decided that he should only feed Dracula the abusive partners that the people in his self-help group complain about. Meanwhile, Renfield is also trying to build a life for himself without considering his master’s needs. When Renfield inadvertently comes into the crosshairs of a significant crime family, Dracula is made aware of his servant’s betrayal and decides to come out of hiding.
Alyssa Sutherland’s Ellie in Deadite-form in EVIL DEAD RISE — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Directed by Lee Cronin — Screenplay by Lee Cronin.
Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead is one of my favorite horror franchises out there. I grew up watching Army of Darkness over and over again. This is a storied franchise capable of going both extremely gory and very zany. Yet in spite of the film series having been rebooted in 2013 by Fede Alvarez, it took another ten years for another Evil Dead film to come out (the franchise did continue as a relatively short-lived television series, though). Now, 30 years after the theatrical release of Army of Darkness and 10 years after the theatrical release of Alvarez’s Evil Dead, Irish writer-director Lee Cronin has been chosen to bring the deadites and the Book of the Dead into this decade, and he has done a brilliant job. Evil Dead Rise is a terrific continuation of the cult favorite franchise. Yes, it is indeed groovy.
Lizzo and Jack Black in THE MANDALORIAN in THE MANDALORIAN, exclusively on Disney+. — PHOTO: Lucasfilm / Disney+.
Series Created by Jon Favreau — All Episodes Available on Disney+ Now.
To a certain extent, The Mandalorian was once the kind of show that united the Star Wars fanbase after the divisive sequel trilogy. However, the show that spun off from the excellent second season of the show — The Book of Boba Fett — was not only uneven, it also undid the very end of The Mandalorian season two through these episodes that were always more episodes of The Mandalorian than The Book of Boba Fett, even though they were sandwiched into the latter show. Since then, live-action Star Wars on Disney+ has featured the very satisfying but safe nostalgic Obi-Wan Kenobi show, as well as the outstanding course-correcting dark and mature Star Wars series Andor. It was always going to be hard for this third season to live up to Andor, but what is really frustrating is that it doesn’t even live up to its own previous seasons. The third season of The Mandalorian is a little bit of a disappointment.
(L-R) Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Chris Pine, and Michelle Rodriguez in DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES — PHOTO: Paramount Pictures.
Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (Game Night) — Screenplay/Story by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio, and Chris McKay.
It was only a matter of time before Hollywood was going to give Dungeons and Dragons another try as a major motion picture given the massive success of Stranger Things, which, I feel, has helped to popularize the tabletop role-playing game yet again. That’s right, I do remember watching the woeful 2000s Courtney Solomon film Dungeons and Dragons a couple of times way back when (it’s crazy to think that The Fellowship of the Ring was released only a single year later). The 2000s D&D film is as bad as its reputation would have you believe, but it does have Jeremy Irons and Marlon Wayans, so I guess that’s something. The difference between the film from 2000 and this year’s Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves from John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein is night and day. Honor Among Thieves genuinely is a great time at the movies.
With my best television shows of 2022-list having now been released, it’s time to stop delaying these awards posts. Just like the last few years, I’m splitting up my awards into two parts. This post — the first part — celebrates the best in television, superhero storytelling, gaming, and in music. The film awards will be revealed in an upcoming post, but, for now, we’ve got a lot of great stuff to get to. So, let’s do that!
I'm Jeffrey Rex 