Sean Sees Movies – March 2023 Review Roundup
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, you walked into mine. Welcome to the March Review Round Up.
Entries are not in ranked order. Each entry will feature the title, year released and in what format and/or streaming service I saw it in.
1. Casablanca (1942) (Cinema) – There are very, very few films that I would describe as perfect. Casablanca is a perfect film. If you have not seen it, then you need to do so. Additionally, if the opportunity to see it at the cinema arises, then you must add such an adventure to your list. This viewing was either the second or third time that I have seen it at the cinema and it is just as beautiful and moving as that first time I saw it on a very small television in a dorm room a million miles ago. Here’s looking at you, kid.
2. Jesus Revolution (2023) (Cinema) – I wrote a full review of this movie that can be read here. Since writing this review, my opinion of the film continues to be that of sustained aggravation. It could have been a good film, and then halfway through it felt like they remembered they were making a “Christian movie” and let the whole thing go, metaphorically, to hell.
3. 65 (2023) (Cinema) – The best thing that I can say about this movie is that it was short: 93 minutes. Is that too harsh? There might be a few other good aspects of this film, but I have SO many issues with the science of this movie that they overshadow anything positive that would remain. To summarize quickly, Adam Driver is from a distant planet and crashes on Earth 65 million years ago, days away from the asteroid impact that ended the Mesozoic Era (reign of the dinosaurs.) I know that I can (and eventually will) go on a long tirade about the scientific inaccuracies portrayed in the film, but I’ll save that for a video on the S’mores & Dinosaurs channel. The ecosystem portrayed in the film, wouldn’t work in the Anthropocene (our current time period), let alone in the time period of prehistoric giants. Honestly, my favorite part of the whole experience is that for SOME reason, there were an unusual amount of children in my movie theater (presumably, the parents thought this was going to be a dinosaur survival film like Jurassic Park). Before the movie started, the theater only played trailers for upcoming horror, slasher and psychological terror films. Did those kids handle those movie trailers well? No, no they did not.
4. Black Panther in Concert (2018/2023) (Cincinnati Pops Orchestra at Cincinnati Music Hall) – Before I begin, I would like to thank Lyndsay and Eric Donaldson for giving me tickets to see this symphonic presentation. Throughout the years, they have always been some of my most ardent supporters and friends. For those that are unfamiliar with an “in concert” film, a live symphony orchestra performs the score live while the movie with the accompanying sound effects and dialogue is played on a large screen above. In general, it is a fun experience, although I would caution against seeing movie musicals in this format as the orchestra will tend to outplay the singing happening on the screen. This happened when I saw “Coco in Concert” and the balance between the orchestra and the film was incorrect causing some of those beautiful songs to be a little hard to hear.
Regardless, there is no denying that Black Panther is a wonderful film with an unforgettable score. This is made possible, primarily, by the instrument at the soul of the film: the tamas or talking drum. The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitch of the drum by scraping the cords between their arm and body. For this concert performance, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra brought Tama master Massamba Diop, who performed the tamas in the films score to perform live with the orchestra. As much as I enjoyed the movie, the real joy was watching Massamba Diop perform an instrument that I have never seen before. It was simply astounding at how much sound can be made and at such variety from such a singular, relatively small instrument. The tama filled the entirety of Cincinnati Music Hall. Following the film, master Massamba Diop performed a short solo on the tama to everyone’s enjoyment. Long story short, if you have the experience to see Black Panther in Concert, consider going. Oh, and if you have never seen Black Panther, you should do that as well.
5. Money Shot – The Pornhub Story) (2023) (Netflix) – I went into this documentary with an open mind and an idea that it might answer a question that I wondered a few years ago. Why did Pornhub scrub almost all their user uploaded content. Not only did the documentary answer this question, but it also explored and presented a much more thorough look into the business and inner workings of one of the world’s largest online porn providers. Although, certain aspects of this business needed to be changed, (to which attempts were made); there are a greater number of outside conservative forces you learn about that has put the livelihoods of legitimate, professional sex workers in the cross hairs of losing it all. This documentary won’t be for everyone, but if this sounds interesting, then you might be the type of person to enjoy it. NSFW.
6. Shazam: Fury of the Gods (2023) (Cinema) – This movie is getting a lot of hate in the press and media right now, and I am going to choose the other path. Shazam: Fury of the Gods is a comic book movie and I mean that in the best way possible. It’s like a living comic book. It’s a loud, big, fast, kinda dumb and corny superhero movie. And that’s okay. I don’t think that it ever really portrayed itself as being anything different. Which is what surprises me when other critics lambast this film. Is it the best superhero movie ever? No, but does it need to be? I think we have grown to expect our superhero movies to become mirrors to the sins of our society and have forgotten that these are comic book characters. Shazam is about a family of kids that when uttering a singular word transform into big, muscular, (a little sexy) adult versions of themselves. It’s goofy. Good! This will likely be the end of the Shazam franchise, which is fine. (I will save my opinion on how Dwayne Johnson is partially responsible for that for personal conversations). With the DC cinematic universe about to go through some big, and honestly, needed changes I don’t know when or if we will get to see Shazam on the big screen again. Although, I am glad that we got to see the character brought to life, instead of forever being confined to the comics. Would I spend money to see it in the theater? No.
7. The Menu (2022) (HBO Max) - Despite the besmirching of my beloved s'more, The Menu is a rather intense intriguing movie. It will make you hungry by the end…probably…especially if you like cheeseburgers…like me. I am somewhat surprised that it didn't receive anything more than just a few golden globe nominations last year. I don’t think that it would have won any of the top prizes, but to not garner a few more nomination is interesting to me. I don’t think that it deserved any of the top prizes, personally. In the end maybe it's just that it's a really good movie and that’s it. I would tell you more, but due to the nature of the film, I will refrain as not to ruin any of the surprises.