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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe Holdovers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are looking for another holiday movie to watch as you and a loved one snuggle up next to the fire, may I recommend The Holdovers<\/em>?\u00a0 This tale revolves around an aging history teacher Paul Hunham who has to watch over his students who don\u2019t go home for the holidays.\u00a0 Several boys are initially held over at the private school, but Hunham is eventually left just watching Angus Tully, a student with a troubled family life.\u00a0 Starting off confrontational with each other, the pair eventually learn to let each other into their life and see they aren\u2019t so different.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t say The Holdovers<\/em> is reinventing the wheel as you can probably guess the twists and turns of the movie.\u00a0 However, this is a fine good wheel.\u00a0 I easily became invested in the bond between Hunham and Tully; I was also desperately hoping for the best for them by the end.\u00a0 A solid Christmas film to kick off December.<\/p>\n\n\n Godzilla Minus One<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n My biggest regret of 2023 will be not seeing Godzilla Minus One<\/em> in an iMax theater.\u00a0 This film perfectly captured Godzilla\u2019s monstrous size and destructive power.\u00a0 I longed to be in a theater seat with haptic feedback so I could feel the room quake as Godzilla unleashed his devasting atomic breath attack.\u00a0 The sheer spectacle is enough for me to recommend this film, but an earnest story is hiding beneath the carnage.\u00a0 Disgraced kamikaze pilot, Koichi Shikishima, returns to post-World War II Japan, failing to both perform his duty and save an island of engineers from a Godzilla attack.\u00a0 Stricken with grief and despair, he is forced to make a life for himself among the wreckage.\u00a0 Just as he appears to be getting his life in order, Godzilla returns to terrorize Japan.\u00a0 Godzilla Minus One<\/em> not only puts most Hollywood blockbusters to shame but has the storytelling chops to rival most indie arthouse films.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be surprised to see this on many 2023 Top Movies lists.<\/p>\n\n\n The Boys in the Boat<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember sitting in front of movies like Remember the Titans<\/em>, Miracle<\/em>, and Rudy<\/em> as a child and being enraptured by the thrill of the game.\u00a0 Nowadays, they just don\u2019t have that same spark.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s my understanding of basic story structure, or maybe it\u2019s because I know they rarely make a movie about the team that came in second.\u00a0 The latter is definitely the case with The Boys in the Boat<\/em>, a movie about the 1936 USA rowing team that won the gold medal in the Olympics.\u00a0 I know this was a big moment in history, as this team went into Nazi Germany and defeated the German team in front of Hitler.\u00a0 However, I struggled to stay engaged with this film as I called out plot points before they happened.\u00a0 Sing along with me if you know the words: The team is bad.\u00a0 Real bad.\u00a0 They find a way to make it work.\u00a0 They start winning.\u00a0 A star player gets upset and walks away.\u00a0 Coach talks them back into it.\u00a0 They go to the big final event.\u00a0 The rich team, in this case, the Germans, tries to cheat.\u00a0 Our team overcomes adversities and triumphantly wins.\u00a0 I know you can boil down all movies into the seven archetypes of a plot, but The Boys in the Boat<\/em> and many other sports movies don\u2019t even try to hide their simplicity.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a history buff or giant sports fan you might enjoy this, but I can\u2019t help but feel like there are better sports movies.<\/p>\n\n\n Dream Scenario<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The perfect trap was laid for The Doomsayer: an A24 film about people seeing Nicolas Cage doing weird stuff in their dreams.\u00a0 His ears metaphorically shot forward like a fox hearing a mouse scurrying through the field.\u00a0 As he walked into the theater, he was unaware of the ambush that was waiting for him.\u00a0 The comedy that came with having Cage play an awkward average Joe lulled him into a false sense of security.\u00a0 However, as Cage\u2019s character started to act more violently in people\u2019s dreams, The Doomsayer realized too late what the true message of Dream Scenario was: cancel culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I enjoyed this movie in the first half as it seemed to be a dark comedy on the effects of fame, but as Cage\u2019s characters start to be ostracized for being violent in people\u2019s dreams, I could see the writing on the walls.\u00a0 Dream Scenario <\/em>argues that banishing a person will only make them dig in their heels and become defensive.\u00a0 A scene where Cage is asked to leave a restaurant ends with Cage physically fighting one of the restaurant patrons.\u00a0 I find this message frustrating because I know metaphorically canceling people doesn\u2019t get them to turn around and agree with your opinion.\u00a0 More likely than not, it gets them to dig in their heels and fall in with a bad crowd.\u00a0 JK Rowling is living proof of this phenomenon.\u00a0 I believe if you want someone to change their mind, you have to approach the situation with empathy, calmly present your evidence, and give the person room to reach your point on their own.\u00a0 So with Dream Scenario and I having a similar opinion, the second half feels like one of those conversations with a friend where you go \u201cDude stop, I agree with you.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to keep hammering the point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I am stuck here wondering if I can even recommend Dream Scenario<\/em>.\u00a0 I guess if you love Cage and can look past some clunky messaging, then you can give it a try.\u00a0 On the other hand, if you hate in-your-face messaging then this might not be for you.<\/p>\n\n\n In My Mother’s Skin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n One day, I was looking at the movies at the cinema with apathy.\u00a0 Nothing had me itching to leave my apartment and venture to the movie theaters.\u00a0 Suddenly an article crossed my feed detailing the best horror movies of the year.\u00a0 Naturally, most of the movies were ones I had seen throughout the year, but there were some on the list I hadn\u2019t seen.\u00a0 In an attempt to delay viewing Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, <\/em>I rented one of the unseen horror movies.\u00a0 That movie was In My Mother\u2019s Skin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The movie takes place in the Phillippines towards the end of World War II.\u00a0 The situation looks dire for our protagonist, Tala, a young Philippine girl.\u00a0 Her father has left to seek help from the Americans, her mother\u2019s health rapidly fading and they are slowly running out of food.\u00a0 She ventures into the woods where she finds a fairy who offers her food and a way to heal her mother.\u00a0 However, this isn\u2019t your sunshine and rainbows fairy, but one of these mischievous fairies that eats flesh.\u00a0 By the time Tala realizes she is in a cautionary fairy tale, it is already too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I definitely wouldn\u2019t say I regret watching In My Mother\u2019s Skin<\/em>.\u00a0 There are some good chilling moments such as the buzzing of cicadas getting louder and louder as Tala ventures deeper into the forest.\u00a0 Yet, the movie plays it pretty safe regarding some of the horror visuals.\u00a0 The film ultimately made me want to watch When Evil Lurks<\/em> again, which is not a good sign.<\/p>\n\n\n Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you not make time to see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom<\/em>?\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry you have already seen it.\u00a0 If you have seen anyone of the mediocre superhero movies that have lazily stumbled into theaters then you have seen this one.\u00a0 All the hallmarks of a bad superhero movie are on display right here.\u00a0 CGI that looks embarrassing when compared to the CGI in the Pirates of the Caribbean <\/em>films?\u00a0 Check.\u00a0 Characters experiencing the same arc they went through in earlier movies?\u00a0 Check.\u00a0 A tone waving wildly back and forth between the end-of-the-world seriousness and Saturday morning cartoon?\u00a0 Check.\u00a0 A CGI big bad that looks like they belong in a bad PS2 game?\u00a0 Check.\u00a0 The worst sin of all this movie couldn\u2019t be car-crash bad like The Flash<\/em>; it was just mind-numbingly boring like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.\u00a0 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom<\/em> doesn\u2019t end the DC cinematic universe with a bang, but more of a dying gurgling sound.<\/p>\n\n\n Deliver Us<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think myself and religious horror just don\u2019t mix.\u00a0 Deliver Us<\/em> was another 2023 horror film on the same article as In My Mother\u2019s Skin<\/em> that grabbed my attention.\u00a0 The film revolves around a priest who helps a nun who gives birth to twins through immaculate conception.\u00a0 A prophecy foretells that one of the twins will become the Messiah and the other will become the Anti-Christ.\u00a0 Personally, in that scenario, I would probably dispose of both of the twins as the risks probably don\u2019t out way the gains.\u00a0 However, both the priest and the nun decide to run and hide from priests who want to try to decipher and kill the Anti-Christ.\u00a0 From here the Anti-Christ child uses mind games to hide his identity and to kill people who attempt to help the nun and priest protecting them.\u00a0 Unfortunately, after a gripping opening scene where the prophecy is carved into people’s backs and then flayed off of them, the movie doesn\u2019t have any memorable scenes.\u00a0 Yes, the Anti-Christ child gets people to do their best Jack Torrance impression, but none of these scenes stick in my mind.\u00a0 Look I am willing to forgive characters making bad decisions in horror movies, but when a lot of it is hand-waved as an Anti-Christ child mind-controlling people, I can\u2019t stay invested.<\/p>\n\n\n The Iron Claw<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As I walked out of The Iron Claw I was hit with a feeling of longing for a moment in my past.\u00a0 The memory was Christmas time in 2019.\u00a0 My siblings and I met at the Pipe Dream Brewery in Londonderry, NH to have a few laughs and drinks.\u00a0 This was certainly not the last time my siblings and I had an event like this, but it is certainly one I look back on fondly.\u00a0 You are probably asking what does this have to do with The Iron Claw, <\/em>a film about the Von Erich family, one of the greatest families in the history of professional wrestling.\u00a0 Well, the film painted a picture of a family of brothers who clearly loved each other and were tragically ripped away from each other.\u00a0 It made me appreciate the bonds I have with my siblings and long to have another moment like the one at Pipe Dream Brewery.\u00a0 I am sure wrestling fans will enjoy this movie, but this movie will speak louder to those with siblings.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n The Thing<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A lot of horror monsters tend to blend together, but I don\u2019t think I can ever forget the Thing.\u00a0 Witnessing the dripping fleshy mess burst out of someone\u2019s chest made me jump higher than most jumpscares this year.\u00a0 Considering its age, the puppetry of the Thing is impressive; I can\u2019t get over how wet the whole thing looks.\u00a0 However, the scares don\u2019t end when the Thing crawls into the vents.\u00a0 Watching the crew in The Thing<\/em> bicker felt like I was back in those Among Us<\/em> meetings trying to sus out the Imposter.\u00a0 Among Us<\/em> seems less impressive when you learn Innersloth is copying John Carpenter\u2019s homework.\u00a0 Yes, a cheap joke, but I can\u2019t recall many horror movies this tense when the monster isn\u2019t even on screen.\u00a0 Proving once again that nothing is scarier than humanity when our own skin is on the line.\u00a0 If John Carpenter ever gives a master class on horror, I will be the first in line.<\/p>\n\n\n Mad Max: Fury Road Black and Chrome Edition<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This movie is an onion: every time I watch it I find a new layer to it.\u00a0 This time I got existential dread as I watched people lionize the villain responsible for their own misfortune.\u00a0 Life imitates art.\u00a0 Politics aside, I chose to rewatch this movie when a local theater showed the Black and Chrome Edition: a black-and-white version of the film.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t say this is the best way to experience the film as Mad Max: Fury Road<\/em> has a very striking color palette.\u00a0 However, scenes like the dust storm looked more intimidating as a mass of blacks and greys, and the film got me even more excited for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga<\/em>.\u00a0 I simply cannot wait to return to this world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n Poor Things<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite winning a couple of Golden Globes, I could not get into this film.\u00a0 The premise is Dr Godwin Baxter (played by Willem Dafoe) finds a dead woman pregnant with a child in the river.\u00a0 Being an extraordinary scientist, he takes the brain of the child and places it in her mother\u2019s body to bring her to life.\u00a0 An interesting idea that I don\u2019t feel the movie builds upon.\u00a0 Initially, Bella Baxter (played by Emma Stone) acts like a toddler in an adult body, but as the film goes on it feels like they sped up age development in the brain without doing anything with the body.\u00a0 What would Bella\u2019s experiences be like as someone with a twenty-year-old mind in the body of a fifty-year-old?\u00a0 It feels like a lot of the sci-fi elements the movie had, in the beginning, were dropped to have a woman growing up story as Bella has a rebellious phase, followed by working under capitalism phase and then settling down and taking over your father\u2019s work phase.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t feel like this movie is saying anything new.\u00a0 Maybe I am not the target audience for this movie, and honestly, that\u2019s fine.\u00a0 However, I always feel like that\u2019s a missed opportunity as I am always willing to give movies with a fresh perspective a chance.\u00a0 I just clearly don\u2019t get this movie.\u00a0 Maybe you will and I will be happy for you.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be over here trying to enjoy another horror movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s round out the year with my final thoughts on the movies I saw in December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2095"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2110,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095\/revisions\/2110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gatecitygaming.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GMO2-1024x576.png\")
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