Mike Ryan

It’s literally a party. It’s an all-encompassing experience that McQueen directs with the same urgency of his other, more inherently intense films – the urgency that has made him one of the best directors today (and one of my own personal favorites, if not just plain “favorite”).

The Irishman is terrific.

Call Me By Your Name is a triumph of humanity.

You should see Lady Bird...and, when you do, savor its delightfulness because this is a tougher and tougher commodity to find.

There’s something whimsical and magical about the whole thing. It is designed to make the viewer feel good.

What’s important in The Last Jedi is what happens to, and what we find out about, all of these characters along the way. In retrospect, The Force Awakens feels like a short introduction to these characters. After The Last Jedi, I feel like I’ve gone on a week-long road trip with them all.

The plot of this movie doesn’t matter because it barely has one, even though it’s incredibly entertaining.

At three hours long, even though the editing and narrative style keeps it moving, it gets to be redundant.

This is an excellent, poignant, and amazing film that will stick with you. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s a must-see, even though watching it is a very difficult thing to do.

What Bradley Cooper has done here as an actor and director is truly remarkable.

If you’re looking to nitpick historical accuracy, Napoleon is going to drive you bonkers. But good gosh is it entertaining. And funny. Don’t forget funny.

It’s obvious Ryan Coogler didn’t direct Black Panther to make an action movie. Instead, it’s a dense movie about family, community, internal struggle, and external struggle. And it’s a movie with a lot on its mind.

Simply put, Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the best action movie you will see this year. You’ll probably leave the theater overcome with an urge to go jumping from building to building.

Boseman is just so alive in this movie. This is not an “understated” performance. It’s like watching an athlete give it all on the field and we are left there wondering how this man isn’t just completely exhausted. Yeah, turns out Boseman did have one last gift for us. And, my gosh, he didn’t disappoint. He’s pure dynamite. It’s devastating.

Nomadland will almost physically take you places. It’s a beautiful, absolutely gorgeous motion picture.

Like In Bruges, The Banshees of Inisherin is a dark movie that is often downright hilarious.

This animated movie has more heart and emotion than most live actions films of this genre. If you give it a chance, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will knock your socks off.

It’s one of the most, if not the most, immersive superhero stories going, pushing far beyond the boundaries of what superhero stories should and could be.

This is a Spielberg classic.

What Dee Rees has done here is remarkable. The themes of racial injustice alone would make this movie “important,” but what she’s done with her film makes it an epic.

After you see The Fabelmans you realize this man will never stop making movies. It truly is his life. And, here, he is inviting us in to see how and why that all happened.

It’s kind of hard to write about Won’t You Be My Neighbor? as a film. It’s exceptionally well-made, mind you – which shouldn’t be a huge surprise coming from Morgan Neville, who won an Academy Award for directing 20 Feet From Stardom – but beyond being a film, it’s an experience of earnestness we don’t see or hear much anymore, to the point that it’s a bit of a jolt to the system.

I’m glad this movie exists if, for nothing else, to introduce new generations to Sharon Tate. And, frankly, I include myself in this. What Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood does best – and most importantly – is frame Sharon Tate as a human being we should get to know.

It’s a movie that feels like hope as actual hope stares us smack in the face. We are almost there. In the Heights didn’t ask for this responsibility, but it will forever be remembered as the right movie for the right time. It’s the kind of movie that will make you want to dance in the streets. And after this year we’ve all had, we all deserve to have our moment dancing in the street.

The footage, from the Krafft’s archives, is stunning. This truly is a remarkable film.

First Man is a movie to see in full IMAX because in that first scene after Neil and Buzz open the hatch, the whole screen suddenly blurts alive filling the whole IMAX screen, the sound goes away, and for a couple of seconds you can convince yourself that this is what it would have looked and sounded like.

What a debut film it is. She gets just the right amount of tension and angst out of these four actors in a way that still makes it believable they might all still be friends or want to hang out together in the first place. It’s a movie about agendas.

Samberg and Milioti are great together.

There’s a humanity in Gosling’s K we haven’t quite seen before in this world of frowning people and weirdos. And it’s those little, subtle inflections that makes Blade Runner 2049 a success.

Pacific Rim Uprising is a dumb movie that knows it’s a dumb movie and just tries to show you a good time and doesn’t needlessly bog us down with too much character development or exposition because it knows we don’t really care.

The best thing about this documentary is that every singe member of The Go-Go’s is in “no fucks” mode. They are all at an age where they are going to be open and honest about what happened and not sugarcoat the details.

Glass Onion is just a great time watching a movie. It’s a rare movie (especially at a film festival where I have places I have to be) in which I wished it were longer. I would have gladly spent more time with these characters, played by actors who are all obviously having a wonderful time. I already miss them. Make more movies like this. What fun.

A lot of Mission: Impossible movies have a lot of exposition and can be complicated. Brian de Palma’s first movie (still my personal favorite, with Fallout a close second) is pretty complicated! But a terrific finale can cure all of that. And Dead Reckoning Part One has a really great sequence on a train to close the movie out.

If you have kids, they will probably love this because it’s very colorful … and even I found myself mesmerized by how colorful it is. A cornucopia of colors! (I guess that’s my pull quote.)

Ford v Ferrari is almost as much about having to navigate having multiple bosses at a large corporation as it is winning a car race.

Don’t go into Western Stars expecting to see The Boss. That guy is on a break. What we get instead is Bruce Springsteen, a human being who seems a lot less sure of himself than The Boss ever did. Springsteen’s book gave us some details, but Western Stars looks straight into his soul.

This feels like the definitive Flash movie.

This is a film that has such a strong first act, but then a head-scratcher of a second that left me actively disliking what I was watching in front of me, then an almost out-of-the-blue third act that ultimately won me back over.

It’s a movie about hidden family secrets, with a comical amount of twists, and it plays more as melodramatic schlock. And I just happened to really be in the mood for melodramatic schlock.

It feels like a movie that could have easily come out in 2006 as opposed to now, which is what makes Incredibles 2 so fun. It doesn’t belong to a time, so ten years from now both of these installments will just seem like they’ve always just kind of been here. Incredibles 2 will now take its rightful place alongside the first film in the “family canon.”

Here are the last eight months all laid out for us, and it’s infuriating.

Honestly, I’m kind of in awe of Barbie and I would love to read the meeting notes of every conversation Gerwig had with someone at Mattel.

If you do open yourself up, there’s something wonderful to find in this movie. You won’t watch A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and learn more about Fred Rogers, but you will learn more about yourself. And it might not be easy, but, again, as Mister Rogers would say, “and that’s okay.”

It’s an admirable effort. It’s just a beautiful thing to look at. And the whole endeavor is such a touching tribute from Fincher to his father. But, in the end, I found myself more interested in the behind the scenes shenanigans that led to the creation of, perhaps, the greatest movie of all time, as opposed to Mank the human being. And Mank focuses much more on the latter.

Dune: Part Two is certainly up there with some of the best science fiction movies I’ve ever seen.

This is how “blockbuster” movies should be done.

So if this is it for John Wick, Chapter 4, improbably, goes out as easily the best of the series and a contender for one of the best pure action movies in recent history if not ever made. It’s so good I really kind of hope they end on this. I truly don’t think it can be topped.

Avengers: Endgame is, without a doubt, the most confusing and convoluted of any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, yet it’s also unbelievably satisfying – and, yes, does act as an endpoint for many major character arcs.

The Sisters Brothers is a much more introspective movie than it leads on to be, but isn’t that surprising when you factor in that it’s directed by Jacques Audiard, making his first film in English.

No matter how bizarre Sorry to Bother You becomes (and it goes in some very strange directions), it doesn’t entirely lose its focus.

We basically just get our orders and go. But I get the sense this is Mendes’ point. His goal is to put us in World War I for two hours. And, no, it’s not a pleasant experience. But what the movie is trying to do absolutely works. 1917 wants to take us to hell and back, and, in that, it succeeds.

With Nope [Peele's] proven he knows how to make an unbelievably entertaining summer alien movie that can draw the masses … while at the same time warn people about the nature and danger of spectacle.

Since theaters basically ceased to exist, there’s been a few movies I’ve watched screeners at home and have really, really enjoyed. But this is the first that made me feel like I was back in a theater. This felt like a real event. That I got those chills down the back as I watched something I’m just loving for the first time of what will be many times.

This is a film that’s hilarious, sad, and for some reason features an entire montage set to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.”

There’s a sense of personality and life in the Turtles in Mutant Mayhem that the other movies just seem to try and force.

What makes Lisa D’Apolito’s Love, Gilda special is that D’Apolito has a secret weapon: Gilda Radner herself.

Thor: Ragnarok is by far the most unusual of the Marvel movies – a crazy, colorful, ambitious, hilarious ride through the cosmos – even surpassing the Guardians of the Galaxy movies as the former holder of that title. And it’s by far the funniest.

On the Rocks is light on plot, but makes up for it with just the sheer joy of Murray and Jones out on the town. The actual plot is only there as an excuse to get the ball rolling for those two.

What’s kind of impressive here is Fair Game does have a lot to say about gender dynamics in a “boy’s club” work environment, but it doesn’t get bogged down in that to the point we are watching a lecture. Like I said in the first sentence, this is a very entertaining movie.

Creed III does serve as a nice springboard to whatever future movies Jordan wants to direct. He’s done a really great job here. And it, of course, allows Jonathan Majors another chance to emote. Right now, Majors has to be the king of emoting. He is truly great at it. What’s interesting about this movie is a viewer can see both sides of the conflict between Adonis and Dame, at least to a point.

Like John Wick himself, this third chapter feels like a lean, mean, fighting machine – and, yes, it’s the best film of the franchise so far, even surpassing the first film. There are moments in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum where I thought to myself, “Well, I’ve never seen that before.”

I realize this is an important movie for Shia LaBeouf, but I’m not convinced it’s an important movie for us.

This is just David Fincher making a bloody, fun, gritty movie about an angry assassin. The name of the movie is The Killer and our lead character very much does that.

It really is joke after joke after joke, most delivered wonderfully by Eichner. And they sure landed in front of this big audience, but I do wonder how all that will play in a more subdued environment.

The Suicide Squad is the polar opposite of the movie that came before. Just the fact it’s, again, “competent,” and also “entertaining,” alone put it in direct opposition to its predecessor.

Leigh Whannell’s version of The Invisible Man is a smart take on a story that seems next to impossible to tell in an interesting way, but here it somehow is.

The Batman isn’t revolutionary. It doesn’t upend the superhero movie dynamic. Heck, people used to the recent superhero movies getting more cosmic and playing around with alternate timelines might not even like this more back to basics approach. But I, for one, found it refreshing. A nice little breather amidst the chaos. And proof that a good story with good characters can go quite a long way.

When the characters are just being the characters, instead of listening to exposition, this is a really fun movie. (And Destin Daniel Cretton excels at characters.) It’s all here. And it’s why I’m really looking forward to the next chapter now that we got all the explaining out of the way.

A down and dirty Predator movie that rivals the first movie as a simple film about a Predator on a hunt.

It’s the giving season, so, sure, give us some fan service. But the story is still there (though the second act does start to feel a bit long) and I felt some actual emotion, even with all this chaos swirling around. And in the end Spider-Man: No Way Home somehow finds a way to keep it all together.

It’s almost as if the filmmakers just thought the idea of a pair of legs were funny, like if it were in a The Far Side panel. But then decided to try to base a whole movie on what should have been at most a single still or a single joke.

By the end of A Quiet Place Part II my stomach literally hurt. There’s no way I could have done another 20 minutes because it is too intense. That’s one of the best compliments I can give it.

Blinded by the Light features scenes of the most pure, unadulterated joy I’ve seen on screen in quite a while.

After Shazam! ended I said out loud, “What a fun time at the movies.” You know, isn’t that all we need sometimes? A reason to leave the house and also not regret leaving the house? That is a tough combination to pull off...It’s just one of those movies that feels like a communal event. In the end, it’s about family. It’s just a nice movie to watch with other human beings.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is a two-hour mental break when a lot of people could need a mental break. If this sounds like I’m being condescending to this movie at all, I promise you I am not. I mean this as a huge compliment. It’s so lighthearted and everyone in the movie is so darn pleasant and they all seem to like each other, it kind of feels like the most fictitious Marvel movie to date.

Late Night is going to wind up being one of the best comedies of 2019.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story isn’t trying to be Walk Hard, strangely. It’s trying to be a movie co-written by “Weird Al” Yankovic and there’s just a certain THING about his comedy that’s hard to pinpoint but it’s actually weird, not “oh, this is the epitome of comedic genius.”

The sheer brute force of Egerton holds it all together. And despite some darker themes, Rocketman is still quite a ride. It plays more as a musical than a standard biopic.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a heck of a lot of fun. And I can’t get over how great of a Mysterio movie this is.

That’s the thing about Borat 2, it’s not shocking anymore. Because it certainly should be. There’s certainly a lot of hilarious things that happen . . . . But over the last 14 years, things have drastically changed enough where “shocking” is no longer a relevant emotion to these movies.

So, for basically 90 percent of this movie, I’m sitting there thinking, Okay, this is awesome. Then things changed slightly. And I need to be clear: not to the point it changes how I feel about the movie. I still enjoyed it immensely. But Infinity War did send me out on an unfulfilled note, which, to be fair, is probably by design

The problem is the movie doesn’t always realize this should be a hoot. Rami Malek and Christoph Waltz realize what movie they are in. And I love Craig’s Bond, but there are times when he’s trying to be a Connery Bond in a clearly Roger Moore Bond movie.

Set right after the events of Captain America: Civil War, watching Black Widow kind of feels like watching that MCU movie you just never got around to seeing.

Monsters and Men is at the once depressing and hopeful. And for the life of me, I can’t believe Reinaldo Marcus Green had the guts to make this.

Concrete Cowboy is a nice movie about fathers and sons and humanity and the legacy of why there are people riding horses in places you wouldn’t expect to see any horses.

Like the first movie, the technical wizardry won me over and (again, having just rewatched the first movie) the story is deeper and richer.

The big standout here is Bill Burr.

with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, like I said, I think Peyton Reed has given us an installment that, with the material that has to be introduced, is about the best version this could be. But I found myself missing the more grounded and funny world of Scott Lang that the prior movies had set up. You know, being a palette cleanser is a good thing.

Chadwick Boseman does not appear in this movie, but he’s felt in every single scene. It feels like a way to say goodbye. And, in that, it very much succeeds … while also being a rip-roaring Black Panther movie. Again, this movie is a miracle.

There’s a lot going on in Creed II, more than a movie featuring Ivan Drago really ever needed to have. But at its core, Creed II is about family.

For me (no, I didn’t have to pay for it, so keep that in mind), it felt legitimately fun to watch. It wasn’t quite the feeling you get in a theater, but it just felt good to watch a new huge would-have-been-a-blockbuster movie, even at home.

Bumblebee is a total delight.

I’ll admit, the sequel to Wonka looks pretty good! The plot of this movie leaves off exactly where you probably assumed this movie would start, but for some reason didn’t. And like I said earlier, Timothée Chalamet plays Willy Wonka with a lot of charm and I bet it’s not easy to play someone who is all-knowing, possibly supernatural, but is also not very smart at times.

Like in the other two movies, Bill and Ted are both just so nice that it’s impossible not to start rooting for them.

The relationship between Carell, Fishburne, and Cranston feels genuine. It’s weird, they really don’t click at first – like, I suspect, a lot of people wouldn’t after having not seen each other in 30 some years – but by the end these three very different people have a bond. And it culminates with a pretty heartbreaking scene.

I think the Swift we have ten years from now will make a much more fascinating subject. What we see now feels more like the very beginning of her story. And there’s just not enough here yet at this starting point to sustain a feature-length documentary.

By sheer willpower alone Majors makes Magazine Dreams something to behold. This movie exists as a vessel in which to watch Jonathan Majors act his ass off.