Sick all last week, so had a bit of time....
Extinction (2018) - I watched this because I was like "Michael Pena is great in anything! He's doing a lead in a sci-fi?! Cool!" This is his worst, most-deadened performance. The story has several key, interesting points. Might be worth hanging in there for some.
Manhunter (131 min composite version) - I've always had so much affection for this Lecter underdog film. This was my first time watching it in probably 5 or 6 years, and the first time I felt it finally seemed too dated. The composite doesn't fix the movie's issues, which are mostly bad edits and a setup that takes too long to show you where it's going.
Whiplash - Man, I just don't have Damien Chazelle's sensibilities. He has some kind of certain love for a 'classic' era of style and music that he is unable to translate to me. This film has Miles Teller really playing some pretty great jazz, but all the film told me was he had to work his ass off to do it, and he buys into the narrative that the means justify the ends. I wanted to the film to teach me a bit about what he was doing. Why was it so hard? How was he good? What was the difference between him and other players? Between good jazz and bad jazz? I left with no better understanding of what it was to be a jazz musician/lover than when I came in.
The Young Offenders - Bit of a screwball indie Irish comedy. Had faint echoes of Trainspotting (the lighter bits) to this Yank. Actually, closer to The Inbetweeners.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch - ran through this again with the gf making the choices. I was amazed at how just one subtle difference could open a whole new version of things. It seems to be the accumulation of specific choices that leads to a narrative, rather than one specific choice suddenly taking you to a new branch. Will definitely play again in 6 months or so.
Snowden - I thoroughly enjoyed this, and it's been quite awhile since I could say that about an Oliver Stone film. Levitt's performance is phenomenal. He absolutely nails what makes Snowden, Snowden. He somehow even looks like him in the film, but it's all mannerisms and his voice and bearing. There are few moments here that really seem overly-dramatized, and if you've seen CitizenFour you know that much of the drama is exactly what took place.
A Monster Calls - you know how sometimes 2 very similar movies come out around the same time, like Armageddon/Deep Impact? Volcano/Dante's Peak? Well, this came out about the same time as The BFG, but I also somehow associated it with The Babadook (both about childhood monsters coming from stories into the kid's real house while mom is out-of-it, kid acting out, etc.) Anyway, this is 100x better than either film. I found it charming and moving, a movie for kids that doesn't talk down to them or assume they're immature and need silliness and fart jokes. It hit me in the feels, but I didn't find it cloying or manipulative. It was just inherent in the subject. Loved the visual style, too.