Everything Everywhere All at Once

Something that many big franchises are doing recently is dealing with stories involving the multiverse, whether it's the MCU or the DCEU, due to the complexity of alternate worlds and how you could have old versions of characters come back. That doesn't mean that smaller works wouldn't be able to tell stories involving this concept, and Everything Everywhere All at Once is one such movie. With the Russo brothers as producers and Michelle Yeoh in the lead role, there's already a guaranty of it being highly imaginative and kick ass. The story starts out simple enough with a Chinese-American immigrant, Yeoh's Evelyn Quan Wang, dealing with a struggling laundromat, a failing marriage, her ill father, having a hard time accepting her daughter's lesbianism, and being audited by the IRS. Things start to go crazy when her husband is taken over by an alternate version of himself who reveals the multiverse to Evelyn, how she can gain the skills and memories of alternate versions of herself through odd acts, and that she is key to saving all of reality. The threat to the multiverse is an alternate version of Evelyn's daughter, Joy, who grew to resent her mother for not accepting her and how the multiverse experiments caused her to experience all versions of herself all at once. With only a budget of 25 million dollars, this is a highly imaginative, crazy, and fun film that can compete with those with a budget of over hundreds of millions. The writing and directing team of Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert craft an absolute banger of a movie with well shot and creative action choreography and such a fresh take on a decades old trope that is used to not only be funny and dramatic, but often changes genre and style mid way through and is used to deal with themes of parental abandonment and existentialism. One big flaw with their writing, however, is that the ending and its message takes a bit forever to get to its conclusion. What makes a lot of the multiverse concept work is Larkin Seiple's incredible work in the cinematography, capturing the styles of 70s kung fu movies and the vibrant looks of Wong Kar-wai's work that exemplifies the various realities. But of course, all of that would not matter if not for the strong performances that Yeoh and the rest of the cast, such as James Hong, Stephanie Hsu, and Ke Huy Quan, all give. They all manage to give their alternate characters their own styles, methods, and personalities in such a way that no two versions ever feel the same. Everything Everywhere All at Once proves that smaller, more independent films can handle huge concepts just as well as the bigger budgeted franchise ones. Over all: 100%

2022 top list so far:

1. The Batman

2. Dog

3. Everything Everywhere All at Once

4. X 2022

5. Scream 2022

6. Uncharted

X 2022

100 word review challenge:

X 2022 is a slasher about the cast and crew of a 1979 porno being killed off by a creepy old couple. Directed and written by Ti West and having Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Kid Cudi, and Martin Henderson. Cast is incredible, with Goth playing two distinct characters, one with impressive old makeup. Great throwback to classic slashers and takes its time before the first kill. Cinematography captures the era, with colorful and unique look. Even though it's rather simple, much like how the characters feel about their film, X 2022 is a lot more than just sex and violence. Over all: 100%

2022 top list so far:

1. The Batman

2. Dog

3. X 2022

4. Scream 2022

5. Uncharted

Uncharted

Based on the successful and popular video game franchise from Naughty Dog, Uncharted has Tom Holland take on the role of globe trotting fortune hunter Nathan Drake. Drake is recruited by Sully Sullivan, a seasoned fortune hunter played by Mark Wahlberg, to look for the lost treasure from the Magellan expedition that Sully had once searched with Nathan's long lost older brother Sam. Along the way they reluctantly team up with Chloe Frazer, a former associate of Sully's, and have to contend with rivals and mercenaries looking for the same prize. While it's written well, the story itself isn't too remarkable and doesn't have anything new or unique separating it from other similar films, like say the Indiana Jones films. The performances from the cast is really strong, with Holland and Wahlberg having a great dynamic between each other. While I never played the games, from the videos I've seen I do know that despite Holland giving a good performance, his portrayal is a lot different from the video game version. In the games, Nathan is a gun totting action hero who likes to crack jokes and enjoys sarcasm, with Holland's portrayal often not the best with action and a bit hyper. While one could see it as far from a perfect adaptation, Holland playing a younger Drake could mean we eventually see him grow in to the more well known character from the games. As one expects with director Ruben Fleischer, the action in this movie is well shot, choreographed, and well edited thanks to Chris Lebenzon and Richard Pearson. The crazy and over the top set pieces that the games are best known for are brought into this adaptation and work really well. Special mention towards the final action scene involving centuries old ships being lifted into the air by helicopters with Drake and Sully fighting villains while flying. The cinematography from Chung-hoon Chung wasn't anything special but does a good job at portraying different places with their own distinct looks. A fun moment that is a nice reference to the games is a cameo from Nolan North, the voice of Nathan in the games, who briefly interacts with Holland's Nathan. While Uncharted may not be the best video game based movie or elevates the genre, this is still a fun, though very flawed, ride that could lead to sequels that fix some of those issues. Over all: 80%

2022 top list so far:

1. The Batman

2. Dog

3. Scream 2022

4. Uncharted