* Terminator: Dark Fate. With the caveat that I have limited Terminator experience – I’ve seen the first one and maybe the second but that’s it – I loved this queer as hell update. Mackenzie Davis as an enhanced human from the future, here to team up with butch & fierce Linda Hamilton to save Natalia Reyes and also humanity? While landing some punches on ICE? Yes, thank you, more please.
* Synonyms, the story of an Israeli immigrant in Paris attempting to renounce his identity didn’t entirely work for me, but Tom Mercier’s lead performance as Yoav was one of the breakouts of the year.
* I was spoiled for Last Christmas before I ever saw the *trailer* thanks to the surprising percentage of Romancelandia that shows up in my Twitter feed, so when I did see the trailer I thought “yep, that reads.” And they were right! It completely worked for me – sweet and funny and seasonally cheesy – but if you require a traditional HEA from a romcom, it isn’t an experience for you. A small note on this one: I loved how sharp the script was: even throwaway lines on minor characters had zip. Well done, Emma Thompson. And I just continue to want All Of The Henry Golding movies, so get on that, world. Golding as a spy! Golding in space! Golding in a coffee shop AU! I’ll stop now.
* Originally scheduled for release at the end of June and bumped to the end of October for technical – read, censorship – reasons, Better Days is a story about school bullying, revenge, and hope. After a classmate commits suicide less than two months before their Gaokao exams, Chen Nian (Zhou Dongyu) becomes the next target of (the sickeningly well-done) bullies. After the system – both school and police – fail her, she turns to Liu Beishan (Jackson Yee) for protection. It’s a rough journey – they’re both children really – but it ends with hope. One of my favorite films of the year; I’ve already seen it twice. Side note: Zhou’s killing it in excellent on-screen partners from Jackson Yee to Takeshi Kaneshiro (and of course Ma Sichun in SoulMate, also directed by Derek Tsang).
* Pain and Glory is a gift from Almodovar, a story about an aging director looking back on his life and grounded by a gentle and beautifully physical performance by Antonio Banderas – his little shoulder-shimmy after doing a shot is art. It should work for anyone but especially if you’re also a creaky Almodovar fan, which I am.
* Charlie’s Angels. Five stars for relentless misandry and Kstew being queer as fuck. It’s not perfect and not all the jokes land but you know what else that’s true of? Most films about men.
wicked jaws 