"We're not critics. We're professional fan-girls." --- This blog is dedicated to movies and the entertainment industry. We use random selection to bring into light the best and worst of streaming films and entertainment news.
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
Top 10 Favorite New Discoveries of 2022
According to: Selina
[Note: These are the best films that we reviewed on Trust
the Dice in >year< that were released in previous years.]
10 – Above the Shadows (2019) Reviewed on: September 21 Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance Rated: Unrated Length: 1h 51min Selina’s Rating: 4.5 Cat’s Rating: 3.5
IMDb Blurb: A young woman who has faded to the point of
becoming invisible must find her way back with the help of the one man who can see
her. Above the Shadows made it to our schedule because I saw
a clip of it on TikTok. It looked a little campy, but like it had a unique
premise. I was not prepared for what it actually was, though. Without the twist affecting the main character, it could
have been just about any sport romance film out there. Boxer loses his way,
falls in love and it inspires him to win. Basic, right? But Above the
Shadows shows the story from the view point of the love interest, who just
so happens to be invisible to everyone else in the world. That’s not something I’ve seen before. On top of that, there’s a depth to Above the Shadows.
It touches on grief and what happens when we lose ourselves in it. It’s a better film than I could have hoped, and worth a lot
more word of mouth than it’s had.
9 – Shadow in the Cloud (2020) Reviewed on: June 6 Genre: Action, Horror, War Rated: R Length: 1h 23min Selina’s Rating: 4 Cat’s Rating: 4
IMDb Blurb: A female WWII pilot traveling with top secret
documents on a B-17 Flying Fortress encounters an evil presence on board the
flight. I always wanted to see Shadow in the Cloud, but I was
distinctly aware of all the hate it was getting from audiences. Anyone that’s followed the blog for any amount of time knows
that I tend to go with the audience, rather than the critics, when there’s a
huge discrepancy in how a film is received. Shadow in the Cloud is
sitting at a 77% with critics, but only a 32% with audiences. I’m ashamed to
admit that I let that influence me enough that I delayed watching it. This is the kind of movie that really shows that you can use
reviews and scores as a guide, but to always judge for yourself. Shadow in the Cloud was engaging, it had a couple of
great twists, and was incredibly suspenseful. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from
the screen, even if the creatures did look a little goofy.
IMDb Blurb: A young man arrives at a remote island to take a
post of weather observer only to find himself defending the watchtower from
deadly creatures which live in the island shores. Cold Skin was recommended to us, and I was eager to
add it to the schedule. I love when we get recommendations. Especially when I’ve
never heard of the film to begin with. It touched on all the ‘humans are the worst’ lessons that I tend
to love in a good fantasy movie, while also being an exceptionally tense watch.
It’s a dark, somewhat bleak, movie… so it’s not for everyone, but we took an instant
liking to it.
7 – Sing 2 (2021) Reviewed on: March 30 Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy Rated: PG Length: 1h 50min Selina’s Rating: 4 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: Buster Moon and his friends must persuade
reclusive rock star Clay Calloway to join them for the opening of a new show. I enjoyed the first Sing (2016). It was cute and the soundtrack
was hard to ignore. It also had a lot more heart than I expected. When the sequel was announced, I couldn’t imagine where it
could go that wouldn’t feel like a complete rehash of the first. I teetered
back and forth on whether or not I even wanted to waste time watching it. We had
an opening in March and both of us were looking for something a little more
light-hearted. I figured it couldn’t hurt. Sing 2 wound up being an even better film than the
first. There was a more in-depth plot, and the show that the troupe put on was
even catchier. There was a bit of a ‘rehash’ feel in it, but not enough to
detract from the quality.
IMDb Blurb: Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a
small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with
dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element. I know. You see Dwayne Johnson’s (Black Adam, Red Notice,
Jumanji: The Next Level) name involved in a film and you figure it’ll be funny,
but kind of crap. Although I like him, I can acknowledge that he’s not the most
amazing actor in the world. That said, if he’s involved in a film that requires
all the puns and banter that he’s known for, he can still elevate it. That’s what Jungle Cruise was. It had a decent plot, and a couple of interesting twists,
but it was really all about the giggles and banter between Johnson and Emily
Blunt (Wild Mountain Thyme, A Quiet Place, Mary Popping Returns). It
just worked. It was a turn-your-brain off popcorn flick that was meant to
lighten the mood. And it did its job spectacularly.
5 – The Matrix Resurrections (2021) Reviewed on: January 14 Genre: Action, Sci-Fi Rated: R Length: 2h 28min Selina’s Rating: 4.5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: Return to a world of two realities: one,
everyday life; the other, what lies behind it. To find out if his reality is a
construct, to truly know himself, Mr. Anderson will have to choose to follow
the white rabbit once more. There are a lot of people who would disagree with this
entry. I will disagree with them to my last breath, though. The Matrix Resurrections was a deep dive into
nostalgia, but it also had a meta ‘fuck you’ to authorities in Hollywood. I
loved that. There’s something about the private joking at the expense of people
who deserve to be joked about that just speaks to me. Especially when the
writers let me in on it. Lana Wachowski (Sense8, Cloud Atlas, V for Vendetta)
was forced to do a nostalgia sequel to The Matrix (1999) and she maliciously
complied. I love it.
4 – Prospect (2018) Reviewed on: January 19 Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi Rated: R Length: 1h 40min Selina’s Rating: 4.5 Cat’s Rating: 4
IMDb Blurb: A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote
alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've secured a contract to harvest a
large deposit of the elusive gems hidden in the depths of the moon's toxic
forest. But there are others roving the wilderness and the job quickly devolves
into a fight to survive. Forced to contend not only with the forest's other
ruthless inhabitants, but with her own father's greed-addled judgment, the girl
finds she must carve her own path to escape. We came across Prospect by complete accident. January is a rough month for new films, so we rely on stuff
from previous years to fill out the schedule. Most of the time we get those
from rolling dice on a list we’ve compiled from all the streaming services we
have access to. That’s how we came to Prospect. Neither of us had heard of it before, but the inclusion of Pedro
Pascal (The Bubble, The Book of Boba Fett, The Unbearable Weight of Massive
Talent) felt promising. In the end, as good as he was in this film, he wasn’t even
remotely the best part. The settings were grungy and gorgeous, everything seemed to
be created with practical effects, Sophie Thatcher (Blink, Yellowjackets, The
Tomorrow Man) owned her character completely. It was amazing to watch,
especially as the twists rolled in.
3 – The King’s Man (2021) Reviewed on: March 28 Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller Rated: R Length: 2h 11min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: In the early years of the 20th century, the
Kingsman agency is formed to stand against a cabal plotting a war to wipe out
millions. I’m on the side of audiences where The King’s Man is
concerned. Critics may be spitting all over it, but the audience knew they got
exactly what they should have expected from a film in the Kingsmen series. I read one review from a critic that called it, “a feature
length film of Drunk History where everyone was high on cocaine,” as if that
were a bad thing. He wasn’t wrong, it was outstandingly ridiculous. My question
is, why would you expect anything else from a Kingsmen film? They’re all ridiculous.
They harken back to a time when the Bond series was more camp and corn than actual
action. That’s literally what they set out to be. Even with that, there were times in The King’s Man
where I sat up and said – out loud – “oh shit!” It’s not often that a movie
surprises me on that level. It’s a great addition to the rest of the series, and has all
the glamorous fight choreography you could want. Critics be damned.
2 – Free Guy (2021) Reviewed on: May 4 Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy Rated: PG-13 Length: 1h 55min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: A bank teller discovers that he's actually an
NPC inside a brutal, open world video game. We followed Ryan Reynolds (Spirited, Red Notice, Deadpool)
to Free Guy and it was one of the best choices we made the whole year. It
gave us all the glorious banter we could want alongside a great plot and some
extremely unexpected philosophical questions. That’s what threw me off the most. The philosophical
questions. When I watch a Ryan Reynolds comedy, the last thing I’m expecting is
to wind up questioning my entire existence. It was wild.
1 – Encanto (2021) Reviewed on: January 12 Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family Rated: PG Length: 1h 42min Selina’s Rating: 5 Cat’s Rating: 5
IMDb Blurb: A Colombian teenage girl has to face the
frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers. How could anything else possibly have been number 1? We saw Encanto
this year and the soundtrack has been a constant addition to my household
since then. My 4-year-old is in love with it, and I love watching it with her. Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights, Mary
Poppins Returns) is unbeatable and giving him Encanto was the best
choice Disney has ever made.
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