This review contains huge SPOILERS considering this is a mystery film so go watch this film first before reading.

Knives Out is one of my favorite movies of all time, everything from the screenplay, directing and the performances were perfect especially Danial Craig as Benoit Blanc who’s officially one of my favorite fictional characters of all time now. Now Blanc has returned for the sequel Glass Onion. In this sequel tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friend group called the Disruptors and unintentionally Blanc to his private Greek island for a murder mystery. Blanc solves the game very quickly but another murder happens and now he has to solve that one.

Rian Johnson is a master of great directing considering he directed Ozymandias aka the best Breaking Bad episode ever. Every shot of this film is well crafted and amazing to look at. Rian Johnson’s screenplay is also extremely well written with dialogue that’s both smart and funny. The story is incredibly thought out and everything that’s established in the beginning pays off near the end. If I had one problem with the movie is that the murderer being Miles Bron was kind of obvious. Though I did like how his whole shtick of being smart and complicated when actually he’s a complete idiot to the point where even Blanc is offended by how stupid he is. There is however a great twist where Mile’s former partner Andi is actually her twin sister Helen in disguise trying to solve who murdered the real Andi.    

Every performance from the cast is incredible. Danial Craig is still incredible as Benoit Blanc Every member of the Disruptors has great dialogue, great personalities and motives that make you curious who the culprit is. Rian Johnson really does a great job of making obvious terrible people very enjoyable to watch. Other big standouts were Edward Norton as Miles Bron and Janelle Monáe as both Andi and her sister Helen. Do you think it was a coincidence that this released around the time Elon Musk bought twitter because Elon and Miles are very similar.

This is one of those sequels that you don’t need to watch the first one to fully understand. Glass Onion is a perfect sequel to an already perfect film and one of my top 3 favorite movies of the year. Honestly, I can’t decide whether I like this or the first one better, there both equally incredible. Now we have a new mystery of when Rian Johnson will make the third film.

Verdict:

+Andi twist

+The acting

+The directing

+The writing

-Obvious culprit

Score: A+

After 13 years, James Cameron has finally released the long awaited to sequel to the most successful movie of all time Avatar. Avatar the Way of Water takes places more than a decade after the first one. After a decade time skip Jake Sully is now chief of the Neytiri and also has a family. Unfortunately, the RDA has returned to colonize the planet of Pandora so Jake exiles himself and his family to seek shelter with the reef version of the Navi the Metkayina Clan. This film has the same problems the first film had. First off, the runtime which is about 3 hours and 10 minutes long. This film is so long that I actually had to find a theater that had recliner seats for my family. This film also retreads story beats from the first one which is ironic because the first one also retreaded story beats from Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas.   

The best part about the film that’s also the highlight of the first one is the special effects. The effects in the first one was good but the effects here are even better. The scenery is gorgeous to look at and the reef setting reminded me a lot of Hawaii. One of the things that also stood out was the design of the Metkayina Clan. They have great little details that make them stand out from the other Navi like having turquoise colored skin and tails that look like fins which cleverly ties in to their ocean culture. It makes me wonder if there are other unique types of Navi on Pandora that I hope we see in the future. I also really like the whale-like creatures named the tulkun. I like the Metkayina Clan calls them their spiritual siblings and each member has their own special bond with one. I also liked the relationship between the son and the outcast tulkun.

Avatar: The Way of Water is probably better than the first one and while it isn’t the best movie of the year but it still has some of the best visual effects I’ve seen from any movie this year. The three hours are worth the 13 year wait, just make sure you get comfortable seats before watching. Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!

Verdict:

+Special effects

+The tulkun

-Retread

-Runtime

Score: B

Father when can I leave to be on my own? I got the whole world to see.

Netflix has released Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio on Netflix. I can’t believe that there have been three Pinocchio adaptions this year. Guillermo del Toro’s version is probably one of the most faithful adaptions of the wooden puppet but having it take place during World War II makes it very unique. This movie is visually amazing thanks to the amazing stop motion animation. The style kind of looked like a mix between Laika and the animation from Wes Anderson’s stop motion movies. Alexandre Desplat’s score is also really good and there are a bunch of cute songs. This film also has a huge celebrity cast such as Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett and Christoph Waltz. My favorite has the be Ewan McGregor as Sebastian Cricket.

Spoiler warning: My one nitpick is actually a nitpick I have with a lot of Pinocchio adaptions. In order to escape the whale Pinocchio lies in order for his family to cross to the whale’s sprout. This is seen in Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, Geppetto (Drew Carey), Pinocchio 3000, and the recent Disney remake. I really feel like having Pinocchio lie in order in order to escape or help goes against the whole lesson about not lying. The only time this is done right was in Shrek 2 because that was a parody.

Me and my brother were very lucky to be able to see this on the big screen. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is by far the best Pinocchio adaption of 2022 and the best adaption of Pinocchio outside of the original Disney classic. If the original author Carlo Collodi was alive right now, I think he would’ve been very impressed and proud of Guillermo del Toro. If anyone says the Disney remake is the best adaption this year their nose has probably grown by now.

Verdict:

+The animation

+The music and songs

+The voice talent

+World War 2 setting

-Growing nose deus ex machina

Score: A-