The Best Films of 2023

2023. Proof that the 2020's aren't done with messing with us. There were some definite high points, career-wise, to be celebrated this year. Yet, there has been so much chaos in America and the world at large, that one wonders what the value of any of it is in the eternal scale. Well I'll tell you: Sanity. The ability to shut out the rest of the world and experience a story that is not our own. To share in another's experience, plain and simple, is a gift. A gift that lifts our spirits, for the simple fact that being outside of our own cares, and inside someone else's, puts into focus exactly what we love, and love is universal. Life and struggle are universal, and so are the sounds of laughter, the sounds of sobbing, the sounds of alarm, the sounds of whimsey. We all need to be reminded that what we all love goes so much deeper than what we each hate. Hate is selfish, love shares. Why am I going on like this? Because I still believe that we can come together to share popcorn and stories. These are the stories I loved this year. They were someone elses; they're mine now. Maybe they can be yours, too.

As usual, each film has a link to where you can watch it, or find out more about it. Just click the title.
#PPLLCTenBest2023 #TenBest2023 #TenBest

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Asteroid City, Indian Paintbrush Films, Directed by Wes Anderson

Wow, just about everyone is in this. It makes for a nice low budget setting having the whole thing happen in one town. (An American town conceived, built, and filmed in Spain.) But maybe Wes Anderson is getting a little too Wes Anderson even for Wes Anderson. Anyway, I loved it.

Dream Scenario, A24 Films, Directed by Kristoffer Borgli

Personal subconcious as viral video. Finding out that one's essence is not one's own. It has been shared beyond what we thought were our limits, and certainly what we know are beyond our desires. We'll get there one day. It's closer than you think.

The Holdovers, Focus Features, Directed by Alexander Payne

I don't usually rank my top ten films, but if I did, this would be #1. Not just a throwback, a time capsule of filmmaking from a moment when movies took as long as they needed to discover their characters and their stories, without being rushed, or contrarywise, overstaying their welcome. And I'd like to think that book on Camera Obscura is out there somewhere. Look in his right eye, people.

The Venture Bros: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, Astrobase Go!, Directed by Jackson Publick

I discovered the Venture Brothers when I was newly divorced in 2005, and feeling just a bit rebellious. I am a very buttoned down married man, but I tend to be a bit of a cad when I'm single. But then, I don't like being single. My stuffy "I'm an adult and I don't do that sort of thing" standards tend to slide. Still, the Venture Bros never lost their place in my heart. That they have returned this year to scratch my eyes out while simultaneously blowing me a kiss, has a melancholy attached to it that buoys my soul, in it's way. Plus, the Monarch is a clone; who knew, right?

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How To Blow Up a Pipeline, Wolfpack Pictures, Directed by Daniel Goldhaber

Not because it's particularly good, but because it's particularly brave. I don't agree with any of the politics here. In fact I'm the son of oil pioneers, so I'm pretty offended by the whole thing. But this is the story of people in my son's generation actually doing something about what they think is right. And actually doing something is rare in any generation.

Here at the end of the year, after all we've seen, it's what I would consider an extremely ironic and naive story. There are no easy answers in our world. And just within *their* world, there is plenty irony to go around. These kids drive a van for their exploits. They use electricity to build their bombs, which are composed of a lot of fossil fuels. So they're experiencing how necessary it is to use oil and gasoline to get done what you need to in life. They also sound like every other modern terrorist organization when listing their justifications on the radio. From Al-Qaeda to Ireland to Hamas. They don't deal with that quandary in the movie. But then, it's propaganda.

But it's also probably the biggest risk-taking movie of 2023.

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, Concordia Studios with Apple Original Films

The story of Michael J. Fox slowly learning to deal with the fact that his body will not yield to the authority of his mind, affected me on many levels. In the end, Mr. Fox's mind refuses to give in to his body.

I know something of that struggle. Movies of this nature have always held a special place with me. Long ago in film school, in fact in order to apply for film school, I was required to give my thoughts on the movie The Best Years of Our Lives; that film ultimately undercuts its own story by giving in to the cliche of a handsome man having his life healed by a beautiful woman. Nevertheless, it was Harold Russell, a real life veteran who lost his hands to a bomb (playing a fictional character who lost his hands to a bomb), who resonated the most completely with me. I recall commenting back then, that the scene where he attempts to light a match held my attention better than any horror film. Specifically because the one thing I didn't want to see happen was for someone to offer to help him.

It needed to be his little victory, and thankfully this was something director William Wyler did not undercut. In that space of time between striking the match and lighting it I felt my own lifetime's worth of moments just like his. It's hard to describe to someone who doesn't have that same feeling inside them. The inner thoughts, "I've done this before with nobody watching, please let me just get through this, please just let me get through this please don't let them offer to help me," are real prayers that millions of us the world over say to ourselves a thousand times a day.

Michael J. Fox had many of those moments written on his face, and the love of his wife which has carried him through to this point felt ever the stronger because we saw that she was the kind who would be there for him but, in those small moments, *not* help him, until and unless he asked.

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Oppenheimer, Universal Pictures, Directed by Christopher Nolan

I'm nominating the entire film, except for Cillian Murphy's butt. When your movie is accessible to Nolan Nerds *and* Barbie Girls, it's a good movie. I've always been a sucker for real history, well told. I think the conceit of nuclear holocaust as metaphor for walking into the future with calamity, terror, and a whole lotta hope, speaks to how Christopher Nolan is able to find the humanity in fantasy--which is what fantasy does best, really. And the thing about Oppenheimer's fantasy, is that it came true. Now, if Mr. Christopher could just learn how to edit sound, he might make a name for himself.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, Marvel, Directed by James Gunn

Our traumas don't have to define us. There are people out there, just as broken as we are, who will love us no matter what. The racoon made me cry. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the best acting Bradley Cooper did this year.

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Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, LionsGate Films, Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig

A Judy Blume classic. For my daughter, from the dad who doesn't understand her but loves her anyway.

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Godzilla Minus 1, Toho Studios, Directed by Takashi Yamazaki

Japan still makes the best Godzilla movies. America has never trusted that. The first Godzilla was chopped into an actor's reel for Raymond Burr. The new Monsterverse movies are similarly Americanized and bombastic. "Minus 1" takes place at around the same time as the original--and has practically the same budget--but it sticks to the roots of Godzilla's Japanese angst and is all the better for it.

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Extra Mentions:

ISS: International Space Station, Bleecker Street Media, Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite

This doesn't release officially in the United states until January 19th, but it released at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023. I'm adding it to the list based on the concept alone. Ingenuity matters in entertainment, and especially in high concept horror. The best horror taps into whatever the audience is nervous about in the real world. This looks like a great microcosm of the desire to respond to and control ultimately undefinable issues, and the futility of doing so. After all, with the world on fire below them, what are scientists in an orbiting cannister devoid of external weapons really trying to conquer besides their own fear?

The Shepherd, Esperanto Films with BK Studios and Argo Films, Directed by Iain Softly - Produced by Alfonso Cuaron and John Travolta

Somewhere between a short film and a TV Movie, but it didn't need to be any longer. If you crave something to warm your heart and renew your faith in the infinite possibilities within you and without you, this is one of those movies. For my money, better than that controversial one about what freedom sounds like. Maybe there's still hope for the Disney formula yet. The one thing we know about people, places, and things, is that we can never really know them. Not all the way. But we have people who love us, even and particularly who have passed on, who want the best for us and who are there, if we look.

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And those are my picks for the best English (native or dubbed) movies of 2023. Even with the strikes, the entertainment world did very well by their audiences this year. Turned it up to 11.

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Eric C. Player is an independently poor filmmaker, and the president of Panther Pictures, LLC, in Fargo, North Dakota. He is a father, fan, storyteller, "Picker," Corvair driver, and Super8 camera fan. A graduate of BYU and Chapman University film schools, his films have played in theaters all across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and movies to which he was a contributing writer or producer are available on Netflix, Amazon, and Vimeo. He has written and produced film and video content for twenty-six years, and has been writing Chapter-Fiction since the sixth grade. His 2007 production, Nothing But The Best, was an Official Selection of the 2010 Newport Beach Film Festival. His 2016 short, Moment of Anger, received multiple honors including Best Short and Best Director at the Road House International Short Film Festival in Santa Monica, California. His 2023 short film, Stay With Me was an Official Selection of the Boston Film Festival. He currently has one short in post-production and one and a half feature scripts which have worked their way from spiral notebook to screenplay software. Eric Player on Imdb.

Panther Pictures' Ten Best Films of 2022

Here we are in 2022. The world is almost back to normal. Almost. In 2019, I saw half of my list on their first run, and so many more at the theater that I never mentioned. In 2020 and 2021, I saw nothing in the theater. This year's list has only two that I saw in the theater, and those are the only two I watched away from home at all. In 2020 Panther Pictures scrapped a long-developed production, but this year we produced it. Still, self-promotion, a constant in this business, remains difficult. A retrospective of our films, shown at the famous Fargo Theater, a national landmark, was sparcely attended. This industry can be extremely subjective. As for #TenBest lists:

Please also remember that my list is not merely a reflection of [the American film] industry. It is a reflection of myself within it. What has resonated with THIS PERSON this year? Professional critics may or may not like to pretend otherwise, but everything in this business, outside of "Could you see and hear what was happening on the screen?" is subjective. Honestly, I think that is why friends (or people without a lot of time) working in the same circles end up with the same movies on their [Best of] lists. All. The. Time."
-- Eric C Player, Ten Best Introduction, 2015

And so once again I present the world with my Top Ten list. A list that I hope will be just different enough to get you curious about the films you haven't heard of--the films different from those being nominated everywhere under the sun, while the critics say they never heard of them. Like every year, entries on the list are limited exclusively to American, English-speaking fare. Self-contained movies. No TV series, despite what Netflix, Hulu, and EVERYONE keeps pushing.

P.S. - A note on my style of film review, for new readers: I don't always give a film synopsis based on plot points. More often than not the review reflects how the film feels to me. And isn't cinema supposed to make us feel?
P.P.S. - I thought it was self-evident, but apparently not: Each film has a link to where you can watch it. Just click the title.
#PPLLCTenBest2022 #TenBest2022 #TenBest

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Pinocchio, Double-Dare You! Films, Directed by Guillermo del Toro

At first it's hard to feel like this movie was necessary. There are so many others, including a movie about Pinocchio going into outer space. But from the first frame of glorious stop-motion it's obvious this one's different. In the past I have lamented movies that give unnecessary back story instead of getting on with it, but now I see that context was something all other iterations of Pinocchio, even Disney's (1941) perfect one, were sorely lacking. Here we see how devastated Geppetto was by the death of a son long ago, and so can identify his motivations for wanting to create a marionette one. But in an interesting twist, it's also nearly a complete accident. The original idea he had, was for the puppet to be, at most, something for him to touch and grieve over. But the Blue Fairy took him seriously; he is just as shocked by what is happening as anyone, and (at first, like the townsfolk) wants nothing to do with the little wooden boy. That arc and so many other writerly touches in the story, make this one that you should watch, just maybe without the kids.

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Top Gun: Maverick, Paramount Pictures, Directed by Joseph Kosinski

I mean, Duh. But for further elaboration, here is a word-for-word cut and paste of a four-star Google review written in September 2022 by Welek Lee:

"Like any laid back nester whose watch list plates were already full three months ago when the biggest aviator cinema phenomena was terrifically manifested by four worldwide generations of alpha action movie fans as the highest-grossing film of 2022, those young at heart now mostly in their fifties and beyond know it's better late than never to savour every adrenaline rush and thrill at their home theatre reimagined piloting inside the cockpit of a super hornet — Cher would sure want a ride with either or both Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer exclusively in the name of her boyfriendology."

Hey man, that says it all.

Emily The Criminal, Roadside Attractions with Netflix Studios, Directed by John Patton Ford

The easy thing in this story would have been to have Emily be an innocent victim of circumstance, driven by desperation and student loans to get in over her head. And that's what the plot synopsis would lead you to believe too when you flip through the streaming menu. That is not this movie. Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is not a victim, except as a victim of her own worst impulses. She is a dark person trying to pretend to be a bright one. But every bright moment of opportunity she is given, she sabotages, including the opportunity to get a side hustle. She goes way beyond what even her original Fagen/handler intended, ruining his life too. One thing that the ending makes clear, despite all the tropical paradise tropes, is that she's not going to stop. She can't.

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Netflix, Directed by Rian Johnson

Rian Johnson had a problem. It's always a problem trying to follow up an Academy Award nomination, not to mention all the other awards for which Knives Out was nominated and won. In 2020 he went from the pariah screenwriter who ruined The Last Jedi, To making a film that was hailed as the most fun you could have at the movies that year. Heck, it made my top 10 list. But following up from something like that is hard. And it's easy to fall back into old habits. The thing that ruined The Last Jedi, his inability to handle character shifts, has come back to bite him on the heel with this one. The first 2 hours are almost as tasty and fun as Knives Out was. Even despite the bland cinematography doing its best to ruin the Grecian countryside. But then in the last 20 minutes Rian loses sight of his characters (except of course for Benoit Blanc, whom you can't ruin because he's propped up by James Bond).
I used to work as a script doctor, and old habits die hard: I believe there are two things, two small changes Rian Johnson could have made that would tie the whole thing up quite nicely, and would be very satisfying. They had to do with a certain cocktail napkin and The character choices in relation to it. But as I say, only as they were handled in the last 20 minutes. He couldn't trust, or didn't understand (or didn't want to) the characters he'd given life. Kind of like The Last Jedi. Despite that, for over 2 hours it was better than most movies that came out this year. So it makes the list. It also makes me want to watch See How They Run.

Bullet Train, Columbia Pictures, Directed by David Leitch

Bright and colorful and a lot of fun. Brad Pitt as the classic character trying to go straight but fate being unwilling to let him. Usually the protagonist has wandered through years of life condensed into a few hours of angst and backstory. Also usually played by Al Pacino.
This is The Godfather Part 3 crammed into the timeline of Dog Day Afternoon, paced like a Hong-Kong Kung Fu film, set in Japan through a cotton-candy filter. Every director seems to be cramming cameos into their projects this year like Linus' blanket into a backpack, but the ones here feel just right. Like Linus" blanket. And the ensemble players gel like the Peanuts gang. The twins, mass murderers for hire, had me legit (legit, right? That's what the kids are saying nowadays) crying for the bonds of sibling love that transcends all, and It was nice to see the gleeful psychopaths being played by women for a change. Sisters doing it for themselves. I couldn't resist finding Master Ugway's wisdom at the center of this bloody violent opera: One often finds his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.

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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Searchlight Pictures, Directed by Tom Gormican

I should say more about this than I'm going to. Just, if you're a fan of Nicholas Cage in his "Ahh! The Bees!" phase, or his Leaving Las Vegas phase (and they're kinda the same thing), you'll enjoy this one. I mean I knew it was the cousin all along, but wow. Paddington 2 rocks.

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Fall, Lionsgate, Directed by Scott Mann

Pretend you're not up there. Try counting sheep. Every list needs a tense low budget thriller. Here's mine; enjoy it. Two women fighting for survival over something that has nothing to do with a man, and some very nice sunsets. I'd go in to more detail but you'll know everything you need to know with the trailer. By the way, The California Supreme Court recently ruled that bad or deceptive trailers qualify as false advertising, and as such the moviemakers can be sued.

You're on notice, Wonder Woman: 1984.

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Nope, Universal Pictures, Directed by Jordan Peele

One of the great movies about moviemaking, and of going to any length necessary to make your point and get the shot. All the tropes--vaudville, horses, horror, and aliens--packaged by the man who used to hide in trees when talking smack about his woman. Have I ever gone to the lengths these folks do, for my movies? Nope. Does that make me less of a filmmaker? I'll have to look into that. Check the clouds, and such.

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Weird: The Al Yankovich Story, ROKU Films, Directed by Eric Appel

Gleefully does exactly what every biopic ever did: tells it the way the subject remembers it, not the way it was.

"Al, your father and I have been talking, and we just think it's best that you stop being who you are and doing what you love."

Everything Everywhere All At Once, A24 Films, Directed by Daniel Kwan

Another masterfully constructed screenplay, and one that stays masterful all the way to the end. Also, the camera work, unlike in Glass Onion, keeps up. The opening was a hairy confusion of shots and lines and yet you knew exactly what was going on in the first 10 minutes. And then of course at 14 minutes everything changes. Over and over and over again.
For the record, I too choose to see the good side of things. Strategic and necessary. This is how I fight. Laundry and taxes. Thanks, Shortround and Crouching Tiger lady. You made me cry.

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And those are my picks for the best English (native or dubbed) movies of 2022. The only way to make your list better than mine would be to wrap it in bacon.

Gonna combine Razzies and Honorable Mentions this year. We'll call them the Also-Rans. And they are, without fanfare or photos:

1. Babylon - This one is a full-on Razzie. (And the link at the title is on purpose.) Having read the original "Hollywood Babylon" years ago, along with experiencing the immense spectacle of the 1923 Ten Commandments, I've wanted to see this time period really given a more abundant treatment (which, okay, was handled by The Great Gatsby spectacularly), but I imagined something that explored the social consequences of the hedonistic lifestyle of Hollywood, not the full frontal hedonism itself. It doesn't appeal to me in the least. (Important Side Note: There's something different about reading things than seeing them. Just ask Violet Bick.) I've never believed in the idea that you criticize a movie because it's not the one you wanted to make, but I'm sorry, if the "notices" are accurate, Fatty Arbuckle getting peed on is just not something I want to see. Would you?

2. Empire of Light. A definite Honorable Mention. I didn't add it to the list this year, for the same reason I never put Dunkirk on my list. I've had no chance to see it in a theater yet, and given the subject and cinematography it isn't a movie I want to judge except on the big screen. If anyone reading this is a local, it's currently playing at the Fargo theater, but I won't have an opportunity to see it until after the first of the year, when it will either be gone or too late for me to include an honest review here.
3. The Man From Toronto. Honorable Mention. Sure, it's been done a thousand times before, but who cares? It's stupid and fun. Like most Kevin Hart movies. It starts out good, then Woody Harrison brings his chops in to give this sociopathic comedy some depth, and it's great. Why isn't it on the main list? Why, because of Bullet Train, naturally.
4. Avatar, the Way of Water. So much Razzie I'm going to have to change my shirt.
5. Wakanda Forever. This was one of those two films I saw in the theater. That's how excited I was for it. Other people must have been too, because it's still in theaters. Another Honerable mention, though, because that's my way of memorializing Chadwick Boseman and what he brought to the Black Panther character. Plus, lets be honest, the special effects could have used another six months of tweaking. Releasing it this year was a cash grab.
6. Insert Disney+ Exclusive Content Here

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Eric C. Player is an independently poor filmmaker, and the president of Panther Pictures, LLC, in Fargo, North Dakota. He is a father, fan, storyteller, "Picker," Corvair driver, and Super8 camera fan. A graduate of BYU and Chapman University film schools, his films have played in theaters all across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and movies to which he was a contributing writer or producer are available on Netflix, Amazon, and Vimeo. He has written and produced film and video content for over twenty-five years, and has been writing Chapter-Fiction since the sixth grade. His 2007 production, Nothing But The Best, was an Official Selection of the 2010 Newport Beach Film Festival. His 2016 short, Moment of Anger, received multiple honors including Best Short and Best Director at the Road House International Short Film Festival in Santa Monica, California. his 2019 short The Fruit was an Official Selection at the Los Angeles Cinefest. He currently has two shorts in post-production and two feature scripts trying to work their way from spiral notebook to screenplay software. Eric Player on Imdb.

Best Films of 2021

2021. I wasn't even going to do a list this year. Seriously. I haven't been to a theater since February of 2020. In the past I tried to include on my list as many theater experience movies as possible. Some years they were exclusively ones I saw in the theater. And there is SO. MUCH. CONTENT. Where would my list possibly fit? But, call it ego or whatever, I've decided that I still want to put my opinions out there. The rules of accomplishment and professional recognition have been turned on their heads the last couple of years. The question people in entertainment ask is no longer "What have they done that I've seen?" Now it is enough to ask, "Where can I see what they've done?" So, here is my list for you to read. At the very least, maybe something you haven't heard of will catch your eye. The world is so weird, the idea of something being released in the theaters and existing in that moment in time does not apply anymore. But, as every year, entries on the list are limited exclusively to American, English-speaking fare. And self-contained movies. So no Squid Game.

Now then, with the same disclaimers and rules that come every year, here is the Panther Pictures, LLC, list of the Ten Best Films of 2021. #PPLLCTenBest2021 #TenBest2021 #TenBest

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Nobody, Perfect World Pictures, Directed by Ilya Naishuller

We all secretly wish there was an assassin inside us, right? And that the bad guy will just BEG to be put down, by stealing our daughter's favorite bracelet. Nobody was written by Derek Kolstad, the same man who wrote John Wick (which I was never into). Both movies also share David Leitch in the producer role. So yeah, violent. But the thing about John Wick is, it has Keanu Reeves. As soon as that dog dies, you're like: "Yeah, they screwed up. This is gonna get messy." With Nobody, even if you know what's coming (and with today's modern trailer techniques, how could you not?) it's still unexpected. Because before every encounter the natural thought is, "Dang. This guy's in trouble." No he's nooooot. It's them. They screwed up.

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The Beatles Get Back, Apple Films, Directed by Peter Jackson

You could argue it was a series, but I argue it's a trilogy. When a single episode goes over 3 hours, you don't have a TV show anymore.

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Ice Road, Netflix Studios, Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh

Liam Neeson's career as an action star is kind of going the way of Bela Lugosi's as a monster movie actor. And it's pretty lovely to watch, because unlike Lugosi fighting against it, Liam seems to be embracing it. Despite being, "Adapted From The Wages of Fear," this movie is written like a Greenlight project--with a real waste of a villain (telegraphed from 4 miles away) and some stunt casting of the female lead. But good ol' Liam is there to carry the whole thing on his grizzled face. Also, if you want your 2021 Lawrence Fishburne fix, he's here red-pilling himself to every awful line of dialogue. He plays a man so desperate to organize a rescue mission that he gives finding the perfect mechanic, and the threat of falling through the ice, the same slightly-offensive-slightly-quaint level of profanity.

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Cruella, Walt Disney Studios, Directed by Craig Gillespie

It was completely superfluous, and rebooted the mythology of Cruella DeVil unnecessarily--considering that there really wasn't a mythology for her to begin with. It was campy where it shouldn't have been campy, and serious where it didn't need to be serious. It's essentially The Devil Wears Prada with Dalmatians. It wanted to be creepy, but really the only creepy thing about it was where they implied that Pongo and Purdie were from the same litter. I loved it. It was much better than Cats. I'm going to watch it again and again.

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Belfast, Universal Studios, Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Caitriona Balfe sure knows how to pick 'em. And I'll watch anything with Judy Dench directed by Kenneth Branagh. And it's in Black and White. And it's Irish. Great stuff.

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Don't Look Up, Netflix Studios, Directed by Adam McKay

Of course I'm going to list this one. A similar theme to Political Fallout, the sweet ending of Moment of Anger, and the best call back to Network I've ever seen. Leo's speech, in contrast to Peter Finch's, shows how much harder it is to get that kind of fire out of an audience in a modern world. And the film was a scathing social commentary on just about everything--I mean more than the obvious Presidential stuff, which I note with satisfaction doesn't identify political parties. (I've been saying that was the best way to do it ever since I first saw Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, in 1994...ish.) From the newspaper people who relished in their scoop until it wasn't trending enough, to the way the Social Networking Guru treated the End of The World like a beta test (that often failed), nothing was off limits. Speaking of social media, I caught something else--Adam McKay's attitude that all those algorithms are only as accurate as we let them be. When Leo's death is predicted by Mark Rylance as happening alone, it is so wrong because he'd never been on any apps until this crisis. In contrast, the bit about the Brontorac was spot on, but that was because everyone involved was a social media junkie. The deepest, and most subtle, dig was just as the survivors left the spaceship. You'll notice that the group of almost exclusively Old Guard Elites (which one of them are fertile? Answer-none) had brought with them one single young and fit black man, obviously only there for his physical abilities and labor. The film hits deep nerves for just about everyone, and works as a metaphor for just about everything. I saw a review that claimed it was an allegory on climate change, and another that called it "the strongest blow to Progressive Liberalism since The Great Dictator." And why not? There's a 100% chance that we're all going to die anyway.

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Spiderman: No Way Home, Marvel Studios, Directed by Jon Watts

I still haven't had a chance to see it. It's (gasp!) only playing in theaters. But as we all know the trailers are amazing, and history is going to look back on it as the precise moment that the movie industry got over the pandemic.

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The Power of The Dog, Netflix Studios, Directed by Jane Campion

My list has a lot of Netflix titles again. But hey, gotta give props to a film that reunites my favorite power couple from Fargo Season 2. The Power of the Dog had a solid Film Festival pedigree in New York, Toronto, and Venice behind it, before it bowed on Netflix. The narrative takes a bit to find its footing, and the payoffs are dramatic, but the best thing this Western has going for it is the best thing all Westerns have going for them: The landscape. The land is always what grounds a Western--little dramas unfolding before a massive backdrop. As such, it sports the best cinematography of 2021; and if Kirsten Dunst doesn't finally get the awards recognition she deserves, she and the other MJ's of the Spiderverse should get together for their own Metaverse meltdown. It is also the best performance Benedryl Cuddledragon has ever given. Well, that's a moving target. It's his best performance...so far.

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Free Guy, Berlanti Productions, Directed by Shawn Levy

Turn it on and have some fun!

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Summer of Soul, Searchlight Pictures, Directed by Questlove

Well, I used to avoid documentaries in my lists. Glad I got over that. There have been so many quality ones being made in the last couple of decades, and it very much says something about me that the ones that grab my interest are historical, generally American, and often deal with the complicated racial and class history woven into a country built upon the truth that all men are created equal. Documentaries are meant to do two things really well--give a window into something we would not have an awareness of otherwise, and emphasize our common humanity while doing so. Yes, this is that movie. Racial reckoning--and you can dance to it!

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Only one Razzie this year. It may not be yours, but it's mine:

I Care A Lot, Netflix Studios, Directed by Jonathan Blakeson. Not gonna link to it. Go find it yourself.

I watched it all the way through, and about halfway through I realized that I wouldn't like how it was going to turn out. But I did see the whole thing. It had such a strong premise, a great wish fulfillment scenario that could have been on the level of Nobody. A woman who makes her living scamming the elderly into becoming their legal guardian and milking their finances dry, stumbles across and scams a woman who turns out to be the mother of a Russian mafia crime Boss. What could have been a fun movie about Keanu Reeve's mom unleashing Keanu Reeves (no, he's not in it), instead becomes just another writer/director fawning over their own cliches. Any director lucky enough to have Peter Dinklage in his arsenal, only to reduce him to clenching his teeth and shaking his head--and THEN to hide even those iconic expressions behind too much beard--doesn't deserve Peter Dinklage in his arsenal. And any writer lazy enough to use the very old 'car in the water' routine to establish an 'I cheated death' subplot, better make it unique. I can't imagine anyone watching the movie not wanting Rosamund Pike dead within the first 8 minutes, and yet the movie turns away from that gold mine and instead tries to make us think she's the one to root for, when she's the one committing all the elder abuse. (Learn this: there's a reason why in the movies the dog always lives, and the serial killer good guy never goes after the old lady.) The moment she finally did die, was supposed to be, I guess, tragic? Instead, I really wanted that gunman to run off to Mexico and hang out with Morgan Freeman, while Bob Odenkirk mobilized the rest of the residents in the nursing home to suck what's left of her company completely dry.

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So those are my pics for the best (American) movies of 2021. My list is better than your list.

Eric C. Player is an independently poor filmmaker, and the president of Panther Pictures, LLC, in Fargo, North Dakota. He is a father, fan, storyteller, "Picker," Corvair driver and a graduate of BYU & Chapman University film schools. His films have played in theaters all across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and movies to which he was a contributing writer or producer are available on Netflix, Amazon, and Vimeo. He has written and produced film and video content for over twenty-five years, and has been writing Chapter-Fiction since the sixth grade. His 2007 production, Nothing But The Best, was an Official Selection of the 2010 Newport Beach Film Festival. His 2016 short, Moment of Anger, received multiple honors including Best Short and Best Director at the Road House International Short Film Festival in Santa Monica, California. his 2019 short The Fruit was an Official Selection at the Los Angeles Cinefest. Eric C. Player on Imdb.

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In Response To Ralph Nader, John DeLorean, And Road & Track Magazine

Bear with me. This is going to be detailed response to an article in Road and Track, "Ralph Nader Can't Slow Down."

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The article is a new interview with Ralph Nader, written by Patrick Carone, and reprinted on their website on July 13, 2021. In this article, Ralph Nader is quoted as justifying his feelings about the Corvair through a reference to John DeLorean's book, "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors." He says DeLorean agreed with him. He says DeLorean references executives on the subject, and that there was something about "the kids killed at Grosse Pointe" in DeLorean's criticism of the Corvair.

"Since we’re clearing the air, do you have a message for Corvair fans?

"They should be worried about how the Corvair treated people. Just look at [John De Lorean’s account] On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors. There’s a lot of stuff on the Corvair from the executives themselves about the kids killed in Grosse Pointe and all that. You know, 30 years ago, I was invited to speak to the Corvair Society of America. They had a gathering in the Maryland suburbs outside Washington. They had hundreds of Corvairs in the parking lot, all nice and shiny. I walk in and everybody was very cordial, but there was a real silence in the room. So I said, “Look, there’s one thing we agree on: In this room are some of the best drivers in America—because you have to be.” Have you ever been in a Corvair? They’re unbelievably tight and uncomfortable if you’re anything over 5'10". I don’t know how anyone bought that car in terms of comfort. It’s a pretty car, no doubt. You know, we have one at the tort museum."

Mr. Carone does not challenge him and Ralph Nader gives no references. I would also like to point out that the tort museum Ralph refers to had an event scheduled by Corvair lovers, twice, in recognition of July 20th being Corvair Vindication Day, but it was cancelled in 2020 for Covid19 reasons, and again in 2021 out of respect for the passing of Nick Gigante, grandson of Frank Winchell, Chevrolet's head of research and development and fierce defender of the Corvair in its time. Nick used to say that the 1963 Corvair at Nader's "tort museum" (air quotes intentional, see the links regarding Vindication Day) was a hostage.

Concerned with what was being said in Road and Track about the most innovative car that was ever built in an American factory, I determined to do the journalism that Patrick Carone did not, and checked DeLorean's book (not really his book, but we'll get to that) out at an online library. There are nine references to Ralph Nader, two of them in the index, and referring back to the other seven. Seven different uses of Ralph Nader's name, in the service of DeLorean's complaints about his own treatment.

When the book first mentions the Corvair, it is in reference to the GM corporate attitude regarding executive viewpoints, and the lack of respect given to those viewpoints, in DeLorean's opinion. Specifically, he mentions the concerns raised in 1959 by engineers (who were not a part of the project). Well, "specifically" isn't the right term. On page 6 of "On A Clear Day You Can see General Motors," DeLorean says that "Charlie Chayne, vice president of Engineering [at GM], along with his staff, took a very strong stand against the Corvair as an unsafe car long before it went on sale in 1959." He also said Chayne was threatened with termination if he didn't "shut up."

There are several things wrong with Ralph Nader's exploitation of this statement. First of all, he fails to take into account the context of the entire book itself. The "DeLorean book" (air quotes mine) wasn't even written by DeLorean. The author is listed as J. Patrick Wright, interviewing John DeLorean. DeLorean had been fired and was participating in the book as retaliation. Wright's work was a thematic study of what was wrong with the way General Motors was run, not the quality of its cars--except in service of that theme. John DeLorean had wanted to become president of General Motors, and had been denied that. He (DeLorean) tells the Corvair story to illustrate the stifling nature of the General Motors corporate environment, not as a vindication of Nader. He was merely using Nader's complaints as a way of reinforcing his own position. Like Nader's book, John DeLorean and J. Patrick Wright are talking about the industry in general, not the Corvair specifically.

Neither of the positions John DeLorean takes are expressed in the form of direct quotes, they are interpolations he makes based on what he experienced. His specific use of the engineering complaints, and saying they originated long before 1959, is extremely suspect because the Corvair was a secret project within the company, supervised by Ed Cole until they were ready to reveal it, not just to the higher up executives but to the world. Seperate departments of General Motors at that time had autonomy on development and research. With the Corvair, Code names and dummy cars were used. Much of the development took place in Australia. Charlie Chayne, from sources I can find, is not mentioned as having any involvement. If he had objected to the Corvair specifically before its public announcement in May 1959, he was too late to do anything about it, because he didn't know it existed: Ed Cole revealed the near-completely developed car to the engineering department after the launch of the 1958 models, and after he had the backing of GM president Harlow Curtice.

Engineers were of course used, but Corvair history says that executives in the top engineering department were surprised by and suspicious of the project. If DeLorean is to be believed regarding the corporate culture, this would be because "Chayne and his staff," Chayne being the only executive mentioned in "On a Clear Day..." by name, knew they couldn't take the credit. They weren't on the team, as DeLorean says.

Furthermore, any examination of the history of rear engine vehicles in America in general shows a bias against them, perhaps due to the designers' inability to find a way to integrate the technology into American design standards of the time. An article in the April 1949 issue of Mechanics Illustrated, provides a very interesting insight into what the American automobile establishment was doing with and saying (and rejecting) about rear-engine technology at the time.

As long as DeLorean and Nader are speculating, why not speculate that Ed Cole and Charlie Chayne would each have read that same article? After all, it was published only a few years before Ed Cole began developing the Corvair project in 1955. At any rate, the Mechanics Illustrated cover story gives some context as to why development of the car was such a massively covered-up secret. The top engineers of the time, who were often the least innovative men with the most to lose, had not dismissed the Corvair; it didn't exist. They dismissed all rear engine vehicles in general.

The only references John DeLorean makes in Wright's book to the idea of the Corvair killing people, are when he is making the point, summarized on Page 6, and expanded in pages 64-67, that, often because of peer pressure, men will approve something as a group that they would never approve as individuals. In his indictment of corporate culture, DeLorean uses the Corvair and its victims (all cars have their victims) as a symbol, without any consideration of whether he gets the facts right about the Corvair. His only point is to, well, be seen making a point.

But getting back to Ralph Nader and his use of John DeLorean as an authority: Much like people who also use Ralph Nader's own book as an authority, it is clear that Ralph hasn't read "On A Clear Day..." in a long time. Nader says, "There’s a lot of stuff [in the DeLorean book] on the Corvair from the executives themselves about the kids killed in Grosse Pointe and all that."

Hmm. We've seen where that mention of "the executives" gets us, now let's talk about Gross Pointe. Which we can't, because the words are not uttered anywhere in "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors." Not even in the index. The only reference I could find was in a Wikipedia footnote about the book, indicating Grosse Pointe as the origin of publication. But the actual book's copyright page mentions only New York and Chicago. Perhaps he was refrencing the fact that many GM execs gave Corvairs to their teens--who yes, crashed them--and that they lived in Gross Pointe, but Nader's statement seems to be a complete fabrication. Or, being charitable, a dim recollection. Much like his recollection of not owning a car after his 1949 Studebaker, while failing to remember that he owned and sold a Corvair in 2016.

Nader does give an accurate description of the time he was invited to speak at the Corvair Society of America, at least as far as he remembers it, but his audience no doubt remembers it quite differently. Memories are subject to our experience. What isn't subject to experience is the written word. And the written word on the Corvair is that it is fine, at least in comparison to every other American car made at the time. You can read the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration's 1972 statement about that for yourself.

I invite Ralph Nader to do a bit more reading of his own. To read particularly J. Patrick Wright's work, "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors," before claiming any knowledge on the subject. I invite Patrick Carone to do the same.

Eric C. Player
President
Panther Pictures, LLC

P.S. - One other thing, I have been in three road accidents in my life involving the Corvair, in 1989, 2006, and 2007. Each of them were the result of the other driver's inattention to the road, as verified by their insurance. All resulted in substantial damage to my Corvair, and one completely totaled both cars. I walked away from all of the accidents unharmed. Probably why it was Car of the Year in 1960. Consider that.

Footage of a car expert testing out Ralph Nader's Corvair

Framing John DeLorean, the Movie

Blue Ribbon Corvair - 1960 Car Commercial

Ten Best Films of 2020

2020. The year we all found out who our friends are. It was just last January when CNN asked So Man-fung Peter, "Geomancy Consultant and Globetrotter," for his thoughts on the coming year, and he said, "You should be able to accumulate some wealth, especially if you're self-employed or an entrepreneur." and "To alleviate the impact of negative thoughts, you should travel more." Ah, so quaint.

I don't know about you, but here at Panther Pictures, LLC, we lost a lucrative contract to Covid-19, and scuttled a long-awaited production that we'd finally greenlit and had already spent four months ramping up. Right after casting the leads. But in the same year, we successfully tackled a production that had been abandoned 15 years earlier, and paid off several old debts. All in all a no gain/no loss situation, and considering that as of January 2021 the average tenant owes 4 months in back rent, we were luckier than most.

Like most of the entertainment industry, we experienced several delays in our plans--including a delay in this, our list of the Best Films of 2020. But with the 2021 Oscar ceremony not happening until April 25, and qualifying film releases stretched to February 28, 2021 (instead of being cut off on Dec. 31st 2020), a late January release of our choices doesn't seem so far off. After all, our 2015 picks didn't drop until February 13, 2016.

So, with all the usual disclaimers and rules and attitude, here is the Panther Pictures, LLC, list of the #TenBest Films (those things that come in sequels instead of episodes) of 2020. #PPLLCTenBest2020 #TenBest2020

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The Banker, Romulus Entertainment, Directed by George Nolfi

There seems to be an entire subgenre of independent films, or more properly "prestige films," that are made with stars from large $100 million productions, showing their acting chops in quiet $10 million movies. The thinking being, I suppose, it will be easier to notice their talent without all the distracting CGI explosions. The Banker stars three such actors, whom you may not recognize (*eyeroll) without the Marvel logo. Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson play black entrepreneurs who want to invest in property in white neighborhoods in the 50's and 60's, and who find a way to go from being jacked around by The Man to pulling the strings behind the scenes when they enlist Nicholas Hoult to, "be us, to the rest of the world." The story of how they pull it off, go on to purchase 3 banks, and still remain friends during the subsequent Congressional hearings, is one for the ages, and a great example to rest of us about how to encourage one another (or how not to) in the pursuit of our American dreams.

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The Midnight Sky, Anonymous Content, Directed by George Clooney

There were a lot of people looking forward to this, and then a lot of those same people panning it when it finally came out in streaming rather than in theaters. From the moment I heard about this production in the trade papers, I knew what it was going to be like, and I was interested in it anyway. George Clooney plays Depressed George Clooney (as seen in ER and The Descendants) playing a bearded man playing scientist. The last member of a scientific outpost, keeping the lights on after a vague global catastrophe. Incidentally, vague catastrophes are the best kind; this is one of those stories where it isn't important *what* happened as long as we understand that *something* happened. His only companions are a HAM radio and a little girl whom he tells not to trust him and maybe find someone else to rely on (which of course she can't). His feelings for her are wrapped up in his feelings about an old relationship, and so on and so on. All of this must take a back burner, however, when he realizes that a deep space mission is on its way back with what may be the last of humanity on board, and if he doesn't warn them to steer clear of earth the probe that's looking for whales will destroy them, too. Wait...let me re-read that... So anyway he has a journey to make to the top of a mountain where a long-range transmitter resides. You get the idea. It may be predictable but it is also sad and hopeful in the face of crushing despair. So, you know, perfect for this year.

Also the best use of "Sweet Caroline" this decade.

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Mank, Netflix Studios, Directed by David Fincher

A movie about the writing of Citizen Kane, structured much like Citizen Kane. But whereas Citizen Kane tells the story of a man as seen through the eyes of his friends, Mank is the story of a man seeing his friends through the eyes of his script for Citizen Kane. Herman Mankiewicz, the "mank" in question, both realizes this connection and stubbornly refuses to acknowledge it honestly to those friends. And that's really all I have to say about it, except that it proves, like Some Like It Hot before it, that female exploitation scenes are somehow more palpable in black and white. And I really have no idea what that says about myself and my relationship with cinema. Well, I have some idea. But I'm saving it for when I write the next Citizen Kane.

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Love and Monsters, Paramount Pictures, Directed by Michael Matthews

A movie about massive monsters that feels paradoxically small and charming. There is a lot that this film has going for it: clever mutations of familiar animals, an examination of how we all respond to the survival instinct, Giant crabs, Puppy Love, and a puppy. Well, a grown up dog that is emotionally stunted. Dylan O'Bryan plays Joel Dawson who, along with the rest of humanity, has been living underground ever since giant creatures took control of the land. His brightest comfort is his high school girlfriend, Aimee (Jessica Henwick), who is now 80 miles away at a coastal colony. Joel realizes that there's nothing left for him to do but head out to find Aimee, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way. It's real Romeo and Juliet stuff. Best Monster Love Story since Swamp Thing.

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Pressure Point (1997), Edgewood Studios, Rifftrax Version

Released in 1997, but added just this year to the new-for-2020 "Rifftrax Friends" subscription streaming service--which is exactly the streaming service the world needs right now. When an assassination attempt fails in a part of Chile that looks suspiciously like Vermont (I stole that line), government operative Sebastian Dellacourt (Don Mogavero) is blamed and thrown in prison. Engineering an escape, Sebastian soon discovers that his freedom was only won in order to frame him in a plot to blow up Congress...I think. It's kind of unclear what the phrase "the congressional building" really means, given that most of the helicopters land in open fields. There are some impressively squandered explosions and a fake Magnum PI Ferrari, but everything, every moment, is treated by director David Giancola as if Mogavero is on a trip to the hardware store. Maybe it was the bad directing, or the bad acting, or the bad writing; I couldn't tell. It was too beautiful to understand. Take that, HBO Max!

Starring Don Mogavero, written by Don Mogavero, in order to give us a world where male pattern baldness is just another CIA gadget.

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The Trial of the Chicago 7, Dreamworks Pictures, Directed by Aaron Sorkin

I have a hard and fast rule against reviewing or giving any sort of props to Aaron Sorkin's work, for deeply personal reasons. He knows what he did to my family. That's not an exaggeration or a joke. He knows what he did, and it was to my family. (Hollywood is, in its way, like a small town.) But this is a story that needed to be told and re-examined, and he did it very well. He knows courtroom drama. (Another reason my personal issue with him is so raw.) Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago turn violent (we've all seen the footage) and one of the most famous trials in history results--but what led up to it and how it was conducted feel brand new. I find myself examining it from the perspective of an observer in 2021, rather than 1968. Partly because I was born in 1973, and mostly because I watched it in the weeks after January 6, 2021. When is protest justified? Where does our free speech stop and where does incitement to violence begin? How much responsibility do we hold for our rhetoric, and what is the responsibility of those tasked with seeking justice? When does a trial stop being legal and when has it become political? Is any speech free anymore? Are our thoughts only ours to own? You better believe these are questions that resonate in 2021.

Dangit, Aaron we could have made beautiful music together!

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Rebuilding Paradise, Imagine Documentaries, Directed by Ron Howard

I watched Paradise, California burn down from afar, but it was just up the road (by California standards) from my own home. We saw and smelled the smoke. We see and smell it every year, 2020 was not the only year places burned. So it was with more than curiosity that I settled in to watch this one, at 2AM in my office when I should have been asleep--the overall emotion I felt was empathy. Ron Howard is a wonderful director (who knew?) and he unfolded the events in Paradise first in an immersive, social-media-drenched way (the way anyone who wasn't there experienced it), and then with a quiet desperation that went from anger, to denial, to bargaining, to depression. The final stage of grief may be acceptance, but Mr. Howard did not go there, because the citizens of Paradise have not gone there. They accept nothing but their faith in each other, and so they build again.

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2020 (A 1917 Parody), The Ascender Channel, Directed by Stephen Ford

I'm adding the first short film ever to my "Best of" list, because of the sheer talent it represents. The talent of the oppressed California filmmaker. This film's existence highlights the idea that 2020 was a year in which everyone found their circle of people to struggle with, laugh with, and rely on. In the run that these characters make for TP, the viewer is immersed in the oldest of feel-good movie cliché's--everything and everyone we need and love are the friends and neighbors who were there all along. I think I have something in my eye. Oh, wait, it's an ember from the fires.

Plus, as an homage to the movie 1917, this little film becomes a symbol of what we have lost, and what we know we will have again. Hopefully that doesn't include Murder Hornets.

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News of the World, Perfect World Pictures, Directed by Paul Greengrass

Like nominating Meryl Streep as best actress, Tom Hanks having a movie on a Ten Best list is a national tradition. This year, there were at least two choices, and Paul Greengrass' Western was the better one. Westerns are an American Passion Play, capable of reflecting whatever society has to reflect at the time they are made, and a grand mirror of the past's place in our present as well. That very generic statement means....what? Well, I don't know, because all that is for film historians to figure out in no less than 5 and not more than 15 years from the release of any given Western. But I can say that Greengrass directs as effectively as he ever directed any Jason Borne film, and that Hanks emotes as well as he ever has in any of his previous Ten Best-ers. Plus he has a beard, and is caring for an orphan. So it's pretty much the same movie as Midnight Sky. Yes, I think this movie is better than that one, but just as an aside I think both films would be better with their leading men reversed.

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The Outpost, Millennium Media, Directed by Rod Lurie

I'm well known for my distaste for exploitative nudity, vulgarity and foul language. I once wrote a prison movie with no cuss words in it. I believe most stories that are told in an R-rated manner never needed to be. I feel that way about the other two R-rated movies on my list. I do not feel that way about The Outpost. What the men who fought the Battle of Kamdesh went through, was told unsparingly, as it should have been. My best friend, two of my own brothers, and half a dozen of my cousins could have been there. Enough politics are attached to nearly every military engagement of the United States in the last hundred years, so as to micromanage every story arc ever told about every single one of them. But the most important statement to be made about all of those soldiers (in my view) is this: They were there. They believed what they were doing was the right thing to do. And they survived.

Anything else is just embellishment. Also, stay and watch the end credits.

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No honorable mentions this year, but I will list two massive disappointments. My own personal Razzies:

1) Wonder Woman 1984, Warner Brothers Studios, Directed by Patty Jenkins. Available on HBOMax.

We all understand the principle of the Spoiler Trailer, and the long-expressed lament that too many movies have too many reveals in their ads, to the point that there is no point in watching the movie. Why spend twenty bucks when those three minutes have already told you everything you need to know or could ever gain from the experience? "Oh, Rampage is like that? Well, okay nevermind; I'm off to watch Kong: Skull Island again."

The far superior trailer is the one that tells you nothing about what happens, while simultaneously milking your emotional need for the experience. "Looking for a good story? THIS is a good story. How good? Oh no you don't! You'll just have to wait." You know, like the new trailer for Little Things.

But there is a darker side to the Emotional Trailer. I call it the Emotional Manipulation Trailer. Where the flaming bag of an entertainment product is disguised as something shiny and new. Something rare and beautiful and jazzy and snappy. Something you cannot live without--which makes it all the more devastating when you bite into that ash sandwich.

Such was the trailer for Star Wars Episode 1, and such was the trailer for Wonder Woman 1984. New Order on the violin made me think I could dream again. New Order lied to me.

2) Mulan, Walt Disney Studios, Directed by Niki Caro, Available on Disney Plus

[Harrison Ford Voice] How dare you, sir? How dare you!

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So those are my pics for the best (American) movies of 2020. There are others being listed and liked out there, but in the world of today, this was all I could get within six feet of.

Eric C. Player is an independently poor filmmaker, and the president of Panther Pictures, LLC, incorporated in Salt Lake City, Utah, and operating in Fargo, North Dakota. He is a father, fan, storyteller, "Picker," Corvair driver and a graduate of BYU & Chapman University film schools. His films have played in theaters all across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and movies to which he was a contributing writer or producer are available on Netflix and Amazon. He has written and produced film and video content for over twenty-five years, and has been writing Chapter-Fiction since the sixth grade. His 2007 production, Nothing But The Best, was an Official Selection of the Newport Beach Film Festival. His 2016 short, Moment of Anger, received multiple honors including Best Short and Best Director at the Road House International Short Film Festival 2016 in Santa Monica, California. his 2019 short The Fruit was an Official Selection at the Los Angeles Cinefest. Eric C. Player on Imdb.

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