Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022): I’ll admit I’m torn about BBB. There were some things I didn’t like about it as the movie progressed, but an ingenious ending made me reassess my musings. First off, this is a cool, smooth flick, with a bunch of really unlikable characters. It plays off of one of those teenage guessing games that makes little sense and, as the movie itself points out, generally ends up being more toxic than fun. Thankfully, the story goes the other way around, with a fleshy dose of violence to warrant a slasher label. It’s still all rather ridiculous, but somehow it just works to make for a memorable viewing. 7
X (2022): Ti West impresses on his return to the big screen, with a throwback horror/thriller about ageless lusting. Or the horrors of lusting, if you will. It’s a movie that first and foremost looks really good, inspiring both weird nostalgia and uneasiness. Led by Mia Goth’s performance(s) and punctuated by a healthy dose of visceral dread and gore, X establishes itself as different enough to stand out. 7
Glasshouse (2021): In a conceptual sci-fi that feels like a reimagining of The Beguiled, director/writer Kelsey Egan envisions a dreamlike post-apocalyptic world, wherein exposure to the planet’s air leads to rapid loss of cognitive ability. Living in a glasshouse, a family composed of a matriarch and her four children, three daughters and a “touched” brother, go about their daily lives until a stranger is brought in and cared for. His intentions shady, sexual tensions rising, the movie escalates to a half-expected, half-poetic finale about the cyclicity of all things human. It’s perhaps too opaque for its own good, but overall Glasshouse proves to be an interesting take on a familiar theme. 7
Ticket to Paradise (2022): Ol Parker’s Mamma Mia 2 was a joy to behold, full of positive energy and angelic tunes. This much more traditional romcom still has the occasional breath of fresh air to deliver, mixed in between the familiar genre tropes. As a pair of divorced parents who look to hamper their daughter’s wedding plans, George Clooney and Julia Roberts seem to be having some good fun – as Kaitlyn Dever plays the overachieving daughter settling for a seaweed farmer in Bali. The local traditions make for a good backdrop, with the movie getting my overall approval thanks to the odd moments of honesty it finds time for. 6
Watcher (2022): Maika Monroe stars in this thriller which takes place in Bucharest, Romania. She ends up there after her partner moves onto a new job, and it’s an unfortunate situation – alone and isolated, she fails to integrate, while dealing with some dubious neighbourly fellows. One of those creeps her out to the point of worrying about her wellbeing, while, of course, the husband fellow is skeptical and less than supportive. Also, how long does this guy work? The movie conjures uncomfortableness in the viewer, which is good enough, even if it ends up relying too much on genre tropes – only to wrap things up in an unlikely, ridiculous finale. 6
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