Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

Has a scrumptious classic dinner party-whodunit feel, with a compelling first act full of subtle clues that let you know something’s afoot, and then a second act where the other foot (in a shoe) drops and the layers are peeled back. The humour is excellent (“Please tell me you did not think sweatshops are where they make sweatpants”), the drama less so; Andi’s glass ceiling-and-other-objects-shattering arc is effective but the others are never likeable enough to justify how they tagged along.

7

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

“The thing about stories, they never really end do they? We’re still telling the same stories we’ve always told, just with different names, faces.” A great meta quote that ends a probably overly meta scene (the WB mention is too much) but kicks off the film’s fascinating re-examination of narrative truth and fiction, identity and choice, binaries and in-betweens in an old but new world. As the plot picks up it stumbles though; the story mechanics are convoluted and the stakes feel strangely low.

6