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

A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)

As a cowardly farmer begins to fall for the mysterious new woman in town, he must put his new-found courage to the test when her husband, a notorious gun-slinger, announces his arrival. (IMDb)

The hat full of shit and sex jokes fail to impress (the recurring chaste prostitute gag aside), but the abundance of casual f-bombs and the million ways to die-schtick together make for a fun parody of the typically brooding Western genre that looks great to boot. Unfortunately, the too-long story (a point for being unexpectedly so, I suppose) and its lead (MacFarlane is more like a comedian on set than an actual character) never really feel like anything more than empty vehicles for the humour.

6.5/10 (Alright)

Gone Girl (2014)

With his wife’s disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it’s suspected that he may not be innocent. (IMDb)

Affleck’s Nick acts suspicious from the get-go here, which feels sudden and anti-climatic; add in awkward cuts and unnaturally quick dialogue and you have a first half-hour that fails to latch on despite a well-crafted atmosphere. Yet led by Pike’s excellent turn a shocking plot grabs a hold from here: First uncertainty abounds as the line between victim and villain is blurred, then definite and bloody revelations follow as the line is made startlingly clear once again in a haunting final act.

8/10 (Great)