Is Netflix on a Hot Streak?

            Over the course of the past month, Netflix has dropped some big movies with well-known actors and acclaimed directors. There are five main movies that came out, and none of them include the numerous Christmas movies they have put out. They started out with Frankenstein, then there was Nouvelle Vague, Train Dreams, Jay Kelly, and finally Wake Up Deadman. Of these, Train Dreams was by far my favorite (and the best), so much so that I already wrote a whole paper about it, so I will not touch on it too much. Plus Netflix bought the rights to this movie. They did not commission this work of art, so they do not really deserve credit for it. On top of these solid releases, Netflix won the bid to buy Warner Brothers, which would end HBO Max and have other side effects.

            Frankenstein received 3.5 stars from me. Critically it received mixed reviews. Some loved it, and others felt like it was overly CGIed and looked bad. The bad CGI can definitely be said of the wolves, but there were some great practical effects as well. The monster himself looked great. Jacob Elrodi’s massive physical presence worked well too, and they had some stunning landscapes as well. I loved the scenes in the arctic and the beautiful sunset.

            What I did not love was how long it was. There was so much backstory to Dr. Frankenstein’s character. It went all the way back to when he was a child. Now, the backstory was necessary to show how the mad scientist came to be, but it felt like it lasted forever, and then the second part when his monster had the chance to tell his story, it was so much more engaging. Overall, I do think that the practical visuals outweighed the occasional bad CGI, and it finished on a high note.

            Next is a lesser heard of film, Novelle Vague, directed by Richard Linklater. He probably is a lesser-known name than Guillermo Del Toro, but he has a solid filmography too. Novelle Vague tells the story of the making of Breathless. Breathless was one of the films that started the French New Wave of cinema, so it is an important movie. Also, it is important to know that this film is in French.

            It reminded me a lot of The Disaster Artist. The only difference is that The Disaster Artist is about the making of one of the worst movies ever, and this was about the making an incredibly influential film. The funny thing is that even though this movie was about making a good movie, it felt like the movie was going to turn out awfully. The director kept making decisions that seemed insane. He had no care for the continuation of one shot to the next, so if the scene was taking place in the same room, he did not care if objects changed in the background even though it would not make any sense chronologically. There would also be days of filming, where they would do one or two takes of a scene, and then they would call it a day.

            I am not sure what it is exactly about this film, but I loved it. I do think there is something about frequent movie goers that love movies about movie making. Linklater is also great with dialogue, look no further than Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. This movie is no different. I do think that it being in French and black and white adds to the movie magic as well. I gave it four stars. It is definitely not for everyone, but if you like movies, I would recommend it.

            Jay Kelly is also a movie about movies, but I did not love it nearly as much, and similarly to Frankenstein, it felt long. This movie stars George Cloney, but it has a very fun supporting role from Adam Sandlar. The two of them play off each other well. Cloney is Jay Kelly, and he is playing an actor who is contemplating retirement, but his agent, Sandler is trying to convince him to make another movie. He is also trying to reconnect with his family.

            The problem is his family does not want to reconnect with him. His two daughters have gone most of their lives with him being no more than a passing presence. This leads to multiple emotional scenes where he is shut down by his family, and even those who work for him start to leave. So he is in Italy to receive this award for all his acting glory, but no one from his family is there to stand by his side. There is one very memorable exchange between Clooney and Sandler that almost brought tears to my eyes. The movie is all about choosing what is important, and the idea that success always comes with sacrifices.

            Then there is Wake Up Dead Man (Knives Out 3). Rian Johnson has directed all three of these films, and Daniel Craig has starred in all of them as well. The rest of the cast, however, has changed with each movie, and they continue to get big names to be supporting roles. This murder mystery takes place in a rural catholic church in a tight knit community. It is not as claustrophobic as the others, because they are not all stuck in the same location, which does cause the loss of some tension.

            There is one scene that sticks out, and that is when Josh O’Conner, the priest is talking on the phone to a lady from the construction company, and he realizes that he has let his job slip as he dedicated himself to the case. It was powerful. Josh Brolin is one of my favorite actors right now, and he does an incredible job in this too. He is a priest as well and just a terrible person. They basically call his congregation a cult.

It does make for an interesting thought. Are people devout to Christianity, or are they devout to the people that lead them? This could just be a more personal thought, but I have struggled to get into a church outside of the one I grew up attending. Oddly enough, this did make me want to go to church though. I only gave this one 3.5 stars, which is the lowest of the three Knives Out movies, but it is still very enjoyable and a fun watch.

            Now this brings us to the Warner Brothers acquisition. I have heard some doom and gloom talk from my movie podcasters that I listen to, and with good reason. Warner Brothers had Sinners this year, which was a visual delight in IMAX, plus they had One Battle After Another, another great original story, and they are also in charge of D.C properties, which are huge money makers in the theaters. So if movies like this stop making it to the theaters, this will be a huge problem for theaters, and allegedly Netflix will keep a theatrical window, but it will only be two weeks.

            So this is encouraging for the people who do not go to theaters, and it is worrisome for people who do, because theaters are already struggling, so if they get shorter windows and make less money they will start to shutter. This is what people fear, but personally, I do wonder how big a difference it will make. The difference in box office from week one to week two is significant with a big drop, and then of course to a third week a movie’s performance takes an even bigger drop.

If people want to see a movie in theaters, they will probably go to see it in those first two weeks. I feel like after that, it is just people who want to see the film again, which makes sense for masterpieces and superhero movies, but now I feel like most movies only make it for two or three weeks in the theaters anyways, so I am not overly worried about it. Plus there is still time for the deal to fall through, which I think is the ideal option. Either way, it was nice to see over these past two months that if Netflix puts the time, effort, and money into a project, that they can indeed make really good movies, unlike the usual formulaic slop they put out.