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A reclusive English teacher, Charlie (Brendan Fraser), finds himself in search of something honest and true in his daily life as well as the writings of his students. Eternally optimistic, the answer to his searches may in fact be with his own daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink); but, the strained nature of their relationship may be irreconcilable, finding absolution and relief may only come at an extreme conclusion.
Written by Samuel D Hunter and Directed by Darren Aronofsky, this emotionally heavy hitting powerhouse is true to form and another pitch perfect installation from Aronofsky, once again wringing out performances unexpected and transcendent from his ensemble, Fraser in particular delivers his career best to date. Meanwhile, symbolism, narrative richness and thematic complexity brings extra depth and meaning to The Whale, there’s plenty to discuss and ruminate over at the film’s conclusion. With awards season just around the corner, this should be a “must see” on your list of year’s bests. Running just shy of two hours, The Whale is rated R.

Reflecting on Hollywood’s silent film era an aspiring actress, Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), crosses paths with an aspiring Production Assistant, Manny Torres (Diego Calva), setting the scene for an unlikely friendship at a time when the business and the bustle could eat a person alive. And, as luck would have it, both manage to find their own success; meanwhile, cinematic heartthrob and leading man, Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), finds himself caught up in the flurry just the same. Scraping the seedy underbelly of the beast the trio will have to make amends with their own demons if they’re to survive and stay relevant in the industry, or, is their fate already set and sealed? Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle (La La Land), this love letter to early cinema is sure to pique the interest of Hollywood and destined to garner some awards interest in a nepotistic way. In actuality, audiences are destined for three hours and eight minutes of superfluous story telling, it’s as though Chazelle was just too in love with his story to make any sacrificial cuts for the sake of time and the audience’s patience. At the same time, acting from the ensemble, cameos and all, comes across strong with healthy efforts in the artistic direction department and period appropriate scoring from the music department there are a lot of parts to the film that are executed in prime form, it’s unfortunate the sum of their parts is a tangled and overstuffed monster. Babylon, overstimulating and all is rated R.

Returning to the distant planet of Pandora and a home to the Navi people/creatures, former Avatar, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is troubled when he sees the return of the Sky people (humans from Earth). Before long Jake and his whole family are on the run, taking up refuge amongst the Navi who live by the ocean. But, it’s only a matter of time before Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and his team track the family. It’s up to Jake and his family to save each other and save the planet, again, but at what cost? Directed By James Cameron and Written by Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver, this most anticipated sequel of 2022 that nobody asked for hits theatres this weekend with a bombastic crash poised to make a massive dent at the box office. Impressive with its shock and awe visuals, Cameron has once again set the bar high for digital effects and motion capture creating an immersive environment best viewed in 3D, never has underwater CGI looked so accurate. To that end, Cameron gets high marks as he did with Avatar (2009); but, again, beyond the beauty, thin plot, weak character development, and lack of succinctness brings this three hour and twelve minute lug to a sluggish finish, only to realize there are three more films on deck to continue the story, woof, that’s a lot of CGI, that’s a lot of blue people, that may be too much. Time will tell. Let’s just hope the writing gets better from here on out? Avatar: The Way of Water is rated PG-13.