Martin's Musings

The end of August is typically one of the “remainder bin” periods on the movie release calendar, the time when studios dump their least-likely-to-succeed films after a summer of more likely blockbusters. But in 2019, Searchlight Pictures released a movie that upended that tradition.

Ready or Not starred Samara Weaving (the niece of Hugo Weaving, from The Matrix and Lord of the Rings films) as Grace, a just-married bride trying to survive the night before her new in-laws, the Le Domas family, find her in a killer game of hide and seek. The film was very funny and very dark, featuring a cast of expert scenery-chewers and one delightful surprise after another. It may not have been award-worthy, but it was an absolutely great time. Given the lack of competition, the film was a hit — and it made my list of favorite films from that year.

Thankfully, there’s a sequel, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come — though, unfortunately, it has the opposite release-date luck: It’s hitting theaters the same weekend as Project Hail Mary, a film that’s sure to swallow up all the box office money for the foreseeable future. It’s a shame, because, while it’s not as good as its predecessor or the Ryan Gosling flick, Here I Come is another good time. For now, it’s worthy “counter-programming” if Project Hail Mary is sold out. And it’ll play well on streaming long after that.

(For the record, I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that Project Hail Mary and Here I Come both feature a lead character named Grace.)

At a time when everything here on Earth is just a little too much, the new movie Project Hail Mary arrives as pure, unapologetic escapism. 

And not the empty kind, either. The smart kind. 

The kind where the stakes are enormous, the science is weirdly fascinating (though not always accurate), and the jokes land hard enough that you forget for two-and-a-half hours that the news exists. 

The kind that’s literally and figuratively out of this world.

There’s something almost admirable about The Bride! — a movie so aggressively weird that you can’t accuse it of playing things safe. Unfortunately, admiration isn’t the same thing as enjoyment. 

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein riff definitely shows vision. And Jessie Buckley once again proves she’s one of the most interesting actors working today. But the movie itself? It’s a chaotic, overcooked take that’s ultimately more exhausting than entertaining.

Between Everybody Wants Some!!, Top Gun: Maverick, and Hit Man — okay, fine, and Twisters, too — it seemed like Glen Powell was finally, deservedly, breaking through with mainstream audiences, and a bright future lay ahead for him.

Alas, between last year’s The Running Man and the new How to Make a Killing, it’s looking like the actor’s star may have already burned out. 

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the new “Wuthering Heights” adaptation comes in like a cold wind off the moors so strong that it immediately rips your shirt or bodice wide open. Writer/director Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel is a hot take on a story that has always been about obsession, repression, and desire curdling into something feral, only now it’s a bit more dangerous.

In other words, if you’ve ever read the novel and thought, “I wish this story was hornier,” congratulations: This movie is for you.

Here is a list of every new movie I saw this year, along with the grade I gave it. Films are listed in the order in which I saw them.