One mind, any weapon

  I've written so much about Green Room for nearly a decade now and, having been disappointed by Saulnier's follow-up squib load, Hold The Dark, I had certain expectations for Rebel Ridge. Reading that it was gonna be about cops (and assuming it was another siege movie) of course I imagined Green Room 2: ACAB; intense pigbreaking slaughter with the hyper-realistic violence Saulnier has given us since Blue Ruin. But, by his design, Rebel Ridge is the complete opposite: a categorically Less-Lethal thriller.

  Saulnier, who's usually setting sail for arterial floods, deliberately wrote himself into a corner by defanging himself. It's admirable enough on paper but downright respectable since he managed to escape by challenging the notion of what one of his movies can be. Blue Ruin, Green Room, and Hold The Dark are all (for the most part) about how messy and awful violence is while showing us said violence to make that point. Rebel Ridge is Saulnier actually practicing what he's been preaching all these years: restraint. It's like after all the limbs he's lopped off and maimed he's finally applying tourniquets and cauterizing wounds left over. That said: it's only less lethal means of violence. Bones still break in pummeling combat sequences and there's the very real threat of deadly violence from our antagonists. But our hero isn't one of Saulnier's relatable unremarkables facing remarkable terror, he's a highly capable and efficient Marine who's all about de-escalation to keep blood from spilling...and he's out for revenge.

  Turns out this is a siege thriller but turned inside-out.

  What Saulnier does maintain is his signature knack for dialog and verisimilitude. Liiiiiitle by little he stacks the details of these characters and this world, sometimes without us even knowing. The dialog is much more catty and sharp since these are Saulnier's most 'professional' characters. They know how to play games of wit in gripping verbal standoffs that are just as exciting as any of the physical squabbles but it's very different than the panicked exchanges in Green Room.

  Rebel Ridge is a deeply satisfying movie, the kind that makes you want to pace around your living room and holler, but that spatial freedom also sucks in a way: After some incredible theater-going experiences last year (Beetlejuice², Civil War, Furiosa) to be forced to watch this crowdpleaser streaming on Netflix, minus the crowd, it's a fucking shame. This would play so goddamn well in a packed theater but such is the state of things.

So Wizard

  Episodes 5 and 6 of Skeleton Crew turned what is, essentially, a pretty good, cute show, into a potentially exceptional one. It's been charming holiday entertainment but there's a compelling turn at the end of You Have A Lot To Learn About Pirates that made me clench my jaw more than any of the light peril in previous episodes. It's one of those great situations where I saw said moment coming from episode 2 but it's executed so well that it can't be handwaved away with claims of "predictability."

  And episode 6, Zero Friends Again, is a simple transitional episode but it's full of strong character moments to ferry us into the climax. Even an episode that other shows would neglect as 'filler' is treated with care. Initially, I'd only started watching this to stave off the wait for Andor season 2 but now I'm a bonafide fan.

  I was hooked by the idea of "The Goonies meets Star Wars" because it's refreshing to see live-action Star Wars that isn't ashamed to appeal to kids. It maintains lots of whimsy with tangible danger and moments of affecting disempowerment. Not to mention it actually looks good, unlike the synthetic post-photography of Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and The Book Of Boba-Fett. 

  With Phil Tippett Studios, Skeleton Crew prioritizes the tangible: puppets, animatronics, make-up, stop-motion and other practical effects. In doing so they give themselves freedom to light their sets, their actors, and puppeteers how they want instead of relying on green screens and other incorporeal aspects that eschew aesthetic integrity.

   With 2 episodes left I'm a bit worried that it'll drop the ball but that's not because of anything specific in Crew, I've just been burned before (Mandalorian, Acolyte). Incidentally, Acolyte's 5th episode, Night, was its strongest but the season on the whole wasn't as consistent as Crew's has been. And while Crew isn't on the level of Andor (nothing is, except maybe Empire) it's still one of the stronger efforts in Star Wars' Disney era.

Nothing else from 2024 compares to Meet The Grahams

  I typically keep my phone's volume on full because my notifications never wake me up, only the next morning is when I see what all I've missed. The only time I turn it on vibrate is when I'm at work or the movies. Hell, my YouTube notification chime isn't all that shrill and my phone is usually close to me when I doze off. So when I say that the notification for Meet The Grahams woke me up from a dead sleep and my phone was on the nightstand for once, trust me when I say that this track is evil.

  And, at the time, I didn't even know how much demon energy was in it, either. I got excited because, I mean, any New Kendrick is worth celebrating, so my heart rate was already pumping as I barreled downstairs to get my headphones. But, as Kendrick's frighteningly calm tone purred out "Dear, Adonis," on top of a sample of wailing cries and ascending, repetitive piano, I was fucking AWAKE. By the time it got to the ghostly choir of layered vocals shouting "YOU LIED," I was actually holding my breath despite how many times I uttered "Jesus" and "what the fuck?". And, again, this debuted in the middle of the night. Like, did I actually hear this song or do I have sleep paralysis?? The balled energy of my excitement converted to anxiety and disgust so I didn't go back to bed for another couple of hours. This is truly a stomach-turning, lip-curling, eye-watering, creepy fucking track that felt, as hyperbolic as this sounds, illegal to listen to (which...was not far off considering Drake has recently taken Kenny to court).

  Meet The Grahams is as harrowing as tracks like u, FEAR. and Mother I Sober because it's one thing to be vulnerable and condemning of yourself but it's another to point out someone else's flaws and vulnerabilities publicly and against their will. And even if the allegations he spews are all bullshit, that doesn't matter: he says it with such palpable venom and imposing nerve that I believe he believes it. The work itself isn't diminished simply because it's still a song, after all, and Kendrick is a stellar performer.

  So it's not like I didn't think K-Dot was capable of a track like this, it's just that he's never projected this kind of despair to anyone but himself. When Humble came out there was speculation that he was dissing this rapper, dissing that rapper, but everyone's theory was wrong because Kendrick was dissing himself. He's always been more introspective and has made so much music about how to love and forgive, not just others but one's self, so color me shocked that he brought us to a place where he taught us how to properly fucking HATE someone. Dismantling Drake with existential disrespect isn't even a braggadocios power move, it comes from a place of angry, demented pity. He even positions himself as the one person who could help Drake while pushing the blade in as deep as it can go as he tells him that he'll never be a better opponent to Drake than Drake is to himself.

  All of that is intense enough but to write letters to his parents and his children, saying he thinks Drake should die in prison, is unbelievable and nothing short of astonishing.

  That's why this is the best piece of media I experienced last year and undeniably one of the best songs ever written. It outshines every movie and show from last year because none of them have stuck with me like this has.