Jordan Mattox

(This is along a four point scale)

Nope 3.5

I loved Get Out and liked Us. Peele is obviously one of those directors I will spend the money to watch his movies in theaters. Nope was an interesting mixture of genres and, like all great art, infinitely interpretable. The visuals and ideas are stronger than the story. 

Maverick 3.3

A great summer movie. Better than the original, no question. Again, like Nope, the visuals are more interesting than the story or the dialogue. A few good performances, nothing arresting, minus the scene with Val Kilmer. One interesting theory (I will call the DD theory, link here) makes it a bit more interesting. 

Ace in the Hole 3.6

This film came out in 1951 with Kirk Douglas playing an unhinged and desperate journalist who turns an individual’s tragedy into a carnival for his own gain. Douglas is masterful even though a lot of the film is wildly unrealistic. It is meant to be a hyperbolic critique of the lengths journalists will go to turn a story into what they want it to be at the victim’s expense. A modern version of this might be Nightcrawler. 

Shadow of a Doubt 3.8

One of Hitchcock’s best films, perhaps a little understated. Shot for shot, a masterpiece. It follows a man on the run who travels across the country to stay with his family and whose story begins to unravel in the mind of his precocious niece. Just watch it. And notice the stairs.