The Boys In The Boat's rowing scenes are actually kind of great, the Snyderverse is still pretty terrible, and more of the week's top film stories

Every Michael Mann movie ranked, including Ferrari

There have been several reasons for cinephiles to rejoice in 2023, but few are more exciting than the return of Michael Mann. Absent from theaters since 2015, the 80-year-old director has come roaring back with the high-speed biopic Ferrari. The film gives Mann, known chiefly for crime thrillers grounded in process and emotion, a chance to apply his distinctive, rigorously researched visions of determination to another propulsive thriller. – Matt Schimkowitz Read More

A requiem for Aquaman and the last gasp of the Snyderverse

With his energies now focused on building his own original(-ish) science-fiction franchise, filmmaker Zack Snyder has put the superheroes of the DC universe behind him. And now that Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom is finally out in theaters, it’s time for audiences to do the same. It’s been a decade since Snyder’s Man Of Steel opened and launched a new era of DC superheroes on screen. Since then, we’ve gotten no less than 15 feature films connected to this shared universe—16 if you count the two cuts of Justice League separately—and though Snyder only directed three of them himself (and produced a handful of others), his moody aesthetic set the tone for everything that came after. As we head into a new year and DC Studios heads in a new direction under the leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran, it’s a good time to pack up this era into a box and set it aside for future generations to discover and analyze with fresh eyes. – Cindy White Read More

The best documentaries of 2023

In the age of the internet, the world has become smaller, more connected—and a lot messier. In fact, it can be convincingly argued that the events of especially the last 10 to 15 years show humankind isn’t really wired for the type of constant connection that social media can provide. The rawness and pain of life, presented in volume, can be overwhelming. – Brent Simon Read More

I’m a coxswain. Here’s what I think of the rowing in The Boys In The Boat.

There are very few things rowers love more than watching other people row badly. Annual “Head Of The Charles Destruction” and other boat crash videos regularly rack up thousands of views on YouTube. Many rowers I’ve met love to reference in regular conversation an infamous incident where a team rowed directly into a pole. There are few things more gratifying than watching a big, beefy dude in a gym unknowingly treat a rowing machine like a children’s toy. So you should know that it brings me absolutely no joy to say that George Clooney’s The Boys In The Boat absolutely nailed the little quirks and intricacies of its central sport. – Emma Keates Read More

How Ferrari’s controversial CG crashes play a crucial part in the story

There’s a scene in Michael Mann’s Ferrari where beleaguered, self-obsessed car-manufacturer Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) is looking over race car designs alongside his son, Piero, whom he had with his mistress, Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley), and has been raising in secret—from both the public and his wife, Penélope Cruz’s Laura Ferrari—for years. As Enzo gives his son a quick lesson on how engines work, Piero notes that, in addition to being fast, his father’s cars also tend to look nice. Enzo, perhaps loving the boy in this moment as much as he has ever loved anyone else, proudly notes that when a thing works better, “it’s usually more beautiful to the eye.” – Sam Barsanti Read More