The Bad Guys (2022)

It's not often that I think to watch a movie because Netflix advertises it as newly streaming, especially when I wasn't particularly sold during its theater run. But there's been plenty of fan art since, and enough people in my circles check out such fare, if not the book series on which it's loosely based, that I wanted a more informed opinion.

Before getting into the plot, let me describe the setting. For the most part, it resembles generic modern America, except that some anthropomorphic animals mix with the human population. We're not talking Bojack Horseman-level diversity here; only seven anthros appear at all, yet one of them is the state governor. They also evidently subscribe to different nudity taboos by species. I'd find it more awkward if I hadn't watched The Underdog Show as a kid.

Richard Jewell (2019)

When the key events of this story happened, I was 14 and still only so attentive to news sources. I took a little more interest in the story when it came up at the Newseum as an example of controversial reporting. Incidentally, my parents had noticed the problem pretty much right away.

The title character (Paul Walter Hauser) is the 1996 Atlanta Olympics security guard who reports a terrorist's bomb in time to reduce the carnage to two dead and 111 injured. This makes him a celebrity overnight, but the FBI has an obligation to investigate him as a suspect. After Agent Tom Shaw (a composite character played by Jon Hamm) injudiciously leaks this to Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the story spins out of control, making Jewell out to be more and more certain to have planted the bomb for fake heroism. Apparently in response, the FBI regards the prospect all too seriously.

Jojo Rabbit (2019)

In my rush to see more Academy nominees, I once again chose what was playing at a good time and was not a remake. I went in thinking, "Well, the title suggests a lighthearted comedy...but it's about Nazism? This isn't the Mel Brooks era." When I saw the name Taika Waititi, I understood. Turns out he wrote the screenplay back before What We Do in the Shadows.

In 1945 Germany, ten-year-old Johannes (Roman Griffin Davis) avidly joins the Hitler Youth, but his refusal to kill a rabbit at boot camp earns him the titular mocking nickname. In his attempt to make up for it with awesomeness, he wounds himself enough to be relegated to non-combat work near his urban home. One day, he discovers Jewish late teen Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) hiding in a secret passage within his house, but he doesn't dare tell anyone, partly because his abetting mother, Rosie (Scarlet Johansson), would get in serious trouble. (I'm not sure why Elsa persuades him not to tell even Rosie.) For the sake of knowing the enemy better, "Jojo" demands that Elsa share information on Jews in general, to be put into an illustrated book. You can guess how his mind changes during research.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

For all the praise heaped on this movie, for all the high ratings across different websites, I was reluctant to watch. The trailer made clear that it was full of anger, at an intensity I was unlikely to find comfortable. Still, I wanted to maximize my chances of seeing the Academy Best Picture ahead of the ceremony.

I'm not sure in what period the story takes place, but from the phones and a reference to 1986, I'd say the '90s or early 2000s. A little-used road with three long-disused billboards suddenly has a message: "Raped while dying/And still no arrests?/How come, Chief Willoughby?" In a town so small, everyone knows the event in question, and it's not hard to guess who paid for the message: bereaved mother Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand). Alas, for all the sympathy she'd gained, almost no one can get behind the challenge to a respected chief (Woody Harrelson), especially since he has terminal cancer. But Mildred insists on keeping it up until there's appreciable progress on the case.