Cocaine Bear (2023)

IMDb plot summary: An oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converge on a Georgia forest where a huge black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine.

Directed by Elizabeth Banks. Stars Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, and O'Shea Jackson Jr.

Cocaine Bear is a thriller/comedy about a drug dealer who accidentally loses a bunch of cocaine in the woods, only for a bear to consume it and go on a wild rampage. This is as silly as it sounds, and it's occasionally entertaining, but the joke only stretches so far. I appreciate the wide variety of talented comedians brought in to bring the story to life, and they do bring in some creativity. (Jesse Tyler Ferguson was an especially high point for me.) But I really think this would work better as a series of sketches on SNL or a short film on YouTube -- the jokes and the characters don't quite stretch to fill feature length, and I found myself anxious for the story to end long before the credits rolled around.

🎥 Cocaine Bear (2023)

📊 Ranked #2658/4318 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 42

lost to Melody Time (#2198 → #1997)

beat Tallulah (#3271 → #3519)

beat Star! (#2733 → #2769)

lost to The Forbidden Kingdom (#2464 → #2192)

lost to Ghost Ship (#2594 → #2592)

beat Death on the Nile (#2662 → #2667)

lost to Focus (#2628 → #2627)

lost to She Loves Me (#2644 → #2651)

lost to Star Trek: Nemesis (#2652 → #2376)

beat Elle (#2656 → #2664)

beat The Little Prince (#2654 → #2665)

beat Le Week-End (#2653 → #2659)

Boiling Point (2021)

IMDb plot summary: A chef must deal with pressures in and out of the kitchen of a high end restaurant in the Christmas rush.

Directed by Philip Barantini. Stars Stephen Graham, Vinette Robinson, and Alice Feetham.

Boiling Point follows an intense shift at a restaurant, seen primarily through the owner and head chef's eyes, as he also deals with family problems, homelessness, and discord among his staff. If you're a fan of the TV show The Bear, you *need* to see this movie, as I think it will scratch a very similar itch, but distilled into a single shot over 90 minutes rather than over several episodes. Stephen Graham plays our protagonist, and he is electric, in a surprisingly quiet and understated way -- you just want everything to work out for him and are on the edge of your seat the whole time. The film is one long continuous shot, which really amplifies the tension the whole way through. While the focus is on Graham's character, we continue to get glimpses of the back stories for several other characters as well, and they're just as compelling. The artistry is on full display for this film, and it's very much worth a watch.

🎥 Boiling Point (2022)

📊 Ranked #400/4317 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 90

beat Melody Time (#2197 → #2198)

beat Southside with You (#1091 → #1093)

beat Garden State (#546 → #661)

lost to The City of Lost Children (held at #259)

beat WarGames (#400 → #401)

lost to Bells Are Ringing (held at #327)

lost to Fantasia (held at #363)

lost to Blood Simple (held at #379)

lost to Welcome to Dongmakgol (held at #388)

lost to A Simple Plan (held at #392)

lost to Half a Sixpence (held at #394)

lost to Won't You Be My Neighbor? (held at #395)

lost to Pink Floyd: The Wall (held at #396)