It's obviously fantastic — probably not only the best Muppets adaptation but also the best Muppets movie in general. So instead of using my review of the movie to talk about why it's good (you know why it's good), I'm gonna write up my cast list for a hypothetical Muppet Les Misérables.
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Jean Valjean — Kermit
The clear and obvious choice. Kermit has the depth of compassion and maturity required for the lead character's spiritual odyssey. I want to…
(High 3½)
I think I ultimately prefer when the Muppets are doing something more fantastical with their stories (Treasure Island, A Christmas Carol, etc), but Caper and the original movie are still solid-enough, funny-enough escapades with these chaotic little shits. I found Caper a bit funnier than the original (the "Kermit and Fozzy are identical twins" joke was consistently funny, and I loved the John Cleese scene), with the trade-off being that the original had the more engaging story.
Very middling with some really cool choices and moments here and there. People are right to loop it into the same genre as Midsommar and Get Out and The Menu, and people are right to call Opus a lackluster imitation of them. Maybe "imitation" is being uncharitable, because when the film is trying to say something with its themes it's at least saying something a little different than each of those. I can appreciate it during those thematic moments —…
My review for The Sting encapsulates how I feel about Black Bag: this genre — about gangsters and spies and people stoically realpolitiking — is just not my thing. I find most movies of this type to be emotionally impenetrable. If you're a fan of the genre, I bet you'd like it. But unfortunately I was expecting something a bit sexier and more relationship-focused. Those aspects that were there did keep me invested enough for the 90 minutes, but there wasn't enough for me to recommend it to outsiders of the genre or for me to ever need to watch it again.
