“The End” (Musical/Drama: 2 hours, 28 minutes)
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon and George MacKay
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Rated: NR (Strong language, intense scene with violent content)
Movie Review:
“The End” is a 2024 apocalyptic musical, but it is not a depressing movie. It is actually a nice surprise for a musical about some of the last surviving humans on the planet.

A wealthy family lives in a lavish underground bunker. They have called the place home for two decades after an environmental catastrophe. A mother (Tilda Swinton) constantly rearranges priceless art in their lavish palatial mansion. A father (Michael Shannon) is an oil executive tycoon, immersed in finishing a biased book that details how his corporation helped the planet rather than hurting it. They are the overprotective parents to their son (George MacKay). The son is lonely, occasionally wondering what is beyond the palace they live in. Also, living with the family is a close friend and master chef (Bronagh Gallagher), a butler (Tim McInnerny), and a doctor (Lennie James). Their lives change when a girl (Moses Ingram) arrives as strong emotions surface among the group. She brings joy and paranoia to the group worried about what remains of the outside world and the nature of a stranger living with them.

Director-writer Joshua, Oppenheimer and writer Rasmus Heisterberg do not give their characters names. This observation is unnoticeable until the end credits roll. In other movies, especially a dramatic musical, this would be annoying and considered a lack of serious writing for a screenplay. However, the writers want you to focus on the characters and their actions. These people could be any family or group of people.

“The End” is an engaging movie well-acted by a talented cast. Tilda Swinton is becoming a marvel playing eccentric characters. Here, she is the lead as a protective mother. Michael Shannon is always superior in movies. George MacKay and Moses Engram are endearing younger cast members. They and others of the cast provide intriguing people who are easy to indulge in despite their eccentric behaviors.

“The End” is the perfect musical to end the year. For all its melancholic themes and unmemorable lyrics, it is an uplifting photoplay that engages for its runtime of nearly two and a half hours. Each scene features nifty characters with a background of well-known art scattered throughout the walls of an underground mansion. The set design is as inviting as the story.
Grade: B (A perfect place to spend the end.)

“Queer” (Drama: 2 hours, 16 minutes)
Starring: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman,
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Rated: R (Strong sexual content, graphic nudity, strong drug content, language and brief violence.)
Movie Review:
“Queer” is artistic, well-acted with a good setting, but it is not a drama that remains consistently solid throughout its runtime. It is based on William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel entitled the same, which is based on the character William Lee from the writer’s 1953 novel “Junkie.” Both books appear to be biographical moments of Burroughs’ life.

Director Luca Guadagnino is known for the gay-themed movies after the brilliant “Call Me by Your Name” (2017). He also directed “Challengers” (2024), which features sexually energetic characters. He is masterful at capturing relationships through complex sexual experiences. “Queer” features multiple scenes of sex and nudity, but only some are necessary to the story like those in “Call Me by Your Name”.  Thus, this movie, however artistic, relies on the performance of Daniel Craig, who is always the consummate actor.

In a 1950s Mexico, Craig plays William Lee an older former soldier living as an immigrant with fellow expatriates. Lee’s life is typical. He continuously downs one bottle of liquor after the next until he meets a young man, Eugene Allerton (an engaging Starkey), a young handsome gentleman and former U.S. Navy serviceman. Lee and Allerton form a complicated arrangement, a mostly transactional relationship.

“Queer” does not inspire one to care about Lee and Allerton’s relationship. Moments exist where one could see these two people falling in love, but the older man appears to force the relationship upon the younger who acquiesces because he has a chance to travel to multiple places free. Lee is infatuated with a young man’s handsomeness, and Allerton agrees to the seduction because it offers temporary resources. So, this is no romance.

And, it does not need to be, yet “Queer” does need to feel like a stable story.

“Queer” sometimes appears as a comedy, especially when Leslie Manville appears as a wayward scientist worried about her research. This is also where the movie reaches a form of artistic expression, where one cares about these characters for a split second, but such is lost in an array of abstract, visuals, and dream sequences that distract.

Director Guadagnino crafts this movie comparably to “Call Me by Your Name,” which was masterful. “Queer” has a similar structure. It involves an older man and a younger one again, except the older man who falls in love here. In “Queer,” the sex appears transactional for viewers as the relationship is between Lee and Allerton.
Grade: B- (The name fits this artistic endeavor.)