Uncut Gems 2019
Sean's Christmas-week case for it: Adam Sandler plays Howard Ratner as a man willing to break every rule to finish what he started, and the film is a rare sports-gambling movie that actually nails what a parlay bet feels like. He places it in the lineage of Sweet Smell of Success and Dog Day Afternoon and calls Kevin Garnett's performance maybe the best ever from an NBA player turned actor. He also credits the supporting cast (Julia Fox, Idina Menzel, Lakeith Stanfield, Eric Bogosian, Judd Hirsch, Mike Francesca, The Weeknd), Daniel Lopatin's score, Darius Khondji's cinematography, and Ronald Bronstein/Benny Safdie's editing and crosstalk-heavy sound design, ending on how the movie insists Howard pay for his sins.
