Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

[numbersix]

Ah, he did, you're right. And that's probably my least favourite Nolan film. So much for that!

[Ron Burgundy]

Obviously you haven't ever visited the space library...its real man... lol (as real as anything in Twin Peaks )

Sorry boosh, theres no way in hell Nolan will go back to anything like Memento, he's tasted big budget, apparently it tastes good. Besides, who doesn't like awesome visuals?

And im not fully sold on Q.T retiring to write novels, perhaps half that, half movie scripts to give to budding young filmmakers.

[transformers2]

Wind River 9/10
WOW!!!!!! The first major directorial effort from Sicario and Hell or Highwater scribe Taylor Sheridan is easily the best film I've seen in 2017 so far. Like Sheridan's past projects, Wind River maximizes the effectiveness of its pretty conventional setup with an intoxicating atmosphere, rich characterization, bursts of white-knuckle tension and some outstanding performances from its primary cast (Jeremy Renner particularly stands out). Hopefully this can follow Hell or High Water's lead and pick up some nominations come awards season.

[Buscemi2]

Actually, Wind River is Sheridan's second directorial effort. I found a few days ago he directed a film some years earlier called Vile that went straight-to-DVD. Reading about the premise (it's a Saw-inspired torture porn), it might explain why Sheridan loves doing films about people committing crimes and shocking the audience with the occasional violence or event.

[transformers2]

Whoops, clearly missed that bit of info. Oh well, Wind River was still incredible.

[Buscemi2]

Lady Macbeth 8/10

Shakespearian tragedy enters the 19th century as this cold but beautifully made drama is elevated by a great performance by Florence Pugh (I know it's only August but where are the awards talks for her?) and some very striking cinematography and period design (can you believe this only cost $650,000 to produce?). The film is very gritty and disturbing at times and the transitions from Katherine's emptiness in life to her affairs only make things more so. You are definitely not seeing too many American films like this where they are willing to be graphic or show the ugliness of one's self. I also have to congratulate the find of Pugh. It's really sad that in the US, we are not developing actors like they are in the UK. It's just "find a pretty face, preferably one with a blonde head of hair to go with it, and we'll drop her in 20 movies" while those who actually have talent are lucky to get one chance. I'd be surprised if one-tenth of the actresses here could pull off a performance like Pugh does. I see that she's in Stephen Merchant's movie with Dwayne Johnson. Maybe she'll get more chances than European actresses typically get in Hollywood before they stick Generic Blonde/Relative of Famous Actor #27 in every other role.

Just as disturbing was the person behind me who seemed to be convinced he was watching a comedy and laughing at various things that weren't funny.

[transformers2]

The Hitman's Bodyguard 7.5/10
Watching Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson argue, kill henchman and develop an "unlikely" bond while traveling across Europe makes for a pretty damn fun time at the movies. Everything else around them ranges from suspect (Elodie Yung, most of the script) to competent (the action sequences, Gary Oldman as the Belarusian dictator that Jackson's character is trying to testify against), but the leads are so well-matched that they easily carry the movie by themselves. When it comes to loud, late-summer diversions, you could do a whole lot worse than this.

[Buscemi2]

Logan Lucky 2/10

Steven Soderbergh should have stayed retired. This nearly two-hour dud is really nothing more than an excuse to shove as many one-dimensional characters and lame jokes into an awful script (written under a pseudonym, much like all of Soderbergh's non-director credits) that wears out its welcome fast. The pace is extremely slow and feels as if Soderbergh basically released his rough cut and called that the movie (which is a major problem with self-distributing your film, as it seems having final cut leads to self-indulgence and surrounding yourself with yes men). A lot of things could have been edited out (like Katherine Waterson's completely unnecessary character and the subplot involving Seth MacFarlane and Sebastian Stan which does nothing for the main story) and it would play slightly better. The one interesting character is Riley Keough's character but she's given little to do (another problem with the script is that its women are very flat characters, making the use of a woman's name as the script's author very ironic).

I have no idea why Soderbergh thought this could play in 3,000 theatres. It's nothing more than your typical VOD indie film with a bigger budget.

[Buscemi2]

Brigsby Bear 1/10

The Lonely Island and company try to make an Americanized Bad Boy Bubby...and fail horribly. When it's not creeping you out with its uncanny valley Teddy Ruxpin-esque thing or its Chris-chan-like main character, the film lives in Crazy Town (err, I mean Utah) with its characters living in a bizarre reality of encouraging a creepy man obsessed with a children's show and helping him tamper with police evidence to make a movie (also, I'm pretty sure it's against the law to post video tapes being used in a kidnapping case on YouTube). I'm also amazed that this film managed to attract names like Mark Hamill, Claire Danes, and Greg Kinnear into what basically amounts to a vanity project for its star (who basically looks like a cross between Garth Algar and Lewis Skolnick).

The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth and you just know someone (probably a Brony type) is going to do this in real life thinking he'll end up like the guy here. That's not how life works.

[numbersix]

Last few films

The Big Sick: 7/10
It has all the elements of an over-rated stereotypical Sundance dramadey, including being written and starring an established comedian, but it somehow works. Maybe it's because it's based on what actually happened, or maybe the combination of the premise (a guy dating a girl finds out she has some unknown life-threatening condition, and ends up having to be with her parents while they go through the ordeal together) and the slight satire on Pakistani traditions elevates it enough. Plus, it's quite funny throughout, although it's a tad too long.

Hounds of Love: 6/10
Small Australian horror flick about a teen in the 80s who gets abducted by a sadistic couple. The film delves into the twisted psychology of the couple, while the girl tries to find ways of escaping, or at least telling her family where she is. It's pretty engaging and occasionally tense, although a little insubstantial.

The Square: 6/10
The winner of this year's Palme D'Or is quite a surprise, and almost feels like compensation for Force Majeure not winning a few years ago, which is way better than The Square. Still, it's a decent satire on upper society and their lack of morality despite supposedly engaging with it on a daily basis. There are some hilarious moments, some unnerving ones, although there are whole sequences that could be cut without affecting the general thrust of the film. some of its themes feel obvious (the pretention of the art world), which prevents it from being as distinct and universal as the director's last film.

120 BPM: 7/10
Now this should have won in Cannes. It's a passionate film about an AIDS awareness group in the 90s, in which they take a more radical approach to raising awareness, often pulling outrageous stunts to garner media attention, while struggling to be a legitamate group when dealing with government and medical agencies. The film ultiamtely focuses on AIDS victim Sean, a wild young man of action, as he slowly decays in the arms of his healthy lover. The film does struggle in combining the realism of this politcal group with the more personal story, and it could have used more of the latter, but it's still a moving story about an era that's closer to today than we think.

[Buscemi2]

Good Time 9/10

When Hollywood makes films about unsympathetic characters, they make the big mistake of trying to get you to like them. Not here. Robert Pattinson's character is a self-centered loser who uses others to get what he wants, even if it does nothing for whom he's helping (in this case, it's the character's brain damaged brother). And The Safdie Brothers (one of which plays the brother) do not dare go for schmaltz or overdramatics. It's a realistic (though stylized) deception of crime in the outer boroughs of New York that does not back down for one second as its characters are stuck in a hopeless situation that they have no way of getting out of. It's unnerving, creepy, gritty, and never once boring. And Pattinson gives one of the year's best performances.

Give it a shot before it leaves theatres.

[Buscemi2]

Wind River 3/10

Law and Order: Frontier Justice, more or less. Taylor Sheridan is the wrong choice to be doing this ambitious crime drama that ends up simply feeling like a police procedural case of the week stretched to feature length (someone like John Ridley should have made this). Sheridan wants to be hard-hitting and socially relevant but it's a little hard when he plays to typical cliches such as macho, Old West hero in the wrong decade and graphic sequences randomly placed in an attempt to be shocking (which seems to be the case for all of Sheridan's screenplays). You can also tell that Sheridan came from television as it has the trappings of a made-for-cable movie but more violent. About the only thing I found interesting was Graham Greene's performance as the police chief.

I simply don't see why this won awards at Cannes or why this has gotten Oscar talks. It's dull as dishwater.

[Buscemi2]

The Glass Castle 7/10

Surprisingly decent drama that at first glance seems like a Hollywoodized, East Coast version of Captain Fantastic (with elements of Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty thrown in) but has a bit more to it as it's actually based on a true story told from the perspective of one of the children. In a way, it felt a lot like the kind of fringe awards bait films that you'd see released by major studios in the 90's before it became about going big or going home. Brie Larson, who's really not in the film all that much despite being top billed, feels a little out of place as a career woman in the 80's (I had to wonder if the role was written with Jennifer Lawrence in mind since most of these scripts seem to be nowadays), but the film is really a show for Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts as the eccentric parents. They really get into their parts and I bet they were thinking Oscar when they signed on. They aren't Oscar caliber (it is interesting to note that Harrelson is made up somewhat like Viggo Mortensen in real life here and not like in Captain Fantastic) but they, along with the child actors in the flashbacks, carry the film.

My other main fault initially was with the ending but luckily, the home movies of the actual family during the credits allows the ending to make sense (and made me wish there really was a Grey Gardens-like documentary on the Walls family that studies how they lived and stayed together despite all their differences). In the end, it's not brilliant but it's nice to watch if there's nothing else on TV.

[Shrykespeare]

It - 8/10

I didn't find this film as terrifying as was billed, but it was a good story. I had a feeling that this was only Part One, given that I know the source material and remember the miniseries from 1990 quite well, and I was right. Part Two will no doubt feature the kids as grownups.

(Aside - many famous TV actors in that miniseries: Richard Thomas, Peter Scolari, John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Annette O'Toole, and Tim Reid played the grown-up version of the kids, whereas the child actors included Seth Green and the late Jonathan Brandis.) And, of course, Tim Curry as pennywise.

I like that they used actual kids to play the 12- and 13-year-old characters (all of whom were either 14 or 15 in age). I'd not heard of any of them before, but a couple I will remember, most notably Sophia Lillis as the Losers' Club's only girl. Jaeden Lieberher was also a standout as the stuttering Billy. Most of the other kids played their parts well but their characters weren't fully developed.

Bill Skarsgard (son of Stellan) was quite good as the demonic clown Pennywise, channeling both Heath Ledger and every creepy clown that's ever done a kids' party.

I'm glad I saw it in the theaters, but horror just isn't my bag. I'd recommend it to any who enjoy horror.


God, I wish my James Madison books were being turned into movies! Sophia Lillis would TOTALLY be my Kelsey!

[Buscemi2]

It (: Chapter One) 8/10

I have to give props to Andy Muschetti for keeping with the book's dark and graphic tone (though the setting was pushed to the late 80's) while still managing to keep the first half of the book within a 135 minute run time (I expect Warner Bros. to fast track Chapter Two to be ready for next Halloween or Christmas). The decision to cast mainly unknown actors (with the exception of Lieberher and Skarsgard) also gives the film a strong believability along with the use of practical effects for much of the sequences. However, it's not as impressive as some of the year's other horror offerings and its massive box office success (seemingly with a lot of people who typically only go to one or two movies a year) might be overrating the film. Also, I thought some of the music choices didn't work (another case of Guardians of the Galaxy/Deadpool Syndrome).

But in the end, it could have been a lot worse (The Duffer Brothers lobbied to direct this at one point, probably because they saw 1988 and 1989 in the script) but thankfully wasn't.

Meanwhile, I'd been reading about the casting for Chapter Two (no one has been cast yet outside of Skarsgard) and I'm hoping they go a similar route of casting newcomers and indie actors instead of casting stars (Jessica Chastain has been in talks but personally, I think she's too well-known and overexposed at this point). My personal choice for Bill would be Henry Thomas.