Cast:
Gerard Butler: John Garrity
Morena Baccarin: Allison Garrity
Roger Dale Floyd: Nathan Garrity
Scott Glenn: Dale
Randal Gonzalez: Bobby
You want to know something that’s better than watching people on Earth blow shit up? Watching nature doing it for them. But here’s the thing: Nature’s far more creative when it comes to dishing out mass destruction than humanity is. Earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes, viruses. Nature has a massive arsenal whenever she decides to punish humanity for being stupid. Every so often however, when nature determines that we really done fucked up, she will reach into the heavens, grab some space rocks and use Earth as target practice in the same way that kids would use moving cars as target practice on the highway. Watching nature lose her temper in disaster movies is always entertaining, especially if it’s done right. I’ve loved these movies since I was a kid. It’s a genre that’s been around for decades. It was initially made popular in the 70s with movies like Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. It found a resurgence in the late 90s with movies like Twister, Volcano, andDante’s Peak. Towards the end of the 90s, we also got a number of movies that dealt with meteors and comets. Specifically, Armageddon and Deep Impact. Both movies dealt with earth-shattering space rocks, yet both were very different kinds of movies. While Armageddon was a bombastic special effects-driven extravaganza, Deep Impact was more character-driven in terms of how it dealt with an impending meteor strike. So, last year, we were supposed to get a new disaster movie centered around a potential meteor strike called Greenland. Sadly, the movie got pushed back to the point where the distributors were kind of forced to put it on VOD. But is it a good movie? Let’s find out.
Greenland follows John Garrity, a structural engineer with a bit of a marriage problem. Leaving work early to attend his son’s birthday party, the news reports that a comet could be passing by soon. After John spends some time with his kid, he gets a call on his cellphone that he and his family have been selected by the government to find shelter at a top-secret location. As it turns out, that comet, nicknamed Clark, has broken apart with lots of fragments heading towards Earth. One of those larger fragments obliterates the city of Tampa in Florida. Realizing that this isn’t a drill, John, takes Allison and Nathan and try to find their way to safety before the largest piece of the comet hits Earth, obliterating everything on the surface. In all honesty, the story here is pretty typical of an asteroid/comet/meteor movie. You have a family trying to find their way to safety, only to get separated at some point. They find each other, and they have to find an alternate way of getting to a safe place before disaster strikes. Pretty common story-line. Greenland’s approach to this story is what separates this movie from the pack. While most movies would have the audience experience by being in their face with eye-melting special effects, Greenland takes a more restrained approach, much like Deep Impact. Instead, we witness the disaster as the family does through news reports, at least initially. Telling the story through the eyes of the family allows the audience to connect more with these characters. To be fair, though, Greenland does draw upon the typical tropes associated with disaster movies, especially towards the end of the film, but considering how well the rest of the film was handled, it’s kind of a minor nitpick.
Since Greenland is a more character-driven film than your average disaster film, let’s take a look at the characters. Leading the pack is John Garrity, played by action-movie veteran Gerard Butler. Instead of taking on a weak American accent, Butler uses his natural Scottish accent in the film, which makes the character far more approachable. I’m generally not a fan of actors taking on American accents, only for them to butcher it. I’m sure they don’t like us butchering THEIR accents. Gerard Butler plays a relatively normal person this time around, and he’s actually really good here. His character feels realistic in that John has some issues with his marriage, but he tries to connect with his son. Morena Baccarin plays his wife, Allison, and she is so much more than eye-candy. There is real depth to this character in how she handles her husband and kid, but also the world coming apart. While I’m not a big fan of kids in movies, every once in a while, you get one that’s smart and isn’t put into jeopardy because the film-makers wanted to add tension. There’s enough tension in this movie without some dumb kid putting himself in harm’s way. Roger Dale Floyd plays Nathan, John Garrity’s son. This kid’s got talent. He comes across as a likable and adorable kid that you really hope survives. Screen legend Scott Glenn shows up as Allison’s father, Dale, and he’s fantastic. I’ve always like Scott in whatever he’s doing, because he generally has an intensity behind those eyes. But here, he’s got this connection with the other three characters that’s just fantastic. He comes across as pretty gruff at first, but over the short time that he’s in the film, you start to like him pretty quickly. The characters and the acting are at the heart of the film here, and they knock it out of the park. Color me impressed.
A low-to-modest budgeted disaster film? Who would’ve thought that it would be pretty good. You can definitely tell that the film doesn’t have the budget of something like Armageddon, and that’s part of why it worked so well. The film’s approach to showing the audience the comet strikes, as I said before, is fairly restrained. But no mistake about it, when those things hit, they HIT, and it’s spectacular, especially towards the end when the final piece are hitting the planet. That’s pretty damn good CGI for a movie that was made for about 50 million. Again, though, that wasn’t necessarily the main focus of the film. It was made to show on the ground level how people and the government would respond to such a catastrophe. It feels very real, especially in terms of how the government would select certain people and families for survival. The looting, the riots, and the social chaos that you see throughout the film is what you would seen a real-world catastrophe. Yet, at the same time when people are resorting to their base instincts, you do see throughout the film the best in humanity, especially when it comes to the medical professionals and some of the civilians. As dark and serious as the film is, it does show some of the best of humanity at work. This is also a very intense movie. From the moment the first piece of the comet hits the planet, it’s pedal to the metal.
Truth be told, I went into this movie expecting something incredibly cheesy on the same level as Armageddon. I was shocked to find that Greenland ended up being surprisingly unique take on an old genre-style film. Instead of being overly bombastic like other films, Greenland had the audacity to take a more intimate approach, by seeing this particular event through the eyes of one family. Does the film fall on old disaster movie-style tropes? Sure, but in some ways, that’s almost endearing for a movie that takes a situation like this seriously. Gerard Butler puts in one of his better performances, and the action sequences are thrilling. Honestly, I actually would recommend this one. While I don’t necessarily think it’s going to be a cult classic, it certainly stands above a lot of other disaster flicks, but it adds the right amount of humanity to make it worthwhile.
My Final Recommendation: 8.5/10. It’s a smashing good time.
Cast:
Maisie Williams: Rahne Sinclair
Anya Taylor-Joy: Illyana Rasputin
Charlie Heaton: Sam Guthrie
Alice Braga: Dr. Reyes
Blu Hunt: Dani Moonstar
Henry Zaga: Roberto da Costa
When you look at movie studio labels over the past century, you can see how those labels have changed and evolved. Some from static pictures to fully animated logos. Take Warner Bros. for example: Their logo started out as a flat static image. Some studios already had animated logos. Universal Studios has had an animated logo since the 30s. Tri-Star Pictures had a Pegasus for its logo, and it got updated into a more epic logo during the late 90s. So, why am I bringing up logos in my introduction? Because when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, we had no idea if the company was still going to exist. Because of that acquisition, some movies got canceled outright, while others were put onto the backburner just waiting. As it turns out, Disney decided to keep the 20th Century Fox brand alive, but with a different name. 20th Century Fox was one of the most iconic film companies over the past 80 years or so and the logo was as equally iconic. When Disney bought 20th Century Fox, they didn’t want the film company to be associated with Rupert Murdoch’s news organization, so they changed the title to 20th Century Studios. It’s the same animation and musical fanfare, but the logo is different. It’s going to take some getting used to, but it does represent a change in direction for the company under Disney’s leadership. Some movies like Underwater were released under the old logo because the films were actually finished before the merger. There is a movie that has adapted the new 20th Century Studios logo, and that film is The New Mutants.
The New Mutants follows a group of angsty teens with superpowers as they are held in a special medical facility. With the arrival of Dani Moonstar, a young girl with a very traumatic past, comes some very bizarre happenings throughout the facility. Mysterious figures suddenly appear and chaos begins to ensue. Throughout all this, the teens begin to discover that their “hospital” is more than what it appears to be. While most of the X-Men movies have had this grand and global scale, it’s actually really nice to see a movie whose story is fairly contained in a single location. The concept behind The New Mutants is actually really cool. The movie is based on the Demon Bear storyline from the comics, but seeing as how I haven’t read those particular comics, I couldn’t tell you how faithful it is. Unfortunately, The New Mutants doesn’t really offer a whole lot that’s new, outside of the atmosphere and location.
Let’s start with what does work. First of all, the performances here absolutely fantastic. Everybody is great. Maise Williams from Game of Thrones actually has some pretty good chemistry with newcomer Blu Hunt, who plays Dani Moonstar. Maise plays Rahne, who can turn into a wolf at a moment’s notice, and she’s pretty cool. Anya Taylor-Joy is one of the most interesting actresses to come along in some time. Her debut in Robert Eggers’ The Witch was a hell of a start. She’s been making a namer for herself in movies like Split and shows like The Queen’s Gambit. She’s set to appear as the title character in the upcoming Mad Max spin-off, Furiosa. Here, she plays a Russian mutant named Illyana who can summon a sword and transport herself to an alternate reality. She’s kind of the bully at first in the film, before things really start happening. Charlie Heaton plays Sam, whose particular gift has taking off like a cannonball right off the bat. Henry Zaga plays Roberto who has a tendency to burn things whenever he gets to hot, apparently. In charge of these kids is Dr. Reyes, played by Alice Braga. Braga plays Reyes with a cool demeanor, but makes herself more a threat than she actually appears. The chemistry between all these characters is what keeps this movie going.
The New Mutants is a fairly low-budget movie, in terms of being an X-Men film. Despite the low-budget, some of the visual effects here are pretty good, but a lot of the overly CGI characters and such are painfully obvious. Keeping the film and story to a fairly single location was a smart move, especially with what they had in mind. This movie was supposed to be described as a horror movie, but while it does have horror elements in it, The New Mutants is as far from a horror movie as you can get. It’s more like The Breakfast Club meets….well…X-Men, and it doesn’t fully succeed at being either. Apparently, there were a lot of issues getting this movie off the ground, and that would explain why it took years to be released. Unfortunately, the final product isn’t exactly something I’d be jumping for joy at. The horror elements are interesting, but they don’t end up being anything more than cheap jump scares and bizarre imagery. It takes more than that to make a horror movie. The final act of the movie is pretty damned good when the Demon Bear actually makes its appearance. It gets pretty bonkers, but sadly, it’s just more of the same in over-crowded genre. It’s a typical third-act that I really wish would just go away for a while. Give us something different.
I’ve been reading and hearing from various sources that The New Mutants is the worst X-Men movie ever. Have they not seen the clusterfuck that was Dark Phoenix? I’m sorry, there was no saving that movie. It was a weak rehash of X-Men: The Last Stand, which is still not a good X-Men movie. No. If The New Mutants is guilty of anything, it’s being a middle-of-the-road superhero movie with some pretty good acting and decent action. Otherwise, it’s a fairly harmless film that you can watch at least once and not be completely horrified by. I could think of worse ways to end the 20th Century Fox-era of X-Men movies…….Dark Phoenix, anybody? It’s going to be a while before we see another movie in the X-Men universe, but they are coming. Kevin Feige has a plan for them and the Fantastic Four, but it’s going to be years before we see them again. It’s just as well. I think the X-Men films need a new approach and I think that Kevin Feige can give it to us. Honestly, would I still recommend The New Mutants? Yeah, it’s not the worst way to spend an hour and a half.
My Final Recommendation: 7/10. While not exactly a classic, it’s not the disaster that a lot of people think it is.
Cast:
Yu-Hang To: Ip Man
Michael Wong
Wanliruo Xin
Dongfeng Yue
Back in 2010, just after the release of Ip Man 2, the film’s star Donnie Yen said in an interview that he didn’t want to do anymore Ip Man films after the second because he felt that the market would get oversaturated with movies about the legendary Wing Chun grandmaster. He wasn’t wrong. It’s now 2021, and we have had about 8 or 9 movies directly about Ip Man or that involve him in some way. The first film was released in 2008 to world-wide acclaim. It wasn’t just for the phenomenal action sequences, but it was for Donnie Yen’s stellar performance as well. He was so good that Ip Man become his most recognized and iconic role to date. Eventually, Mr. Yen would agree to make the third and fourth films capping off a stellar film series. However, there was another Ip Man film that came out in 2010 that was completely unrelated called The Legend is Born: Ip Man starring Yu-Hang To in the title role. A follow-up to THAT film would star Anthony Wong called Ip Man: The Final Fight. In 2013, there was a movie called The Grandmaster starring Tony Leung as Ip Man, but the marketing was deceptive, because that movie was actually not about Ip Man, but a different grandmaster. NOW we have another movie about Ip Man: Ip Man: Kung Fu Master. Oh, my. If there was ever a clear example of cashing in on a popular character, this would be it.
Ip Man: Kung Fu Master follows Ip Man as a young police officer who is investigating possible drug connections to the Japanese. I’m going to flat-out say it. The story here sucks. It sucks because there’s barely anything here to follow and is no different than anything else that we’ve seen from a movie about Ip Man. So, forgive me if I skip the story portion of this movie, because that’s the only thing that’s wrong here. The story is essentially just a paper-thin thread tying the fight sequences together. That’s all. Yet, for a movie that boasts a run time of 84 minutes, it’s an incredibly dull affair. Let’s start with what works, and it’s not a lot. Some of the action sequences are surprisingly decent, if standard and generic at times. The opening fight sequence where Ip Man takes on a hundred member of the Ax Gang is okay. I say okay, because a lot of it is bogged down with unnecessary slow-motion and quick-cuts. That’s the issue with a lot of the action sequences. There is a cool sequence where Ip Man is training with his drunken uncle and THAT was actually pretty good. So, why couldn’t the effort put into that sequence be applied to the rest of the action in the movie? Even the final battle with a Japanese general is incredibly underwhelming.
That brings me another low-point about the movie: The cast. Specifically, the casting of Yu-Hang To as Ip Man. This guy clearly has talent as a martial artist, but that’s all he’s got going for him. He’s not a good actor. He wasn’t that great in The Legend is Born and he’s not that good HERE. When there are moments when he’s supposed to be emotional, there’s NOTHING behind the eyes. It’s like he’s staring into space. Donnie Yen may not be the world’s greatest actor, but when it comes to the more emotional moments in his movies, he’s got it. He’s gotten better over the years, but he’s also got the one thing that To doesn’t: Charisma. When Donnie is on the screen, you pay attention, because he commands the screen. He’s got the chops for it, To doesn’t. In fact, the acting in this film is legitimately bad, with the exception of the guy who plays Ip’s drunken uncle. He was fun to watch, because he’s got screen presence, but a goofy character can only carry a movie for so long before it falls flat. The movie’s main villain is a pathetic stock corporate villain. There’s no energy in his performance, no sense of urgency. How are we supposed to connect with these characters when they are so lifeless and dull? You can’t, and because of that, the movie is boring.
I hate coming down this hard on kung fu movies. I don’t like doing it. It’s one of my favorite action sub-genres that I grew up watching. But I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Ip Man: Kung Fu Master is a good movie when it isn’t. There were some things that went right, but a whole lot of other elements that went completely wrong. The character and historical figure of Ip Man deserves better than this, and he’s gotten better. Even Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy was a better Ip Man movie than this, and he only showed up in that movie in flashbacks. No. Ip Man: Kung Fu Master is a piss-poor attempt at cashing in on one of the most popular characters in the action genre. Hell, even Ip Man: The Final Fight was a better movie than this. Honestly, stick with the Donnie Yen movies. They’re far superior. Barring that, check out The Grandmaster, Master Z, or even Ip Man: The Final Fight. These are SO much better than Kung Fu Master.
My Final Recommendation: 3.5/10. You’re not missing anything by skipping this one.
That’s another decade done and out of the way….thank God. Before I begin here, I just want to say that despite the events of the previous year and particularly this past week, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It may seem far away, but it is there. While it’s incredibly important to be on the ball especially when it comes to social and political issues, it’s also important that we allow ourselves to be distracted from time to time. Let’s face it: Reality kind of sucks right now especially for those of us who have been directly affected by this pandemic. I believe that movies are one of several examples of how to kind detach yourself from the real world, even if it is only for about 2 hours. Sometimes, it can be enough. There is real value in spending a couple of hours being immersed in another world, a world of fiction. It allows us to temporarily disarm ourselves and let our imaginations take over. That is the value of entertainment. Not just movies, but video games and books as well. In terms of film, 2021 holds a lot of promise as a lot of films that were delayed last year are scheduled to be released THIS year, whether it’s in theaters or on VOD. I’m looking forward to bringing you news and more reviews of upcoming films that seem to be promising. But for today, at least, I want to take you on a stroll down memory lane for the past 10 years. For each year, I’m going to list two movies that I think best represent that year in film. Another rule is that this going to refer to Western cinema. So, anything from China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand aren’t going to count this time around. I’m saving those for another post. So let’s turn the clock back a little bit:
2010: 127 Hours and The Town
First up is 127 Hours. This was a phenomenal survival story based on real-life adventurer Aron Ralston who got trapped in Bluejohn Canyon in southeastern Utah. While the film is about a really serious event, it took a more light-hearted approach in terms of James Franco’s performance. While it got pretty serious, it allowed the audience to really connect with Ralston during his ordeal. It’s a great survival movie. The Town is a heist movie that not only stars Ben Affleck, but it is also directed by him. It follows a gangster in Boston who falls in love with a hostage that he took at the beginning of the movie. It then follows the group of robbers as they plan their next big heist. This is an absolutely fantastic film that sees Ben Affleck not only deliver one of his best performances as an actor but also one of the best movie he’s ever directed. 2010 was a pretty good year for movies, but these movies take the cake as far as I’m concerned.
2011: Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Warrior
The best movies always focus on characters, and that in turn helps drive the story in the film. If you don’t care about the characters, why should you care about the rest of the movie? In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the film focus on James Franco’s character as he tries to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. Experiments on chimpanzees and apes have yielded promising results, but there is a a side affect: The apes grow more intelligent. This film focuses on the relationship between Franco’s character and Caesar, a chimp that was experimented on. We see Caesar grow in intelligence over the course of the film and we connect more with him. Andy Serkis puts in probably the best performance for a CGI character since Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. It’s fantastic. Warrior focuses on two brothers and their hectic relationship with their father. Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy play the brothers and Nick Nolte steals the show as their father. The fights are good, but that’s not what the film is about. Like Rocky, Warrior focuses more on the strained relationship between its main characters, and it’s all the better for it. If you have a brother, you know that sometimes things can get a little tense. Warrior is the best movie of its kind since Rocky. It’s a powerful and emotionally gratifying experience that’ll make grown men cry. It’s really good.
2012: Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty
Leave it to a British actor to portray the best and most fully realized version of the greatest United States President in American history. Daniel Day-Lewis simply disappears into one of his greatest roles as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. This film focused on Lincoln’s attempt to get the 13th Amendment to the Constitution passed by congress. The 13th Amendment of course, being the abolishment of slavery in the United States. The attention to detail including Lincoln’s voice and exasperation is extraordinary. You could tell that the filmmakers were passionate about the subject matter and did everything they could to honor Mr. Lincoln. It’s one of the best movies about an American president. Zero Dark Thirty is a political thriller about the CIA’s constant attempts to find and kill Osama bin Laden, who was the most wanted man in the world since 9/11. The intensity of the film doesn’t come from the movie’s sparse action sequences but the constant battle between Jessica Chastain’s character and her CIA handler to get the job done. The film garnered some controversy due to some of the film’s depiction of torture and other aspects, but aside from those, this is a compelling thriller about the hunt for the most dangerous man in the world at the time. It’s definitely worth checking out.
2013: 12 Years a Slave and Prisoners
12 Years a Slave is an eye-opening look into one of the darkest periods in American history. The film focuses on Solomon Northup, a free African American man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery before the Civil War broke out. This is not an easy film to sit through, but I feel it is a necessary one. Again, the focus on the characters makes the story that more compelling and heartfelt. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Northup with a quiet desperation and determination and he’s bolstered by incredible performances by Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita N’Yongo. It’s incredibly powerful. Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners is a deliberate slow-burn thriller about two fathers whose daughters disappeared while playing outside. Patience is required for this one, but the payoff is worth it. Hugh Jackman delivers probably his best on-screen performance. This is a guy who is getting desperate and his mental state is deteriorating as a result. Jake Gyllenhall is equally impressive as a detective who gets frustrated not just at trying to find the girls, but having to deal with a father who is increasingly becoming unhinged. This dynamic between the two characters is really something to see, and as a result, it’s one of the best movies of 2013.
2014: Gone Girl and The Salvation
David Fincher has really made himself one of the best directors in the world. Believe it or not, I actually liked Alien 3, but it was movies like Se7en that really put Fincher on the map. Gone Girl is probably one of his best movies ever. The movie focuses on Ben Affleck’s character as he is suspected in the disappearance of his wife, played by Rosamund Pike. It feels like a typical thriller, but the twists and turns will keep you guessing until the very end. It keeps you hooked. The Salavation is one of the first Westerns I’ve seen that wasn’t made by an American crew, and yet, The Salvation is one of the best Westerns to come out in the past decade. It stars Mads Mikkelson as a former Dutch soldier who has immigrated to the United States with his wife and child. They’re subsequently attacked and only Mikkelson’s character is left alive. With nothing left to lose, Mikkelson’s character sets out to kill the people responsible. The revenge motif is pretty standard fare in Westerns, and this film is no different. Yet, like all great movies, the focus is on the characters. As good as Mads is, Eva Green kind of steals the shows as the mute prostitute. Eva has to act using her facial expressions and her eyes, which is not an easy thing to do in film, but she’s marvelous. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the main villain and he’s suitably slimy and evil. Yeah, it feels like a standard Western, but The Salvation does it so damn well, that it’s hard to find any fault with it.
2015: Maggie and Inside Out
I know it seems totally bizarre to put two tonally different kinds of movies together here, but hear me out: Maggie isn’t a typical zombie movie because, again, the characters are what’s important here, and the relationship between Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character and Abigail Breslin’s character is extraordinary. In fact, Arnold puts in one of his best performances as a farmer who is trying to protect his daughter. Unfortunately, his daughter gets infected, but it’s not instant like other movies. It’s a slow decay, which makes the situation even more tragic. This is NOT a typical Schwarzenegger movie, and that’s a good thing. He gets to flex the muscles that aren’t physical, and he delivers an incredibly emotional performance. Abigail is just as fantastic. Inside Out is ABOUT emotions. On the surface, it’s a colorful film that can entertain families, but the further in the movie, the deeper it actually gets. It shows the audience how important emotions really are, especially when you’re growing up and how confusing they can be. The movie also has the audacity to “kill” certain characters and not bring them back. This is a film that not only tells kids that not only is it okay to have these emotions, but it’s important to have them. For adults, it’s a reminder that we were once kids and that even as grown-ups we’re not immune from having bad days. It’s a great animated film with unique characters and designs. It’s incredibly funny, but it also tugs at the heartstrings when it needs to. Score another one for Pixar.
2016: The Witch and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
2016 was a HUGE year for movies both indie and mainstream. The Witch is one of the most unsettling horror movies I’ve seen in years. It follows a family too extreme for the other Puritan colonists, so they were exiled to the middle of nowhere. At one point, the infant disappears while under the watch of Anya Taylor-Joy’s character. There’s a supernatural element that is very subtle and the film is a slow-burn. As a result, it gets under your skin when things start happening. Pay attention to the black goat when it shows up. It’s a beautifully shot film but the isolation and the eerie idea that the woods are hiding something horrible adds to the tension. Anybody who knows me knows that I love Star Wars. Yet, Rogue One is the only Star Wars film I’m putting on this list. Why? For one, it’s the best of the Disney era of Star Wars. Secondly, this film takes place just before the events of the original film when the Rebels found the plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star. Rogue One explores this particular part of the original trilogy and actually puts the war in Star Wars. It’s a gritty war/heist movie that shows us a not-so-nice side of the Rebel Alliance. The look and feel of the film is incredibly consistent with the original film.
2017: Logan and Wind River
Like 2016, 2017 was massive when it came to movies. There were a lot of huge movies being released, but you also had a lot of strong indie movies as well. The first here is Logan. I love this movie because it doesn’t really fit the stereotypical superhero movie. It follows an aging Wolverine whose healing abilities are failing him in a world where mutants are nearly extinct. He eventually runs into a young mutant girl who happens to have the same kind of healing abilities that he does, but she’s also got claws of her own. This film is essentially a Western/road trip film trying to keep the girl out of the hands of an evil corporation(but of course). Over the course of the film the bond between Wolverine and the girl grows stronger. Yeah, it’s an action movie and extremely bloody one at that. It earns its R-rating, but the focus on the relationship between Wolverine, the girl and Charles Xavier makes the movie that much better. Wind River is a gritty thriller following two people who are investigating the death of a Native American girl. It’s a slow-burn, but it’s really intense when it picks up. Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen deliver really good performances here, and the film deals with an ongoing tragedy that still isn’t being dealt with by the government. It’s kind of an important movie in that regard. It’s a pretty heavy film that packs a huge punch.
2018: A Quiet Place and The Hate U Give
A Quiet Place is what I would definitely call an exercise in tension. It’s a post-apocalyptic film where the earth has been invaded by monsters that hunt by sound. As a result the survivors had to learn to use sign language to communicate and use sand to silence their footsteps. It’s nerve-wracking from beginning to end. But it’s incredibly tense with outstanding performances from John Krasinski and his real-life wife Emily Blunt. One of the kids is actually played by a deaf actress and she’s pretty good. If you want a nail-biter of a movie, A Quiet Place is it. I’m still waiting for the sequel, though. Come on, 2021! The Hate U Give, while based on a book, is a very relevant film due to its subject. It follows a young African American girl when her friend is shot and killed by a white police officer. As in real life the consequence of that action lead to some pretty intense moments between the black community and the police. Dealing with racism is not a new subject matter, but the way its handled here is really good, especially the silent “polite” racism that you see everywhere. It’s a good story with an amazing performance from Amandla Stenberg. It’s worth seeing at least once.
2019: The Lighthouse and 1917
What are the odds that both of one director’s movies ended up on the same list? Not very high, I can tell you that, but it happened. Not only did Robert Egger’s The Witch end up on this list, but The Lighthouse did too. The Lighthouse is a bizarre movie. It has a very Lovecraftian vibe to the whole thing. It’s about two men who guard a lighthouse in the middle of the sea with no way off during a massive storm. The film is about the two men trying to co-exist with each other. One is an old sea-dog, and the other is a much younger guy who volunteered for the outpost. I’m surprised at how well this worked. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are outstanding. The whole movie is in black-and-white and framed like some of those old black-and-white films from the early 50s. To say anymore would be to spoil it. 1917 is on here for technical reasons, strangely enough. The acting is fine and the story is pretty standard. It’s about two soldiers who are sent behind enemy lines to warn their allies of an impending ambush. What makes 1917 unique is the way it was made. It looks like the whole movie was done in one continuous take, despite the fact that it really wasn’t. There are a number of hidden cuts here that you probably won’t notice. That makes the film an intense ride from beginning end while following the two soldiers every step of the way. While the story isn’t anything groundbreaking, the film was brilliantly made by Sam Mendes, and is worth checking out.
2020: Antebellum and The Beach House
How fitting that I end this list with TWO horror movies. 2020 was absolute horror movie of a year for nearly everybody. Antebellum is a horror movie that deals with two different kinds of characters, both played by Janelle Monae. The first two-thirds of the film are pretty intense while the third act kind of goes off the rails, but it still a pretty decent flick. It does hit you over the head with the idea of racism, but for some people it’s an unfortunate reality. It’s definitely worth watching. The final of the movie of this list couldn’t be more appropriate. The Beach House follows a young couple on vacation to a beach house only to find that it’s also occupied by an older couple. They do get along, but over the course of the film, things really start changing when they witness strange things happening in the air at night. They wake up the next morning only to find out that things are even stranger, especially on the beach. If there was ever a more appropriate horror movie to describe the pandemic, this would be it. I don’t think it was the filmmakers’ intention, but that’s just how it ended up. It’s a pretty decent analogy for last year.
With the exception of 2020, the last decade was pretty damned good for movies. There were definitely a lot of bad movies, but that’s another list in and of itself. However, I think there were more stronger movies than bad. Believe it or not, as somebody who loves comic book movies and Star Wars, I was surprised to find that I only wanted one of each in this list. That’s how vast the last decade was for cinema. Hopefully, 2021 will get things started once the vaccine starts getting around. Maybe we can get back to some sort of normalcy by the end of summer. Who knows? But I think that the movies coming out this year(hopefully)are going to be fantastic. God knows we’ve waited long enough. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait much longer.
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