January 9:

The Shape of Water
(Guillermo del Toro, 2017)

[REWATCH]

https://i.imgur.com/UnFTfZD.jpg?1

Loved it even more this time around. Beautiful romantic fairytale. Everyone is terrific but want to give a shout out to Doug Jones as the creature. No one seems to talk about him in this much but I don't think the creature would have been as interesting without his performance - the mannerisms and overall stature. He holds his own against the brilliant performance by Sally Hawkins.

January 11:

The Post
(Steven Spielberg, 2017)

[NEW WATCH]

https://i.imgur.com/ab61D56.jpg?1

Amazing, edge-of-your-seat stuff. Spielberg's direction on display here is really inspiring for me. I loved how much the camera was constantly moving. The acting is fantastic as well. Funny that around awards season, Streep always bugs me with her constant nominations... and then I watch one of her movies, and remember why she always gets nominated.

January 12:

Call Me by Your Name
(Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

[NEW WATCH]

https://i.imgur.com/srJDPDm.jpg?1

A beautifully told, emotionally powerful romance. I could hear a lot of people crying as the credits rolled, and I was moved as well. Timothée Chalamet has really skyrocketed onto the scene and he deserves whatever praise he gets coming to him for his performance here. Armie Hammer holds his own well. Michael Stuhlbarg plays the best kind of father. And Luca Guadagnino's directing gives me hope for the Suspiria remake.

January 13:

Call Me by Your Name
(Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

[REWATCH]

https://i.imgur.com/iNbroGm.jpg?1

Had to see this again, and dragged my filmmaking buddy to it this time around because I think it's excellent craft-wise. It's hard to know if I liked it more the first time I saw it, or this time, but I know both times were a different but equally stunning experience. Suffice it to say, it's easily top three of the year for me - however, having just seen it, it may take some time to figure out where in that top three it is.

January 15:

Creep 2
(Patrick Brice, 2017)

[NEW WATCH]

https://i.imgur.com/HQgS2qZ.jpg?1

Ended up liking this more than the first mainly because it played with audience expectations so well and was incredibly inventive with it's ideas. Desiree Akhavan was great as the new character, having just as much charisma as the poster-boy of the series Mark Duplass. Overall, I like the two films, because they twist up the found footage thing nicely (though, maybe not as much as the praise would lead you to believe).

Molly's Game
(Aaron Sorkin, 2017)

[NEW WATCH]

https://i.imgur.com/mdXkS3K.jpg?1

Y'all know I love me some Chastain, and this flick is filled to the brim with her - and she's really good! Sorkin's writing ability seems to outweigh his directing ability considerably, however, because while the writing was very good (though not top-tier Sorkin), I found the direction somewhat lackluster. Despite that I was fully engaged in the film and it's story, and felt it was a solid way to spend two hours.