Grant's Movie Log

This week's plans:

For sure watching:
Cargo (2018)
It Comes at Night (2017)

Might watch:
Breaking In (2018)

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My Letterboxd

It Comes at Night (2017)

(77%)
Director: Trey Edward Shults
Writer: Trey Edward Shults
Stars: Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo
Production Company: Animal Kingdom

It Comes at Night wasn't received very well by the general audience because they didn't advertise it as the movie it actually is, A24 advertised it as a horror/scary flick. And that's unfortunate, because it's a solid tension builder. It actually reminds me of A Quiet Place in terms of the setting. There aren't monsters waiting around to kill the characters when they make noise, but there is a general sense of isolation and it is also set outside of an urban environment, as is A Quiet Place. As for the story, it's simple. Once I got a sense of what the movie actually is, I could tell where it was heading. But there are some story elements towards the end of the movie that I quite liked. As for a small synopsis, it's about a family that lives out in the woods in a post-apocalyptic world. A man tries to break into their house and says he has a family and he was looking for water, so the dad decides to try and help the man and his family. He ends up bringing the family back to live with our main family in the woods, and that's when the story really gets going.

Tension is the main character in this film. The entire film slowly builds tension until the final few scenes. And while it may not have been as "explosive" of an ending as some people probably hoped for, I found it very realistic and quite fitting for the film.

I feel like I should also mention that there are a few "horror" type scenes in this film, but to me, they felt a bit out of place.

Overall, It Comes at Night is a pretty good movie, although I do think that there was a bit more potential with the story.

The production company Animal Kingdom seems to have cult following here in Aus. I certainly will watch any of their work. I enjoyed your review, Grant.

Cargo (2018)

(70%)
Directors: Yolanda Ramke, Ben Howling
Writer: Yolanda Ramke
Stars: Martin Freeman, Anthony Hayes, Susie Porter
Production Company: Addictive Pictures

Cargo is one of the first Netflix distributed films that I've actually enjoyed. It is a pretty paint by numbers zombie film, but there is the twist that instead of the main character looking for a cure, or just trying to survive, he has to try and secure a new home for his daughter before his infection kills him (and then turns him into a zombie). Martin Freeman is great as always and Simone Landers (who plays the young tribal girl) was surprisingly good. The problem I have with this film is that nothing about it is particularly great. It's just...okay. Also, for a film that's not much longer than 100 minutes, the story has some real slow points where I started to lose some interest...but then the final act brought me back.

Overall, Cargo is a perfectly "okay" film, it just doesn't stand out in any specific way.

Free Fire (2016)

(80%)
Director: Ben Wheatley
Writers: Ben Wheatley, Amy Jump
Stars: Sharlto Copley, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer
Production Company: Film4

Continuing with the trend of A24 films, Free Fire is one that I heard a lot of buzz about when the first trailer for it was released, and then it seemed like it got a fairly muted response when the review embargo lifted. And I don't really see why. In a sense, it reminds me of something that Quentin Tarantino might make. It's unique in that the entire film (outside of the first five minutes or so) takes place in a warehouse. Two groups enter the warehouse to make a firearms deal. It inevitably goes south, the two groups turn on each other, and the remaining hour or so it just them tossing insults at each other and trying to kill each other. It's a pretty fun time. The gunplay is also fairly realistic, and the stakes are real. Any character can die at any time, and as a result I found myself rooting for certain characters to survive or die. And to me, that's always a sign that it's accomplishing its goal as a movie: to be entertaining. Unfortunately, despite having some very fun moments, it does reach a slow point in the middle that takes a little too long to pass by. That, ultimately, is what kept it from receiving a much higher score from me. It's fun when it's fun, but it's obvious towards the middle that they struggled to stretch this idea to reach the 90 minute run time. Take out the dip it has in the middle, and it's a great movie to watch when you just want to have a good time watching a movie.

First Reformed (2018)

(88%)
Director: Paul Schrader
Writer: Paul Schrader
Stars: Amanda Seyfried, Ethan Hawke, Cedric the Entertainer
Production Company: Killer Films

First Reformed wasn't marketed at all around where I live, and I don't believe I ever even watched a trailer for it, so going into it all I knew about it was that it was an A24 film with Ethan Hawke about a reverend. Naturally, I assumed it was a horror film, or at least something dealing with the supernatural. Boy, I was in for a surprise. First Reformed is a slow burn drama, and a damn good one at that.

The story of First Reformed is about Reverend Toller, who oversees First Reformed Church, which is a church that is almost 250 years old and is more of a tourist destination than a church at this point (although he does still hold Sunday sessions). There is nothing supernatural, and this isn't an in-your-face religious film, either. This film is about a lot of things. It has A LOT to say about the current state of the environment, and it even touches on politics and the power of corporations. But there's more than that, it's about the personal struggles of Reverend Toller, who has lived a life filled with isolation and sorrow ever since his son was killed in Iraq. We get a lot of insight into the character of Reverend Toller through personal journal entries that he makes and then reads for the audience, and it's made clear that while he may initially appear like a well kept together man, he is nothing of the sort. He is sick with what appears to be cancer, and he is a man filled with despair. When he finds something that makes him question everything (the current state of the environment), he slowly becomes engulfed by it, to a point that frankly I found quite shocking.

This film is a very slow burn. It's very serious as well. You won't find much, if any, humor, so it relies purely on the story to keep the audience engaged, and it did just that. I was captivated until the very end, which I must say is something I've been thinking about all day.

The acting is excellent, the script is fantastic, and the story kept me intrigued despite being very slow. First Reformed really is one of the best overall films of the year, and I'm sure it'll get some recognition when the award shows swing around.

However, you might notice that I did not give it the highest score that I've given a 2018 film, and really it came down to the fact that this isn't a film that I'm just gonna pop into the Blu-Ray player on a Saturday night when I wanna watch a movie. The re-watchability is just not super high, which inevitably brought down its score. That doesn't mean it's not a great film, though.

It Comes at Night is one of my favorites of 2017.

Upgrade (2018)

(75%)
Director: Leigh Whannell
Writer: Leigh Whannell
Stars: Logan Marshall-Green, Richard Anastasios, Rosco Campbell
Production Company: Blumhouse Productions

Upgrade is set in a futuristic world and follows a man named Grey, who is attacked by a group of men and left paralyzed. His wife was killed in the attack. He is left unable to do anything himself and he essentially becomes a broken man: angry over the lack of progress in his wife's murder case and frustrated with life in general. He even tries to kill himself at one point. Eventually, a billionaire who Trey restored a car for offers to provide him with a chip, called STEM, that will allow him to walk again. Grey rejects this offer at first, but he eventually gets the chip implanted. He then goes on a quest for revenge.

I'm always curious to see how Blumhouse's non-horror movies fair, because it's harder to produce them for the small budget that Blumhouse typically works with. And, man, they produced a very solid movie considering the budget. However, there are some problems that hold it back from being one of the best movies of the summer.

The action in this movie is great. It has a John Wick feel to it, but it's more hand-to-hand combat than gun play, and every time STEM takes over for Grey the moves are very precise, which made the scenes even more fun to watch. Unfortunately, I feel like I got shorted a bit in the action department. If there was a couple of more action sequences, I think I would have liked the film even more. But I walked out wanting more action than what I got.

The story is much better than I expected, but it does drag a bit in the beginning when everything is getting set up. But, despite the beginning being slow, it does make us care for Grey, which is a good thing considering this is essentially a revenge tale. If I didn't care about him, I wouldn't really care if he got his revenge or not. Also, I was very satisfied with the ending.

The dialogue is a bit painful at times, which seems to be a bit of a staple in most Blumhouse films. Luckily, this movie doesn't rely too much on having strong dialogue.

The acting is good for the most part, but the real star of this movie is STEM, which is the chip that is implanted in Grey. Being able to hear him talk to Grey and watch his "character" progress is the most interesting part of the movie.

Overall, Upgrade provides entertainment without completely sacrificing a complex story, and it makes the most of its small budget.

This Week's Plans:

For sure watching:
Action Point (2018)
The Rider (2018)

Might watch:
Swiss Army Man (2016)
Fahrenheit 451 (2018)
For a Few Dollars More (1967)

Action Point (2018)

(30%)
Director: Tim Kirkby
Writers: John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky
Stars: Johnny Knoxville, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Susan Yeagley
Production Company: Gerber Pictures

For a movie about an amusement park that's supposed to be nothing but fun, Action Point isn't very fun to watch. There are a few moments of amusement when characters do Jackass type stunts and end up in quite a bit of pain. But apart from those few brief moments, Action Point isn't very funny, and frankly it's pretty boring. I found myself thinking about what kind of food I was going to pick up after I left the theater, and that's not what I want to be doing when I'm watching a 1.5 hour comedy.

The story follows the fairly typical path of a comedy movie. The problem is that while a comedy is usually able to get by with a less-than-stellar story because it's ultimately a funny movie...Action Point doesn't succeed in the comedy department. The story is also told in a past-present format and there was no need, at all, for the "present" storyline. It was completely pointless. The best part of Action Point is the ending. Both because at least it ended in a somewhat satisfying way, and because it was finally over.

The Rider (2018)

(86%)
Director: Chloé Zhao
Writer: Chloé Zhao
Stars: Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau
Production Company: Caviar

I didn't know a whole lot about The Rider as I walked into the cinema to see it. I didn't watch a trailer for it, and I didn't read anything about it beforehand. All I had seen was the poster for it that my local indie theater had out in the lobby, which claimed that it had won several Spirit awards. From the poster, all I really gathered is that it was about a cowboy. I didn't know that it was loosely based on a true story, or that the people from that true story played themselves in the film, or that it was directed by a Chinese filmmaker. And I'm glad that I didn't.

If I had never found out that the people from the real life story played themselves in this film (which I found out shortly after watching it), I would have continued to think that regular actors were in this film. The acting by the main family, and the others involved, is very, very good considering they aren't actors. They're just people that lived an interesting story. Very impressive.

The Rider is a Western, but not in the traditional sense. There is no action, there is no grand adventure, but there is, in a sense, a journey. The film begins shortly after Brady gets injured in a rodeo accident. It shows his road to recovery, and everything he has to deal with. It shows how he deals with the prospect of having to give up the only thing he's ever really done, and how heartbreaking the that can be for someone. It's a story that is fairly balanced between hopefulness and sadness, with a little hint of happiness.

The only real problem I have with The Rider is that the first third of the film didn't hook me at all. I was starting to lose some interest by the time the second act rolled around, but then it hooked me, and it hooked me hard. I was at full attention for the remainder of the film. But, the first act is still fairly weak, which brought my final score of the film down from the 90% or so it probably would have gotten otherwise.

The cinematography in this film is bloody excellent. The director made sure to insert various scenic shots throughout the film, all of which are beautiful and really cement in your mind that this is a Western film.

Overall, I think that The Rider is going to go down as one of my favorite films of the year. I look forward to watching it again in the future.

After I see Hereditary, Hotel Artemis, Won't You Be My Neighbor?, American Animals, The Incredibles 2, and maybe Ocean's 8 (all of which I should see within the next 1.5 weeks), I'll be making my overall rankings list of all of the 2018 films I've seen so far. It'll be based on my enjoyment of each one, how much I'm looking forward to watching each one again, and a couple of other things. It won't be purely based off of score. Should be fun to do.

Hereditary (2018)

(83%)
Director: Ari Aster
Writer: Ari Aster
Stars: Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne
Production Company: PalmStar Media

Hereditary isn't your run-of-the-mill horror movie. It doesn't rely on jump scares at all, and actually the first half (maybe even closer to two-thirds) of the film plays out more as a drama film than a horror film. The horror aspect slowly builds, and builds, and builds, and then it's released in a way similar to how a thriller would release all of the suspense that has been built up over time. This film invokes a feeling of eeriness. I never found myself to be scared or ready to jump out of my seat, instead I found myself feeling creeped out at times. And, honestly, I much prefer it that way. The story is enthralling in a way that I didn't expect. As you might expect, it is very family centric. It's a slow burn, but I felt an urgency to find out all of the answers and as a result it seemed like the first 100 minutes of this film flew by. And the last 25 minutes or so, my goodness...they were exactly what I was hoping for.

Overall: Hereditary is a great arthouse horror film. Don't go into it expecting to be scared to death, but be prepared to feel a little creeped out.

American Animals (2018)

(84%)
Director: Bart Layton
Writer: Bart Layton
Stars: Evan Peters, Blake Jenner, Ann Dowd
Production Company: Film4

I liked American Animals much, much more than I expected to. Going in, I thought it was going to be a fairly typical heist movie, except that the heist was going to be performed by some college kids who had never committed any major crimes before, so I expected a fair bit of comedy. But, this isn't your typical heist film. It's actually a film that is a blend of a documentary and a drama. The real life criminals provide their side of the story, and then their side of the story is acted out in a cinematic way, with the real life criminals making appearances throughout and sometimes altering the story, resulting in an altered cinematic portrayal. Each criminal involved remembers things in different ways, or isn't even sure if what they remember is true, so the film shows some of the several possibilities of what actually happened. It was something different from what I've been seeing in the theater a lot recently, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The story follows a group of college-aged dudes who decide to steal some very valuable books from a university library. The whole idea of the heist gets started when one of the guys, Spencer, talks about how he wants a change in his life. That change he desires, apparently, can be achieved through this heist. He doesn't realize at the time how far it will inevitably go, though, and as the story progresses there are plenty of twists and turns. I was entertained nearly the entire time. The heist preparation, and then the tension building as heist day finally comes, is fantastic. There was a dip right at the start of the third act where it lost me for a bit. Not very long, but my level of attention did drop for a few minutes. But then it eventually hooked me right back in, and I have to say I was satisfied with how it wrapped up.

I don't think this will go down as one of the best made films of the year or anything, but it will go down as one of my personal favorites. It's entertaining, different, and actually pretty damn funny at times.

This Week's Plans:

For sure watching:
Hotel Artemis (2018)
Fahrenheit 451 (2018)
Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

Might watch:
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Ocean's 8 (2018)
Swiss Army Man (2016)

Fahrenheit 451 (2018)

(53%)
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Writer: Ramin Bahrani
Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Aaron Davis, Cindy Katz
Production Companies: Brace Cove Productions, HBO Films

I never read the Fahrenheit 451 book, but I was still very interested in this film because the premise seemed interesting and it was an HBO branded film...so I hoped it would at least be decent. Unfortunately, the film never really finds its stride and ends way, way too quickly.

Michael B. Jordan plays a fireman in a future in which all books are banned and are often burned to ash by firemen. He eventually starts questioning what he's doing, and that's what this film is ultimately about. He wants to read books; he's curious. The problem with his character is that in the beginning he is portrayed as being all about the cause (burning all books left in existence), but then he switches sides rather quickly without too much of an internal struggle. His level of commitment is always a bit murky, and I wasn't sure exactly what to think about his character. Michael Shannon's character is what I'd equate to a dumpster fire. He's curious about books, he reads books, he writes, but he is completely committed to burning books. It appears that he's meant to be a complex villain, but his character fails to achieve what he's meant to be. In fact, none of the characters are given enough time to develop. The film is entirely too short and by the end I didn't care about any of the characters. It also doesn't help that it never feels like the story has left the first act. It's as if it should take off at some point, but the boosters failed on take off...so we're left with a story where it doesn't seem like a whole lot happens.

The script is also very inconsistent, and Michael B. Jordan is given some awful dialogue at times.

However, I will say that this film does have a high quality look to it. It looks good. The cinematography is solid. It's just a shame that the story and characters don't measure up.

Overall: Fahrenheit 451 isn't the worst film you'll watch this year, but given the actors involved and the material it's based on (which is highly regarded), it's simply a disappointment.

Hotel Artemis (2018)

(71%)
Director: Drew Pearce
Writer: Drew Pearce
Stars: Jodie Foster, Sofia Boutella, Dave Bautista
Production Company: The Ink Factory

Hotel Artemis is an enjoyable crime thriller that's set in the future and takes place entirely in a hotel that acts as a hospital for criminals. There are a few rules that The Nurse (Jodie Foster) requires everyone to follow, and a person has to have a membership to get fixed up, but otherwise she doesn't care what the person does for a living or how bad they are, she'll still fix them up. The story follows her as she embarks on what should be a typical night at the Artemis, but it slowly starts to spin out of control as the night drags on. There is a B-Story that deals with a corporation charging money for access to water, which has caused riots to break out around L.A., but I found it to be severely underdeveloped. It served its purpose, but that's it. There definitely could have been a little bit more exploration into it. The main story isn't incredible, but I was entertained the entire time...although it did leave me wanting a little bit more. As for the action....when it happens, it's great. But I wouldn't go into this film expecting a lot of action because there isn't a ton of it. Most of it revolves around The Nurse fixing up patients and dealing with dilemmas.

I will say that I did enjoy how subtle the futuristic technology she uses to work on patients is. All of it actually seems somewhat realistic and similar to what we may very well have access to in the future.

Given the short runtime (just a hair over 90 minutes), it's hard for the entire cast to get enough screen time to properly develop. I found myself very invested in Jodie Foster's character, but I didn't really care about any of the others, especially when the end came. Also, I figured Jeff Goldblum would have a much, much bigger role in this film, but he's in it for maybe five minutes or so, which was a disappointment.

Overall, I had a good time watching Hotel Artemis. It entertained me, despite the flaws it may have.

Ocean's 8 (2018)

(58%)
Director: Gary Ross
Writers: Gary Ross, Olivia Milch
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway
Production Companies: Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures

I like heist movies. I like them quite a bit, actually, but it is a hard genre to make something that hasn't been done before. American Animals, I feel like, succeeded in doing a different kind of heist movie. Ocean's 8, however, is nothing special, at all. It's nothing new, and honestly it was not even as entertaining as I was hoping it would be.

Story: The story of Ocean's 8 follows Debbie Ocean as she gets released from prison and reveals that she's been planning a heist for several years. She then gathers a crew to execute the heist. There is some fun to be had here, as one of the most fun parts of heist movies is when the characters are planning and preparing for the heist. However, it all seems so, so easy. Anytime the characters hit a snag, or run into something that may be a problem, it's not really a problem. They brush it off and almost instantly have a solution that works. There is never a feeling that the heist won't work out, or that some road block may cause a real problem for anyone involved. There are also several attempts at humor, but most of it fell flat. My showing wasn't sold out, but it was fairly full and there were maybe two moments when the audience collectively chuckled. It also doesn't help that apart from the set up...I honestly didn't find this movie as fun as I expected to. The actual heist is somewhat entertaining, but nothing special, and the rest of the third act (after the heist sequence is over) is honestly kind of boring.

Characters: There is very little character development in this movie. It basically throws a crew at you and is like "They're all perfect at their jobs!", and that's about it. I didn't care about a single character.

Acting: Everyone involved does a great job, which is almost a given these days in most major releases.. Unsurprisingly, Sandra Bullock is the standout among the main crew.

Overall: Ocean's 8 is fine, I guess. Some people will enjoy it, some won't. It is cool that they had an all-female cast, but apart from that this movie is nothing to write home about.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

(100%)
Director: Morgan Neville
Stars: Joanne Rogers, Betty Aberlin, McColm Cephas Jr.
Production Company: Tremolo Productions

There's something incredibly special about revisiting your childhood. I watched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood every day when I was a kid. It was just part of my daily routine, as originally decided by my mom, but continued by me because I enjoyed it so much. And in doing so, I guess I formed a bit of a bond with Mr. Rogers, albeit entirely through a television screen. He tackled a wide range of subjects and exposed me to even some adult topics, but did it in a way that didn't make them feel like adult topics.

As with most things from my childhood, eventually I stopped watching the show and I really hadn't thought about Mr. Rogers since I was a child. Whenever he's been brought up, I have made sure to mention that I used to watch him and that he was awesome, but I've never revisited his show. So when I heard about this documentary coming out, I was extremely excited. And as I walked into the theater and saw that it was packed (which was surprising, as this is a documentary being shown in an indie theater, after all), I knew it was going to be a special time. The audience was filled with a wide variety of people, and that's because Mr. Rogers didn't impact a certain generation or group of people, he had an impact on people my age (21) all the way to my parents' generation who are in their late 50s. There was just this feeling I had from the moment that the previews started...that I was about to re-live a part of my life that I look back on very fondly, and it really seemed like a lot of the other people in the theater felt the same way. I don't cry while watching movies. It's just something I've never really done. It's not that I have never been emotionally impacted by movies or saddened by certain stories, but I've always been able to keep the tears at bay. That was not the case with this film. Within the first 10 minutes, my eyes were watering hardcore. And there were a few times where I couldn't keep a few tears from trickling down my face. There were several points during the film when it got pretty quiet, and I could hear that several other people in the theater were having a similar experience.

It's not that this is simply the greatest documentary ever because it's just an out-of-the-box, original film. It does do a very good job of covering both Mr. Rogers as a person and Mr. Rogers as a TV host, but at it's core it's a pretty textbook documentary. What makes this documentary so incredible to me is the subject, and what that subject means to me. I've never found myself so enthralled by a simple documentary, and I've never found myself wanting a documentary to keep going, and going, and going...like I did with this one. Hell, I stayed seated all the way through the credits, which I don't usually do unless it's a Marvel film. Clearly, Mr. Rogers meant more to me than I ever knew.

So, I don't give this film a perfect score because it's necessarily the greatest documentary you or I will ever watch, I have given it a perfect score because it's an experience I'm not sure I'll ever have again while watching a documentary. It was something truly special for me.

If you watched Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as a kid, or if you just know about Mr. Rogers, go see Won't You Be My Neighbor? if you get a chance. You might not get quite as emotionally destroyed by it as I was, but you should very much enjoy it.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

(80%)
Directors: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Writers: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi
Stars: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer
Production Company: Unison Films

What We Do in the Shadows was definitely something I didn't expect. I knew it was a comedy, but I didn't know it was a comedy done in the form of a fake documentary! It was a nice surprise and it was such a fun movie to watch. I really enjoyed the story, which follows a group of vampires who are living in modern day New Zealand, and the comedy was great. I also really appreciated how they didn't drag out the movie. It's a very lean 85 minutes, and if it had gone any longer I think it would have started to crash and burn, primarily because it had already started to lose quite a bit of steam by about the 70 minute mark. But despite not enjoying the ending quite as much as I would have liked, I still think What We Do in the Shadows is a comedy that definitely deserves to be on your watch list.