2018 Movie Log – January

 

Dec 31st – Jan 1st: Zodiac – David Fincher (2007).
Watched home alone at night. Slow burn. Pretty terrifying. Gruesome deaths. Very freaky toward the end in that dude’s basement. “Not a lot of people have basements in San Francisco.”
Grade: A
Zodiac – Structure

1st: Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi – Rian Johnson (2017).
Watched at Logan with Wills. The second time I had seen it. Liked it much better the second time. Adam Driver, Daisey Ridley, and Porgs make the movie.
Grade: B+
The Last Jedi – Structure

2nd: The Shape of Water – Guillermo Del Toro (2017).
Watched at Logan with Alice. Really warm movie. Sprinkled with enough fucked up moments to spice things up: Michael Shannon’s fingers, headless cat, etc.
Grade: B
The Shape of Water – Structure

4th: The Big Sick – Michael Showalter (2017).
Watched at home during the day. Took me a while to really warm up to it. Totally on board by the end. Ray Romano and Holly Hunter make the movie for me.
Grade: B+
The Big Sick – Structure

4th: Get Out – Jordan Peele (2017).
Watched at home at night. Forgot how tightly written it is. Everything is set up/ paid off incredibly well. Only nitpick is some of the comedic elements. Not even sure that they didn’t work. Some just struck me as off in tone.
Grade: A-
Get Out – Structure

6th: Beware the Slenderman (Doc) – Irene Taylor Brodsky (2016).
Watched at Melissa & Richie’s with Melissa, Richie, Alice & Ben. Pretty sad story. Probably like 30 mins too long.

7th: The Lost City of Z – James Gray (2017)
Watched at home with Bryce. I don’t get it. It was a beautifully shot movie. Aside from that, I thought it felt rigid and lifeless. Trying to do and cover so much. It didn’t leave me with much feeling.
Grade: C
The Lost City of Z – Structure

9th: Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace – George Lucas (1999)
Watched at Alice’s with Melissa, Alice, Barney, & Callie! It’s a really bad movie. I actually think there’s some cool stuff but the plot’s so convoluted and boring. Also, the Jar Jar thing doesn’t make any sense to me. He’s in every frame of the freakin’ movie. Very fun to watch though.
Grade: D

10th: 20th Century Women – Mike Mills (2016)
Watched at home at night. Still piecing this one together. I thought the tone was perfect. I found a couple parts truly moving. Especially when Dorothea goes out with Abbie and returns home. I also found the voiceover montage at the end very effective. One more thing: all the skateboarding shots were cool.
Grade: A- / A
20th Century Women – Structure

11th: Michael Clayton – Tony Gilroy (2007)
Watched at home at night. Slow burn. Took me a while to sink in. Payoffs all happen at the end. It’s a super tight script that’s hinged on being that. A lot I took away from it in terms of structuring a film. I did think it lacked some heart/messiness.
Grade: B
Michael Clayton – Structure

15th: Swiss Army Man – Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (2016)
Watched at home with Bryce. Really, really, really dumb. But also great. The performances definitely pull it together. Ultimately don’t know if there was enough material there for a whole feature, but it was weird, funny, and pretty delightful.
Grade: B-/B
Swiss Army Man – Structure

16th: Birdboy (The Forgotten Children) – Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero (2015)
Watched at Gene Siskel Movie Center with Alice and her dad. A beautiful and super dark film. My preferred tone is probably like ten degrees warmer. Still was a great experience. Haven’t seen anything like it.
Grade: B-/B
Birdboy – Structure

16th: Spotlight – Tom McCarthy (2015)
Watched at home at night. An almost perfect movie in my book. The only flaw I think is some of Ruffalo’s anger at end of the film. Though I don’t know how else you play that. Everything in the script matters and everything in the script builds on what we know.
Grade: A
Spotlight – structure

17th: The Promise: The Making of the Darkness on the Edge of Town – Thom Zimney (2010)
Watched at home at night. A lot of footage I can’t believe exists. A lot of information I didn’t know. Legitimately couldn’t put the laptop down. Still, this is a doc about my favorite album, and I still wanted more. Maybe I’m too close. Overall, a pretty good doc about a perfect album.

18th: Wings For Wheels: The Making of Born to Run – Thom Zimney (2005)
Watched at home at night. Same impressions as The Promise documentary. I wish there were more of a narrative about each song and the construction of the album. Less about the overall impact and legacy of it.

19th: 500 Days of Summer – Marc Webb (2009)
Watched at home at night. I really like what this movie is going for. I liked that it wasn’t afraid to be sentimental. I liked that Summer’s cat is named after Bruce Springsteen. I feel like none of these characters are real people. Especially the loser friend character. Reminded me of the minor characters in Noah Baumbach’s first two movies.
Grade: C
500 Days of Summer – Structure

20th: Hot Rod – Akiva Schaffer (2007)
Watched at Alice’s with Stacy, Melissa, Juj, and Alice. Awesome time. The biggest thing I took away is how much shit you can get away with if your movie is funny. It allows you to play with how rigid three-act structure can be instead of trying to blend into it. Obviously, that is way easier said than done.
Grade: B
Hot Rod – Structure

20th: Don’t Think Twice – Mike Birbiglia (2016)
This movie comes together in such a nice, surprising way. I was really surprised how well done it was. I think the best feature of this movie is that every character in the improv group is a real person. It felt incredibly real. My only gripe is with Mike Birbiglia & Keegan Michael-Key’s characters. They were performed really well, but just so unlikable.
Grade: B/B+
Don_t Think Twice – Structure

21st: Phantom Thread – Paul Thomas Anderson (2017)
Watched in 70mm at the Music Box with Alice and Bryce. Seeing something like this reminds you of how good movies can be. Makes me want to lower previous grades of a bunch of these entries. Just so good in so many ways. Everything in the script is so well set up. The food, their personalities, etc. I think I could see this 5 more times and pick up new things each time.
Grade: A
Phantom Thread – Structure

23rd: The Passion Of Joan of Arc – Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928)
Watched at Siskel Film center with Wills and Matthew. Really amazing film. I have a lot more work to do before I could write adequately about it or silent film in general. Aside from being beautiful and startling, it reminded me of how much information you can convey visually. Probably a good thing to keep thinking about.

24th: Paterson – Jim Jarmusch (2016)
Watched at home at night. Really cool movie. Super heartfelt. Love how it’s structured around making it through a week. Love that there aren’t any weird conflicts where you think there would be. A lot of really subtle details in the movie, except for Infinite Jest cameo.
Grade: B/B+

25th: Call Me by Your Name – Luca Guadagnino (2017)
Watched alone at Logan. Incredibly moving. One of the most enjoyable movie experiences I’ve had in a while. There are millions of reasons why the film worked. I kept noticing how the tension between them really drove home each scene. Especially in the first half of the film before a move is made. Though the father’s speech at the end was a wonderful twist.
Grade: A

26th: Chungking Express – Wong Kar-Wai (1994)
Watched at Wills’s with Wills. I didn’t really get it. I would be super afraid to write any of the dialogue that was in that movie. Something obviously didn’t click. Probably out of my wheelhouse.

27th: Ingrid Goes West – Matt Spicer (2017)
Watched at home at night. I thought it ended up being pretty good. The cast was great. Aubrey Plaza can really act. Holy shit. I was squirming the whole movie. Especially the first act which was super Instagram stalker heavy. Ahhhhh!
Grade: B-/B
Ingrid Goes West – Structure

28th: Good Time – Safdie Brothers (2017)
Watched at Music Box with Wills, Ryan, Skylar, and Bryanna. Flawlessly executed chase movie. The midpoint of the movie is one of the best twists I’ve seen in a while. It seems like a movie that’s supposed to hit you all surface level at first. On ride home realized how layered every detail of the movie is.
Grade: A-/A
Good Time – Structure

29th: Boyhood – Richard Linklater (2014)
Watched at home at night. Still holds up. Super moving. I love everything about it. Honestly still figuring out how it works. Just know that it does.
Grade: A

30th: Good Time – Safdie Brothers (2017)
Rewatch! This time with Alice, Ben, and Adam at Music Box. Was paying attention to how the movie was sequenced/formatted. Think it’s normally structured but with almost no third act. Picked up on how relevant each detail is. I.E. RP’s love of dogs, racist undertones, etc.

31st: Before Midnight – Richard Linklater (2013)
Watched at home at night. Another incredible Linklater movie that I have no idea how it works. The whole movie is really only four extended scenes: the drive from the airport, the dinner, the walk, and the 45-minute fight at the hotel. I think my favorite part besides the end is all the false starts during the fight. Especially Ethan Hawke pouring the wine but not being able to drink it.
Grade: A