1st: Capote – Bennett Miller (2005)
Watched at home at night. Beautifully shot. The performance by Hoffman is remarkable. The film and the ending especially moved me, but as a tragedy. The murder scene and the hanging scene are so grizzly and shocking. I really felt bad after watching.
Grade: B
Capote – Structure
2nd: The Post – Steven Speilberg (2017)
Watched at Webster 11. Whatever thoughts I have about this movie seem to come down to “this could have been so much better.” Which may be unfair. I think they could have established more of a moral arc for Meryl Streep’s character. Especially with the fact that her son served in Vietnam. I think a lot of the performances could have been better, even from a bunch of people I really like. More than anything, I thought that the story got sidetracked by being so heavy-handed a few times. Especially with the “Nixon is evil” part. A better movie would have included Watergate as a postscript. Not as the ending.
Grade: C+
The Post – Structure
3rd: Darkest Hour – Joe Wright (2017)
Watched at Davis theater. Thought it was a well made, well-performed movie. The script was tightly written. Though how much credit can you give to a screenwriter for Churchill’s witticisms? Bryce said he heard it was like the British Lincoln which sounds right to me. I guess my problem with this movie is less about how good it is, but why tell this story?
Grade: B
Darkest Hour – Structure
4th: Tracktown – Alexi Pappas & Jeremy Teicher (2016)
Watched at home at night. The first act of the movie is so good. Unfortunately goes off the rails a bit after that. There are problems with it anyways, but I think they are for sure exacerbated by how bad the lead guy actor is. Their relationship makes sense for the plot of the movie, but it’s not earned at all, and at times feels really gross. Still, I think I have more time for a movie like this than something like The Post. This movie is all voice with no refinement. The Post is all refinement with no voice.
Grade: B-
Tracktown – Structure
5th: Schindler’s List – Steven Spielberg (1993)
Watched at home at night. An absolutely brutal movie. I knew it’s reputation, but was still surprised at how brutal of a depiction it is, given that it’s Spielberg. The only part of the movie that felt off was Schindler’s breakdown at the end. There are scenes and images I’ll never forget. Particularly the raid on the ghetto and the burning of the corpses at the concentration camp.
Grade: A
Schindler_s List – Structure
6th: Logan Lucky – Steven Soderbergh (2017)
Watched at home with Bryce. Really good set up, world, characters, premise. The acting is phenomenal. I loved how light the tone was. I think the movie could have been 30 minutes shorter. It’s written well. Everything ties in and comes back. I just think the last act takes so long.
Grade: B
Logan Lucky – Structure
6th: What If? – Michael Dowse (2013)
Watched at home at night. I think I just can’t hang with romantic comedies. Everything seems telegraphed from a mile away. The characters don’t feel real at all. I think the redeeming quality of the movie is the cast. But then it makes you feel like what a huge waste of Adam Driver. At least he was a real/interesting person on Girls. Not just a bro.
Grade: C
What If – Structure
8th: Game Night – John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein (2018)
Watched at Logan with Alice. Pretty funny, enjoyable movie. I like the director team a lot. It feels like they make a classic type of big comedy movie that doesn’t get made anymore. I do wonder how hard a movie like this would be to pull off without having great performances from everyone.
Grade: B
Game Night – Structure
9th: Hidden Figures – Theodore Melfi (2016)
Watched at home at night. I thought there were a lot of really cool things about it. I liked a lot of the color schemes they used to frame Catherine as being an outsider (her bright dress among all the men in identical white shirts). I also thought the performances were all really good. I don’t know if it was on me or the movie, but a for most of it, I was very aware of how it was being structured and paced out. For whatever reason, I wasn’t fully sucked into the world of the story. Overall, still pretty good.
Grade: B / B+
Hidden Figures – Structure
13th: Badlands – Terrence Malick (1973)
Watched at the ArcLight with Bryce and AJ. Really phenomenal. I can’t get over how amazing it looked. It completely pulls off the anti-hero thing, I think largely, by just making Martin Sheen look amazing.
Grade: A
Badlands – Structure
17th: The Beguiled – Sofia Coppola (2017)
Watched at home at night. I kept warming up to the movie as it moved along. A lot of it really does remind me of PTA. The whole movie has this strange tone that stays consistent. The 2nd act turn and the twist were both so good too.
Grade: B+
The Beguiled – Structure
24th: Training Day – Antoine Fuqua (2001)
Watched at home at night. Insane movie. Truly a type of movie that doesn’t get made anymore. I think most detective, crime thrillers either go way more over the top and are bad, or play it too smart, and are less dramatic. Not to say that this is a great movie. But it’s going for it. I think Ethan Hawke and especially Denzel pull it together.
Grade: B-
Training Day – Structure
25th: Goodfellas – Martin Scorsese (1990)
Watched at home at night. An absolute masterpiece. Really the best. It’s funny how I hadn’t seen it in like ten years, so while all of it was still fresh, I still remembered so much from it. A lot of how it works is a mystery to me. My main takeaway is just how much I love being in that world. It’s a long movie and doesn’t feel long at all.
Grade: A
Goodfellas – Structure
26th: Wind River – Taylor Sheridan (2017)
Watched at home at night. Really dark movie. Not surprised that it’s by the same guy who wrote Sicario. It has a very similar vibe to it. I think it’s a good story and mostly really well executed. I’m not sure how I feel about how dark some of it gets. Some of it too is delivered in really blunt ways, which may be true to the story and reality, but feels harsh. Overall though, I liked it.
Grade: B
Wind River – Structure
27th: Full Metal Jacket – Stanley Kubrick (1987)
Watched at home at night. I was really affected by it. It’s so dark and layered. It really feels like a movie that I’d have to watch three times to get a grasp of. One thing I noticed is in the first act, which takes place all in marine training, I think it’s the camera work that keeps things interesting. Honestly, not that much else is going on and it’s still compelling to watch. It almost feels like a different movie by the time they get to Vietnam.
Grade: A
Full Metal Jacket – Structure
28th: Isle of Dogs – Wes Anderson (2018)
Watched at the ArcLight with Alice, Adam, Ben, Bryce, and Ryan. It felt like a straight injection of dopamine into my brain. I thought it was a remarkably pleasant, mostly hilarious movie. It seems like Wes Anderson gets some flak for making the same kind of movies over and over. One thing that I think gets overlooked is how clever his movies are. Especially this one which has a lot of smart, delightful details. I personally didn’t see any racial insensitivity issues or racist undertones, but can believe they exist. Aside from that, which I’ll keep examining, my only issue with the movie was that it didn’t have a tremendous emotional arc. I think it’s that detail that keeps it from being comparable to his best work like Grand Budapest.
Grade: B+ / A-
Isle of Dogs – Structure
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