When I write a review this close to the start of a new year, I usually see most of the movies considered for one of the big six Oscar awards. If I don’t, I will usually await the arrival of those limited releases set for a wide release a couple of weeks later. Regardless, most people would have known of all the big-budget or Oscar-worthy movies by the time of a January 1st post. In 2020, all of the rules had changed, and the cinema has not been an exception. Some big-budget movies slated to come out during the year have been tabled until the pandemic ends and will likely come out in the second half of 2021. However, the Academy has made date modifications, which means that films will be eligible for the end-of-year awards as long as they are released by February 28, 2021. It’s usually around the start of the new year when I start watching the final one or two movies that might receive a Best Picture nomination. 2020 is a different kind of beast, and this review is my first of the year of a film that will receive a nomination for that award.
Category Archives: Bill Camp
Dark Waters (2019)
Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher, Spotlight) continues to show that he is one of the more under-appreciated Hollywood heavyweights in Todd Haynes’ (Carol, Wonderstruck) new release. Dark Waters tells the true story of Cincinnati lawyer Rob Bilott’s extraordinarily long legal battle against the DuPont Chemical Company and the toxic waste it was dumping into the streams and rivers of West Virginia. This poisonous waste contributed to a high rate of cancer cases in the surrounding areas and contributed to an alarming number of deaths among cattle and other animals. The movie is exceptionally well-made. It should be seen by all as it hits on self-regulation, big business, medical disasters, and company cover-ups on such a grand scale that it seems hard to fathom as being possible in today’s world. In today’s society, there is so much scrutiny, regulation, and punishment for companies doing what DuPont did and almost escaped without punishment. Almost.
Joker (2019)
A movie that didn’t need to be made often will benefit from the doubt if that same movie pays due diligence and does the movie right. Those wondering why we need a Joker origin story when there is a perfect origin story in The Dark Knight (one of the 25 best movies ever made) should find some relief in knowing that the Christopher Nolan trilogy story will not be confused with Todd Phillips’ (War Dogs, Old School) Joker. This film never mentions the word Batman nor refers to anything related to, perhaps, the most iconic comic book franchise of all time other than references to Gotham City and a billionaire businessman named Thomas Wayne.
Woman Walks Ahead (2018)
Inspired by actual events, Susanna White’s (Our Kind of Traitor, Nanny McPhee Returns) Woman Walks Ahead is a pretty good movie, but one made worse by its Hollywoodization. The film takes true events and changes them for no real reason. The general moviegoer would never have known the difference between what transpired and what was fictionalized. But the fact that there was a differentiation between fact and fiction didn’t do anything but cheapen the movie. One of the hardest things for me to do when reviewing a movie is trying to determine if the liberties that were taken to strip a film of its factual basis while still claiming to be based on a true story truly advance the movie past the point where it would have arrived to if it had just followed the facts.
Wildlife (2018)
There is something very subdued from Paul Dano’s directorial debut, Wildlife, that makes it a more meaningful movie than it probably is. I don’t know if there is a particular term for it other than it felt very Paul Dano-like. The man who never appears to age has delivered in a ton of movies you probably have never seen or left the theater scratching your head over (There Will Be Blood, Love & Mercy, Swiss Army Man, Little Miss Sunshine, Meek’s Cutoff, The Ballad of Jack and Rose). He plays some odd characters, so why wouldn’t his directing style be similar? Interestingly, the cast in his leads one of the most underrated and diverse actors of our generation in Jake Gyllenhaal (End of Watch, Prisoners), who is never afraid to take a risk in a role and is one of the most talented and underappreciated actresses of the same generation in Carey Mulligan (Shame, An Education) who prefers some of the safer roles. As an aside, Gyllenhaal and Mulligan (as of March 2019) have a combined two Oscar nominations to their names. Each should have been nominated at least three times by now…a common theme in my posts is how I think Gyllenhaal has been the sixth Best Actor in a five nomination award on at least three or four occasions. In fact, my very first six-pack post was on Jake Gyllenhaal’s Top 6 Performances. Mulligan is similar, having earned a nomination for An Education, but not one for Shame, Suffragette, Mudbound, Drive…she just has fewer acting credits to her name at this point than Gyllenhaal does. The talented Dano has zero Oscar nominations to his name but should have easily received one for There Will Be Blood. Daniel Day-Lewis performances are like nothing else, but this young man battled the most talented actor of the last 30 years, scene for scene, all the way up to the brutal conclusion.
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