One of the early tragedies to the Netflix distribution line has to be the J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year, All Is Lost) Triple Frontier, a movie that which you can decide after watching and/or reading this review whether you like it or not. And this is not a review that is going to talk about the merits and faults of Netflix (by one sentence 2019 stand is Netflix is amazing with their shows, but I wish they would stay away from movies…done and done), but rather whether this movie should have been kept from being seen on the big screen…where it was meant to be seen…where it was designed to flourish. I’ve probably seen over 1500 movies in a movie theatre in my life at the time of this post. I’ve probably seen 1500 other movies for the first time on my television screen as well. For each movie that I’ve seen and loved on my television, I can’t help but wonder what the movie must have been like in the atmosphere in which it was designed to be view. I can’t make the same claim the other way around. Sure I’ve said, “Man, I wish I would have saved my cash and watched this at home…or not watched this at all” when I see a terrible movie in the theatre, but that is a different conversation and, hopefully, one I don’t have to have on a different day. Beasts of No Nation was the first of the original Netflix films that draw the public’s interest. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said then that for a movie to be considered for Oscar nominations, the film must have at least a limited theatrical run. I don’t know all of the details about how long a movie needs to be in the theatres, locations, etc., but Beasts of No Nation was a film that had to adhere to those standards as it was thought that it might get some Oscar recognition. This movie ultimately got shut out from nominations this year, but it set a precedent for sure. Netflix has continued to produce some AMAZING television shows as well as movies, its crowning achieving being 2018’s Roma, a movie that not only earned but won multiple Academy Awards, nearly winning Best Picture. It was not my favorite movie by any means, and for each person I met who liked it, I’ve met five who disliked it. I will say that it was a difficult watch at home. Roma was black and white with subtitles and much more difficult to see on my 42″ television than on a massive theatre. Roma was a not-so-great movie for me that suffered even more on the small screen. Triple Frontier was a better-than-average movie that suffered the same fate. I mean, come on. A big-budget heist movie with three of the top leading men out there, and you’re reducing it to a tiny rectangle into the corner of my family room apartment. Convenient. Sure? Worth it? Nope.
Category Archives: Garrett Hedlund
Mudbound (2017)
An early and serious contender for 2017’s Best Picture is a movie that may not have found its way to a theater had it not garnered so much critical acclaim. Dee Rees’s (Pariah) Mudbound is a Netflix original movie, and had it not been for The Academy of Motion Pictures’ rule of all Oscar-nominated films be available to the public via movie theaters, who knows where it would have landed. This is not Netflix’s first movie to receive so much praise that the movie had to be released in the theaters. 2015’s Beasts of No Nation faced a similar fate. However, the kudos that Beasts of No Nation originally received faded as Oscar season approached, and the movie ultimately did not receive a single nomination. The same won’t be the case for Mudbound, which very well could earn a Best Picture nomination as well as nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Jason Mitchell Detroit, Straight Outta Compton), Best Supporting Actress (Mary J. Blige), and Best Adapted Screenplay just to name a few. Of course, it’s an early prediction, and I have yet to see any of the other contenders, but this does feel like a poor year for movies. I would be shocked if Mudbound is not nominated for Best Picture, and I would be surprised if it doesn’t win at least one award in one of the other categories before cinema’s biggest night of the year is complete.
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Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016)
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is not your typical Ang Lee (Lust, Caution, Hulk) film. It doesn’t have the effortless flow near the sweeping landscapes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Life of Pi, or Brokeback Mountain. While these three movies netted the legendary director three Best Director Academy Award nominations, including two wins, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk likely will not earn him nomination number four. It’s awkward and clumsy at times. It has unnecessary elements in it. And, most importantly, it lacks any immediate or emotional impact that the trailers lead you to believe that it has. The premise felt very much like Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Father. I expected much more with each of these movies than what was delivered. Nevertheless, there were some good things about Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. It is much better than its current 43% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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