Cash Grab II…I mean, Creed II is, perhaps, the most predictable movie of the year. Before we get into the movie specifics, let’s examine it from the standpoint of whether we needed it. The answer to that is a big, fat no. But even if we don’t need a movie, it doesn’t mean it won’t be good. And even though we know how a movie will end before seeing its opening credits, it is still worth viewing. It was a well-made movie, but, in the end, I wished I had devoted my two hours to a more unique film, even if I ended up not enjoying whatever that movie was nearly as much. Creed II was exactly the movie I thought it would be…not any better…not any worse. I wasn’t surprised by a single thing that I saw. I was tentative about the original Creed in 2015, but with originality in its cast, that movie was enjoyable and worthwhile. Creed II was enjoyable but didn’t offer anything new.
Category Archives: 2018
Annihilation (2018)
It took me two watches, some 12 months apart from one another, for me to be able to say emphatically that Alex Garland’s (Ex Machina) Annihilation isn’t a great movie. While I appreciate its ingenuity and ambition, the overall execution, delivery, and continuity could not be overlooked. For as much as I was in awe of Garland’s 2015 directorial debut, Ex Machina, I was even more disappointed with Annihilation, a movie for me that came and went as it felt, broke its own rules, left me bored at times, and hoping for more, while knowing it was never going quite to deliver. With a critics’ score of 88% but an audience score of just 66%, I am comfortable saying that, after watching it twice, some artistry I was missing made this movie so likable by those who review movies for a living. I couldn’t help but remove myself from critic mode and, even after taking off that hat, couldn’t get behind Annihilation to come close to recommending it.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)
A much anticipated same-sex attraction/sexual attraction conversion therapy movie had been initially projected to earn multiple Oscar nominations. Unfortunately, the Lucas Hedges/Nicole Kidman/Joel Edgerton/Russell Crowe Boy Erased failed to live up to the hype. I had read the book earlier and hoped that the movie could capture the aspects of the novel I liked and take it to the next level. And despite decent Rotten Tomatoes critics and audience scores (81% and 72%), that didn’t happen for me.
But here we have this much less marketed movie in The Miseducation of Cameron Post with a much less recognized cast and a first-time director in Desiree Akhavan (Boy Erased was directed by Joel Edgerton, a pretty darn good actor turned director). Many didn’t see This lesser-known movie, earning less than $1 million domestically (compared to $7 million for Boy Erased, which could have been more successful). Still, it succeeded because of both its softness and its quietness. The movies were similar, and I’d like to know what Edgerton knew about Akhavan’s movie and vice versa. While Boy Erased underwhelmed (primarily due to my lofty expectations of it going in), something about it still made the movie more memorable than The Miseducation of Cameron Post. So, with that said, Boy Erased was better. Still, The Miseducation of Cameron Post was a more enjoyable movie that leaves you feeling more hopeful for those struggling with (and those not struggling with) same-sex attraction.
The Front Runner (2018)
An upstart politician is seen with a woman who is not his wife. A scandal ensues. Would-be presidential candidate resigns amidst the controversy. Just because a story happens doesn’t mean you must make a movie about it. At best, Jason Reitman’s (Up in the Air, Young Adult) Gary Hart biopic should have been a straight-to-cable drop. But really, a 60-minute documentary on The History Channel or something would have sufficed. That’s not to say The Front Runner was a bad movie. Because it wasn’t, but it wasn’t a movie we needed. Reitman, a fantastic yet underrated director fresh off the incredibly impressive Tully with also such films as Juno and Thank You For Smoking among his credits, had no business involving himself with a movie that, no matter what he did, wasn’t going to register with the critics or with the audiences because:- Even though it is a 30-year story at the time of its release, it is one everyone knows.
- It’s a story that we, as a society, tried to make into some huge deal, whereas 30 years later, we realize that a politician cheating on his wife is something that hardly bats an eye.
- It’s a story that raises some issues related to morality and tries to be a little preachy in a day and age when none of us are interested in hearing and seeing preachy, especially from a story that is trying to be relevant in today’s society but does feel 30 years old.
What They Had (2018)
Will everybody be okay in the end? In fairytales, yes. In real life, maybe not so much. If we work hard enough, we can maintain a tolerable life at its worst and, at its best, offer enough of a glimmer of hope to move on. First-time director Elizabeth Chomko provides the most authentic movie of 2018 with the touching and sentimental What The Had, a look at Alzheimer’s Disease/dementia (I don’t think it is ever specified) that hits you like a ton of bricks. Predecessors like the slightly overrated Still Alice, the underrated Away From Her, the brutally honest The Savages, and the Nicholas Sparks/Ryan Gosling/Rachel McAdams’ Welcome to Hollywood’ tearjerker The Notebook. None of these four pretty terrific movies could do what What They Had was able to do, which was to make it real for me. By the end of this movie, I was lost in all of the major characters and was on the verge of tears at the movie theater for the first time since 2016 (keep in mind that I see over 50 movies a year in the movie theater). A movie that likely will get snubbed by all Oscar nominations, What They Had is real, brutally honest, and feels like it could be a true story about the family down the street from you, if not your family together.