There are so many takeaways from Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River that I don’t even know which one to bring out first. Though flawed, this is the best movie of 2017 through the first eight months of the year. It is an epic masterpiece that might be missed by the typical moviegoer who is so overwhelmed with the commercialization of movies like Wonder Woman, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and War of the Planet of the Apes that they might not even know it existed, let alone a movie that it might be interested in seeing. In a 2017 Hollywood that has seen a massive uptake in remakes, reboots, sequels, and prequels, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to find originality in a story and then, if you do, for that originality to come out in a way that encourages you to see it again and, hopefully, has a lasting impact on your life. That is what Sheridan, an incredibly gifted screenwriter, has done in his first film behind the camera. The memorable Sicario and Oscar-nominated Hell or High Water are already to his screenwriting credit. It’s unlikely that Wind River will receive the same box office success as his first movie or the same critical acclaim come Oscar season as his second, but this is one hell of a directorial debut.
Category Archives: Gil Birmingham
Hell or High Water (2016)
David Mackenzie’s (Spread, Asylum) 2016 surprise is a movie you’ll like if you go in with minimal expectations. You might be disappointed if you think it will be your typical bank robbery thriller. You might be disappointed if you think it will be full of suspense. If you are interested in a simple character-driven story with a little more than meets the initial eye, you might enjoy Hell or High Water. It’s a bit more quirky than you might think. If you expect a massive bank caper drama, this isn’t it. Mackenzie tries to take a different angle with this movie, adding humor, recklessness, and interesting side characters to a story, primarily a bank heist film. And while this movie has a 98% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, this doesn’t mean that most reviewers are scoring it a 9.8/10. Instead, it means that 49 out of 50 give this movie a positive review. While it is an interesting film (and the first one of 2016 I have watched twice), it is no longer a Best Picture candidate. I know there was talk that it might sneak into the race. I do not know how it got nominated for Best Picture, whereas a movie like Sully did not. While Hell or Hgh Water is a decent movie, I think many people (including myself) expected it to be far more significant than it was.