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: Jon Bernthal
The Accountant (2016)
Gavin O’Connor’s (Pride and Glory, Miracle) The Accountant is a movie that resonated with audiences ($86 million at the box office, 78% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes) but nearly as much with critics (a score of just 51% on Rotten Tomatoes). I saw the movie on its opening weekend because I thought the trailer looked fantastic. I’ve been a big fan of just about everything Ben Affleck (Argo, Gone Girl) touches in front and behind the camera since 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, a film that led to his reemergence as a Hollywood A-lister. The Accountant looked like it would be the type of movie I enjoy. I love a gritty drama/thriller that is dark, mysterious, and violent.
Fury (2014)
David Ayer’s (Harsh Times, End of Watch) Fury is a mix of bits and pieces from about every war movie you’ve ever seen. It’s Saving Private Ryan meets Apocalypse Now meets Black Hawk Down meets Platoon sprinkled in with a little bit of The Perfect Storm. It unsuccessfully tries to tug on your emotions while telling fragments of stories about each of the five main characters. If you read spoilers for this movie, you might think this movie is fantastic. The trailer makes the film look incredible.
The potential was there for this movie to be a classic. It had the correct script. It had the right cast. The direction was not excellent. If the goal was to feel for these characters as you do for the movies I mentioned in the first couple of sentences of this review, it ultimately failed. If the goal was to leave you with a story that you’d remember for years and years, it died there, too. If the goal was to provide a two-hour escape from life, I’m not sure it did that. At times, it was far too slow, and you weren’t exactly sitting on the edge of your seat during the action scenes. But, on the other hand, I never felt like I wasn’t watching a movie. That’s never a good thing.