Jake Gyllenhaal (Life, Everest) continues to take on roles that, seemingly, are each more challenging than his previous. I don’t know if another actor under 50 has been snubbed as frequently as Gyllenhaal regarding Academy Award nominations for acting. To date, his only nomination is for 2005’s Brokeback Mountain. However, he has been the odd man out with several other roles, most notably in Southpaw and, particularly, Nightcrawler. While I would put his performance in David Gordon Green’s (All the Real Girls, Undertow) Stronger as one of his top six performances of all time, it may not be in his top three or four. While he was terrific, this movie did not captivate me in the same way that films like Nightcrawler, Southpaw, Nocturnal Animals, Life, Love and Other Drugs, or Brothers did. But it should have. This was based on a true story. It had the sentimentality of an average person overcoming the odds and becoming a symbol of patriotism all wrapped into one. And while this movie was very good, it wasn’t even Gyllenhaal’s best performance about a character overcoming adversity. That belongs to Southpaw. But just because the movie wasn’t amazing doesn’t mean it was not very good. It was.
Category Archives: Year of Release
The Big Sick (2017)
I was all set to review this movie and talk about its major flaws before I did one thing first. I looked at other reviews and learned this film is based on a true story. So rather than belabor the point I wanted to make, I’ll reference it later in the review and discuss its merits and minor flaws. Before I begin, I’ll mention that I didn’t think Michael Showalter’s (Hello, My Name is Doris) The Big Sick was marketed well when released over the summer. First of all, the movie’s title, its poster, its actors, and even its plot could have made more sense. Through in that Judd Apatow’s name was attached to it, and you had the thought that this was a raunchy comedy, much in the mold of Trainwreck, This Is 40, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and a host of other movies he didn’t even direct but was affiliated with as a producer or screenwriter. The Big Sick felt out of place from the start. It took word of mouth for this movie to get noticed and appreciated by audiences (despite its 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes).
Molly’s Game (2017)
I’ve mentioned many times that I am so glad I am not addicted to gambling. I have other vices, and the added temptation of a big payday by sacrificing my hard-earned money with less-than-successful odds sounds miserable.
In Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut, he tells the story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year, Take Shelter), an Olympic-level skier who once ran one of the most exclusive high-stakes poker games for more than a decade, two years before her arrest that saw FBI agents surrounding her house with automatic guns in the middle of the night. It’s a legitimate directorial debut and one that is worthy of its high praise. But despite how well made the movie is, I believe it to be a much more enjoyable and educational film if you are familiar with poker. I have no idea how to play the game, so while I was fascinated by the movie, there were many parts where I felt like the odd one sitting around a kitchen table because there were many terms thrown around that I did not understand as well as actions, motives, dialogue, and even purposes that felt very foreign to me. As a result, the movie didn’t hook me like it did many of the other films that Sorkin also wrote (The Social Network, Moneyball, Steve Jobs, Charlie Wilson’s War, not to mention his credits as a lead writer on television’s The West Wing and Newsroom). That’s not to say Sorkin should stick to screenwriting. He absolutely should not. It’s just that I will look forward to seeing him direct a movie revolving around a different theme in the future rather than revisiting Molly’s Game, a film that, frankly, will be one that I will forever forget about soon after I write this review.
mother! (2017)
There are two different types of people in the world. When asked if they’ve seen Darren Aronofsky’s (The Wrestler, Black Swan) mother, there is a group of people who will say no. And then there is the group of people who look at you with a bizarre look on their face and shamingly say, “Yeah,” and hope you don’t ask any follow-up questions. And that’s not to say they are embarrassed by admitting that they’ve seen the movie (we’ve all been at a theater before when we walk out with our heads down, hoping that we don’t see anybody that we know because we don’t want them to know we just paid to see a movie that bad, but because the film is so far out there that a follow-up question asking the person what they thought about it or if they liked it might allow them to draw conclusions about us. Aronofsky makes movies that you either love or hate. I adored The Wrestler and Black Swan but passionately hated Noah.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Guillermo del Toro’s (Nightmare Alley, Crimson Peak) adult fairytale The Shape of Water is a movie we’ve seen so many different times in so many different forms that it’s a wonder that we’d even be willing to see it again. Starcrossed lovers find themselves in a forbidden love situation while fighting off some catastrophe or at least societal pressures. Think Titanic, a nearly perfect movie showcasing this, will always be remembered by everyone who watches it. So, how does del Toro pull off this story in a wholly original yet equally compelling way? He does it in a way that only del Toro can do. And in doing so, he creates the most unparalleled and (with no disrespect to Call Me By Your Name) the most romantic movie of 2017. This movie certainly is not for everyone. If Thor: Ragnarok or Justice League is more your thing, then I’m not even sure I’d consider The Shape of Water. It is the ultimate independent movie, and if you go into this movie with the mindset that you’ll be able to enjoy the ride and not have to think, you’ll be in for two long hours. In a year where the movies have been the worst since I began my blog in 2010, the uniqueness of the films (rather than their quality) has defined this year.