Each year, there is at least one movie that I think I will hate and that I end up loving. Some years, it is much easier to pinpoint that movie than in other years. Not in 2017. Based on the trailers and the movie’s premise, I thought I would hate James Franco’s (Child of God, As I Lay Dying) The Disaster Artist. I will say that I knew nothing about Tommy Wiseau or the cult status of his movie The Room. However, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by this movie’s effectiveness. This movie had quite a bit of Oscar buzz heading into awards season. It netted Franco a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Unfortunately (for him), he was hit up with some sexual misconduct claims right around this time, and it very well could have cost him a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. This was the sixth-best performance of the year. As mentioned in previous posts, I would have gone with four nominated, minus Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel Esq.), and replaced him with Jake Gyllenhaal (Stronger). After seeing this movie, I would have knocked Washington’s performance down to seventh and inserted Franco’s performance as the best not to be recognized with a nomination. His performance was very good. The movie would still have been good had he directed it and cast someone else as the lead, but casting himself was the right call.
The Disaster Artist (2017)
Each year, there is at least one movie that I think I will hate and that I end up loving. Some years, it is much easier to pinpoint that movie than in other years. Not in 2017. Based on the trailers and the movie’s premise, I thought I would hate James Franco’s (Child of God, As I Lay Dying) The Disaster Artist. I will say that I knew nothing about Tommy Wiseau or the cult status of his movie The Room. However, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by this movie’s effectiveness. This movie had quite a bit of Oscar buzz heading into awards season. It netted Franco a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Unfortunately (for him), he was hit up with some sexual misconduct claims right around this time, and it very well could have cost him a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. This was the sixth-best performance of the year. As mentioned in previous posts, I would have gone with four nominated, minus Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel Esq.), and replaced him with Jake Gyllenhaal (Stronger). After seeing this movie, I would have knocked Washington’s performance down to seventh and inserted Franco’s performance as the best not to be recognized with a nomination. His performance was very good. The movie would still have been good had he directed it and cast someone else as the lead, but casting himself was the right call.
Movies that make you think long after they are over are among the best movies. Movies that make you feel present in the moment, or movies that bring out whatever type of emotion they were designed to bring out, are, of course, strong contenders to the effectiveness of a movie as well. But when you are still thinking about something you’ve seen, months or even years after it is over, and feeling the need to watch it again (even if you didn’t love it) is one of the biggest compliments you can give a movie. I’m saying that Patricia Rozema’s (Mansfield Park) Into the Forest is Platoon or E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Still, it is a movie that will keep you involved and have you think about it after viewing.
When I randomly clicked “add to queue” when Netflix prompted me with this and five or six other movies based on a movie I did want to see, I don’t remember anything strikingly vivid about the description other than reading it was a man who turned to drugs to deal with his pain. It was enough to earn a yes-click from me. I don’t even think the description had any of the actors’ names in it. So when the disc showed up in the mail, I tossed it to the side for a few days while watching other movies in my queue and some of my favorite shows. Then, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I decided to give the film a chance. I never thought it would be one that I would write about.
The best film adaptation of a Stephen King horror novel since the 1980s, The Shining, is not classics like Misery, Cujo, Pet Sematary, 1408, Christine, Firestarter, Thinner, or even IT (who seemingly everyone not named me seemed to love). Instead, it is the 2007 Frank Darabont’s (
2017 will go down as a year of very underwhelming movies. The nine films nominated for Best Picture were, by far, the poorest collection since 2009, when a decision was made that up to 10 movies could be nominated for Best Picture if they got enough votes. My Top 10 list has three of the nine movies for Best Picture (#5