Review: All the Money in the World (2017)

* * *
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, Christopher Plummer

In the long run All the Money in the World may never quite get out from under the shadow that looms over it, destined perhaps to be best remembered as the answer to a trivia question, even though it has a lot more going for it than the behind the scenes saga about how it managed to come to the screen. It has a fantastic performance from Michelle Williams, for one thing, and a great one from Christopher Plummer, and both are just as impressive as director Ridley Scott's ambitious/crazy plan to reshoot parts of the film in order to excise original star Kevin Spacey but keep the film's original release date (the film was released right on schedule December 18th, despite reshoots taking place during the week of American Thanksgiving). This isn't to suggest that the fact that Scott actually pulled this off doesn't make for a grand technical achievement (not to mention one hell of a story itself), I just want to make sure to emphasize that the end result is more than just an exercise in trying to achieve what should be impossible on such a tight deadline.

Review: Darkest Hour (2017)

* * *
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Gary Oldman, Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas

Even once you've taken into account all of the elements that Darkest Hour has on its side before you've even watched it - the natural conflict, drama, and emotion that arose from the decision of the British government to oppose rather than appease Hitler and a larger than life protagonist in the form of Winston Churchill - it still manages to be an effective film. Conventional, yes. Crowd pleasing, certainly. But effective, nevertheless, because it knows what it has and how to use it. Built around a towering performance from Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour never becomes more than just what you expect it to be, but delivers exactly what it promises, which is a rousing historical drama that moves with clockwork precision through classical narrative beats. Nothing more, but nothing less, either.

Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

* * 1/2
Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher

I don't understand the amount of vitriol that has come from people who think The Last Jedi is the worst movie in the Star Wars franchise (is Attack of the Clones still a movie? Because no movie with the words "Star Wars" attached to it will ever be worse than that), but I have to confess that I also don't understand the amount of love it's received from people who think it's one of the best movies in the Star Wars franchise. It's a perfectly fine movie, one which left me largely entertained while also leaving me with some reservations, one which should not be inspiring people to make Change.org petitions (though whomever started the Porg one is a comedic genius whose time was well spent), but which shouldn't be inspiring people to bend over backwards with praise either. I didn't think it was great, I didn't think it was terrible, and my overall emotional response to it was pretty muted.

Florida, Nevada, and Online Film Critics Award Winners

Catching up with some of the awards given out over the holidays, here are the winners from the Florida, Nevada, and Online Film Critics:

Florida Film Critics Circle
Best Picture: Dunkirk

Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk

Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

Best Actress: Margot Robbie, I, Tonya

Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Best Ensemble: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Original Screenplay: Get Out

Best Adapted Screenplay: Call Me By Your Name

Best Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049

Best Visual Effects: Blade Runner 2049

Best Art Direction/Production Design: Blade Runner 2049

Best Score: Blade Runner 2049

Best Documentary: Jane

Best Foreign Language Film: BPM

Best Animated Film: Coco

Best First Film: Get Out

21st Century Essentials: Carol (2015)

Director: Todd Haynes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Country: United States/United Kingdom

Carol is a film that opens with an image of rigid uniformity, then tells a story about two women discovering their capacity to break away from the social conformity that surrounds them. Directed by Todd Haynes, Carol is a film of great restraint - told in passages of coded language and moments and as a story unfolding beneath a public facade - and incredible emotional resonance. One of the unlikeliest cult movies of recent years, Carol is an endlessly rewatchable piece of work that, despite its specificity of time and place, tells a profoundly human story about loneliness, desire, and love. Anchored by fantastic performances from Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, this is a beautiful film that easily qualifies as one of the best not just of the last decade, but of the century so far.

Review: Get Out (2017)

* * * 1/2
Director: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener

Better late than never. At a time of the year when movie pundits debate which film best encapsulated the cultural feeling of 2017, Get Out seems to have the edge on claims of capturing the zeitgeist, though it may have an uphill battle in terms of gaining actual industry recognition, given that Hollywood is a very conservative industry that just happens to be full of prominent liberals who represent the exact kind of "white liberalism" that this film so perfectly skewers. Even when the industry does embrace it, a la the film's two Golden Globe nominations (though the Hollywood Foreign Press Association may better be described as "industry adjacent"), it does so in a way that suggests it doesn't really get it. I mean, Musical or Comedy? Get Out's final dialogue exchange is actually pretty hilarious, but there's really nothing funny about what Get Out has to say about race and violence.

Seattle, Vancouver, St. Louis, and Indiana Film Critics Award Winners

The critics out of Seattle, Vancouver, St. Louis, and Indiana weighed in today. Their winners:

Seattle Film Critics SocietyBest Picture: Get Out
Best Director: Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Best Ensemble: Get Out
Best Screenplay: Lady Bird
Best Animated Feature: Coco
Best Documentary Feature: Faces Places
Best Foreign Language Film: Raw
Best Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049
Best Costume Design: Phantom Thread
Best Film Editing: Dunkirk
Best Original Score: Phantom Thread
Best Production Design: Blade Runner 2049
Best Visual Effects: War for the Planet of the Apes
Best Youth Performance: Brooklyn Prince, The Florida Project

Chicago, Atlanta, San Diego, Kansas City, and African American Film Critics Awards

The critics out of Chicago, Atlanta, and San Diego, along with the association of African American Film Critics, announced their winners over the course of the last week, with Get Out the big winner. Update: the Kansas City Film Critics also weighed in this evening and also went for Get Out. All of their picks:

Kansas City Film CriticsBest Picture: Get Out
Robert Altman Award for Best Director: Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Best Original Screenplay: Get Out
Best Adapted Screenplay: Call Me By Your Name and Logan (tie)
Best Animated Feature: Coco
Best Documentary: Jane
Best Foreign Language Film: In the Fade
Tom Poe Award for Best LGBT Film: Call Me By Your Name
Vince Koehler Award for Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror Film: Get Out

Screen Actors Guild Nominations

The nominees are:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
The Big Sick
Get Out
Lady Bird
Mudbound
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
James Franco, The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel Esq

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Judi Dench, Victoria & Abdul
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Outstanding Performance by Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Steve Carell, Battle of the Sexes
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Hong Chau, Downsizing
Holly Hunter, The Big Sick
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
Logan
War For the Planet of the Apes
Wonder Woman

Review: The Disaster Artist (2017)

* * * 1/2
Director: James Franco
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco

Here's to the ones who dream
Foolish as they may seem
Here's to the hearts that ache
Here's to the mess we make

What The Disaster Artist accomplishes seems almost impossible. It could easily have been a very mean spirited movie in which a bunch of very rich, very successful people ruthlessly mocked the efforts of a bunch of not rich and unsuccessful people. Instead it's a film that manages to mine a grandiose personality for humor while still acknowledging that it's a very courageous thing to pursue an artistic ambition and open yourself up to the kind of ridicule that, in fact, met the film at the center of this "making of" story. The Disaster Artist is a film made with affection and it's one of the best, funniest comedies I've seen all year.

Golden Globe Nominees

The nominees are:

Best Motion Picture - Drama:
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy:
The Disaster Artist
Get Out
The Greatest Showman
I, Tonya
Lady Bird

Golden Globe Nominee Predictions

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces its nominations tomorrow morning. My predictions:

Best Motion Picture - Drama:
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy:
The Big Sick
The Disaster Artist
Get Out
I, Tonya
Lady Bird

Washington, Boston Online, Toronto, San Francisco, New York Online, Philadelphia, and Boston Society of Film Critics Awards

A slew of critics groups gave out awards this weekend, spreading the love in most categories but creating frontrunners in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories. Here's the rundown:

Philadelphia Film Critics
Best Picture: Get Out

Best Director: Jordan Peele, Get Out

Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Script: Get Out

Best Foreign Language Film: Graduation

Best Documentary: Jane

Best Directorial Debut: Get Out

Best Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049

Best Score: Coco

Best Breakthrough Performance: Brooklyn Prince, The Florida Project

Review: The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

* * *
Director: Bharat Nalluri
Starring: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer

You know the story. It's the one about the man whose heart needs to be more open and receives three spectral visitors who make him see the error of his ways. You may never have read A Christmas Carol, but you've doubtless seen a version of it as it has been adapted to pretty much every performance medium from film to television to stage plays to opera to ballet and even a mime production staring Marcel Marceau in 1973. A Christmas Carol is proof positive that a story well told is one that can be told over and over again. The Man Who Invented Christmas is about the writing of A Christmas Carol, borrowing from the structure and plot of the story to map out its own narrative, and it's a movie as light as a small breeze. It's sweet, but in a way that doesn't feel too cute and in a way that works best the less you know about Dickens going into it (its warm and fuzzy vision of the Dickens' home life would make it a terrible companion to the 2013 film The Invisible Woman).

21st Century Essentials: Eastern Promises (2007)

Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Country: United Kingdom/Canada/United States

David Cronenberg is a filmmaker who is no stranger to the theme of duality - people who aren't who they appear to be, people who physically become something they aren't meant to; people who are, essentially, two beings in one - and in the mid-2000's he made two films, both starring Viggo Mortensen, that function as mirrors of each other in the way that they tackle the theme. The first was A History of Violence, a film about a bad guy who is masquerading as a good guy to escape his past. The second was Eastern Promises, a film about a good guy who is masquerading as a bad guy in order to secure a foothold for information for the future. Both are violent, both are brilliant, and both examine components of our society that are at once venerated as essential to society's survival while also being at the root of so much destruction in that same society. The two films make wonderful companion pieces, but they are also very much capable of standing on their own. To watch them both is especially enriching, but to watch just one is still exceptional cinematic experience.

Critics' Choice Award nominees

The Broadcast Film Critics Association announced their nominees for the Critics' Choice Awards this morning. The awards will be handed out January 11th. The nominees:

Best Picture
The Big Sick
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Florida Project
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Review: Free Fire (2017)

* 1/2
Director: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer

There's a line in Frances Ha, where the best friend of the title character walks into the home of two hipster guys and declares that the apartment is "very aware of itself." Free Fire is like that apartment; it's very aware of itself. The problem is that it's trying very hard to be cool, and one of the key components of coolness is a lack of visible effort. Reservoir Dogs, the film this one very much wants to be, is such an enduring work of cinematic cool in part because it doesn't feel like Quentin Tarantino is trying to impress anyone with it; Tarantino, as ever, does things in a way that will entertain himself and if others are also entertained by it, all the better. Free Fire, by contrast, works very hard to engineer the kinds of moments and dialogue exchanges that become touchstones to a cult following. The result is that it all feels very manufactured, which isn't aided by the fact that 90% of the cast members look exactly the same with their facial hair and generally unkempt '70s styling. If you're in the mood for what amounts to a 70 minute shoot out, Free Fire might appeal to you, but be forewarned that the film runs out of ideas to make that shoot out interesting after about 20 minutes.

Review: Table 19 (2017)

* *
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Starring: Anna Kendrick

At times Table 19 feels like nothing more than a premise - an evening spent at "the losers" table at a wedding reception - barely elaborated upon. Its characters are little more than sketches and its plot turns tend to rely on one character figuring something out about another based on almost nothing. Running at a quick 87 minutes, during which its handful of characters each has and neatly resolves a crisis, it's light and fluffy and almost instantly forgettable. Yet despite this, and largely because the film has the great good fortune of Anna Kendrick in the lead, it's not without its charms. It's empty calories, but so are cupcakes and sometimes you just want something that's not good for you but that gives you a short-lived buzz. Basically, if you have an hour and a half to spare, you could do worse than spend it with Table 19.

Los Angeles Film Critics Winners

The Los Angeles Film Critics weighed in today, with Call Me By Your Name taking the big prize. Their winners:

Best Picture: Call Me By Your Name

Best Director: Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water

Best Actress: Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

Best Supporting Actor: Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Best Screenplay: Jordan Peele, Get Out

Best Cinematography: Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water

Best Music/Score: Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread

Best Production Design: Dennis Gassner, Blade Runner 2049

Best Editing: Lee Smith, Dunkirk

Best Foreign Language Film: BPM and Loveless

Best Animated Film: The Breadwinner

Best Documentary: Faces Places

Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award: Lee Ann Schmidtt, Purge This Land