Annual: The Films of 2017 - Part II
40) Lemon
The Bottom Line: A Bizarre, dark, morose, meaningless gaze into the life of a tragic, lonely, strange, strange man
(Also, Brett Gelman is actually one of the funniest people on the planet)
Imagine A Serious Man with no character or story arc and almost completely devoid of humor; just a sad depiction of a tired Jewish man and his miserable jewish family. That’s this movie.
Lemon is one of the strangest concoctions of dark comedy, of 2017. Maybe ever.
Brett Gelman continues to prove that he’s one of the funniest people on the planet right now and having co-wrote the screenplay, Gelman also proves to be one of the weirdest.
I won’t lie. There were multiple occasions Gelman had me legitimately laughing out loud and hard. Between his explosive outbursts and his quiet deadpan monologues, his range is absolutely tremendous and honestly, it made me wish he would take this off-beat quirk to another level. He’s too funny for this (ironic given he co-wrote it).
Because what it boils down to, in the end, is that the movie just doesn’t have a clear goal. It wants to be a self aware commentary on strange, lonely, depressed middle-age men; it wants to show how shitty life gets and how sometimes all an audience needs is a target to laugh at and feel sorry for. Granted, much of these nuances do hit home, especially in the stronger first half (which includes an outlandish Michael Cera, a pitiful Gillian Jacobs, and a blind Judy Greer).
But the film is also just remarkably weird and dark and depressing and not for any good reason. There’s no balance; no uplifting mood. At all. There’s absolutely no character arc. Much of the film (a whopping 83 minutes mind you) is characters expressing to each other how depressing and miserable their lives are, guaranteeing this experience (for those willing to endeavor it) to be some of the longest 83 minutes of your moviegoing life. So help you God.
It’s just a weird occasion and perhaps that's what I love about it. It’s as if Gelman sat down with co-writer & director Janicza Bravo and cooked up the strangest, most offbeat, unpleasant movie they could come up with and masqueraded it as a bleak, pitch black comedy. And to Gelman’s comedic genius, some of the outbursts of humor are absolutely hilarious. I just wish I could hold on to more than only the outbursts, because Gelman deserve to write and star in a much better picture than this.
The film is weird and to its own right it earns its weirdness and wears it on its sleeve, but Lord almighty, the film is almost unapproachable and will make anyone feel depressed for having watched it.
On a positive note, the movie is sour as f**k (title explanation unlocked) and at least it’s so strange; so off-putting that it's more digestible than the regurgitated Hollywood trash.
*10 points to Brett
Grade: D+
39) Wilson
The Bottom Line: Woody Harrelson is smarter than you
(He's also a tour de force, even in the worst of films)
If Lemon depicts the quiet, bizarre, awkward morality to depressed middle-aged men, Wilson is the loud-mouthed, obnoxious "woke" commentary on them.
Wilson, the film, is comically honest at best and naturally bland at worst. Coming off the comic book pages it's based on, and being resurrected by the guys who brought you Ghost World, the film strikes that dark sense of humor in reminding you that "life sucks and then you die," but even with the title character having the balls to say out loud what everyone else is only thinking, the film still lacks a lot of personality; it's kinda just there.
That said, Harrelson was born to play a role like this and he kills it. He plays such a likable asshole, making even the most dull moments of the movie shine, proving he's one of the more notable actors working today. As he held down the fort in War for the Planet of the Apes, Harrelson is the only reason this movie is tolerable. The script chugs along and like I said, gets points for brutal honesty but it's always Harrelson who's the glue holding it all together.
Grade: C
38) Split
The Bottom Line: McAvoy gives the performance of a lifetime
(Shyamalan kinda finds his funny bone)
If 2015’s The Visit proved anything it’s that the infamous M. Night Shyamalan is finally becoming self aware to he absurdity of his work.
Without going full on M. Night novella, I’m floored with the direction the man’s work has gone since the foundation of his career. After giving the world The Sixth Sense, one of the most essential horror-thrillers of all time, Shyamalan steered his career into an unfathomable path, with his each new film of his somehow being worse than the last. After almost being flopped out of Hollywood with films like The Last Air Bender and After Earth (*shudder*), the man delivered The Visit; the film about kooky, potentially murderous grandparents who oversee the grandkids; a film which, while still a not-good thriller with a signature Shyamalan twist, was a step in a refreshing direction: It was humorous.
And even when the film wasn’t actually funny (the child actors’ attempts at humor were mortifying), it delivered a self nodding awareness to the outrageous shenanigans Shyamalan was hurling at his audience. It’s like he was in on the joke, and where The Visit briefly worked, Split seems to take full control of its ridiculous madness.
First, there’s the premise: One man with 23 different personalities kidnaps three girls, locks them in a cellar, and by challenging each of the distinct personalities, the girls plot to escape.
It’s a ridiculous foundation for a story and without the self aware absurdity the film sometimes wears on its sleeve, the movie wouldn’t have worked at all. More so than that, the film needed to be believable enough to pull off a modest (if not excellent) thriller.
It’s a ridiculous foundation for a story and without the self aware absurdity the film sometimes wears on its sleeve, the movie wouldn’t have worked at all. More so than that, the film needed to be believable enough to pull off a modest (if not excellent) thriller.
It is here where we must credit James McAvoy. Any amount of stars or any score given to Split exist because of McAvoy’s performance. It is one that is completely self realized and perfected down to the very mannerisms. The way McAvoy speaks; the way he glances, winces, walks; the way the man sits; he’s a f**king shape-shifter and when the characters nor the audience can tell which personality he’s putting on, the character of Kevin often becomes utterly unnerving and by the climax, he’s absolutely terrifying. While he doesn’t have an Oscar nod to show, McAvoy gives it his all. This is the performance of his career and without him this movie would never have worked in a million years.
But SOMEHOW Shyamalan pulls it off. Like I said, most of (if not all) the credit is going to McAvoy on my end, but the most astonishing aspect to Split, aside from it being at times really bland, poorly acted, overly conventional, or too shoehorning-in of a last minute twist (Shyamalan just couldn’t contain himself), this is the first time since Signs that Shyamalan is notably fun again.
*2 points to Shyamalan
*20 points to McAvoy
*20 points to McAvoy
Grade: C+
37) Alien: Covenant
The Bottom Line: Like two completely different movies being crudely slapped together
(More importantly: Can Michael Fassbender get nominated for playing two roles in one movie?)
The Bottom Line: Like two completely different movies being crudely slapped together
(More importantly: Can Michael Fassbender get nominated for playing two roles in one movie?)
I'd like to begin by saying that I was one of the few who absolutely loved Prometheus from the moment I saw it and still defend it to this day (haters can eat a d**k). It's easily in my top 10 of 2012 (MAYBE even top 5 - I know I'm insane). So needless to say, when I heard we were going to continue the adventures of Noomi Rappace & the head of Michael Fassbender on the noble quest to meet their maker(s), I was immediately on board.
Flash forward to May 19, 2017, year of our Engineer & savior, when this reunion finally came... or so I thought. To put it short, the film is not at all what you'd expect. To put it longer, it's not even that the movie is BAD but you can't help but feel like the end result was a Frankenstein experiment of two totally different movies being melted together.
On the one hand there was the Prometheus sequel Ridley wanted to make and the movie is kinda there (everything with Michael Fassbender's character David) but then there's this straight up garbage Alien reboot in the mix and the tone of these two movies don't mix at ALL.
On the one hand there was the Prometheus sequel Ridley wanted to make and the movie is kinda there (everything with Michael Fassbender's character David) but then there's this straight up garbage Alien reboot in the mix and the tone of these two movies don't mix at ALL.
It's absolutely bananas: We jump from deep, philosophical mumbo-jumbo where one Fassbender robot teaches another Fassbender robot how to play flute and explains the meaning of their existence (arguably the highlight of the film), to a terribly rushed and formulaic bit where a subpar-CGI xenomorph absurdly and violently kills the idiotic humans as if this were the worst kind of Friday The 13th sequel imaginable. This drastic back and forth in tone continues all the way to a climax that is a complete rip-off of the Aliens ending, which is not only distracting but degrading to the entire Alien franchise.
Sure people didn't like Prometheus but at least it attempted to be different. The BEST parts of Covenant are literally all the scenes linked to Prometheus. It's the only time during the flick that things become even remotely interesting. That said, it's those Prometheus-parts (pretty much any scene with Fassbender) that are actually really good and it's a shame because we'll forever wonder the movie that could have been.
Let's just put it this way. When a chest-buster scene becomes boring, maybe it's a sign that we should call it a day with the Alien franchise.
*10 points to nice Fassbender
*15 points to naughty Fassbender
*15 points to naughty Fassbender
Grade: B-/C+
36) Okja
The Bottom Line: It’ll make you feel bad about eating meat for like, ten minutes.
(AKA: A Pro-PETA Charlotte’s Web of an Adventure Which Goes From Poignant To Propoganda)
(AKA: A Pro-PETA Charlotte’s Web of an Adventure Which Goes From Poignant To Propoganda)
For a large chunk of Netflix’s hit Okja, the film is legitimately fun. There’s a charming sense of adventure, excitement and humor all in favor of saving a precious, giant super-pig grown in a lab.
Obviously “fun” doesn’t come to mind when dealing with a pro-PETA piece of propaganda but if there’s one thing director Joon-Ho Bong proved with his 2006 monster movie The Host, it’s that even the most intensely thrilling stories are not just fun but human to the very core.
Okja is ultimately a compelling although frustrating picture because its end goal is to shove PETA messages down the throat of the audience when, if given into the adventurous story it lays out, the film could have driven its message home while being an even better film. For 3/4 of the movie the audience is swept from compelling family emotional drama to a life-or-death rescue mission and for 3/4 of the movie, it all works. Really well.
The characters are fleshed out and likable, the stakes of the plot are high, the direction is swift, the actors nail their roles; everything falls into place. And just when it seems like it’s all building to a glorious Hollywood climax (there are escapist tropes that stretch as far as Charlotte’s Web, King Kong and all sorts of Disney films) the ‘save Okja’ payoff feels more rushed than earned. The end result instead trades its would-be rescue mission for a graphic, heartbreaking gaze into the horrors of animal cruelty.
The characters are fleshed out and likable, the stakes of the plot are high, the direction is swift, the actors nail their roles; everything falls into place. And just when it seems like it’s all building to a glorious Hollywood climax (there are escapist tropes that stretch as far as Charlotte’s Web, King Kong and all sorts of Disney films) the ‘save Okja’ payoff feels more rushed than earned. The end result instead trades its would-be rescue mission for a graphic, heartbreaking gaze into the horrors of animal cruelty.
It didn’t bother me that the film went in that direction so much as the regret at what could have been a much more exciting take on animal cruelty, rather than having it forced down the consumer’s throats. I understand animal cruelty is in no way exciting and Bong makes this excruciatingly clear, but the film crosses a harsh line that doesn’t further the message any more than the audience already felt before the climax.
The film is a missed opportunity at being as memorable as the fun rescue movie it masquerades as for most of the run time. In the end, it leaves a more sour, shameful taste in the audience’s mouths, more so for those who endeavor in eating meat. Still, most of Okja is a grandiose mega-movie that would have been a pleasure to see on the big screen.
*10 points to protein
Grade: B
35) Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2
The Bottom Line: Weaker yet funnier, more character driven, and featuring a villain that doesn't suck.
(Also, Superimposed young Kurt Russell is the most terrifyingly realistic thing I've seen in all of 2017)
(Also, Superimposed young Kurt Russell is the most terrifyingly realistic thing I've seen in all of 2017)
Let me start by saying that Guardians of the Galaxy is where the Marvel Cinematic Universe peaks for me. It's the rare mix of comic book action, self aware humor and bizarro characters that have remarkable chemistry. It was so much better than it had any right being that it's a miracle the movie worked at all. James Gunn not only nailed it but he left his mark on the film as a creative auteur rather than having his vision get lost to the "MCU workflow" if you will (like most of the other entries). That being said, Volume 2 isn't as savory as that first film but it offers a LOT more of what the first one had only teased at.
For starters, There's a lot more humor this time. It's much more slapstick and filled with way more gags that are bound to either make audiences laugh or cringe (there's a very Monty-Python-esque sequence where Baby Groot has trouble retrieving an artifact to assist a prison break, and it takes a couple of minutes). Gunn puts a lot of eggs into the joke basket so if you didn't care much for the humor of the first one, the comedy here might feel overwhelming.
For another aspect, the characters are either much more well refined or simply not at all. We of course learn more about Peter Quill's origins as he gets to know his long lost father, and we learn way more than bargained for about Rocket and Yondu (Yondue played by the show-stealing Michael Rooker who also happens to be best friends with director James Gunn), but Drax gets side-lined with newcomer Mantis, and Gamora could have been written out altogether (her story line feels segregated from much of the plot where Nebula actually feels more important this round).
As for characters, the most impressive addition is the movie's villain. Ever since Loki, the MCU has been dragging with their cardboard, one-dimensional villains but Guardians vol. 2 of all things is the one that kinda nails it. The movie helps you grow to understand the motivations of the villain and it all ends with a payoff and climax that features one of the best final acts of an MCU entry yet.
As for characters, the most impressive addition is the movie's villain. Ever since Loki, the MCU has been dragging with their cardboard, one-dimensional villains but Guardians vol. 2 of all things is the one that kinda nails it. The movie helps you grow to understand the motivations of the villain and it all ends with a payoff and climax that features one of the best final acts of an MCU entry yet.
And sure, the soundtrack isn't nearly as good as vol. 1 but it's still snazzy and in the end, what counts is that the movie doesn't feel like a wasted opportunity. No, the story still hasn't connected with The Avengers' universe but the movie's separation from the MCU is actually what makes the experience much more enjoyable rather than feeling like it's some bloated middle chapter in a bigger saga (like Civil War for example).
Take it for what it is, folks. This is Guardians turned up to 11; Everything is amplified. If you liked the first, you'll love the second. If you didn't care much for the first, you'll probably hate the second.
Regardless, James Gunn is still the man, and Michael Rooker owns the movie (He's Mary Poppins, y'all).
*5 points to the big toe that Baby Groot sawed off when Yondu was trying to describe what he needed in order to bust out of prison (How was this never discussed again?)
Grade: B
34) The Founder (2017 US Release)
The Bottom Line: Greed will get you anything in life
The Bottom Line: Greed will get you anything in life
AKA:The Bad Guy Wins.
But The Bad Guy Is Also Michael Keaton.
So How Mad U Really Gonna Get?
C’Mon Fam.
But The Bad Guy Is Also Michael Keaton.
So How Mad U Really Gonna Get?
C’Mon Fam.
For starters, The Founder is a film I closely tracked since its initial targeted Summer 2016 release. More than the horrifically true story of Ray Kroc being a total dick in order to own The Golden Arches, it was Keaton who made the hype real.
And real talk, The Founder, as fine a film as it is (and fine is about as good as it gets), without Keaton the movie wouldn’t have felt like more than a really special Lifetime TV special. That’s no disrespect to director John Lee Hancock or any of the fine supporting cast whom I adore (including Nick Offerman and Linda Cardellini) but the film is also a very bare-bones story of a man who conned a bunch of people into turning McDonald’s into the billion dollar corporation it has become today.
Don’t get me wrong the statistics are super fascinating. The entire analysis of business scheming and corporal foundation is intriguing, and director Hancock truly paints a behind-the-scenes picture of just how hard the men worked to operate McDonalds, and just how much of an asshole Kroc truly was in order to take that business away from those men. But in the end, it’s always Keaton who holds down the fort.
The malicious trickery Keaton embodies; it’s truly as if he brings Kroc to life and he does so in a believable and frustrating manner. Much of the film’s response is negative due to its bleak, realistic Trump of an ending moral where greed = success, but the film almost needs to be malicious in order to drive home the notion that Kroc was a literal real-life schmuck.
Ah, and what a schmuck he is. Keaton makes Kroc one of the most satisfyingly hated antagonists in recent memory. And it’s because he starts off as our protagonist that makes his journey to asshole-ville one that feels truly earned. The audience is clearly supposed to hate Kroc by the end, and if that was Hancock’s message, he nailed it.
*50 points to Keaton.
LONG LIVE THE ONE TRUE BATMAN
Grade: B
33) Strong Island
The Bottom Line: One of the most important documentaries ever made
The ‘Black Lives Matter’ conversation is one that will never nor should ever go away. For so long we have lived in a White America and a film like Strong Island; a film which speaks volumes on the race issue in America is one that is both culturally relevant and shockingly provocative.
The film is a gripping, painstaking reminder that things are still not okay with this country. Yance Ford’s story and her craft are remarkable and heartbreaking.
Being based on a true story; a story of black murder, white mistrial, struggling pain, crippling identity, this is a film that rings troubling, tragic and true.
Being based on a true story; a story of black murder, white mistrial, struggling pain, crippling identity, this is a film that rings troubling, tragic and true.
It should be seen by all.
Grade: A
32) Lucky
The Bottom Line: A raw glimpse of facing mortality
(Stanton did not go gentle into that goodnight)
(Stanton did not go gentle into that goodnight)
Harry Dean Stanton was always a pleasure to watch during his lifetime of acting, whether he be a supporting role in Alien or stealing a small spotlight in Twin Peaks. Ironically enough, Stanton's final performance before his death at 91 was the late actor's swan song; his most poignant and perhaps his absolute best work.
John Carrol Lynch's Lucky is a depressing dramedy that simply serves no other purpose than to peer through the looking glass from the point of view of a man at the end of his life. Stanton's title character Lucky approaches the inevitable notion of death with neither purpose nor faith in an afterlife, representing one of the most holistically honest depictions of mortality I've ever seen captured in film.
Supporting characters each serve their purpose. Ron Livingston's Bobby sells life insurance, Beth Grant's Elaine keeps a bar with restricted house rules, and David Lynch's Howard raves about his dear pet tortoise that has run away. Each character is poignant in depicting all kinds of metaphors for life and its significance, but it all comes back to Stanton's Lucky.
For Stanton to go out on a note like this is all things ironic and poetic, and with a performance so enigmatic; so shrouded in mystery, as we never truly dive into Lucky's thoughts or feelings on his elder life, it is one to behold as Stanton appears to just be playing a simple, old man. But like anyone who's reached his age, there's always a lifetime of stories, secrets, dreams and fears of which we only just scratch the surface.
*5 points to old people
*10 points to Stanton
*10 points to Stanton
Grade: B+
31) I Don't Feel at Home In This World Anymore
The Bottom Line: A Coen Bros tribute in a Trump era (Elijah Wood is an unsung hero).
The Bottom Line: A Coen Bros tribute in a Trump era (Elijah Wood is an unsung hero).
First time writer-director Macon Blair does a stellar job with an overly abundant message for his audience: Don’t be an asshole.
For a debut like IDFAHINTWA (yeah, let’s go with that), this is overall one of the more pleasant films of 2017. Melanie Lynskey plays a remarkably relatable protagonist who’s always getting bested and shoehorned out of the way by every day people whether they be vulgar hospital patients of hers or whether they be dicks who cut her in line at the grocery store.
And while Lynskey is wonderful, it’s Elijah Wood who continues to put on stellar performances no matter what he’s in. Everything from his rat tail hairdo to his denim and aviators; from his abundantly quiet nerdy persona to his awkward martial arts skills, his character of Tony is the g**damned glowing star of this picture and this might be one of Wood’s best roles he’s ever played.
That said, the film is a nice nihilistic take on the Trump era of assholes getting away with shit and justice not being served. What’s nice is that this message, rather than being shoved down the audience’s throats, is dished out in snappy dialogue, quirky black humor, brutal violence and a Coen-bros-style take on bumbling protagonists getting roped into a crime story because they’re trying to get some simple answers.
The film is a rabbit hole of a detective story, gleefully jumping to and from its plot points like a frog on a lilypad. And amidst the cartoonish thugs and the high-stakes third act, the film explores its humanity through relatable situations that escalate from the passive-aggressiveness of someone letting their dog shit on your lawn, to the CSI-wannabe tactics in tracking down a laptop using a mobile phone app; a result that ends with Elijah Wood throwing ninja stars at people.
The movie is funny, thrilling and drives home its “don’t be a dick” message, even when the film doesn’t quite push itself beyond its own limits. But for a first time debut from one of the minds behind Green Room, this film can feel at home in this world for anyone who wants to let it in.
*10 points to Elijah Wood's rat-tail hairdo
