Surprising myself by enjoying A Quiet Place and Buster Scruggs

2/1/19 A Quiet Place, nominated Best Sound Editing, 2018

A Quiet Place is normally the type of movie I won't even consider watching, I run the other direction (kind of like last year's surprise Get Out) until it appears on one of my blasted lists. And like with Get Out, I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I was irritated with myself for not watching it sooner. I am often bemoaning the lack of originality based on the number of remakes/reboots, but not here. Lee Abbott (John Krasinski who also directed and co-wrote the screenplay) is trying to protect his family, wife Evelyn (played by real life wife Emily Blunt), his children Regan, Marcus and Beau from aliens who have invaded Earth. The aliens are blind, but man, can they hear. This forces the family to rely on American Sign Language, which they have learned anyway because Regan is deaf. The actors (and it's a very small cast) work very well together, and kudos to Krasinksi for hiring a hearing-impaired actress (Millicent Simmonds) as Regan; there's an authenticity there, and then learning that the cast learned sign language impressed me more. I think the movie works so well because of the silence and the attempts to be silent, and not knowing what sound may reach the aliens. It is a perfect suspense film, because even when you think you know what's going to happen, you're still on edge; but often, you don't know what's going to happen. It's taut and tense, and while it uses special effects, it uses them sparingly; Krasinski relies on the actors more than effects, and I really appreciated it. I liked that the ending wasn't cookie cutter or sicky sweet, but I really want to know what happens (no spoilers here). I am surprised that it didn't get more nominations, visual effects, original screenplay or film editing; the sound editing nomination seems a little ironic. If you haven't seen it and didn't want to because of the aliens or because you're a scaredy cat like me, I would say give it a chance.

2/2/19 Solo: A Star Wars Story, nominated Best Visual Effects, 2018

Eh. I could have lived my whole life without seeing Solo: A Star Wars Story and been perfectly content. As it is, I have watched it and do not feel one iota different. I wasn't entertained (that's usually the easiest compliment I can give a movie is that it entertained me for a couple of hours). As you might guess, this is a movie that focuses on Han Solo and his adventures before he met Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia; we learn how Solo met Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian. There were some witty lines, but honestly, I'm not even sure it should have been nominated for Best Visual Effects, except, I think there's an unwritten Academy rule that if there is a Star Wars movie out, it has to be nominated for something.

2/2/19 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, nominated Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Original Song, 2018

It's always a crapshoot whether I'll like a Coen Brothers movie; I always want to, but it doesn't always happen; or, I'll like parts of the movie and roll my eyes for the rest. I surprised myself (I know, twice in one entry) but I loved it. Absolutely loved it. For one thing, it wasn't just one long movie, it was a series of short films, all with a Western theme and a macabre twist, kind of like if Edgar Allan Poe had been on the Oregon Trail; and all of the films were self-contained, so they didn't get too bogged down or go down one of those infamous rabbit holes. There are six vignettes, starring in no particular order: Tyne Daley, Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Stephen Root, Liam Neeson, Tom Waits and Brendan Gleeson. The film takes stories from the Old West with which we are all familiar: a gunslinger who can't be beaten, a bank robber/cattle rustler headed for a hanging, a gold miner, a family heading West looking for a new life; and they are given macabre twists. I don't want to give too much away because part of the fun was watching the stories unfold. The cinematography is spectacular; the color of the early morning and early evening is breathtaking. I was surprised it wasn't nominated in that category.

2/3/19 First Reformed, nominated Best Original Screenplay, 2018

An Ethan Hawke film I didn't hate. I didn't love it, but I thought Paul Schrader's film First Reformed raised some interesting points about faith, religion and man's responsibility to the world in which we live, and the difficulties in reconciling these things. Ernst Toller (Hawke) is the reverend at First Reformed Church in Snowbridge, New York, which is notable for being on the Underground Railroad and for being 250 years, but not much else. Toller is trying to cope with a crisis of faith after losing his son, Joseph, in the Iraq War, after encouraging him to follow the family tradition and serve in the military. Even as he is struggling to overcome his self-doubt, he meets a young parishioner, Mary (Amanda Seyfried) who seems to have faith enough for them both, but unfortunately, not enough for her husband, Michael, who has become a radical environmentalist, and does not want to bring their unborn child into this world. Schrader poses the question, through Toller, doesn't God want us to take care of the planet and treat its resources with respect and honor? How can people ( and there is a specific character in the movie to whom this is directed) who claim to be religious and praise God, destroy the planet with chemicals and over harvesting? Toller doesn't get a satisfactory answer to this, but seems more convinced that Michael was right. The movie takes a stranger and otherworldly turn at the end, which I guess I get, but I think endings like this make me shake my head and it's hard to take it seriously. I think this would make a good play (except for the ending) because it doesn't require a huge cast, you would need maybe three sets, there aren't any special effects, and it's good play material, lots of dialog, opportunities for the lead character to have a couple of soliloquys. Something to think about. I think it's worth seeing, but you can definitely watch it on the television.

As of this writing I have 34 movies left to see, ten which will be knocked off tomorrow after my annual trek to see the animated and live action shorts in Uptown. Stay warm.