Wind River: 5/5 stars. The 10th film of all time that I have awarded a perfect 5/5 score to.
Basically; everything about this movie works, from the acting, to the cinematography, to the bleak and snowy Wyoming landscape, to the thematic content, to the Nick Cave soundtrack, to the "brutal and shocking" violence (Richard Roeper's words- which describe the violence dead on), and to; most of all, the tension that builds up and boils over throughout scenes in the movie (in particular, one scene stands out above the rest. Probably the most intense shit I have ever sat through while watching any form of cinema.)
As many of you may have gleaned from reading my reviews, I am big on actors and put a lot of weight regarding their performances into how much I enjoy a film.
I previously told @mr.hockey4242 a couple of days ago when he mentioned this film in this thread that I am not a huge fan of Jeremy Renner, which was an accurate statement at the time. I did not hate him, there are far worse actors, but I often regard him more as a side-piece than a main character (but then, even his role in the MCU as whatever fucking lame hero he claims to be is stupid to me), which is probably the reason I am not huge on The Hurt Locker (3/5 stars). Before today, I figured that the best you can get from Renner is a forgettable but not very significant role like in Arrival (5/5 stars). Anything more than that, and you risk some Town (1.5/5 stars) shit (which isn't a terrible performance from him, and I appreciate his ballsiness. Actually, the more that I think about it, the more I think he wasn't so bad so much as the movie fucking blew).
After seeing Wind River today, my whole opinion of the guy has changed. He's not like one of my favorite actors now or anything, but he captured lightening in a bottle with his performance in Wind River. He's usually a pretty stoic character in his films, but he does show vulnerability and then, later, strength in his performance. I actually think his character, Cory, is a little more nuanced a character than he appears at first. Renner pulled the shit off, so I have to give credit where credit is due.
As an aside, I remember reading the film's premise, and then sitting in the theater watching the first 10 minutes of the movie and thinking "Michael Shannon would have been 10 times better portraying Renner's character." While I do think that Shannon could have been just as good as Cory, I do not think he would have surpassed Renner's performance (and that's just because Shannon is an amazing actor). Most other actors would not have been as good as Jeremy in this particular role.
Awesome fucking film. Go see it now
I only made the claim when I had heard that the film's main character was some hunter motherfucker who is trying to solve a murder. That sounded right up Shannon's wheelhouse.Yup. Like I said we knew he could write but now he's proven he can direct an amazing film with it.
Disagree on Shannon in the role. That guy is awesome but I can't envision him as the Corey character. Renner nailed it and was perfectly cast. Pine who wasn't originally signed on was another great choice but glad it was Renner.
I'm with you about casting/acting being a huge part of a film being good. All of Sheridans movies have nailed it so far(first two he probably didn't cast at all though).
The Third Man: 1/5 stars. Watched this film yesterday after I rented it from Amazon. Pretty fucking bad, and it is hailed as one of the greatest films ever. Orson Welles is (surprisingly) a very good villain, but he has like 10 fucking minutes of screen time. Ebert called him one of the greatest villains in cinematic history- the fuck??? Even if he had 50 minutes of screen time, I doubt I'd go that far.
The broad in the film (can't remember her name/too lazy to look it up) was a very average actress.
I am 20. I don't think that age would matter much in watching any film- there are many movies that are older that I really enjoyHow old are you? That can be a factor in watching old movies that have been proclaimed great.
His next film is American Made and the preview looked very interesting.*Stared at The Mummy 2017. Slowly closed eyes*
"Fine...."
*Watched movie*
Conclusion, Tom Cruise can still run. No thumbs up from me.
Watched Blue Lagoon last night for first time in over 30 years.
Holy shit! First, how were they able to film that movie in the late 70s? Second, how is Hulu able to post it without breaking child-pron laws? There was a 10(ish) year old boy and an 8(ish) year old girl running around with full frontal for a good portion of the first 30 mins or so of the movie. I understand that all of Brook Shields' scenes were done with body doubles (she was 14/15 during the filming), but I thought you still were unable to PORTRAY underage sex/nudity?
Ok, despite that, it was still an engrossing movie, even 37 years after release. The ending was hard to believe, though. 6 or 7 years after the accident and the father/uncle just happens to bump into them on the day they NEED to be rescued? Minor gripe, but still...
Overall, still a decent movie. 7/10