LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - This, my friends, is my final “Film on 11” article for THV11. I’ve worked at THV11 for 14 years and been the film critic for the last eight.
The first film I reviewed was the reboot of Clash of the Titans and my last one was Mission Impossible: Fallout.
I’ve seen more movies than I can count, and I remember less than half of them. My goal has always been to give you the best information I can to help you decide how to spend your box office dollars. I hope that I’ve been clear in my opinions and not too harsh on certain films. I’ve been wrong a lot. I’ve gone back and re-watched films I initially didn’t like to find that I enjoyed them after all, and the reverse is also true.
I’ve been honored that people have stopped me in public to talk about a movie they just saw or ask me for a recommendation. That’s what I will miss the most. If you see me out now, please stop and say “hello”. I may not know much about the latest releases, but it’d still be a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
Instead of giving you a final review, I thought I would leave you with a list of 11 of my favorite trends and films of the last eight years:
The Rise of Comic Book Movies
How fun has the last 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe been? Just when I think I’m getting tired of these movies they come out with a new one and it’s great!
We’ve also seen the X-Men franchise have a bit of a reboot/prequel/extended universe thing going on. We’re currently on the 3rd reboot of the Spider-Man franchise in 16 years and we got a reboot of the Fantastic Four that underwhelmed.
We’ve also seen DC and Warner Bros. try to launch their own cinematic universe to mixed results. Wonder Woman was great, Man of Steel was good, Batman v Superman was convoluted, Justice League fell flat, and Suicide Squad was awful. Hopefully, it will get turned around.
I do think that eventually, the bubble will burst on comic book films simply because tastes and audiences change. But until then, I plan to enjoy the ride.
The Return of Star Wars
I can’t tell you how excited I am that we get new Star Wars movies. Between the core trilogy and the spin-offs, the TV series, the new comics and novels, it’s an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan! One of the neatest things I’ve done as a film critic was going to a Star Wars Marathon leading up to the premiere of The Force Awakens.
It started at 3 a.m. and ended at 10 p.m. It was a long day and I may have napped during A New Hope but the excitement and energy in the room was thick and I will never forget it and would absolutely do it again.
The Films of Christopher Nolan
When I started narrowing down this list, I noticed that all of Nolan’s films were on it and there was no way I could eliminate any of them, so I decided to out all of them under one banner. There’s a lot of great directors there but it’s hard for a director to put together a run of films like this.
Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy has set the standard for storytelling and characterizations of superheroes and villains on film. His mind-warping story in Inception made us wonder if we were all trapped in a dream, Interstellar showed us that no matter how much time separates us we are linked by a more powerful universal force (and made science exciting), and he seemed to manipulate time itself with his unique way of telling the story of Dunkirk.
Socially Conscious “Black” Films
We’re in an interesting age of social consciousness. There’s a long way to go but progress is being made in telling the stories of the black experience in film and in representation of minorities not only onscreen but behind the scenes. We’re moving in the right direction away from stereotypes and seeing real characters and real situations and characters and filmmakers that young black children can look up to.
Examples of these films are Get Out, Sorry to Bother You, Blindspotting, Selma, 13th, A Wrinkle in Time, Black Panther, BlacKKKlansmen, 12 Years A Slave, Mudbound, The Butler, The Birth of A Nation, Straight Outta Compton, Hidden Figures, Detroit, and Loving. Some of those films are fiction, some are based on true stories, some depict actual events, and some of them just let kids see someone who looks like them on film in a positive light, but they all give insight into that experience. It’s an experience that a lot of people ignore or choose not to explore.
You’ve heard the saying “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes” and one of the best ways to do this is through film because film can express things and take you out of your comfort zone in a way that doesn’t feel threatening. We don’t all have to turn into social justice warriors, but a little insight never hurt anybody.
While I’m talking about this I should also mention that Hollywood is also working towards opening avenues for women filmmakers and that’s just as exciting and equally important.
Among all the movies of 2017, this one has stuck with me the most. Jordan Peele’s directorial debut handles the balance of racial fear with light and dark humor. Turning social commentary into satirical horror. Pointing out the experiences and fears of being black, Get Out offers insight into an experience that most of us will never have but many have lived, and continue to live on a day-to-day basis.
Very few comic-book movies have left me speechless at the end. I sat in silence for the entirety of the end credits of Logan. It’s a different take on the character, taking what has traditionally been an action film and turning it into a western. It was a bold move and it pays off in every way grounded by Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart. Stewart puts in his best performance as Professor Charles Xavier and one of his best cinematic roles to date. I recommend watching the black-and-white version of the film, which helps focus your attention on the characters and the actors’ performances.
Back in April, I made a list ranking the Marvel films in order of best to worst. I’ve watched Black Panther a few times since then and I’ve decided that my list was wrong. Black Panther is the best film in the MCU. I am captivated by the performances of the leads in the film. Chadwick Boseman is one of the best actors around and when pitted against the commanding presence of Michael B. Jordan as the villain and those scenes becomes a little more intense. Throw in Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Sterling K. Brown, and the rest of the cast and you have the best-acted film in the MCU.
What truly made Black Panther great was the excitement leading up to it - the fundraisers to send kids to go see it that wouldn’t otherwise be able to go and all the conversations about culture, history, and diversity that it has inspired.
Mad Max: Fury Road was my favorite movie and the best action film of 2015. It’s probably better than a lot of action films you’ve ever seen. Why? It’s different. It’s so different from anything that anyone has done. Its difference is so far out there and so absurd that you embrace it. It’s a post-apocalyptic movie that isn’t about society rising from the ashes or someone’s noble quest to save it. We’re not shown the ruins of once great cities. No one talks about “what happened” or “the way things used to be”. It takes place entirely in the Australian outback (although it was shot in Africa). Mad Max could have easily gone off the rails and become this ridiculously cheesy so-bad-its-good popcorn flick but instead, it’s so far off the rails that it’s a triumph in filmmaking.
This is a car chase movie that’s all about the visuals. Director George Miller relied on stunt work and practical effects for most of the film. Tom Hardy spends a good chunk of the movie strapped upright on a pole that’s attached to the front of a car! In another stunt, stuntmen are swinging from poles attached to moving vehicles on to other moving vehicles. They’re thrown off of cars, blown off of cars, and lots of other amazing stuns happen in between.
It’s the most amazing pure action movie I’ve ever seen.
Nocturnal Animals will make you feel uncomfortable from the opening credits and keeps you there for the entire movie. It never lets you fully relax. Director Tom Ford draws you in and keeps you emotionally invested. The opening credits feel like a strange James Bond opening featuring plus-sized nude women dancing with sparklers.
It’s very strange and uncomfortable but it sets the tone for the film. You’re going to feel strange and uncomfortable. Don’t mistake “strange and uncomfortable” for “gross and vulgar”. It’s a level of uncomfortability that draws you into the film and makes you want to follow it to the end. It’s a strangeness that we don’t see much in popular cinema.
You find it all the time in “art house” films but not in a big “Hollywood” movie. You can see Tom Ford’s art and design world at every level of the film. Told from three different angles with three distinct styles and palettes, one style is very sterile with clean lines.
Every scene, every character, and every moment are framed as a piece of art and is styled as a modern drama piece. Another is very dirty, rough, and raw like the Texas desert in which it takes place and is styled like a western. The third is very simple, relaxed, and styled like a romantic drama.
I have to give a shout out to one of my favorite directors who happens to be from Little Rock - Jeff Nichols. Midnight Special is a Sci-Fi chase movie that feels like a collaboration between the minds of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter and Terrence Malick.
No moment is wasted in this film. Every scene means something to the overall story and he doesn’t waste any of the actor’s talents. It is beautifully shot with an amazingly intelligent story and one of the best opening sequences on film.
The Revenant is a slow burn. It’s a western that is both beautiful and ugly. Beautiful in the way it looks but ugly in the realism it portrays. The technical achievements of the movie make it worth the price of admission. Many of the scenes are tracking shots done in one take.
The entire film was shot with natural light, torches and campfires in what looks like near-blizzard conditions. It’s inspired by the true story of Hugh Glass (you really should look it up) and Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his Academy Award for Best Actor for this film and it took home the award for Best Director (Alejandro G. Inarritu) and Cinematography (Emmanaul Lubezki).
This was by far the hardest of the many lists I’ve put together, but I hope it leaves you with further insight into the types of film that I enjoy. And I hope that if there’s something on this list you haven’t seen that you’ll give one of them a try.
In the words of the great Film Critic Roger Ebert “I’ll see you at the movies”.