For this first set, I will begin with "The Honor Roll," films that did not make the Top Ten or even what I like to refer to as "Number 11," but were indeed strong, notable releases well worth viewing. As always, I will direct you to where you can read the entire, full reviews of each film should you wish to see them.
SAVAGE SCORECARD 2018: THE HONOR ROLL
-The post-apocalyptic tale of a family struggling to survive and escape from a collective of monsters who ravenously arrive by being attracted by the slightest sound, made for a horror thriller so ingenious that I was surprised that I had not seen something like it before.
Essentially a silent movie, I thoroughly enjoyed how Krasinski established the rules for his cinematic universe by showing us how sound can and cannot be utilized, how it travels, how day-to-day existence works without sounds and on a more existential level, how the sounds of nature have returned to the forefront of the world again. All of these tactics, and eschewing with horror film tropes like excessive gore, ensure that "A Quiet Place" remains a taut, gripping, stylish and effective pulse-pounder filled with strong performances and anchored by a genuinely moving Father/daughter story between Krasinski's character and his teenage daughter Regan (played by deaf actress Millicent Simmonds).
(Originally reviewed July 2018)
While there were some qualities housed inside of children's films that do not sit terribly well with me, (an insistently bustling wall-to-wall film score, platitudes repeated ad nauseum, aspects of some of the younger actors' performances) Ava DuVernay's otherwise dazzling, emotionally satisfying adaptation of the Madeleine L'Engle classic novel is indeed filled to the brim and beyond with effective child-like wonder.
The story of 13-year old Meg (played by Storm Reid) on her tireless search, with the aid of three astral travelers (Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, and Oprah Winfrey) to save her long disappeared Astrophysicist Father (played by Chris Pine) as well as the universe in the process, is ultimately the type of children's film that is indeed in short supply: one that is child friendly while also being artful, sophisticated, empathetic, psychedelic and also one that refuses to exist as an empty piece of mercenary product as it carries the message that love itself will save existence.
And furthermore, representation is everything for when was the last time you saw a film in which the heroine (!) was a teenaged, bespectacled African American girl who is a Scientist and Mathematician who is given the opportunity to change the universe through the brilliance of her intelligence, the belief in herself and abilities, the strength of her convictions and the purity of her compassion. What DuVernay has delivered is a young woman's inner journey from self-doubt to empowerment while also displaying a joyous ode to Afro-futurism and Black excellence.
(Originally reviewed March 2018)
Alex Garland's lavish and challenging dark dream of a film is that rare science fiction film that is greatly more concerned with ideas rather than pyrotechnics and the result is a disturbing, deliberately paced experience that is simultaneously somnambulistic and sinister.
Natalie Portman stars as a Professor of cellular biology who joins a team of military scientists (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny) into a mysterous quarantined zone known as "The Shimmer," a landscape of constant mutation, time manipulation and from which all previous scientific exploratory teams have never returned.
Garland has created a film where the aesthetics and atmosphere contributes to the overall effectiveness of the film as much as the plot and characters and in ding so, he has weaved an experience that feels as haunting as a bad dream without falling completely into terror. For what I think Garland achieved greatly is to present the concept of what is evolution and the idea that as something begins to assert itself into existence, then something invariably must begin to disintegrate.
This is a film that will indeed, and insidiously, burrow under your skin.
(Originally reviewed March 2018)
While not quite as powerful as Ryan Coogler's primal "Creed" (2015), Steven Caple Jr.'s sequel advances the story of Adonis Creed (the titanic Michael B. Jordan) and Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, again eliciting a warmly effortless and deeply effective performance) as the film brings the events of "Rocky IV" (1985) full circle as Adonis battles Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), the man who murdered his Father, Apollo Creed in the boxing ring 30 years prior.
Caple Jr. not only elevates the cartoonish qualities of "Rocky IV" to an emotionally riveting degree by applying a greater sense of humanity and gravitas, "Creed II" is a stirring and soulful examination of Fathers, sons, the legacies left behind and the legacies attempting to being built. How all of those concepts clash and conflict entirely rests within the characters of old warriors still wrestling with and being haunted by the consequences of their choices and how the young lions try to leap out from those immersive shadows while also honoring them. Additionally, I loved how Caple Jr. also delivered a richly moving story set within the 21st century Black experience via the love story and growing family of Adonis and the hearing impaired rising singer-songwriter Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson).
(Originally reviewed December 2018)
Director Jesse Peretz's pitch perfect adaptation of the excellent Nick Hornby novel certainly does suggest a certain followup to the sublime High Fidelity, as we are again presented with the melancholic obsessions of a music fan and the turbulence that ensued with his romantic partner. But, for "Juliet, Naked," we probe even further as the film is a deeply perceptive story of middle aged malaise, arrested developments and the ruts we find ourselves stuck inside of and all contained within an aching love triangle.
Rose Byrne absolutely sparkles as Annie, the film's main protagonist, the long suffering girlfriend of Duncan, the aforementioned musically obsessed Duncan (an excellent Chris O'Dowd). And Ethan Hawke is sublime as the reclusive rock star Tucker Crowe, the object of Duncan's adoration yet who miraculously formulates a connection with Annie. For Annie, the wonder of this film is that we are not given an experience that simply boils down to which man she will choose. What we are given is the story of a woman trying to attain happiness through self discovery and serious attention towards herself.
Jesse Peretz's "Juliet, Naked" is a "small" film with an enormous reach.
(Originally reviewed September 2018)
After blowing me completely away with his blistering, brutal "Whiplash" (2014) and kind of lulling me with his over-rated "La La Land" (2016), Writer/Director Damien Chazelle returned to form (for me) with his episodic docudrama/interior exploration of Neil Armstrong (played by Ryan Gosling in a performance that is accomplished, difficult, mature and quietly intense), which is by turns visceral and demonstrably muted, a distinct set of juxtapositions that worked fluidly in this remarkably poignant film.
From visually striking and harrowing first person only viewpoints from the cockpit of one rocketship journey after another during America's attempts to reach the moon, Chazelle essentially dives into Armstrong's psyche as well, while creating a poetic psychological drama of grief and mourning over the death of his daughter, making the full experience of "First Man" artfully solitary and elegantly claustrophobic.
(Originally reviewed October 2018)
Admittedly, this film contains a wild plot twist that still feels to be unnecessary and its ending does wrap things up in too tidy of a bow, but despite those misgivings, "Tully," the third collaboration between Director Jason Reitman and Writer Diablo Cody, is a whip-smart, deeply empathetic, rightfully unglamorous look at 21st century Motherhood.
Charlize Theron, in a searing performance, stars as Marlo, a not-so-young Mother, with a loving but detached husband, and now three children, and is barely able to hold herself together as she is severely overwhelmed and suffering from nearly debilitating exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Enter 26-year-old Tully (MacKenzie Davis),a "night nurse," who is assigned to the home to assist with the children and house cleaning while Marlo can finally sleep. Marlo and Tully soon formulate a close friendship, which forces Marlo to confront the person she was when she was younger and the dreams she had for herself at that age compared and contrasted with who she is right now.
Where this film succeeds richly is how unsentimental, and therefore, how realistic a portrayal of Motherhood is presented throughout. The sense of draining normalcy of feeding, breast pumping, changing diapers and repeat and repeat ad nauseum showcases how Marlo finds her own body becoming less human and more machine like, her visage descending into catatonia and all delivered without any sense of prefabricated melodrama. In fact, and at its finest, "Tully" is a film that passionately illustrates that being someone's Mother, and surviving to tell the tale, may be the most heroic act one can do.
(Originally reviewed May 2018)
STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO: "NUMBER 11"
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