2018 in documentaries. (So Far)

It’s coming to the end of July and soon my favorite movie season will be upon us.  Fall movies means the big Oscar bait features glow across the silver screens.  There’s been a few this year that deserve recognition.  Chiefly, the trio known as, The Rider, First Reformed, and Sorry to Bother You.

As you slide down the Oscar ballot to a more obscure category, you’ll find a variety of strong contenders have already been projected on to the screen.  Of course I’m talking about documentary feature film.

There’s been a variety of the standard biographical documentaries, from the first half of the year.  Some of the very strong entries include: Itzhak (about the violinist Itzhak Perlman), Bombshell: The Hedy Lamaar Story (about actress and inventor Hedy Lamaar), Leaning Into the Wind (about artist Andy Goldsworty), and Pope Francis: A Man of his Word (no explanation needed).

There have been three incredible documentaries I’ve seen this year, in a year of strong documentaries, and am rooting for these three come Oscar season.  First up is RBG, about the Supreme Court Justice and Women’s right activist Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  She’s an incredible woman whose story is just as incredible.

Won’t You Be my Neighbor? is the second documentary of the three.  It tells the story of Mr Rogers and his work on television.  The man was a genius and one hell of a genuine human being.  His story is more then worth the price of admission.  

  The third documentary, and the strongest one this year, is Three Identical Strangers.  The film focuses on a set of triplets who discover one another at community college.  To further complicate things they uncover a study on nature v nurture they were taking part in.  This movie is a great conversation piece, and one I look forward to talking about.  Yes it’s designed to be uncomfortable at times but thus is life.  See it, talk about it, and come awards season let’s cheer it on to win best documentary of the year.

My Week in Cinema 7.15.18-Present

Y’all, for better or worse, it’s been one hell of a week.  Anyways before I go on a tangent about this one hell of a week I got some quality movie time in, to counter balance things.

Sunday truly sucked.  I wasn’t looking forward to it.  I bookended my day with two completely different movies.  In the morning I was trying very hard to keep out of a funk.  I felt I needed to fill a few hours with something violent and a lot of bad language, in other words something that comes with a HARD R RATING.  A rewatch of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece Full Metal Jacket fit that bill nicely.  It didn’t do anything to change my spirits but I did enjoy rewatching it.  That night, after the festivities settled down I journeyed to a late night showing of Hotel Transylvania 3.  It ended up being a lot of fun and I got to see it with my movie buddy, a good friend.

My next movie outing came quickly.  Some friends and I went to a matinee of Sorry to Bother You.  What a unique movie that was.  It had an original since of humor while making its points without slapping them across my face.  The last 25% of that movie I never saw coming, which is good in a strange way.  If you see this movie you’ll understand that last sentence more.  This is one of two films, this summer, destined to make my annual top ten list come winter.

Moving on to Skyscaper.  A group of us went the other night.  What a blast of a movie to watch.  It’s one you don’t think about at all, cause if you do you’ll be over thinking it already.  You sit back with your snacks and enjoy the ride.  I like describing the film as the bastard off spring of Die Hard and The Towering Inferno, starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

This morning I rewatched Chef, from the comfort and safety of home.  I was preparing food for a party I’m hosting this weekend.  The movie seemed like the right one to view again.  I truly love this movie.  It’s a gem to watch even when you’re not cooking.  

This evening, once again with my movie buddy, I ventured back to my local cinema to see The Equalizer II.  I wasn’t expecting a whole hell of a lot.  Much to my surprise it’s a well thought out action movie.  Denzel Washington does not disappoint.

Looking back on this list I saw all four movies with friends.  I truly appreciated the company this week while in this, let’s call it a funk, mainly cause I don’t want to label it something more depressing.  (Though in reality it is).  Hopefully things will start to turn around soon.  Good night & good luck.

Half Way through 2018 Check In

It’s now July, meaning the year is officially half way over.  Looking back  at the first half of 2018, the year  has brought the normal The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly releases for me.

THE GOOD:

The first really good release for me was the January release of 12 Strong.  I enjoy a good true story and a good war story.  This film was both.  Continuing with true stories I enjoyed The 15:17 to Paris.  Clint Eastwood is my favorite director working today.  Also the fact that he cast the real people as themselves was awesome.  They couldn’t act but I still thought it was a good decision.

On the horror/sci-fi front two films have really stood out.  A Quiet Place and Annihilation were both out in theaters by April.  Both kept me throughly entertained, despite an issue or two with the ending of A Quiet Place.  

The three other pre summer stand outs were Thoroughbreds (great thriller), RBG (a great documentary about a supreme court justice) and Isle of Dogs (awesome animated movie from Wes Anderson).

The summer started with Avengers: Infinity War, the second Marvel release of the year.  Like Black Panther I enjoyed it and both fell into the normal Marvel spectrum of they’re fun to watch.

Book Club and Tag were both a hoot to watch, if you’re looking for a comedy.

I enjoyed the big sequels in Incredibles 2 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.  As for sequels go for this summer Sicario 2 has been my favorite.

Won’t You Be my Neighbor, about Mr Rogers, was another great documentary this year.

The one film I’ve loved above all else this summer is the indy flick First Reformed.  It’s a bit out there but keeps me thinking.  I loved the script and how debatable the ending is.

THE BAD & THE UGLY:

I didn’t really care for the adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time.  The film fell flat for me.  

The teen horror flick Truth or Dare wasn’t really my thing either.  The scares made me yawn as well as the lame story.

I like heist films but the two big ones this year, The Hurricane Heist and Oceans 8, left me wanting more.  The ladder film insulted my intelligence a the end by breaking down the heist a while after I figured what they were doing.

The jokes in the Overboard remake fell flat.  Then again I don’t find Anna Faris funny.

THE MEDIOCRE:

There’s one film and one film only I’m putting on this list: Solo: A Star Wars Story.  Unlike the first and far superior Star Wars spin off, Rogue One, I was unengaged in the story.  I didn’t dislike the guy playing Han.  I didn’t like him in the role either.  The actor playing Lando was awesome.  He was a blast to watch.

I got to say this is the first Star Wars flick since Disney restarted them I haven’t been head over heals for.  I thought they started strong with The Force Awakens and got stronger with Rogue One and The Last Jedi.  Solo missed the mark for me.

THE NON 2018 RELEASES.

This year I’ve gotten to see some awesome classics on the big screen.  John Wayne in True Grit  as well as Sunset Blvd, Space Jam, and the 80’s comedy Eating Raoul have been the highlights.