The first two thirds of the year are over, and the awards season is about to begin. August was supposed to be a lousy month, but I found it to be the best since April of this year. The summer blockbuster season is over, and while I did enjoy plenty of films, August was able to put a better period at the end of the sentence.
Things started out poorly with yet another misfire from Warner Brothers’ DC Universe in Suicide Squad. It may of been better than Batman V Superman, but most films I saw this year can share that distinction. More painful was that I was personally anticipating Suicide Squad more than most of the summer film releases.
Luckily, of the six other films I saw this month (I missed out on Pete’s Dragon for now), three of them will enter my top ten of the year. The best of these was the near perfectly made Hell or High Water, a film that reminded me of why I sit down to be entertained by an simple story. It was such a pleasing experience to watch something so un-apologetically confident in it’s characters and setting, that the story embraced the cliches with the sheltering arms.
The other two excellent films was the stop-motion animated Kubo and the Two Strings, and the low-budget thriller Don’t Breathe. Kubo is a gorgeously animated melancholic tale, that may or may not be the deserving choice for that Best Animated Film Oscar; it’s competition in my view is Disney’s wonderful Zootopia, though Kubo may have more ambition. Don’t Breathe is a kind of sister film to Green Room from earlier in the year; they’re both chess matches wrapped in the skin of a tension filled assault. I also caught the solid Mel Gibson’s starer Blood Father, the foul and funny animated food story Sausage Party, and the missed opportunity, War Dogs.
Updated Best of the Year list:
- Sing Street
- Hell or High Water
- The Nice Guys
- The Witch
- Everybody Wants Some!!
- Green Room
- Captain America: Civil War
- Don’t Breathe
- 10 Cloverfield Lane
- Zootopia & Kubo and the Two Strings – I can’t decide which on I prefer yet.
Now here’s the bottom, unchanged ten:
- The Brothers Grimsby
- Gods of Egypt
- Zoolander 2
- Knight of Cups
- The Boy
- The Finest Hours
- Independence Day: Resurgence
- Ghostbusters
- Alice: Through The Looking Glass
- Demolition
On to September, were I’m going to try to check out a whopping nine films.
It begins with the first Oscar hopeful of the season, Derek Cianfrance’s The Light Between Oceans. Cianfrance knows how to make a relationship story a painful ordeal (Blue Valentine), and this should be no different, expect prettier to look at. Trailer Below:
Also this week is Luke Scott’s (Ridley’s son) Morgan. On the surface, this wouldn’t normally interest me, but a very cool looking ensemble cast has me anticipating it. Trailer Below:
Next is Sully, the story about the “Miracle on the Hudson”, that looks a lot like Robert Zemeckis’ Flight, except this story is true. Tom Hanks looks to be in fine form, though I’m more concerned with Clint Eastwood’s recent quality streak, or lack thereof. Still, I’m looking forward to this one. Trailer Below:
Next we have Blair Witch, the previously titled “The Woods” so as to brilliantly keep it’s production a secret. Early word is that it’s fantastic, and the trailer makes me see why. Trailer Below:
That same week brings Oliver Stone’s long awaited Snowden, a story that could easily be told in a way that could make you roll your eyes, but Stone looks to have found a way. Trailer Below:
The next weeks brings us Antoine Fuqua’s remake of The Magnificent Seven, which is a remake in it’s own right. While this may end up being unnecessary, the cast makes it look entertaining. Trailer Below:
The last weekend of the month brings in three releases. The first is Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It looks to be Burton-esq version of “X-Men.” And I think it looks pretty decent. Trailer Below:
Next is the excellent looking Deepwater Horizon. I’m expecting a lot from Peter Berg’s account of the men on the doomed oil rig. The trailer promises just that. Trailer Below:
Finally we have John Michael McDonagh’s War on Everyone. The writer/director of Calvary looks to be closer in his Guard mode, but it looks like fun. Red-band Trailer Below:
See you in October.
Motionswee77 