Update on the Field (4/29/20)
Forty movies down! We completed another run through the decade and watched a bunch more movies. This run was probably our least favorite, but there were a couple of gems in here too! Let us know what you think. Here are our thoughts:
4/19/20: The Ghost Writer (2010)
Tom: I don't know why people keep working with Roman Polanski. He couldn't get into the US to film a movie that takes place in Martha's Vineyard, and so he filmed it in Germany. YOU CAN TELL. And I've never even BEEN to Martha's Vineyard. Also, we guessed the ending to this "thriller" an hour in.
Erin: I did not like this movie. I did not think it was particularly interesting or suspenseful at all. Maybe that’s because I am not particularly well versed on British politics, and this was supposed to be about Tony Blair? All I know is that it was a snooze-fest.
4/20/20: The Descendants (2011)
Tom: This movie explodes with heart. I am sometimes iffy on mega-star actors who often play themselves, but there's something magnetic about George Clooney that I just love watching. The movie was funny, sad, heartfelt, and everything in between. Plus, the Dean from Community won an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay. What more can you ask for?
Erin: I watched this movie way back when, and remember really liking it. But when we started watching it last week, I realized that I forgot almost every single thing about the movie? The only thing I remembered was Shailene Woodley scream-crying underwater? Anyway, it was so worth the re-watch. It’s such a fantastic movie--it’s sad and thoughtful and funny and feels really real.
4/21/20: Amour (2012)
Tom: Agonizing. This movie spends the first 15 or so minutes introducing you to a cute old French couple before taking the remaining 75 minutes to slowly tear off a Band-Aid as the wife's health deteriorates in front of your eyes. The worst part is that the actors were so dang good. This is in the pantheon of Sad Movies for sure.
Erin: This might be the saddest movie I have ever seen. It is about an elderly woman who has a stroke, and her husband becomes her caretaker as her condition deteriorates. I didn’t expect a barrel of laughs from the description of the plot before watching, but I didn’t realize how devastating and unflinching the movie would be. I cried for like an hour after it was over. That being said--good movie! The acting was just top notch stuff.
4/22/20: Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Tom: It's Hanks playing another historical figure with the Disney logo strapped onto it so you know you aren't getting the real story. Putting that aside, it was a fun movie with endearing performances from Emma Thompson and Paul Giamatti. I liked it.
Erin: This was a cute one! I love Emma Thompson in anything, and I thought this was a great vehicle for her talents. I like Disney stuff and “behind the scenes” Disney stuff, so even though this apparently wasn’t close to accurate, I didn’t really mind all that much in this case because I got to sing “Let’s Go Fly A Kite” really loud.
4/23/20: Wild (2014)
Tom: If I didn't already know that Reese Witherspoon was capable of a great serious role by watching Big Little Lies first, I'd have been really surprised by this one. She was great. The movie had a lot of hard, graphic cuts, as is common in Jean-Marc Vallee's work, and that was a little jarring at times, but I liked the movie overall.
Erin: I really loved Big Little Lies, so even though I missed Wild when it first came out, I wanted to see it a lot more when I realized that Jean-Marc Vallee directed this one as well. Reese Witherspoon gives a career-high performance, and it was a truly fascinating character study. I feel like there were a few loose ends that were probably discussed more in the book, so I’d be interested in reading it to find out more.
4/24/20: The Danish Girl (2015)
Tom: This movie bothered me a bit because it was clearly a non-trans person trying to create a story about the trans experience in the 1920s. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that if done carefully, but this was treated like any other historical drama. I felt it deserved better, but Redmayne and Vikander were really good regardless.
Erin: The Danish Girl was just okay for me. I liked it while I was watching, but then I found out that A LOT of it was factually inaccurate. And some of what was made up was really important to get right. That really left a bad impression on me. Alicia Vikander was really great though!
4/25/20: Nocturnal Animals (2016)
Tom: Given that this was a psychological thriller starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal, it should've been a slam dunk for me, but it wasn't. It was heavily built on theme and metaphor and I don't think that Tom Ford executed it as well as he could have. It's essentially a revenge movie but it ended up coming off really petty and pointless.
Erin: This movie did NOT do it for me. Wow, not the best set of 10 movies this go-around for me. While this movie had a really fascinating concept, the story really went nowhere, and I was really unhappy with the handling of women’s issues. As the president of the Amy Adams Fan Club, I will have to skip over this one while discussing my favorite films, unfortunately.
4/26/20: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Tom: I've now seen three Lanthimos movies and they're all different but with overlapping characteristics like the score and certain actors. The concept here was interesting and I think I like Yorgos's films more than Erin does, but this was probably the one I liked the least out of this, The Favourite, and The Lobster. There were just some loose ends in this one that made it not fully land with me.
Erin: Yeah, I didn’t like this one either. This might have been the worst of the bunch these last ten days? I think maybe I just watched The Lobster too close to this? I struggle with Yorgos Lanthimos movies sometimes, I think because there’s just a coldness about them. This movie was just bleak and I didn’t like or care about the characters and it was seriously just so blah. Tom liked it, so I don’t know. I have seen three films by this director and each time I end the movie feeling sad.
4/27/20: The Death of Stalin (2018)
Tom: I thought this was an extremely fun satire! It was a bunch of bumbling idiotic Soviet government members jockeying for power after the titular demise. Buscemi, Tambor, and the rest of the ensemble clearly delineated each historical figure as a separate form of incompetent bureaucrat. Also, the writing was sharp and witty.
Erin: This was fine. Oh my gosh, I’m such a downer this round of movies. Okay, so this was better than the previous two for me. It’s a satire of the actual death of Stalin, which is fun and interesting. And it stars Steve Buscemi. I just wanted the absurdity kicked up a few notches. I was left a little bored for a half an hour in the middle there.
4/28/20: Toy Story 4 (2019)
Tom: Toy Story through Toy Story 3, to me, is a perfect trilogy. It came along right as people in my age group were growing up and I couldn't imagine a better cap on that story than the third. While Toy Story 4 didn't quite live up to that standard, it was a nice coda to the story of Woody and I'm glad I watched it.
Erin: Now we’re talking! I didn’t want a fourth Toy Story movie. I thought that the way they ended the third movie was perfect, and I have to admit that I felt a sense of ownership over the trilogy, since I went to college the same year as Andy. However, this movie was so cute! I really enjoyed it--it felt nostalgic but added something new to the table. Good way to end this set of movies!