Update on the Field (9/16/20)

Oh hey! It’s been a little bit since our last update, thanks to a new job, a new house, and the return of school. But we’re back and ready to close out the 2010s pretty soon! As we’re kind of wrapping up our initial picks, we’re hitting the longer movies and the ones we’d kind of written off until now, so it’s naturally been a bit more of a slog to get through. But some of them have been great! Here’s what we liked and didn’t like this time:

9/2/20: The Guard (2011)
Tom: Directed by John Michael McDonagh (the older brother of Three Billboards’ and In Bruges’ Martin McDonagh), The Guard was one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a while. If you’re at all into the show Derry Girls on Netflix (which you all should be), you’ll enjoy Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle trying to break up a drug ring in Ireland. It’s a quick watch and it’s one that you definitely have not seen. It also has Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) and Mark Strong (everything on earth) as the bad guys. I highly recommend this one.
Erin: While this was extraordinarily popular in Ireland, this movie is a true hidden gem for American viewers. Starring my king Brendan Gleeson, The Guard is so much fun, so funny, and SO IRISH. This is a buddy cop comedy that is super vulgar and violent but still manages to be heartwarming. I loved it.

9/4/20: 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Tom: I put this one off for the longest time due to the brutality and the belief that this movie was a relic of 2013 and older historical films, but I was wrong. The performances, particularly those of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael Fassbender, and Paul Dano, conveyed so much of the horrors of our country’s history and presented us with an opportunity to understand the historical context behind many of the societal issues we face today. It was hard to watch, and that was the point. Interestingly enough, most of the cast isn’t even American (obviously neither is British director Steve McQueen), but it still felt true to Northup’s memoir. 12 Years a Slave is essential viewing.
Erin: File this under: movies that I absolutely loved but will not watch a second time. This is an unflinching look at slavery in the United States in the 1800s and is a must watch for all Americans. The performances are wonderful, and Steve McQueen is such a pro with a distinct point of view. I really appreciated the push and pull between the horrors and evils of slavery depicted onscreen next to the gorgeous scenery and natural beauty of the South.

9/5/20: Interstellar (2014)
Tom: I am a very, very huge Interstellar fan. It’s not really the story that gets me as much as my personal interest in how space works, plus the fact that the physicist involved in the film wrote an entire book diagramming and explaining the theoretical physics involved in creating the spectacle in the movie. I just think this entire movie is such an achievement in that it pressed the boundaries of even what would be theoretically possible, including the inside of a supermassive black hole (shout-out my Muse fans) and the visual concept of time, and tried to put it on film. The ambition there is just unbelievable. Plus, that cameo (you know the one I’m talking about) is one of my favorites. It’s the care, effort, and detail that make Interstellar my favorite space movie.
Erin: This was a good watch too! I think it was the first Nolan movie I have seen where women were an essential part of the film, which was exciting for me. I am so impressed with the ambition of the film…it was just really long and science-y. My brain hurt while watching. But it was still a cool one.

9/5/20: The Witch (2016)
Tom: When I first looked at the Rotten Tomatoes score for this movie, I saw that 90% of critics liked it, but audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a C- on average. Based on the marketing (see above trailer), I completely understand that disparity. The movie had horror elements but was more about the deterioration of the subject Puritan family. Think of it more like a slow burn, atmospheric Rosemary’s Baby or The Omen than The Conjuring. It was hard to understand even with subtitles because of the 17th-century-style dialects, but overall was a compelling movie about rejecting oppression.
Erin: I have weirdly always been into our country’s fascination with witches throughout our history, so this one was a treat for me. It cracked me up that the audience score was so low for this movie, because it was marketed as a super scary horror film. In reality, it is a slow burn disturbing family drama, set in the 1600s. It was a little too much of a slow burn for me at times, but I dug it, and especially liked the serious attempt at authenticity.

9/11/20: Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Tom: Honestly, hand up – although I am a fan of Denis Villenueve, Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Harrison Ford, and the original Blade Runner, I completely missed this one because of the length. That was a mistake. Though it was nearly three hours long, this movie delivered in all aspects for me. The cinematography is nothing like I’ve ever seen. Roger Deakins deserved that Oscar (and let’s be honest, he deserved many others). I loved how it tied in with the original and the semi-twist towards the end. I loved the early fight with Dave Bautista. I loved how they progressed the world from the original but kept exploring many of the themes of identity and humanity, though in new and different ways. I’m so excited for Dune now.
Erin: This was a movie clearly made by people who knew what they were doing. The cinematography by Roger Deakins was a particular highlight for me, and I do enjoy all of the leads. For me though, it was tooooooooo longgggggg and tooooooo slowwwwwww. Endless. So much science fiction. Plus I was a little put off by Joi’s character. I know that in a dystopian future, women are going to be treated in a way that women have been mistreated for years. I get it. I just am not as into seeing it on screen in every sci-fi flick.

9/12/20: You Were Never Really Here (2018)
Tom: Erin and I had the same thought while watching this movie: Why did Joaquin Phoenix bother making Joker when he’d already had a similar (and much better) role one year prior? This movie, directed by Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) was sharp, tense, and perfectly exemplified why Phoenix is such a star. It reminded me of not only Joker, but movies like Man on Fire and Taken, only with the focus on the characters rather than the plot and the action. I appreciated that twist on the writing and it made this one stand out among a well-trodden genre of “men saving younger women from kidnappers.”
Erin: About halfway through this movie, I turned to Tom and asked, “Why did Joaquin Phoenix feel the need to do Joker after this? This is what Joker thought it would be…” This is a really great 90-minute character study and thriller about a disturbed man who is a bounty hunter of sorts. I really enjoyed it, loved the director, and think it should have been seen by a larger audience.

9/13/20: The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
Tom: I thought I was going to love this one and I really didn’t. The writing was, I think, a little too “in on the joke” for my liking. It’s a kung-fu satire where Jesse Eisenberg gets mugged and signs up for karate classes, and it’s about traditional conceptions of masculinity and femininity – and it lets you know. Over and over. In like a Yorgos Lanthimos, the-actors-all-speak-without-a-tone way. It didn’t hit with me. The movie certainly has merit though. I laughed out loud quite a few times, and I think its message is overall a positive one. It just didn’t really resonate as much as other recent dark comedies like Sorry to Bother You did.
Erin: Bleh bleh bleh. Not into this one. It’s supposed to be a critique of toxic masculinity but it was very very focused on hammering down on that idea. Not a stitch of bright color to be found in the movie, and it just was a total downer. Jesse Eisenberg plays his lead role well, and it was a unique movie, but it just didn’t do it for me at all.