Update on the Field (10/5/20)

We’re down to eight movies before we re-watch some of our top candidates! This time, we’ve only got six movies to talk about because we’re done with quite a few years. We’ve also watched every single Best Picture nominee of the ‘10s! It’s been a fun ride and we’re getting close to finishing up the decade. Here are the six we most recently watched:

9/16/20: Midnight in Paris (2011)
Tom: Even disregarding all the horrible crap he’s done over the years, from my experience, Woody Allen is a hacky director as it is. Like, watch this movie. He wrote Owen Wilson’s character as a stand-in for himself – a “genius” who is “misunderstood” in this era and everyone else is the bad guy! Poor Woody Allen! The movie itself is fine except we’d already seen a very similar concept done correctly – that is, truly comedically – in Night at the Museum and the Bill and Ted movies. I also think I just don’t get France. This movie was fine but Woody is an abuser and, even more, a dork.
Erin: This was our last Best Picture nominee from the 2010s for us to watch, and it gets a big thumbs down from me. Now, I may be biased because of my disgust for Woody Allen, and my confusion for any actor who has decided to work for him in the past two decades, but this one just wasn’t it, folks. It was an hour and a half of Woody Allen deciding he wasn’t young enough to be the star himself, but still wanting to make a movie where he is the main character. Basically, he thinks that if he was around in the 1920’s, every famous person would have loved him. Too bad he is in the 2010s, where everyone thinks he’s gross. SORRY!!! (I will say that the cinematography was beautiful though!)

9/18/20: The Purge (2013)
Tom: Obviously the draw here is the concept, which is top notch. The execution was alright. It was pretty fun and I’m a sucker for anything Ethan Hawke is in. The twists were visible from a mile away and sometimes the cinematography was a bit too dark for my liking, but overall it was pretty good. It definitely was enough to get me to want to watch Anarchy and Election Year though. I’m cool with these types of movies.
Erin: I saw The Purge 2: Anarchy while on a trip to California a few years back and thought it was really fun, so I was interested in finally catching the OG pop culture sensation. It wasn’t bad! I think the concept is super fascinating, and they had some real star power to back it up. Now the message got muddled somewhere in the middle, and we got the RBG news with ten minutes left in the movie so I don’t really know exactly how it ended…but overall, it was a totally serviceable horror film.

9/19/20: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Tom: This movie was really clever and it made me feel bad about how much I like Tom Cruise as an actor. What I don’t feel bad about is saying that Emily Blunt remains one of the best action stars (and actors overall) out there. My only criticism of this movie was that it was a little too drab and gray, but I’ll give it a pass since it was made 6 years ago. I think some updated technology and a remaster would do wonders. If you’re into action movies or sci-fi movies at all, you should check this out. It’s really funny too, which surprised me.
Erin: I loved this movie when I watched it previously, and boy does it hold up. I hate to admit it, but Tom Cruise is such a good action star (and high ranking member of a cult that has ruined many lives, just so we are clear). Emily Blunt puts in some heavy lifting as well, and is fantastic. I’m not an action film person and I’m definitely not a time travel movie person, but this movie has the perfect blend of both of those along with a heavy dash of humor. Such a good one.

9/21/20: A Monster Calls (2016)
Tom: Don’t you hate when you love a book and Hollywood turns it into a bad movie? This movie is based on my literal favorite book of all time, and so I was hesitant to be inevitably disappointed by the movie because I didn’t think film could capture the tone of the book. Good news – I wasn’t disappointed! At first I wasn’t sold on Lewis MacDougall, the kid who plays the main character, but he grew on me as the movie went on. The book is a complete masterpiece that every single person should read, but I have to admit that the movie adapted it really well. It’s definitely worth a watch too.
Erin: This is one of my favorite books OF ALL TIME. I didn’t watch the movie until now because I thought the trailer had the mood of the story all wrong. Turns out that I was the wrong one! That usually NEVER EVER HAPPENS, but there’s a first time for everything. The movie tells the story of young teen Conor, who is dealing with his mother’s serious cancer battle. At the same exact time every night, a monster appears to him, and tells him stories that just don’t make sense. It all comes together in a beautiful and heartbreaking way. Gorgeous and sad and hopeful—a lovely movie.

9/22/20: I Am Not Your Negro (2017)
Tom: I wouldn’t normally say this about a movie, but in a documentary based on an unfinished James Baldwin essay on race, I loved that this was messy, disorganized, and unflinching. Baldwin was such a singular mind that a movie like this had to be done in a unique way, and it was. It was structured around the lives (and assassinations) of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and in between dealt with Baldwin’s views and speeches with regard to racism and America through to the present day. He was just a fascinating and intelligent person and I’m glad I have the opportunity able to hear, read, and parse his words.
Erin: This was a documentary that was technically written by author James Baldwin, because the screenplay was pulled directly from his unfinished manuscript. I have never seen anything like it before. It was as close to an art house film as a documentary could be, and so skillfully connected the 1960s to today. It was challenging and interesting. Definitely worth a watch.

9/24/20: A Hidden Life (2019)
Tom: Coming off of The Tree of Life, neither of us wanted to watch another three-hour Terrence Malick movie. But I liked this way more than that one. The Tree of Life was endless and pointlessly experimental. He tried to slam a bunch of ideas together and they came out as a muddled mess – not to mention the thirty-minute screensaver depicting the timespan of the universe. Here, though, Malick chronicled the story of an Austrian farmer who objected to military service in World War II and his wife who holds their life together. It was truly an epic and if you’re at all into war movies, this is a twist on one with a really philosophical and meditative tone. I truly thought it was a great movie. The Tree of Life still sucks though.
Erin: Okay I feel really bad because I said mean things about this movie before I watched it. I was preemptively complaining that it was so long and Terence Malick’s movies are so boring, and I was going to hate it. But you guys. I loved it! It was truly fantastic. It’s the true story of an Austrian man and his family living during WWII, having to deal with the consequences when he refuses to swear allegiance to Hitler. The things that Malick is known for (focusing on nature, meditative voice overs of characters, etc) really worked with this film. It is a shame that it wasn’t seen much last year, because it is wonderful.