If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

This was the second of a double-feature for us and it's tempting to blame my tepid response on the fact that we'd already been sitting in a dark theater for a couple of hours before this started, but I don't believe that's the case at all. This movie just squandered all of the goodwill that I brought to it.

It starts out strong: we see a loving family rally around their daughter finding out she's expecting a child with her incarcerated love. We watch as they put aside the temptation to express dismay and instead choose to encourage and support her, even as the other family in the equation behaves poorly.

But then the storytelling slows to a crawl. Not the story, mind you: the telling of the story. I'm patient & love a long shot when there's something to ponder or see or absorb, but these shots never felt like they were doing anything other than waiting. After a while, it started to feel like a waste of time, which was a short jump to pissing me off.

C-

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

This is a "stranger than fiction" story about biographer Lee Israel and how she made her living when her books stopped garnering interest.

I fully enjoyed this character as brought to life by Melissa McCarthy, whom I usually find to be a little too eager-to-please, often slipping into mugging for the camera. Here, though, she's restrained and prickly. I admired her refusal to play the game. I also admired her moxie, even when applied to penning fake celebrity letters. I was rooting for her as she grudgingly let a friend into both her life and her gross apartment.

I'm not sure how this would've played had I been familiar with the story, but it worked well for a viewer for whom this was all brand new.

B

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

I'd been seeing the film featured on Netflix for the past couple of months but had zero interest in it, so I was actively annoyed when it got nominated for writing. I try to watch all Oscar nominated films in several groups -- two of which are the screenplay categories. The movie is actually six separate short films sharing only a "wild west" setting, so I'll grade each separately.

1. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs -- made me feel as though my annoyance at having to watch this was justified. It was exactly what I was expecting from the film's still of Tim Blake Nelson on a horse with a guitar. The fight scenes were unexpectedly inventive, but Nelson's charms are lost on me and I just worried I was in for a couple of hours of unrelenting quirkiness. Ranks 5/6 (C-)

2. Near Algodones -- concisely told with some gorgeous shots. Franco does a subtle job with this quiet, resigned role. I liked this one a lot. Ranks 2/6 (B+)

3. Meal Ticket -- traveling showman exploits a limbless orphan orator until he finds a less taxing source of income. It's an ugly story. Ranks 4/6 (C)

4. All Gold Canyon -- prospector puts in the work to find the source of the gold specks he found panning in the river only to have someone swoop in at the last moment to grab it from him. Tom Waits holds the screen in near isolation. Ranks 3/6 (B)

5. The Gal Who Got Rattled -- I've watched this several times and admire it more with each viewing. It's a full love story told in just about 30 minutes & is every bit as effective as Romeo & Juliet or Titanic. Ranks 1/6 (A+)

6. The Moral Remains -- five stagecoach passengers share uncomfortable conversation while on their way to the hotel at Fort Morgan. It's both boring and mean but thinks it's mysterious. Ranks 6/6 (D+)

The total grade, when averaged out, should be about a B-, but I like The Gal Who Got Rattled so much that I'm going to put my thumb on the grading scale.

B

First Reformed (2018)

Hawke plays the pastor of a church which makes more off of its historic "tourist" angle of being a stop on the underground railroad than it does from its tiny congregation. He's withdrawn from society since the death of his son, but finds himself pulled into the drama of a young couple. Soon, he's seeing life through a different lens and becoming passionate about the world at large.

I was sucked in by the quiet power of the story and the mental wrestling of the pastor. However, the ending went a bit off-course and drags the film down a bit.

B

Annihilation (2018)

Biologist widow's soldier-husband arrives at their home months after his presumed death, but he doesn't seem quite right. Soon she's recruited for the same mission he'd been working on: go into the mysterious "shimmer" and figure out wtf is going on.

We get a "kinda" idea of what is happening through a few lovely effects but it boils down to basically the shimmer being the next step in evolution. But it's in a big damned hurry.

It's basically a midfuck of a movie and there's not enough good to recommend the whole.

C-