I CANNOT believe The Shape of Water won Best Picture. I recently watched it for the first time, and while I enjoyed Guillermo del Toro's creative camerawork and Dan Laustsen's whimsical cinematography, the story itself left much to be desired. It was essentially a more offbeat -- and ultimately, weaker -- version of Disney's animated Beauty and the Beast. Maybe I can squeeze a 6 out of 10; but certainly no more than that.
Which brings us to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Lady Bird. Both of these films are superior to the Best Picture winner. Frances McDormand dominated awards season in the Best Actress category, but I felt Saoirse Ronan provided a better and more naturalistic performance. Before I get into the direct comparisons, let's take a look at the movies themselves...
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Three Billboards' greatest gift is its unpredictability.
Every time you think quirky writer/director Martin McDonagh is going to go a certain way, he approaches the cliche then quickly darts away from it.
In an early scene, we get a flashback to the day Angela (Kathryn Newton) went missing. She has a quick-and-nasty fight with her mother, Mildred (McDormand), then storms out of the house. From that point forward, I expected parallel timelines. I thought we'd see more and more of the day Angela was brutally murdered; but future flashbacks never came to fruition. That's the only time we see Newton on screen.
Later on, at a key moment, Det. Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) says:
"There are just some cases, where you never catch a break. Then 5 years down the line, some guy hears some other guy braggin' about it in a barroom or a jail cell."
The second I heard that line, I was nearly positive the movie would end that way. And (**SPOILERS**) guess what? We get to that crucial moment in the bar. Former Det. Dixon (Sam Rockwell) overhears some fittingly-suspicious storytelling by a menacing creep (Brendan Sexton), and by god we have our man!
But, of course, we don't.
Det. Abercrombie (Clarke Peters) investigates the matter, only to find that the highly-suspicious suspect was clean. He may have been guilty of other crimes, but he did not murder Angela. He wasn't even in the country at the time.
Then, most notably, we have the ending. I love it! We think we may get to see Mildred and Dixon take some bloodthirsty revenge on the world, but McDonagh stops us right in our tracks. These are all good things. Convention is boring and a waste of viewers' time. You'll remember that Three Billboards left you hanging, right? McDonagh did the same with Colin Farrell in In Bruges.
So, McDonagh successfully shirks convention...sometimes.
I wasn't head over heels about McDormand's performance. The whole thing kind of felt like a cliche to me -- "a mother scorned." We've seen the defiant, unraveling mother character so many times before, and the role felt like it was written for McDormand to win an Oscar.
I don't like to feel that way. When something stinks of awards bait, I write it off rather quickly. That's why I panned Oscar nominees like La La Land, Brooklyn, The Theory of Everything, American Sniper and The Blind Side. They're laying it on too thick. Ease off the saccharine, please.
Other cliches in Three Billboards: the little person (Peter Dinklage) is discriminated against because of his height; the wise black man (Peters) cleans up the mess of a redneck white man (Rockwell), and a key character commits suicide at a critical point in the story.
In the end, as always, there are ups and downs in McDonagh's work. He tries really hard with Three Billboards (far superior to anything I can do), but it's a messy, undefined work of art. It could have been better. Maybe it would have benefited from a longer running time. Whatever the case may be...it's still better than The Shape of Water.
** JOHN FRASCELLA'S SCORE: 7.5 OUT OF 10 **
LADY BIRD
Saoirse Ronan is the next Meryl Streep. I say this to everyone I know.
I despised Brooklyn -- for the same reasons listed above -- but I came away from the film knowing that Saoirse Ronan is the best young actress working today. She is vulnerable, funny, smart, passionate and positively luminescent. When she smiles, I smile. When she's upset, I'm upset. She's the perfect audience surrogate.
So here we reap the benefits of her extraordinary talents in a much better film, Lady Bird. Greta Gerwig was buzzing around Hollywood for writing and directing such a lively, lovely little film; but again, it couldn't and wouldn't have been such a phenomenon without Ronan's control over the emotional center of the story. Gerwig is a snappy writer and entertaining director, but Ronan is a true megastar.
Lady Bird isn't really an original story. It's a heartfelt, coming-of-age yarn, not unlike Juno and The Edge of Seventeen of recent years. But those were also excellent films. Lady Bird is definitely right there with them.
"Lady Bird" (Ronan) yearns to be unique; so much so, in fact, that she discards her given name (Christine). Her parents, Marion (a fantastic Laurie Metcalf) and Larry (a believable Tracy Letts) are regular people. They don't come from much, nor do they have much now. Lady Bird wants more. She acts in the school production, philosophizes with friends (Julie Steffans and Lucas Hedges, both wonderful) and desperately wants to escape to college at UC Davis (a University of California campus).
Gerwig isn't reinventing the wheel here; she's polishing and making it nice and shiny.
Lady Bird is a universal story about personal growth and real-world family issues. Who could blame Christine for wanting to make an adult life for herself? Who could blame Marion for wanting to keep her family together? Of course we side with Christine -- because Ronan is effectively electrifying -- but we also get the sense that Marion defines her life through her family. What happens when that family starts to slip away? Marion is already a high-strung worrywart. Is she headed full-steam toward an implosion?
The questions Gerwig's screenplay asks are so believable, and essential. We should all strive to create our own unique paths. But do we? How much of our lives is convention? Do we do what we do because it's what everyone else does?
As far as the performances go, Hedges establishes such sweet chemistry with Ronan. When they lie in the grass at night, gazing up at the stars in each other's arms, we are reminded of that stage in our own lives. A time when we were young and aware. When the entire world was in front of us. A time of endless possibilities. Gerwig absolutely nails that moment.
Unfortunately, as is the case with many first loves, things don't work out between Christine and Danny. I'll let you find out why.
Steffans is a bubbly, funny and lovable best friend, and Bob Stephenson knocks it out of the park in a small-but-hilarious role.
Ronan and Gerwig are the stars here, but Heidi Griffiths, Allison Jones and Jordan Thaler casted the hell out of this thing. Jones has put together casts for Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Veep, The Office, Bridesmaids, Step Brothers, Superbad, Knocked Up and The 40-Year Old Virgin. If you're a comedic character actor, you probably need to know her. I'm sure she knows you.
When you have an unoriginal story, you need original characters. My hat's off to Gerwig, the casting directors and performers for their collective work on Lady Bird. There's something for everyone in this one.
And if nothing else...just sit back and watch Saoirse Ronan do what she was born to do.
** JOHN FRASCELLA'S SCORE: 9 OUT OF 10 **
1. Up in the Air (9.5/10)
2. Steve Jobs (9.5/10)
3. Margin Call (9/10)
4. Lady Bird (9/10)
5. Stay (9/10)
6. Gone Girl (9/10)
7. Nocturnal Animals (9/10)
8. 45 Years (9/10)
9. The Edge of Seventeen (9/10)
10. Tape (9/10)
11. A Perfect Murder (9/10)
2. Steve Jobs (9.5/10)
3. Margin Call (9/10)
4. Lady Bird (9/10)
5. Stay (9/10)
6. Gone Girl (9/10)
7. Nocturnal Animals (9/10)
8. 45 Years (9/10)
9. The Edge of Seventeen (9/10)
10. Tape (9/10)
11. A Perfect Murder (9/10)
14. Split (8.5/10)
15. Bad Moms (8.5/10)
16. Basquiat (8.5/10)
25. 10 Cloverfield Lane (7/10)
26. Loving (7/10) - No review available
27. The Shape of Water (6/10) - discussed in this review
28. The Boy (6/10) - No review available
26. Loving (7/10) - No review available
27. The Shape of Water (6/10) - discussed in this review
28. The Boy (6/10) - No review available
29. Joy (5.5/10)
30. La La Land (5.5/10)
31. The Visit (5/10) - discussed in this review
32. Molly's Game (5/10)
33. Set It Up (5/10)
34. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (4.5/10) - No review available
35. Brooklyn (4.5/10) - discussed in this review, and this review
36. Why Him? (3.5/10) - No review available
37. The Program (3/10)
38. Shut In (2/10) - No review available
39. Premonition (2/10) - No review available
31. The Visit (5/10) - discussed in this review
32. Molly's Game (5/10)
33. Set It Up (5/10)
34. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (4.5/10) - No review available
35. Brooklyn (4.5/10) - discussed in this review, and this review
36. Why Him? (3.5/10) - No review available
37. The Program (3/10)
38. Shut In (2/10) - No review available
39. Premonition (2/10) - No review available
40. Rings (1.5/10)
41. Mother's Day (1.5/10)
41. Mother's Day (1.5/10)
Reviews to Come...
Eastern Promises
A Quiet Place
Life of Pi
Wind River
Hell or High Water
A Quiet Place
Life of Pi
Wind River
Hell or High Water
Sunshine Cleaning
Zero Dark Thirty
The Box
Annabelle: Creation
The Conjuring 2
Baby Driver
Body of Lies
The Box
Annabelle: Creation
The Conjuring 2
Baby Driver
Body of Lies
Untraceable
The Wonder Boys
Jackie Brown
Mean Streets
Nerve
The Hateful Eight
The Seven Five
How to Be Single
Deadpool
Ratatouille
The Spectacular Now
The Purge: Election Year
And more...
The Purge: Election Year
And more...
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