"Only assholes drink Mr. Pibb." "...Then drink up."

Oscar season is here, which means watching heaps of movies when I should really be studying!

And what better way to kick off the season than Hell or High Water? Seriously, the TL;DR version of this blog is that it's a really good movie and I'm so happy there's FINALLY a good movie this year again!

Some other movies that look really interesting for this month (click for trailers):

[Out Now] The Accountant: currently at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes but some YouTube reviewers that I follow really liked it so I will have to check this one out

[Out Now] Hacksaw Ridge: getting good reviews and looks like an interesting story

[Out Now] The Light Between Oceans: looks like a heartbreaking film, starring Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender, and by the director of Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines, both films that I loved

[November 10] Arrival: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, the director of Sicario and Prisoners, alien invasions... of course I'm going to watch this film.

[November 10] Nocturnal Animals: Amy Adams again, and I've seen the creepy and unsettling trailer twice already in cinemas... and looking forward to seeing creepo Jake Gyllenhaal again since he was great in Nightcrawler (2014)

[November 17] Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: the hype is sort of settling down, since I'm a bit annoyed they're making five of these... but who am I kidding we all know I will still go and watch this anyway

[November 24] The Founder: Michael Keaton as the scumbag founder of Maccas?! Yes, please!

So it's starting to look promising!

But back to the beginning of Oscar season...

Hell or Highwater (2016)

8.2/10 on IMDb
98% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed, and recommended by Chloe
Watch it if you: Are keen for a really good modern Western film, or just keen for a really good movie in general!

Over the course of one week, two brothers rob a series of Texan banks operating under the company about to foreclose on their family home. It's a difficult task as they need to outsmart a soon-to-be-retired Texas Ranger, but come hell or high water they plan to make this heist a success.

What I loved about this film was that it felt very real. And that's largely due to the great performances by the cast, but it was also a fantastic job coming from the director and the writers of the film.

Chris Pine was one of the main reasons I wanted to watch this film, and he did a great job, completely disappearing into his role. Many times throughout this movie, I even forgot it was him acting!

Ben Foster was also really good (boy has he come a long way since X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)), and Jeff Bridges is, needless to say, superb here.

But not only were the main cast great, every single supporting character and extra that appeared for just one scene was perfect. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were just normal people living in a Western town and asked to join the film randomly. Everything just came together so well to create that sense of realism for us.

Another thing that I loved was the relationships between the cast. For example, there is one really emotional and very real scene between Chris Pine and Ben Foster that just shows a great moment of brotherly love. They could have easily edited it out, but I found myself grinning from ear to ear as I was watching it. And even the relationship between Jeff Bridges and his buddy cop partner Gil Birmingham were great at showing a relationship that looks like it's just filled with insults, but in reality is a very tender and close relationship and you can see that they both care for each other deep down.

So yeh, basically all the performances were great; everything was really subtle and real. Nobody overacted or oversold themselves.

One downside is that subtitles would have helped a little... especially with Jeff Bridges. Although it's not a big deal because you can get the gist of what they are saying anyway.

So if I haven't sold you on the cast and the acting, then I guess I've done a bad job at writing up this review, but the film had many other upsides to it too.

The writing as I mentioned was great, and got really intense in some moments. No surprises there, though, since it was written by the guy who wrote Sicario (2015), one of the best films of last year.

I was mostly surprised at how funny it was though! I was expecting a really intense and serious drama, but the comedic relief was so perfect in this, once again making it seem realistic, since we all know that real people still have humour in the face of seriousness.

The director also just did a fantastic job overall. I don't recognise any of his other films though, so he seems to be someone to watch out for. The cinematography, editing, pacing, and just everything was done really well.

(One of the funniest scenes of the film)
It's unfortunate that this film didn't have much marketing, since many haven't heard about it at all (and I only heard about it through the YouTubers that I follow), but it is an indication that maybe it's the smaller films we should be keeping an eye out on, as I think this will be potentially the best movie of the year.

I also really liked the reason that the brothers decided to do the bank robberies. At first it sort of seems quite simple, but you later realise that it's more than that, and it gets quite emotional.

So Hell or High Water is a great Western, but it's set in the modern age. We don't see a bunch of cowboys, or a bunch of crazy shootouts because it's the 21st century, but there are still a few of those around, and they're done really well. Overall it's a very entertaining, emotional, and even surprisingly funny film that I'd definitely recommend.