Wouldn't you go to prison to stop this war?

The Post (2017)

7.5/10 on IMDb
88% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: It's alright

Watch it if you: Are interested in the event (The Washington Post's publication of government secret reports);
Are a fan of Meryl Streep and/or Tom Hanks
Katharine Graham, the first female American newspaper publisher, faces a difficult decision when it comes to light that four US Presidents were covering up government secrets relating to the Vietnam War. With her company's reputation, her family's legacy, and even her freedom, at stake, she must be the one to ultimately decide how to expose the truth.

The film ends up getting better, but the first half of the film felt like a bit of a drag. It was a bit slow, and I found it a bit confusing when they just rattled off names. It was hard to figure out which name was which character and which character played what role in the big conspiracy. As a result, you had this idea that something bad was happening with some papers, but they don't focus on it too much. It would have been nice for them to not rush through the important facts, which they kind of did in order to focus on the superb acting ability of the cast. So these important tidbits of information felt like they went by too quickly and it was hard to follow.

Sometimes you also feel like the film is trying a bit too hard to get some Oscar awards, with the camera work and such happening in some scenes. But at the same time it doesn't feel as epic as it should be, so I don't think the fancy camerawork, long takes, and difficult dialogue felt worth it. It didn't feel like they pulled it off well.

In saying that, there are some great scenes with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. Any film directed by Steven Spielberg that can sell itself just by using two words, "STREEP. HANKS." isn't going to be terrible after all. There is one scene where Streep and Hanks are just having coffee or something, and it's a really long take chock-full of dialogue, and it's great to see them just talking and acting so naturally well with each other.

And the film does get a lot better, but then it kind of goes downhill again right at the very end where they end up publishing the news article. It's all a bit... anticlimactic. And they even end the film with a snippet of the Watergate scandal, which felt really out of place. It made me feel like they were suddenly a Marvel movie teasing a sequel that was going to be much better than the one we just finished watching, particularly because the Watergate scandal was an even bigger deal at the time.

All in all, this film did not hit its potential. It didn't feel at all very out there or dramatic and different. It just felt like a pretty typical Hollywood retelling of a historical event that was famous enough to get seats in the cinema. Even though it's got Spielberg, Streep and Hanks, three of the greatest names in Hollywood, it's only alright.

A few side notes:

• At one stage there was Jared from Silicon Valley, Meth Damon from USS Callister, and then Tom Hanks in between the two of them! I was so in awe during that scene I was hardly paying attention to what they were talking about.

The Outrageous Misfortune of One of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty: Painfully Rich, Indeed.

All the Money in the World (2017)

7.1/10 on IMDb
77% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed, and recommended by Chloe;
It's alright

Watch it if you: Are interested in films based on true events;
Want a tense drama with some great acting, particularly by Christopher Plummer

Inspired by true events, All the Money in the World tells the story of when the richest man in the world refuses to pay the 17 million dollar ransom for his kidnapped grandson.

I think this film wasn't really marketed or hyped a lot, and thus there wasn't much talk about it, particularly in the light of other Oscar-season movies such as The Post (2017) coming out around the same time. Surprisingly, this movie was actually really well done, and it just goes to show that Ridley Scott is far from being done with his directing days.

While I don't think this is a particularly amazing film in terms of rewatchability, it is actually a pretty intense film and really well made.

It's a bit long, with a run time of 2 hours and 15 minutes, but the movie felt pretty tight, and you don't really think of how long it is since it's 2 hours and 15 minutes of tensions. The fact that it is also based on true events makes the story feel so incredulous when watching it.

In fact I think if I didn't know it was a true story, I honestly would have thought, "This movie is so stupid. It's unrealistic, unbelievable, and just stupid."

And while they do dramatise some things that didn't happen, some things that happened in real life were actually worse than in the movie! You walk out of the theatre absolutely hating John Paul Getty Senior. Even though he's in the film for a short amount of time, his sinister presence overshadows the entire film.

Christopher Plummer did such a great job at playing this complete dickhead of a character. His blasé attitude and frugal nature to the kidnapping, ransom demands, and torture of his own grandchild make you really, really, despise him.

And to top it all off, Christopher Plummer wasn't even in this movie originally! It was meant to be Kevin Spacey in old age make up and prosthetics, but over the sexual assault allegations made over Spacey, they had to quickly reshoot his scenes with Christopher Plummer in something like 9 days. And you can't even really tell, because the movie was edited so well and even almost flawlessly.

Christopher Plummer was Ridley Scott's original desired actor, but I heard somewhere that the studio wanted someone more famous to help sell the movie. Which in hindsight is ridiculous not just because of the sexual assault allegations, but because 1) Kevin Spacey looks ridiculous (same link as before but honestly, he looks so weird!), and 2) Christopher Plummer is one of the best parts of this movie.

I mean, this guy walks in, rushes to learn his lines and do a quick 9 day job, does an amazing job while he's at it, and he gets nominated for a Golden Globe, and is possibly getting nominated for an Oscar. And, he's 88 years old! He's a legend, basically, is what I'm saying.

The other actors did really well too, with Michelle Williams being a really strong and determined mother who's stressed out to the max and is trying her darndest to convince J. Paul Getty Sr. to pay the ransom. The same goes with Mark Wahlberg, he's been doing a really good job with his most recent films lately, and I'm happy he's been choosing to do these good dramatic roles (I mean, for a guy who's doing stuff like Daddy's Home and Transformers movies...)

Charlie Plummer was also convincing as the kidnapped grandson, and I really loved his scenes with Romain Duris who plays Cinquanta. Duris was fantastic and he stole the show every time he was on scene.

So this film was surprisingly very intense and well made. It was able to build that tension relating to the kidnapping and J. Paul Getty Sr. not wanting to oay a single cent of the ransom. It can be quite suspenseful, and some scenes are really graphic and not for the faint-hearted. Christopher Plummer does an amazing job, as do the other actors, and Ridley Scott does a fine job as a director for seamlessly recasting Kevin Spacey so last minute. It's probably not something you will re-watch, but it provides a really interesting insight into this dysfunctional family.

A few side comments:

• Sometimes real life is worse than in the movies. According to Wikipedia:

When the kidnappers finally reduced their demands to $3 million, Getty senior agreed to pay no more than $2.2 million—the maximum that would be tax-deductible. He lent his son the remaining $800,000 at 4% interest. Paul III was found alive in a filling station of Lauria, in the province of Potenza, shortly after the ransom was paid. After his release Paul III called his grandfather to thank him for paying the ransom but, it is claimed, Getty refused to come to the phone. Nine people associated with 'Ndrangheta were later arrested for the kidnapping, but only two were convicted. Paul III was permanently affected by the trauma and became a drug addict. After a stroke brought on by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol in 1981, Paul III was rendered speechless, nearly blind and partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. He died 30 years later on February 5, 2011 at the age of 54.

So how's it all going in the nigger-torturing business, Dixon? It's 'Persons of color'-torturing business, these days, if you want to know.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

8.4/10 on IMDb
93% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed, and recommended by Chloe;
Low-energy entertainment

Watch it if you: Are a fan of Frances McDormand;
Are a fan of Sam Rockwell;
Want to enjoy a foul-mouthed comedy that has surprising heart in it
Months ago, Mildred Hayes' teenage daughter was raped and murdered, and police have hardly progressed on the case. Taking matters into her own hands, Mildred paints over three billboards outside the town, pointing the finger at Chief Police Officer Willoughy.

I was fortunate to see an advanced screening of this some weeks ago, with an interview with David and Margaret (the duo from At The Movies), and Margaret had put this movie as her favourite of 2017, so I was pretty excited for it. Since it's been a few weeks, my memory isn't the greatest, but I do remember really enjoying this film.

The great thing about this film is that it's really funny, but then it can go from 0 to 100 real quick and suddenly turn a bit dark and depressing. It's a great dark comedy, but it's also a really interesting drama as well.

The writing in this case was done really well, since it was able to realistically be really funny and yet really heartbreaking all at the same time. And it was able to subvert a lot of your expectations in many scenes, making heartbreaking scenes turn out to be funny, funny scenes turn out to be emotional, et cetera, et cetera.

And Frances McDormand is great in this because she was able to work with those crazy tonal shifts, and she did such a great job at being a psycho bitch one second, and then a loving and caring motherly figure the next second. It was great to see her portray this damaged woman who we first feel sorry for, then we start getting a little freaked out because of how psychopathic she is, and then we go back to feeling sorry for her because we realise that despite her craziness, she is still a sad and broken creature.

A lot of awards buzz for her, and she even nabbed the Golden Globe the other night. She definitely deserves it and she's a strong contender for the Oscar (but I haven't seen many of the other awards films this year, so I can't say who my pick would be yet).

But the rest of the cast was great too. Firstly, it was nice to see Lucas Hedges (the kid from Manchester by the Sea (2016)) here, even if he didn't have much to do. But I really liked seeing Caleb Landry Jones here. He did a good job in Get Out (2017) and American Made (2017), and he was really good in this so he's having a great year this year.

The stand out for me, though, was Sam Rockwell as Officer Dixon. He did an amazing job, I was so blown away by him and I'm so happy he got the Golden Globe because he completely deserved it! He does such a great job at being this imbecile of a policeman, and to see how his character ends up was really satisfactory. In fact all of the character arcs that happen in this movie feel very natural and real for each individual character, which is again a nod at how great the writing was.

Woody Harrelson also did a great job, which is good because I didn't really like him in War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). But here, his character's storyline is a bit tragic, and you get that he's a really great and fun guy despite being pestered by these billboards that Mildred's put up. There is one scene in particular that he does with Frances McDormand and that is when it goes from witty banter to serious shock real quick, and that was such a memorable scene. The actors in this movie honestly did such a great job, all round.

Overall, this was a really fun movie to watch with surprising heart and emotion in it. You go in wanting to munch on popcorn while seeing these insane characters do crazy things, but you end up really caring for them, and each character has a unique character arc. It's a fun time, with some witty banter that will make you chuckle, and it's got some great writing and fantastic acting in it.

A few side notes:

There is one scene with a deer, and the CGI for it was so offputting, but I don't know if that's just because they were deliberately trying to make it seem unrealistic. But yeh, that was the only super weird part for me

Also, Peter Dinklage is in this, and rocking a mullet!

This is brave, this is bruised, this is who I'm meant to be... This is me.

The Greatest Showman (2017)

8.0/10 on IMDb
55% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed, and recommended by Chloe;
It's alright

Watch it if you: Enjoy watching musicals;
Care more for great songs and dance performances rather than writing and plot
Inspired by P.T. Barnum's creation of the circus, The Greatest Showman explores what it may have been like to start up a circus in 18th century America.

I was really keen to watch this since I've been seeing the trailer for this over and over and over again (not deliberately, just every time I see a movie in the theatre), constantly getting 'This is Me' stuck in my head when I hadn't even heard the full song! And while it's not the best film or best musical ever, it still didn't disappoint because in the end it was a fun musical with great performances and superbly catchy songs.

This film doesn't have a very high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that's mainly because of the criticism of having this film portray P. T. Barnum as some revolutionary visionary who protected his circus 'freaks' and wanted them to have better lives. No, in actuality P. T. Barnum was kind of a jackass who faked a lot of his 'exhibits', exploited his 'freaks', and did everything (even philanthropy) purely because of the profits. While they sort of touch on Hugh Jackman's character as being a bit of a con artist and gathering his 'human attractions' just for a buck, they still portray him as a nice guy who genuinely cares for them.

While I agree with needing to accurately portray people in movies, I don't recall this movie actually saying it was based on a true story or true events. I know in the ads it said it was inspired by true events, which is fair enough since it was inspired by the creation of the circus. But I guess having that same name sort of puts a sour taste on the movie because you have this feeling that something is just off. Imagine if there was a musical out there celebrating Hitler as a nice person. It's not the same, but if you think about it, it's understandable why a good movie can get low ratings because the character is nothing like their real life persona.

So I think if they just made this movie about someone who creates a circus, someone other than P. T. Barnum, then it would have been more positively reviewed. I don't even mean change how the character was written, I mean literally just change the character's name and keep everything else the same. I think that way it would have been received better.

Apart from that, there's not much else to fault on this movie. I did find it was a bit sloppy in terms of writing and editing, like the plot and the transitions between scenes were a bit all over the place, but in the end I went in not wanting a great movie with great writing, I just wanted a great musical with catchy songs and great feel-good music performances, and I got that.

All the songs were great, and all the dancing was great too.

Each song has a very unique feel to it, either because of the singers, the dancing, or even the set location. Seriously I was so amazed that not every single song was just in the circus setting. Each set choreography was great because they adapted the song and dance to match where they were. For example, I loved the song 'The Other Side' which Zac Efron and Hugh Jackman sing together, and in the background there's a cool bartender doing crazy moves, and the choreography includes the usage (and drinking) of shot glasses.

I also loved when Michelle Williams and Hugh Jackman were dancing on their roof to 'A Million Dreams' in between the white sheets hung up, it looked really magical. And Zendaya and Zac Efron singing 'Rewrite the Stars' was another great visual performance, since they were dancing on the trapeze and it looked amazing.

That is possibly my favourite song of the whole soundtrack, but I also really like 'This is Me' and 'Never Enough' (which is not actually Rebecca Ferguson singing, but someone called Loren Allred who was on The Voice U.S. in one of the seasons). But honestly, all of the songs are really good.

So in the end, this wasn't the perfect film. The writing lacked a bit and the movie felt a bit all over the place with so many things happening, but I understand they didn't want to cut much out of the movie because these plot elements made way for some really great song and dance performances. Hugh Jackman is such a legend, being a quadruple threat with acting, singing, dancing, and being a great action hero. The songs really make this film, and I know what I'll be singing for the next month or so.

♪♪ Remember me. ♪♪

Coco (2017)

8.8/10 on IMDb
97% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: Signed, sealed, and recommended by Chloe;
Watch it in cinemas;
I'm buying the DVD

Watch it if you: Are a fan of Pixar movies;
Disliked the last 3 Pixar movies and want to see Pixar doing good movies again;
Want a fun movie that kids would enjoy;
Want a deep and mature story that adults can also really enjoy;
Want to see some great colourful animation
Miguel comes from a long line of music-hating shoemakers, yet wishes he could pursue a life of music despite his family's prejudice. One day, he accidentally enters the Land of the Dead, where he must explore his familial roots before he can go back to the Land of the Living.

I saw a teaser trailer for this ages ago and then proceeded to forget what it was really about, but knew I wanted to watch it. Lately, though, I noticed there's hardly any marketing for this movie, I haven't even seen a single trailer for this when watching any movie in the cinemas, and sure that might be because I haven't seen any kids' movies, but I've seen some comedies and family-centred movies (like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)), and still didn't see any trailers. I've also spoken to a few people who haven't even heard of this movie.

Having said that, I'm really sad that the marketing for this isn't that great, because it is a great movie! It's your typical Pixar movie with a heartwrenching story, great music and beautiful animation.

Before I start my review on this movie, I will mention two things that aren't about the actual movie:

1. I was at first annoyed there was no Pixar short film that played in front of this film, since there's always a short film played. But then I later read that apparently there was some 22 minute Frozen short revolving around Olaf (the most annoying character of Frozen tbh) which was so long and annoying that people kept complaining and all cinemas (across the world I think) ended up not playing it anymore. I'm super glad I didn't have to sit through a 22 minute Frozen short.
   
2. There's an animated movie called The Book of Life (2014) that apparently people were worried this movie would be too similar to, since they both deal with someone in Mexico entering the Land of the Dead. I haven't seen The Book of Life, but people who have seen both have stated that they aren't similar at all except for involving the Land of the Dead.
   

Okay, having said all that, the thing that took my breath away in this movie was its stunning animation. It's no news to us that Pixar is amazing, but seriously the animation here was beautiful, and managed to capture that wonderful essence of magic.

In fact, the Land of the Dead looked way more lively than the Land of the Living! The animation here is so vibrant and colourful, when you first see it, it honestly blows you away. One thing that I read online was that the Land of the Dead, which has cities being built on top of each other, start off with pyramids at the base, then colonial architecture, and then it continues all the way up until there are modern buildings, and it's still undergoing construction. It's such a cool concept!

And apparently Mexico and Mexican culture related to the Day of the Dead is represented really well in this film. It's so nice looking at other cultures in a Hollywood movie, and it's nice to not be getting crappy diversity movies just for the sake of having diversity movies. Here, the Mexican tradition is not just a setting, but it's a huge plot driver, and adds to the overall message of the movie as well.

And as to the message, there are so many feels here as well, typical of a Pixar movie. It's a great message for kids, and there is a plot twist here that I won't say too much about, but I really did not expect that plot twist at all. (Covering this as a spoiler because if someone knows it's unexpected, they might actually end up guessing the plot twist when watching the movie because in hindsight I guess it's not that unexpected.)

Lastly, the songs are not the best, but they are made really nice because of the lyrics in them, and because of the meaning and emotion behind the words.

Overall, this movie was really touching. It's great to see Pixar return to form with this after mediocres such as The Good Dinosaur (2015) and (oh dear) Cars 3. With this great story on family ties, Pixar is bringing back it's heartwrenching stories with beautiful animation that we all fell in love with. It's a great movie for kids but it's also very mature and deep, so it's enjoyable for adults as well.

A few (spoilery) side notes:

• Alzheimer's sucks yo!
  
• I didn't notice this before but Héctor has a gold tooth, and Ernesto's guitar also has a gold tooth coloured in on it