5th Annual Oscar pick-a-palooza: Who is the Best Actress of 2017?

Ingrid Goes West

And here is yet another installment of my ongoing series of Oscar predictions/opinions alongside Too Fat 4 Skinny Jeans blogger Brian Wezowicz. You can check out our takes on this year's supporting races here and here. And now we're moving on to the big guns -- Best Actress -- we join our previous conversation, in progress...

Brian: Great call on Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049! I really enjoyed his return to the character, and am sad he didn't get more recognition (also that 2049 wasn't more successful). I may have misspoken when I said "over the top" in regards to Willem Dafoe. I would probably only classify a Nic Cage or John Travolta as consistently over the top in their performances.

I just feel that Dafoe has become synonymous with a certain intensity or craziness in his recent performances. Maybe I'm wrong... I dunno. Maybe I'm just thinking about this Snicker's commercial.

Anyway, on to our next category. Best Actress. I feel like, for the most part, the Academy got this category right without any glaring snubs. That being said, I feel like 2017 didn't have a ton of great leading performances by women. I could be wrong, but I feel like there were meatier roles were in the supporting category. That's not to take away from these fine performances, but I'm not really able to recall many other strong leading actress performances. I also feel like this one basically comes down to two performances... Frances McDormand and Saorise Ronan.

Here are the nominees:

Lead Actress:
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post

Will Win: Frances McDormand. I know you didn't rank this film as high as some other critics, but there's no denying that McDormand gave a great performance in this one... perhaps her best since Fargo. She's always delivers and her performance in Three Billboards is no different. I think she takes home her second acting Oscar on the big night.

Should Win: I'm going to go with McDormand here as well. I know she's already won an Oscar before, which could hurt her. But I think the pre-Oscar awards going her way (including the SAG and Golden Globe) makes her the front runner. I would like to see Saorise Ronan win for her wonderful performance in Lady Bird.

Snub/Surprise: Like I said above, I'm not sure there's another leading performance out there that would push one of these five out (which would also qualify as my biggest surprise). You could argue that Jessica Chastain could sneak in for Molly's Game, but I'm not surprised she was left out. If I had to pick a snub, I thought that maybe Gal Gadot would be a crowd favorite/big budget performance that could make her way in. I don't think that she necessarily deserves a nomination, but the film made a ton of cash and she's literally the only good thing about the DC Cinematic Universe.

Who ya got?

Adam: I am pretty much in complete agreement with you on this one -- I feel like of all the major acting categories, this was the one where the five nominees were the closest to a forgone conclusion. That doesn't mean it's not strong group, but there weren't a lot of sixth or seventh options creeping in.

Although I do think there were a couple outside-the-box options that would have been interesting, but I'll get to that in a second.

Will win: Frances McDormand. This one feels less close than it should, with only Saoirse Ronan (who at 23 is already on her third nomination!) looking like anything close to a real threat. McDormand has always been great, and while it was nice to see her anchoring a movie again after years of strong supporting turns, I have mixed feelings about the film and her performance -- it doesn't wear well. She sort of did the kind of no-nonsense tough-as-nails thing she's done before but her character's motivations and actions are often muddled and unjustified by the film, in a way that makes this feel like one of those wins that doesn't feel totally earned.

Should win: I have a tougher time with this one. I actually probably enjoyed the Meryl Streep performance the most of all of these, it was one of the most finely calibrated and subtle of her Oscar roles of late, but she just won recently for the lackluster Iron Lady, so she has no chance here. Sally Hawkins was lovely and luminous but I don't see her winning for her mute role in The Shape of Water. I think Margot Robbie deserves a lot of credit for her physical performance as Tonya Harding, but I guess I would be happier to see Saoirse Ronan win for Lady Bird because she is just so funny and refreshing in it.

Snub/Surprise: While it never was gonna happen, I actually think Aubrey Plaza deserved some awards love and consideration for her whacked out turn in the dark comedy Ingrid Goes West. I also thought if Vicky Krieps wasn't such an unknown she would have been a totally valid contender for her strong turn opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in his swan song Phantom Thread. I thought Gal Gadot gave a great movie star performance but maybe not quite right for an Oscar, although I'm all for shaking up what we have come to consider an 'Oscar role' since what she did is arguably just as difficult as more traditional dramatic roles.

The 5th annual Oscar pick-a-palooza: Who's Best Supporting Actor?

Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049

Too Fat 4 Skinny Jeans movie blogger Brian Wezowicz and I will be weighing in with our hot takes on this year's major category nominations. Click here to read the first installment on Best Supporting Actress. And without further ado, here's our impressions of this year's male supporting line-up.

Brian: I completely hear you about Betty Gabriel [in Get Out] delivering a chilling and unforgettable performance that is worthy of some recognition.  Her "No, no, no, no, no..." scene will go down in the annals of cinema.  And it's a shame that Carrie Fisher's only Oscar recognition for playing Leia was in last year's "In Memoriam."

The next category is Supporting Actor.  Another strong category with one large elephant in the room not appearing.  Kevin Spacey, had he not been such a scumbag, would probably have been nominated here.  Instead, we have Christopher Plummer getting nominated for not being Kevin Spacey.  I know you said his performance was one of the saving graces of this film, but I can't help but think he's getting the nod as a thank you for saving the release date of All The Money In The World. Here are the nominees:

Supporting Actor:

Bob Odenkirk in The Post

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer,  All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Will Win:  Sam Rockwell - He seems to be the odds on favorite this awards season.  He's finally getting recognition for the quality actor that he is, having put in years of strong to excellent work as a character actor.

Should Win:  Willem Dafoe - One of your top 10 movies of the year (I missed its theatrical run), you called Dafoe's performance the warmest of his career.  As someone who normally goes wayyyy over the top, it's nice to see him play a more down-to-earth character.

Snub/Surprise:  I've already mentioned that my surprise is Plummer, but I've got two people in mind for a snub here.  My first is Armie Hammer, who works wonders in Call Me By Your Name.  My second snub is Bob Odenkirk in The Post.  While Hanks and Streep got the meatiest roles, I really enjoyed Odenkirk's performance as the reporter who finds the Pentagon Papers.  He's been doing excellent TV work for years, and it would have been nice to see some recognition from The Academy.  You could also nominate a number of the fine supporting performances in Get Out (Bradley Whitford, LilRel Howery, or Stephen Root all had scene stealing roles).

Who takes your statue?

Adam: I think Christopher Plummer is genuinely great in All the Money in the World, I can't be sure how much his doing a solid for the movie was a factor. But that being said, I think there were better performances that could have made this cut. But more on that in a second. This is always the heaviest categories for me when it comes to the coulda/shoulda/woulda conversation. Someone worthy is always left out. No one who is here doesn't belong here. But some of my faves definitely missed the cut.

Will win: Sam Rockwell. He's terrific in Three Billboards, but I am not sure why he has become the consensus favorite all of a sudden. Perhaps it's just a realization that he's been wonderful and unsung for so long and people feel compelled to want to reward him for this. I actually think Woody Harrelson is just as good in the movie, but I suppose Rockwell's part is showier. Richard Jenkins is reliably great in The Shape of Water, I mean come to think of it, all these guys are really solid utility players. But Rockwell seems to have all the momentum now for a movie I really didn't think was all that special.

Should win: Willem Dafoe. I'm curious about your comment that he usually goes "over the top" -- I wouldn't say that about him at all. I think he definitely has been in some pretty out there movies (particularly his collaborations with Lars Von Trier) but I've always found him to be a very humane, grounded actor. Particularly in movies like Platoon, Mississippi Burning and The Last Temptation of Christ from earlier in this career. In this movie he is so great with the child actors and the other amateurs around him. Maybe he'll get recognized someday, but it feels like he is just one of those great character actors who will never get his due, unlike Rockwell.

Snub/Surprise: I knew he wouldn't get nominated because the movie has not been in the awards conversation (outside tech categories) at all -- but I would have loved to see Harrison Ford get some well deserved recognition for his fantastic supporting turn in Blade Runner 2049. He was the heart and soul of that movie, and I'm consistently bummed by how little credit he's been given for his late career comeback.

I love that you mentioned Lil' Rel Howery, when I saw Get Out I remembered thinking -- this guy should be nominated for an Oscar, but they won't do it because roles like this never get nominated, which is a shame.

And finally, the biggest bummer is the exclusion of Call Me By Your Name's Armie Hammer and Michael Stuhlbarg, who both give beautiful, moving performances that don't have the same gimmicks that the Three Billboards guys do.

'Never Seen It' - Episode 29 - Why 'Every Which Way But Loose'?

We're back! Elizabeth Rosado and I have another edition of our 'Never Seen It' podcast for your earholes. This is a curious one -- Clint Eastwood's blockbuster from exactly 40 years ago -- Every Which Way But Loose, the first of two (yes, two) movies co-starring an orangutan named Clyde.

As iconic as Eastwood is, this film and it's follow-up and sort of largely forgotten in his filmography. So much so, that I'd never bothered to check either movie out, even though I'm an Eastwood fan. So in this episode we try to find the virtues of this critically reviled film and will hopefully entertain you in the process.

You can hear the podcast by clicking on the YouTube below or checking out this link on Soundcloud. And you can also now like us and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes! And all of our past episodes are available on our main website page here. Enjoy!

 

5th Annual Oscar-a-looza: Who's the Best Supporting Actress?

Betty Gabriel in Get Out

As has become an annual Oscar tradition Too Fat 4 Skinny Jeans movie blogger Brian Wezowicz and I will be weighing in with our hot takes on this year's major category nominations. Here is the first installment of this year's nerdfest. Stay tuned for more in the days ahead...

Brian: Welcome back! It's always great to trade Oscar picks with you, but this year marks a mini-milestone. It's our 5th year of doing Oscar Predictions together. So let's pop a bottle of champagne and jump right in, shall we? Our Top 10 lists are out... the nominations are here... it's time to predict the future once again with my favorite film blogger.

2017 was an exceptional year for film. There was quality all around, in both the art house and blockbuster genres. From game changing thrillers (Get Out), to superheroes (Logan, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder Woman), to your typical Oscar bait (The Post, Phantom Thread, etc.), 2017 was a great year for film. It was also a year of earth shattering revelations about rampant sexual abuse throughout the industry.

Industry titans fell (Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey), and I feel like we're only scratching the surface with the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. We're seeing it in these nominations. James Franco, once a lock for an acting nomination, was shut out. Christopher Plummer was nominated for, seemingly, not being Kevin Spacey. We also don't seem to have a clear frontrunner for Best Picture/Director like we've had in years past. I am very much looking forward to the big show this year.

For those unfamiliar with how these picks work, Adam and I will go through each category and pick who will win and who we think should win. I'm switching up our normal third category (dark horse) with the biggest snub and/or surprise. I feel like with the deluge of pre-Oscar awards, most of the nominations come down to one or two choices. There hasn't really been a true dark horse in awhile, so let's concentrate on who we felt should have been nominated, or something who was nominated that may not have been as deserving as someone else.

Allison Janney in I, Tonya

First up... Best Supporting Actress. Here's the nominees:

Supporting Actress:
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Will Win: Allison Janney - I've been a huge fan of Janney since her West Wing days (my favorite show of all-time.). And she is, by all accounts, an absolute delight in this film. She's taken some early awards and I think she wins this one.

Should Win: This is a tough one, because like it could be a coin flip between Janney and Laurie Metcalf for her wonderful performance in Lady Bird. I'll be happy if either of these nominations win.

Snub/Surprise: I know you've mentioned Mary J. Blige in previous emails, so I'll let you tough on that. For me, the biggest snub was Holly Hunter in The Big Sick. She gave, in my opinion, the best performance in that delightful dramedy. I'm a bit surprised she got left out. What do you think?

Adam: I couldn't agree more with your summation of a very tumultuous and interesting year at the movies. Hollywood is ever-so-slowly starting to get it in terms of the problems in its culture, and yet still have a very long way to go. Still, by-and-large this past year was refreshingly good.

The blockbusters were a little smarter (with some notable exceptions ... hopefully we've seen the last of the Pirates and Transformers franchises) and the awards caliber movies were a more eclectic bunch than usual. Among the Best Pictures nominees, only Darkest Hour and The Post feel like your parents' prestige pictures, but I digress.

This year's Best Supporting Actress contenders was pretty much what a lot of people were predicting, with the pleasant surprise of Lesley Manville sneaking in for a terrific performance in Phantom Thread over Holly Hunter in The Big Sick. I loved Hunter's performance but she's been honored many times before and won the Best Actress prize for The Piano, so I am cool with the new blood.

Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird

Will Win: Allison Janney, she's great in I, Tonya but most importantly it's the showiest role in the bunch. She gives a big, broad, scene-stealing performance in a movie a lot of people really like and are bummed to see outside the Best Picture race. She's been cleaning up all awards season and to your point has a lot of fans and good will from her West Wing days. Sometimes, these categories produce a surprise winner but other than Metcalf, who is also similarly beloved by her peers, I don't see anyone upsetting her.

Should Win: I like Octavia Spencer a lot but she did nothing she hasn't done before in The Shape of Water. Mary J. Blige didn't really register for me as anything special in Mudbound. I think Lesley Manville's nomination is her reward, she's great, but her film is breaking too late to steal this. So to me its between Metcalf and Janney. I actually think Metcalf has the harder role, they both play domineering mothers, but Janney's is more one note and comedic, whereas Metcalf has to play her part more grounded and nuanced. So I would give to Metcalf by a nose.

Snub/Surprise: There were a lot of potentially great outside the box choices they could have made here. For instance, there are times where this category can feel like 'the place where we recognize black women' -- but for me an African-American woman who deserved to be here was the great Betty Gabriel from Get Out, who was chilling, sad and funny in a small but unforgettable turn as the 'housemaid' from hell. Also from that same film Alison Williams was a standout. Hell, I'd love to see the Oscars pay tribute to the late Carrie Fisher, who finally got to be the baller leader she was born to be in her last film, The Last Jedi.

At long last ... here's my top 10 favorite movies of 2017

Get Out

In my humble opinion, 2017 was a terrific year for movies. When the Oscar nominations were announced this week there was a huge number of performances and films that were allegedly snubbed, even when only five films can be recognized in most categories, in other words, some movies just miss the cut.

I definitely had a hell of time coming up with a definitive top 10 list -- I really loved a lot of movies this year -- and unlike many years, great stuff started coming out relatively early in the year, in fact my favorite film of 2017 came out almost exactly one year ago.

I worry to some extent that films I've seen more recently have started to diminish work that I saw earlier that was great but has just faded from memory a bit. Still, I feel confident about this list. These were the movies that really stuck with me and if I were forced to just recommend ten movies to someone this past year without caveats, these would be the ten.

Dunkirk

But I wanna give honorable mentions to some fantastic superhero vehicles (Logan, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Wonder Woman, Thor: Ragnarok), some off-kilter dark comedies with some social commentary (The Disaster Artist, Ingrid Goes West and I, Tonya), action thrillers (John Wick 2, War for the Planet of the Apes, Brawl in Cell Block 99, even Baby Driver) and many more that hover just outside my top 10 like The Shape of Water, which I now think is the front-runner to win Best Picture and Director.

Also, I gotta give some shout outs to It, The Beguiled, Raw, Detroit and the unfairly maligned and misunderstood Mother! 

But enough stalling ...

10) Call Me By Your Name - A deeply moving, occasionally uncomfortable, but emotionally authentic romance that is beautiful to look at and impeccably acted by Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg and especially Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet in a breakthrough, star-making performance. While the trailer spoils much of the suspense of the film's first act, once it settles into its story it becomes very involving and sublime. One of the best films in recent years about first love and longing. It deserves a wider audience than it's getting. It's a lovely valentine of a movie.

9) Dunkirk - Virtuoso director Christopher Nolan managed to both make his most emotionally fulfilling movie without sacrificing his precision or bombast, which is really impressive. An immersive war film unlike any I've seen -- Nolan's portrayal of the bombing and rescue of stranded British soldiers is both harrowing and inspiring. A visceral filmgoing experience that earns its hero worship without being even a little bit sappy about it.

8) Lady Bird - I didn't expect to be as touched by Lady Bird as I was. I didn't think I'd be able to relate to it. But as it unfolded I couldn't help but be swept up by its modest charms. It's not a movie with very high stakes, but it features a terrific, believable mother-daughter relationship, hilariously brought to life by a never better Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf (who both earned well-deserved Oscar noms for their work). A sweet coming-of-age fable that actually earns its pathos and suggests that writer-director Greta Gerwig can become an interesting director in the future.

7) Phantom Thread - Another off-the-wall slam dunk from one of my all-time favorite directors -- Paul Thomas Anderson. On the surface its a stuffy period piece about a perfectionist clothes designer (Daniel Day-Lewis in his supposedly final role) and his muse (a brilliant Vicky Krieps) but scratch right below the surface and you get a laugh-out-loud funny black comedy about a particularly strange love affair. This one isn't for everyone, and might strike some as wee bit too male in its mindset, but it hit my sweet spot.

6) The Post - Steven Spielberg does not shy away from weighty, historically vital issues in this riveting recreation of the fight to publish the Pentagon Papers in the early 70s, and his sense of urgency really propels what could have been a corny, disposable movie, and makes it feel like a truly important one. This Meryl Streep-Tom Hanks two-hander makes salient points about women in the workplace, the importance of the press and the need to never stop fighting for what is right. In another time and place that might feel hokey, but today, we need films like this.

5) The Last Jedi - The rare giant blockbuster that got penalized for -- god forbid -- trying something new and not being predictable. This new Star Wars film was unburdened by fan service, fan theories and trite preoccupations with the past. It was a Star Wars film about the future for future audiences, that was also fun, resonant and incredible to look at. Kudos to director Rian Johnson for taking some chances with the formula. I trust that with some time and distance fans who balked at his ambition will come to appreciate how great an entry this one was and is.

4) The Florida Project - It blows my mind that this film didn't become more of a phenomenon. It really made me rethink my own life and approach to the world. An ode to the childlike sense of wonder we all have and eventually lose, director Sean Baker takes an almost documentary like approach to this episodic tale of a precocious little girl (a luminous Brooklynn Prince), her troubled mother and the landlord of the motel they live in, who functions like a surrogate dad (a never-better Willem Dafoe). This is a movie where even the trailer made me cry. If you can't feel something watching this, you might want to check your pulse.

3) Good Time - The best movie this year that inexplicably nobody saw. It felt like a rush -- like a great lost, early Martin Scorsese movie. Robert Pattison gave an electric performance in this unpredictable, intense crime thriller which has a great ear for Queens-bred characters and dialogue. This movie, directed by the Safdie brothers, deserves to become a major cult classic -- it was  another criminally underrated and really worth a watch.

2) Blade Runner 2049 - A rare perfect sequel that not only expounds upon but enhances the power of the original. Director Denis Villeneuve does some smart (and gorgeous) world building here, with a complex mystery narrative that includes the noir homages of the original with some new wrinkles which offer subtle commentaries to our modern tech world. Ryan Gosling is perfectly cast and a soulful Harrison Ford is pure dynamite. This movie was unfortunately dismissed because it wasn't enough of a blockbuster, but $92 million for a somber meditation on the nature of humanity ain't bad. This is a stone cold classic.

1) Get Out - When I saw this movie for the first time in theaters I had an inkling that it would not just be my favorite film of the year, but quite possibly one of my favorite films ever. Its commercial success was both surprising and gratifying for me, since this satirical horror film spoke to experiences and feelings that I've personally had in a way like no movie ever has. It really captured something unique and powerful about the black experience, spoke to the pitfalls of white liberalism and so much more. The fact that it still holds up and that its now being embraced by the Academy Awards literally gives me hope in humanity's feature, even if the film itself paints a fairly bleak portrait of man.

Daniel Day-Lewis has perfect farewell with 'Phantom Thread'

At first glance, it would appear that the stately romantic drama Phantom Thread bares little resemblance to any of director Paul Thomas Anderson's previous work -- but it actually shares a lot of thematic DNA with some of his other acclaimed films, in particular, his quirky comedy Punch-Drunk Love.

That film, and this one, makes the case for love as a form of mutually assured destruction -- where two people feed off of each other's eccentricities even when it could put their lives in physical danger.

Anderson, who has for many years been in a relationship with actress Maya Rudolph is incapable of making a straightforward, traditional movie, and his Phantom Thread, which had all the trappings of a period drama, is spiked with acidic humor and a narrative that doesn't really sink in until its last act.

It's biggest attraction is actor Daniel Day-Lewis, following up on his last appearance in an Anderson film -- They Will Be Blood -- with another monstrously egotistical control freak character. However, unlike his sonorous, madly paranoid Daniel Plainview, his role here -- as in-demand fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock -- is a much more pathetic, tragically comic figure.

Woodcock, we come to understand, periodically takes on lovers only to eschew them when they start expecting him to be a normal, giving partner. His house (and his life) is fastidiously micro-managed by his prim sister (played exceptionally well by Lesley Manville) and his every whim and temper tantrum is indulged in service of his impeccable art.

Into his hermetically sealed world steps a seemingly shy waitress named Alma -- played by Vicky Krieps in a star-making performance -- who quickly becomes the object of his affection and his muse.

From the very start, Woodcock treats Alma with a patronizing condescension which is both creepy and infuriating -- and understandably their relationship has drawn the ire of some who see this film as a tone deaf delivery amid the Time's Up movement.

But the film's period setting and the complex, nuanced characterization of its leads suggest this film is far more sophisticated than your average, lazy May-December romance.

Alma turns out to be far more wily and powerful character than she initially seems and as Woodcock devolves into an increasingly comic figure of hopeless petulance, she becomes stronger and nearly steals the film away from him. If she weren't such an unknown, the Luxemborgian Krieps would be a shoo-in for a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Still, this is Day-Lewis' show. It's his first screen appearance since his Oscar-winning turn in Lincoln six years ago, and he doesn't miss a step. His every gesture is a symphony of perfectly-calibrated acting. He can do so much with just a look, or a shift in his posture. The whole performance is a delicate slow burn, and when he erupts its both invigorating and illuminating.

If this has to be his farewell from acting -- and I'm on record wishing that it won't be -- it is a fitting one, because it feels like the culmination of all the great work he's done -- especially in the last several years. He has become such a master craftsman that watching him play a role is like watching a virtuoso musician play their instrument for two hours straight.

And Paul Thomas Anderson, who for me has never made a single major misstep as a director (I had quibbles with The Master, but appreciate its wit and insight), shows here yet again that he is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today, hands down.

He's never really had a major commercial success, and his films are hard to sell in an elevator pitch, but he consistently gets some of the best performances out of actors, his films look great and they haunt you long after the credits have rolled. It's impossible to see an Anderson film and not feel some type of way about it when it's finished. He definitely knows how to provoke an audience.

With Phantom Thread, which is set in 1950s couture London, he will likely yet again not connect with mainstream audiences, and maybe even some arthouse ones. The film definitely takes a big narrative leap and isn't necessarily interested in presenting you with characters you can identify with or root for. But he is giving you a lot to chew on, and that's all I want from a movie these days.

Why the makers of 'Proud Mary' should be ashamed

Proud Mary commits the biggest cardinal sin a genre movie can make -- it's boring. And that's a shame, because the idea of Taraji P. Henson as a badass action hero is a great one, but this film lets her down (and the audience) unlike any movie I've seen recently.

It all starts promising enough, with a soul infused opening credit sequence with recalls the best Pam Grier vehicles of the 1970s, but fairly quickly devolves into an incredibly passive, aggressively un-fun movie, and I am mystified as to why. It so easily could have been, at the very least, a guilty pleasure.

Henson is not just a stunning woman, she is an interesting actress. Hidden Figures proved that with the right material she is a bonafide movie star.  But in Proud Mary she is saddled with a pretty annoying little kid she has to essentially babysit (played by a child actor who looks incredibly similar to a young Chris Rock) and a character that is ill-defined and whose every decision barely makes sense.

Perhaps because of tax credits, this movie is set in Boston -- but instead of using the locale to give the movie flavor or context it's just there to provide bland establishing shots to interrupt the monotony of the many, many scenes between Henson and the kid.

I suppose this film wants to be a kind of urbanized version of The Professional with Henson in the Jean Reno role, but there is so little action or suspense in this movie that the melodrama can't hold our interest. In fact, the real lead of this movie is the child actor -- who is repeatedly left alone in a luxury apartment full of lethal weapons and, in a particularly tasteless sequence, totes a gun while clad in a hoodie.

There is one very fun scene late in the movie, set to the tune of the Ike and Tina Turner classic which gives the film its name. In this brief rock 'em, sock 'em action scene the movie seemed to deliver on the promise made in its trailer and opening credits. It's a silly scene, but an unabashedly fun one.

Unfortunately, the movie then snaps right back into its amateurish rhythm, with a normally welcome veteran like Danny Glover (looking feeble and uncomfortably like Bill Cosby) delivering one of the most listless performances of his career.

This is just a profoundly strange movie. It is full of boneheaded decision-making, poorly defined roles and tedious table-setting. Yet, I was rooting for it because the reality is, the fact that Henson (who also served as a producer) got this financed in the first place is a success in its own right.

Coming on the heels of the disappointing Atomic Blonde and in advance of the upcoming Red Sparrow with Jennifer Lawrence, its worth noticing that Hollywood is trying mightily to carve out more of a space for women action stars, but looking and acting cool is not a substitute for strong action scenes and a narrative that you can get even a little bit invested in.

Ironically, before the opening credits rolled on Proud Mary at the Alamo Drafthouse I saw it at, there was a trailer for the Grier classic Coffy, which is a profane and problematic movie but also a wildly entertaining one. That 70's film should have provided a perfect blueprint for Proud Mary but instead we're stuck with a forgettable, directionless mess that, despite being very early in the year, will likely go down as one of the worst movies of 2018.

'Never Seen It' - Episode 28 - Wow, 'Waiting to Exhale' is a doozy

The 1995 smash hit romantic film Waiting to Exhale is very fondly remembered today, although maybe more for its popular soundtrack and the meme of Angela Bassett walking away from a burning car. But is the movie any good?

Well, it depends on what the audience is for this movie and when ...

Listen to the latest edition of my 'Never Seen It' podcast below, co-hosted by my wife Elizabeth Rosado, in which we point out how this film weirdly predicted the rise of Tyler Perry and how much casual homophobia was in 90s movies.

And click here to check out all our past episodes. And soon, all of our episodes will be available on SoundCloud, here are a few of our favorites.

The role critics need to play in the #MeToo movement

Woody Allen and Greta Gerwig

Today, I read the news that actress Rebecca Hall now says she regrets appearing in an earlier Woody Allen film due to recently resurfaced sexual misconduct allegations against him. And that's a totally legit position. Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page, and many others have also come forward to express remorse for working with the iconic director.

Still, I think the focus on actors has distracted from the role that critics play in this discussion.

The main reason problematic but legendary directors like Roman Polanski and Allen continue to get movies financed and attract major stars is their critical reputation, not their commercial success. In Allen's case in particular, there is also the reality that he has a decent track record of propelling actors in his movies to awards season victory, which can reap greater dividends down the road.

Now, I am on record conceding that fact that both of these filmmakers have done some very good to excellent late career work, and as an amateur film critic that puts me in a difficult position.

And mainstream critics aren't supposed to police peoples' private lives or weigh in on the guilt or innocence of the accused. I would never argue that a film critic should refuse to review work made by Louis CK or Harvey Weinstein or anyone else.

Roman Polanski

But, I do think the days of ignoring these men's histories and keeping their private lives totally separate are long over. When reviewing Woody Allen's work, which, despite his unconvincing cries to the contrary, has always been deeply personal and autobiographical, it's important to provide the insight and context that his work deserves.

Part of what has given men like Allen their power is the reality that mostly male, aging film critics have chosen to take all of their post-alleged assault films at face value without also pointing out that all of this work has been made under a cloud of intense suspicion of a heinous crime.

That being said, movies like Midnight in Paris, Vicky Christina Barcelona and Blue Jasmine are all great -- in my opinion undeniably -- and they benefit tremendously from keeping Allen's distinct directorial voice at bay or at least at a bit of a remove.

But if a critic were to point out that these movies either feature a romanticization of infidelity or a fetishization of May-December romance or a parody of so-called hysterical women -- and to point out that those themes may serve to insulate Allen against inevitable criticisms of his personal life -- I don't think that's unfair. If anything, it's edifying for the audience, and depending on your point of view, it makes this later career work either more interesting or more infuriating.

My point is that it's easy to beat up on actors like Kate Winslet, who should be well aware of the knocks against Allen and have chosen to work with him anyway -- either citing the he said/she said nature of the allegations or a respect for his artistry trumping everything else.

But the focus should also be placed on the staid and decidedly male class of cinephile elitists who in some cases have allowed the breadth of some filmmakers' careers to overwhelm all their apparent and obvious sins.

This is not simple. The work of Polanski, Allen and many other alleged and confirmed abusers has changed cinema history, often for the better. There is no diminishing the intelligence of Chinatown or the wit of Hannah and Her Sisters, at least not for me.

But now the downside of these figures must be mentioned in the same breath. They are not just 'geniuses' but alleged abusers of women and children, which is an uncomfortable fact -- but a fact nonetheless. And while we're still grappling with a growing list of the accused, there is a danger of having an assault or assaults in your past becoming an almost numbing aspect of a star or filmmaker's persona and not a career-ending indictment of them and their work.

For instance, while it is widely accepted that Casey Affleck has at the very least transgressed boundaries of appropriate conduct, his career has not suffered at all. While Birth of a Nation director and star Nate Parker has seemingly been banished from the industry.

I don't have an answer for the double standards -- this is uncharted territory -- for so long men have been privileged to operate in a world without any standards or shame and so the fallout of #MeToo is in some ways bound to be unfair.

But those of us who write about films, love films, and ultimately understand that it will probably be impossible to eliminate predatory men from films (or any industry for that matter) can still be more outspoken about what is going on here. In the same way that we should never forget that our president is also a man accused of assaulting over a dozen women, we must not give anyone a pass, even the men who have made and star in some of our favorite movies.

'The Post', set in 1971, is the perfect movie for 2018 audiences

The Post is earnest, straightforward, even a little hokey at times -- and I loved nearly every single second of it. The movie, which recounts efforts by the Washington Post to publish leaked documents (known as the Pentagon Papers) that exposed decades of Vietnam war lies

In less deft hands, this film could be dry, even boring -- but Spielberg is such a master storyteller, and he has stacked such a phenomenal cast (including a wonderful Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in the leads) and has seized upon a period story that is deeply resonant to today (particularly issues of sexism in the workplace and the value of the free press) that the movie works as both a crackerjack thriller and a moving piece of political melodrama.

What makes this movie all the more remarkable is how quickly it was reportedly thrown together. Spielberg is such a titan at this point that he can book Streep and Hanks on the fly for a quickie project while he waits out the special effects process for his upcoming surefire blockbuster Ready Player One.

Perhaps it was the urgency with which it was made that helped keep some of Spielberg's more irritating excesses in check. Yes, there are a couple of scenes that are too on the nose, but for the most part, this movie gets so much right about its period and its righteous purpose.

In fact, simply replace Nixon with Trump and this could at times feel like a running commentary on the current war between the White House and the press. When Streep enters the corridors of power in media and is the lone woman in the room, you can't help but think about the #MeToo movement. The movie presents these moments matter-of-factly, because this is what life was like in 1971 and this is what life is like now.

There is a real storytelling ease here, mixed with riveting content: the Washington Post -- at the time struggling to assert its relevance in comparison to the New York Times -- was going public and the printing of the Pentagon Papers could put them in financial jeopardy as well as make them a target for the powerful White House. In addition there are personal loyalties at stake and the weight of what every single decision will mean, not just for the lives of the characters involved, but the future of American foreign policy and free speech. Whew.

In the center of this powerful story are Hanks and Streep, doing peerless work with each other and separately. This is a master class in move star acting. Hanks is lovable as ever as the piss and vinegar editor of the Post, Ben Bradlee, and Streep is a deep well of reserved passion and feeling as the besieged publisher Katherine Graham.

With these two in the driver's seat the audience can't help but be drawn in, and luckily, this is one of those long forgotten stories where there is genuine suspense in terms of how this tale pans out.

But what's most important is that this is a history lesson which underlines the importance of the truth and the people and institutions committed to upholding it at a time when such underlining is both desperately needed and inspiring. Who knows if this film would have landed quite as well at a different time, but for this year -- one full year into the Trump president -- it's more than prescient, it's profound.

'Downsizing' can't overcome its fairly large flaws

I have long been a fan of director Alexander Payne's films. Movies like Sideways, About Schmidt, The Descendants, Election and Nebraska all have a nice mix of pathos, physical comedy and originality to keep you intrigued and sometimes unexpectedly moved. But something is off about his new movie Downsizing.

It has a killer hook -- sometime in the near future European scientists discover how to shrink down human beings (in an effort to control the size of the population) and eventually a whole new living space has been created for little people, with their financial value increasing while their size decreases. The ads and trailers for the film get a lot of mileage out of that premise but when you see the finished film you'll find much of the goodies of the movie's first half are spoiled for you.

What you are left with is a surprisingly detached process-oriented film for the first half of its running time and in my opinion a rather forced attempt at philosophical heft in the second. I can see how some might argue this movie's merits, but for me I saw its "appreciate the small things" message coming from a mile away.

I suppose a big part of the problem is Matt Damon, who after flying high with The Martian just a few years ago, seems to be really turning off audiences with his choices both on screen and off as of late.

I just don't buy Damon as a doughy everyman (although he did handle a variation on that role well enough in Contagion). Here he is so banal as to be boring and the movie is asking us to invest in him emotionally so that's a big problem.

In fact, the movie only comes alive when up-and-coming actress (and an Oscar hopeful for this) Hong Chau shows up as a Vietnamese ex-refugee who is trying to make the most of her stay in this tiny universe.

Much has already been made abut Chau's decision to play her role in a heavy, broken English accent. There have been problematic reviews calling it brave, and equally problematic ones calling it racist. 

I simply think it's the character that is the problem, not the performance, which is lovely.

She is essentially playing the Asian version of the 'magical negro' here. For the most part, her sole story function is to help Damon become a better person and as her character develops I couldn't help wonder how interesting this film might have been had it been from her perspective from the start.

There are other amusing actors in the film but they're totally wasted. Kristen Wiig misses the opportunity to make much of an impact, and Jason Sudekis is essentially doing just a cameo. I enjoyed seeing the great Christoph Waltz playing Damon's loosey-goosey neighbor, but none of these actors can elevate this material, which doesn't seem to know what to do with itself.

On one level I appreciate that the film presents its absurd premise matter-of-factly and keeps the silly sight gags to a minimum but this still feels like the first Payne film that isn't as smart and winning as it thinks it is.

As for Damon, well, he's a big enough movie star that I am sure he'll recover from these past couple years (he also flopped hard with Suburbicon and The Great Wall), but he should probably keep the whitesplaining/mansplaining to a minimum.

And as for Payne, perhaps he has plumbed the depths of white male ennui a few too many times at this point. He has done a good job of making us care about broken down, schlubby men in the past -- in fact, with the notable exceptions of Citizen Ruth and Election, all of his films primarily focus on aging white men desperately trying to reassert themselves into the fabric of the world.

But in 2017 that feels like the wrong vehicle for his talents and for the temperament of audiences, which is probably why this awards-season-wannabe fell short.

Flashback 2008: My top 10 favorite movies from 10 years ago

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler.

My top 10 of 2017 is coming -- I promise -- but I need to reserve judgment until I see two more Oscar contenders that I've been really looking forward to -- The Post and Phantom Thread. So, in the meantime, I'm reviving my annual tradition of looking back every ten years in the past to see which films were the standouts for me.

2008 was in so many ways a watershed year at the movies (and for the country, since Barack Obama would be elected the nation's first black president that fall). It was the year where superhero movies really took over the world with The Dark Knight and Iron Man. It was a year of comebacks with both Robert Downey, Jr. and Mickey Rourke (although only one of them would sustain their newfound success). And it was the year the Academy Awards were shamed for their lack of popular appeal, as soon the Best Picture race was expanded from five to as many as 10 contenders.

It was a year where a lot of the prestige movies didn't do it for me. I remember thinking Slumdog Millionaire was cute but largely inconsequential and the less said about The Reader, the better. For me, 2008 was largely a year where the popcorn movies really delivered.

Without further delay here is my top 10 from 10 years ago:

10) Milk - Sean Penn gave perhaps his last great film performance in this biopic in which he effectively transformed himself into the inspirational gay icon Harvey Milk. While the movie isn't exactly groundbreaking, it does a stirring job of showing what a compelling figure Milk was and is. A real tear jerker, the film is aided tremendously by its period detail and strong supporting work from James Franco, Josh Brolin and Emile Hirsch.

9) Happy-Go-Lucky - Film audiences who are falling in love with Sally Hawkins after her lovely turn in The Shape of Water should check out this UK gem, which made her a critical darling. She plays the perpetually peppy heroine of this episodic fable about a young woman trying to maintain her innate sense of joy in an increasingly grim world. It's a film and performance that easily couldn't have worked but does.

8) Wall-E - At the time, this story about a lonely little robot was considered to be one of Pixar's most audacious films -- it's slow build and long stretches without dialogue are definitely groundbreaking for an animated film largely aimed at children. But its phenomenal success showed that adults could care about these stories too if they were structured well and contained enough depth to hold up over time.

7) Gran Torino - In the Trump era, this old fashioned story about a racist old grump from Detroit would be problematic to say the least, but it felt like a heartfelt finale to director-star Clint Eastwood's career (although he has remained prolific off-screen since). It was a huge, crowd-pleasing commercial hit, but instead of Dirty Harry part five, audiences were greeted with a fairly sensitive effort to humanize the Hmong people and an interesting meditation on the relationship between heroism and violence.

6) Iron Man - This is the movie that made the Marvel universe a thing on the big screen. Robert Downey, Jr. found the part he was born to play in Tony Stark, the playboy weapons manufacturer who becomes an advocate for peace. It's charming as hell and takes the time to really set up the character and make you like him, which so many films that came in its wake failed to do. Iron Man was never the center of the Avengers universe in the comics but this movie made him the star.

5) Step Brothers - It's a funny thing, the first time I saw this Will Ferrell-John C. Reilly comedy I didn't love it -- I thought it was too broad. But like a lot of director Adam McKay's surreal, improv-heavy romps this one really grew on me and its reputation is firmly established as one of the best absurdist comedies of the past decade. It's about man-children like a lot of recent hits, but its one of the best of the genre.

4) Burn After Reading -This black comedy homage to incredibly stupid and pompous people was one of the Coen brothers' most polarizing and popular films. George Clooney, Frances McDormand, James Malkovich and Brad Pitt all give deliriously silly performances in a movie that looks and feels like an espionage film but it's really just a well executed farce.

3) Tropic Thunder - Another wild comedy that probably wouldn't work today -- but boy, was it fun. This is Ben Stiller at the peak of his powers making a savage parody of vapid Hollywood actors and featuring some amazing turns from stars like Tom Cruise and Downey, Jr. (in an Oscar-nominated role) as an actor who dyes his skin black to play an African-American.

2) The Dark Knight - The knockoffs that this Christopher Nolan movie inspired have worked to diminish how great it is, but this is really the gold standard by which all modern superhero movies are measured against. It's a triumph of sound, cinematography and practical effects. Christian Bale fully owns the Batman role here and of course the late Heath Ledger created one of the greatest movie villains of all time with his version of the Joker. Its politics may be muddy but its impact is still being felt, for better or worse.

1) The Wrestler - The story may be simple -- it's about a washed-up, self-destructive wrestler who can't seem to keep his life together no matter how hard he tries -- but Mickey Rourke's emotional work as the title character is everything but. It's one of my favorite actors giving quite possibly his best performance; it's physical, hard to watch and very, very moving. It should have won him the Oscar. And the film still holds up even if Rourke's career hasn't.

PAST TOP 10 FAVORITE LISTS
1974 #1 movie - The Godfather Part II
1975 #1 movie - Nashville
1976 #1 movie - Taxi Driver
1977 #1 movie - Star Wars
1984 #1 movie - Ghostbusters
1985 #1 movie - Fletch
1986 #1 movie - Blue Velvet
1987 #1 movie - The Untouchables
1994 #1 movie - Pulp Fiction
1995 #1 movie - Heat
1996:#1 movie - Fargo
1997 #1 movie - Boogie Nights
2004 #1 movie - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 #1 movie - A History of Violence
2006 #1 movie - Casino Royale
2007 #1 movie - There Will Be Blood

Christopher Plummer saves 'All the Money in the World'

Christpher Plummer could have gone down in history as the 'guy who played the dad in The Sound of Music' and perhaps for less discerning movie viewers he may still. But for hardcore film fans like me he has had one of the most remarkable late career runs of any actor in memory, emerging as one of the great go-to character actors of all time.

And at 88 years old, he's still got it. In fact, he is probably the most interesting facet of Ridley Scott's new prestige thriller All the Money In the World, which is ironic considering the fact that he was a last minute filler for the disgraced Kevin Spacey.

The movie has a great hook. Based on the true story of the kidnapping of a potential heir to the J. Paul Getty fortune, it reveals that Getty himself was an absurd, Mr. Burns-style miser who totally balks at paying his grandson's ransom.

In the first trailer for the film, which played up the drama rather than the action, Getty was played by an almost unrecognizable (save for his signature sneer of a voice) Spacey, but after a flurry of sexual misconduct allegations buried him, Scott famously rushed reshoots with Plummer in the role. Having seen the movie now, not only is the switch relatively seamless but it seems like the movie's one great masterstroke.

Spacey, as fine an actor as he is, is simply not right for this part and would have been delivering a purely campy kabuki-type performance. Plummer, with his extremely weathered and frail countenance, just embodies Getty and does so with a minimum of pomp and circumstance.

Even when he delivers some particularly silly dialogue or is asked to reveal some new depth to Getty's particularly nitpicky form of greed, Plummer sells it in the most delightful, sincere way.

The movie surrounding him is an attractive, sumptuous one -- I don't think Ridley Scott is capable of making an ugly film -- and the plot does have an intriguing ticking clock element to it.

I particularly like how scenes of the captivity are played out; Scott has a great eye for the characters on the periphery that feel authentic.

I think it's the central characters of the film that keep it from fully connecting. Michelle Williams plays the boy's mother in an eccentric, overly twitchy performance that really didn't work for me. Williams is usually such a believable, accessible actress that seeing her attempt an arch accent and don '70s hair felt wrong to me. Also, for a character who repeatedly declares she's broke she manages to travel constantly, wear designer clothes and never work.

Mark Wahlberg is an even bigger problem, although I don't think it's his fault. He has just reached that level of stardom where he needs a role tailored to his strengths. He can no longer disappear into a character. He is a big screen tough guy. This makes the character he's playing -- which is ostensibly supposed to be a oily CIA trained operator functioning as go-between for Getty and his estranged daughter-in-law -- feel like an odd choice for him.

You never watch Wahlberg and wonder "is he going to be a good guy?", "is he going to make the right choices?" You put Jon Hamm in that part, you don't know if you can trust him. But with Wahlberg, you know he's going to stick it to the villain eventually, and (spoiler alert) he does.

Still, for what it is, the movie is entertaining and well-crafted if not all that memorable, but the character that still sticks with me is Plummer's Getty. It probably won't make it to the Oscar conversation -- as per usual that category is stacked with strong competition.  But it is really a testament to Plummer's skill and professionalism that he stepped into this part, under these circumstances, and made it his own.