Five films to see as 2017 ends
MOVIES: Plenty of options, from romance to comic-book spectacle to gripping horror
It’s the end of the year and if you are lucky you’ll find some extra time to let the movies distract you from your credit card bills, crazy relatives and the fact you’ve consumed more shortbread than salad.
People ask me all the time: “What movie should I see?” Well, folks there isn’t just one. We are all very different, and I thank the Hollywood stars for that.
So in the spirit of giving advice here are a handful of 2017 films that you should try to see. They are in no particular order. (Some, like the amazing Daniel Day-Lewis vehicle Phantom Thread, I, Tonya and The Post, are not getting released in Vancouver until Jan. 2018 so I have decided not to get your hopes up. Yes, they are that good and, yes, you should see them when they land in the New Year.)
The Shape of Water
This movie is Guillermo del Toro in full visual, wow, flight. Set against in 1962 cold war America the Shape of Water is a thought-provoking fairy tale that draws very much on the idea of fear of others.
In a high-security government lab a mute woman named Elsa (Sally Hawkins) and cleaner co-worker (Octavia Spencer) are working around a classified experiment. (You’ve probably seen the movie poster so I’m not spoiling anything). The experiment is an Amphibian Man (Doug Jones). With help from some hard-boiled eggs, the lonely Elsa begins a relationship with the water-bound guy. This movie is both a love story and a cautionary tale about the destructiveness of nativism.
Hawkins once again hits a huge home run as does Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Spencer, Jones and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Lady Bird
If you have a teenage girl in your life or if you are a teenage girl (congratulations by the way for reading an actual newspaper) put this movie at the top of your list.
In writer/director Greta Gerwig’s sort-of-autobiographical comingof-age story, Irish actor Saoirse (it rhymes with inertia) Ronan is bangon as an American 17-year-old trying to grow up.
Laurie Metcalf plays the mother and, boy, what a mother she is. In the end what Gerwig and her excellent cast have delivered is a completely unsentimental and quietly funny look at friendship, family and surviving the tumultuous teen years.
Thor: Ragnarok
I unapologetically state here I am generally not a fan of the comic book movie. I’m sorry, but I’m tired of every character in the movie giving long speeches (as I’m sure per their agent’s request in contract negotiations) and the endless CGI battle scenes. I know Thor is a comic book character, but this comic book character in this movie is actually very, very funny.
Director Taika Waititi, takes the hilarious script and hits it out of the park like his bat was Thor’s actual hammer. I laughed from start to finish. Lead Chris Hemsworth is a charmer, plain and simple. And Jeff Goldblum, well, is wonderfully Jeff Goldblum-y.
Maudie
This lovely little gem is about Yarmouth, N.S., folk artist Maud Lewis. In a bid to be independent, Lewis (Sally Hawkins) leaves her family (thankfully), and despite some physical limitations becomes the housekeeper for a very rougharound-the-edges recluse (Ethan Hawke).
It’s in his home that Maud’s art starts to flourish.
The pair eventually marries and Maud begins to sell her art. The relationship at times is as rocky as the Nova Scotia coastline, but Maud manages somehow remain hopeful without being annoying.
Hawkins and Hawke are perfect in this charming, beautifully Nova Scotia-shot story about getting by.
Get Out
Filmmaker Jordan Peele is not happy that his movie is in the comedy category for the upcoming Golden Globes, and rightfully so. This is not a straight-ahead comedy. It’s a cutting social commentary that has some laughs.
A box office hit, this horror/thriller/bit of a comedy sees a young African-American man, played by Daniel Kaluuya, head off to meet his white girlfriend’s (Allison Williams) parents (Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford) for the first time.
The guy notices the parents are weirdly over accommodating, which he chalks up to their unease with the interracial relationship. Boy, is he wrong.
This racially charged subversive and super-entertaining film deserves to be on the best picture nominations list for the Academy Awards.