Forgettable Films of 2018

Alicia Vikander in Tomb Raider. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

For the last few years I've done a best of list to cap off a given year, along with a special spot dedicated to the worst movie. As 2018 ends, I wanted to try something a little different and instead give some final attention to movies that won't garner a lot of attention in 2019 and beyond. These are movies that don't stand out this year, films you'll skip over while browsing through Netflix, HBO GO, or Amazon Prime. Some are big budget flops that won't deliver a sequel, some are good movies that just can't find an audience, and others are missed opportunities.

Before we pour one out for the forgotten flicks of 2018, here's a short list of some of the best and worst 2018 had to offer.

Highlights: Thoroughbreds, Black Panther, Tully, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, First Man

Lowlights: Death Wish, Fifty Shades Freed, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Uncle Drew

Kyrie Irving in Uncle Drew. Image courtesy Lionsgate.

What is it? A continuation of Kyrie Irving's Pepsi Max commercials starring the eponymous old baller.

Is it good? Nope.

Is any of it memorable? Watching Irving dribble is always a treat. Chris Webber was clearly having a good time, and Tiffany Haddish is always fun. There's not much more to say about this movie otherwise; Irving isn't much of an actor, and the plot is uninspired.

The Sisters Brothers

Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly in The Sisters Brothers. Image courtesy Annapurna Pictures.

What is it? A neo-Western about greed, friendship, and dedication to family.

Is it good? Very much so.

Is any of it memorable? The opening scene is efficient, brutal, and sets the tone for the rest of the movie. John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix show great camaraderie as the titular siblings, and the film continually defies genre expectations. It's a really, really good Western, which sort of dooms it to be ignored.

Life of the Party

Melissa McCarthy in Life of the Party. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

What is it? A modern take on Back to School starring Melissa McCarthy.

Is it good? Not at all.

Is any of it memorable? Maya Rudolph earns a few laughs for being herself. Gillian Jacobs and Heidi Gardner play characters who belong to a way more interesting movie than this. McCarthy's talents are wasted in this movie, which is particularly strange given she and her husband, Ben Falcone, wrote it.

Skyscraper

Dwayne Johnson in Skyscraper. Image courtesy Universal Pictures.

What is it? Dwayne Johnson's take on Die Hard.

Is it good? Unfortunately no.

Is any of it memorable? Just Johnson's performance. This is all the more disappointing considering even his lesser movies offer some redeeming value.

I Feel Pretty

Amy Schumer in I Feel Pretty. Image courtesy STX Films.

What is it? A send up of body swap movies starring Amy Schumer.

Is it good? It's pretty bad.

Is any of it memorable? Aidy Bryant and Busy Philips get a lot from underwritten roles. The premise is clever, with potential for both high comedy and pointed social criticism. It doesn't deliver though due to a mix of poor directing, an unclear premise, and precious few jokes for Schumer.

Tomb Raider

Alicia Vikander in Tomb Raider. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

What is it? A reboot of the Tomb Raider series, with Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft.

Is it good? It's fine.

Is any of it memorable? A couple of the fight sequences are solid. Vikander shows promise as an action heroine. The idea behind watching Croft grow into her eventual role as an iconic adventurer is interesting. With a better script (one that adhered more closely to the video game) and stronger direction this could have been a pretty spectacular action flick.

Sisters Brothers a ponderous, existential Western

Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly in The Sisters Brothers. Image courtesy Annapurna Pictures.

There ain't much that moves fast in The Sisters Brothers. Aside from the rapid gunfights and the trigger fingers of its stars, the movie mostly takes its time to set up the action, drifting from scene to scene with a simple, logical flow. Sometimes the wandering begins to feel more like meandering, but The Sisters Brothers mostly takes fully advantage of the time it gives itself, telling a philosophically heavy story about family and dreams complete with violence and some wicked dark humor. 

 

John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix star as the eponymous siblings/legendary Oregonian gunslingers Eli and Charlie, respectively. They work for the wealthy, powerful, and mysterious Commodore (Rutger Hauer), who sends them on a mission to kill chemist Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed), a pseudo-prophet with ambitions of building paradise in Dallas. Assisting the Sisters is detective John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal), who becomes entranced by Hermann's message, humility, and abundant love of humanity. Hermann and John travel to San Francisco in search for gold, although Eli and Charlie pursue them relentlessly. Along the way the Sisters must overcome nature, alcoholism, and a rival gang of bounty hunters under the orders of the powerful Mayfield (Rebecca Root).

Despite a fairly action packed and dramatic opening, The Sisters Brothers is far more about the adventure of the journey than the mission. It's an existential trip through the woods of Oregon and California, with discussions ranging from fathers and horses to changing the world one commune at a time. Director Jacques Audiard, who wrote the adaptation alongside Thomas Bidegain, effectively winds the clock and lets the characters stumble into profundity and self discovery. For a Western in which brains and blood splatter everywhere, The Sisters Brothers spends significant time pondering the meaning of the violence.

All of the malaise results in The Sisters Brothers suffering from a notable genre malady. Westerns aren't known for telling stories quickly; the preference is to mosey toward a conclusion, minimizing the urgency to keep the audience in the same mindset as the characters. There isn't much else to do in the woods besides talk and think. When done well it's a great, often engaging cinematic technique, especially for movies with ambition and a lot of characters to corral. Sisters Brothers lingers a little too long in the second act though, going from an easy pace to a crawl before the calamity that ensues in the final act. Given the plot's lack of direction, a little more urgency transitioning from act two to act three would have done wonders for the film.

The issue is less of a true fault than an annoyance, because even with the slowdown the movie offers more time spent with the eponymous siblings. Charlie and Eli have a relationship that's equal parts destructive and supportive, enabling their very worst behaviors but saving each other from ever being too far gone. Charlie's a dangerous drunk, but Eli is around to keep him upright and on the horse. Eli is lonely and lacks the social ease of his brother, but Charlie is around to keep an eye out for his older brother. Reilly and Phoenix have a brilliant rapport with each other that makes their squabbles and bonding believable, and The Sisters Brothers gives them ample room to grow their relationship. 

 

At the same time, the film uses their discussions to contrast their wants and desires. Westerns are often driven by ambition, spurred from the historical pursuit of gold, opportunity, and the allure of the American Dream. As a result of fulfilling their Manifest Destiny, Westerns often reward characters for their ambition, emphasizing the theoretically heroic nature of the quest in which the wilds must be tamed. But unbridled ambition is a dangerous thing, luring otherwise smart and logical people to pursue quixotic schemes while ignoring the dangers of the situation, as is the case with Sisters Brothers. Charlie, John Morris, and Hermann seek greatness at the cost of their personal being, not caring about the potential for disaster.

Then there's Eli. Even though he is considered the lesser Sisters, Eli has the simplest, most direct vision of his life. He seeks neither fame nor fortune, but instead just wants a life with a small farm, a shop, and his brother at his side. Sisters Brothers shows him the greatest favor, because he is generally sweet and kind even amid his murderous sprees. Eli does his job very, very well, but he views it as a means toward a peaceful life. Even toward the end when the dynamic flips and Eli gains control the film prevents him from going too far, because this film isn't about the big dreamers like Charlie, Hermann, or John. It's about folks like Eli, whose wildest dream is the simplest life.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: R

Run time: 121 minutes

Genre: Western

tl;dr

What Worked: Story, Dialog, Themes, John C. Reilly, Riz Ahmed

What Fell Short: Pacing of the second act

What To As Well: High Plains Drifter, Dead Man

Kong smashes in Skull Island

Kong faces down helicopters in Kong: Skull Island. Image courtesy Warner Bros.

There are precious few complications to Kong: Skull Island. The movie sets itself up to be a good old fashioned monster movie featuring a giant ape smashing all the things and giant lizards eating people, and it delivers exactly all of that with even more creatures and a little emotional undercurrent to offer just a little something else beyond mindless smashing. But, really, it’s the smashing that matters most.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and his team of writers get right to the monster from the get-go, using the opening sequence to contrast Kong's enormity with the first wave of intruders to come to his island, American and Japanese fighter pilots who happen to be fighting to the death in 1944. It doesn't take too much longer than to jump the story to 1973 and establish the key players who keep the plot going and get them right back to that island located somewhere in the South Pacific so viewers can watch Kong demolish a fleet of helicopters and piss off Samuel L. Jackson's crazed colonel. What people want to see from a movie called Kong: Skull Island is Kong acting very ape on his home turf, and the gaps between the human interactions designed to push the plot forward and the wanton craziness with Kong are short and sweet.

Skull Island has a few themes it hits on with a decent amount of success. The Vietnam War backdrop serves as a tool to set up important plot machinations and acts a thematic parallel between the Americans invading Skull Island and the actions taken during the war. Along those lines is the Ahab in Apocalypse Now subplot involving Jackson's character losing his mind over the ape and, again, the war. It’s an interesting idea that works in no small part from Jackson’s consistent ferocity in the role and one memorable shot of Jackson staring down Kong through a wall of flames. It looks just as cool as it sounds.

The humans as a whole though are a little less important, especially in comparison to King Kong's emphasis on the romantic subplot between Kong and the respective female protagonist. Brie Larson's photographer Mason Weaver is as close as this film gets to a Fay Wray, Jessica Lange or Naomi Watts, but her relationship with Kong is less amorous and more protective of each other. But there’s just enough emotional justification for Skull Island to work on that level and the movie establishes character motivations efficiently before settling on the island. Larson's Mason and the young geologist played by Corey Hawkins are both drawn to the island by curiosity. Jackson is fueled by his remorse for the unsatisfactory end of the Vietnam War and the emptiness that comes from a man who lives to fight but has no more battles left. John Goodman's government official Bill Randa is motivated by desperation. Tom Hiddleston's tracker James Conrad is in it for the money. It’s not enough to forge fleshed out characters, but it is more than enough to care about which humans will or will not get eaten.

Skull Island never asks any of them to do more than solid work or be a menacing Samuel L. Jackson. It leaves the emotional heavy lifting to John C. Reilly as the slightly loony Hank Marlow, the American soldier who crashes to the island toward the end of World War II. It’s easy to feel for a man stuck on an island of death for almost three decades, only wanting to go to home to his wife and see his son for the first time, all the while losing bits of his mind. Reilly sells his character's humor as expected from his comedic background while hitting on the loneliness the character, making the final few silent moments with Marlow more rewarding than expected.

There’s just enough there to keep the moments between monster action interesting as the humans wait for Kong or some other creature to strike. The battles are the selling point, and Vogt-Roberts put a lot of time and effort into making them engaging, enthralling and surprisingly gory given the rating. Watching Kong rise from the trees is intense and astounding, a great figure rising from the depths to protect his home from unwanted invaders. The vibe these fights give off are rooted in the atavism of its main character, messy and violent and without too much complexity. Vogt-Roberts’ film promised a giant ape fighting humans and monsters alike, and Skull Island gave the world a very good version of what it promised.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 120 minutes

Genre: Action
 

Ask Away

Target audience: Loyal King Kong fans and people interested in what will happen to this monster franchise and several others in the very near future.

Take the whole family?: I really have no idea how this thing got a PG-13 rating. There is a lot more gore than expected for this rating, so make sure your kids can handle blood if you take them.

Theater or Netflix?: Big screen is cool if you do it matinee style.

Any other things worth noting?: One of the cool touches Jordan Vogt-Roberts uses are a few bait and switches where characters try to sacrifice themselves. Most films emphasize a blaze of glory for characters after a kiss-off line, but Vogt-Roberts turns that on its head and shows the more realistic result of their attempts at martyrdom in a land of enormous creatures.

Watch this as well?: Any of the three versions of King Kong is watchable on some level. The 1933 iteration remains the best, while Peter Jackson's remake is a step above the one starring Jessica Lange. Track down Godzilla circa 1954 – although not the one remade for American audiences – and the much more recent creature feature Monsters for some more monster mashing.