Tag: Taylor Sheridan

Movie Review – ‘Sicario: Day of the Soldado’ – Generational Loss

Directed by Stefano Sollima
Written by Taylor Sheridan
Cast: Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine, Shea Whigham, Elijah Rodriguez, Howard Ferguson Jr., David Castaneda, Jacqueline Torres, Raoul Max Trujillo, Bruno Bichir, Jake Picking
Soundtrack: Hildur Guðnadóttir

I suppose things were going to have to slow down eventually for Taylor Sheridan.

I mean, when your first three films as a screenwriter are Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River, it’s only natural that the quality will start to wane at some point (although, full disclosure, Yellowstone might be great, but I don’t watch much television anymore, so I can’t confirm or deny this).

In Sheridan’s defense though, I think his screenplay could have been better served by more capable hands, as there’s quite a drop-off from Denis Villeneuve in the director’s chair to Stefano Sollima (whose work to this point has been out of sight of American audiences).

This is not to say that Soldado is bad, I didn’t feel ripped off or anything like that, and there were plenty of elements that I did appreciate, but it’s a noticeable step back in my eyes.  For one thing, the marketing gave so much away that I didn’t really have anything left to discover, and there wasn’t enough meat on the bone to make up for this (which a great, even very good movie can accomplish; a la The Usual Suspects).

Beyond that, outside of Emily Blunt’s character not coming back (which I actually don’t have a problem with; in fact, it makes sense to me), Soldado just has a certain je ne sais pas that I found lacking, especially in comparison to its predecessor.  Hard to say what would have helped but a quicker pace wouldn’t have hurt (as much as I appreciate Mat Newman’s laconic editing for Nicolas Winding Refn’s films, I’m not sure it was the right play here).  Presumably they were trying to build the tension, but I wasn’t feeling it; certainly nothing remotely close to the border crossing scenes in the first one.

But hey, it’s got fairly well executed action, and Del Toro and Brolin are still great, so I can’t complain too much.

Still though, it’s hard for me to give this one a big push, but I won’t talk you out of it either.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Movie Review – ‘Wind River’ – Frontier Justice

Written and Directed by Taylor Sheridan
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Kelsey Asbille, Julia Jones, Teo Briones, Apesanahkwat, Graham Greene, Tantoo Cardinal, Eric Lange, Gil Birmingham, Tokala Clifford, Martin Sensmeier, Tyler Laracca, Ian Bohen, Hugh Dillon, Matthew Del Negro, James Jordan, Jon Bernthal, Blake Robbins
Soundtrack: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

In a span of less than two years, Taylor Sheridan has proven himself to be one of the great screenwriters of this decade, having previously penned Sicario and Hell Or High Water; and now he proves himself to be a fine filmmaker as well.

Equal parts harsh and beautiful, like the cold western landscapes it so revels in, Wind River is a quiet, mature thriller with genuine emotional depth and down-to-earth characters.

The story is not particularly complicated, a girl’s been murdered on an Indian Reservation and we need to find out who did it, but I don’t mind in this case.  Sometimes overly twisty plots can take you right out of the movie if they’re not done with the proper touch, so I applaud the restraint here (aka not everything needs to be The Usual Suspects).

In terms of performances, I’ve had a soft spot for Jeremy Renner since I first noticed him all the way back in 2003’s S.W.A.T.  He’s a fine actor who does well with everything he’s given, but he hasn’t gotten many opportunities to truly shine.  Wind River is one such opportunity.

Given its August release, I’m not sure how much faith the studio has that Wind River will be major awards bait, but make no mistake, this is the best Jeremy Renner performance we’ve seen in some time.  True, it’s very much in his usual understated fashion, but let’s just say he carries a lot of weight in this one.

Naturally, Elizabeth Olsen puts in a good shift as well (what a delight she’s been since seemingly coming out of nowhere in 2011; even if she was in that awful American Godzilla…), and the supporting characters really help fill everything out, particularly Graham Greene and Gil Birmingham (the scenes between he and Renner are among my favorite in the film).

I also give this movie a lot of credit for its realistic and darkly beautiful portrayal of grief (I put it up there with the original Edge of Darkness mini-series), which is something we don’t get enough of in our media across the board (too often it’s played way up, either melodramatically or for comedy’s sake, depending on the context).

Wind River is also remarkably successful at being laid back but never boring, which I attribute to Taylor Sheridan’s screenplay and story structure, dolling out information at a steady enough rate to keep the audience constantly engaged.

Other than that, I don’t have much else to say, good or bad, but if I do have one small criticism, it’s that I felt like this movie could have been more cinematic in its look (sometimes I got a real TV vibe from what I was seeing), but that’s about it.

All-in-all, Wind River is an impressive “debut” from Taylor Sheridan, on par with the classic Coen Brothers noirs (just played a little straighter, as most Coen films are dark comedies at heart), and a fine addition to what continues to be one of the best movie summers I can remember for a long time.

Check it out.

Rating: ★★★★½ (out of five)

Movie Review – ‘Hell or High Water’ – Lords of the Plains

Directed by David Mackenzie
Written by Taylor Sheridan
Cast: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birmingham, Dale Dickey, Buck Taylor, Katy Mixon, Kevin Rankin
Soundtrack: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

West Texas is poor, banks are bad, and Shiner Bock and Lone Star Beer are good (not to mention Pabst Blue Ribbon).

I don’t think it’s cliché to say we don’t really get major films like ‘Hell or High Water’ much anymore.  You know, a movie with an original script, a few big name actors to carry the load, a budget that’s more than a few dollars but less than a hundred million, and a compelling story rather than a series of scenes leading from one schlock action set piece to the next.

It’ll inevitably be compared to ‘No Country for Old Men‘, which is fair, given that they’re set in the same general vicinity and both center around cash, but I’d call ‘High Water’ less surreal than your typical Coen Brothers affair, and more forthright with its sense of humor (plus, it’s not based on a book).

Much of ‘Hell or High Water’ is straightforward, including the plot.  A pair of brothers, Toby and Tanner (Chris Pine and Ben Foster), start robbing banks in order to raise enough money to wrangle control of their mama’s land back from the bank, and it’s up to Texas Rangers Marcus and Alberto (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) to put a stop to it.

It might seem small time in comparison to other heist films, but part of what makes ‘Hell or High Water’ so fascinating is that it does feel down-to-earth and quite plausible.  Yes, it’s entertaining and it’ll make you laugh, but it doesn’t rely on a whole lot of flash; just a tightly written story and some top notch performances.  If you really want to be critical, you might say Jeff Bridges is just doing a rehash of his “Rooster Cogburn” from ‘True Grit‘, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say they are distinct characters, plus the interplay between him and Gil Birmingham is fantastic.

As far as our brothers go, Chris Pine and Ben Foster really dig in as a couple of poor cowpokes with their eyes on a prize.  Outlaws they may be, but they’re still very much the heart of the movie, and the tension of whether they’ll get away with it or not is very much set in the nature of who they are individually.

If I have one legitimate criticism of the film, it’s that some little bits of dialogue are muffled by the thick accents (which I don’t normally struggle with), but I guess it comes with the territory.

Other than that, I don’t want to say much more.  Like ‘The Nice Guys‘ and ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople‘, ‘Hell or High Water’ seems bound to be in the top 5 of 2016.  It’s definitely slower-paced than usual, so be prepared for that, but I’d never call it boring.  There’s too much tension for things to ever fall flat.

This is one you don’t want to miss.

Rating: ★★★★½

P.S.
Shades of ‘Breaking Bad’?  Absolutely.