The first half of 2017 is over, and although it was filled with some great blockbusters, here are some fantastic movies you probably missed.
‘Before I Fall’
Samantha wakes up on Valentine’s Day on just another regular school day. That night, on her way home from a party, she gets into a car crash. She wakes up on Valentine’s Day again, and again, and must figure out why this is happening and how she can stop it. As this is happening, Samantha is able to reflect on the mistakes she has made, and does what she can to fix them, even if it will reset once the day ends.
Before I Fall joins Riverdale and 13 Reasons Why as fantastic Young Adult adaptations in 2017. Like the others, Before I Fall does not shy away from difficult topics, and is still able to convey important messages, without sacrificing quality storytelling. It does borrow from the Groundhog Day trope, but like Edge of Tomorrow, it is able to make something wholly unique.
‘The Beguiled’
A young girl, in the South during the Civil War, finds a wounded Union Solider. She brings him back to her all-girls boarding school, where the few teachers and students left behind nurse him back to health. During his stay, the women obsess over him. However, once they discover he has been manipulating them all, they turn on him.
One fairly obvious reason to see The Beguiled is because it won Sofia Coppola the best directing award at Cannes, and she is the first woman to win this award in over 50 years. Besides a fantastic director, The Beguiled also has an amazing cast, featuring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Colin Farrell, and Elle Fanning. The Beguiled is incredibly shot, and is just a fun and strange experience, with a dark but humorous tone.
‘The Big Sick’
Kumail begins a relationship with Emily, despite his family’s plans for him to marry a Pakistani woman. After Kumail and Emily break up, Emily’s friend calls Kumail to tell him Emily is in the hospital. After Emily is put into a medically induced coma, Kumail feels compelled to stay with her at the hospital. While at the hospital, Kumail starts spending time with Emily’s parents.
You might have an excuse for not having seen The Big Sick, because it’s first opening in wide release this weekend. It is simply amazing, perfectly balancing drama and comedy. It never belittles anything serious, yet there is a joke at least once a minute. The Big Sick was made by an incredible team. It is produced by Judd Apatow, directed by Michael Showalter, written by the subjects of the film, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, and starring Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, and Kurt Braunohler.
‘Colossal’
Gloria is unable to get her life together, being an unemployed alcoholic, and after breaking up with her boyfriend, moves into her childhood home. Gloria’s childhood friend, Oscar, helps to get her reacquainted to the town, when they hear on the news that a giant monster has attacked South Korea. They discover that Gloria actually controls the monster, and it only appears if she goes to a specific place at a specific time. As Gloria starts trying to get her life back together, she now has to face the destruction she caused across the world.
Colossal is wonderfully absurd, even just the premise is great, but thankfully the movie itself is as well. Anne Hathaway stars as Gloria, in her first great role since Les Misérables, almost five years ago. Colossal also features Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, and Tim Blake Nelson, who are all totally committed to this bizarre story. The most impressive thing about Colossal is that it gives a giant monster movie a soul, and really focuses on the characters.
‘Free Fire’
A gang meets up in an abandoned warehouse with a weapon supplier team, to conduct a deal. A fight breaks out between a member from each team, escalating to one of them shooting a gun. This leads to a giant shootout between everyone at the warehouse, all just wanting to get out of the building alive.
It is pretty impressive that a movie set in a single location, with no real story, can be so entertaining. With a funny script and great actors, Free Fire makes a 90 minute shootout consistently exciting and generally never stale. It surmounts a difficult premise, showing great creative achievement. The cast features Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Sharlto Copley, and Cillian Murphy, among others.
‘Lost City of Z’
Percy Fawcett is sent on an expedition to the Amazon rainforest to chart a map, to keep Bolivia and Brazil from starting a war over the boundary. On the expedition, Percy finds ancient pottery leading him to believe a great civilization lived on this land, which he names the Lost City of Z. Percy becomes obsessed with returning to find proof of the city.
Lost City of Z is an adventure movie like no other. It carefully explores this unknown world, but does so at a pace that really focuses on the beauty of the Amazon Rainforest. Lost City of Z is carried by fantastic performances from Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, and Sienna Miller.
Okja
The Mirando Corporation launches a program to promote the superpig, by sending them to farms across the world, with a plan of selecting the best superpig ten years later. Mija grows up with her family’s superpig, Okja. When the Mirando Corporation takes Okja back, Mija joins an animal rights group to get Okja back and expose the evildoings of the corporation.
With Netflix’s model, there is no way to know how many people actually saw Okja. But without even needing to leave the house to see Okja, there is no excuse not to watch Okja if you have a Netflix account. Okja is a beautiful film from Bong Joon-ho, the director of Snowpiercer. The movie switches tones so fast yet somehow works so well, being hilarious one moment and terrifying the next. Filled with an amazing cast, Okja has standout performances from Ahn Seo-hyun as Mija, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, and especially Jake Gyllenhaal, in a hilariously over-the-top performance.