Jeremy Renner Goes Hunting Along the Wind River

Remember This? Wind River

Director - Taylor Sheridan

Writer - Taylor Sheridan

Starring - Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen

I'm changing things up a little here. The previous movies I've covered under the Remember This? tag have been terrible looking flops, often times failing spectacularly on such a scale that it is actually kind of impressive that they were quickly forgotten by society. Wind River is not that kind of movie. It is a modest indie hit, raking in $40 million world wide on a $10 million budget. It comes from the writer of Sicario and Hell or High Water, but this time he is stepping into the director's chair and it does compare favourably to those films. Wind River was well received critically as well, not as well as high previous screenplays, but a high 80s RottenTomatoes score and a mid 70s MetaCritic score bode well for this film. It is a well made crime film featuring a fantastic score from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, expansive snowscapes filmed beautifully by Ben Richardson and features strong acting. It probably won't get nominated for Oscars and other awards, but Hell or High Water got a Best Picture nomination and was only a little more acclaimed.

Netflix Original #14: The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

Director - Noah Baumbach

Writer - Noah Baumbach

Starring - Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Elizabeth Marvel, Grace Van Patten

"If he isn't a great artist that means he's just a prick."

Admit it, you saw this as a new Adam Sandler Netflix film and just decided to skip it. Well it is a new Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha, Mistress America, The Squid and the Whale) film and Adam Sandler is just along for the ride. Once in a blue moon Sandler puts on his acting pants and finds a director who knows how to use him and channels his comedic tendencies into actual quality. The gold standard of this is Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love in which Sandler's rage is run through a filter of pure love and the desperate need to be with Emily Watson. Noah Baumbach uses that rage to punctuate Danny Meyerowitz's simmering anger that mostly stems from his relationship with his father Harold (Hoffman). Needless to say, this is good Adam Sandler.

The Circle Posits: Big Brother But Good

No company led by Tom Hanks could ever be evil

Remember This? The Circle

Director - James Ponsoldt

Writers - James Ponsoldt and Dave Eggers

Starring - Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Patton Oswalt, Karen Gillan, Bill Paxton, Glenne Headley, John Boyega

You would think a movie starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks would be remembered in some way less than six months after its theatrical release just by sheer virtue of a pairing of stars that seemingly appeals to all film watching demographics. It is quite a testament to this particular film that I had completely forgotten about it when I was researching movie for this feature and upon seeing James Ponsoldt's name I had to watch it. Sure it's gotten bad reviews but I figured this combination of Ponsoldt directing Watson, Hanks and a great collection of supporting actors would offer something. I'm a big fan of Ponsoldt's previous work, Smashed, The Spectacular Now and The End of the Tour and was curious as to how his foray into (moderately) big budget filmmaking would go. The answer: not so good.