Andy Crump
Over: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
If you’re going to make a self-important movie about America, at least bother yourself to learn what America’s actually like. John Michael McDonagh made a cartoon portrait of the nation in his most recent film, “War on Everyone,” which you can find swept under the rug on Netflix; it’s over the top but surprisingly true in spite of its excesses. His brother, Martin McDonagh, tries a similar tactic with “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” but with more fascism and apologies for systemic racism. It’s okay for white cops to brutalize black people as long as other, more ethically sound white cops can vouch for your latent inner decency. It’s okay for movies to be about that, too, as long as the protagonist has a Black Friend™. And it’s okay, apparently, for McDonagh to shift tone haphazardly, for reasons I can’t even begin to guess at. ‘Three Billboards’ is an ugly mess and an uglier film, ignorant of consequences and its subject matter.
Underrated: “The Breadwinner”
You’d think a small-scale hand-drawn woman-directed movie about a young girl outwitting her patriarchal society in Kabul, Afghanistan by disguising herself as a boy to make ends meet for her family would make more waves in 2017, a year where misogyny and masculine rule have both been dragged (rightfully) in the media and in popular culture. But somehow “The Breadwinner,” Nora Twomey’s first solo outing directing for Cartoon Saloon, has gone under the radar, likely in part because Cartoon Saloon isn’t a household name the way that Pixar is a household name; if you’re dazzled by “Coco,” no one would blame you. But “The Breadwinner” dazzles, too, through both the power of its storytelling and its mixed-media approach, blending cel-shaded animation with cutout animation to spectacular results. This isn’t just the best animated movie of the year, it’s one of the unqualified best movies of the year.
Gregory Ellwood
Overrated: “Lady Bird”
Listen, Greta Gerwig’s coming of age drama is a good movie. As someone who gave it a positive review out of its premiere in Telluride it’s important to recognize I’m, personally, not a “Lady Bird” hater. Far from it. In fact, I’ll be thrilled when Laurie Metcalf takes every trophy she can for her performance and when Gerwig’s next directorial effort lands on the top of everyone’s most anticipated list. That being said, the love for this movie is truly overboard. The storyline is not that original (please don’t respond with the “I’ve never seen a movie between a mother and a daughter” like this and go watch “Terms of Endearment”) and as much as we adore Saoirse Ronan her work here isn’t even in her top three performances. Love it, but maybe some creative perspective?
Underrated: “Kidnap”
On the other hand, this genre thriller isn’t a good movie at all. It’s bad, but it actually is close to so bad it might be…good? Halle Berry plays a woman whose six-year-old son is, um, kidnapped and she chases the abductors all over every highway the production could get a film permit for in Louisiana to get him back. I mean, it’s a long, long freeway chase. Berry is in a car speaking to herself, screaming at other drivers, cursing the kidnappers forever. And boy, does she commit to the performance. Camp is when an actor (or actors) believe what they are doing is serious and, instead, it’s absolutely hilarious because it’s so ridiculous (or something along those lines). People always refer to Berry’s performance in “Catwoman” as camp, but, in my opinion, that doesn’t really count because everyone involved in that movie knew that was some over-the-top comedy, er, drama (whether they admit it or not). In “Kidnap” Berry thinks she’s a shoo-in for a Golden Globe nomination and if you’re bored on a plane her sincerity is everything.
Bennett Campbell Ferguson
Overrated: “Spider-Man: Homecoming”
Remember when the “Spider-Man” movies were a colossus of ferverish emotions, beautifully choreographed violence, and unabashedly personal filmmaking? That was a long time ago. The series’ first steward, “Evil Dead” director Sam Raimi, is a brash and brilliant entertainer, but neither of his successors has measured up. Marc Webb’s inappropriately titled “Amazing Spider-Man” films were wan imitations of Raimi’s work and if anything, ‘Homecoming’ from director Jon Watts is worse. He has created a Spider-Man (played with bland spunkiness by Tom Holland) who is stripped of guilt, passion and longing—everything that makes the character more than a muscled goon in primary colors. When Tobey Maguire’s Peter declared that the story of his life was “not for the faint of heart” in Raimi’s trilogy, he was right. Those films were steeped in grief—that’s what made their moments of joyous wonderment (like that glorious upside-down spider-kiss) such a balm. But as ‘Homecoming’ confirms, the series has gone from being not for the faint of heart to simply being faint-hearted—and a reminder that a superhero without a soul to lose is no hero at all.
Underrated: “Song to Song”
Most movies pass over you like an airplane that roars overhead and rapidly fades into the horizon. But just like the water that surges toward a shoreline in one of its most transcendent moments, “Song to Song” leaves you soaked. It’s an Austin, Texas-set, Terrence Malick-directed tale of two musicians (Rooney Mara and Ryan Gosling) and the dancing, drug-guzzling mogul (Michael Fassbender) who ensnares them in his web of false promises and empty sex. Malick has a blast visualizing the mogul’s life of luxury—the gravity-defying antics aboard his private jet are magnificent to behold—but the movie lives for the quiet moments between Mara and Gosling, whether they’re sitting at the piano, frolicking beneath an underpass or lying together on a sunny, rocky expanse. There’s something fantastic about the sincerity with which Malick depicts their romance. He believes in a lot of things—including a higher power and the high power of the moving image to overwhelm and transport—but most of all, he believes that there’s nothing sweeter than loving and being loved, which is what Mara’s character means when she utters the words that define this wondrously kind-hearted movie: “This. Only this.”
Eli Fine
Overrated: “Dunkirk”
“Dunkirk” was a shoo-in for my most overrated film of 2017, given my long-standing belief that Christopher Nolan is the most overrated filmmaker in Hollywood. However, I went into the Boston press screening of Nolan’s latest with an open mind: a grounded war movie with a running time of under two hours, “Dunkirk” seemed like a departure from Nolan’s recent spate of obnoxiously loud, emotionally void science-fiction epics. I thought it unfortunate, therefore, that “Dunkirk” proved to be even louder—and even less emotionally resonant—than anything he has done before. In fact, it seemed almost as though he was responding directly to his [few] detractors, as if to say: “You think I don’t care about character? I’ll show you how little I care about character. You think ‘Interstellar’’s score was oppressive and annoying? I’ll show you oppressive and annoying sound design. You think my movies have been getting progressively more nonsensical, all the while making my fans think so highly of their own intelligence that the line between a Nolanite and a ‘Rick and Morty’ obsessive has become increasingly blurred? I’ll show you the most deeply unnecessary, self-indulgent and frustratingly simplistic timeline fuckery you’ve ever seen in your whole goddamn life.” You might imagine my bafflement when I exited the press screening to an almost unanimous round of “Brilliant!,” “Mind-blowing!,” “Favorite movie of the year!,” and “Nolan is a genius!,” from my fellow critics. Somehow Nolan still has everyone but me under his spell. It’d be cool if I woke up tomorrow just as in-love with him and his new film as everyone else, but I doubt that’s in the cards. Because “Dunkirk” is a boring, detached, unoriginal waste of a movie. Don’t @ me, bro.
Underrated: “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”
I thought long and hard about this. There were a lot of 2017 movies that deserved far more attention and respect than they got (“Lemon,” “Patti Cake$,” “Dave Made a Maze,” and “Catfight,” to name but a few). I decided to go with ‘Valerian’ not because of its underdog status (it was, after all, a blockbuster with a giant studio marketing machine behind it) but because it’s such a perfect counterpoint to the dreary nothing that is “Dunkirk.” The critical response to the two films couldn’t possibly be more different: while “Dunkirk” was immediately celebrated as a work of incomparable contemporary American auteurist cinema, ‘Valerian’ was summarily dismissed as shlocky space-nonsense CGI featuring a truly bad central performance from Dane DeHaan. But here’s the real differentiating factor between the two movies: ‘Valerian’ is fun. It’s so much fun. Fun oozes out of its every pore. Luc Besson clearly had the time of his life making it, DeHaan and Cara Delevingne and the rest of the cast had a blast on-set, and I firmly believe that open-minded filmgoers had more fun watching ‘Valerian’ than virtually any other movie in 2017. Besson’s joyously vivid, energetic direction and sheer originality make it the most self-aware blockbuster in recent memory. Find me a 2017 action sequence that matches up to the interdimensional shopping-mall chase sequence early in the first act; or a blockbuster scene as visually stimulating as the one wherein an alien king tries to eat Delevingne’s head. Nothing in “Thor: Ragnarok” or “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (easily the most lauded blockbusters of the year, and both solid movies) even touches Besson’s inventiveness here. And the primary criticism of “Valerian,” that DeHaan is bad? Yeah, he’s bad He’s wooden and uncharismatic and basically doing a Keanu impression. Guess what though? ‘Valerian’ still rules, and you can @ me about this one.
Christian Gallichio
Overrated: “My Cousin Rachel”
Roger Michell’s adaptation of the Daphne de Maurier novel “My Cousin Rachel” is perhaps not the most well-known title of this year, but for the life of me I can’t understand how it got the (mostly) good reviews that it received (though we gave it a C). While it’s true that Rachel Weisz gives a great performance, the elements surrounding her never come together in a coherent or even entertaining way. The whole films feels sedate (which might be a way to describe most of Michell’s films anyways), lacking anything resembling drama with a completely ineffective conclusion. While Sam Claflin can be a good actor when used correctly (see “Their Finest”), his leading role in this film is hazily sketched out and results in a dull central performance. It took me 3 days to get through this movie completely out of sheer will to finish what I started.
Underrated: “Wakefield”
While Bryan Cranston’s acclaim in the television sphere is unparalleled, his transition to film has been anything but smooth. Yet, in Robin Swicord’s underseen adaptation of the E.L. Doctorow short story “Wakefield” (itself an adaptation of a Hawthorne story), Cranston perfectly embodies a man fed up with the day to day routine that has come to define his life. His escape to the attic of his garage, where he watches his family deal with the turmoil of his absence, demonstrates just how egocentric a man he has become. Swicord has always flown under the radar as a storyteller, but here she uses a deft touch that forgoes fancy theatrics or even emotional catharsis to, instead, portray a fully realized character who isn’t so much bad as he is too caught up with understanding his place in the world.
