This Week in Cinema: November 28-January 04, 2021

I felt like writing about movies again…

It’s been what, four years since I wrote anything for this site? I can honestly say that I didn’t know if I’d ever write for this site again. So much about my life has changed since I wrote my last review. I’m divorced and re-married, live in Milwaukee now, am a Critical Care Paramedic, spend most of my time writing about baseball, and I stopped watching movies. I think it was because movies were such a huge part of my previous marriage, probably too large of a part in that relationship. When I finally got my life sorted out and moved on movies just fell by the wayside. I love the life I have now, my kids, my wife, my work, pretty much everything about my life. I’m doubtful I’ll ever treat movies the way I did before, but I’ve decided I’m going to catch more of them from time to time and write about them when I feel like it. So, if anyone is still around be on the lookout for the occasional review. Onto this past week,

A Boy Called Christmas (2021, Gil Kenan, United States of America) *

It really tries, that’s about the best I can say for A Boy Called Christmas. Gil Kenan’s film wants to belong with the likes of Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia but while those films had some measure of soul, A Boy Called Christmas is just kind of flat and without life. The story is preposterous, but not in a “who would believe this crap way.” I could live with that, great movies are made from that. No, A Boy Called Christmas is preposterous in the “Why do I feel like they are just throwing stuff at the wall and hoping something sticks way.”

Wind River (2017, Taylor Sheridan, United States of America) ***

This movie is the reason I am writing anything for this site at all. By chance, I happened to be in Wyoming watching a movie about Wyoming and I don’t know, it just stuck with me. The cold and isolation portrayed in Taylor Sheridan’s film probably had the most to do with that. The feeling of being all alone, desperate, and freezing permeated every inch of the film. I do feel Sheridan’s effort loses some of its bite in the flashback sequence. Up to that point he had done a great job of layering in the mystery portion of the movie then it felt like a shortcut and a cheat to be “here’s what happened, I know you know something like this happened, but I still want to show you.” What followed after and came before was great, a movie full of great performances and cinematography with a compelling mystery. That darn flashback hurts it a bunch though.

Wrap-Up:

Only two movies this week, one dud and one that got me back to writing about movies again. Obviously, Wind River is your Movie of the Week. No catchy exit line any longer, maybe you’ll see something else from me next week or maybe not for some time, we’ll see.

Cheers,
Bill Thompson

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