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Thread: Wind River (Taylor Sheridan)

  1. #1
    Moderator TGM's Avatar
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    Wind River (Taylor Sheridan)

    WIND RIVER

    Director: Taylor Sheridan

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  2. #2
    Moderator TGM's Avatar
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    This is from the guy who wrote Sicario and Hell or High Water, and you can definitely tell. I thought this was really damn good, and may well be Jeremy Renner's best performance I've seen from him yet at this. Definitely worth checking out.

  3. #3
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    Jeremy Renner is extraordinary. He has the lines and the character arc that might result in an Oscar nomination. But holy moly, Elizabeth Olsen is top-notch as well. All in all, it's hard to find much fault with this film. The writing, the performances, the pacing ... it's all good. It left me shaken and haunted.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
    The Beach Bum (Korine, 2019) *1/2
    Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
    Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  4. #4
    Errand Boy
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    I liked this, but it's not as complex as Hell or High Water, and Renner, while good in this, is far greater in The Town IMO. Her role/performance wasn't spectacular or anything, but I increasingly think Olsen will win an Oscar one day, in the right role. She's less chameleonic but better-at-drama than Brie Larson.
    Last edited by Weems; 09-20-2017 at 01:33 AM.

  5. #5
    This is another worthy entry in Sheridan's series on weary and vulnerable protagonists, though not the best film made from his material. It's not as morally nuanced as Sicario and doesn't quite master its landscape like Hell or High Water. As a director, Sheridan may not possess Denis Villeneuve's eye for meticulous craft, but he delivers set pieces that are similarly masterful at eliciting exhilaration and tension. Sheridan also seems to have a talent for drawing out strong performances. Elizabeth Olsen is captivating in a largely quiet role, and Renner is far better here than his other work as a second-tier superhero suggests. Overall, the story is relatively pedestrian and its themes -- though worthy of discussion -- are awkwardly wedged in. Still, Sheridan clearly respects the capacity of his audience to enjoy a slow-burn while always delivering an entertaining and thoughtful experience. I think he is becoming a leading voice in writing movies for adults.
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    A Star is Born (2018) **1/2
    Unforgiven (1992) ***1/2
    The Sisters Brothers (2018) **
    Crazy Rich Asians (2018) ***
    The Informant! (2009) ***1/2
    BlacKkKlansman (2018) ***1/2
    Sorry to Bother You (2018) **1/2
    Eighth Grade (2018) ***
    Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018) ***
    Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018) **1/2

  6. #6
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    All of Taylor Sheridan's usual writing style is still there along with its pleasures (tough character in tough situations, exploring a place and its people, pungent dialogue), although he takes so many elements from his past two works that it feels like a diluted version, and the toxicity from the corruption of system on a place/its people isn't as strong and layered, mainly because the screenplay focuses mostly on two outsiders and sidelines its Native American characters a bit too much. As director, Sheridan lacks the plunge-into-the-abyss precision of Sicario's Villeneuve or Mackenzie's flavorful locational specificity in Hell or High Water, but he still demonstrates a keen eye for suspenseful, violent set-pieces and eliciting strong performances from his cast. Borderline disastrous use of flashback though, both for its placement in the story and for its bitterness used to power that final action, which somehow seems almost too exploitative to me. 7/10
    Last edited by Peng; 10-14-2017 at 11:52 AM.
    Midnight Run (1988) - 9
    The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
    The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
    Sisters (1973) - 6.5
    Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5

  7. #7
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Agreed, this is a fine movie but weird that it's Sheridan's directorial debut since I thought Hell and High Water and Sicario were far better screenplays. This has too many clichés, like the scene where Renner goes to fetch a glass of water for Olsen and she's left alone to gaze upon the guy's pictures of his broken family... How many times have we seen a scene exactly like that?

  8. #8
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Good stuff. There's not much left to discuss here, except that I'll see anything that has Taylor Sheridan's name on it. Taylor's a new director, so part of me thinks a stronger director could've gotten more out of the landscape of the movie, but it's an area we don't see much in movies, every character was engaging, and the key scenes hit as well as anything else.

    Good stuff.

    Noticed that this was originally a Weinstein Company movie, but logos and Harvey's name were all removed.

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  9. #9
    Evil mind, evil sword. Ivan Drago's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    Noticed that this was originally a Weinstein Company movie, but logos and Harvey's name were all removed.
    Is this on the blu-ray?
    Last Five Films I've Seen (Out of 5)

    The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse (Mackesy, 2022) 4.5
    Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Crawford, 2022) 4
    Confess, Fletch (Mottola, 2022) 3.5
    M3GAN (Johnstone, 2023) 3.5
    Turning Red (Shi, 2022) 4.5
    Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953) 5

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  10. #10
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Ivan Drago (view post)
    Is this on the blu-ray?
    Yeah, I got it from Redbox.

    Barbarian - ***
    Bones and All - ***
    Tar - **


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  11. #11
    Here till the end MadMan's Avatar
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    I loved this, although its been months since I saw it so I need to refresh my memory. The cast elevated the material at key times and the ending seemed a bit anti-climatic, although that was the point.
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  12. #12
    In the belly of a whale Henry Gale's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    Noticed that this was originally a Weinstein Company movie, but logos and Harvey's name were all removed.
    Not just that, but apparently under Sheridan's lead of donating his royalties from the film to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, I also read there is an effort being made with the cooperation of those still in charge at TWC to direct all residual income of the film that the company would claim in the future to that charity as well.
    Last 11 things I really enjoyed:

    Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
    Safe (Haynes, 1995)
    South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
    Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
    Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
    What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
    Diva (Beineix, 1981)
    Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
    The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
    Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
    Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)

  13. #13
    Heartfelt and largely by-the-numbers, it would've made an excellent episode of Law & Order: SVU. If you like it when Liam Neeson deploys his particular set of skills to exact unlawful vengeance on sexual predators, you'll love Jeremy Renner as the tracker who knows everything -- except mercy. Those looking for an Elizabeth Olsen fix post-Wandavision may be dismayed to find her character doesn't extend much beyond a symbol for the FBI's ineptitude in back-country (well, also she's a surrogate daughter, or maybe a love interest? The movie doesn't bother to clarify, but the point is Renner gets to save her). The movie hits its stride in the last act with a sudden stand-off, some ominous lions in a cave, then an out-of-nowhere flashback that (on its own) would've been super icky but ends up as an effective preamble to the most visceral shoot-out/firefight I've seen in quite some time. It's a bold structural move by Sheridan and it pays off big, rescuing Wind River from being just another run-of-the-mill forensics procedural.

    p.s. Olsen would be a shoo-in at the lip-wobble olympics.
    Last edited by Idioteque Stalker; 03-11-2021 at 02:00 PM.

  14. #14
    Quote Quoting Idioteque Stalker (view post)
    Heartfelt and largely by-the-numbers, it would've made an excellent episode of Law & Order: SVU. If you like it when Liam Neeson deploys his particular set of skills to exact unlawful vengeance on sexual predators, you'll love Jeremy Renner as the tracker who knows everything -- except mercy. Those looking for an Elizabeth Olsen fix post-Wandavision may be dismayed to find her character doesn't extend much beyond a symbol for the FBI's ineptitude in back-country (well, also she's a surrogate daughter, or maybe a love interest? The movie doesn't bother to clarify, but the point is Renner gets to save her). The movie hits its stride in the last act with a sudden stand-off, some ominous lions in a cave, then an out-of-nowhere flashback that (on its own) would've been super icky but ends up as an effective preamble to the most visceral shoot-out/firefight I've seen in quite some time. It's a bold structural move by Sheridan and it pays off big, rescuing Wind River from being just another run-of-the-mill forensics procedural.

    p.s. Olsen would be a shoo-in at the lip-wobble olympics.
    Glad you liked it, Stalker; I did too (as you can see), and while I don't deny that it's still fundamentally a potboiler, not every movie can reinvent the wheel (in fact, the vast majority of them can't, or else doing so would lose a lot of its meaning), so there's room in my heart for a potboiler if it's an emotionally-engaging, socially-conscious one, like River.

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