Movie Reaction: Manchester by the Sea

Formula: This is Where I Leave You / Big Daddy*
*I'll fully admit that this is one of my worst formulas ever.

Can you ever go home again?

There's an entire sub genre of movies based on that question. It's one of the most common questions asked in film. Just at the top of my head, I can think of This Is Where I Leave You, The Judge, Adult Beginners, The Hollars, and Young Adult that are about that same question. And that's just recently. Push a little further back and there's Garden State, Elizabethtown, Coming Home, Grosse Pointe Blank, Beautiful Girls, and a good deal of Sandra Bullock's output (Hope Floats, Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood). What I'm trying to say is Manchester by the Sea isn't breaking new ground. The thing that makes it better than just about any of the movies I just listed is how it tackles the follow-up to that question: What if home wants you back but you can't let yourself return?

The film begins with Lee (Casey Affleck) living a lonely life as the janitor for some apartment buildings in Boston. He's surly, drinks a lot, and gets in fights. One day, he gets a call telling him his brother has died and he has to return to his home town of Manchester. He ends up with custody of his teen nephew and stuck in this town that he left for a good reason. Let's just say that his brother dying isn't the first bad thing that's happened to him in his life. Several flashbacks catch the audience up with what's going on in the present, where he's making funeral arrangements and figuring out what to do next.

There are some fantastic performances throughout the film. Casey Affleck is incredible. He's like a cross between Coach Taylor in Friday Night Lights and Joaquin Phoenix's character in The Master: a reserved, raw nerve. It's a very internalized performance and enough to convince me that he's the better actor of the Affleck brothers*. It's appropriate that Coach Taylor himself, Kyle Chandler, plays Lee's brother. I was already aware of how good he is at holding back in a role while giving plenty. Lucas Hedge's is Lee's nephew. He has a tricky role. His father's death isn't a complete surprise, but it's still a shock to the system. His mood varies wildly and he pulls it all off well enough. Michelle Williams is Lee's ex-wife. She isn't in the film much, but she has one scene in particular that's rightfully making her an award season favorite this year. The performances are by far the greatest strength of the film.

*Ben's a pretty good director though, so it's still unfair how talented both of them are.

One of the hardest things to do in a film is to successfully meander. People like Richard Linklater and Cameron Crowe have made a career out of it, but it's hard to get right. On one end, you risk the movie being listless or feeling padded. On the other end, you don't lay enough out for the big moments to feel earned. At almost 2 and a half hours, Manchester perhaps wanders a little longer than it needs to. I somewhat question the need to know about the nephew's two girlfriends, for example. It's forgivable because the bigger moments are damn good.

I don't know if this will make sense, but the film is shot it a way that isn't patronizing. Far too often, when filmmakers leave the big cities or sound-stages, they do this thing where they fixate on the things that "poor people" live with. It's normally done out of a genuine interest, but it's pretty elitist. Manchester avoids that. This isn't the nicest part of the world, but it's shot without judgment. Houses seem comfortable. Some areas look nicer than others, not trashed or pristine. It feels like a real place, not a fetishized "quaint" town.

Manchester by the Sea is a familiar movie done incredibly well. It's carried by fantastic performances, especially Casey Affleck in the lead role. It only gives the audience about 80% of what they want to see in a given scene, and that restraint pays off more as the story progresses. It covers some dark topics and has a weird sense of humor that can come out of nowhere at times. It never allows the audience to get completely comfortable in a very deliberate way. It all comes together as a rewarding trip to Manchester.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend 

Delayed Reaction: The Invitation

The Pitch: Some friends get together for a dinner party and discover that their hosts belong to a cult and may be up to something more.

Now that's a slow build. If nothing else, the film is patient and confident in that patience. I prefer a simmering dread over jump scares and this delivers the former with pleasure. That said, it didn't quite work for me. Either the build-up took too long or the pay-off wasn't interesting enough. It's hard to say which. My attention started to drift before all the shit when down at the end. When the shit when down, I wish it could've found a way to maintain its earlier tone rather than turning into a survival thriller. Clearly, I wanted something more from the movie, but I'm not astute enough to identify what it would be.

John Carroll Lynch is pretty perfect for his role. Even though I still most associate him with The Drew Carey Show, a close second is the number of different movies in which he's played a creep. The rest of the cast looked like well-to-do Los Angelinos, so good job with that. 

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Modern Romance

The Pitch: Albert Brooks is a neurotic man who tries to make his relationship work.

Albert Brooks sure is unlikable in this film. It's a character type that he has mastered. He's neurotic, self-obsessed, and an ass. He's also charming and endearing at times. I'm not sure what to make of the movie. It's funny, although most of the jokes are more "funny to think about" than "laugh out loud", or they are the kind of jokes you appreciate more with subsequent viewings. I'd almost categorize this as a "slice of life" movie in the vein of recent Coen Brothers films (Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail, Caesar) or the Grown-Ups movies, since it's often just a collection of scenes from different parts of Brooks' day. Most of it is tied to his relationship with Kathryn Harrold. Sometimes it's just him doing his movie editing job. The Quaalude scene is certainly fun in the way that it keeps going and going: a nice, slow train wreck of sorts.

Brooks and Harrold match each other well throughout. The film wouldn't work if I didn't buy into the relationship. I question her participation in the relationship more than his. They are trapped in a place where they are about 85% "in love", which is probably more honest than most RomComs in the world.

I want to figure out the appeal of Albert Brooks amongst a certain type of comedy nerd, so I'll be checking out some of his other films. Based on this, I'm not sure I get it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Breakfast at Tiffany's

The Pitch: Truman Capote has this book. We're going to adapt it, but change a bunch of stuff.

I'm hitting a phase where every other movie I see is a well known classic. Often, watching the films has been as much about the why as the what. The 'what' of Breakfast at Tiffany's is the story of a woman who tries to leave her life behind for the allure of the big city. It's got some interesting twists and turns but feels entirely conventional. The 'why' of it - why the movie is so well known still - is three pronged.

Mostly, it Audrey Hepburn. She is iconic and if there was a higher word than iconic, I would use that. Her first scene, is as recognizable as anything in film. The lack of Oscar recognition (not even a nomination) for the costume design really is one of the biggest black marks in the Academy's history. I know Marilyn Monroe was Truman Capote's choice for the role (and I supposed she could've made it work), but the final product is so tailored to Hepburn that it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role. The second 'why' is the music. "Moon River". You just don't beat that. I can't imagine any other song working better. The third 'why': Mickie Rooney. His "yellowface" routine has aged horribly. I cringed at those scenes. Even if the character was played by a Japanese actor, it would still be pretty awful. Adding the Mickie Rooney aspect just pushes it over the edge. The only saving grace is that he's not a central character, so there's not that much to deal with.

Overall, it's a fine film. The images amount to more than the final product. Hepburn really makes it all worth it. In that respect, it can't match the other films of hers that I've seen like Roman Holiday or Sabrina. Holly Golightly certainly bridges the gap between Princess Ann and Eliza Doolittle.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Beyond the Lights

The Pitch: Remember the Britney Spears song "Lucky"? Ok, take that and make her black.

This is a 2014 star vehicle for Gugu Mbatha-Raw, about how hard it is to be a pop star. That's a tough sell, because we've been conditioned to believe that the rich and famous live easy lives. All that's comparative though, and happiness is something that eludes people in every tax bracket. This film does a great job presenting Mbatha-Raw's side of the story. She's famous but she's also micro-managed. She has a very specific image that she's trying to maintain (sexy but accessible, glamorous but relatable). It's all too much. The scene with her removing her hair extensions and eyebrows, etc. does a great job showing just how much of a facade her public face is.

I decided to watch this because Mbatha-Raw's episode of Easy got me curious to look her up again. I've known about her for a while, but she's somehow still looking for that breakthrough role. She really should be a star by now. It was pure coincidence that earlier the same day I watched The Birth of a Nation. That day became an unexpected crash course in the range of Nate Parker, who is fine in this. Mbatha-Raw is who really shines, selling the audience on a character who can potentially come off as insufferably privileged and/or entitled. I bought into her emotional journey far more than I expected. The second most impressive character has to be Minnie Driver as her over-bearing mother. "Parent living vicariously through the success of the child" is virtually a trope by now. She manages to add some extra shading to it, switching between mother and manager at unexpected times. It isn't a deeply complex story, but the performances make it sing.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Deliverance

The Pitch: You know what would make canoeing more exciting? Hillbilly rape and banjos.

Dueling banjos and "Squeal like a pig". What more do you need? This is a film more remembered for its moments than the final product. There's a reason for that. Those are iconic elements. Dueling banjos is just plain catchy and the use of it is perfect for establishing the setting. "Squeal like a pig", well, that's just twisted. That scene is boundary pushing if made today. 40 years ago, that's enough to be a phenomenon. The movie as a whole is pretty solid though. Between The River Wild and Mean Creek, I've seen enough of the sub-genre over the last year or two, but this is the best of them. Burt Reynolds is at his peak machismo in what I believe was a star-turn performance, and Jon Voight gives things a bit more complexity. It's a much smaller movie than I expected and that works in its favor. Seriously, is a "low budget action movie with A-list actors" even a thing?

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Movie Reaction: Denial

Formula: (My Cousin Vinny + 40 Years of experience + England) / Schindler's List

I've been keeping this weekly movie streak of mine going for quite a while now. A little over four years now. I'm stubborn about maintaining it, almost to a fault. Some weeks (like all of this November) it's very easy to keep it going. New movies are always coming out and I like to see a variety of genres. There are tough times, when none of the new releases appeal to me and no smaller movies have expanded out to a theater near me. The first weekend in December is almost always a tough one. You see, normal people take their time to see movies. Studios don't bother releasing anything of note that weekend because they assume people are still digesting the several big releases from Thanksgiving. Well, I have no patience. I saw four movies last weekend and left myself nothing for this weekend.

Or so I thought.

Denial is the second Bleecker Street production I've seen this year, the second that I saw because nothing else looked very good, and the second that has blown away my expectations. The first was Eye in the Sky back in April, which is sure to be toward the top of my year-end movie list for 2016. Denial isn't quite at that level but is very good in its own right.

The film tells the story of Prof. Deborah Lipstadt, who was sued for liable in England by Nazi scholar and Holocaust denier, David Irving for claiming that he was distorting facts and presenting them as truth. It starts with their first encounter - Irving loudly interrupting one of her presentations - and follows through the different stages of her trial. The stakes are higher than they should be because, in England, the burden of proof is on the defendant, meaning, Prof. Lipstadt must essentially, 60 years after the fact, prove that the Holocaust happened in order to win her case. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? This trial was in 2000, which is far more recent than I would've assumed. And, if Prof. Lipstadt loses, she risks legitimizing the belief that the Holocaust didn't happen, that it was just an exaggeration.

What keeps the film engaging throughout is how it resists the urge to go bigger than it needs to. It's a movie about people doing their jobs and doing them well. That's the same thing that made Spotlight so good last year. Because, while Deborah is the lead, she's mostly an observer. The central conflict of the film isn't between Prof. Lipstadt and Mr. Irving. It's between her impulses as the client and her lawyers' knowledge of the system and what it will take to win. It's a film about building a legal case, methodically and strategically. It's about people putting months of work in to make sure things are done right. It's about the smaller fights that win the bigger battle. That sounds kind of boring, but it's not. I'd rather see people struggling because something is hard rather than because a random plot complication demands it.

Rachel Weisz manages to put on Prof. Lipstadt's Queens accent without getting lost in the caricature, which is damn near award-worthy on its own. She does a good job keeping the focus on her character even when she's technically not doing much. I don't know anything about the real David Irving, but if you are looking for an actor who can be foul while also on the fringes of being aristocratic, Timothy Spall is the perfect choice. Andrew Scott is sufficiently stuffy while also being a man of conviction, as one of Lipstadt's two lead lawyers. Tom Wilinson, as the other lead lawyer, is about as un-showy as he can be. The cast is much larger than that - mainly to point out how many people are involved in a single-case like this - but those four are at the core.

It's a small movie, to the point where it could just as easily be a TV movie. That's probably why it's barely had a release beyond major cities. The fact that Irving never feels like an actual threat means the stakes never get high enough to pull me in the way that something like Spotlight does and is about the only thing keeping me from raving about Denial rather than just highly recommending it. Regardless, this is a strong example of a type of movie that I wish would be made more often. Thank god for these slow weeks at the theaters or else I never would've seen this.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Life Itself

The Pitch: Let's figure out why Roger Ebert is someone we all know.

This is where I include the realization that I'm writing a review about a movie about a man who wrote reviews of movies just like this.

Sometimes, all a documentary needs to be is a substitute for a Wikipedia article. I know of Roger Ebert more than I know about him. It's a name that I've known as long as I can remember. Why do I know him though? What made him or Siskel or "two thumbs up" so well known? Life Itself does a fine job covering Ebert's life in a variety of ways. It doesn't get into any one topic in much detail because there isn't the time. That's fine. It covers his origin, the Pulitzer, his relationship with Gene Siskel, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Cannes, and his later jawless years when he developed a strong online presence. Personally, I'm more interested in the reviews and his process for those, but I understand the broad approach the film takes instead.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: The Last Temptation of Christ

The Pitch: Who wants to piss off some religious groups?

This is the first of Scorsese's religious reflection trilogy along with 1997's Kundun and this year's Silence. While it's by no means my favorite of his movies, it may be the most interesting. Released between The Color of Money and Goodfellas, I'm not sure what drove him to the project. That's the fun of Scorsese. He follows his whimsy sometimes. That's how you get Hugo, which I adore.

This is a very interesting take on Jesus as a man. It tries to keep his divinity while forgetting his perfection, which, narratively, is more engaging. The last time I remember so much of the third act of a movie being devoted to a thought-bubble scenario was the last Twilight movie. This was a lot better than that. Willem Dafoe does some great, conflicted work (ignoring the whole White Jesus aspect of it), and I loved how everything is a little off about the film. It never feels settled. There's strange cuts and shots that keep it uneven, like Satan's mind games are being played on us as much as Jesus. This is one of those highly imperfect movies that I'm likely to revisit at some point, just to figure it out.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

December Movie Preview

It's going to be hard to beat this November or December 2015. November was busy as hell, as evidenced by my 10 Movie Reactions with almost no outright disappointments to be found. And, last December had the return of Star Wars. It's tough to be that. This December will certainly try. There's a lot of movies coming out and expanding. It will start slow before the Christmas onslaught. If you can't find at least one thing to be excited about, then you aren't looking.

2016
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov   
2015

Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | Jul | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec 

2014

Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2013

Mar |  Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

12/2

Incarnate
Aaron Eckhart is a scientist or priest who enters the consciousness of a boy possessed by a demon.
Working For It: Not much. Eckhart is still spending his Thank you For Smoking and Dark Knight goodwill. Otherwise, it's hard to get excited about Inception by way of The Exorcist.
Working Against It: It looks more supernatural than scary. Brad Peyton is a journeyman director (San Andreas, Journey 2, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore). The first weekend of December is typically a burn off week for the studios and, with this as the only nation-wide release, 2016 is looking no different.
Verdict: No need to see this.

Best and Most Beautiful Things [Limited]
A documentary about a legally blind girl trying to make it on her own.
Working For It: I like a good documentary and inspiring tales.
Working Against It: This looks like an extended episode of MTV's True Life.
Verdict: Definitely not in theaters. Probably never.

Jackie [Limited]
Natalie Portman plays Jackie Kennedey in the aftermath of her husband's assassination.
Working For It: It's nice to see Natalie Portman back in the Oscar hunt. The cast also features the likes of Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig, and Peter Sarsdaard. I hear that this is not a standard biopic, which makes me very curious.
Working Against It: Director Pablo Larrain is unknown to me. The screenwriter, Noah Oppenheim's other credits are The Maze Runner and Allegiant, which isn't encouraging.
Verdict: It's very likely that I'll see this.

12/9

Office Christmas Party
Ensemble comedy about an office throwing a wild Christmas party to save their branch from closing down.
Working For It: Why, yes, I would like to see Kate McKinnon, Olivia Munn, Jennifer Aniston, TJ Miller, Jason Bateman, Vanessa Bayer, Jillian Bell, Randall Park, Jamie Chung, Abbey Lee, Rob Corddry, Courtney B. Vance, Matt Walsh, Sam Richardson, and others be funny and silly for 105 minutes.
Working Against It: A lot of names tied to the screenplay. None of them impressive. The two directors don't have an exceptional history either (Blades of Glory, The Switch, episodes of Cavemen).
Verdict: I plan to see it, but could very easily skip it [after all, I will be in Disney World that weekend]

Friend Request [Limited]
I talked about this a month or two ago. If it got bumped on the schedule, that only hurts its low chances.

La La Land [Limited]
An aspiring actress and a jazz pianist fall in love.
Working For It: Damien Chazelle's follow up to Whiplash pairs Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling together in a showy, musical, dancing romance movie. What's not to be excited about?
Working Against It: I'm struggling to find a reason to not be excited. I already know that Stone and Gosling work great together (Crazy Stupid Love, Gangster Squad). I like the director and it just looks fun.
Verdict: Apologies to Rogue One, but this is the December movie I'm most looking forward to.

12/16

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Felicity Jones leads the Rebellion group who gathers the secret plans for the Death Star (mentioned in Episode IV).
Working For It: This is a fantastically weird cast, including Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline), Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), Alan Tudyk, Forest Whitaker, and a dozen others who I do not know as well. This is the first Star Wars movie not led by a Jedi and the biggest test of how well the franchise can work away from the Skywalkers.
Working Against It: I'm not crazy about director Gareth Edwards' last film (Godzilla), although I don't think he was the problem.
Verdict: I'm seeing a Star Wars live-action movie if it's in theaters.

Collateral Beauty
Depressed over the death of his daughter, Will Smith goes on a Christmas Carol-esque journey, meeting the human personifications of Time, Love, and Death.
Working For It: Every year, someone has to find a new spin on A Christmas Carol. I'm actually fine with that. I like Will Smith, even though he keeps falling short of that next Oscar nomination he so clearly wants. It's hard to dismiss any movie with Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet, Naomie Harris, Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, and Michael Pena joining him. Personally, I just want to see how Michael Pena will find a way to still be the best part of this movie, despite the high profile cast above him on the call sheet. It's just what he does.
Working Against It: David Frankel as a director is hit & miss (The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me) for me. This feels like the kind of movie that if it doesn't get me crying by the end, then I'm probably going to dislike it.
Verdict: ...maybe. I assume it will get lost in the season.

The Space Between Us
A boy born on Mars sneaks back to Earth to meet a girl he likes.
Working For It: The boy is Asa Butterfield (Hugo) and the girl is Britt Robertson (Tomorrowland), so I like the leads.
Working Against It: Is it weird that any time I've seen the trailer (and for some reason, I've seen this trailer a lot before other movies), I only focus on how clearly older Robertson is than Butterfield? I know she looks young, but it's not like he looks old. They could both pass for high schoolers on their own, but paired together, they don't look like contemporaries.
Verdict: I won't try to see it, but I wouldn't put up a fight if someone else invited me.

12/21

Assassin's Creed
Michael Fassbender is transported back to the Spanish Inquisition (through science!) to fight as an assassin...or something.
Working For It: I like Michael Fassbender. Getting people like him, Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons, and Michael Kenneth Williams shows that they are trying. I'll give them that.
Working Against It: Name a good video game adaptation. Sure, Tomb Raider and Resident Evil were ok, but that's about it. One day, someone will crack the code (Seriously, how has no one done Zelda yet?), but for now, it's still a losing fight. Assassin's Creed, in the trailer, looks like it's bending over backwards to get the video game premise to fit a movie script. I appreciate the effort, but effort doesn't always translate into something that's good.
Verdict: I have little desire to see this. I could be convinced otherwise, but it seems unlikely.

Passengers
Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt wake up 90 years early from hibernation on a space ship transporting them to a new planet.
Working For It: The film is being presented as a two-hander with Lawrence and Pratt (although the cast list on IMDB would suggest otherwise). So, basically, are those two enough for you? I love love love Chris Pratt and I never soured on Jennifer Lawrence the way some have (I've had enough of her with David O. Russell though). Director Morton Tyldum's last film, The Imitation Game, I enjoyed a lot. I'm cautiously excited about this.
Working Against It: The trailer seems to be cut in a way that's hiding a lot of the movie. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.
Verdict: I'm too curious not to see it.

Sing
Animals compete for an American Idol-esque competition.
Working For It: I won't even begin to list off the voice cast because it's stacked. Illumination definitely follows the Dreamworks Animation practice of casting based on star-power first and voice second*. That's not a bad thing, necessarily.
*As opposed to Disney Animation, who is happy to go will lesser-known people if the voice fits.
Working Against It: Truth be told, I still haven't forgiven Illumination for bringing the Minions into this world. Even the threat of a five-second Minion clip as part of the Illumination logo at the beginning is enough to make me highly resistant.
Verdict: I'm in no hurry.

Patriots Day [Limited]
A film that recounts the events of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Working For It: Two Peter Berg movies in one year. He's staying busy. I was impressed with Deepwater Horizon. This is in a different vein, but still pretty intriguing. It looks like he's adopting a United 93 style and relying on a large ensemble.
Working Against It: This looks more like an HBO original movie than a feature film. I'm sure it will be good, but I don't feel any urgency.
Verdict: It's likely to be lost in the season.

12/23

Why Him?
Bryan Cranston doesn't approve of his daughter's billionaire boyfriend (James Franco).
Working For It: Cranston is the best. Franco is part of the Apatow crew that I love, almost blindly. Zoey Deutch keeps showing up in different movies. Writer/director John Hamburg is also responsible for I Love You, Man (as well as many screenplays directed by someone else), which I adore. There's room for this to be better than it appears.
Working Against It: ...which is good, because it appears to be my least favorite versions of the two leads in conflict with each other. I don't care for smug Franco at all. Cranston can do "angry dad" as well as anyone (See: Malcolm in the Middle), but he does need some direction for that, or else you get something like Melissa McCarthy in Identity Thief or Tammy. Also, I know that Franco can play young and Deutch looks a little older than she is, but couldn't they find two people a little closer in age*?
*For comparison, remember Pineapple Express. They make a joke out of Seth Rogen dating a high school girl (Amber Heard). Rogen and Heard are four years apart in age. Franco and Deutch are 16 years. Maybe that's part of the joke on the movie, but still.
Verdict: I'll probably forget to see it.

A Monster Calls [Limited]
A boy summons a monster to cope with his mother's illness.
Working For It: Another Felicity Jones movie. She's busy this fall. This looks awful similar to The BFG. I can assume that if you like one, you'll like the other.
Working Against It: The BFG bombed pretty hard despite getting a nationwide release and being directed by Stephen Speilberg. A Monster Calls is not nearly as credentialed or backed by its studio.
Verdict: If I didn't see The BFG, I don't imagine I'll see this.

Silence [Limited]
Two Jesuit priests face persecution in the seventeenth century working as missionaries in Japan.
Working For It: It's anyone's guess with Martin Scorsese's latest movie. They only just now released a trailer. This is coming down to the wire. Scorsese has been planning to make this movie for over a decade, so I'm excited to see how it is. Andrew Garfield, Liam Neeson, and Adam Driver are the only cast members I can name. I'm always giving Scorsese a chance though.
Working Against It: It won't be quite as long as Wolf of Wall Street, but it's been a long time since anyone was able to convince Scorsese to cut a movie down.
Verdict: I'm seeing it, for better or worse.

12/25

Fences
Denzel Washington directs and stars in the adaptation of the Tony-winning play about a man trying to raise his family and struggle with race in the 1950s.
Working For It: Denzel doesn't direct often (only Antwone Fisher in 2002, The Great Debaters in 2007, and apparently, an episode of Grey's Anatomy this year), so I'm curious to see why he chose this. This is probably going to win Viola Davis her first Oscar and possible Denzel his third.
Working Against It: I hear that this is a fairly direct adaptation from the stage show, which bothers me. What's the point of making a play into a movie if you don't try to make it cinematic in some way? Films are more than the sum of their actors. We'll see though.
Verdict: If I saw August: Osage County, then I'll certainly see this.

Gold
Matthew McConaughey stumbles onto an Indonesian gold fortune in the 80s.
Working For It: McConaughey might pick up another Oscar nomination from this. I'm personally looking forward to seeing Timothy Simons in a non-Jonah Ryan role for a change.
Working Against It: It doesn't help that the trailer reminds me a lot of War Dogs. I don't think there's much of a movie beyond McConaughey, and a single performance normally isn't enough to make a movie good.
Verdict: Only if I want to cover all of my Oscar nomination possibilities.

20th Century Women [Limited]
An examination of the lives of three women in California set in the late 1970s.
Working For It: Apparently, Annette Bening is the reason to see this. The other two women of the three mentioned are Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning, which is a pretty strong trinity. Writer/director Mike Mill's last film was Beginners, which I thought was pretty good. I think this movie will be good, but I can't quite say why.
Working Against It: I don't really know what it's about.
Verdict: If it shows up in January near me, I'll probably see it. In a busy December, that's less certain.

Hidden Figures [Limited]
Three black women in the 1960s working for NASA to help with the early space missions.
Working For It: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae are a good core. People like Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, and Mahershala Ali should fit in well. It looks fun.
Working Against It: I'm not sure what the comedy/drama balance for this is supposed to be. I'm hearing "Oscar" being thrown around, but if director Theodore Melfi's last film is any indication (St. Vincent), that doesn't seem realistic. This time of year, there's a lot of movies that try to sneak in before 12/31, thinking they can get awards attention. There's always a few that realize too late that they would've had more success releasing earlier in the fall (or year). This looks like one of those.
Verdict: I'm sure it will be fine, but I'm in no hurry.

Live By Night [Limited]
Ben Affleck is a prohibition era crime boss.
Working For It: Affleck's first directorial effort since his Oscar-winning Argo. He's proven himself as a director and a leading man. 1920s and 30s crime movies are a genre I should be more tired of than I am.
Working Against It: From initial trailers, I'm not sure what sets this apart from similar movies (for example, Public Enemies). I'm sure this will be good. I just don't see it in the trailer though.
Verdict: I'm seeing it. To pretend otherwise would be dishonest.