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Hell or High Water is really good. It doesn't transcend heist-movie cliches, but it isn't lumbered with endless gun battles or unnecessary characters. It's a lean story, with convincing characters. Chris Pine and Ben Foster are never not interesting together, and Jeff Bridges plays up the old sheriff with ease.

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Hell or High Water is really good. It doesn't transcend heist-movie cliches, but it isn't lumbered with endless gun battles or unnecessary characters. It's a lean story, with convincing characters. Chris Pine and Ben Foster are never not interesting together, and Jeff Bridges plays up the old sheriff with ease.

Agreed. This was Ben Foster's best tough guy role and Chris Pine showed that he's capable of much more than he's been given. The film also deftly manages its theme with subtly. Regular citizens risking their lives over corporate money is breathtakingly stupid but also never feels unrealistic. One of my favorites of the year.

I found this equal parts banal and contrived, and I am once more befuddled by a popular board favorite. I am now certain it will be nominated for Best Picture, as it's thoroughly mediocre enough. Every character is so phonily constructed and ridden through the parade of tropes and expected measures that are only matched by the repeated narrative turns that privilege posturing over insight. Having Devil from Justified show up for two minutes only reminds us of what a fully formed creative universe that show was, and makes this look like even more of a pale shadow of better works. This is straight to cable fodder made Oscar material through some strange casino deal not outlined by the film.

I found this to be somewhere in the middle of the two posts in appraisal and the one detractor.

Foster and Pine were pretty good, and I loved the terrifying vigilante scene with the gun toting Texans. However, as a fan of true crime from David Simon, all the way to Forensic Files-the ending was a impossibly silly.

I caught both this and Manchester by the Sea on a plane, and found them both finely made movies, that I doubt I'll seriously remember months from now.

I will lean with Domino, though I liked it a little more than him because of the genre stuff and the not Bridges performances. Perhaps it is a little too archetypal, but it is enjoyable as a predictable beat mover. Too bad it tries to underline its purpose so much. The scene with the waitress has to be the worst written from last year's major films.

I think what this movie had going for it the most (beyond the performances) was a real sense of place; the various townspeople spoke in authentic voices, and the residents forming their own gun-toting posse felt just so very Texas. I think it's a real shame this movie was nominated for Best Picture, as that runs the risk of really misaligning expectations for new viewers; it's simply a well-made B movie, no more or less, and is a solid time if you like that sort of movie. It's by no means a great film and I'm honestly befuddled by the Awards Season acclaim it received.

Honestly given how west Texas the film was striving for it was terribly distracting to me that the film was clearly made in New Mexico.

All the Best People wrote:I think what this movie had going for it the most (beyond the performances) was a real sense of place; the various townspeople spoke in authentic voices, and the residents forming their own gun-toting posse felt just so very Texas.

To me, the gun-toting posse felt more like how Texans see themselves than how they actually are. Just another example of Texas mythologizing.

knives wrote:Honestly given how west Texas the film was striving for it was terribly distracting to me that the film was clearly made in New Mexico.

I could tell the difference as well, but I'm from New Mexico. I doubt it's all that noticeable to people not from/familiar with the region, but maybe I'm making too much of an assumption there.

The really big tell for me was the traffic signs. No where else to the best of my knowledge does that sideways thing.

knives wrote:The scene with the waitress has to be the worst written from last year's major films.

That was my favorite scene in the film and I think Margaret Bowman should've been nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

Are you that one secret Oscar voter who shared their ballot?

Sadly, I am not an Oscar voter. While I agreed with that person about Ms. Bowman, I thought almost everything else they said was ridiculous. They hated Arrival (without ever actually explaining why) & Toni Erdmann, which were my first & fifth favorite films of last year.

PfR73 wrote:

knives wrote:The scene with the waitress has to be the worst written from last year's major films.

That was my favorite scene in the film and I think Margaret Bowman should've been nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

I meant with Pine, not Bridges for clarification. That scene underlined the themes until it became text.

knives wrote:

PfR73 wrote:

knives wrote:The scene with the waitress has to be the worst written from last year's major films.

That was my favorite scene in the film and I think Margaret Bowman should've been nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

I meant with Pine, not Bridges for clarification. That scene underlined the themes until it became text.

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