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In: 2017, Ranked

It took a little longer to close out 2017 than it did 2016 and while MHT only reached 151 movies in 2017 (compared to 181 in 2016), it was still a solid year of reviews. It took until the final 26 to get 2017’s top movie which controversially happens to be Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Actually, the top 3 films of MHT’s 2017 list all came from the final viewing period and 7 of the top 11. While 2017 started off with a fizzle, it definitely closed with a bang! Here are all of the links to the previous grades for 2017:

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: It would be an insult to chalk this film up as an 8 Mile clone. Sure, Patti Cake$ is similar to 8 Mile but not the same. It’s better and one of the best of 2017.

Patti Cake$ is many things. It’s a coming-of-age tale, an underdog story and also fits in the nook that’s occupied by many a struggling musician trying to make it narrative that has come before it. Patti Cake$ also shares a lot of similarities to the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile featuring Eminem from 2002 which ripped up the box office at the time. Dubbed the female version of 8 Mile, Patti Cake$ didn’t have the same box office impact. While 8 Mile broke the $100 million mark domestically, Patti Cake$ didn’t even break $1 million during its brief summer run. It’s a shame, too. For me, it ranks 11th of all the films viewed in 2017.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: Under-the-radar December release should have been talked about more thanks to a harrowing tale and an amazing performance by Christian Bale. However, somehow Hostiles got lost in the Oscar shuffle but that doesn’t make it less of a perfect homage to classic Westerns and one of the saddest films you’ll see in 2018.

Release in 3 theaters in December, Hostiles didn’t find a wide release until near the end of January. Having heard nothing about the film before seeing it, I assumed it was another “Dump Month” release despite the cache of Christian Bale in the lead role. Quickly, I realized it wasn’t a January release at all and then began to wonder why this film, especially Bale’s performance and the stunning visuals, were never mentioned during Oscar talks. Hostiles turned out to be a hidden gem of a film featuring a number of strong performances in addition to Bale including Rosamund Pike, Ben Foster, Timothee Chalamet, Wes Studi, Jesse Plemons, Rory Cochrane, Jonathan Majors and Stephen Lang. Read More →

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In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: One of those heist flicks where the bad guys are bad and the good guys are worse made by someone who watched Heat one too many times. Plus, 140 minutes? Really? You could nap through the second act and not miss a thing.

Does Gerard Butler have a following? That’s about the only reason I can come up with as to why Den of Thieves found its way into cineplexes across the country. The 140 minute heist thriller features Pablo Schreiber, 50 Cent, Evan Jones and O’Shea Jackson Jr. as the main members of a group of bank robbers and Butler as Big Nick, a corrupt LA sheriff hellbent on bringing the crew down. Within the bloated 140 minute tale, there’s enough material to make a halfway decent pilot for an episodic drama but that leaves over 90 minutes of filler that adds little to no value to the overall viewing experience.Read More →

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In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: The feel of a blaxploitation action flick of the 70s but with a total lack of anything really worthwhile to deliver anything entertaining.

Taraji P. Henson has made it! After her phenomenal work in Hidden Figures amongst others, Henson has been given a role in a terrible action picture. It’s like a rite of passage for A-list female stars. At some point, a Hollywood studio realizes an A-list female should be in an action film but then decides to give her nothing to work with and totally waste the talent. With Proud Mary, a pseudo-retro action yawn released in January which almost always spells disaster, Henson is about the only thing to stop and take a peek but no one would begrudge you if you bail before the ridiculous and obligatory third act shootout which has barely an ounce of realism.Read More →

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In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: It’s 2018. Why are people still fucking with Liam Neeson’s family?

If you’re a movie villain, at this point, shouldn’t your bad guy dossier have a picture of Liam Neeson in it with some sort of instructions to avoid his family at all costs? The Commuter is proof positive that this is very much not the case as Neeson plays a former police officer turned insurance salesman who is laid off and approached by a mysterious woman (Vera Farmiga) on the commuter train he takes every day to hypothetically do “one little thing” and receive $100,000. The premise is Neeson’s Michael will find a target on the train, place a GPS tracker on them and walk away. Simple enough, right?Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: A little weird. A bit pretentious. Oh and kind of boring, too. Daniel Day-Lewis gives his usual great performance but that’s about it.

Phantom Thread, the latest from Paul Thomas Anderson and supposedly last from Daniel Day-Lewis who has stated he is retiring from acting, is one of those films that attempts to be more art than movie. The danger of Phantom Thread is if you don’t find yourself absorbed by its unconventional story the end will land rather flat. Heavy, meticulously crafted, visibly dense and odd, Phantom Thread is demanding of its audience as it takes the road less travelled to a macabre third act that is likely to be make or break for the viewer’s satisfaction of their experience. For this viewer, it never got there and I never felt completely invested in the film to care how it ended despite the ending itself piquing my interest more than the rest of the highfalutin tale of a clothing designer and his romantic interest.Read More →