WIND RIVER
[Film stats: Earned $33.8M domestically (with a budget of $11M). Got 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and 66% on Flixster.]
Hello, all!
I’ve got to qualify my remarks for this one by saying that it technically was a success at the box office, having made back about three times its budget in the domestic market alone. But, much like RISEN, the other film in this “series” to fit that bill, it seems that there still weren’t an awful lot of folks who saw this film.
There have been a lot of folks talking up the TV series “Yellowstone” on the GQ in the past year or so, so I’m guessing that most anyone reading this little spiel of mine are already at least somewhat familiar with Taylor Sheridan. He is the co-creator and writer of that series, and, similarly, he does double duty on this film, being the one who wrote and directed it. I really like the gritty tone and no-nonsense, minimalist approach he takes to his projects, and this one is no different.
According to the IMDB, the plot of this film is as follows: “A veteran hunter helps an FBI agent investigate the murder of a young woman on a Wyoming Native American reservation.”
Fans of “Yellowstone” will doubtless recall that that’s basically the plot of an episode of that series. Of course, Sheridan really gets to dig into the details that didn’t make the cut of a TV series that’s preoccupied telling a different, bigger story. This story is worth watching, though.
For those of you who are keen to check out a trailer for the film, I’ve embedded one below:
I can’t help but think of the David Mamet film THE EDGE when watching the trailer for this film. But where Mamet has a literary tone that, for whatever reason, is better suited for the stage, Sheridan’s voice fits film better. He may well be bringing back an entire genre with his work, and that’s a good thing if you’re a fan of Westerns, as I am. Happily, Sheridan’s stuff is more nuanced than “the good guy wears the white hat,” as anyone who’s seen some of his other work – SICARIO and HELL OR HIGH WATER, in particular – already knows.
Jeremy Renner is undeniably the star of this show, and while his AVENGERS co-star Elizabeth Olsen also delivers a good performance, Renner carries the film. In their limited screen time, the supporting cast rounds out what is just a well-written film that manages far more often than not to be more thrilling than one might expect. It’s just an all-around solid movie that somehow managed to get lost in the noise of the success of the other movies he wrote.
Enjoy!
P.S. For those of you who give this one a shot and enjoy it, you may also want to check out HELL OR HIGH WATER, SICARIO, and TOM HORN. Yeah, so those first two may be predictable recommendations to accompany this one, but they’re still good.
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - BARTON FINK; Day 2 - CENTURION; Day 3 - THE BABADOOK; Day 4 - RISEN; Day 5 - CHOPPER; Day 6 - ZERO EFFECT; Day 7 - IN BRUGES; Day 8 - HOUSE OF GAMES; Day 9 - DREDD; Day 10 - THE MISSION; Day 11 - WARRIOR; Day 12 - ANNIHILATION; Day 13 - THE FISHER KING; Day 14 - GOOD KILL; Day 15 - THE HITCHER; Day 16 - SHORT CUTS; Day 17 - THE SALTON SEA; Day 18 - A SIMPLE PLAN; Day 19 - MOON; Day 20 - CHEF; Day 21 - TRIANGLE]
[Film stats: Earned $33.8M domestically (with a budget of $11M). Got 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and 66% on Flixster.]
Hello, all!
I’ve got to qualify my remarks for this one by saying that it technically was a success at the box office, having made back about three times its budget in the domestic market alone. But, much like RISEN, the other film in this “series” to fit that bill, it seems that there still weren’t an awful lot of folks who saw this film.
There have been a lot of folks talking up the TV series “Yellowstone” on the GQ in the past year or so, so I’m guessing that most anyone reading this little spiel of mine are already at least somewhat familiar with Taylor Sheridan. He is the co-creator and writer of that series, and, similarly, he does double duty on this film, being the one who wrote and directed it. I really like the gritty tone and no-nonsense, minimalist approach he takes to his projects, and this one is no different.
According to the IMDB, the plot of this film is as follows: “A veteran hunter helps an FBI agent investigate the murder of a young woman on a Wyoming Native American reservation.”
Fans of “Yellowstone” will doubtless recall that that’s basically the plot of an episode of that series. Of course, Sheridan really gets to dig into the details that didn’t make the cut of a TV series that’s preoccupied telling a different, bigger story. This story is worth watching, though.
For those of you who are keen to check out a trailer for the film, I’ve embedded one below:
I can’t help but think of the David Mamet film THE EDGE when watching the trailer for this film. But where Mamet has a literary tone that, for whatever reason, is better suited for the stage, Sheridan’s voice fits film better. He may well be bringing back an entire genre with his work, and that’s a good thing if you’re a fan of Westerns, as I am. Happily, Sheridan’s stuff is more nuanced than “the good guy wears the white hat,” as anyone who’s seen some of his other work – SICARIO and HELL OR HIGH WATER, in particular – already knows.
Jeremy Renner is undeniably the star of this show, and while his AVENGERS co-star Elizabeth Olsen also delivers a good performance, Renner carries the film. In their limited screen time, the supporting cast rounds out what is just a well-written film that manages far more often than not to be more thrilling than one might expect. It’s just an all-around solid movie that somehow managed to get lost in the noise of the success of the other movies he wrote.
Enjoy!
P.S. For those of you who give this one a shot and enjoy it, you may also want to check out HELL OR HIGH WATER, SICARIO, and TOM HORN. Yeah, so those first two may be predictable recommendations to accompany this one, but they’re still good.
Other films recommended:
[Day 1 - BARTON FINK; Day 2 - CENTURION; Day 3 - THE BABADOOK; Day 4 - RISEN; Day 5 - CHOPPER; Day 6 - ZERO EFFECT; Day 7 - IN BRUGES; Day 8 - HOUSE OF GAMES; Day 9 - DREDD; Day 10 - THE MISSION; Day 11 - WARRIOR; Day 12 - ANNIHILATION; Day 13 - THE FISHER KING; Day 14 - GOOD KILL; Day 15 - THE HITCHER; Day 16 - SHORT CUTS; Day 17 - THE SALTON SEA; Day 18 - A SIMPLE PLAN; Day 19 - MOON; Day 20 - CHEF; Day 21 - TRIANGLE]
