The closest comparison I can think
of with Hell or High Water is it has
a similar premise to season five of Breaking
Bad, but where I don’t care for any of the characters. The film's Texas Rangers are…typical Southern cop
stereotypes with little depth beyond that, while the brothers…well I flat out
didn’t like them: finding their asshole qualities far more defining
(particularly with the older brother) than their “sympathetic” ones (which felt
too forcefully manipulative to work appropriately). I actually wanted to see the brothers lose, yet also didn’t care if the cops
won. Such disconnect with Hell or High Water’s characters left the
neo-western an indifferent experience that’s been done better in the past and
will most likely be done better in the future.
Manchester by the Sea:
I simply did not care for this
film.
Manchester by the Sea’s first-third initially held my interest with
its intriguing premise and amusing sense of comedy. By its second-third, however, the comedy died
down significantly, while the main plot grew lethargic in pacing. Soon the flashbacks became the sole aspect
holding my attention and curiosity…until they lost me once the mystery was
revealed to be insufferably cliché.
SPOILERS
BEGIN: As soon as the intoxicated protagonist left the house to get beer I
was thinking; "Oh jeez, the house
better
not catch on fire." And yet the
film continued avoiding showing the house and I thought; "I
swear if they use the ‘set the house on
fire’ trope I will be so mad."…
and guess what happened! The scene felt like a parody of a
drama: something I'd see in a comedy
satirizing a serious film. The screaming woman, the melodramatic
soundtrack, the fact that the furnace blew up after the firemen
just barely got the wife out, but not
the kids. The whole scene being used so
seriously really pissed me off.
SPOILERS
END By its last-third I’d lost all interest in
Manchester by the Sea’s story and characters, and was more interested with my phone’s
emoticons than the film.
