Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Having recently won the People's Choice Awards at TIFF, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is very easy to see why it won.

Three Billboards is a dark but also funny and heart-felt story about one woman's quest to get justice for her daughter's rape and murder. After Mildred Haynes buys three billboards with words written on them accusing the town's well-liked sheriff of having not found her daughter's killer, it sets a series of events that turns the citizens and the cops against her.

The thing I can say about Three Billboards without going into spoilers is that it is wildly unpredictable. One moment you think things are going one direction as expected then it takes hard left turn that only adds to the dynamic between the characters. As the pressure within the town builds and anger is pointed towards Mildred, we see many of these characters evolve in order to deal with tragedy and grief and learn to find peace. And the movie goes through a roller-coaster of emotions. One moment you are laughing your butt off from the hilarious dialogue then you feel like someone just punched you in the gut. With every victory you think this story brings you feel like it was taken away from because of the world's unfairness and injustice. In lesser hands the mixture of dark and comedic tones would not work, but director and writer Martin McDonagh knows how to balance them to perfection.

The performances here just through the roof. Frances McDormand delivers a performance that will for sure get her into the Lead Actress awards race at the Oscars. As Mildred, McDormand just cuts loose with her performance with every line of hate, cynicism and cursing towards everyone she feels doesn't truly understand the internal pain she is going through. But McDormand does now and then show a soft side to Mildred. It shows that Mildred is just person like everyone who has her own way of dealing with the tragedy of loosing her own child. And Sam Rockwell also gives one of the best performances of his career as the flawed and very misguided cop Dixon. The character of Dixon is short-tempered, volatile, and not bright with some baggage of his own that the locals accuse him of. But Sam Rockwell brings his charm and sincerity to what could be a rather unlikable character. And in the latter half, you see Dixon go through a tremendous arc of learning to care about others rather then just being angry towards them. Other great performances that should be called out are Woody Harrelson, Peter Dinklage, John Hawk and Caleb Landry Jones.

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is easily one of the best movies this year and is worth seeing once it comes out in wide releases.

"Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" marks a milestone for writer/directer Martin McDonagh and is an idea piece on a mother's struggle with her town after posting billboards containing a call to action in regards to her murdered daughter. With outstanding screen writing and near perfect editing, this powerhouse of a film is easily one of the best all year and is driven with force and intensity by its lead, Frances McDormand.

What begins as a narrow and focused drama, gradually escalates to a film with big themes and ideas, relevant social commentary, and much more subplots than anticipated. "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" is packed with questions and a few answers about anger, revenge, violence, and kindness. The story shows people in a realistic light I've never quite seen before. We're presented with characters and their genuine emotions. Nothing feels sugarcoated of fluffed but it never lacks emotional impact either.

The movie balances its seemingly contradictory tones beautifully by crafting a dark comedy that feels heavy due to strong subject matter, while at the same time, utilizing comedic moments that feel completely natural to the character's motivations. It's obvious great care was taken into this script and the method in which it's constructed.

One of the most talked about elements to this film are the strong performances; particularly by Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell. Rightfully so, this is some of their best (if not their best) work these eyes have beheld and they steal the show in every film they're in. That's not take away from Woody Harrelson and Lucas Hedges, as well as the entire cast who give memorable performances and paint shockingly believable characters that we feel we know personally.

If there is anything that might turn audiences away from this film, it might be its harsh subject matter despite none of it every being depicted as well as its language and execution with the material. Personally, this has a strong impact and I wouldn't have changed anything about it. It's a highly recommended film with a lot to ponder at the end and is definitely a contender for best movie of the year. Definitely don't miss this one.

I went to see this movie because I hadn't seen any trailers to it. It's something I do because trailers are unreliable and spoiling, but also this case was based around the sheer number of good reviews. I can't even describe how surprised i was when i started to invest in the drama, and I really got my money worth when seeing it in the theaters. This is a movie that grips you good from the start, and holds the tension of the backstory right up until the end. The characters are phonemically written, and the actors did a hell-of-a-good job portraying them. This is a movie that could have been written off with a "strong protagonist"-cinda-story, but unfolds to a much more deep and philosophical tone. To be honest! not much happens in this film, but because of the powerfull characters within - every little detail about their lives, becomes of great importance throughout. I can say without a doubt, that this is my favourite movie of the year (2017...Ofc.)

This movie I went into almost blind, but I came out of the theater with it probably being my favorite film in the last year. This film is so smart at being able to keep you at the edge of your seat from simple things that they plug into the film. Heartbreaking and tense situations in the first half of the film come back in some shape or form that leave you questioning what is going to happen. There was genuinely no predicting what the characters were going to do and how they would react to certain events. This unpredictability doesn't just apply to situations, but possibly more notable in character arcs. Without giving to much away, there is a character in this film that does everything possible for you to hate them in the first half, and by the end of the film you are rooting for said character. There's times where the characters that you cared for are becoming real and dis-likable in certain scenes, but to the point of more so being genuinely worried about how their choices will affect them.

Every actor in this film did so tremendous as well. I really can't think of an actor or actress that outshines the rest. But if I had to pick favorites, Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell were just that. But a lot of that just has to go into the writing of the characters themselves. The cinematography in this film allows the actors to take advantage of facial expression. There's a scene relatively early in the film that is mostly sitting and staring but the actors have such convincing movements and gestures, it goes to a point where you don't need dialogue to tell what they are feeling and what they are thinking about.

Really the only issue I have in this film is some scenes felt a little unnecessary. Can't give away too much without spoiling, but in a film where every character goes through in arc, there's one character that is just there to break tension and crack personally unfunny jokes. But this character did not affect my score and they were barely in the film.

I highly recommend checking this out.

There is so much pent-up rage over the handling of rape, and police behavior in general, that I think Frances McDormand's character in this film really struck a chord with people. She's on a crusade for her daughter who was raped and killed, and yet no progress has been made in the investigation. She doesn't care who she offends, she won't be intimidated into silence, and she'll stand up for herself in some violent ways. In an interesting twist, the police chief (Woody Harrelson) has pancreatic cancer, so aside from being called out on his investigation, he's dealing with that. The scene McDormand and Harrelson have in an interrogation room, and a specific moment of that is easily the film's best. Harrelson provides a voice of wisdom in the film, and the three letters he pens are also quite touching. There is humor as well, in just how boneheaded one of the policemen (Sam Rockewell) is, and the gem of a moment when Peter Dinklage, otherwise largely wasted, utters the line "Penelope said 'begets'?", in a subtle burn of the 19-year-old now dating McDormand's ex-husband.

The film started strong, but along the way started losing me. It suffers artistically from a lack of restraint, and everything seems exaggerated. The profanity. The characters, who start becoming cartoonish. The level of violence. The coincidences. It seems to me that McDonagh's writing is a real issue here. Her last words to her daughter were "I hope you get raped," really? To leave that in the script is egregiously bad, and an insult to the viewer's intelligence. The Molotov cocktails, really? The guy being in the station to begin with, and of course wearing ear buds, really? A man thrown out of a window, and no arrest, really? And on and on, until an ending which is pretty awful if you think about it. It's just tough to appreciate the message of the film or its cast in light of all this. It was entertaining to watch, but in my humble opinion, not worthy of all the acclaim.