Well, it is officially that time of the year when studios start cranking out the films they hope will receive some awards attention. Netflix has a stable of strong contenders this year, and Nyad is the first to be released. This is a film that is mostly flying under the radar despite starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster. I really didn’t expect much out of this film, and I think because there were no expectations, no real buzz behind this film, that I was surprised how caught up in the story I found myself. If you are a fan of underdog stories, this is definitely for you, but the true spotlight belongs to Foster and Bening, who are here to show us all that they not only still have what it takes to carry a film, but they also deliver some of their best performances in ages. In 1979, when Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) turned 30, she made her first attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. That’s basically 110 miles of water she attempted to cross.  It was meant to be the feat that she would retire her long distance swimming career on, but unfortunately she never made it to Florida. We see this through old news footage before it cuts to thirty years later, just before she’s about to turn 60. She’s an angry older woman who is obsessed with her former glory and decides that she wants to see if she can do the impossible, to complete that epic 110-mile swim.  This time she’ll have her best friend, Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster) as her coach and #1 cheerleader. Immediately this feels like a movie-of-the-week kind of story. We’ve all seen this before, where someone wants to attempt something difficult or impossible, and over the course of the film they are confronted with challenges, but they persevere, and in the end they are a success. We know these underdog stories, and for some reason we still love them. I’ll admit they are a guilty pleasure despite how formulaic they can be. But rarely do these films have the caliber of actors like Bening and Foster, and honestly this film is 100% driven by these women and their fantastic performances.

It’s when this film gets to Nyad’s first (well, second) attempt to make her epic swim that I feel this film really elevates itself on a technical level. The way the open water swim is filmed really helps capture just how small we are in such a large and hostile body of water. The film does a great job at showing us just how dangerous this lofty goal is as she has to contend with weather, sharks, and jellyfish on top of the physically grueling 50-plus hours the swim is expected to take. The makeup on this film does an impressive job as we see  the toll the salt water can take on the body. We also see Diana fail and try again, and again, and again. While it’s easy to respect her determination, Diana is a really difficult person to like, and at times you’d expect her team to walk out on her because of how egocentric she can be, and then there is Bonnie, who puts up with the borderline abuse from her friend. The filmmakers kind of cheat to earn some sympathy from the viewers as we get flashbacks to Diana’s childhood and the sexual abuse she encountered from her swimming coach she was enamored with. These flashbacks can be unsettling for some, and in a way it distracts from the main story, but I get why it’s included. It’s simply a personal hurdle she was forced to overcome, and if she can overcome that, what’s 110 miles of water by comparison?

“Hey Abby, are they…”

“Ghosts?”

Just to be out in the open, I’m a bit of a fanboy when it comes to David Fincher. He’s one of those directors that when he does a film, I don’t care what the plot is; I’m going to watch it. It’s not so much that I think he’s the best director (though he’s one of my favorites), but I simply just love his style. He’s one of the few filmmakers working where  you can watch a couple seconds of his work and instantly know you are watching a David Fincher film, and for me, I find his work to be what cinema is all about. It’s always a work of art, and sometimes the plot can have a habit of ruining things. Alien 3, for example: not a great movie, but it looks great … Fight Club, Seven, Zodiac, those are his masterpieces  and they look fantastic. Even Mank: sure, it is a divisive film, but still looks great. Despite how busy David Fincher is with projects, his shows on Netflix and music videos, it’s his movies I really crave, and when you realize the last thriller he had out in theaters was 2014 with Gone Girl, I was more than a little excited by the announcement of him filming The Killer, from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker (who wrote the brilliant Seven). There was no way I was going to miss this film, but for this one I knew I had to rein in my emotions and proceed with caution … So with the cinematic shots fired on the screen, how did I feel about the new Michael Fassbender assassin film?

After the stylish opening credits, you’d expect this to be a fast-paced thriller, but immediately this film subverts your expectations as it takes you into the mind of the assassin credited as The Killer (Michael Fassbender). We’re introduced to this life of a killer, not with excitement, but with the tedium of waiting for the one perfect moment to take that shot and eliminate the target. This first act really sets the tone for the rest of the film. If you are gripped by the tension that builds with him finally getting his moment and taking his shot, then I feel you’ll have fun with the rest of the film.  As for those who may find the tedium a bit too much and may nod off, well, this film may be something you should pass on. Despite this being a quasi-revenge film, it is definitely a slow burn with an ending that definitely will subvert your expectations of the genre. The thing is, that’s what I feel this film is all about … It brings us into what is most likely the real life of a killer for hire. It’s not a life of gunfights and car chases, but instead a lot of waiting in empty rooms, being lonely, and having serious trust issues towards everyone around you.