On episode 2 we revisited Arrival, and it's the first film where we both gave a perfect score.
Jeff hadn't seen it since it came out in 2016. Matt, on the other hand, puts it on regularly. For him it's a close-to-flawless film, and part of the appeal is how it's built. The opening scene hits hard and sets up what's at stake for Amy Adams' linguist. From there the story stays locked on one problem: learning a language that no one has any record of. Denis Villeneuve keeps dropping small hints until everything comes together near the end, which is why it plays so well on a rewatch.
Jeff watched it with his ten-year-old, whose first question was whether it was the one with Hawkeye. It was his first real drama. Some of it went over his head, but pausing to talk it through worked. Jeremy Renner, for what it's worth, has plenty of range beyond Marvel, going back to The Hurt Locker.
The Project Hail Mary problem
We couldn't resist the comparison. In Project Hail Mary, Ryan Gosling figures out an alien language in what feels like seconds. In Arrival, that process is the whole movie, and it treats the work of building a language from scratch with the patience it deserves.
Should it have won Best Picture?
Arrival was nominated at the 89th Academy Awards in one of the strongest years in recent memory, alongside Hacksaw Ridge, Manchester by the Sea, Lion, Moonlight, and La La Land. Moonlight took the award. Matt thinks La La Land deserved it, and gives it five stars too. Neither of us has seen Moonlight, so we'll leave that debate open.
Hear the full conversation on episode 2.