Wind River: A-
I saw this with my grandparents, and I was certainly happy I did so. The story follows the mysterious circumstances of a Native American teenage girl's disappearance and death and the effect it has on the officers investigating and the denizens of the reservation where the story unfolds. The mystery progresses nicely, but is a somewhat standard, yet unfortunate series of circumstances. Still, in hindsight, it never seemed the mystery was the true focus of the film although it drove the plot along. The reaction that the characters had to the unfolding mystery was the true crux of the movie; and in light of this, the performances were very strong in carrying out this objective. I found myself gripped by sadness throughout the movie, but accepting of the way things were in that situation. It was certainly a thought-provoker.
Death Note (2017): C
I had mixed expectations going into the movie, and I think I'm still about at that point. I have to give the movie credit for being able to condense events as they did, and it worked okay. The performances were overall solid as well, and L in particular exceeded my expectations for the most part. I think where this movie can prove divisive are through the directions it took on some of the aspects of the Death Note story. Overall, it's not an outright bad movie, but it is certainly flawed at points to send discussion in that direction.