A review of 2018
Books
10. I'm A Joke And So Are You by Robin Ince
Robin Ince is one of my favourite stand up comedians. He is incredibly clever, quick and interesting. A lot is said about his work with Brian Cox and popularising science but he is still an amazing comedian. This is a really interesting book about philosophy, science, psychology and more and how he relates to these things through standup comedy. You don't have to know anyway about standup to enjoy the book but it'll probably add more to it.
9. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
Joe Abercrombie has written a number of different fantasy books in the same universe including the First Law trilogy. Best Served Cold features mainly new characters and is an epic tale of revenge taking place amongst a vicious war for control of a country - it reminded me a lot of the era when Italy was split into many small states. The protagonist gets together a gang of unlikely allies and conspirators and stabs, poisons and burns her way through her enemies.
8. The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu
This is the second installment of Ken Liu's Dandellion Dynasty, a great fantasy that instead of using European history as it's template it uses Chinese history. The first book, Grace of Kings, took us from a single empire fractured into various different states and then brought it back together. The second book deals with the problems of this new empire and the unexpected arrival of a new and unexpected enemy.
7. Gnomon by Nick Harkaway
The main problem with Gnomon is that I think Nick Harkaway was too ambitious. This is a book with at least four separate stories going on at the same time which are completely unrelated. One story, the main story of the book, is an investigator looking into a death, they live in what to us would seem a dystopian nightmare of state intrusion but the main character - and people in general - are okay with it. The other three stories are fake narratives devised by the person who died to hide what was in her mind. There is the story of a stock broker who after surviving an experience with a shark becomes unnaturally good at his job. There is the story of a Roman philosopher-scientist tasked with solving an impossible crime. There is the story of an artist now living in Britain who had been born in Ethiopia who tells the story of his life and the recent struggles with prejudice. There is a lot going on in this book and it is hard at times to keep it all straight in your head. At the time I wasn't sure at all about it but after nearly a year of thinking about it it has risen in my estimation.
6. The Storm Before The Storm by Mike Duncan
Mike Duncan has actually had a very big effect on my life. He made a podcast called The History Of Rome and when I wanted to understand a bit more about Julius Caesar I started listening. This was one of, if not, the first podcast I listened to. It's a brilliant podcast going from the founding of Rome to the last Roman emperor. It not only started my interest in podcasts but my interest in history. The Storm Before The Storm covers the period of Roman history just before Julius Caesar and tries to explain how the Roman Republic got there. It's brilliant writing on a fascinating topic and would be a great book to get people interested in history.
5. Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
I'd read a couple of Doctorow books before picking up Walkaway. He is a very interesting writer but someone more concerned with making an interesting world than telling a structured story, which is fine, he's very good at that. Walkaway felt it had a little bit more structure just from that it had such a huge scope. Walkaway imagines a future where we're pretty close to being post-scarcity with energy and food for just about anyone wants it but much of the world still dominated by corrupt governments, large corporations and insanely rich individuals none of whom have much interest in a post-scarcity world. There is a growing movement of people who "walkaway" abandoning their old lives and jobs and just living together. This is leaving civilization but keeping the good stuff like electricity and many modern conveniences, not simply running into the woods. But the story isn't concerned just with economics but describes a new way for people to live. It's not exactly a guidebook to changing how we live, after all, we're far from a post-scarcity society, but there are lots of interesting ideas.
4. Venice by John Julius Norwich
John Julius Norwich, perhaps my favourite historian, died this year. He has written brilliant books about the history of the Papacy, the Normans who conquered southern Italy and the Byzantine Empire and more. He also wrote a two volume history of Venice. I think after the fall of the Roman Empire up till the nineteenth century if you'd asked me where in Europe I wanted to live the answer would have been Venice. A city founded by people fleeing barbarian invasions of Italy on a handful of islands was not a particularly promising origins story but the rise of Venice from small vassal of the Byzantine Empire to the most powerful naval force in the Mediterranean is a fantastic story.
3. Rites of Peace by Adam Zamoyski
This is a book about the fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna - the meeting of European powers to decide how to restructure Europe (and territories across the world) and to prevent another war of such a scale. Napoleon's fall is a sad story of defeat which is interesting enough but the aftermath is even better. Ministers, kings and emperors behaving like rowdy children instead of world leaders. Diplomats more interested in their mistresses and parties than in their actual job. When I read it there was so many people in it that I just wanted to shake and get back to work and stop being so stupid,
2. Istanbul by Bettany Hughes
This is a book about Istanbul, or rather the three different cities that have occupied that space. First the Greek city of Byzantion, then when the Roman Emperor Constantine wanted to found a new city he remade it into Constantinople and finally the conquest of the city by the Ottomans who made it their capital. This was a truly fascinating book with amazing stories and unbelievable facts on every page and made an excellent case for this being the most interesting city in the world - in terms of it's history.
1. Night Watch/I Shall Wear Midnight/Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Despite reading Good Omens a LONG time ago it's only relatively recently that I've gotten into reading more of Terry Pratchett and I am rather embarrassed about this. Terry Pratchett is an amazing writer and not only that is pretty much nerd central. I read three Pratchett books this year and can't really choose between them. Night Watch is a time travelling tale of doing the right thing when it seems impossible, I Shall Wear Midnight is the story of a young witch who does immense good even when surrounded by prejudice and Thud! a story on how to avert war and fighting and realising people from diverse backgrounds can be neighbours and friends. Night Watch and Thud! are part of the City Watch books and focus on the Watch's commander Sam Wimes one of the most likeable and thoroughly decent characters in all of literature.
I Shall Wear Midnight - which is incidentally one of the greatest ever book titles - is about Tiffany Aching, a young witch working in her community. Witches seem to be part nurse/doctor/midwife/health visitor/therapist/social worker so she has a lot to do. Despite her good work there is a growing anti-witch feeling growing fuelled by prejudice (and some slightly more fantastical elements). Of everything I read this year there was a short line from this book that really stuck with me - "poison goes where poison's welcome" - and this was to explain that some people in the same community will be exposed to the same problems and pressures yet not all of them will fall back to prejudice and hatred, some people want the poison.
Television
10. Big Mouth
I remember seeing adverts for Big Mouth and being put off straight away. I just thought it was some disgusting new animation and was the latest of many diminishing returns of people trying to capture South Park's magic. I was wrong. Big Mouth is a show about children who are, or about to, go through puberty and I will say it is a thoroughly disgusting show but it's about puberty so it sort of has to be. But as well as being disgusting, it is very funny, very clever, and even, very, very sweet. I watched both seasons this year and loved every episode. Also Nathan Fillion pops up playing himself as the subject of one character's fantasies and is hysterical.
9. Black Mirror
I think technically this came out right at the end of 2017 but I'm counting it in 2018. By it's nature this sort of anthology show will be hit and miss, some episodes will work better than others, but I'd say every episode in Season 4 was great, with two highpoints. First there was USS Callister, an episode that in the trailer initially seemed to be a Star Trek parody episode which instead became one of the most sickening things I've ever seen. Secondly, there is the now regular "nice" episode, Hang The DJ, where nothing horrific happens at all and technology seems to be something positive. The year ended with the special Bandersnatch episode, a choose your own adventure episode about a choose your own adventure computer game. My advice would be don't read up about it, put a couple of hours aside and just watch it.
8. Stranger Things
Season 2 of Stranger Things had very high expectations. For me the first season was surprisingly great and I'm pleased to say the second season was also great. They added a few new characters who worked well particularly new kid Max and Sean Astin's likeable Bob Newby as a love interest for Joyce (remember when a show that had Sean Astin as a love interest of Wionna Ryder would have been ridiculous?). There are also the additions who are a bit less likeable, Billy Hargrave who's only role seems to be that he makes Steve Harrington seem borderline tolerable in comparison and Paul Reiser playing Dr. Sam Owens. Owens is the seemingly reasonable and helpful replacement for Matthew Modine's evil scientist and throughout the season the question is raised - is Dr Owens also evil? The casting of Paul Reiser was genius, usually Reiser plays nice guys but one of his most famous roles was as the greedy and evil corporate asshole from Aliens. Overall the season was a great follow up.
7. The Good Place
I watched two and a half seasons of this show this year. It is one of those shows that you just have to see the next episode. The Good Place is about Eleanor who wakes up the aforementioned "Good Place" which is like Heaven, a place where good people go. We find out in the first episode that a mistake has been made, Eleanor should be in the Bad Place and the show goes from there. Eleanor relies on Chidi, another resident of the Good Place and a philosophy teacher, to teach her to be a good person. This is a show that regularly discusses philosophy. I don't want to say more about the plot but the entire cast is amazing and everyone should definitely watch this show.
6. Daredevil
It was recently announced that Daredevil has been cancelled which many are putting down to behind the scenes shenanigans with Disney, they want to have their own streaming service. Whatever the reason and cancellation of Daredevil is a tragedy. In my opinion this the best thing in Marvel Cinematic Universe and season 3 was a great continuation to the story. The third season moves onto more grounded territory that season 2 and the Defenders, with Fiske again becoming the main antagonist. A slight problem I have is the ease with which institutions are compromised and people fall into line behind Fiske, surely he's not the first person to try and corrupt the FBI? Aside from that minor gripe it was great from start to finish.
5. Preacher
This show has not had the attention and praise it deserves but I love it. One of the craziest and oddest things on television with a phenomenal central cast of Dominic Cooper, Joseph Gilgun and Ruth Negga. This season starts with Jesse going back home in an attempt to save Tulip's (Ruth Negga) life and we see the highly unusual background Jesse is from. It is weird and out there but brilliant and has some amazing set pieces - including one of Ruth Negga beating up Nazis which is a big tick for me.
4. Better Call Saul
It's looking distinctly possible that Better Call Saul might outlast Breaking Bad (currently standing at 50 and 62 episodes respectively. Being a spin-off of one of the most critically acclaimed tv shows ever was not supposed to be easy and many expected failure but now many argue it's the better show. Personally, I still favour Breaking Bad but undeniably Better Call Saul is an amazing show. One of the curious things about the show is that as interesting as Jimmy's descent into Saul is, Mike's descent from a good cop to drug dealer enforcer is even better. This season saw a crucial turning point for Mike as the show explained how Gus Fring's underground drug lab was built. What was probably a red line for Mike that separated him from your common thugs was crossed.
In Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul a lot is made of family obligations. Initially Walter White explained his actions as being about providing for his family although this was shown up later as a lie. For Mike, however, it does seem to be about family and providing for his granddaughter. Not to excuse his actions but he isn't doing it for his own enrichment.
3. Bojack Horseman
Bojack Horseman may very well be the best original Netflix show. It's a programme with emotional depth and range of something like Six Feet Under but has lots of silly puns. Bojack's life continues it's downward spiral and there is more tragedy on the way. There is an episode worth singling out where the entire episode is Bojack giving an eulogy at a funeral.
2. Ozark
When I told people about Ozark season 1 I described it as a poor man's Breaking Bad, but the genius worked on the money side of things rather than the drugs. Describing it as a poor man's anything is no longer fair. The second season of Ozark is amazing and incredibly tense. Jason Bateman is perfectly cast as financial genius and money launderer Marty but he, and everyone else, is acted off the screen by Laura Linney who has really come into her own. Apparently Skylar in Breaking Bad got a lot of abuse from fans because she was opposed to her husband's drug empire (as if she should have supported his murderous insanity) but it is revealed in Ozark that she is far from innocent.
1. Killing Eve
One of the most frustrating things about this year was that America got this show months before Britain did, despite being made by the BBC (okay, BBC America). But it eventually it got here and it was amazing. Based on Luke Jennings Codename Villanelle books the show is essentially about two women - Eve Polastri and Villanelle. Eve is a hardworking security services agent but works from a desk, she is not a James Bond type. Villanelle is an assassin and likely psychopath who takes a lot of pleasure in her work.
When Eve realises that several high profile murders were carried out by the same person - Villanelle - she is put on a team to track her down. This is nothing that I've not seen before but it's so much better than what you might imagine. First of, it was adapted for television by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator and star of Fleabag, and her writing style goes right through the script. Secondly Sandra Oh (Eve) and Jody Comer (Villanelle) are both excellent in their roles, I really cannot praise either of them highly enough. Finally, the twist in the story is that it seems Eve is actually obsessed with Villanelle, and not in the way a determined detective could be obsessed with a criminal, there is something more going on. Even more interestingly when Villanelle learns about Eve she too becomes obsessed with her. This extra layer makes things more interesting and certainly more volatile.
Films
Two films which didn't make the top ten but were also great - Widows and Sorry To Bother You
10. Hereditary
Quite frankly the trailer scared me. Normally that would mean I would never watch it (this happened with the film Audition) but I was so intrigued I had to check it out. It was a very good film with some truly shocking moments that stuck with me for a long time. I know there was a backlash against it after some compared it to The Exorcist but judging it on it's own merit it is still a great film.
9. Cam
This is the first of three Netflix films that made it onto my list. I listen to a podcast called Switchblade Sisters, the host April Wolfe is a film critic and she interviews women in the film industry. For one episode the guest was Isa Mazzei - the writer and co-creator of Cam - who would be discussing Jennifer's Body and her own film - Cam. After listening to that I decided to watch Cam and really enjoyed it. Cam is about Alice, a young woman who works as a camgirl (women who perform live shows via webcam, usually, but not always, with a sexual side to these shows). Alice is gradually working her way up the charts and building a fanbase. One day Alice tries to log in to her account only to be told she is already signed in, checking her page online she can see that a show of her is broadcasting - a show she never made. This doppleganger has completely taken over her camgirl life. Alice tries to complain to the company, to the police, but no one wants to help her and she gets more and more desperate to find out what is going on. The film is a great thriller and handles the identity-crisis side of the film expertly and I genuinely had no idea how the film was going to end.
8. Annihilation
The second of the Netflix original films on this list. Annihilation is an odd but brilliant film written and directed by Alex Garland and based on a book by Jeff VanderMeer. The film stars Natalie Portman whose husband unexpectedly returns from the army one day acting very oddly. Not long after his arrival the military show up and bring him into custody. Portman is told that her husband was part of a team of soldiers sent to investigate an anomaly and he is the only who came back. Portland being a scientist and former soldier then volunteers to lead a team into the anomaly to find out what happened. What follows is a trippy, tense and inventive scifi film, the kind we don't see much of. It's worth pointing out that the team Portman leads are all women meaning the four main characters are all women. The fact that they are all women is incidental as the characters are picked as they are the best available. I can't think of another film that is not aimed specifically at women where the four main characters are women whereas that would be easy for men.
7. Lady Bird
This is the first film Greta Gerwig has directed and it is really, really good. I felt particularly attached to this film as it is set in 2002 when Lady Bird is seventeen, when I was nineteen. And, of course, Greta Gerwig is only a month older than me so something about the setting stuck with me. It also helped that Lady Bird is played by Soarise Ronan one of the best actors working today. The film is a coming of age story, Lady Bird is a teenager, struggling at high school for various reasons. She has friends, boyfriends and activities at school that all come and go and have good and bad patches. Laurie Metcalfe is very good as Lady Bird's mother but I felt - and a lot of people have said this - why wasn't Allison Janney playing this character? Well, she was busy on her Oscar-winning performance in I, Tonya.
6. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
The third and final of original Netflix films on my list. This is the latest Coen Brothers film and is an anthology of six western stories. Now with any anthologies there are going to be some that are better than others but all of them are at the least very good with several brilliant ones thrown in. The tales move easily from humour to pathos to outright tragedy and back again.While all the stories have stuck in my mind it is the final story, of five people sharing a long stagecoach ride, that has been the most present.
5. Bad Times At The El Royale
This is the latest film by Drew Goddard (probably best known for directing Cabin In The Woods), I really liked this but feel it got passed over by a lot of people. The film is about titular hotel, the El Royale, which sits on the border of Nevada and California so you can have a room in Nevada or California. Importantly this did mean that if you went to the Nevada part you could gamble. The hotel has seen better days and they seemed quite surprised by the influx of guests. The narrative of the splits to follow each of the characters - Jon Hamm's salesman, Jeff Bridges' priest. The film is set in 1969 and this is evident as much from the hotel's decor to what is happening with the guests so they face problems with violent hippy preachers, the Vietnam War, J. Edgar Hoover and so on. The film was tense and had at least one genuinely shocking moment.
4. The Shape Of Water
First off and most importantly the fact that Sally Hawkins now has a successful Hollywood career has been one of the highlights of the last few years - she is truly amazing. Sally Hawkins appears in a film with Michael Shannon and is the best actor in it. I honestly don't know how many actors would have the range to play Elisa Esposito in The Shape of Water, Mrs Brown in Paddington and Poppy in Happy-Go-Lucky. Anyway, in this film she plays Elisa, a cleaner who works in a secret government facility. We see glimpses of her life, we see her going to the cinema, her spending time with her neighbour played by Richard Jenkins, and so on. Then along comes the newest addition to the secret government base, the unnamed amphibian creature. As amazing as it sounds the two manage to build a relationship. Importantly, Elisa is mute but to the creature this is irrelevant, they could not have verbal communication even if she wasn't. A lot of Guillermo Del Toro's work is clearly inspired by fairy tales, as is this film, but the monster in this film is not the amphibian creature, but the human who captured it, Richard Strickland (played by Michael Shannon). The film is beautiful, both in the story it tells and the way it looks. It sounds impossible but as the relationship between the amphibian creature and Elisa deepens it doesn't seem odd or fantastical, it just seems right.
3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
I am a huge fan of Martin McDonagh. In Bruges is one of my all time favourite films and I really enjoyed Seven Psychopaths. So when word of his new film reached and I learned it was starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell I was intrigued. It is a film that handles a very difficult topic - the rape and murder of McDormand's character's daughter. This film is primarily a comedy but I never thought that it played this awful event for jokes and I thought it handled it sensitively. This is a powerful film and as well being funny it's very emotional.
2. Hostiles
Christian Bale stars at an army captain tasked with escorting a Native American tribal leader back to his homeland and years in prison. Bale's character does everything he can to get out of this duty and his hatred of Native Americans is clear and he has spent years fighting and killing them. It is also suggested that even by the standards of the time Bale went too far. Bale takes a team of soldiers, a small group of Native Americans and Rosamund Pike, who only barely survived an attack by Native Americans. Bale is fantastic in this film and goes on an amazing journey with a deep analysis about what he - and America - did to the Native Americans.
Quite frankly the trailer scared me. Normally that would mean I would never watch it (this happened with the film Audition) but I was so intrigued I had to check it out. It was a very good film with some truly shocking moments that stuck with me for a long time. I know there was a backlash against it after some compared it to The Exorcist but judging it on it's own merit it is still a great film.
9. Cam
This is the first of three Netflix films that made it onto my list. I listen to a podcast called Switchblade Sisters, the host April Wolfe is a film critic and she interviews women in the film industry. For one episode the guest was Isa Mazzei - the writer and co-creator of Cam - who would be discussing Jennifer's Body and her own film - Cam. After listening to that I decided to watch Cam and really enjoyed it. Cam is about Alice, a young woman who works as a camgirl (women who perform live shows via webcam, usually, but not always, with a sexual side to these shows). Alice is gradually working her way up the charts and building a fanbase. One day Alice tries to log in to her account only to be told she is already signed in, checking her page online she can see that a show of her is broadcasting - a show she never made. This doppleganger has completely taken over her camgirl life. Alice tries to complain to the company, to the police, but no one wants to help her and she gets more and more desperate to find out what is going on. The film is a great thriller and handles the identity-crisis side of the film expertly and I genuinely had no idea how the film was going to end.
8. Annihilation
The second of the Netflix original films on this list. Annihilation is an odd but brilliant film written and directed by Alex Garland and based on a book by Jeff VanderMeer. The film stars Natalie Portman whose husband unexpectedly returns from the army one day acting very oddly. Not long after his arrival the military show up and bring him into custody. Portman is told that her husband was part of a team of soldiers sent to investigate an anomaly and he is the only who came back. Portland being a scientist and former soldier then volunteers to lead a team into the anomaly to find out what happened. What follows is a trippy, tense and inventive scifi film, the kind we don't see much of. It's worth pointing out that the team Portman leads are all women meaning the four main characters are all women. The fact that they are all women is incidental as the characters are picked as they are the best available. I can't think of another film that is not aimed specifically at women where the four main characters are women whereas that would be easy for men.
7. Lady Bird
This is the first film Greta Gerwig has directed and it is really, really good. I felt particularly attached to this film as it is set in 2002 when Lady Bird is seventeen, when I was nineteen. And, of course, Greta Gerwig is only a month older than me so something about the setting stuck with me. It also helped that Lady Bird is played by Soarise Ronan one of the best actors working today. The film is a coming of age story, Lady Bird is a teenager, struggling at high school for various reasons. She has friends, boyfriends and activities at school that all come and go and have good and bad patches. Laurie Metcalfe is very good as Lady Bird's mother but I felt - and a lot of people have said this - why wasn't Allison Janney playing this character? Well, she was busy on her Oscar-winning performance in I, Tonya.
6. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
The third and final of original Netflix films on my list. This is the latest Coen Brothers film and is an anthology of six western stories. Now with any anthologies there are going to be some that are better than others but all of them are at the least very good with several brilliant ones thrown in. The tales move easily from humour to pathos to outright tragedy and back again.While all the stories have stuck in my mind it is the final story, of five people sharing a long stagecoach ride, that has been the most present.
5. Bad Times At The El Royale
This is the latest film by Drew Goddard (probably best known for directing Cabin In The Woods), I really liked this but feel it got passed over by a lot of people. The film is about titular hotel, the El Royale, which sits on the border of Nevada and California so you can have a room in Nevada or California. Importantly this did mean that if you went to the Nevada part you could gamble. The hotel has seen better days and they seemed quite surprised by the influx of guests. The narrative of the splits to follow each of the characters - Jon Hamm's salesman, Jeff Bridges' priest. The film is set in 1969 and this is evident as much from the hotel's decor to what is happening with the guests so they face problems with violent hippy preachers, the Vietnam War, J. Edgar Hoover and so on. The film was tense and had at least one genuinely shocking moment.
4. The Shape Of Water
First off and most importantly the fact that Sally Hawkins now has a successful Hollywood career has been one of the highlights of the last few years - she is truly amazing. Sally Hawkins appears in a film with Michael Shannon and is the best actor in it. I honestly don't know how many actors would have the range to play Elisa Esposito in The Shape of Water, Mrs Brown in Paddington and Poppy in Happy-Go-Lucky. Anyway, in this film she plays Elisa, a cleaner who works in a secret government facility. We see glimpses of her life, we see her going to the cinema, her spending time with her neighbour played by Richard Jenkins, and so on. Then along comes the newest addition to the secret government base, the unnamed amphibian creature. As amazing as it sounds the two manage to build a relationship. Importantly, Elisa is mute but to the creature this is irrelevant, they could not have verbal communication even if she wasn't. A lot of Guillermo Del Toro's work is clearly inspired by fairy tales, as is this film, but the monster in this film is not the amphibian creature, but the human who captured it, Richard Strickland (played by Michael Shannon). The film is beautiful, both in the story it tells and the way it looks. It sounds impossible but as the relationship between the amphibian creature and Elisa deepens it doesn't seem odd or fantastical, it just seems right.
3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
I am a huge fan of Martin McDonagh. In Bruges is one of my all time favourite films and I really enjoyed Seven Psychopaths. So when word of his new film reached and I learned it was starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell I was intrigued. It is a film that handles a very difficult topic - the rape and murder of McDormand's character's daughter. This film is primarily a comedy but I never thought that it played this awful event for jokes and I thought it handled it sensitively. This is a powerful film and as well being funny it's very emotional.
2. Hostiles
Christian Bale stars at an army captain tasked with escorting a Native American tribal leader back to his homeland and years in prison. Bale's character does everything he can to get out of this duty and his hatred of Native Americans is clear and he has spent years fighting and killing them. It is also suggested that even by the standards of the time Bale went too far. Bale takes a team of soldiers, a small group of Native Americans and Rosamund Pike, who only barely survived an attack by Native Americans. Bale is fantastic in this film and goes on an amazing journey with a deep analysis about what he - and America - did to the Native Americans.
1. I, Tonya
I saw this film at the beginning to 2018 and it has been stuck in my mind for the whole year. I, Tonya is the story of brilliant figure skater Tonya Harding and her career, including an infamous incident. If you're American you probably know what this incident was as it became the biggest story of the year but I won't go into that now. The film has an amazing central performance by Margot Robbie as Harding who maybe even deserved to beat Frances McDormand for the Oscar. I don't care about figure skating at all and know nothing about it but the film draws the viewer in regardless, even spending time explaining just how amazing a figure skater Harding was.
