Month: December 2017

With Christmas literally right around the corner as of this writing and 2017 coming to a close, I figure it’s about time to go over the movies that were released in 2017, both good, bad and disappointing.  I would’ve done this last month, but there were still some movies that I needed to see before I start making these lists.  For my first list, I want to go over what I consider to be the most disappointing movies of the year.  Keep in mind that these movies aren’t necessarily awful, but there were some real issues in these films that really kept them from achieving their true potential.  So, with that in mind, let’s go over some serious disappointment.

Alien Covenant

There were quite a few disappointing films this year, but Alien Covenant hurts the most.  I’m a huge fan of the Alien films, even Prometheus.  So, when I heard that Ridley Scott was going to direct another genuine Alien film, I was excited.  This was the franchise that really launched the director’s career.  Oh, man.  When I left the theater, I was legitimately angry for a number of reasons.  One, the story-line from Prometheus was quickly swept under the rug with that film’s main protagonist getting killed between movies.  With the exception of maybe one or two characters, the characters in Covenant were cannon fodder, essentially.  The original film was effective, because you got to know and connect with that film.  We don’t get that connection here, except with David, Walter and Tennessee.  Another issue was this film essentially being an origin story for the franchise’s key monster, the xenomorph, and it was…..lame.  I’ve warmed up to the film over the course of several viewings, but this was my most anticipated movie of the year.  It let me down considerably.  7 months after the film’s release and I still haven’t forgiven Ridley Scott for fucking this one up.  I was hoping that maybe a director’s cut on Blu-Ray would help sort some issues out, but alas, no such luck.

Ultimate Justice

I’m not the kind of guy that wants to rip independent films to shreds, far from it.  I can see the potential in that field and some stuff that comes from indie film makers are legitimately good.  Ultimate Justice should’ve been one of those 80’s-style action films like The Expendables.  Here’s the problem:  It’s not.  The film features a strong cast of physical actors like Mathis Landwehr, Matthias Hues, Mike Moller and Mark Dacascos, but it doesn’t really take advantage of these folks, with the exception of Mike Moller, but he can’t carry a movie like this on his own.  On top of that, the German-speaking cast members were dubbed over and it’s painfully obvious.  The dubbing really brings down what is otherwise on okay action film.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

I like Tom Holland as the new Peter Parker/Spider-Man.  I like Michael Keaton as The Vulture.  I like the fact that the film is not another origin story for the character.  What I don’t like is being handed another mediocre Spider-Man movie that fails to expand on what we already know about the character.  I also don’t like the fact that Tony Stark has to be a major player in nearly every MCU movie.  He just distracts from what’s going on.  I honestly prefer the Andrew Garfield movies, because I’m not liking the whole “awkward Peter Parker” shtick anymore.  It’s old-hat and it’s not amusing.  Sorry, guys.  This one just didn’t do it for me.

Birth of the Dragon

This is another one that should have been a knock-out punch.  Instead, what we get is a movie about Bruce Lee that doesn’t focus on Bruce Lee.  The blatant bait-and-switch by the director to focus on one of the character’s students was a really stupid move, and audiences were quick to nail Goerge Nolfi to the wall for it.  So much so, that he had to re-edit and shoot more scenes featuring Bruce Lee, played by Philip Ng.  The damage was already done, and the film was already mired in controversy long before it was released.  When Philip Ng is on the screen as Bruce Lee, that’s when it’s good.  When he’s not on the screen, that’s when it sucks.  Again, like other films on this list, Birth of the Dragon isn’t a terrible movie, but it fails to capitalize on the one thing that should have made it stand out a bit more:  Bruce Lee.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Guy Ritchie is usually a pretty reliable director with films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and Sherlock Holmes.  But with King Arthur, Ritchie was way out of his element.  Never mind that movies about the legendary King Arthur have existed before this one.  The problem with this film is not with the cast.  It’s with the direction of the film and the story.  It takes the most memorable elements of the legend and throws them out the window or it subverts certain ideas to try and craft something new.  But what really gets my goat is the whole Rock’N’Roll approach to the film.  The music, the editing and the visuals just don’t mesh with what Guy Ritchie is trying to convey.  It has its moments and is kind of fun, but this was a missed opportunity.

The Villainess

In spite of a strong opening and closing sequence, The Villainess is let down by an extremely bloated and slow-moving middle act.  Some of the advertisements led people to believe that this movie was a combination of Kill Bill, La Femme Nikita, and John Wick.  Quite frankly, those were much better movies than what we ended up with.  Don’t get me wrong, the good parts in this film are very, very good, but you have to slog through some really slow-moving parts to get to them.  Honestly, and this comes down to personal preference, but I don’t like the direction went in, and I don’t like the way it ended.  I love good Korean films, and The Villainess could have been one of them, but decisions on the part of the director keep it from reaching those heights, so to speak.  It could have been so much more.

There were a lot of movies that were released during the summer of 2017 and the majority of them were clunkers like The Mummy and Transformers.  But those were really obvious targets.  I wanted to focus on ones that shouldn’t have disappointed me but did.  So, those were my most disappointing movies of 2017, at least the ones that stuck out the most.

Released: December 2017

Rated PG-13

Director: Rian Johnson

Run Time: 152 Minutes

Distributor: Disney/Lucasfilm

Genre: Action/Fantasy/Science Fiction

Cast:
Mark Hamill: Luke Skywalker
Daisy Ridley: Rey
Adam Driver: Kylo Ren
John Boyega: Finn
Oscar Isaac: Poe Dameron
Carrie Fisher: Leia Organa
Andy Serkis: Supreme Leader Snoke
Domhnall Gleeson: General Hux
Laura Dern: Vice Admiral Holdo
Benicio Del Toro: DJ

As a huge Star Wars fan, I’ll be the first to tell you that the live-action movies have had their ups and downs.  The Original Trilogy is considered by many, myself included, to be the penultimate Star Wars films.  No film is perfect, but the Original Trilogy is almost as close to perfection as you can get.  The Empire Strikes Back is one of the greatest films ever made.  For most people, the Prequel Trilogy is definitely the low-point of the franchise.  I tend to be more forgiving than most when it comes to the prequels, but they are definitely the weakest entries in the entire saga, with Revenge of the Sith being the exception.  When it was announced that new trilogy of movies was being made, people were cautious but optimistic, because George Lucas gave up control of the franchise and his company to Disney.  The Force Awakens was the first entry into the new trilogy and many people were fairly happy with it, including yours truly.  It introduced new characters and a new series of villains, but it felt too similar to the original film from 1977.  Now, we have Episode VIII.  Is it any good?  Let’s find out.

Picking up right after The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi starts with the evacuation of the Resistance base.  The Resistance had just destroyed the Starkiller Base, so the insidious First Order is out for blood and has found the Resistance.  At the same time, Rey has found Luke Skywalker on the lost planet of Ach’to, and seeks to be trained by the legendary Jedi Master.  Meanwhile, the mysterious Supreme Leader Snoke has become frustrated with his apprentice Kylo Ren.  To go any further into the story would be to venture into spoiler territory, and I’m not going to do that.  The story is really, really good and it feels like a natural progression from The Force Awakens.  Sometimes it does feel like it borrows from Empire Strikes Back but it is definitely its own movie for sure.  This is a very different kind of Star Wars film.  It challenges you in a way that the franchise hasn’t done since Empire.  It throws one surprise at you after another.  I’ll be honest, I’m not very good at being surprised at ANYTHING these days.  It’s one of the downsides of being a bit of a cynic, I guess.  But there was more than one moment where I was caught off guard by some of the story elements.  I didn’t think they had the balls to do the stuff that they did.  The Force Awakens didn’t really take any risks and played it very safe.  The Last Jedi takes some really huge risks in terms of the story and characters and that is not going to sit well with some people.  The story is engaging from beginning to end.  I loved the fact that the film took some serious risks.  It’s about damn time.

The heart of any good story is the characters.  The Original Trilogy gave us some of the most memorable characters in cinema history: Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, and the Emperor just to name a few.  These characters are at the very heart of what makes Star Wars so interesting.  The Prequel Trilogy forgot that, but thankfully, this new trilogy gives some really strong new characters like Rey, Kylo Ren, and Poe Dameron.  The writing for these characters is one of the strongest parts of these new films.  In The Last Jedi, these characters are given a lot more to work with and more time to really develop.  Mark Hamill returns as Luke Skywalker, a man who has been damaged by something that happened in the past.  This is his best performance in years and it is very strong.  He’s got a wicked sense of humor but there is also a lot of pain and anguish that you see in the character’s eyes.  This is a guy that’s lost hope.  Daisy Ridley is as plucky as ever as the young Rey, who is searching for someone who will show her what she is meant to do and to be.  Oscar Isaac is given a lot more to do as the pilot Poe Dameron.  John Boyega is fantastic as always as Finn, the former storm trooper.  There are a couple of new characters that show up, namely Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Holdo and Benicio Del Toro’s DJ.  Ultimately, the new characters really don’t add anything new to what’s going on.  They’re kind of forgettable.  The focus here is definitely on Rey and Kylo Ren.  Adam Driver is really good here, as his character is still struggling with the light and the dark, but his arc is very interesting.  Again, I won’t get into spoilers.  You have to see it for yourself.  This was Carrie Fisher’s final performance before she died and it’s both heartbreaking and extraordinary at the same time.  She’s always been a great actress and seeing her return as Leia was wonderful.  Carrie’s death does cast a bit of a shadow over the film in some ways.

From a visual standpoint, this is one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen this year.  It has this real grand scale that befits a Star Wars film.  I saw this film in 3D and I have to say it was definitely worth it.  The 3D really enhances the scale of the film.  Star Wars has always been great about scale, and The Last Jedi is no exception.  You really do get a sense of how much of a real threat that the First Order is by the size of their ships.  Their Dreadnaught is an incredibly massive battleship designed to cause a lot of damage.  But the real prize of the First Order’s fleet and their base of operations as well as Snoke’s flagship is The Supremacy.  The Supremacy is the only Mega-class Star Destroyer in existence and is over 60 kilometers in length.  It’s HUGE.  It completely dwarfs the Resistance ships that it’s chasing.  The set designs are also incredible.  Snoke’s throne room is beautiful with the room being surrounded by red is fantastic.  Not only do you get some really impressive sets, the film is also filmed on locations like in Sky Isle in Scotland.  It’s incredibly stunning.  Like The Force Awakens, we see the return of actual puppets and creature effects.  The CGI is used to complement the practical effects and designs, although I will say that the Porgs are some of the cutest creatures I’ve seen in a Star Wars film.

The action sequences are some of the best that I’ve ever seen in this entire franchise.  The space battles are awesome, particularly the opening battle against the dreadnaught.  It’s something to behold.  The action is incredibly well shot and staged and we can see everything that’s going on.  Director Rian Johnson has a real gift for shooting action.  Whether it’s the ground-based combat against storm-troopers or the aerial dogfights against Tie-Fighters, it’s really fun to watch, and the film is constantly at this real hectic pace.  There are slow moments for character development and those moments are absolutely fantastic, but when the action starts again, it turns up the dial.  It’s absolutely fantastic.  It’s all complemented by a very solid score by the legendary John Williams, who, I believe is currently writing music for Episode IX.

There are a few nitpicks here and there, but they are mostly just that, nitpicks.  There’s a subplot with Finn and a new character named Rose, where they have to find a particular person to crack into a First Order ship’s mainframe.  It feels like it belongs in another film.  As I said before, some of the characters aren’t as memorable as they could be.

I’ve been looking at some of the reactions from audiences around the country and some of the other critics.  The Last Jedi could very well be the most divisive film in the entire saga.  Some of these folks are not real happy with how some of their favorite characters have been treated, so to speak.  Again, I won’t spoil anything.  I can’t say as I blame some people for how they feel about what happens in the film.  I’ll be honest, the film wasn’t what I was expecting.  It was so much more, but I could see how some people would be disappointed in the direction that the film took.  Some of the questions that people have been asking about since the previous film still haven’t been answered, and some of the answers we did get might not necessarily be satisfactory.  There’s also the issue of Carrie Fisher’s death and how that’s going to affect the next film.  Granted, it’s still two years away, but everybody is wondering how Lucasfilm is going to give Leia a proper send-off.

Overall, my expectations for The Last Jedi were not only met, but they were exceeded in almost every way.  This film feels fresh and goes in a new direction.  That’s something that’s been sorely missing from the film franchise since Return of the Jedi.  It’s a movie that’s going to challenge you in certain ways and have you thinking about what you saw.  I would imagine that in maybe a decade or so, the people that didn’t care for this film will revisit it and hopefully think it’s better than they originally thought.  I loved the way the characters developed throughout the film and I certainly loved the action sequences as well.  I’ll come right out and say it:  I loved this movie.  I’m going to go see it again, because I think it’s that damn good.

My Final Recommendation: May The Force Be With You. 9.5/10

On this day, December 7, 1941, the United States was attacked by the Empire of Japan.  This was the motivating factor that got us into World War II.  The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor left thousands of Americans dead or dying with an enormous chunk of the anchored fleet in ruins.  The Japanese thought that the attack on Pearl Harbor was a decisive victory, but they underestimated the strength and will of the American people.  On December 8, President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to declare a state of war on the Empire of Japan.  This led to what is described as the deadliest war in human history.  From the battlefields of Europe to the islands of the Pacific Ocean, World War II claimed the lives of millions of soldiers, civilians, and everything in between.  I’m dedicating this post to the courage and memory of not only those who fought in World War II, but every major war that our country has been in.  From the Revolution to Vietnam, men and women of the armed services put their lives on the line so that the free world would remain free from tyranny.  For this post, historical accuracy and authenticity are key.  So, movies like Braveheart are out of the question.  A war movie can be fiction, but the period in which the film is based must be respected and not altered to fit the narrative.  Again, Braveheart is not a part of the equation.  The other part is that these wars must be based on real-life events, so fantasy films like Lord of the Rings are disqualified.  With that in mind, let’s get into the war movies that I think everyone should see.

Saving Private Ryan

Kicking off this list with a World War II film, Saving Private Ryan follows a group of soldiers who are tasked with locating Private Ryan after his brothers have been killed in combat.  Saving Private Ryan is one of the best war movies because it doesn’t shy away from the ugly reality of war.  The opening thirty minutes at Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion is some of the most horrific and intense battle sequences I’ve ever seen.  It gives the audience a glimpse into what some of our grandparents/great grandparents had to deal with.  It’s an emotionally engaging story that really emphasizes the courage, duty and humanity of the soldiers that risked everything in World War II.  Saving Private Ryan is considered to be one of Steven Spielberg’s best films and rightly so.  It’s an incredible film.

Glory

Taking a few more steps back in history, Glory is a Civil War epic that follows Colonel Robert Gould Shaw as he is chosen to train and lead the Union Army’s first all-black 54th Regiment.  Featuring an all-star cast and winning 3 Academy Awards, Glory is one of the greatest movies about the Civil War.  The opening battle at Antietam is one of the most epic battle sequences ever committed to film.  Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, and Denzel Washington give some of their best performances of their careers.  It’s an authentic movie which shows how the regiment was treated and berated not just by the Confederates but by Union military personnel as well.  Defying all odds, the 54th Regiment marched into history and legend during the second battle of Fort Wagner.  It’s incredibly detailed and well-shot.  It’s a window into one of the darkest chapters of American history.

We Were Soldiers

We Were Soldiers follows Lt. Colonel Hal Moore as he leads the newly re-formed 7th Cavalry into battle against the North Vietnamese during the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang.  The first major battle between American and North Vietnamese forces tends to be glossed over in history books, but the film gives a very accurate depiction of what during the week-long battle.  While there are certain issues with the film during the state-side scenes, you can’t ignore the incredible battle sequences that take place.  There’s a sequence in which Moore’s battalion is getting over-run so he calls in major air support that ends up dropping napalm on the enemy.  One of the napalm bombs gets too close to Moore’s position and ends up killing several American troops.  It’s a pretty disturbing scene, but it also highlights that sometimes things go wrong during war.  Joe Galloway , who was a reporter at the time, actually was there in the thick of battle.  The attention to detail here is extraordinary.  This battle was before the politics and the whole anti-war movement got under way.  Showing the battle of Ia Drang was important, but so was showing the effect that the war had at home.  The performances in this film are incredible.  Mel Gibson is absolutely fantastic as Colonel Moore.

Letters From Iwo Jima

Most war movies have a tendency to take place from one side of the conflict.  I’m not saying that’s wrong, but it’s really only half the picture.  Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles of the second world war.  Movies like Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima tend to hit a little close to home for me, because my grandfather fought at Iwo Jima.  Clint Eastwood directed those two films, one from the American perspective and one from the Japanese viewpoint.  It’s important to understand that the Japanese soldiers depicted in Letters From Iwo Jima were as human as our grandparents were.  They were afraid, but they also fought for the safety of their families.  Lines become a little blurred when you can see both sides.  The film was absolutely phenomenal and it really gave us a glimpse into what the other side was thinking and feeling at the time.  It’s not a film that my grandfather would have watched, but it is an important film, nonetheless.

Tora! Tora! Tora!

Finally, we get to a movie that is specifically about December 7, 1941.  Forget Michael Bay’s chick-flick of a film.  If you want a movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor, Tora! Tora! Tora! is the one to see.  Released in 1970, the film follows both the Americans and Japanese during the days leading up to the attack.  This is an extraordinary production, because it involves film-makers from both the United States and Japan.  The unique collaboration allowed for a very authentic and accurate depiction of everything leading up to and including the attack on Pearl Harbor.  We get to see the Japanese plan for the attack and some of them have doubts.  We also get to see the Americans as they realize too late what the Japanese were actually up to.  The attack is one of the most spectacular sequences in film history.  Tora! Tora! Tora! is one of the most unbiased historical films ever made.  As a result, it’s one of the best movies ever.

While there are many other war films that are pretty good, these are the ones that truly stand out for me.  I love these movies because they’re not only visually spectacular, but because they pay homage to the men and women who put their lives on the line for the rest of us.  It’s important, especially today of all days, to recognize the courage and sacrifices that have been made and continue to be made by our armed forces.

Released: August 1997

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Rated R

Run Time: 96 Minutes

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Genre: Science Fiction/Horror

Cast:
Laurence Fishburne: Miller
Sam Neill: Dr. Weir
Kathleen Quinlan: Peters
Joely Richardson: Starck
Richard T. Jones: Cooper
Jack Noseworthy: Justin
Jason Isaacs: D.J.
Sean Pertwee: Smith

I love science fiction movies and I love horror movies.  There is something special about a film that can combine the two genres and do it right.  Ridley Scott’s Alien is one such movie that is more of a horror movie than a science fiction film.  However, it implements those elements so well that Alien is regarded as the best example of combining both science fiction and horror.  It also took science fiction to a whole different level than Star Wars.  There have been a number of films that have successfully combined the two genres: The Fly remake, From Beyond, Mimic, and John Carpenter’s The Thing.  There were also a lot of movies that didn’t.  But one of the most interesting ones came out 20 years ago that I happen to be a huge fan of: Event Horizon.

In the year 2040, government officials and scientists worked together to create a ship capable of reaching our nearest star.  The Event Horizon was built for this very reason.  Unfortunately, the ship disappeared.  7 years later, the ship reappears and sends out a signal.  The ship, the Lewis and Clark, is sent to investigate why the ship disappeared and where it’s been for the previous 7 years.  Led by Captain Miller and Dr. Weir, the crew of the Lewis and Clark discover that the Event Horizon appears to have been abandoned.  After witnessing multiple hallucinations and strange behavior from their own crew, Miller and company realize that the Event Horizon has traveled much further than it was intended.  I love it when movies have set ups like this that are simple and straight-forward with an occasional twist or two.  Event Horizon is, essentially, a haunted house story set in outer space.  One could make the argument that was what Alien was and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong.  However, Alien was known for it’s titular villain.  Event Horizon is a little more ambiguous when it comes to its villain, at least until the last 30 minutes of the film.  The villain in this film IS the ship.  Throughout the film, you begin to see what happened to the original crew and where the ship has actually been and it’s pretty unsettling.  It’s a pretty intense little film that does nothing more than what it sets out to do, and I really like that.

One of the things that sells Event Horizon as a horror film is the performances of its cast.  You have Laurence Fishburne as Miller, and he brings a tough-as-nails approach to the character.  Sam Neill plays Weir, the guy who built the ship.  Sam Neill is one of my favorite actors.  The character tries to take a logical approach to what’s happening, but begins to understand that the ship he built has become something else entirely.  The side characters are just as memorable.  Richard T. Jones plays Cooper, Sean Pertwee plays Smith, Jack Noseworthy as Justin and Jason Isaacs as D.J.  What makes these characters stand out is that each one has a unique backstory, and that plays very much into how these characters react to what’s happening on the ship.  The problem is that we aren’t given enough background story on some the characters.  We know they have one, but we don’t see anything beyond that.  So, character development is an issue.  Weir’s final arc is something really out of left field though.  Anybody who has seen the film will know what I’m talking about.

What I really loved about this film is its unique visual flair.  The designs are absolutely incredible.  The Event Horizon clearly has a very Gothic theme throughout the entire vessel.  These arches that you see in Med Bay are incredible.  It helps give the film its really dark and foreboding vibe.  The design of the ship itself is wonderful.  If you look at the ship from an angle, it looks kind of like a cross of sorts.  Most of the visual effects in the film are pretty good, for the most part.  There are a few scenes where the CGI is painfully obvious, even for 1997, but a lot of the practical that you can see are very impressive.  There’s a scene in which a recording plays where you can see the original crew tear itself apart, and it’s pretty gruesome.  It doesn’t last very long, but it’s very memorable.  Towards the end of the film, you see these visions of Hell where the current crew is being brutalized.  These sequences were rapidly cut, because the studio didn’t want an extremely violent film.  The thing is, is that the original cut of the film, which was reported to be 130 minutes long, lingered on these visions for longer than what we actually see in the released version.  The only way you can truly appreciate the work that went into some of the practical effects is to slow the movie down.  When you do, you being to understand why the studio acted the way it did back in 1997.  These scenes are pretty graphic and disturbing, but they were very well done.

Another thing I really love about this film is the music.  While the film’s main composer was the late Michael Kamen, he worked in conjunction with the music group Orbital to create a very techno-thriller kind of soundtrack.  The orchestral elements of the soundtrack are supplemented by Orbital’s techno music which really gives the film an incredibly haunting vibe.  The music also clues you into what the crew of the Lewis and Clark are dealing with.

Event Horizon was released to some very mixed reviews.  Some people loved it, others hated it.  Personally, I loved the hell out of it, no pun intended.  It was the third film by Paul W.S. Anderson and it was a solid enough film.  As I mentioned above, the story is that the original cut of the film was about 130 minutes long and it featured some pretty lengthy scenes involving the visions of hell as well as certain character interacting with each other.  The studio felt that the film was too long and that the more gruesome aspects of the picture had to be cut in order to appeal to most audiences.  Currently, there is a debate as to whether or not that extra footage exists.  There are some deleted scenes that are available on the Blu-Ray and DVD and can be found on YouTube, but the more interesting stuff has apparently been lost.  It’s too bad, really.  That’s a version of the film that I would really love to see, mostly because the version we currently have has some….continuity issues due to the studio’s insistence that certain aspects be cut.  Who knows?  Maybe that version of the film is out there somewhere waiting to be discovered.  As it stands, the film that we ended up with is still a really solid thriller with great performances and some pretty nifty visual effects.  It’s not perfect by any stretch, but it is better than a lot of people give it credit for.

My Final Recommendation: Don’t create artificial black holes.  Bad things happen.  8/10