Another
year is done, another 365 days of movie watching. This year has a
been a bit of an odd one, personally ive gone through some shitty
times but we learn and move on from those moments. There has a been a
huge lack of reviews on the site, this is mainly due to other
commitments and that I lost the passion for writing reviews. You can
still read some of my minor reviews on Facebook though and the site
is here for your perusal if you find you want to read my words. But I
have, unfortuneately lost all the passion for film reviewing, I
really find it a chore to sit down and analyze a film in the written
format. However I have started a podcast, the Cine-Podcast where each
week you can listen to me ramble for about an hour about movie news
and some of the films ive seen recently.
I'm
back today though for the annual BEST OF THE YEAR list which will
also be on the podcast this week.
So
without further Ado, rolling in at numero 10 is...
10:
FREE FIRE (2016) Dir. Ben Wheatly.
Having
disliked every film director Ben Wheatly has made prior to Free Fire,
I was unsure of what to expect. My hopes were low and my expectation
was to probably hate it. My expectations were completely wrong. Turns
out I loved it. It's a bonkers, 2hr gun battle in a dissused
warehouse that feature a great ensamble cast that includes Brie
Larson, Sharlto Copely, Jack Raynor, Michael Smiley and Armie Hammer
to name but a few. It's funny, violent, non stop gunfire. It's about
an arms deal that goes tits up and the bullets start to fly.
Has
free fire changed my mind on Wheatly?, I don't think so, if his next
film is anywhere near as good as Free Fire, the creatively titled,
Freak Shift, then I may start to come around to him as a film maker
but 1 out 6 films isn't a great start. Still, Free Fire was a bucket
ton of fun and one which will probably be even more enjoyable second
time around.
9:
THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS (2016) Dir. Colm McCarthy
Ok I
know what your thinking, Girl With All The Gifts came out in 2016 and
yes it did, it had a release in September 2016 in The UK but I didn't
see it until it had it's VOD release in the States in January this
year so i'm counting it as a 2017 film. The Girl With All The Gifts
is that rare breed of British sci-fi horror, it has a hollywood sheen
but also looks grim and gritty thanks to the working class look of
middle England. I did a whole show on post apocalypse films set in
britain and how we make the end of the world look dirty, not in a
waste everywhere sort of way but because of the way the roads and
buildings are made, red brick and slate roofs, yjay it give the
apocalypse a working class vibe. The Girl With All The Gifts is a
fresh take on the zombie movie and while adding it's own spin on the
viral outbreak it also takes in a style reminicient of the Video
Game, The Last Of Us. The film boasts some great performances from
Paddy Considine, Glenn Close, Gemma Arterton and a stellar
performance from newcomer Sennia Nanua as the girl with the all the
gifts. It's a great film, it's violent, fast paced and visually
exciting and I enjoyed the hell out of it, which is the first time in
a long time a zombie film has excited me.
8:
STEPHEN KING'S IT (2017) Dir. Andy Muschietti
It
is that strange beast of a film, a reletively low budget horror film
with an R rating that made a fuck ton of money based on nostalgia for
a pretty tame by today's standards, TV movie from 1990. Thats not to
take away from what 2017's IT achieved, but as a horror film, it just
missed the mark. However, as un frightening as it may be, It's a
brilliantly told tale of kids growing up in a time where a lot of
stuff is happening in their lives, not just the creepy Pennywise but
it's about the friends you make, life long friends. Take the horror
element out and you have a fantastic coming of age drama with light
hearted moments that reminds us of the type of films we, people in
their 30s grew up with, The Goonies, Stand By Me, Explorers, those
type of films. Maybe it's that nostagia factor that resonanted with
me more than the killer clown but, IT is still a terrifically made
coming of age film with supernatural elements thrown in. The script
is great and this brings out some spot on performances from the
adolenscent cast that includes Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things and
an unbeleivable performance from newcomer Sophia Lillis as Beverly
Marsh. This time around Pennywise is played by Bill Skarsgard.
Skarsgard does his best to bring King's creepy interdimensional being
to the screen but lacks that sinister edge that Tim Curry originally
brought to the role. Still, IT is a terrific film and one definitely
worth your time.
7:
THE FOREIGNER (2017) Dir. Martin Campbell
Jackie
Chan and Pierce Brosnan in a film made by Martin Campbell? Is it 1998
again? To be brutally honest, The Foreigner is the type of film that
would have fit in perfectly in the mid to late 90s. It has that 90s
political actioner feel that was so prominent in films like Patriot
Games, The Jackal and even films like The Crying Game and A Prayer
For The Dying, the 1987 IRA hitman drama with Bob Hoskins and Mickey
Rourke. This is what may have hurt The Foreigner at the box office,
it wasn't or isn't a massive success despite being from the director
of Casino Royale and er, well, um...Green Lantern and starring Jackie
Chan in his first theatrical western film since, well when was the
last time you saw a Chan flick in the theater? The Spy Next Door?.
Well this is Chan doing what Chan wanted to do for years, proper
dramatic acting. And my god the man is brilliant in this, his
performance is that of a man who's lost everything and doesn't care
what happens to him as long as he gets the revenge he is owed. At the
start Chan looks his age, an aging chinese restauarant owner who
loses his daugher in a london bombing by a rogue unit of the UDI, the
Ulster Army council. When Jackie doesn't get the answers he wants he
goes full on badass on a mission of justice that at times does feel
like a bit of Taken rip off, but that aside, this is a gripping
thriller packed with close combat that at times doesn't seem like a
Chan choreographed fight and more like a straight up brawl, sure
there's the usual using of furniture by Chan to take down his enemys
but the majority of the fight scenes, with the exception of a
woodland smack down, feel very real and every fight scene is shot in
a way we don't see fights scenes these days outside of the Issac
Florentine/Jesse V. Johnson VOD action. The Foreigner is a great
political action thriller than deserves an audience and one which
both myself and my brother absolutely loved, that's why it lands at
number 7 this year.
6:
BABY DRIVER (2017) Dir. Edgar Wright
Baby
Driver is a hipster High Fidelity mixed with a Walter Hill Car chase
flick. Now, I used the term hipster because it's all about obscure
references to music, just take a listen to the soundtrack to see what
I mean. Now there's nothing wrong with that term being used to
describe Baby Driver because that's exactly what it is. If Walter
Hill made the Driver back in 79 with a soundtrack made entirely out
of popular and underground music, it would be Baby Driver. The film
follows a expert getaway driver who suffers from tinitis after a
horrific car accident as a child and uses music as a way to drown out
the ringing. He's made to pull off heists by Kevin Spacey's sort of
mobster after he was caught trying to steal his car. Then it all goes
fuck up. I was sooooo looking forward to this as when it was
announced it was touted as a throwback to 70s chase flicks like The
Driver, French Connection, The Seven Ups etc, so I was expecting a
gritty action flick with snappy dialogue and a pounding soundtrack.
Two out of three ain't bad but Baby Driver lacks the grit that this
film desperately needed. The film is far too bright and colourful and
hurts the eyes at points, I guess that's the stylistic approach Edgar
Wright was going for. But apart from the lack of grit, Baby Driver is
a tremendously fun film, the musical selection works with each beat
of the film and it zips by like the film is desperate to cross the
finish line first. That doesn't mean that the film feels rushed, it
doesn't, what I mean is that the film is fast paced and holds your
attention from the get go. Sometime the dialogue comes across as a
bit too hip and pretentious and feels very much like Wright is trying
to emulate Tarantino but it works within the context of the movie.
The film has some great stand out performances from lead Ansle Elgort
and Spacey, before the obvious revelations came out, and an
especially great performance from Jon Hamm who continues to not get
the roles he should. Jamie Foxx annoyed the shit out of me though and
John Bernthal was woefully under used and should have had the part
that went to Foxx. Action wise, the stunt work is phenomenal, not
exactly the same level of Fury Road due to the fact the film is set
in Atlanta and not a massive desert. Baby Driver is a great fun
action flick that's massively enjoyable if you can look past some
it's flaws. Thats why it's my mid point film in this countdown.
5:
VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS (2017) Dir. Luc Besson
Luc
Besson hasn't really had a hit since The Fifth Element, that was 20
years ago but that French filmmaker contines to push his vison on us
from his dreamy black and white Angel A, his mobster comedy The
Family and the completely bonkers techno action flick Lucy (a film I
legit love) and now his biggest, most expensive film, the big screen
adaptation of french comic book, Valerian & Laureline by french
artist and writer Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres. This film
is visually one of the most beautiful looking sci-fi films ever made,
like a weird series of gorgeous oil paintings, it's also one of the
most enjoyable films of the year. There's more of a sense of fun in
Valerian than anything Marvel or DC have put out in years. But
Valerian is a comic book that no-one outside of france is really that
familiar with which is one of the reasons Valerian bombed. Thats not
really Besson's fault, thats the cinema going public's fault. The
average movie goer, not the film buff-y types, they only want to
watch something based on something they already know, so the idea of
something new puts them off. It's how cinema now has become. People
won't take a chance on something they're not familiar with and that's
also the fault of the major studios, putting cash above originallity.
I'm not gonna go on a tirade about how modern cinema is joke, I aired
my grievences on my podcast last week. Valierian is soo much fun,
it's over 2 hours and it didn't feek like two hours at all, the time
flew by and when it finished I wanted more. The plot is extremely
straight forward and easy to follow and I remember reading an article
a few months ago that Besson had to get some film nerds to explain
the opening to scientists who couldn't understands what he was trying
to to do, it's pretty fucking simple to understand. You just have to
see it for your self. Valerian is just heaps of sci-fi comic book
fun, regardless of what material it's based on and if more people
were open minded about watching something that doesn't contain
fucking Iron Man or Thor, then you'd see that Valerian has a hell of
a lot to offer. I enjoyed it far more than the similarly stylistic
Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 which I still really liked. The film has
some flaws, some of the acting is a bit stiff especially from Clive
Owen towards the end and maybe the casting of Dane Dehaan and Cara
Deleveigne was a wrong choice on Besson's part buth they do really
really well and Deleveigne is cute as hell. So yeah, one of the
biggest flops of the year is in my top 5 films of the year.
Controversial as ever here at Cine-Apocalypse.
4:
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016) Dir. Gareth Edwards
Star
Wars man, it's fuckin' Star Wars...The first spin off from the Star
Wars saga is a fantastic edition to the franchise. It's probably a
better Star Wars film than The Force Awakens, actually it is a better
film than The Force Awakens. Where JJ Abrams took the easy route and
almost copied A New Hope for TFA's plot, th entire plot of Rogue One
is the first paragraph of the opening crawl of A NewHope.
A group of
rebel's steal the blueprints to the death star, setting in motion the
events of the next 3 Star Wars film, sort of Star Wars Episode 3.5 if
you will. Rogue One is filmed more as a War film than a straight up
space opera and this is what works to it's advantage. Making it a
seperate entity that doesn't follow any of the cast from the
proceeding original trilogy with the exception of a certain Sith Lord
(wait till the badass ending), and focusing on original characters
instead takes you out of the saga into the extended universe of star
wars. Showing us stories of of characters we don't know. Visually
Rogue one is incredible. The sight of a star destroyer hovering above
a mountain or AT-AT walkers in battle on what looks like a scene out
of a sci-fi WW2 movie set in the Pacific are thrilling.
We
follow the characters of Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor on their mission
to steal the plans. They come up against Orson Krennic, a high up
member of the galactic army and most likely part of the empire's
council. There's a theory there somewhere.
Rogue
One is great addition to the Star Wars franchise and I would rather
see more spin offs like this than ones focusing on characters we
already know like the Young Han Solo Movie or the Boba Fett film.
There's this entire extended universe that could be explored but
Disney being the evil corporation that they are have now said that
the extended universe is not cannon and will never be used for future
Star Wars films. That sucks. But if the spin offs are in anyway as
good or better than Rogue One, then sign me up.
3:
BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 (2017) Dir. S. Craig Zahler
Two
years ago, director S.Craig Zahler's brutal western Bone Tomahawk
made my number 3 spot on my top 10 of 2015. Two years later he lands
at the exact same spot with his follow up, BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99, a
throwback to grindhouse prison and crime movies of the 70s. The title
should give you a little bit of an idea about what the film is about.
The film follows Bradly who loses his job as a repo man and goes to
work as drug runner for a friend who happens to be a gangster, to
support his pregnant wife. When he's made to work with some
Columbians, the deal goes south and Bradly ends up in prison. While
in prison he's visited by Udo Kier who does his ususual creepy German
thing and tells him that he needs to be sent to a maximum security
prison to kill someone in order for him to save his wife and unborn
child who the columbians have kidnapped. Bradly, a hulking 6ft 5”
dude with a heavy fist beats the shit out of some guards and finds
himself sent to a max prison run by ruthless warden Don Johnson.
Bradly gets sent to Cell Block 99, an area of the prison that doesn't
officially exist, a place where rights don't mean shit and where
inmates are tagged with shock belts.Bradly finds himself in a
situation where the only way out is to kill or be killed. Brawl
In Cell Block 99 is the type of film we haven't seen in a long long
time, a film aimed at adults for adults. It wears it's influences on
it's sleeve and if this film was made in the 1970s, the cast would
most likely consist of Burt Reynolds, Gene Hackman and James
Franciscus. BICB99 had a great soundtract too, employing some great
soul funk of the 70s plus two new tracks by Soul legends, The O'Jays.
The
one major problem I had with Brawl, the same problem I had with Bone
Tomahawk, is the cinematography is bad, this and Bone were both shot
digitally and these typse of films, should ideally be filmed on
either 16mm or 35mm film stock, the colour grading is a bit
problematic and sometimes it's a little too dark. Maybe a more
accomplished DOP would be better suited to Zahler's next flick,
Dragged Across Concrete. Anyway, Brawl In Cell Block 99 is a knock
down, drag-out brutal smack down of a film, with some truly graphic
violence, all done practically, a great script, a brilliant
soundtrack and Vince Vaughn's best screen performance of his career.
Watch this one, this one's a good'un.
2:
WAR FOR PLANET OF THE APES (2017) Dir. Matt Reeves
Probably
the single most undertated sci-fi franchise of the last 20 years, the
Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy has just gone from strength to
strength and this final installment is for me, the best of the
franchise. Set a few months after the events of Dawn, Ceaser is still
haunted by the events that unfolded with the rebellious ape Koba.
When a commando unit discovers their where-abouts and kidnap his wife
and child, Ceaser along with a few other apes make their journey to
where they're being held. The last military base in the ape
wasteland, run by a manical colonal played by Woody Harrelson,
channeling Brando's Colonal Kurtz, along the way they meet some new
characters, the hairless ape known as Bad Ape, brilliantly portrayed
by Steve Zahn who also adds some much need humour to the film and a
young girl they call Nova, which is a reference to the original
Planet Of The Apes, played beautifully by newcomer Amiah Miller.
Ceaser finds himself under the rule of Harrelson who puts him on a
cross to use as an example and the great ape escape towards the end.
There's a lot of stuff goimg on in the film that explains certain
things in the original. One of the main examples of this is an
explanation as to why humans can't speak in the original and the apes
finding their home at the end which will become the ape city in
Planet. Another interesting plot device is the look at the apes that
help the humans, not by force but to survive, they seem to have a
hatred for ceaser and followed Koba's idea in Dawn.
Visually,
War For The Planet Of The Apes is stunning, the cinematography is
gorgeous, beautifully shot by DOP Michael Seresin on Digital film, a
format which works for this film as a high FX film. He captures the
stunning locations so beautifully from the beautiful Canadian
forrests to the sun drenched sands of Death valley giving so much
depth to the visuals. And while this is a $150million dollar VFX
extravaganza, the film focuses more on story and character and
performance than just explosions and shiney bang bangs. The drama in
War is so heart rendering at times that you forget that you're
watching CGI monkeys, this is down the incredible motion capture
performances of the actors especially Andy Serkis who probably gives
the performance of his career as the Ceasar. Steve Zahn does Bad Ape
justice and fellow mo-cap actors such as Karin Konoval as Maurice,
Terry Notoray as Rocket and Ty Olsson as Red Donkey, all take you out
of the mindset that these are actors performaning and make you
believe that they are actually apes. Harrelson is good if a bit over
the top but his character works in the setting.
I
was blown away by the film, to me it's the best of the trilogy and if
Serkis doesn't get at least an Oscar nomination for his performance,
then there's something seriously wrong with the film industry. An
absolute delight to watch and one ive seen about 3 times now. That's
why it's my number 2 film on this top 10.
1:
LOGAN (2017) Dir. James Mangold
After
the success of DeadPool, Fox decided to press ahead with an R-rated
Wolverine movie, it could
have been a disaster. It wasn't, it was
incredible. Here's the thing with superhero movies, you give the film
makers $200mil and you get a film with little substance and all
special FX which is one of the main reasons I'm sick of comic book
movies. Drop the budget and it forces the film makers to actually
focus more on character and story. This is what seems to be the case
with Logan. Logan had a budget of $90mil. The first Wolverine movie
had a $150mil budget and was a complete failure because they didn't
know what to do with the plot, they balls'd up Deadpool and the film
was just a mess. The Wolverine, the second logan flick had a budget
of $120mil, and for the most part it was a decent flick, a better
Wolverine film but was still let down by some pacing issues and some
ropey CGI FX, Mangold did a decent job on The Wolverine, looking more
at Logan's time in Japan that gave us more of an insight into Logan's
backstory. Cut to 2017 and Logan has a budget of $90mil. This means
that they can tell a straight story and still have some cracking
comic book action scenes. However, what Mangold did this time around
was focus the film on 3 people, Logan, Xavier and Laura, the young
girl who happens to have Logan's DNA and the same adamantium claws
and healing ability. This time around, it's the near future, Logan is
caring for an ailing Charles who doesn't have the control he once did
of his powers. The other X-men are gone and Ligan and charles hide
out in an old abandoned factory on the mexican border. Logan earns
money as limo driver back in the states and Charles is looked after
bt a mutant named Caliban, played quite well by comedian Stephen
Merchant. Logan is approached by woman who needs his help to get a
young girl to a place called Eden. A place where Mutants are safe. He
reluctantly agrees and the film becomes this mix of road movie and
chase film where Logan and Laura are pursued by a gang of mercs
intent on getting Laura back.
The
presents the audience with the well thought out plot, engaging
character who are both problematic and sympathetic and really makes
the audience care and sympathise with them. It also helps that we get
3 utterly masterful performances from Hugh Jackman and Patrick
Stewert who gives one of the best performances of his career as the
fragile, almost dementia riddled Charles, a far cry from his previous
performances as Charles. But the film belongs to Dafne Keen, who is
incredible as Laura. The film is tragic, exciting and thought
provoking, and this is a comic book movie. Gone is the glitz and VFX
of the previous X-Men movies as Logan goes more in the direction of a
western, more specifically the classic 1953 western Shane.
Logan
is a brilliant film and for me, it's THE best X-Men movie. That's why
it's my favourite film of the year.
Well
there we go, that is my annual Top 10 done and dusted. There were
some films that just missed the cut and here are some of them.
GET
OUT
Get
Out was a great Darkly comic horror movie with a deep message about
racism from writer/Director Jordan Peel. I just felt that Get Out
wasn't as deserving of the hype it got even though I found it hugely
enjoyable.
SPIDER-MAN:
HOMECOMING
Spider-Man
Homecoming was THE best of the post Spider-Man 2 spider-man films, it
was a hell of a lot of fun and got a lot of things right that the two
previous Amazing Spider-Man movies didn't. I enjoyed it immensely but
it just missed the cut. Very enjoyable.
GUARDIANS
OF THE GALAXY VOL.2
More
interstellar marvel space action with the guardians. Not as good as
the first but still a hell of a lot of fun. Plus Kurt Russell is in
it so....Most enjoyable but not enough for me to include it.
FATE
OF THE FURIOUS
Another
year another 2hrs of Vin Desiel talking about family. Fast 8 is so
incredibly over the top that it's so far removed from the first film
that it's now become a superhero franchise. Still a lot of fun but
not on par with the previous. Statham is god though.
HACKSAW
RIDGE
Mel
Gibson's brutal but brilliant WW2 biopic of the first conscientious
objector in WW2 is a stunning but brutal account of WW2. A film that
should have gotten Gibson a lot more cred, he's done his time
Hollywood.
Now
it's time for the worst films of the year. Some of these films...Jeez
ALIEN
COVENANT (2017) Dir. Ridley Scott.
Alien
Covenant is a shit film. It's Ridley Scott's ego being blown up to
the max. A rushed, bullshit excuse for a movie that copies almost all
of prometheus while also focusing more on the fucking robots than the
actual aliens, that was one of the biggest complaints about
prometheus, no aliens, this time he gives us one and now it seems
he's done with the aliens, not the franchise but including the actual
fucking aliens. Take it away from him please....
XXX:
THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE
This
movie is whats wrong with allowing Vin Desiel to be a producer. Shit
plot, shit acting, shit action scenes, shit CGI, shit Green screen,
shit explosions, shit use of Tony Jaa, massively shit use of Donnie
Yen, shit motorbike and water action scene, shit directing, shit
writing, dumb as shit. Just complete fucking shit. Fuck this shit.
It's utter wank.
GEOSTORM
Ok,
Geostorm is on here because, lets face it, it's a shit film, but it's
a strangely enjoyable shit film. The VFX are crappy and Gerard Butler
is too manly to be a scientist. At least Andy Garcia and Jim Sturgess
got some work. Dean Devlin mate, leave the film making to your mate
Roland Emmerich. It's just not for you mate.
MOVIES
THAT ARE JUST MEH!!
DUNKIRK
Christopher
Nolan's boring as ass WW2 action drama is light on Action, heavy on
Drama and imax shots of 4000 troops on wet sandy beach for 1hr
47mins. It could have been a little bit more exciting . It's
beautifully shot, make no bones about that but there's no substance
to it. Try again.
ATOMIC
BLONDE.
Good
action scenes that become boring action scenes, a hot Charlize Theron
who should not be film under neon with a hi-def 4k camera. It shows
the age. Still hot as hell but yeah, not great. Also, James McAvoy is
annoying as hell. It's not the worst film but it's not the best and
yes we get it, it's set in the 80s, do you really need to play
Depeche Mode every 10 minutes. Atomic Blonde suffers from the same
problem as John Wick 2, there's no competition for them as they're
the best of the best. Could have been great, just meh.
KIDNAP
Halle
Berry's child is kidnapped by some white rednecks in a toyota, she
chases them in a mini van. Screaming and crying then turns into Bryan
Mills towards the end and goes all Taken on their asses. Really well
done chase scenes but we've seen this all before and done better.
Well
that it's. All done for another year. I didn't get around to seeing
Blade Runner 2049 but by all accounts its a terrific film. There were
some films I wanted to watch but I just don't have the time between
now and the new year what with Christmas 2 weeks away.
But
thanks for reading and be sure to listen to the podcast.
Have
a great christmas a happy New year....
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