My Top Ten Films of 2017

Here is my top ~~ten~~… top ~~eleven~~… top ~~twelve~~ … wait… top ~~THIRTEEN~~… no, no…Top FOURTEEN films of 2017. Before anyone asks? I have not seen Ladybird, Blade Runner 2049, Call Me By Your Name, Dunkirk, Murder on the Orient Express, Wind River, Hostiles, the Shape of Water or Mother!

1. Logan
Logan is the swan song for both Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart in their memorable runs as Wolverine and Professor X. Set in a time where most of the X-Men are gone and Wolverine’s health is failing, Logan was a gutsy move. It earns it’s ‘R’ rating in the first five minutes, but what really makes it stand out is the emotion that is packed into it. Stewart gives a wonderful performance here.

2. Land of Mine
I know this was released in Denmark in 2015, but technically, it is a 2017 film for the U.S. So I am calling it as “this year”. After all, the director’s next film is due out in 2018.

3. War For the Planet of the Apes
Matt Reeves managed to make the most consistent trilogy of films. All three of his Apes movies have been top notch. Emotional and exciting, Reeve shows a real understanding of the balance of action and drama.

4. Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman was everything I wanted to see from the DC film universe. Wonder Woman is hopeful and filled with excitement. It was a bright spot for Super-Hero films in general, the DC Cinematic Universe quite specifically.

5. Get Out
Jordan Peele, best known as part of the comedy duo Key and Peele, wrote and directed this smart dark social satire thriller that skewers liberal attitudes towards black Americans. It has great writing and some really good performances.

6. The Big Sick
A wonderful and personal story from husband and wife creative team Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, the Big Sick mines humor and heartbreak from their real life experience. In what seems like the ultimate Rom Com movie plot, Emily had fallen into a coma early in their relationship. The Big Sick does not approach this from a glossy sense of “isn’t it romantic”. It is messy and gut wrenching at times. It is also endearing and joyful. They explore the issues of cultural differences, the pressures those can bring on relationships. Really, the Big Sick is a wonderful little movie.

7. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Unexpectedly one of the most controversial films of the year… and one of the rare reversals for Star Wars where the critics largely love it, while the general audience is more sharply divided…The Last Jedi is kind of the Unforgiven of Star Wars. It also has one of Mark Hamill’s best live action performances ever.

8. Atomic Blonde
This film was not what was advertised. This is not a James Bond Spy Action flick. This is an Espionage Thriller, and a very, very good one at that.

9. Edge of Seventeen
I thought this was a real good “coming of age” film, full of wit and heart.

10. It
It (Chapter One) is a pretty solid fright film. Dramatic with some of the strongest kid actor performances I have seen in a long time, this was a real intense scare film and one of the best adaptions of King to date.

11. Logan Lucky
I suppose this is really just “White Trash Ocean’s Eleven”…but it is full of great performances, and held together emotionally by Channing Tatum and young Farrah Mackenzie. Really, this was a lot of fun.

12. Baby Driver
Baby Driver is not a deep film. It is not even all that emotionally engaging. It is the simple story of a getaway driver trying to get out of his job for the girl he loves. But Edgar Wright does not give the film any such pretense of being more than just a really good noir action flick with a killer soundtrack.

13. Thor: Ragnarok
Ragnarok is a lot of fun. I simply had a terrific amount of fun. The Hulk has evolved, Cate Blanchett’s Hela is a good villain and Taika Waititi managed what seemed to be looking impossible…a Thor film that rose above, “I guess it was okay.”

14. Spider-Man: Homecoming
Sam Raimi had a decent run with Spider-Man, but ended on a flawed note. Marc Webb made Spider-Man films with some good points, but still did not quite connect for audiences. Sony’s deal with Marvel to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe paid off. Skipping over the origin story, we get a Spider-Man months into his role. Peter Parker wants to be an A-List Super-Hero badly, but he is stuck on a neighborhood level, and his connections to Tony Stark are not boosting him forward like he hoped. Between good arcs for both Spider-Man and his nemesis the Vulture, I am excited to see where Peter goes next.

Honorable Mentions:

John Wick 2. Somehow, these John Wick movies have me wanting to see more. I mean, they are really enjoyable. Kong: Skull Island was fun, much in the same way as Baby Driver. A Cure For Wellness was just such a weird film, but I really liked it. Also really enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy 2. While not perfect, it is a lot of fun.

January 2, 2018 1

Nothing But Star Wars: Episode Zero

Starting today, I am going to explore the Star Wars films. This will not be strict reviews. Instead, they are more “critical essays”. I will go through each of the films. I already have reviewed The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi. So those won’t focus on the reviews, as opposed to more express my thoughts without fear of spoiling the films. Specifically, my feelings on themes and the like.

So, if you have not scene the Star Wars films and are super concerned about spoilers of the franchise? You will want to avoid the “Nothing But Star Wars” Series. Oh, and I will be going in the release order, so today begins with…

December 19, 2017 0

Flights of Fantasy

Well, October has come to a close and now we begin with a new month. November will be dedicated to…the films of fantasy!

Thetis_Achilles — Thetis brings the arms forged by Vulcan to Achilles. 1866. Alexandre Georges Henri Regnault

Greek myths! Magical pirates! Wizards! Boy Wizards! Dragons! Warriors! We will look at films such as the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, the Clash of the Titans and Pirates of the Caribbean among others. Enjoy the month of November and the flights of fancy!

November 1, 2017 0

October: The Dead, Martians and Atomic Brains

Welcome to the month of October. As with every year, it will be scary movies all month. Themes for this month include the films of George A. Romero and Tobe Hooper.

I had started doing a zombie theme for the month, but the death of Romero in July prompted an exploration of his films, as I really had only seen a few. And I had not seen some key parts of his older work, so it was interesting to take a look at films like Martin and Season of the Witch (one I find myself generally thrilled with and the other…well…).

Only a month later, Hooper passed. Now, I have covered a few Tobe Hooper films in the past so I will not be creating new entries for those. For Lifeforce, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and the Funhouse…click the links). I confess Hooper’s films start to take a sharp turn after the Mangler (which is more a crazy mess than a classic). I am going to also include his Masters of Horror episodes Dance of the Dead (which seems like it would be a Romero title for a zombie movie set at a rave, oh wait, that was one of the Return of the Living Dead films) and the Damned Thing.

Also, later this month, I will be going through the entire filmography of Christopher R. Mihm, a local Minnesota filmmaker. He has a new movie coming out this month, the Demon with the Atomic Brain. His films are loving odes to the horror and sci-fi films of the fifties and sixties. His Mihmicerse is populated with ghosts, mutant animals, and Nazi Killing Weresquitos. I will expound more as we get to the films later this month.

Hope you have as much fun reading these as I have had writing them.

October 1, 2017 0

Ain’t It Cool…No It Ain’t

So, about a year ago, a semi-popular geek movie critic named Devin Faraci was accused of some pretty serious sexual harassment. He had some deep ties in the Austin Film Community and was a pretty big part of the Alamo Drafthouse. This stung for a lot of people, as Faraci did tend to express progressive ideals. He disassociated from his duties with the Alamo Drafthouse and stepped away from the film community. While he stated he had no memory of the incident, he did not deny it could be true and did not call his accuser a liar. It seemed like the resolution would be peaceable.

A couple months ago, it was revealed that Faraci had actually started quietly working for the Alamo Drafthouse again. Tim League spoke a lot about second chances, but this was all coming a bit late and frankly felt a bit dishonest. It appeared that he had started back rather soon after his public departure. And then this week?

The Austin Film Scene and Geek Movies lovers were given another shock. Indiewire uploaded this article detailing sexual harassment and assault by Harry Knowles by Kate Erbland and Dana Harris. If you are wondering exactly who Knowles is…well, for that we need to go a little farther back.

1200px-Harry_Knowles_by_Gage_Skidmore — picture by Gage Skidmore

Harry started Ain’t It Cool News back in the late 90’s. It was a geek website focused mainly on movies. They trafficked in rumors, news and reviews. They got so big, Knowles was courted by studios for approval (even getting cameos in movies) and even appeared on Roger Ebert’s shows. His writers went on to be popular in their own right. Harry had a film festival called Buttnumb-a-thon which was a weekend people would pay to get to sit and watch a bunch of highly anticipated films. Harry was seen as a guy who could help or hinder your career. You can see where this might be leading right?

Throughout this time, young women have quietly told friends of experiences with Harry. He could be, to be generous, “handsy”. And often, he would get a benefit of the doubt, maybe it was an accident. I suspect most women can tell an accidental brushing of their butt or a breast, women will often give it a benefit of the doubt. And there are guys more than willing to take advantage of this. And in the geek community, there is a heavy reliance on the idea of the “Socially Awkward Geek.” He just does not know any better. He is awkward with women. He means well. Film writer The Blair Bitch shared this text she received from Harry:

Look at the time stamp. That was this year. Harry is 46 years old and should be more than old enough to have learned that this is not “proper” interaction. That is not socially awkward. It is creepy.

Now, to be honest, I knew who Harry was…but I never read much of the AICN site. I tried…but I found it painfully hard on the eyes. I thought the design was just terrible. So I rarely read a lot of it. If I did go, I was looking for something specific, not to wander the site. One thing I really had never done? Read Harry’s reviews. Film blogger and critic Scott Weinberg took a pretty firm stand with the women Knowles assaulted and harassed. He has started looking back at Harry’s reviews. And they are…well…telling.

There were more creepy reviews. How did this guy get on people’s radar? His writing is terrible. Someone claimed that at least it is not boring. But his work is actually really dull. Contemplating why mutant Hillbillies don’t rape the pretty actress is not interesting writing!

Between the multiple women, the creepy reviews and the creepy texts, it all paints a pretty disturbing picture. The reviews alone should have kept him from the mainstream.

My main hope here is that the the fallout is women not feeling they have to accept mistreatment to get ahead. That harassment and assault are not things they must just put on a brave face for if they want to advance in the film geek world. But judging from some folks rush to stand behind people like Harry (and Victor Salva, a child rapist whose latest film is about to hit theaters) this is still something a ways off.

September 30, 2017 0

You Gotta Go

It is a very common movie tactic to have the couple whose relationship has collapsed. One has moved on, and one, usually our main character, has not. They are frustrated, even bitter, about how things have turned out. But it really about regrets. They still love their ex and would be back with them in a flash. But of course, the person who moved on is now in a relationship. And so screenwriters have a problem…how to get the person out of the way before the stories end. And outside of romantic comedies, the solution can often be…um..drastic.

I am about to spoil the crap out of the movie San Andreas.

In San Andreas, Dwayne Johnson’s Ray Gaines and his wife fell apart after the death of one of their daughters. This has led to Carla Cugino’s Emma having moved on with Ioan Gruffudd’s Daniel Riddick. And of course, their daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) is caught in between. You know that the film wants to get Ray and Emma back together. But they do not have time for the two to have a mature discussion and then an amicable breakup with Daniel. Instead, the film knows what must be done. Daniel must die.

This happens repeatedly in films. Bait. 2012. The Fate of the Furious (sort of). This is a quick and easy way to resolve the problem. Now, in some cases, such as Bait, the person killed gets to be heroic. Which, I guess is nice.

But it is just as likely to be rather unceremonious. In the aforementioned San Andreas, Daniel is with Blake when a massive earthquake collapses a beam on their car. Blake is trapped and Daniel promises he will get help. Except, he basically runs off screaming. In fact, Daniel is repeatedly shown to be cruel and cowardly right up until his death. Up until the point he leaves Blake, he had come across as a pretty decent and nice guy. He was kind to Blake and was clearly into having a good relationship with Emma.

But here is the thing. He is a romantic rival. And he is physically positioned in an opposition to the Rock. While Johnson is large and muscular, Gruffudd is a slighter frame. He works in an office, he is not physically imposing or tough. And this is kind of coded to suggest he is a weak opposition who needs to be swept aside. Making him a vile coward who leaves her daughter to die, while she rushes to find Blake with Ray allows for her to first be angry and then forget about Daniel entirely.

This type of flourish tends to be unnecessary. In the case of San Andreas, you could have made a far better dramatic moment of Daniel running to the door, calling for help and the Ben and Ollie characters seeing him. They race to the door and Daniel returns to the car to start trying to get Blake out. Daniel, Ben, and Ollie work to get Blake’s leg’s free. As they are getting her out, Daniel realizes that for her to successfully get free, he will have to stay in a position that will result in his death. Saving Blake is what he sees as important, and to the horror of the other three, Daniel allows himself to be crushed for their survival.

The fact is, none of Daniel’s later scenes add anything to the film. So you do not lose anything. And he is an entirely unnecessary villain. Natural Disaster stories do not inherently require a human villain.

It seems like the main reason such choices are made are that a romantic rival is made to be not just an impediment to the hero’s romantic situation, but a threat to (most often) their masculinity. And this is where things get to be troubling. The need to make a villain out of the rival to the extent that they are a legit villain before they are killed is a troubling attitude to perpetuate. Killing off a character to make a romatic connection happen is pretty lazy story telling.

September 19, 2017 0

Lost to An Alternate Universe?

So, the day Sony and Disney drop the new Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer (which was met with a pretty positive response) producer Amy Pascal drops the bomb.

One of the things that I think is so amazing about this experience is that you don’t have studios deciding to work together to make a film very often.

In fact, it may never happen again–after we do the sequel.

It appears Sony is hoping to pull Peter back into their fold-out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We probably should have seen this coming, after Sony announced plans for their own Spider-Verse, starting with an ‘R’ rated Venom movie. Sony and Pascal seem to be misreading this situation.

Sony had some success in 2002 and 2004 with the Spider-Man franchise when it was headed by Sam Raimi. But after the mess of Spider-Man 3 and then a somewhat lackluster reboot…Sony was floundering. They made the deal with Disney after the big hack two years ago humiliated the studio.

Marvel Studios, on the other hand, won praise for Peter Parker’s appearance in Captain America: Civil War. The previous incarnations of Spider-Man tended to get aspects right, but Marvel’s team pretty much got it all right.

And I suspect that everything that looks so good about Spider-Man: Homecoming is from the Marvel Studio’s side. Backing out and taking him out after the next sequel and Avengers: Infinity War would be a mistake. Sony will, no doubt, mess up their progress. To remove him from the MCU just to start their own Marvel Universe? Not a wise decision.

If Sony insists on starting their own Spider-Verse. I propose the following…

Leave Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper. Let Marvel continue to handle him. Instead, create your Sony MCU around Miles Morales from Ultimate Spider-Man. Sony can double their money and have their alternate Spider-Man themed MCU. And fans get to see Spider-Man remain in the MCU.

March 29, 2017 0

15 Years

September 11, 2016 2

Comic Book Movies Are The End of Movies

I will be honest…I find this claim a bit dubious. Not because there is zero truth to it. But the headline lays the lack of staying power. Hollywood has relied heavy on genre before and movies survived. For one, westerns did not kill the industry. And they ruled for a long time.

But as the article notes, lots of movies from multiple genres are facing massive declines in their second and third weeks. The continued reliance on blaming comic book movies (or more specifically Super-Hero movies…after all, Road to Perdition and a History of Violence are comic book movies) for Hollywood’s ills is a bit overstating things.

There are less than ten super-hero films a year (usually less than five, but there is a year coming up with eight or nine on the slate). There are over a hundred films released every year. Super-hero films are not even ten percent of the films released each year. I have mentioned all this before. I think the article is right in the reference to all the choices cannibalizing each other.

I confess, there is one thing I wish Marvel Studios would do. Marvel has a large catalog of material. They are saturating their own market with such big movies, they are not planning for what will happen when super-hero films just won’t make money. Marvel Studios has a real concern there than DC does not have. DC is just part of the WB…they have other options.

Marvel’s sole option right now is their cinematic universe. Marvel Studios can, and should start considering making smaller movies…films not aimed at the blockbuster. Both in their cinematic universe and outside of it.

Marvel needs to look to the future if they want to succeed past 2020. They need to look into stuff they own that is not super-heroes. Fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers, adventures,espionage, comedy, family fare. Marvel has all sorts of options beyond their Cinematic Universe. They need to take the risk and see if they can succeed without the MCU. They took risks with Ant-Man and Guardians and now Doctor Strange. Now Kevin Feige and his team need to see if they can work their magic beyond super-heroes.

September 10, 2016 1

Generation Clash

So, a hashtag is trending currently called #Howtoconfuseamillennial. It has things like pictures of rotary phones, claims about not writing with pen and paper and so on. But the one that really cracked me up was this one:

Yes folks. Audrey Hepburn never used Snapchat to advance her career. Lauren Bacall never used Twitter. And Marilyn Monroe? She never had an Instagram account. You know why?

Because none of those existed when they were around. This is not rocket science. The only reason celebrities did not use social media is because it (and the internet) did not exist when they were alive. This is not proof that they would not have. Hepburn was tied with style. You really think it is out of the realm of likelihood that Audrey would not have an Instagram account? I bet the Duke would have a Twitter account…he was not afraid to speak his mind.

To be honest, I tire of every generation’s desire to put down the one that came before. It is utterly petty and childish. It also is just not true. Every generation has it’s idiots and fools. Millennials do not have a premium on this. My generation has plenty. The generation before mine had plenty. Even the “Greatest Generation” had plenty. The Greatest Generation was totally cool with rounding up Americans and putting them into internment camps. War is not an excuse for stupidity.

Previous generations happily owned slaves. Previous generations worked to commit genocide against Native Americans. In today’s culture, in spite of claims that being called a racist is terrible, a lot of people are comfortably racist, and their family members act like it is just a personality quirk. Every generation has it’s problems. Every generation also has it’s positives. If you can only see the negatives of the generations that came after you? You need an attitude adjustment.

And frankly? If you take more issue with someone never having used a rotary phone than someone being a racist? You are an idiot.

September 4, 2016 0