Movieman's Guide to the Movies
The Final Word on Physical Media
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword actually isn’t a terrible movie and yet, a couple problems: 1. There really is a need for yet another adaptation, even one that incorporates more mystical elements, 2. Guy Ritchie’s style doesn’t quite gel with the material and 3. Charlie Hunnam doesn’t nearly have enough charisma to carry this movie.
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I can’t stress at how much I loathed Song to Song. I’ve seen plenty of bad movies, but none of them have had me in so much pain to sit through since, well, Malick’s To the Wonder, with only a few very minor redeeming values with the performances by a talented cast.
I’d say Ghost in the Shell was one of the bigger disappointments of 2017 but considering what I had been seeing before its release, including the director, expectations were vastly lowered and it was pretty much matched. No, it’s not horrible but in trying to satisfy fans and the general audience, the studio failed at both.
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Kong: Skull Island isn’t perfect but still fun and entertaining enough with director Vogt-Roberts intermixing monster movie with a Vietnam-era war picture and even the human characters weren’t bad, if not thinly written at times while Kong himself does show a bit of personality and his CGI was pretty good.
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Smurfs: The Lost Village isn’t a very good movie but being aimed at younger audiences, and I suppose Smurfs purists, it’s fine a time-waster and at least does have a nice message to it.
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The Fate of the Furious is a perfectly fine entry into the now long-running franchise that doesn’t really show signs of slowing down. The action scenes are well done and although none of the acting, or dialogue for that matter, will impress, I still found myself relatively entertained.
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Léon: The Professional is a masterpiece of work from Luc Besson and is easily my favorite and most emotion-filled film to date. The performances by Jean Reno (who deserved an Oscar nomination), Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman were all fantastic in their own distinctive ways.
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The Fifth Element is a mixed bag of a film with some great flare and style but then you add in Chris Tucker and his obnoxious character to balance all that good out. On the plus side, Gary Oldman, as outlandish as his character is, is a lot of fun to watch and Milla Jovovich provides a nice spark.
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A solid improvement over Rise, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has director Matt Reeves taking the franchise to the next level providing some well written and finely directed scenes.
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Rise of the Planet of the Apes isn’t perfect but it is a fine way to reboot the series with a new trilogy, especially after the disastrous Tim Burton version. This addition actually gives the apes more character which will be furthered in the sequel.
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Life was one of the bigger disappointments for me this year with a respectable cast and interesting, if not familiar, story that clearly took cues from Ridley Scott’s Alien. But while the execution was okay, though I didn’t find anything all that’s suspenseful, the script was a mess and perhaps a good re-write could’ve made a difference.
The Lego® Batman Movie does have some funny moments and great scenes with inside jokes for any Batman fan out there. The downside is the plot is rather thin but the message is one that kids and adults could get something out of while the jokes do run a bit dry and the film could’ve been cut down.
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Dredd is an amazing sci-fi action/thriller that seems to finally get the character right. The action is incredible, the visual effect top notch and Karl Urban, given very little to work with, is effective in the title role.
Ex Machina is one of the better surprises of 2015 with a well told story taking a subject seen many times before yet giving it that extra layer and giving us three distinguished characters each fleshed out so well.
Unforgiven is probably one of the best westerns ever made and it’s a movie that transcends audiences so if you’re like me and don’t normally watch those kinds of movies, give this one a shot: it features fine performances, fine direction and a story that is compelling from beginning to end.