Movie and a Poster #5: The Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Overall, I think The Maze Runner series is an above average action trilogy.

I thought the first one was surprisingly good, neither of the sequels really hit the originality and cool vibe of that one for me. The sequels are totally fine and even have a few surprises but are far more traditional action. Lot's of guns, lot's of explosions (pretty much the whole last 1/3 of this final movie is the final boss battle and that gets a little exhausting). Great world-building, give those effects people a raise!

The acting is decent from everyone all the way through, Rosa Salazar was a surprise, commanding presence on screen (no idea what she's done before). There's a few funny bits but it's nowhere near over the top, which is good.

So if you liked the first two, you'll probably like this one. If you haven't seen the other ones, you won't really know what's going on.

Movie and a Poster #4: The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water is an excellent movie. If this had come out last year it may have topped my best of list, certainly would have been in my top three. Brutally real at times and surreally beautiful at others.

This is Guillermo del toro at the top of his game.

I don't buy digital movies, I might buy this one when it comes out.

Movie and a Poster #3: Darkest Hour

Movie and a Poster continues with #3... Darkest Hour.

I feel like making a movie about real life war is kind of cheating. You start on second base because it represents authentic life or death decisions of history. The drama is built into the reality of it. That said, Gary Oldman was amazing.

There's something about British historical films that read more "real" to me in movies (and tv for that matter). Maybe because I'm more familiar with US history and I see the stagecraft more on film? Not sure. There's not a single moment in this movie that feels like actors on a sound stage. The film is just a couple shades off black and white which also adds to it's believability somehow.

I know it's really, really early in the new year to talk about next years Oscars but if Gary Oldman doesn't get a nomination next year for his Winston Churchill there is no justice in the world. He completely disappears into the role.

Movie and a Poster #2: Molly's Game

Movie and a Poster 2018 continues with Molly's Game. 

I was only vaguely familiar with the premise so went into it with no preconceptions of the outcome and I really enjoyed this one! Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba are great. They absolutely command your attention when on the screen.

The story unfolds well and deliberately (how very Aaron Sorkin). Sorkin's directing debut was good, not mind-blowing but good. Pretty standard act/react back and forth with one or two cool shots mixed in.

So far a much better movie start to this year over last. : )

2017 Year of Movies in Review (Complete)

Here's a final list of all the movies I saw in theaters last year. 39 movies. A little less than I was hoping for but February and April were pretty weak movie months if I remember right. (Disclaimer: This is not a list best to worst, as much as it's a list of what I enjoyed to most to least. So a good movie might be towards the bottom but for whatever reason I just didn't enjoy it. Totally subjective list. If that makes any sense). 

My favorite movies last year was Hidden Figures. So well acted, directed, and a story I was not familiar with until this movie came out (and I've always loved space/nasa stuff).

My least favorite was Transformers: The Last Knight. Not necessarily the worst movie of the year but my beef is with how unoriginal it was (and the series is as a whole). How much did they spend to make this nearly 3 hour load of special effects and noise? Seems like such a waste of everyone's time and effort. The whole series could be so much more. 

1 Hidden Figures
2 Wonder Woman
3 Thor: Ragnarok
4 Star Wars: The Last Jedi
5 Logan
6 Bladerunner 2049
7 Three Billboards
8 Guardians of the Galaxy 2
9 Spider-Man: Homecoming
10 La La Land
11 Lady Bird
12 The Lego Batman Movie
13 lT
14 Victoria & Abdul
15 Baby Driver
16 War for the Planet of the Apes
17 American Made
18 Atomic Blonde
19 The Founder
20 John Wick 2
21 The Foreigner
22 Justice League
23 Happy Death Day
24 Going in Style
25 Murder on the Orient Express
26 Ghost in the Shell
27 Kong: Skull Island
28 Alien: Covenant
29 Kingsman: The Golden Circle
30 Valerian: City of 1000 Planets
31 The Dark Tower
32 Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
33 Beauty and the Beast
34 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
35 Passengers
36 Underworld: Blood Wars
37 Resident Evil The Final Chapter
38 Just Getting Started
39 Transformers: The Last Knight

Movie and a Poster 2018 #1: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

So begins my second "Year of Movies". This year I'm renaming (Now "Movie and a Poster Reviews") and adding an extra element to my reviews, original poster designs by me for each movie I see!

The very first movie I watched this year actually came out in 2017 (barely) but I didn't go see it till 2018 so I'm counting it. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Pretty good! At least much better than I expected. I'm not as much of a Rock fan as most people but I do think he's entertaining more often than not and he's his usual Rock self in this. Which was totally fine. Kevin Hart is funny though some of his lines get old pretty quickly. I liked Karen Gillan's character quite a bit and this is probably the best thing I've seen Jack Black in since School of Rock.

I actually would have liked to have seen more video game mechanics incorporated into the story. I mean, if you're going to do it, go all in. Overall, a good, fun, popcorn movie, and I think a worthy successor to the original.