Movie and a Poster 2018 #15: A Quiet Place.

Movie and a Poster 2018 #15: A Quiet Place.

Just saw A Quiet Place. Really good! I’m a huge fan of minimal dialogue in stories and this was fantastic. I looked at the time once and an hour and a half had gone by! I was totally into it.

Creature design was excellent. Only a couple parts that made me think "mmmm, that's kinda unbelievable" but they didn't really detract from the overall experience too much. 

Very impressed with John K’s directing too. A few good scares, LOT’s of emotional tension, not quite as good as The Shape of Water for me but surprisingly up there.

I started out with a much more complicated poster and just kept removing elements till I got down to this. 

Movie and a Poster 2018 #14: Ready Player One.

Movie and a Poster 2018 #14: Ready Player One (I've been a little lax in postings lately so that's why you're getting a whole lot today). 

Never read the book. I liked the movie a lot. Lot's to look at and what else can you expect from Spielberg but good solid storytelling.

Kind of felt like a dated throwback to stories from the 80's, I'm assuming that was on purpose even though it's also Speilberg's natural sense of building a narrative.

Even though I liked it I'm not sure it'll be high on my list at the end of the year. I've already seen some amazing movies this year and although really good, this one didn't really surprise me a whole lot. I know that's kind of like penalizing someone who's good at their job but... well, yeah it probably is. 

For the poster, I hadn't really done any classic minimalist, iconic concepts for poster this year. There's so much going on in this film I thought it was a good excuse to pull back and do something super simple. 

Movie and a Poster 2018 #13: Tomb Raider.

Movie and a Poster 2018 #13: Tomb Raider. 

Not bad. Akin to the James Bond reboot where it's a little more grounded in "reality". Decent story, moved at a good pace, I'll see a sequel if they decide to make one.

I really like how the poster came out for this one. It's a riff on something I did a while ago but I feel that this one works much better. I know I go the the "Skull" iconography a lot but they make so many movies about global genocide!

Movie and a Poster 2018 #12: Pacific Rim: Uprising.

Movie and a Poster 2018 #12: Pacific Rim: Uprising.

After watching it all I could think of were better ways (in my mind at least) to accomplish what I think they were trying to do.

It had a few cool moments but few if any of the iconic visuals that stuck with me from the first one. I feel like they gave away one scene in the previews that would have had a nice impact if I didn't know it was coming (when the 3 Kaiju combine into one mega Kaiju. 

Really missed Del Toro as Director. 

I did like the fact that all the fight scenes were out in the open during the day, that's a nice change from a lot of giant monster movies lately. 

Movie and a Poster 2018 #11: Game Night

Movie and a Poster 2018 #11: Game Night

I thought it was pretty good! Many definite laughs. They also do a great job of bringing story elements around at the end. Not at all believable in the real world sense but that's not really the point with this one.

Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman are great together. 

Most of the movies I've seen so far this year have been more serious, this one hit me just right at the right time. Definitely worth a rental if you missed it in theaters. 

Movie and a Poster 2018 #10: Red Sparrow

Movie and a Poster 2018 #10: Red Sparrow. Some uncomfortable violence (not terribly surprisingly for a spy movie) & a little on the long side, could have used that time more effectively. Overall, decent spy thriller, kept my attention but not a lot I haven't seen before.

Movie and a Poster 2018 #9: Annihilation.

Movie and a Poster 2018 #9: Annihilation.

Not bad. It definitely had some great moments. While I was watching it I was mostly thinking there must be a lot more in the book. Also wasn't a huge fan of the ending.

I really wanted to like it, maybe it will grow on me in the future if I see it again.

Movie and a Poster 2018 #8: Black Panther

Movie and a Poster 2018 #8: Black Panther.

Good movie, overall I was really happy to see a Marvel movie with new faces. I thought the villain was well executed and had more motivation than the typical comic bad guy.

Not perfect, it's a little long and suffers from the classic Marvel cliche of the villain being an evil mirror image of the hero (See Iron Man, Ant Man, and Hulk specifically).

It does get me more excited for Infinity War though!

Movie and a Poster 2018 #7. Winchester

Movie and a Poster 2018 #7. Winchester

Not as bad as I expected given the previous reviews. The dialogue is pretty terrible. The concept is decent and there are little bits that I really liked, overall I think it probably would've made a better Doctor Who episode than a movie.

Movie and a Poster #6: The Post

The Movie: I like watching people that take their jobs seriously and are good at them. Doesn't really matter what it is, Baking, Blacksmithing, Mythbusting, Treasure Hunting, Making Robots, Movie Reviews, if they're passionate about it I'll watch their show.

Watching The Post feels a lot like watching people that are good at their jobs. Good actors, good direction, good dialogue, and on top of all that it's about reporters that are passionate about their jobs and are good at them.

Even though you know the end, I was surprised how invested I was in the outcome by the end of it. Really pulls you in.

I'm 6 for 6 good movies so far this year, that can't possibly last. Hah!

The Poster: I really should have used the White House as the blacked out text but that doesn't scale vertically very well so I went with Congress as a stand-in for "Washington" as a whole.

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.

The Year of Movies Continues...

Started the year with a plan on seeing 52 movies this year. One a week.

Haven't quite kept to that schedule but here is the break down so far. 

I'd say Hidden Figures has been the best told story and Wonder Woman, Logan, Baby Driver, and La La Land were all a lot of fun the watch as well. 

26 IT

25 The Dark Tower

24 Atomic Blonde

23 Valerian: City of 1000 Planets

22 War for the Planet of the Apes

21 Spider-Man: Homecoming

20 Baby Driver

19 Transformers: The Last Knight

18 Wonder Woman

17 Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

16 Alien: Covenant 

15 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

14 Guardians of the Galaxy 2

13 Going in Style

12 Ghost in the Shell

11 Beauty and the Beast

10 Kong: Skull Island

9   Logan

8   Hidden Figures

7   The Lego Batman Movie 

6   John Wick 2

5   Resident Evil The Final Chapter

4   The Founder

3   La La Land

2   Underworld: Blood Wars

1   Passengers

Numericons is a go!

Hi everyone! So I've been super busy getting my latest Kickstarter up and running.

My design has always been somewhat mathematical, ratios, rotations, percentages, there's a LOT of math behind graphic design.

This is the first time I've ever offered the 1 to 100 designs as vectors! And I'm actually offering up TEN different 1-100 sets, that's ONE THOUSAND unique and original designs. There's so much that can be done with these I'm excited to see what people can do with them.

Take a moment to check out my campaign won't you?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/markgonyea/numericons

If you like it, I'd really appreciate your support. Even if it's just sharing the link! That helps too!

Thank You!

Card Game is coming!

Putting the final touches on my latest Kickstarter, which will be my first kickstarter card game!

What I like about it the most is it's simplicity. Each player in the game get's just 3 cards, there's a basic game of course but the possibilities for additional game play is huge.

Part of the campaign will be setting up a web page on my new squarespace site (http://markgonyea.net/) where people can share their own game play rules and changes they've come up with. Or maybe I'll have people send them to me and I'll post?

We'll see, the goal is very low so a good chance it'll at least get funded. Once it's launched I'll come back and add the link here.

Thanks!
Mark

Here's a little sneak peek at it.

Banana for scale.

In about a month my latest book, MONKEY SUIT comes out!

If you know me at all, you know I find repetition very amusing. My concept for this book was a "Monkey Wes Anderson family album". 

Each page being an occupation in front of a "wallpaper" background.

I hope you like it as much as I do!

Check it out on Amazon or search your favorite book buying location.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1576877728