Strictly Surprises

Three posts in a day? Never since 2011! But today is an occasion. First, me being back on this blog deserves two posts and another post is about the Oscars! First things first, can we all agree how boring this year's announcement is? I like watching them read it out live and in person while also hearing the press' gasps and cheers. Let's just put the blame on the Academy president who misread Dick Pope as Dick Poop a couple of years ago.

So what are the surprises/snubs today?

Guess who's lazy to edit stills from Florence Foster Jenkins and Arrival?

- Meryl Streep scoring a courtesy nod for Best Actress, this should go to Amy Adams for Arrival. These courtesy nods should stop.
- But Ruth Negga for Loving is a welcome, I was actually expecting more buzz on Loving but this will do just fine.
- Suicide Squad and Passengers scoring nominations! Even multiple noms for Passengers!
- Also 13 Hours and Deepwater Horizon got noms but these two caused cringes rather than wows. I couldn't care less about sound mixing because I don't get it but surely there are better films to score a nod for Best Visual Effects than Deepwater Horizon.

- Now that The Lobster is nominated for original screenplay, I want it to win badly. I don't care if it beats La La Land. Now that I think of it, The Lobster is the most original among the bunch by a large margin.
- A snub in animated film is definitely the Japanese smash hit, Your Name which is way better than any of the noms.
- Sad to see that Pablo Larrain is robbed in anything. No love for Jackie or Neruda for him. At least Jackie received two noms.

- I really like that Allied is nominated in costume design, because if I should choose one thing that stands out for that film, is the costumes particularly the ones worn by Marion Cotillard.
- Loving the love for Arrival! Denis Villeneuve and Bradford Young earned their noms so badly.
- Another cringe is Justin Timberlake's nomination for Best Song which I presume is a business decision to get people watching the broadcast. This is just like The Weeknd last year. Also, JT's song was named worst of the year by TIME. Put that on the 'For Your Consideration' ads.

Even Liam Neeson is gobsmacked by Silence's silence at the Oscars

- Also sad to see Scorsese's Silence given the cold reception by the Academy. At least it is nominated for one.
- Cheers to Mel Gibson's comeback through Hacksaw Ridge!
- In conclusion, this year's race belongs to La La Land with possible upsets from Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea and Arrival. 


I will be back for predictions some time later!

The Annual Watch List of 2017

23 days late for the tradition. I started this year watching Notting Hill rerun on TV but then saw Arrival on cinemas, nice film to start the year, right? (or nice film to start the year right--do you get this?). I removed some films from January that have been on release, but not that many because most are crap anyways (I only removed Live By Night). You know the drill: bold titles mean must-watches and unmarked means it's optional. I just copied and pasted and paraphrased that last sentence, because plagiarizing your own work is totally acceptable (and at least I owned it).

JANUARY

Split Anya Taylor-Joy, James McAvoy, M. Night Shyamalan (director)

FEBRUARY

The Lego Batman Movie Will Arnett, Ralph Fiennes, Chris McKay (director)

John Wick Chapter 2 Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Chad Stadhelski (director)

Get Out Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Jordan Peele (director)

Tulip Fever Alicia Vikander, Christoph Waltz, Justin Chadwick (director)

A Cure For Wellness Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Gore Verbinski (director)

MARCH

Logan Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, James Mangold (director)

T2: Trainspotting Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Danny Boyle (director)

Kong: Skull Island Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Jordan Vogt-Roberts (director)

Beauty and the Beast Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Bill Condon (director)

Ghost in the Shell Scarlett Johansson, Michael Pitt, Rupert Sanders (director)

Free Fire Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Ben Wheatley (director)

Power Rangers Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks, Dean Israelite (director)

Table 19 Anna Kendrick, Tony Revolori, Jeffrey Blitz (director)

APRIL

The Fate of the Furious Vin Diesel, Charlize Theron, F. Gary Gray (director)

The Circle Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, James Ponsoldt (director)

Colossal Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Nacho Vigalondo (director)

Gifted Chris Evans, Jenny Slate, Marc Webb (director)

MAY

Alien: Covenant Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Ridley Scott (director)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, James Gunn (director)

Pirates of the Caribbean V Johnny Depp, Joachim Ronning & Espen Sandberg (directors)

Baywatch Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Seth Gordon (director)

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Guy Ritchie (director)

JUNE

Wonder Woman Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Patty Jenkins (director)

The Mummy Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Alex Kurtzman (director)

Transformers: The Last Knight Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Michael Bay (director)

The Beguiled Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Sofia Coppola (director)

JULY

Dunkirk Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Christopher Nolan (director)

Spider-Man: Homecoming Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Jon Watts (director)

The Dark Tower Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Nikolaj Arcel (director)

War of the Planet of the Apes Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Matt Reeves (director)

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Dane DeHaan, Luc Besson (director)

The Coldest City Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, David Leitch (director)

AUGUST

Baby Driver Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Edgar Wright (director)

All I See Is You Blake Lively, Jason Clarke, Marc Forster (director)

The Hitman's Bodyguard Ryan Reynolds, Gary Oldman, Patrick Hughes (director)

SEPTEMBER

American Made Tom Cruise, Domnhall Gleeson, Doug Liman (director)

Granite Mountain Taylor Kitsch, Miles Teller, Joseph Kosinski (director)

Flatliners Diego Luna, Ellen Page, Niels Arden Oplev (director)

OCTOBER

Blade Runner 2049 Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Denis Villeneuve (director)

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Matthew Vaughn (director)

God Particle Daniel Bruhl, Elizabeth Debicki, Julius Onah (director)

Logan Lucky Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Steven Soderbergh (director)

The Snowman Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Tomas Alfredson (director)

Insidious: Chapter 4 Not Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne or James Wan.

Geostorm Gerard Butler, Ed Harris, Dean Devlin (director)

NOVEMBER

Justice League Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Zack Snyder (director)

Thor: Ragnarok Chris Hemsworth, Cate Blanchett, Taika Waititi (director)

Murder on the Orient Express Johnny Depp, Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh (director)

Red Sparrow Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Francis Lawrence (director)

Coco Pixar original!

Darkest Hour Gary Oldman, Ben Mendelsohn, Joe Wright (director)

DECEMBER

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Rian Johnson (director)

Downsizing Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Alexander Payne (director)

The Greatest Showman Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michael Gracey (director)

Jumanji Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Jake Kasdan (director)

Pitch Perfect 3 Anna Kendrick, Hailee Steinfeld, Trish Sie (director)

UNDATED

Annihilation Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Alex Garland (director)

Okja Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bong Joon-ho (director)

Wind River Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Taylor Sheridan (director)

Terminal Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg, Vaughn Stein (director)

Another packed year of movie going, 61 titles total and that doesn't include those Oscar baits at the end of the year. Last year I put duds in my top 10 anticipated films like Jason Bourne, X-Men Apocalypse and Assassin's Creed, which I haven't even watched. Based on RottenTomatoes, I put 7 films with rotten scores on my top 10 list, and enjoyed at least three of those rotten films. To my defense, no one could've predicted Passengers would snooze people off at the films or how disappointing the two DCEU films turned out. From the 66 films I listed, I saw 45 of them, while three of those were either bumped or never made (this distinct title goes to Gambit).

Before going to the top 10, honorable mentions goes to Kenneth Branagh's Murder on the Orient Express, Edgar Wright's Baby Driver and also another thriller from J.J. Abrams (God Particle). I'm intrigued with those but I need trailers. Joe Wright has a new film but he gotta earn our trust again after Pan. Also, Soderbergh's come out of retirement to no surprise, but comedies are tricky even for Soderbergh. As for MCU films, I need something new, Doctor Strange was good but that's it. We need something new. Here are this year's top 10, my version:

10. Ghost in the Shell - Initially not interested, but that trailer tho.

9. Kong: Skull Island - Badass cast, badass trailer, hoping for a badass film

8. Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Feeling that SW fatigue already but still excited

7. Logan - We all need a different kind of superhero pic, don't we?

6. Justice League - Hyped but proceeding with caution.

5. Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Loved the first one too much

4. Alien: Covenant - I'm one of few who loved Prometheus

3. Blade Runner 2049 - Villeneuve! Gosling! Deakins!

2. Wonder Woman - Please be good, please be good

1. Dunkirk - I'm one of them Nolan fanboys

With A Vengeance!

It has been too long. YES. TOO LONG. It's a crime to miss four months. And my 2016 posts are less than my posts in 2011 when I restarted this blog. Even more so, I even missed my annual movie watchlist for this year and it's a tradition that has been running since 2009--for 8 years!! (worry not, it's still coming). To start off the blog in this new year, let's just start with a few quick reviews.

La La Land
Watched this twice already and just in love with the music, production design, actors; almost everything. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling is just the best on-screen couple nowadays. It is so easy to be in love with this film and also it is easy to hate it/nitpick it. Reading it from a different angle it has all the stuff that anyone can nitpick (mansplaining, whitesplaining you name it). But to me my biggest complaint about this film is that the film strictly homages to musicals of yore but never making itself a fully fledged musical. Sure it has big numbers and non-stop songs, but only until the middle of the film. Nevertheless, still a great film to be watched for the years to come. And don't you just envy Damien Chazelle? His first theatrical film was a dark horse Oscar contender and won some, his second is now an Oscar frontrunner and will definitely win some. La La Land: rated 3.5/4.

Arrival
Denis Villeneuve might be one of those few import directors who just killed it in Hollywood. With one Villeneuve we also have like five Florian von Donnersmarck (who I thought, in his defense, made a highly enjoyable The Tourist). His films have a subtle trademark with their long slow pans and wide perspectives. Arrival is my favourite of his, and that just shows how he developed all these years from Prisoners (my least favorite), Enemy, and Sicario. Amy Adams had a commanding role in this film and the supporting actors don't disappoint at all, especially the very underrated Michael Stuhlbarg. Music, courtesy of The Theory of Everything composer Johann Johannson, is crazy good and it adds a different layer to the film (check out Heptapod B on YouTube). And goddamn, the cinematography in this film is so good. I actually checked out Pawn Sacrifice after watching Arrival just to see Bradford Young's work. If it were up to me, Oscars for Best Actress and Best Cinematography is a lock for win. Screenplay deserved a nod but not a win, thanks to those few lines of cheesiness at the end. Arrival: rated 4/4.

Live By Night
Probably the inherent drive to watch this film is because Ben Affleck is Batman and he's going to write and direct the Batman film. Live By Night is, of course, a step down from his previous directorial efforts. My favorite of Affleck is still The Town, because I thought Argo was too much of a Hollywood self-pat in the back, so I was quite excited to see him back in the outlaw/gangster business. The film itself is beautiful to see and has great production design and costume. But adapting from a book is never easy and those films always risked of underdeveloping supporting characters, most felt here is Zoe Saldana and Sienna Miller's and they didn't deserve to be underdeveloped. Ben Affleck himself is quite good in this film (I still mentally comparing him to his Daredevil days because I watched that film too much on TV), but the best part of this film is Chris Messina and Elle Fanning, now I have to see The Neon Demon. If anything, Live By Night should be an exercise in genre and in writing for Ben Affleck, before he unleashes his superhero pic that could enrage a certain group of stupid nerds if done even a bit wrong. Live By Night: rated 3/4.

The Great Wall
There's quite a lot to be excited about this film actually. Director Zhang Yimou is one of China's best and teaming up with Matt Damon for an epic colossal fantasy pic. Sadly, not so much. Is it just me or did I expected Matt Damon and some colorful Chinese army battles a big giant monster? Because first, the monsters are not that impressive. Second, CGI looks like it comes out of a Chinese film (because... this is a Chinese film now that Legendary is bought by Wanda Dalian), but seriously, it should be a lot better. There are some bright spots scattered throughout the film, but mostly nought. I almost fell asleep in the final battle but one thing for sure, that Jing Tian girl cannot act, she was just spouting lines. The film's crime is not whitewashing on the actors' side, but whitewashing from the script. The opening text states that the film was one of the legends from The Great Wall of China but guess what? The story and screenplay was written by at least four white people. And guys, at least name your controversies right if you want to talk about Matt Damon's character, this film suffers from 'white saviour complex', not whitewashing. The film felt very much like a corporate film, casting local popstars instead of local actors, hiring big name director just for the name, and hiring a familiar, likable and somewhat bankable Hollywood actor in the lead. I feel like Matt Damon would not even show up for a cameo had this film was funded fully by a Hollywood studio. But thank this film for giving Pedro Pascal the exposure he should have by now. The Great Wall: rated 1.5/4.

Pretty good for a comeback right? Up next is the annual watch list and some Oscars predictions as soon as the noms dropped tonight.