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.

Unlikely Champions

Summer is technically over. Usually I would post a Summer Re-cap post which usually falls on October-ish (blame the weird movie schedules of Japan). I still have Star Trek Beyond and Jason Bourne to go. I intentionally skipped Ghostbusters though. But even right now I can already single out two champions for this summer. For the record, 'summer films' is a really broad term but I'd only like to include the studio films, so sorry Sing Street and other indie gems.

Runner up for the summer,
The Conjuring 2
I remember the first film as a very expertly-crafted piece of horror. However I did not remember it to bring something new and also engaging at the same time. It was good but never great. Nevertheless I'm really excited to see the second installment. And yes The Conjuring 2 delivers. It is far superior than the original while also showcasing James Wan's inimitable expertise on building tension and showing off horror money shots. Wan has so many moments in the film that might be bad in other director's hands. The cast is also great, headed by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the film has child actors better than those guys you see on the overrated Stranger Things. It's a great film and a great time at the movies. The Conjuring 2: rated 3.5/4


Champion of the summer,
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Yes it has a formulaic story but what happens with Popstar: NSNS is that the premise does not grow old. Great premise on comedy films usually makes the film barely standing to the end credits, like The Dictator, This is the End, and so many other films. Popstar is still standing tall and even wanting the audience to have more by the time the credits roll. Props to The Lonely Island crew for making a such engaging mockumentary, complete with 'interviews' with other singers and music industry faces. Andy Samberg is on his A-game here, usually he just comes off as annoying in some films but this is the role he's born to be. The cameos are all unexpected and great. And the songs are just so funny. Conner's 2nd single caught me off guard and I ended up laughing so hard at that sequence. There are so many other great comedic sequences in the film. The film also does not overstay its welcome as it is greatly edited and packed making it, bar none, the most entertaining summer film of the year and the funniest comedy I've seen for so long. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping: rated 4/4


Let's see if Star Trek Beyond could overtake the champion position after I finally watch it on October.
God that's so far away. But I boldly go. (stop. just stop).

Oh My Squad

I went to the Japanese premiere for Suicide Squad! Unplanned, but so happy. Margot Robbie, Will Smith and Karen Fukuhara were there and I was in the same room with them (see the next post for this one). But yes, Suicide Squad. I was so pumped for this film ever since the first Comic-Con preview was released a year ago. The cast looks great and I'm down for a David Ayer superhero pic. Even after the whole bad press on BvS, I'm still looking forward to this film. Then the reviews hit, so I was more cautious with my expectations. BvS was ruined for me because I had overwhelming expectations that the movie could be super great.

The story actually caught me off guard. I was expecting the film to be the Squad vs. the Joker, but then it turned out to be the Squad vs. The Enchantress and her character-wise highly underdeveloped brother Incubus. The Enchantress locked down another DC Comics' fictional city this time Midway City and for some reason Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince were too busy so it's up to the Squad to save the city.

Overall, the film was disappointing because the hype was too much for this film. The great cast was kind of undeserving for a film of this mediocrity (grammatically this sentence was baddd). Let's do the good parts first. Will Smith and Margot Robbie as Deadshot and Harley Quinn respectively were the only reason this film did not suck as it should be. The other characters were also very likable even though they are villains. The standout scene in the film belonged to Harley and Joker's scenes. The energy just lit up everytime they shared the scene. I believe that's it. The other parts were not downright bad but just so-so. Like the dossier sequence at the beginning was nice and fun but it felt like a character featurette you see on YouTube rather than on a finished film. There are so many things that could've worked better. We know Amanda Waller is a mean badass but a few lines and her shooting some random FBI guys don't define her as badass. I feel Viola Davis deserved better. The same goes for Jared Leto as the Joker. His scenes were too lacking, the film wouldn't be a lot different if he did not appear in the film at all.

Then comes the technical parts. The soundtrack felt like it was added randomly. Most particularly the classic songs. It came out of nowhere and didn't fit the visuals. The editing is another part to blame. Especially after hearing the rumors that this version we see in the theatres is a mix between a group of official editors and a trailer editing company. I mean in the main credits John Gilroy was credited but then if I'm not wrong there were another three people. Then comes the issue from the studio. I believe right now Warner Bros. is scratching their heads, like what should they do. I believe right now is to let the filmmakers do what they do. Batman v Superman Ultimate Edition turned out to be massively better without studio notes. And so would Suicide Squad, especially given that they have entrusted the property on a very talented director like David Ayer, even though he still needs some more hits because his films are mostly hits and misses right now (for every Fury we get Sabotage). Fans would still watch these movies but the general audience might give up if they keep on shelling out half-baked films like this. I really want this to have at least mixed reviews though. But this is downright embarrassing for all people involved in this film. Suicide Squad: rated 2/4.

Half Flag

Sorry for being away too long. It has been a crazy two months for me, with writing my thesis, some exams and other stuff. In the last two weeks I only watched one episode of Better Call Saul. That's it. Last month I only saw Money Monster, which was a pretty decent film. And before that I watched The Huntsman: Winter's War, which was mediocre but entertaining (I mean, it's a film with Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron and Jessica Chastain). But just today, I treated myself with Independence Day: Resurgence, allegedly an anticipated sequel to the arguably the best blockbuster of the 90s.

Basically 20 years have passed, the Earth now has adopted alien technology but still stupid like in the 90s, except Jeff Goldblum who's still witty and entertaining. So the aliens now are attacking Earth one more time, this time with only one ship but bigger, yet dumber. Just like the whole film.

Let me use this first sentences to say that the casting (on paper) is the best thing in the film. How do they convince the old cast to return in a film this stupid? And also get Maika Monroe and Charlotte fucking Gainsbourg to do this? But then again, I totally understand if they're just cashing in for this film, because I just don't see any kind of acting from the most of them. Then the CG is passably good. Jeff Goldblum is the best thing in this film. His "Stand behind the yellow line" line is also the best thing of the film. However everything else is just empty. Starting from the disaster porn that should be devastating, the sense of place here is just wrong. Resulting in a hollow destruction sequence. Or the stupid alien techs that just looks stupid. President Whitmore who gave an amazing speech in the first film is reduced to a bumbling crazy ex-president. and oh my god the stupid sphere. Oh and Will Smith pictures. There are so many bad things in this film that I just couldn't list (or bother myself to do so). I believe that the story is too compact that it didn't let the story beats to build itself and seep into the audience. It just plays and it feels empty. The stupid Chinese product placements didn't improve anything. The unfunny jokes are also unbearable. The music doesn't help either, I believe this film holds the title for the worst score ever created for a summer tentpole, and it has two composers. The gay rights people might be proud to have a scientist gay couple on screen but they shouldn't be because this movie is bad as fuckkkk. I have never wanted to leave the theatre this bad since Transformers 4. And fuck them if they're making a sequel to this shit. Random spheres and humans vs. the Aliens. Independence Day: Resurgence rated 1/4.