I will publish my top ten favorite movies of the year in the next few days. As a precursor, here are a few of my favorite films of the year that missed out on the top ten:
Posts Tagged ‘A Monster Calls’
Best Films of 2017 – Precursor
Posted in Lists and Top 10’s, Movie Blog, tagged A Ghost Story, A Monster Calls, Detroit, Lady MacBeth, Logan Lucky, Miss Sloane, Molly’s Game, My Cousin Rachel, Paddington 2, Raw, The Florida Project, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Thor Ragnarok, Wind River, Wonder Woman on December 27, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Movie of the Month: January 2017
Posted in Movie Blog, Movie Of The Month, tagged A Monster Calls, Assassins Creed, Denial, Donnie Darko, Jackie, January 2017, La La Land, Live By Night, Manchester by the Sea, Movie of the Month, Silence, Split, T2 Trainspotting, Trainspotting, Underworld Blood Wars, XXX: Return of Xander Cage on February 1, 2017| 2 Comments »
A busy start to the year with twelve films in three weeks (I was on holiday for the first week). None of the films I have seen ahave been bad, a couple have stood out as being excellent:
Silence: Possibly Martin Scorsese’s most personal movie for a long time, certainly his most weighty. While it is brilliantly made and impeccably acted I struggled to connect with it making it a really good film but not a great one.
Assassins Creed: The buzz was that this would be the best video game adaptation, it isn’t bad but there are some serious flaws. The biggest problem, is a total lack of fun. The 15th century Spain action scenes are brilliant, the present day are terrible and the plot is incoherent at best.
Live By Night: What starts out looking like it is going to be a prohibition era outlaw movie becomes a gangster epic. Ben Affleck’s weakest film as a director but not without merit.
Manchester by the Sea: What is essentially a small family drama is elevated to greatness by great acting and a perfectly structured script. Casey Affleck is brilliant in the lead, Michelle Williams totally steals the movie in a couple of tiny scenes.
Donnie Darko: Back in cinema’s for its 15th anniversary and as good as ever.
Underworld Blood Wars: The fifth installment of the vampires v werewolves franchise. The plot is paper and silly thin at best but it looks great Kate Beckinsale is excellent as ever.
A Monster Calls: Juan Antonio Bayona tells a story that looks like it’s going to be a family drama, it then develops into what appears to be a monster movie but ends up being so much more.
La La Land: The musical Oscar favourite is neither the masterpiece that some are claiming or The Emperor’s New Clothes that others suggest.
Trainspotting: Re-released in time for the sequel, the cult classic from my student days is, great to see it, it hasn’t lost anything in the 20 years since I first saw it.
XXX: Return of Xander Cage: Vin Diesel returns to the franchise. Poorly made with terrible dialogue but fun and filled with great action.
Split: M. Night Shyamalan’s career as a director has been hit and miss at best. This horror/thriller/exploitation movie is something of a return to form. James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy are both excellent.
Jackie: Technically not a biopic of first Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, more precisely a glimpse at a small but significant moment in her life, a significant moment in the 20th century. A well structured story with an amazing performance from Natalie Portman at its centre.
T2 Trainspotting: The world is a very different place twenty years on, I worried that there wasn’t a place for this sequel, there was no need to worry. Both more nostalgic and melancholic than I expected but no less enjoyable.
Denial: The true story of the court case that followed Holocaust denier David Irving’s attempt to sue historian Deborah Lipstadt and her publisher Penguin Books. The script is a little by the numbers but the acting is brilliant from Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson and Timothy Spall.
I have excluded the two reissue movies and only considered the ten new releases, the movie of the month is: