2017 Movies

[thecuddlyninja]

Colossal (2017) - currently on Hulu

The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick Lasalle: "Colossal is a high-wire act, and throughout you may wonder how the movie will make it to the end without slipping and falling. Suffice it to say, it does. It doesn’t ascend to the sky. It’s not profound or great. But Vigalondo takes Colossal to all sorts of unexpected places and then brings it home, intact." Agreed. There's a plot swerve midway through that must have divided audiences, and had me wondering, but it sticks the landing, and now I'm wondering why I haven't been a bigger Anne Hathaway fan all this while. Have her movies been lame, or was this an oversight on my part? *wikisurfs* Hm, looks like mostly the former. Unfortunate.

B

I really enjoyed this one, and I know what you mean about the plot swerve. I like a movie that can genuinely make me feel like I have no idea where it's going. Also I felt like an idiot because I didn't understand what was going on at the end until the final scene. Going in, I doubted Sudeikas in a more dramatic role, but I ended up thinking the character really only works because it coasts on Sudeikas' rep and likeability in the beginning.

On Hathaway, I think she's a real talent but has rarely gotten the opportunity to play characters more flawed/interesting. Definitely check out 'Rachel Getting Married' if you haven't, I think that's her best work. RIP Jonathan Demme.

 

[Gaith]

The Post (2017)

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle:

In fact, as a story, the whole Pentagon Papers saga has everything against it. The revelations were about the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations, but Nixon was now president. The papers didn’t represent one story, but a number of stories. And the stories themselves were complex, not as simple as dirty tricks, a break-in and a cover-up — or, as in “Spotlight,” priests molesting boys. Also, the reporters didn’t have to dig for the story. It landed on their lap, thousands of undigested pages, which they had to read.

These challenges can’t completely be overcome, no matter how many times they crank up the John Williams score, and so the movie sags in the middle. Still, when Spielberg has to bring it home, he does. If the intention was to send audiences out feeling inspired about journalism and its function in a republic, consider that mission accomplished.

Finally, it hardly needs to be said, and yet it needs to be acknowledged, that everyone connected with the film was thinking about the story in terms of today's events. “The Post” was filmed in a hurry — principal photography began at the end of May — with the intention of celebrating an institution and a profession under constant attack by the present administration. As such, “The Post” is not just a pretty good Spielberg picture, but mainstream Hollywood’s first response to life in the Trump era — the trickle before the flood.

Agreed again, Mick. Like Darkest Hour, this is a perfectly solid, fine movie that dramatizes a particular moment before the winds of history change course, and, like that film, I wanted to watch the next movie in the sequence the moment the credits rolled - All the President's Men for this, and Into the Storm for Darkest Hour.

B+

 

[Neglify]

I've caught up with the Oscar flicks I care about and now I can comfortably give my Top 19. (Full-length features only.)

1. Phantom Thread
2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
3. Dunkirk
4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
5. Get Out
6. Thor Ragnarok
7. Split
8. Baby Driver
9. Coco
10. Darkest Hour
11. The Disaster Artist
12. The Post
13. The Shape of Water
14. American Made
15. Creep 2
16. mother!
17. Spider-Man Homecoming
18. Gerald's Game
19. It

Bottom 5:

5. Leatherface
4. Cult of Chucky
3. The Mummy
2. The Dark Tower
1. Jigsaw



(Full ranking list on Letterboxd.)

 

[thecuddlyninja]

I've caught up with the Oscar flicks I care about and now I can comfortably give my Top 19. (Full-length features only.)


15. Creep 2

Great list! And thank you for reminding me that Creep 2 exists and is on Netflix. I really dug the first one.

 

[TM2YC]

The Post (2017)

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle:

reporters didn’t have to dig for the story. It landed on their lap, thousands of undigested pages, which they had to read.

These challenges can’t completely be overcome, no matter how many times they crank up the John Williams score

Agreed again, Mick. Like Darkest Hour, this is a perfectly solid, fine movie that dramatizes a particular moment before the winds of history change course, and, like that film, I wanted to watch the next movie in the sequence the moment the credits rolled - All the President's Men for this, and Into the Storm for Darkest Hour.

B+

I'm not sure those lines in the review are fair. The Post is definitely something to watch in a double bill with ATPM (I know I did) but the focus of the film is not investigative journalism and doesn't pretend to be, it's about the courage to publish something the government doesn't want published, knowing that it might end your career, close your paper and involve some jail time, with the state aiming all it's weapons at you.

Owner of TWP Katharine Graham is notable by her absence in ATPM, when watching it again. If they/she can, or should publish, is never a question that comes up in ATPM but her having the guts to publish is the main focus of The Post (plus why it's important to publish such things). Both films are concerned with a high standard of journalism, fact checking, multiple sources etc before publishing though.

1. Phantom Thread

9. Coco

Phantom Thread is very good, not nearly my favourite but it is a high class film.

Is Coco worth seeing on the bigscreen then? I can't decide.

 

[Canon Editor]

I recommend watching Coco on the big screen.  It is worth it: the visuals and the emotion slash through it!

 

[Neglify]

Any way you see it, it's worth seeing.

 

[TM2YC]

The Belko Experiment (2017)
What drew me in was this being an old James Gunn script. If you've seen 2000's 'Battle Royale' you know what to expect but in an office. Lots of really icky blood squibs splattering every surface in sight, to such an extreme that it got more and more blackly comic. I'm glad that all this gore was done with messy practical FX because the occasional laughably bad CGI enhanced shots really betrayed the micro budget (We're talking 'The Room' level green-screen backdrops). At less than 90-minutes, it's a decent slice of Survival-Horror that doesn't outstay it's welcome.

 

[TM2YC]

A Ghost Story (2017)
A hipster film, made by hipsters, about hipsters, for hipsters but don't let that put you off. It's very, very slowly paced initially but if you stick with it, you will be rewarded by the end. The 4.5-minute pie eating scene is an endurance test that must be passed first . The 4:3 image is beautiful, with a 90-minute polaroid asthetic. The score is ethereal and magical, partly constructed from super slowed down elements of the 'I Get Overwhelmed' theme song, ensuring it gets buried deep in your brain.

 

[TM2YC]

Catching up on some more 2017's best reviewed films that I'd missed...

Colossal (2017)
Anne Hathaway plays a f**k-up who goes back to her small home town and somehow accidentaly controls a giant monster on the other side of the world when she's drunk. I loved that they in no way bothered to explain how, or why and just got on with exploring what it would be like. A few plot points don't make sense but it's forgiveable when the concept is this batsh*t crazy. Despite the bizarre premise, the film has some serious dark character material. The "colossal" FX sequences are impressively done for the 15m micro budget.

Gerald's Game (2017)
Based on a Stephen King book. Wife ends up trapped handcuffed to a bed after her husband suffers a heart-attack while they are on a "romantic" weekend away in a secluded house. Quite a few details about the premise and it's resolution don't really add up but that's nitpicking plotholes. At first I thought the halluinations and flashbacks were filler for the limited setup but they turn out to be the meat of the movie. It goes to some really unpleasant places physiologically, which prove far more disturbing than the violent parts, which are pretty damn nasty themselves. An interesting horror film but they should have lost the silly Stephen King "Moonlight Man" subplot that it suddenly goes off into at end (Definitely a fanedit idea there to improve things).

Loving Vincent (2017)
Astonishing Oscar nominated Animated film about Van Gogh made up from 65,000 hand-painted-in-oils frames. To see what look like Van Gogh canvases with the oil strokes shifting and running across the frame is unique. His story is told through the Citizen Kane style device of a man interviewing the subject's friends (who are closely based on the actual paintings) to find out about his life and how he died.

 

[gazza]

I recommend watching Coco on the big screen.  It is worth it: the visuals and the emotion slash through it!

coco is visually stunning to watch on the big screen and certainly delivers on the emotional side of things whether you are young or old but while i was watching it i couldnt help but notice  quite a few similarities to "the book of life 2014" which is also centered around a mexican day of the dead underworld setting and a love story which involves the living and the dead.  both movies tug at the heart strings and are worth a watch or two..

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

I've been trying squeeze a few more 2017 movies in while they're in the theater. Yay for MoviePass:

Lady Bird
Wonderful acting by the entire cast. Story fairly predictable, but still enjoyable. Would watch again.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
There seems to be some argument over the racial undertones in this film. I did not perceive the way the content was handled as giving a pass to the behavior, rather it felt like an accurate representation of the attitudes in many of those communities. I did enjoy the movie. Not one I would revisit probably, but well done.

I, Tonya
I loved this. The cast was stellar (holy wow Allison Janney was incredible), and it was a fun watch.

 

[TM2YC]

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
There seems to be some argument over the racial undertones in this film. I did not perceive the way the content was handled as giving a pass to the behavior

I think somebody would have to work really hard at ignoring large portions of the last act of the film to truly think it was giving a pass to that character.

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The guy gets half his face melted and at the end accepts it without blaming the person responsible, as by that point he's realised it was the least he deserved for his awful behaviour. He also deliberately takes a massive beating to further punish himself and atone for his sins.

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

^ Oh, I agree. Some felt it was an attempt to make the character sympathetic, but that's not what I read from it.

 

[TM2YC]

The Florida Project (2017)
Troubled mother and children living on the margins of Disney World and society. There is no score but layers of soundFX from the noises around the characters rising and falling. Beautiful magic-hour cinematography, in contrast to the urban decay of the locations. Wonderfully human and real performances from the children, the mother (Bria Vinaite) and the Motel's caring manager (Willem Dafoe). It was a perfect masterpiece...

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...until the last 90-seconds where it randomly goes into a musical montage and then the credits roll. Evidently they couldn't think of, or didn't want a proper ending. The fact that the rest of the movie was on gorgeous 35mm without music and this last 90-seconds was done on an iphone with only music, just makes it feel more jarring and disconnected.

 

[TM2YC]

I, Tonya (2017)
Unbelievable true story, amazing film. Hits the mark on pretty much every level. Although Allison Janney as Tonya's emotionally abusive mother steals the show, Margot Robbie excels in the complex lead role.

It's only let down by the decision to use extensive CGI face-replacement for the skating scenes. There is probably at least 10-15 minutes of footage where Robbie's face is pasted onto a stunt double and it looks Superman-moustache-level bad and distracting. On this small budget, a wiser tack would have been to shoot around the double, replacing the face in a few key shots but nailing them.

 

[darthrush]

Couldn't agree more on The Florida Project TM2YC! So good right up until the ending.

 

[TV's Frink]

I, Tonya (2017)
Unbelievable true story, amazing film. Hits the mark on pretty much every level. Although Allison Janney as Tonya's emotionally abusive mother steals the show, Margot Robbie excels in the complex lead role.

It's only let down by the decision to use extensive CGI face-replacement for the skating scenes. There is probably at least 10-15 minutes of footage where Robbie's face is pasted onto a stunt double and it looks Superman-moustache-level bad and distracting. On this small budget, a wiser tack would have been to shoot around the double, replacing the face in a few key shots but nailing them.

Did they present Tonya sympathetically?  Because I haven't seen any reason to give her sympathy.

 

[TM2YC]

Did they present Tonya sympathetically?  Because I haven't seen any reason to give her sympathy.

Not entirely but it's difficult to not feel sympathy for her given the levels of physical and psychological abuse she receives from her husband and mother.

Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)
It's a novelty to have watched this awards-season contender without knowing anything about it beyond the name of the film and who was the lead actor. Denzel plays an aging genius lawyer and committed civil-rights activist but one who finds interacting with people and the world around him very difficult. His life is turned upside down right at the start and the film shows how he deals with it. It's like a modern update on the old Frank Capra type of film, one man caught in the system. I found the first half totally riveting, it lost some steam after the mid point but ended strong.

 

[TM2YC]

Borg vs McEnroe (2017)
Lots of anachronistic details, dumming down and over-explaining drag this down. A commentator at one point literally says out loud in the middle of the Wimbledon Final "For viewers not familiar with Tennis..." and he then explains the rules. Borg goes down a point for hitting the net on his first serve, which doesn't happen and is a very basic detail to get right. The Wimbledon crowd boo and jeer McEnroe as he enters the court and boo him while he is trying to serve, which is just nuts. Despite most of the run-time being devoted to the two men's lives off the court we don't find out much more about them than the "Fire and Ice" comparison that is the film's setup. On the plus side, the casting is perfect with Sverrir Gudnason and Shia LaBeouf 100% convincing as the two players.

Call Me by Your Name (2017)
This is a gorgeously shot film fully deserving of the Best Film Oscar nomination. All the sun dappled splendor of Northern Italy is captured in 35mm glory (I visited the region last year and it brought it back). It's one of the best looking films in decades, so of course it's not even nominated for Cinematography while at least 3-films I think look terrible are (Sigh). At points it reminded me how much impact a closeup can have, when the Director has the skill to withhold them for only a few key moments. Some Directors these days shoot everything in closeup.

It's about a charming summer romance between Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer's characters (both incredible performances). James Ivory's script is full of poetry, art and music. Very little score is used but a few pieces by one of my favourites, Sufjan Stevens make appearances at important moments. The last shot is unforgettable and stuck in my mind, coming back to me the next morning as it was snowing outside my window. I recently viewed 1936's 'Partie de campagne' and this had the same feeling of nature, longing and heartbreak. The parallels between this and 1945's 'Brief Encounter' are also clear. 'Call Me by Your Name' is a total masterpiece up there with both those examples.

After viewing, I found this amusing fanedit recut of the ending on youtube. Be warned, only watch it after viewing the original becuase it'll spoil it and the editing choices won't make much sense:

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Anybody else notice that the film's promo image has more than a resemblance to Morrisssey's 1990 'Bona Drag' LP. Coincidence?: