January 1, 2018
My Favorite Movies and TV of 2017 (and What I’m Looking Forward to in 2018)
Best Films
Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The eighth episode in the Star Wars main cannon of films got mixed reviews with critics liking it more than fans, and fans being very split. Judging by reactions of fans on twitter, it was very passionate in either loving or hating the film. I would fall into the former group. It thought it was almost as good as The Force Awakens, and the story was more interesting overall. The aesthetics of The Force Awakens are what give it a slight edge in my opinion. Where TFA reintroduces us to Han and Leia, TLJ brings in Luke who is the main star of the movie. I feel certain that the director Rian Johnson must have been a huge fan as a kid. I can imagine him playing with a model of the Millennium Falcon containing all of his favorite characters escaping off into the galaxy from the imperial forces.
(As mentioned last year I also really enjoyed Rogue One, which is outside of the main cannon of films, but part of Disney’s expanded universe of Star Wars films. Rogue One surprised me because I found it to be better than most Star Wars films. It’s gritty, it’s dark and it takes you to places you’ve only heard about in the franchise.)
The Disaster Artist: James Franco and created a masterpiece in the telling of the creation of one of the worst movies ever filmed. Franco directs and stars in the film about The Room, a notorious indie film. Ironically The Disaster Artist gives
Logan: the last film to feature Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is also the very best film in the X-men series. It’s much darker, and more violent. Logan brings the director of the also excellent The Wolverine (the previous solo Wolverine film) back but this time with a license to make an R-rated film that reflects the true nature of the character. The story is one that is stripped down and raw, and much more emotional than anything else in the X-men franchise.
Get Out: Get Out is one of the most interesting horror films I’ve ever seen. Using horror as a story-telling mechanism, it examines modern race relations. It blends comedy with the horror that
Logan Lucky: imagine a country-version of Oceans Eleven — that would be Logan Lucky, which tells the hilarious story of two West Virginia brothers who make an attempt to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway with the help of some friends.
Alien: Covenant: After Prometheus came out there were still a lot of unanswered questions about the origins of the Zenomorphs from the Alien film series. Although a lot of folks didn’t particularly love Prometheus I really enjoyed the film.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: One of the movies I was most looking forward to was the follow up to Guardians of the Galaxy (one of my favorite sci-fi films ever). The sequel just was underwhelming. It felt like the producers were really trying to play it safe, which is exactly the opposite of what made the original so great. Still I’m excited that we’re moving closer to a merging of the Guardians with the Avengers next year with Infinity War.
Blade Runner 2049: From the director of last year’s amazing Arrival, comes the sequel to Blade Runner which has to be my favorite film of the year, and maybe the decade. I just loved it. It’s vibrant and beautiful, and contains a deeply moving story, much more so that even the original. (I blogged about it here.) It bombed in the box office but maybe that’s just an indicator that it’s a film that appeals to the more thoughtful in our society.
Best TV
Stranger Things 2: the sequel season to Stranger Things (which was very intentionally created as a sequel to the first season) is pretty great if not quite as awesome as the original. Still very worth watching. I love it for the 80s nostalgia.
Mr Robot: I’ve only recently gotten into Mr Robot so I’m pretty behind. But I can say without question it’s one of the best shows on TV.
Comrade Detective: I’ve tried to tell everyone I know to watch Comrade Detective. Its one of the funniest hidden gems to emerge on Amazon. The concept is a cold ware era buddy cop show set in Romania. Filmed with Romanian actors in Bucharest, the show dubs the voices with fairly well known American actors.
Castlevania: Netflix released a short anime version of the classic video game Castelevania, which is brilliant. It focuses mostly on the story of Castevania 3 (my favorite game of the series) which was an original NES classic.
Glow: Glow tells the story of aspiring actresses in the mid-80s trying to make it in show business by performing in an all-women wrestling program. Its pretty hilarious, and just like Stranger Things, it brings you back to a version of the 80s.
The Good Place: one of the creators behind the American version of The Office and Parks and Rec came out with a new show about the afterlife. It is brilliant and has plenty of hilarious twists and turns that are bit unusual for broadcast comedies. It’s also a show that has fairly universal appeal.
What to look forward to in 2018
Here are some of the shows and movies coming out in 2018 that I am excited to see…
A Wrinkle In Time: one my all time favorite kids books is being turned into a film, with a pretty substantial budget and cast behind it. I read most of the books by L’Engle when I was young.
Ready Player One: a book that I immensely enjoyed recently is being turned into a movie, and by Spielberg. The story is a bit of Charley and the Chocolate Factory meets Mortal Kombat. I have some concerns because it really is the kind of story that is nearly impossible to bring to the big screen. Legally speaking there are so many intellectual properties in the story I just can see how it would be possible to license all of those properties. If too many of them are sacrificed the nostalgia factor is lost. It will be a tough one to pull off right, but since Spielberg is direction, it has a decent chance.
Altered Carbon: a friend at work recommend this book series to me and I’ve only just started. But I can say it’s one of the more interesting cyberpunk stories I’ve experienced. Netflix is turning it into a series and they have been on a roll. I feel pretty confident this will do well.
Westworld (season 2): Season 1 of Westwold was outstanding. There were so many intricate clues placed throughout the series. Who knows what will happen in season 2. I’m hoping they expand into other worlds suggested in the original film, and sequel Futureworld, which was somewhat hinted at in the season 1 finale.
Cloverfield 3: apparently there will be a third Cloverfield film. But there has been no viral marketing scheme thus far (which is my favorite part of the franchise).
The Predator: Shane Black who played a roll in the original Predator has written and is directing a fourth predator film (not including the Aliens vs Predator films) that is set to take place after Predator 2 in the series. Interestingly Jake Busey will have a roll that appears to be the son of the character his father played in the sequel. This movie has the chance of being pretty great. I really hope we get a Schwarzenegger and/or Glover cameo.
Infinity War: the big collision of all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films is set to occur in Infinity War. Here we will witness the Guardians interacting with the Avengers. Interestingly Disney has since acquired the rights to the Marvel characters that were owned by Fox which means at some point the X-Men could get interwoven into the MCU. As awesome as that would be, I am sad that Hugh Jackman has retired from his role as Wolverine.
Mission Impossible: 6: a sixth Mission Impossible is coming out. They are always pretty good.
Labels: 1-18-08, Best Films, movie, science fiction, tv, X-Men
April 12, 2017
Movies I've Recently Watched: Logan and Ghost in the Shell
I've seen some pretty excellent movies recently ...
Logan
Logan is without doubt the best film in the X-Men series. It stands alone as a beautiful film that can be enjoyed by fans of the franchise, and non-fans alike. It's just a really great story. You get the best performance yet from Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart. The premise is simple (spoilers ahead): an aging Wolverine, somehow dying as his healing abilities are fleeting, is caring for an elderly Professor X who is suffering from dementia. It certainly helps if you know the backgrounds of these characters, but you never need to have read a comic or seen a previous film to appreciate the humanity depicted here. In this alternate time-line mutants are more or less wiped out of existence, living on the fringe, which is where Wolverine takes care of Charles. While this is going on, a new person enters their lives and provides purpose again for the old heroes.
Logan is R-rated for extreme violence. Wolverine finally lets his claws out in the way that he has in the comics. It's almost like this film makes up for the lack of blood in previous films in the series. This is the real Wolverine we've waited for a long time to see. A perfect ending for Jackman and Stewart in the series.
Ghost in the Shell
First I'll say that I'm a big anime fan in general, and in particular of the original Ghost in the Shell, although I hadn't seen any of the sequels or supporting series. Back in the early 2000s I became interested in anime. And after reading that a lot of the Matrix, and in particular the character of Trinity, was inspired by GitS, I had to check it out. It's maybe one of the most original and mind tripping cyberpunk sci-fi films I'd ever seen. I loved it, but it took me years to fully appreciate it.
As for the new live action Ghost in the Shell: in some ways I think it's amazing, in others just about average.
Before watching the new Ghost in the Shell I re-watched the original. The new GitS got a lot of flack for the “whitewashing” of the main protagonist from Japanese to Caucasian. The character of Major is a treasure of Japanese culture. To make her character white is egregious. And this comes on the heels of the controversy of the whitewashing of the character of the Ancient One in Dr Strange. It does feature prominent Japanese actor Beat Takeshi (who stared in, wrote and directed one of the weirdest and most interesting movies I've ever seen: Kikujiro no Natsu) as a fantastic chief of Section 9, but that could never make up for the changes to Major. That said, I think Scarlet Johanson pulled off her version of the character just fine. The cast is all around pretty great. The best part of the new GitS is how it visually brings the original to life. The world of GitS is gorgeous in live action. It takes a lot of care to recreate scenes from the original in beautiful detail. That alone is worth seeing it in the theater. Where it breaks down, apart from the changes to Major, is the dumbed-down dialogue. All the interesting aspects of the world of GitS have to be explained by the characters as we progress through the story, as if these characters weren’t fully aware of what a 'Ghost' or a 'Shell' were. This assumes the audience is too lazy to think critically during the movie about the ideas being addressed. (I think about the movie Dune which I didn't have the fortune of seeing in the theater but have read that it came with a glossary of terms for moviegoers – David Lynch expected his audience to do a little research, not force a script on them that explained every little detail). That's my biggest complaint. I think you could edit out 5 to 10 minutes of that explanatory dialogue and have a much tighter and more interesting movie. This new GitS really makes me cherish the subtly of the original.
Labels: Anime, Ghost in the Shell, Logan, science fiction, X-Men
November 6, 2016
Exciting New Trailers: GOTG Vol. 2 & Logan
A week ago a couple trailers for some upcoming Marvel films were released.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Not much to see here being that it's just a teaser, but it is exciting none the less. I just can't wait to see how Marvel is going to connect the dots between Guardians and the Avengers.
Logan
Possibly the final appearance of Hugh Jackman playing the part of Wolverine. This film introduces the character of X-23 and appears to be set in the future following the new time line set forth by the events in Days of Future Past.
Probably the most exciting news about this film is that it will be a Rated-R Wolverine film. This might be thanks to the huge success the R-Rated Deadpool had early this year. Whatever the reason, this will give Wolverine a chance to finally really get his claws out and into some badguys. The trailer itself is beautifully done, featuring the cover of Hurt by Johnny Cash, and showing scenes of Wolverine looking surprisingly vulnerable to physical harm.
Labels: Guardians of the Galaxy, Logan, Marvel Cinematic Universe, movies, Wolverine, X-Men
February 13, 2016
A Darker Super Hero
Lately we're starting to see some Marvel Super Heroes portrayed in a much darker light.
Last winter I got caught up in the Netflix show Jessica Jones, a series that is part of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. (The Marvel Cinematic Universe includes basically every character who is not a 'Mutant' – 20th Century Fox owns the rights to those Marvel Comics characters.) What really drew me to Jessica Jones was its very dark and disturbing subject matter, which by the way earned it a TV-MA rating. Wile dealing with characters who have super powers, it also dealt with mature themes of grief, addiction, isolation, jealously, abuse, etc. This makes the characters more realistic and interesting. I really loved the show (you can read more about what I thought about Jessica Jones here).
Jessica Jones was so good I decided I had to give Daredevil a try. And not surprisingly, Daredevil is also a great show, for many of the same reasons. The two shows are unique, but what they have in common is that they focus on one character (and their supporting friends) as they deal with every day life, while working to combat villains who may not be as obvious as Loki or Ultron, but are just as corrupt and dangerous.
A Man With Principle
The Catholic aspect of Daredevil makes the show a little more interesting for me personally. It adds an element of inner conflict for the hero, feeling the strain for doing what's ethically right verses doing what is necessary to stop injustice. Daredevil is the alter ego of Matt Murdock. Like Jessica Jones whose day job is being a private investigator, Matt also has a day job, which is being a Lawyer working for the disadvantaged in Hells Kitchen in NYC. Matt happens to be blind due to an accident in his childhood, but which also gave him incredible powers of sense with his other four senses, which he has kept a secret even from his closest friends.
Most of the time Murdock is trying to track down and stop the one responsible for increasing crime and injustice in his corner of the city. That person is Kingpin, a secretive and powerful figure who runs a world of greed and corruption. He seems to have infinite resources and control over the city, with many of those charged with protecting the city in his pocket. Ironically, he sees himself as a savior of the city, trying to rebuild it into a brighter tomorrow. But his means to an end lack any sort of humanity.
Murdock gets help from his friends, who while unaware of his secret, are also trying to find a way to bring to justice those who are inflicting pain and cruelty to the city. Being TV-MA, and being a full series, allows both Daredevil and Jessica Jones to dig deep into difficult subjects and relationships, such as: divorce, honestly, guilt, police corruption, the principals of traditional journalism caught in the economics of new technology, etc. This gives the comic based TV series a real edge over their feature film counterparts.
By the way, Netflix must realize they have struck gold with their deal with Disney to distribute these shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I also just watched Marvel's Deadpool – another surprisingly mature-themed depiction of comic book characters...
A Man Without Principles
When I think of the character of Wolverine, there is no actor other than Hugh Jackman that feels appropriate to portray him (when I was a kid, I thought no one other than Clint Eastwood could pull of the role). I now would say the same thing about Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds is as suited to play the part of Wade Wilson as Jackman is to play Logan.
The movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine was not great. But it can be regarded as the movie that spawned two great follow-ups, which in my opinion are the two best films in the X-men series – The Wolverine and Deadpool. The character of Deadpool/Wade Wilson was introduced in Origins, and Reynolds was one of the best parts of pretty lousy film. Luckily, the X-Men franchise rebounded with First Class and the events of Days of Future Past presumable undid the unfortunate fate of Wade Wilson in Origins, leaving his character available to be rebooted in a much better film.
Deadpool, like Dare Devil, also deals with injustice, but from a far less altruistic point of view. Unlike Matt Murdock, Wade Wilson does not strive to be a good guy. He accepts the fact that he's no hero, he just wants to make those that are a lot worse than him face justice, by any means necessary, and without remorse. But most importantly, he just wants to get his girl back. That's really the whole point of the movie: it's a love story, a very disturbed, bloody and violent story of true love. But the simplicity of his motivation is by no means a detraction to this film.
One of the things that makes Deadpool unique are the jokes. Most comics seem to have at least some level of humor, but nothing compares to Wade's incredible sarcastic and cynical sense of humor. This is especially possible because of another very unique characteristic of Deadpool – his character breaks the 'fourth wall' (ie he talks to the comic reader, or in this case, the movie-watching audience) throughout the film, which allows for another layer of jokes at the expense of not just the characters in this movie, or elsewhere in the X-Men universe, but even non-Fox-owned Marvel characters and DC Comic characters alike, or even figures of pop culture and current events. The jokes have to be good for this to work, and they really are fantastic.
Note: This is the first X-Men film not to have at least a cameo of Wolverine – although he gets one or two very funny mentions along the way.
This is the first R-Rated Marvel movie, and as such it's intended for a mature audience. And Deadpool does not pull any punches when it comes to the content of this film. The profanity, the nudity, the violence are all very gratuitous. Based on likely box office results, I doubt this will be the last R-Rated Marvel film.