5 October
So. It's been a long time since I have last been here. It has been a really good year for movies so far. I am still to see most of the year end "awards" type movies but what I have seen has been pretty phenomenal.
The Favourites
There are four films so far that have left something special with me. The first two of these are surreal horror-thriller films called mother! and Get Out. These are probably my second and third favourite films of the year so far respectively.
Both are incredibly unique films tackling important issues in strange ways. Without giving away too much (to my non-existent readership) Get Out is a surreal film that tackles race relations in America and how they are a problem not only in obviously racist people but also in well to do white liberals. It plays brilliantly on the paranoia that African-American people likely feel every day when they walk out of their houses and have strange interactions with innocent white people. It is also a really gripping film even without the subtext.
mother! on the other hand is a movie that uses an artist, his younger wife and a house full of disrespectful guests to make some strong points about what we are doing to this planet. The only planet we have. It is all told beautifully through biblical metaphors. I am sure some of these are lost on me because I am not religious but I understand enough to get what I need to. Too much more than that would be giving it all away (not that anyone reads this anyway but ehhh just in case I guess) but it is also stunning, from the cinematography to the design of the house it is just a masterful experience.
Right I need to get to bed so I shall hurry this along and write even shorter stuff than I already are. My favourite film of the year is Call Me By Your Name. I saw it at the film festival and was simply blown away. It is a beautiful, touching, relatively sensual romance that just blew me away. It just grabbed on to me and wouldn't let go. It also takes place in some stunning locations and the cinematographer really makes the most of this.
Finally, Battle of the Sexes. This is probably the most conventional of these films (probably why is is number 4 on this list) but it is ridiculously touching nonetheless. Billie Jean King is such an inspiration and it feels so nice to have her story told in such a loving way. The cast is all fantastic and it does also blend the drama with the comedy in a very natural kind of way.
Best of the Rest
Beyond these 4 there are a lot of movies that I have really loved this year but that didn't get me in the way these 4 did. Baby Driver is super impressive, funny, fun and inventive. It takes a relatively sad genre and breathes new life into it. It is also some of the best use of music in a film in a long time. It was a fantastic horror movie, not incredibly scary but it has great character development and story. 120 BPM is a fantastic french film that both tells a touching tragic loves story and educates on the state of the HIV aid in the 90s. Lego Batman was a ton of fun and a great Satire on the superhero genre (and specifically Batman). Guardians of The Galaxy vol. 2 was a tonne of fun in a similar fashion to the first. I cannot forget Wonder Woman either for finally putting a woman at the front of a superhero film and for making a great movie in the process. Or Wind River, which tells such a haunting true story with such authenticity (and with such fantastic performances). Logan Lucky tells a wonderful, funny, engaging story about a part of America often ignored. Trip to Spain is exactly what I expected but even funnier (there is one ridiculously laugh out loud part). T2 Trainspotting really did justice to the absurd original. Finally Logan was a beautiful send off for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. Oh and I almost forgot the Big Sick, though I don't know how as it is one of my favorites on this list. It's funny, charming, topical, thoughtful and super real.
There are also several in this category I want to mention for their visuals. Dunkirk is an incredibly good looking war film that really can be described as an experience. It is a little cold at times but I feel like that is almost by design. Bladerunner 2049 realizes such a beautiful world and I really would have no qualms with this being the one that wins Roger Deakins his Oscar. It could have done with some trimming though - the pacing was a little slow occasionally and there was probably 10-15 minutes that could have been cut. Finally, War for the Planet of the Apes is a ridiculously beautiful film with the CGI Apes looking incredibly realistic and with the fleshed out world from the previous film. It is also told very well.
Stuff I just liked
So most of the films I watched go here. I didn't dislike these, in fact, some I really liked but I didn't love any of them. Some had quite serious problems some just didn't affect me as much as they should have. I will mostly just list. Spiderman: Homecoming, Lego Ninjago Movie, Lady Macbeth, Victoria and Abdul, Denial, My Cousin Rachel, It Comes at Night, Annabelle: Creation, Colossal, Atomic Blonde, A Streetcat Named Bob, Okja, and plenty more that I can't pull off the top of my head. I will write about some of these specifically in a later post.
There were also plenty of films that either I wanted to like but didn't work for me (The Beguiled, Killing of a Sacred Deer) or that were always going to be terrible (Transformers: Age of Extinction or King Arthur) but I don't want to dwell on those. I may discuss some of those in a later post too. In the meantime I should get some sleep.
Top 10 so far:
Call Me By Your Name
mother!
Get Out
Battle of the Sexes
The Big Sick
Baby Driver
War for the Planet of the Apes
Dunkirk
Wonder Woman
Bladerunner 2049
This will be updated as I see more films. (Yes these are all pretty obvious picks, I haven't seen a lot of great out of the box smaller films this year yet).
The Favourites
There are four films so far that have left something special with me. The first two of these are surreal horror-thriller films called mother! and Get Out. These are probably my second and third favourite films of the year so far respectively.
Both are incredibly unique films tackling important issues in strange ways. Without giving away too much (to my non-existent readership) Get Out is a surreal film that tackles race relations in America and how they are a problem not only in obviously racist people but also in well to do white liberals. It plays brilliantly on the paranoia that African-American people likely feel every day when they walk out of their houses and have strange interactions with innocent white people. It is also a really gripping film even without the subtext.
mother! on the other hand is a movie that uses an artist, his younger wife and a house full of disrespectful guests to make some strong points about what we are doing to this planet. The only planet we have. It is all told beautifully through biblical metaphors. I am sure some of these are lost on me because I am not religious but I understand enough to get what I need to. Too much more than that would be giving it all away (not that anyone reads this anyway but ehhh just in case I guess) but it is also stunning, from the cinematography to the design of the house it is just a masterful experience.
Right I need to get to bed so I shall hurry this along and write even shorter stuff than I already are. My favourite film of the year is Call Me By Your Name. I saw it at the film festival and was simply blown away. It is a beautiful, touching, relatively sensual romance that just blew me away. It just grabbed on to me and wouldn't let go. It also takes place in some stunning locations and the cinematographer really makes the most of this.
Finally, Battle of the Sexes. This is probably the most conventional of these films (probably why is is number 4 on this list) but it is ridiculously touching nonetheless. Billie Jean King is such an inspiration and it feels so nice to have her story told in such a loving way. The cast is all fantastic and it does also blend the drama with the comedy in a very natural kind of way.
Best of the Rest
Beyond these 4 there are a lot of movies that I have really loved this year but that didn't get me in the way these 4 did. Baby Driver is super impressive, funny, fun and inventive. It takes a relatively sad genre and breathes new life into it. It is also some of the best use of music in a film in a long time. It was a fantastic horror movie, not incredibly scary but it has great character development and story. 120 BPM is a fantastic french film that both tells a touching tragic loves story and educates on the state of the HIV aid in the 90s. Lego Batman was a ton of fun and a great Satire on the superhero genre (and specifically Batman). Guardians of The Galaxy vol. 2 was a tonne of fun in a similar fashion to the first. I cannot forget Wonder Woman either for finally putting a woman at the front of a superhero film and for making a great movie in the process. Or Wind River, which tells such a haunting true story with such authenticity (and with such fantastic performances). Logan Lucky tells a wonderful, funny, engaging story about a part of America often ignored. Trip to Spain is exactly what I expected but even funnier (there is one ridiculously laugh out loud part). T2 Trainspotting really did justice to the absurd original. Finally Logan was a beautiful send off for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. Oh and I almost forgot the Big Sick, though I don't know how as it is one of my favorites on this list. It's funny, charming, topical, thoughtful and super real.
There are also several in this category I want to mention for their visuals. Dunkirk is an incredibly good looking war film that really can be described as an experience. It is a little cold at times but I feel like that is almost by design. Bladerunner 2049 realizes such a beautiful world and I really would have no qualms with this being the one that wins Roger Deakins his Oscar. It could have done with some trimming though - the pacing was a little slow occasionally and there was probably 10-15 minutes that could have been cut. Finally, War for the Planet of the Apes is a ridiculously beautiful film with the CGI Apes looking incredibly realistic and with the fleshed out world from the previous film. It is also told very well.
Stuff I just liked
So most of the films I watched go here. I didn't dislike these, in fact, some I really liked but I didn't love any of them. Some had quite serious problems some just didn't affect me as much as they should have. I will mostly just list. Spiderman: Homecoming, Lego Ninjago Movie, Lady Macbeth, Victoria and Abdul, Denial, My Cousin Rachel, It Comes at Night, Annabelle: Creation, Colossal, Atomic Blonde, A Streetcat Named Bob, Okja, and plenty more that I can't pull off the top of my head. I will write about some of these specifically in a later post.
There were also plenty of films that either I wanted to like but didn't work for me (The Beguiled, Killing of a Sacred Deer) or that were always going to be terrible (Transformers: Age of Extinction or King Arthur) but I don't want to dwell on those. I may discuss some of those in a later post too. In the meantime I should get some sleep.
Top 10 so far:
Call Me By Your Name
mother!
Get Out
Battle of the Sexes
The Big Sick
Baby Driver
War for the Planet of the Apes
Dunkirk
Wonder Woman
Bladerunner 2049
This will be updated as I see more films. (Yes these are all pretty obvious picks, I haven't seen a lot of great out of the box smaller films this year yet).
Comments
Post a Comment