Hello and welcome to 2018! Hope you had a fun week doing whatever it is you’ve been doing but it’s back to the usual routine now, I suppose. Don’t be sad, it’ll be Christmas again in 356 days.
2017 was an interesting year for film, so I was wondering, if I could sum up my thoughts on each film I’d seen in the cinema that year, it might do for a blog entry, don’t you think?
I’ll go in chronological order of when I saw them and I may as well date it too, ey? So, let’s get started!
- A Monster Calls – 7th January
A deep exploration of a young boy’s mind in turmoil. It was interesting to see the way the story panned out over the duration of the film and the acting from every one involved was simply top notch. Even if it did lose itself a bit in its own narrative toward the end
Rating then: 9/10
Rating now: 8/10
- The Lego Batman Movie – 18th February
Fun, Lego action with everyone’s favourite overrated mental patient, Batman. A good story in its own right, as its own thing and still gets quite a few laughs out of me but I feel the very climax of the film was a bit of a let down. Hold hands to stop Gotham tearing in half? Really? It’s fine, it’s fine! It’s a kid’s film after all and there is a level of suspension of disbelief to take into consideration.
Rating then: 10/10
Rating now: 8/10
- Logan – 2nd March
Hugh Jackman’s swansong (Maybe) Wolverine escapade. A dark, gritty and realistic portrayal of the final days of the mutants. Logan is one of those films that people will be talking about for a long time – and it earned that recognition. Some say it’s bad, some say it’s a masterpiece. I’m in the middle. It’s a really well made film, but it was too drastic a change from the X-Men franchise. Personal opinion, don’t torture me. Seeing the Charles Xavier in the silo having gone mad at the start hurt my childhood though.
Rating then: 9/10
Rating now: 7/10
- The Great Wall – 7th March
One of those whitewashed films that was doomed to fail. It was alright I guess. Nothing to write home about, but fun enough to watch if you just want to switch off for a couple of hours and watch some urban historic fantasy.
Rating then: 6/10
Rating now: 6/10
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 – 29th April
The Guardians of the Galaxy return in my most anticipated sequel of the year, and proved to be ever so slightly disappointing. It was great and I loved it, but the first one is still my preferred venture. I think splitting the team up for so long is to blame for my preference of the first, but I enjoyed the two intertwining stories told throughout and Ego is by far easily one of the best villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. Can’t wait for Infinity War though.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: 8/10
- Wonder Woman – 11th June
With the advent of the Justice League monstricity, Wonder Woman stands as a beaming light of what a DC film could be. By no means the best film of the year but definitely earned a spot in the top 5 of a lot of fans’ lists. The trench scene alone perfectly captures Wonder Woman and showed an audience how little modern superhero films focus on actually actively going out of the way to save people.
Rating then: 9/10
Rating now: 8/10
- Spider-Man: Homecoming – 8th July & 11th July
Saw this film twice, actually. Easily the nest of the three MCU films to be released in 2017 as it once again focused on the littler stories. No world-ending disaster plot or subjugation for all mankind. First time I went to see it the cinema ticket cut of “Spi” and “Home” so on the ticket it looked like I was going to see Der-Man Coming. It has been referred to by that name ever since.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: 8/10
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle – 23rd September
Elton John. Enough said. What a great adventure from start to finish. It was funny, sad and engaging all at the same time. Though the start was a little too trigger happy with established characters in order to shoehorn in the American version. Elton John though.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: Not out on DVD yet so would be unfair to judge *Sad face*
- Thor: Ragnarok – 28th October
The weakest of the three MCU films this year, for me. It was great fun and I enjoyed every minute of it… But as a trilogy the tone and pacing of this one doesn’t match Thor or Thor: The Dark World in any way whatsoever. I get it was trying to be its own thing but at the expense of everything to happen prior to Ragnarok?
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: *Patiently awaits DVD release whilst listening to Led Zeppelin*
- Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You – 6th November
Pure untainted nostalgia and a treat for the soul. After 14 years of not being in the cinema Ash & Pikachu exploded back onto the silver screen in marvellous fashion. I already did a review of this film which I’ll attempt to link in here but yeah, I really loved this one.
Rating then: 7/10
Rating now: I keep checking Amazon every week for a DVD release date but it never has one. This makes me sad.
- Justice League – 19th November
From sheer nostalgic beauty to tainted nostalgic dread. This is another film I reviewed at the time of release but I will never stop hating this filth. As a film, it was stupid, as a comic book story, it was badly done, as a superhero film it was insulting and there are no redeeming qualities in this thing whatsoever. Avoid at all costs. Linking the review in if possible here.
Rating then: 2/10
Rating now: Negative 2/10. Not wasting any more time or money on it.
- The Disaster Artist – 9th December
Oh hi Mark. An interesting look into the filming process of one of cinemas greatest duds – The Room. It was light and entertaining, silly and serious, and had the ever loveable Tommy Wiseau in the end credits. It makes me so happy, and I love Lisa so much.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: It’s bullshit, I don’t have it yet. It’s bullshit. It is not! Oh hi Mark.
- Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle – 9th December
So what happens if you put Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan and Kevin Hart in a game of Jumanji? A lot of controversy and needless hate. I liked this film. It wasn’t perfect but give me it over a lot of other films *Cough*JusticeLeague*Cough* any day. While not every joke hit the mark it got a few laughs out of myself and the people I was seeing it with (One a die-hard cynic of the thing) and all in all it was a bit of harmless fun.
Rating then: 7/10
Rating now: You know the drill by this point.
- Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi – 16th December
Following on from the Force Awakens a lot was expected to be revealed in this installment of the Star Wars saga. In the end not a lot was actually revealed and the film suffered from existing in the Star Wars universe. Had it been its own one-off film, yeah, it could have worked, but as Episode VIII of a 9-part saga… It left a lot to be desired. It wasn’t all bad though. Mark Hamill gave the performance of his career and it was interesting to see Rey & Kylo Ren’s relationship grow throughout the film.
Rating then: 8/10
Rating now: Blu-Ray. Surprise! Nah, I’ll be getting the DVD… Whenever that comes out.
Caught up in the now. It’s interesting looking back at the films you saw over the space of a year. Almost all of them [NOT YOU JUSTICE LEAGUE] were good and I don’t regret seeing any of them. Barring the black sheep of the universe. There were of course some films I had wanted to see but never had the opportunity for one reason or another – Murder on the Orient Express, Blade Runner 2049, It, War for the Planet of the Apes etc but nothing to be done about that now.
As for 2018 there are a few films I’m looking forward to seeing. Avengers: Infinity War, The Incredibles 2, Black Panther to name a few but others I’m slightly dubious about… Looking at you Solo: A Star Wars Story. I suppose there’s one way to find out though, ey?
Thank you for following my posts in 2017, next year will continue on as usual, posting on Wednesdays with reviews, look-backs, top 10s or whatever takes my fancy during the week. Should probably get around to finishing my reviews of the David Tennant Doctor Who Big Finish audio stories though.
Hoping you had a Qwark-tastic new year and are settling into the first year with an 8 in it since 2008.
Spectacled Observer. 🙂
The Spectacled Observer 