Best and Worst Films of 2016
- Thread starter Hawki
- Start date
I don't know yet. It's not out here until, I believe, the 13th - and even then I'm not 100% sure. And it doesn't look like it's got any advance screenings, so I wouldn't be able to see it until then. And that weekend is incredibly crowded.Samtemdo8 said:
So we'll see.
Woah.
I can't even claim to have watched five 2016 movies, period, let alone have twenty best and twenty worst!
But I managed to see two:
I was awfully disappointed in the end with Blair Witch- Guess it would have to be my worst of 2016.
Ghostbusters was as funny as I thought it would be, as in, it's not a bad movie, but not a stellar one, either.
I still haven't had a chance to see Ouija: Origin of Evil, and wish to, because it would possibly be the first time the third movie in a franchise was better (subjectively, of course) than the original - that is to say, in the horror genre.
I can't even claim to have watched five 2016 movies, period, let alone have twenty best and twenty worst!
But I managed to see two:
I was awfully disappointed in the end with Blair Witch- Guess it would have to be my worst of 2016.
Ghostbusters was as funny as I thought it would be, as in, it's not a bad movie, but not a stellar one, either.
I still haven't had a chance to see Ouija: Origin of Evil, and wish to, because it would possibly be the first time the third movie in a franchise was better (subjectively, of course) than the original - that is to say, in the horror genre.
Isn't it the second film?the December King said:
Anyway, cases where the third film is the best in the franchise...well, um, I guess I can sort of nominate:
-Revenge of the Sith (for the prequel trilogy)
-Iron Man 3 (though I doubt many would agree)
Apart from that, nothing I can think of, though Return of the Jedi/King do come close to Hope/Fellowship for me.
Hmmm, seemed like the linguist in the article enjoyed the movie for what it was. You already said it, but you went into the movie with too many expectations.Addendum_Forthcoming said:
Never go into stuff with too high of an expectation, it never ends well.
It is called scifi. Science fiction frequently involves taking real theories, like the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, but expands them into fiction. Therefore, the universal language changed her perception of reality, allowing her to see time as the aliens do. No magic involved, but it is by no means realistic.
Maybe you should take up storytelling, a lot of your ideas sounded really interesting!
That sounds like a great movie. Make it happen, Addendum!
Oops!Hawki said:
My bad about Ouija and the prequel- I got confused by the existence of The Ouija Experiment movies.
Sometimes horror gets muddy with reused names...
Well the last film I saw in 2016 was Hacksaw Ridge, and it was definitely one of the better ones. One of the rare cases where a film actually earned the typical bombastic Hollywood score kicking in, complete with angelic choir and all that. Also made for a decent character study about pacifism, idealism vs realism and sticking to one's principles in the face of overwhelming opposition. I was surprised how long the film took its time back at home and the barracks, and presented a very well argued case against the protagonist whom you still rooted for. Desmond Doss is a borderline perfect example of a genuinely heroic and noble protagonist done right. You may not agree with him, you may not even like him and his goody two shoes shtick, but you can't help but admire and respect his conviction, humility, dedication and sincerity.
But boy oh boy when the shit hits the fan it doesn't just spray the entire room, it coats the walls in a 3-inch layer of feces. The comparisons to Saving Private Ryan were well earned, and Hacksaw Ridge took it even further. That scream that starts the battle will haunt my dreams. The visions of those mangled, festering corpses eaten by rats and crawling with maggots are about as close as we've gotten to seeing the Berserk manga in live action.
One of the best WW2 films, up there with Saving Private Ryan, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.
But boy oh boy when the shit hits the fan it doesn't just spray the entire room, it coats the walls in a 3-inch layer of feces. The comparisons to Saving Private Ryan were well earned, and Hacksaw Ridge took it even further. That scream that starts the battle will haunt my dreams. The visions of those mangled, festering corpses eaten by rats and crawling with maggots are about as close as we've gotten to seeing the Berserk manga in live action.
One of the best WW2 films, up there with Saving Private Ryan, Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.
So, the scene would have been better if instead she had said, "Yes, I have the plans and they are on a couple of droids that launched in an escape pod and are now on the planet below?" That doesn't strike me as any better.Ezekiel said:
Actually, I guess my point is... is it really a problem that it's "contradictory?" It is a situation in which she is going to lie, expected to lie. Unless you make it somehow in Rogue One that she WAS on a diplomatic mission and somehow DIDN'T have the death star plans at all, it was ALWAYS going to be "contradictory." I guess I don't see that as fault.
Fuck, what movies did I even watch last year? Uhhh, lets see:
Best:
5. Independence Day - A hot mess of a movie, but fuck it, I still had fun watching it.
4. Rogue One - Poorly paced and the main characters were awful with inconsistent motives, but it was still solid enough a film and enjoyable enough to leave a positive impression.
3. Captain America: Civil War - I'm a sucker for Captain America, what can I say? Also it was a damn solid movie, though it did have a few head-scratcher moments in it around the beginning and the end. Plus, damn, did it make me excited for a Black Panther movie, that's for sure.
2. Star Trek Beyond - I give the Star Trek reboots an awful lot of shit for being less Star Trek and more 'pop-culture idea of Star Trek', but Beyond was a damn good movie, combining the right amount of New Trek Action with the feel of the Old Trek. My only gripe with the film was the whole 'Sulu is gay now!' thing, but that's largely me having a go at it for not doing more with it (also how whenever they had Sulu with his partner there was always like, 5 heterosexual couples around him, like the Studio freaked out and decided to double-down on the straights just in case the gay got out). Otherwise, definitely a movie I'm keen to see again, which is not something I can say for Into Darkness. Ugh.
1. Deadpool - The most accurate comic-to-film adaptation I've ever seen. I've always been a big fan of DP for quite a while now, so seeing a movie where they got him and his comedy right just warmed my heart right up.
Worst:
5. Ghost Busters - Not actually that bad a movie (it's on the worst list solely because I only saw like, 12 movies in 2016), but it was still... meh. It tried too hard, that's what it did. The first Ghost Busters was one of those Lightning in a Bottle films, and trying to recapture it just... didn't work. There were still some good jokes in there and the main cast were superb in their role, but too much of it was bland and forgettable that I damn near forgot what happened a week after seeing it.
4. Warcraft The Movie - God damn, this movie didn't know what it was doing. Exposition Heavy for people who hadn't played Warcraft, yet filled with nods and references to the lore for the players, resulting in huge chunks of the film going over everyones heads or bogging down the narrative while some dumbass expositions for 20 minutes. The human actors were all... terrible, but the movie was saved from the fact the Orcs were damn good, the locations and animations were all gorgeous and the fact that the film did actually pick up and stop sucking in the last 20 or so minutes. It just... could have done with losing about an hour of bullshit beforehand.
3.Underworld: Blood Wars - I'm a sucker (heh) for the Underworld series, as they've always been a case of 'so bad it's good' cheese for me. But Blood Wars was... a mess. A hot, steaming mess, so bad that I'm thankful I watched it with a friend so we could laugh at how bad it was. Plot points were pulled out of thin air, the pacing was all over the place and there is literally two climaxes to the film, as if they finished it off and then went 'fuck, there's still 30 minutes left! What the fuck are we going to do now?'. Hopefully the next one will be cheesy enough to be good again.
2.Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - It was... eh. Boring. Well made, but the damn thing was essentially 'cut-rate Godzilla Flick' by the end of it, which was incredibly disappointing given the potential the actual book gave. None of the characters really stuck out for me, and everything before the generic ending was disappointingly forgettable. Also, the whole 'didn't cast a single black character despite supposedly taking place in Harlem' was super awkward to see. Someone in the casting department is fucking awful at their job for shit like that, jesus.
1. Batman V Superman - I just... c'mon, a Batman v. Superman film shouldn't be this hard, the fuckin' cartoon did like 8 of them and they all worked out just fine. This thing was a mess, slogged like hell, the plot made no sense and the action sequences had zero weight to them. The only good things out of it were Gal Gadot and Brad Pitt, who acted far, far harder than this movie deserved (I also didn't mind Jesse Eisenberg, but fucking hell was he just not given a good character to work with to begin with).
Best:
5. Independence Day - A hot mess of a movie, but fuck it, I still had fun watching it.
4. Rogue One - Poorly paced and the main characters were awful with inconsistent motives, but it was still solid enough a film and enjoyable enough to leave a positive impression.
3. Captain America: Civil War - I'm a sucker for Captain America, what can I say? Also it was a damn solid movie, though it did have a few head-scratcher moments in it around the beginning and the end. Plus, damn, did it make me excited for a Black Panther movie, that's for sure.
2. Star Trek Beyond - I give the Star Trek reboots an awful lot of shit for being less Star Trek and more 'pop-culture idea of Star Trek', but Beyond was a damn good movie, combining the right amount of New Trek Action with the feel of the Old Trek. My only gripe with the film was the whole 'Sulu is gay now!' thing, but that's largely me having a go at it for not doing more with it (also how whenever they had Sulu with his partner there was always like, 5 heterosexual couples around him, like the Studio freaked out and decided to double-down on the straights just in case the gay got out). Otherwise, definitely a movie I'm keen to see again, which is not something I can say for Into Darkness. Ugh.
1. Deadpool - The most accurate comic-to-film adaptation I've ever seen. I've always been a big fan of DP for quite a while now, so seeing a movie where they got him and his comedy right just warmed my heart right up.
Worst:
5. Ghost Busters - Not actually that bad a movie (it's on the worst list solely because I only saw like, 12 movies in 2016), but it was still... meh. It tried too hard, that's what it did. The first Ghost Busters was one of those Lightning in a Bottle films, and trying to recapture it just... didn't work. There were still some good jokes in there and the main cast were superb in their role, but too much of it was bland and forgettable that I damn near forgot what happened a week after seeing it.
4. Warcraft The Movie - God damn, this movie didn't know what it was doing. Exposition Heavy for people who hadn't played Warcraft, yet filled with nods and references to the lore for the players, resulting in huge chunks of the film going over everyones heads or bogging down the narrative while some dumbass expositions for 20 minutes. The human actors were all... terrible, but the movie was saved from the fact the Orcs were damn good, the locations and animations were all gorgeous and the fact that the film did actually pick up and stop sucking in the last 20 or so minutes. It just... could have done with losing about an hour of bullshit beforehand.
3.Underworld: Blood Wars - I'm a sucker (heh) for the Underworld series, as they've always been a case of 'so bad it's good' cheese for me. But Blood Wars was... a mess. A hot, steaming mess, so bad that I'm thankful I watched it with a friend so we could laugh at how bad it was. Plot points were pulled out of thin air, the pacing was all over the place and there is literally two climaxes to the film, as if they finished it off and then went 'fuck, there's still 30 minutes left! What the fuck are we going to do now?'. Hopefully the next one will be cheesy enough to be good again.
2.Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - It was... eh. Boring. Well made, but the damn thing was essentially 'cut-rate Godzilla Flick' by the end of it, which was incredibly disappointing given the potential the actual book gave. None of the characters really stuck out for me, and everything before the generic ending was disappointingly forgettable. Also, the whole 'didn't cast a single black character despite supposedly taking place in Harlem' was super awkward to see. Someone in the casting department is fucking awful at their job for shit like that, jesus.
1. Batman V Superman - I just... c'mon, a Batman v. Superman film shouldn't be this hard, the fuckin' cartoon did like 8 of them and they all worked out just fine. This thing was a mess, slogged like hell, the plot made no sense and the action sequences had zero weight to them. The only good things out of it were Gal Gadot and Brad Pitt, who acted far, far harder than this movie deserved (I also didn't mind Jesse Eisenberg, but fucking hell was he just not given a good character to work with to begin with).
I'm awful at ranking things so I'd rather just list off some movies I saw, group them into good or bad, and then explain why. Fair warning that I'm far an away from a high-brow critic or consumer.
The Good:
Doctor Strange - a lot of people seem to think this was pretty meh, and it was definitely a paint-by-the-numbers Marvel movie. But one thing I really liked about it was the visuals, the mirror dimension especially. Also I really liked The Ancient One. She definitely pulled off the unflappable mentor, but was also endearingly vulnerable and soft at times, without ever undermining her general bad-ass-ness. I actually saw this twice because a friend of mine wanted to go after I had already seen it, but I think it was worth that. It didn't do anything new, but I think that what it did do was at least done pretty well. The climax and villain were pretty boring though.
La La Land - I didn't pay any attention to this until a glowing recommendation from my sister got me interested. I actually really liked it - it had style and charm and really harkened back to the old Hollywood musicals, but as a creative type myself I also related a lot to the story and characters. The ending could've been a bit better maybe, and I think we all knew where the main romance was heading before it even began, but the movie had charisma and I could write an essay on it's take on creative nostalgia and what it feels like to be an aspiring artist of any sort in today's day.
The Bad:
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them - everything about this movie felt muddled to me. The characters weren't all that developed, the pacing was extremely fast, the fantastical elements didn't have the same charm I'd come to expect from the Potter-verse, and the plot twists were pretty easy to figure out. There's a part towards the end - where the not-auror girl was being suspended over that pool thing - that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me and merited waaaay more explanation. I walked out of the theater feeling pretty unimpressed, and wishing Rowling had stuck to novels. With more room to breathe I think it could've been good, but it tried to do too much and ending up feeling like a hollow tour of a bunch of unmemorable monsters.
Rogue One - I think this movie had a lot of the same issues as Fantastic Beasts. A jumpy beginning and non-existent characterization (Nevermind character development) left me pretty indifferent to everything that happened. People say the second half was better, even great, and maybe it was but by then I was zoning out in my seat and paid only spotty attention. The two leads have next-to-no personality and all the charisma of soggy bread. The Jedha duo seemed pretty irrelevant to the overall story, so I'm not sure why they were even there. Pilot guy also seemed irrelevant, and also didn't have much personality, and was supposed to be driven insane by the hentai monster I think? Which would've made for a more interesting character, hopefully, but instead he just seemed sort of anxious and thoroughly forgettable. The only character I sort of liked was the robot, and only because he was at least fun. I also have to give the film props for it's nice cinematography and it's very cool (If extremely indulgent and pointless) scene with Vader towards the end. But I just couldn't care about this movie. What might've been a tragic ending left me cold, because the movie made no attempt to make me care about anyone.
The Secret Life of Pets - Do I have to explain this one? Really? Honestly I'm not sure why I went to see it since I knew it was going to be terrible. It was another soulless animated kid's movie with some occasionally repulsive designs (What was up the bigger dog? He has just like... a lump of brown.) It was boring, unfunny, unoriginal, and an obvious cash grab with no love or passion put into it. Throw it in the bin with the countless other stale animated movies, which there are sadly far too many of.
The Meh:
Moana - I want to say this was another formulaic Disney princess movie, but given the absence of a love interest and non-white lead, I guess I have make noises about how it's so ground-breaking. So there's that acknowledgement, please don't bother me about it again. It's hard for me to pinpoint what exactly Moana suffered from, and I want to say it's biggest flaw was that it didn't do anything truly impressive to me. It felt like it took forever to get off the island, and once we did, the movie just jumped between campy, cringe-filled monsters like the Coconut dudes and the Crab guy that remind me uncomfortably of bad Dreamworks movies and the shittier entries in the Disney Renaissance. Eventually it stumbled into the climax, which was at least a little clever, but still felt somewhat perfunctory and forgettable. I wish this movie had down away with Moana entirely (Or at least made her more interesting) since the entire time it felt like Maui had the more interesting story that the movie just refused to tell. It did have nice visuals, at least, but a lengthy beginning and weak middle turned me off.
Captain America: Civil War - this is one of those movies that I actually forgot I saw until it was mentioned in this thread. The entire thing felt like an excuse to have superheroes fight each other, and the villain was both forgettable and didn't make a lot of sense to me.
X-Men: Apocalypse - Well I was faintly amused to see the lengths this series goes to to write Magneto out of the story between movies only to bring him back in again for reasons that mainly boil down to "because the writer says so." And also to see how hard it made Magneto's life terrible again this time around (He must be competing with Wolverine for largest number of contrived tragedies within a single canon.) And at least I got to stare at Michael Fassbender's and James McAvoy's beautiful faces for about two hours. But otherwise this movie was very bleh. The villain had some potential, but it was all wasted to make him into a cliche. The young kids from the school were all pretty bland. Obligatory Wolervine cameo was obligatory. Also see comments about Magneto's general story line becoming increasingly absurd.
Star Trek: Beyond - I'm sure I saw this movie. I'm sure I did. I remember a joke about tracking devices that I actually did find pretty funny. But otherwise I'm struggling to remember anything about it. Oh well.
So that's my list. I guess I have to give nods to Zootopia, which I saw the first half of recently on Netflix but haven't seen all the way through. Also Kubo, which I really wanted to see but didn't get the chance to. I also saw Deadpool this year, but given that I don't like comedies in general, I don't think my opinion on it really matters.
The Good:
Doctor Strange - a lot of people seem to think this was pretty meh, and it was definitely a paint-by-the-numbers Marvel movie. But one thing I really liked about it was the visuals, the mirror dimension especially. Also I really liked The Ancient One. She definitely pulled off the unflappable mentor, but was also endearingly vulnerable and soft at times, without ever undermining her general bad-ass-ness. I actually saw this twice because a friend of mine wanted to go after I had already seen it, but I think it was worth that. It didn't do anything new, but I think that what it did do was at least done pretty well. The climax and villain were pretty boring though.
La La Land - I didn't pay any attention to this until a glowing recommendation from my sister got me interested. I actually really liked it - it had style and charm and really harkened back to the old Hollywood musicals, but as a creative type myself I also related a lot to the story and characters. The ending could've been a bit better maybe, and I think we all knew where the main romance was heading before it even began, but the movie had charisma and I could write an essay on it's take on creative nostalgia and what it feels like to be an aspiring artist of any sort in today's day.
The Bad:
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them - everything about this movie felt muddled to me. The characters weren't all that developed, the pacing was extremely fast, the fantastical elements didn't have the same charm I'd come to expect from the Potter-verse, and the plot twists were pretty easy to figure out. There's a part towards the end - where the not-auror girl was being suspended over that pool thing - that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me and merited waaaay more explanation. I walked out of the theater feeling pretty unimpressed, and wishing Rowling had stuck to novels. With more room to breathe I think it could've been good, but it tried to do too much and ending up feeling like a hollow tour of a bunch of unmemorable monsters.
Rogue One - I think this movie had a lot of the same issues as Fantastic Beasts. A jumpy beginning and non-existent characterization (Nevermind character development) left me pretty indifferent to everything that happened. People say the second half was better, even great, and maybe it was but by then I was zoning out in my seat and paid only spotty attention. The two leads have next-to-no personality and all the charisma of soggy bread. The Jedha duo seemed pretty irrelevant to the overall story, so I'm not sure why they were even there. Pilot guy also seemed irrelevant, and also didn't have much personality, and was supposed to be driven insane by the hentai monster I think? Which would've made for a more interesting character, hopefully, but instead he just seemed sort of anxious and thoroughly forgettable. The only character I sort of liked was the robot, and only because he was at least fun. I also have to give the film props for it's nice cinematography and it's very cool (If extremely indulgent and pointless) scene with Vader towards the end. But I just couldn't care about this movie. What might've been a tragic ending left me cold, because the movie made no attempt to make me care about anyone.
The Secret Life of Pets - Do I have to explain this one? Really? Honestly I'm not sure why I went to see it since I knew it was going to be terrible. It was another soulless animated kid's movie with some occasionally repulsive designs (What was up the bigger dog? He has just like... a lump of brown.) It was boring, unfunny, unoriginal, and an obvious cash grab with no love or passion put into it. Throw it in the bin with the countless other stale animated movies, which there are sadly far too many of.
The Meh:
Moana - I want to say this was another formulaic Disney princess movie, but given the absence of a love interest and non-white lead, I guess I have make noises about how it's so ground-breaking. So there's that acknowledgement, please don't bother me about it again. It's hard for me to pinpoint what exactly Moana suffered from, and I want to say it's biggest flaw was that it didn't do anything truly impressive to me. It felt like it took forever to get off the island, and once we did, the movie just jumped between campy, cringe-filled monsters like the Coconut dudes and the Crab guy that remind me uncomfortably of bad Dreamworks movies and the shittier entries in the Disney Renaissance. Eventually it stumbled into the climax, which was at least a little clever, but still felt somewhat perfunctory and forgettable. I wish this movie had down away with Moana entirely (Or at least made her more interesting) since the entire time it felt like Maui had the more interesting story that the movie just refused to tell. It did have nice visuals, at least, but a lengthy beginning and weak middle turned me off.
Captain America: Civil War - this is one of those movies that I actually forgot I saw until it was mentioned in this thread. The entire thing felt like an excuse to have superheroes fight each other, and the villain was both forgettable and didn't make a lot of sense to me.
X-Men: Apocalypse - Well I was faintly amused to see the lengths this series goes to to write Magneto out of the story between movies only to bring him back in again for reasons that mainly boil down to "because the writer says so." And also to see how hard it made Magneto's life terrible again this time around (He must be competing with Wolverine for largest number of contrived tragedies within a single canon.) And at least I got to stare at Michael Fassbender's and James McAvoy's beautiful faces for about two hours. But otherwise this movie was very bleh. The villain had some potential, but it was all wasted to make him into a cliche. The young kids from the school were all pretty bland. Obligatory Wolervine cameo was obligatory. Also see comments about Magneto's general story line becoming increasingly absurd.
Star Trek: Beyond - I'm sure I saw this movie. I'm sure I did. I remember a joke about tracking devices that I actually did find pretty funny. But otherwise I'm struggling to remember anything about it. Oh well.
So that's my list. I guess I have to give nods to Zootopia, which I saw the first half of recently on Netflix but haven't seen all the way through. Also Kubo, which I really wanted to see but didn't get the chance to. I also saw Deadpool this year, but given that I don't like comedies in general, I don't think my opinion on it really matters.
What was wrong with La La Land, may I ask? I just got back from that and I thought it was pretty damn great.Hawki said:
Not the first time I've been asked why I dislike La La Land, and probably won't be the last. What sucks is that I can't really give you a clear answer - a lot of the movies on my "worst" list had more distinct issues than the film, but there's something about La La Land that just bugs me, or rather, a lot of little things. Said things being:Saetha said:
-There's a feeling of superficiality in the film that I find offputting. Now, true, it is a musical, so you're required to have more suspension of disbelief than you would in other pieces of fiction. How it works as a musical is something I'll address, but for whatever reason, I found myself being unable to invest in the setting or characters. It's not that the film is cheesy, or that the characters don't have obstacles, but there's something kind of 'sickly sweet' about the movie for me. Something on the subconcious level that I can't connect to.
-I'm not sure how well the film works sturcturely. Now, we start in "winter" (or what counts as winter in LA), then spring/summer, then "fall" (puns!), then jump a few years later to the ending sequence IIRC. Now, up until "fall," the film feels like a cohesive entity. It's a musical, it's light and fluffy, it has a lot of that "sickly sweet" feeling, etc. With "fall" however, the film feels completely different - less musical, more focused on dialogue, feels more 'real,' etc. Now, this arguably isn't a flaw at all, because I've got no doubt that it was intended to be so. The "fall" section is the third act of what's arguably a four act film, and where the characters are at their lowest (which is usually the second act if one uses a three act structure). But there's something about the style and 'substance' that feels so different from the rest of the movie that it feels disjointed. I've commented elsewhere that Rogue One, placing on my list aside, isn't lower because its third act saves it. Here, La La Land's third act is the one that arguably sabotages it.
-This is arguably unfair, but I feel the question of music and innovation is a topic the film brings up, but never really addresses properly, and that's the Keith/Sebastian situation. Now, I'm not a fan of jazz music, and the film didn't change that, but at the least, it does show why Sebastian likes jazz, and why others would to, the idea of music being able to bypass language barriers (which makes sense, if one applies the concept of music being a universal language). I like how he explains to Mia why he likes jazz so much, and how it shows how frustrated he is playing simple Christmas tunes. What I'm not as fond of is how it treats Keith. I get the sense that the film expects us to dislike Keith as well, but I'm left to ask...why? So Keith plays pop music. So? Is that a crime?
What's more, Keith does bring up a point that Seb never answers - if you want to keep jazz alive, is immitating past styles the best way to go about it? Now, Keith's band is far more pop than jazz, and in the performance, we do see some improv from Seb, so I can't say that this is keeping jazz alive. Alright, fair enough. But if jazz is dying, what's the solution? Because whatever it is, Seb's bar still caters to adults. It may glorify jazz, but does nothing to solve the problem of the generation gap.
The reason I say this is arugably unfair is that the film probably isn't interested in these questions, that it's not really trying to deal with them, that the whole point is that it shows Seb compromising on his dreams. But I dunno, it's something that I found offputting in that it seems to go with the idea of "Seb is the artiste, Keith is the sellout," but by my view, that's far too black and white a way of looking at things. And as someone who studied music up till the end of secondary school, while I'm hardly the best person to discuss music theory with, I wouldn't have minded more examination of the questions the film brings up.
-The clincher for me is that the more I think about the film, the more I dislike Mia's character. Now, let's see, she has a dream to be an actress, and it does show that getting past the audition phase is no sure thing. She's given up a more secure career in pursuit of her dreams. Yet she's also got a steady job as a barista, nice dresses, goes to parties, has a car, etc. In many ways, she's in a very sound financial situation, whereas poor Seb is the one who actually is struggling, and the one who's forced to compromise, while Mia gets to write her play. Now, I get it, Seb is arguably "selling out" in the context of the story (even if I disagree with that assessment), but she treats him so horribly in the dinner scene, and I can't help but feel that we're supposed to side with her. Yes, he's compromised his dream, but sometimes, you need to compromise. What's she done? Written her play, she's in a relationship with someone with a sound income, probably for the first time in a long time, and then she chews him out for not attending opening night. Despite the fact that the play flops regardless of whether she shows up. Yes, it mirrors her being late to their 'movie date,' (after leaving abruptly with her actual date at the time without even trying to make an excuse), and then gives up, while Seb gets to 'redeem' himself by driving to Boulder City and back again. All for a film that...well, let's just say that I'd be genuinely surprised if any film was ever put into production without a script, and with the core intention of basing it around the lead actress.
So, Mia gets her happy ending, and reneges on seeing her friend's play to get dinner, because, as she's shown, that isn't emotionally devastating at all. Then the ending sequence happens. I don't mind Seb and Mia not getting together. But what's irked me is that I get the sense that I'm meant to sympathize with Mia a lot more, while in my mind, Seb is the one who actually deserves the admiration. The one who can pursue his dream, know when to compromise, and achieve it, whereas Mia gets things handed on a platter by comparison.
At the end of the day, are these things enough to make it a bad film? Probably not. But allowing for subjectivity in my list, these things are enough to make me dislike the film and rank it as low as I do. At the end of the day, it's probably one of those films that just doesn't click with me, even if I can understand that it's technically sound, and probably sound in a lot of other areas.
I see. I get where you're coming from on a lot of these. It is definitely a very idealized - perhaps too idealized - film, and I do remember thinking that I've never been a great fan of the "If you just try long and hard enough, you'll make it" message. But on the subject of Keith - I think Sebastian didn't like him because he saw Keith as a sellout who writes shallow music, but I think the movie as a whole ended up taking Keith's side. After all, in the first half he and Mia had some banter about how he wants his club to have this name and serve this food and be this thing, but when he actually gets to fulfill that dream, he changes it instead. He plays in Keith's band and seems - if not happy, at least content with it. I think the ultimate point of his story is that he had to adjust, and he did. His insistence on worshiping the old was holding him back, and it was only after letting it go a bit that he was able to achieve what he wanted.Hawki said:
I guess you could argue that's a bit of a mixed message in a movie that seems to idolize old Hollywood. But regardless, given that Sebastian only sees success after agreeing to Keith, and the fact that movie presents no real rebuttal to Keith's line about old jazz, I think we're supposed to see him as right. I do think it could've addressed that whole line of thinking better, though. I was a bit disappointed that the film seemed to mostly ignore Keith's points and focus on the love story towards the end.
In no particular order:
Good[footnote]In my view, 'good' is any movie I enjoyed enough that I'd watch it again someday, regardless of it's actual quality[/footnote]
Zootopia
Deadpool
Doctor Strange
Captain America: Civil War
Bad[footnote]Not all of them are bad per se, but they just didn't do much for me.[/footnote]
Zoolander 2
Batman v Superman
Suicide Squad
Hardcore Henry
The Jungle Book
Ratchet & Clank
TMNT: Out Of The Shadows
Warcraft
Finding Dory
Independance Day: Resurgence
Ghostbusters
Star Trek Beyond
Batman: The Killing Joke
Sausage Party
Blair Witch
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
Good[footnote]In my view, 'good' is any movie I enjoyed enough that I'd watch it again someday, regardless of it's actual quality[/footnote]
Zootopia
Deadpool
Doctor Strange
Captain America: Civil War
Bad[footnote]Not all of them are bad per se, but they just didn't do much for me.[/footnote]
Zoolander 2
Batman v Superman
Suicide Squad
Hardcore Henry
The Jungle Book
Ratchet & Clank
TMNT: Out Of The Shadows
Warcraft
Finding Dory
Independance Day: Resurgence
Ghostbusters
Star Trek Beyond
Batman: The Killing Joke
Sausage Party
Blair Witch
Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children
I don't watch movies that much (because of the Australia Tax), but I did see some films that I thought were good:
Rogue One-This didn't light the world on fire, but it doesn't need too. And it's alright. Plus it made Darth Vader badass again.
Zootopia-Overated as...well, a Disney movie. Still a pretty good film with a good message. And it wasn't Frozen.
Deadpool-Because it's motherfucking Deadpool. Shame about the director though.
And while I managed to dodge Batman V Superman, Ghostbusters and Independence Day: Regurgitate I fell for one terrible movie this year:
Suicide Squad-I shouldn't have to explain this. Between the lazy exposition, bad performances (Jared Leto and the Wacky Waving Arm Flailing Inflatable Delevigne), shitty editing and CG, forgettable action and bizarre mismatched soundtrack (which is still the best thing about this film somehow), what is there to recommend? Oh, I forgot:
Rogue One-This didn't light the world on fire, but it doesn't need too. And it's alright. Plus it made Darth Vader badass again.
Zootopia-Overated as...well, a Disney movie. Still a pretty good film with a good message. And it wasn't Frozen.
Deadpool-Because it's motherfucking Deadpool. Shame about the director though.
And while I managed to dodge Batman V Superman, Ghostbusters and Independence Day: Regurgitate I fell for one terrible movie this year:
Suicide Squad-I shouldn't have to explain this. Between the lazy exposition, bad performances (Jared Leto and the Wacky Waving Arm Flailing Inflatable Delevigne), shitty editing and CG, forgettable action and bizarre mismatched soundtrack (which is still the best thing about this film somehow), what is there to recommend? Oh, I forgot:
My final pick for best movie will probably be Gokseong, I thought that that movie was damn near masterful. Intriguing, and successfully shifting moods as the story moves along, leaving you as befuddled and shocked as the main characters of the movie. After watching it in the theatres, my friends and I debated it for around two hours, which shows how well it held our attention.
Saw La La Land last week, and I have to say, I adored it. While the characters and their motivations are shallow, and I'm sort of unable to empathize with their goals ("I want to make it BIG!"), they still ended up being very likable. The cinematography was impressive, and despite being rather adverse to musical numbers, I thought most of the ones in the movie oozed with charm and personality. The movie reminds me of 500 Days of Summer if the two main characters weren't complete knobheads, with elements from Singing in the Rain and The Artist.
10 Cloverfield Lane would have been a perfect movie for me if it ended 15 minutes earlier. As it stands, the ending completely ruined the mood of the movie for me. Without that cringeworthy final action scene, this would have easily been my movie of the year, but I still very much like it, and will continue to pretend that the ending doesn't exist. John Goodman was absolutely terrifying in it.
Other mentions go to The Green Room, Arrival, Toni Erdmann, and Hacksaw Ridge, which were all great as well, but who didn't end up leaving mark on me as much as the first three.
I've been meaning to see Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea before Oscar season, but I'm not sure I'll get around to doing it.
As far as worst movies go, I'll have to say that it's between Suicide Squad (dumb, pointless, badly acted, nonsensical) and Juste la Fin du Monde (sappy, melodramatic, directionless) for me.
Special mention to Swiss Army Man, which was a dumb but fun movie. Quite unique and enjoyable. Dano delivers as usual.
Saw La La Land last week, and I have to say, I adored it. While the characters and their motivations are shallow, and I'm sort of unable to empathize with their goals ("I want to make it BIG!"), they still ended up being very likable. The cinematography was impressive, and despite being rather adverse to musical numbers, I thought most of the ones in the movie oozed with charm and personality. The movie reminds me of 500 Days of Summer if the two main characters weren't complete knobheads, with elements from Singing in the Rain and The Artist.
10 Cloverfield Lane would have been a perfect movie for me if it ended 15 minutes earlier. As it stands, the ending completely ruined the mood of the movie for me. Without that cringeworthy final action scene, this would have easily been my movie of the year, but I still very much like it, and will continue to pretend that the ending doesn't exist. John Goodman was absolutely terrifying in it.
Other mentions go to The Green Room, Arrival, Toni Erdmann, and Hacksaw Ridge, which were all great as well, but who didn't end up leaving mark on me as much as the first three.
I've been meaning to see Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea before Oscar season, but I'm not sure I'll get around to doing it.
As far as worst movies go, I'll have to say that it's between Suicide Squad (dumb, pointless, badly acted, nonsensical) and Juste la Fin du Monde (sappy, melodramatic, directionless) for me.
Special mention to Swiss Army Man, which was a dumb but fun movie. Quite unique and enjoyable. Dano delivers as usual.
Yeah, well maybe I was excited for a sci-fi film that dealt with the subject of trying to capture the truly alien. Maybe a realistic depiction of what it means to make contact and create something approximating shared meaning. But once again, this wasn't thr only problem I had with the film. Not only was it light on the science. But it was light on common sense.bartholen said:
You know what would have solved all the political problems at the start? A multinational team with representatives from everywhere sent to all applicable sites. Boom. Done. Given the immensity of what it could mean of being misunderstood, I don't buy for a second the China problem in this movie. Nor do I buy for a moment just because both China and the U.S. cut their feeds that that would magically end international co-operation elsewhere? Apparently we can organise independent international science teams to co-ordinate on things like Antarctic ice shelf research, but apparently that dies the second we might have to do something like not trying to provoke an interstellar war (because Mahjong, no less).
And this might seem a nitpick, but when it accounts for almost half of the film and nearly ALL OF THE PLOT (because aliens isn't enough to capture our interest) ... it strikes me as a hamfisted way to try to ramp up the tension. And it didn't need it. The movie didn't need tension like this. The tension could purely be served by the concept that these aliens are travelers in space and this is merely a pitstop on a great migration. So humans could purely be motivated by the idea that there is limited time to be understood... limited time to send an accurate portrayal of the human being through direct correspondence... we miss it and that's it.
A veiled, menacing threat that we don't know when they will leave, merely that they are actually travelling somewhere else. Why are the travelling? What are they hoping to find? Can we build consensus enough to find out ourselves?
If you want to tell a humancentric narrative, maybe governments shut down things like unsanctioned broadcasts ... and what we might have to sacrifice to put our best face forward and seem at the very least like a unified species. The humancentric storyline could have been dealt with nuance and respect to the individual effects on humanity struggling to deal with this idea of the great, unknowable other that visits ... and struggling to find something to *give* or something to do in the light of something so arcane as alien life that it dwarves the notions of religion and theodicy in terms of something on a scale of the universe itself.
Maybe the threat isn't so shoehorned as a general that can apparently retract a *declaration of war* by having a scientist recite someone's dying words said in private. So a general, who apparently has autocratic power, can basically end a wholesale military engagement by saying; "Fuck it, guys. It's okay... I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I perhaps drank a bit too much at last night's party... I wasn't all with it. Chronic case of Monday-itis but it's all good, now."
I can't imagine how effective communicating that with fucking Mahjong tiles would be. Not very I would imagine given they might have things like antimatter engines as boosters that could sterilise Earth if you do something retarded like target them with conventional munitions or nuclear warheads. Might pay never to initiate hostilities ... hence why even amongst humans who we can understand China has things like the no first use policy. Because ultimately the repercussions are nightmarish in all their possibilities.
The movie bills itself as 'clever' ... and I can't think of a worst story to tell of first contact. It's like Inception, but less witty and less open to discussion about where the pieces fit. So much so I'm seriously debating Banks is in an asylum and has invented this narrative to deal with a failed marriage and the death of her daughter and in a psychological haze trying to find ways to prevent what are inevitables in her past like the guilt of treating her like garbage while she were alive, and trying to think of ways to undo those mistakes... which could be a brilliant story on its own how the aliens are merely internalized demons she fabricates to better help her dwell on past relationships rather than properly mourning and getting on with her life.
That story would have brought it all together. Delusions of grandeur, warping concepts of science, and serving to suit an insane narrative inside her head. I'd watch that. You know, if the direction was better and that was the meaning of the film.