The 2018 DG Movie Awards

We have now arrived to the awards season, and it is now time for the fourth annual DG Movie Awards.
I sadly don't have any new categories this year. However, the nominees and winners are still as strong as you would expect.
I will be interested to see who you would have in your list of nominees.

Here is the full list of the winners and nominees. Let me know what you think and if you agree with them:

BEST EDITING:
Baby Driver
Bad Genius
I, Tonya
T2 Trainspotting
The Shape Of Water

BEST COSTUME DESIGN & MAKEUP:
Darkest Hour
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The Shape Of Water

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Battle Of The Sexes
Blade Runner 2049
Detroit
Phantom Thread
The Shape Of Water

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Blade Runner 2049
Coco
Ghost In The Shell
Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets
War For The Planet Of The Apes

BEST SCORE & SOUNDTRACK:
Steven Price & Various Artists - Baby Driver
Hans Zimmer - Blade Runner 2049
Michael Giacchino - Coco
Johnny Greenwood - Phantom Thread
Alexandre Desplat - The Shape Of Water

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Blade Runner 2049
Mother!
November
The Florida Project
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer

BEST SCREENPLAY:
Baby Driver
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
Lady Bird
Molly's Game
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST POSTER:
Alien: Covenant
John Wick: Chapter 2
Life
Logan
Thor: Ragnarok

BEST TRAILER:
Blade Of The Immortal
T2 Trainspotting
The Death Of Stalin
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets

BEST SCENE/MOMENT:
Father's Speech - Call Me By Your Name
Algiers Motel Interrogation - Detroit
Chaos In The House - Mother!
With A Pencil - John Wick: Chapter 2
Dixon Loses It - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE:
Baby Driver
Detroit
T2 Trainspotting
The Florida Project
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE:
Ana De Armas - Blade Runner 2049
Allison Janney - I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird
Lesley Manville - Phantom Thread
Ella Anderson - The Glass Castle

BEST SUPPORTING MALE:
Jamie Foxx - Baby Driver
Will Poulter - Detroit
Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project
Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Woody Harrelson - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST LEADING FEMALE:
Jessica Chastain - Molly's Game
Vicky Krieps - Phantom Thread
Brooklynn Prince - The Florida Project
Bria Vinaite - The Florida Project
Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST LEADING MALE:
Kyle Mooney - Brigsby Bear
Timothee Chalamet - Call Me By Your Name
Charlie Plummer - Lean On Pete
Daniel Day-Lewis - Phantom Thread
James Franco - The Disaster Artist

BEST DIRECTOR:
Edgar Wright - Baby Driver
Denis Villeneuve - Blade Runner 2049
Paul Thomas Anderson - Phantom Thread
Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape Of Water
Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST FILM:
Baby Driver
Bad Genius
Blade Runner 2049
Brigsby Bear
Detroit
Dunkirk
Mother!
T2 Trainspotting
The Lego Batman Movie
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Total list of winners
4  - Blade Runner 2049
      Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3  - Baby Driver
1  - Alien: Covenant
      Brigsby Bear
      Call Me By Your Name
      Detroit
      Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
      Phantom Thread

Total list of nominations
9   - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
7   - Blade Runner 2049
6   - Phantom Thread
5   - Baby Driver
       Detroit
       The Shape Of Water
4   - Mother!
       The Florida Project
3   - T2 Trainspotting
       The Lego Batman Movie
2   - Bad Genius
       Brigsby Bear
       Call Me By Your Name
       Coco
       I, Tonya
       John Wick: Chapter 2
       Lady Bird
       Molly's Game
       Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets
1   - Alien: Covenant
       Battle Of The Sexes
       Blade Of The Immortal
       Captain Underpants: The Fist Epic Movie
       Darkest Hour
       Dunkirk
       Ghost In The Shell
       Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
       Lean On Pete
       Life
       Logan
       November
       Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge
       Star Wars: The Last Jedi
       The Death Of Stalin
       The Disaster Artist
       The Glass Castle
       The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
       Thor: Ragnarok
       War For The Planet Of The Apes

My Top 10: Films Of 2017

2017 has been quite a year for films. We continue to see independent and low budget films give us such a variety of stories, with many becoming some of this years favourites.

On the mainstream scene, the superhero films on the whole have been some of the most fun in recent times. Whilst also feeling more of a standalone in terms of its tone, the superhero genre seems to have rejuvenated, instead of being generic, which is it what a lot of them were slowly becoming.

With me now working as an usher at my local community cinema and heading off to my first ever film festival in Leeds, I have seen many more films that I usually see. They include some of the worst films I have seen on the big screen and many indie hits that I would never usually see, and that I cannot see being released in any format in the UK.

Below is my full ranking of 2017 films I have seen, both as a list and in video format. I must finally, that I know some films in this list were released in the UK in 2018. So my ruling on giving a film a year, is basically how IMDB do it. Which is, its first ever release, anywhere in the world and that is accessible to the public. That does include premieres and film festivals. With that in mind, check it out:

198) Geo-Disaster
197) Sharknado 5: Global Warming
196) The Jungle Bunch
195) Empire Of The Sharks
194) Alien Convergence

193) Fifty Shades Darker

192) Stratton

191) Transformers: The Last Knight
190) Snatched

189) Zoo
188) The Mummy
187) The Emoji Movie
186) The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature
185) The Snowman
184) Baywatch

183) Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

182) Girls Trip

181) Jigsaw

180) Ferdinand
179) The Boss Baby
178) Home Again
177) Walking Out

176) You Were Never Really Here
175) The Dark Tower
174) Kong: Skull Island
173) Happy End
172) Aftermath
171) The Zookeeper's Wife
170) A Dog's Purpose
169) Churchill
168) The Mountain Between Us
167) Journeyman
166) Nico, 1988
165) The Senator

164) Cars 3
163) Despicable Me 3
162) Borg vs. McEnroe
161) The Beguiled
160) Justice League
159) Die Tomorrow
158) Annabelle: Creation
157) Roman J. Israel, Esq.
156) The Other Side Of Everything
155) Fast & Furious 8
154) Menashe
153) Makala
152) The Nile Hilton Incident

151) I Am Not A Witch
150) Hostiles
149) Hampstead

148) Suburbicon

147) Power Rangers
146) Downsizing
145) Ghost In The Shell
144) Beauty And The Beast
143) Journey's End
142) The Greatest Showman
141) My Cousin Rachel
140) Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle
139) Thelma
138) Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge
137) The Sense Of An Ending
136) Alien: Covenant
135) Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
134) Last Men In Aleppo
133) Star Wars: The Last Jedi
132) Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets
131) Loveless

130) On Chesil Beach
129) Beast

128) Over The Limit
127) Wonderstruck
126) Battle Of The Sexes
125) Brimstone & Glory
124) Murder On The Orient Express
123) The Death Of Stalin
122) Goodbye Christopher Robin
121) Out Of Thin Air
120) Happy Death Day
119) Tulip Fever
118) McLaren
117) Victoria & Abdul
116) American Made
115) It Comes At Night
114) Kingsman: The Golden Circle
113) Arcadia
112) Eric Clapton: Life In 12 Bars
111) Faces Places
110) Disobedience

109) Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
108) Mountain
107) Whitney: Can I Be Me
106) The Farthest
105) Finding Your Feet

104) A Fantastic Woman
103) The Leisure Seeker
102) Revenge
101) A Woman Captured

100) Custody

99) The Man Who Invented Christmas
98) Ingrid Goes West

97) Anna And The Apocalypse

96) Thor: Ragnarok
95) Spider-Man: Homecoming
94) Wonder Woman
93) Atomic Blonde
92) Life
91) It
90) The Party
89) The LEGO Ninjago Movie
88) Last Flag Flying
87) The Post
86) Mary And The Witch's Flower
85) Dina
84) Thoroughbreds
83) In The Fade

82) I Am Heath Ledger
81) Shankly: Nature's Fire
80) The Current War
79) Professor Marston And The Wonder Women

78) Brawl In Cell Block 99

77) The Endless

76) Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool
75) Earth: One Amazing Day
74) Shot Caller
73) First Reformed
72) City Of Ghosts
71) The Work
70) Berlin Syndrome
69) The Children Act
68) Paddington 2
67) The Wife

66) Beauty And The Dogs
65) Oh Lucy!
64) Lu Over The Wall
63) The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
62) God's Own Country
61) John Wick: Chapter 2

60) Junk Head

59) Patti Cake$

58) Stronger
57) Wonder
56) The Breadwinner
55) Darkest Hour
54) Ghost Stories
53) Sweet Country
52) Filmworker
51) 120 BPM (Beats Per Minute)

50) Bunch Of Kunst
49) Good Time
48) Lucky
47) Williams

46) Speilberg

45) My Mother's Lost Children
44) Lean On Pete

43) Breathe
42) Logan
41) The Big Sick

40) The Wall

39) A Taxi Driver

38) Logan Lucky
37) Loving Vincent
36) Blade Of The Immortal
35) Only The Brave
34) Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
33) Gifted
32) The Glass Castle
31) I, Tonya
30) Kenny
29) 78/52: Hitchcock's Shower Scene
28) November
27) Wind River
26) Get Out
25) War For The Planet Of The Apes
24) The Square
23) The Dawn Wall
22) The Disaster Artist
21) Molly's Game
20) All The Money In The World
19) Call Me By Your Name

18) Lady Bird
17) A Ghost Story
16) The Shape Of Water
15) Phantom Thread

14) Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale

13) Coco
12) One Cut Of The Dead
11) The Florida Project

10) The Lego Batman Movie - A hilarious and highly imaginative spin-off sequel to The Lego Movie.

The amount of gags and clever references alone make this such a entertaining ride that people of all ages can get a lot out of. Plus the visuals are still as strong as its predecessor.

It may very well be the best Batman film since The Dark Knight trilogy.

9) T2 Trainspotting - Danny Boyle's long awaited and yet also unexpected sequel to the 1996 British cult classic.

It's as if they never left. The gang are back together and are in fine form in every aspect.

The story is exciting and the style stays true to the original and is vintage Boyle.

Dare I say, a third one could be on the way?

8) Dunkirk - Whenever Christopher Nolan release a new film, you know it has a strong chance of being high-up in your favourites list.

This thrilling war drama based on a true story is a wonderful re-telling of this most unreal of events during World War II.

It might not be a character piece, but it makes up for in transporting you to the event itself.

7) Bad Genius - A wonderfully enjoyable experience that gives us a refreshing take on the heist genre.

This Thai heist-comedy has got everything going for it. From the memorable characters to the swift and frenetic set-pieces with slick editing, this was quite the surprise.

It is a film that I saw at the Leeds Film Festival, and sadly I'm not sure if it will ever get released over here, either in cinemas or even on DVD.

6) Mother! - Definitely one of the most talked about and most divisive films of 2017, it could only be a Darren Aronofsky film.

It is absolutely chaotic, but in the most brilliant way. Once you get an understanding of what the film is trying to portray, you can get so much out of this viewing experience.

Whether you end up liking it or not, it will certainly get everyone talking.

5) Baby Driver - Director Edgar Wright is back, with an absolute barn-stormer of an action comedy.

It is immaculately crafted and is nothing but pure fun. With its strong soundtrack and the way the action was executed, it may be the best non-musical musical film of all-time.

4) Detroit - Kathryn Bigelow's edge-of-your-seat thriller about the Detroit race riots of 1967.

You can feel the tension slowly mounting and what we get is one of the most tense sequences I have ever seen. It's thanks a lot to the realism of it and the strong performances of Will Poulter, Algee Smith, John Boyega, Jack Reynor, Anthony Mackie and many others.

It will get you sweating and have your heart racing.

3) Blade Runner 2049 - Denis Villeneuve's visually stunning sequel to the 1982 original could not have been in better hands.

When an arthouse feature with a large budget works, it can be the most enjoyable experience you have had for some time.

Try to watch this on the biggest screen possible. They certainly spare no expense on the visuals.

2) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Director Martin McDonagh is back with another black comedy that certainly pulls no punches in its execution.

The way he manages to perfectly mix uncomfortable scenes with hilarious comedy is quite masterful. There are also award worthy performances by Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell.

1) Brigsby Bear - What started as a peculiar story, ends up being a wonderful feel-good and uplifting drama.

It has been a passion project for comedian Kyle Mooney who writes and stars in this, and he is a fantastic lead. There are plenty of laughs and has strong profound themes.

They also make great use of Mark Hammill's voice work.

Review: The Cloverfield Paradox

I think enough of you are aware of my love for the Cloverfield franchise. The excitement and intrigue going around at the start of 2008 for this film was positively unprecedented. They created the perfect way of presenting a trailer. It explained very little, and got plenty of bums on seats.

The first film was a pretty spectacular experience and made great use of the found-footage concept. I still remember getting minor motion sickness during one particular scene on top of a building. That still did not detract my overall enjoyment of this gripping sci-fi thriller.

The next installment of 10 Cloverfield Lane was more of the same. A great trailer, with many tense moments and yet showed very little on what the story is about. It ended being a pretty tense and fun feature with an exceptional performance by John Goodman.

Now we have a third part, and it continues to break ground in the way of marketing a film release. Not only did they tell very little about this film in the build-up, they released the film one day after showing us the first trailer during the Super Bowl.

While that got me and many others excited, finding out that this is a Netflix release gave me concerns. Apart from a few exceptions including the brilliant Beasts Of No Nation, major Netflix original feature film releases have not a critical success. That being said, it's a Cloverfield film, I was stoked.

Now that I've seen it, I can totally see why it was put onto Netflix. There is plenty to get out of it. But it seems that it never had one clear story that it wanted to tell.
It starts with an interesting premise and I was impressed at the ensemble cast that I was seeing. The more obscure it went, the more interested I was, despite not everything making sense from a story-telling point of view. The close we got to the finale, the more I could see the Cloverfield tie-ins that the trailers were promising.
However, the very final scene had me confused and kind of expecting it. It was the moment that reminded of the ending to '10 Cloverfield Lane' i.e. they found a mediocre film and then did some re-shoots to make it a Cloverfield film. But after my initial reaction, I have a theory that can defend what I saw on screen, and now I feel more at ease. I don't think it was helped by the CGI being noticeably sub-standard either.

As I said before, the cast was pretty strong in its depth and the performances were pretty solid on the whole as well. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is the central character and she continues to show that she is a highly talented actor. She carried the film well and had many good moments to shine on screen.
The standouts from the supporting cast were Chris O'Dowd who did his usual shtick that gave the film enough soft comedic relief. While David Oyelowo and Daniel Bruhl did nothing spectacular, their presence I think was necessary to give it some credentials.
Elizabeth Debicki was a nice addition and did some good stuff, particularly in the second half, and it was great seeing Ziyi Zhang again. Most of you will know her from 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', 'House Of Flying Daggers' or even 'Rush Hour 2'. The last time I saw here was probably in 'The Grandmaster' back in 2014.

The production design was pretty good. Outside of the very final scene, the CGI looked good. It mixed in well with the impressive practical sets.
The score in Cloverfield films are usually all right and go out on a high with a brilliant end credits suite. This one is no different like the others, I will listen to the end credits suite form some time.

Once seeing it, I think you will find big similarities with Life, Interstellar and various sci-fi TV series. With Life being mentioned, you will notice a lot of tropes you get with many sci-fi horrors. I didn't mind them as they did not make feel it generic.

To summarize, this franchise in some ways continues to show films that are totally different each time in terms of its genre, tone and presentation. The marketing is once again right on the money and I love how different they are every time.
However in terms of quality, this was probably the lowest. It's most certainly the weakest of the three, and that is mainly to do with the writing and flawed story. But there is plenty of content to keep you interested throughout, it has a break-neck pace which adds to the excitement, the performances are solid and the imagination and mythology it has is interesting to see being used and explored.

I think the biggest problem people will have with it is that it seemed unclear with its message. You can see a whole bunch of things it's trying to say. But it does not have one clear course that it's to keep on track with.
As a standalone film, it's a perfectly functional sci-fi thriller with enough excitement in its set-pieces and interesting ideas to be passable viewing. But as a Cloverfield film that was being marketed to bridge the gap between the previous two, it manages to confuse you even more. I think like '10 Cloverfield Lane', it was not intentionally being made as a Cloverfield film. But it got picked up by the right people and made a few alterations to try and make it tie-in with the franchise.

There will be many fan theories to support or hinder this franchise, and it will be interesting where they go with this in the next installment. I was not disappointed with the film, and yet at the same time I did not feel satisfied.
It has plenty of problems, but all of them are honorable in terms of what they were exploring.

Rating: 7/10

Films That Have Defined Me

Films are a special thing. They get emotions out of you, can inspire you to do something and even create the person you are today.

Everyone has their favourite films and seeing them at a particular time in your life can give you some of the best memories possible. Some of them could be from your childhood, when you were at your lowest point and got a much needed pick-me-up, when you are watching it with someone special or at a packed cinema where you can feel the energy of love and investment from everyone else around you.

For me, I have plenty of strong memories of certain films that have made me the person I am today. Some are my first ever film that I remember seeing, my first cinema experience, the best cinema viewing experience I have ever had and many childhood favourites that I can't remember how many times I re-watched. Some have even influenced me from having certain interests or hobbies later in life that I still do now as part of my daily activities.

I have chosen a total of 14 films that I feel have defined me so far, and they are all of course very special me. There are some in here that I could see in many other peoples list. However, there are clearly some that are very personal to me that I would be surprised to hear in a lot of other peoples list.

Well, let's start at the beginning of my life, and the first film I can remember watching.

DUMBO - I still have vivid memories of watching this at the house of one of my child minders. I think I was about 3 years old at the time. I feel that including your first film in this type of list is essential, as your mind gets introduced to a totally new medium of story-telling and one that you can experience without the help of an adult. With books, you are not an age when you can read yet. Whereas films have that visual story-telling that everyone can enjoy, and I'm glad it was this 1940's Disney animated classic that introduced me to films.

STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE - April 1st 1995, my 6th birthday. My parents got me the video for Star Wars, a film that I have never heard before. They said it would be something I would enjoy, and boy did I. This is probably my most watched film of all-time and I bet 95% of those views were between the ages of 6 and 12. Star Wars is probably the most popular movie franchise of all-time, and this moment in my life is where it all started. I collected so many toys, collectibles and many other novelty items. Many of which I still have boxed up somewhere. I will never forget those multiple viewings at home when I copied the many action set-pieces from the film with my toys as I was watching the film.
This is probably a similar scenario that many other people have experienced themselves.

TOY STORY - I remember this day well. It was my 7th birthday and my Mum, along with my sister took me to my first cinema experience. The queue was going round the block, and we managed to get in. I remember being excited, gripped and blown away of seeing a film about toys that came to life. After seeing it, I immediately had so many ideas in my head I could do with my current crop of toys and believing them to be alive.
I can see this being in many other peoples lists. Especially ones from my generation that were brought up by this beloved franchise.

JURASSIC PARK - Christmas Day 1996, and my love for dinosaurs started here. This might be a generation thing, but Dinosaurs were a big thing during my and many others kids' childhood. This film is clearly the definitive Dinosaur film and I have seen it almost as many times as Star Wars.
I also remember on my family holiday at California in 2000 when we went on the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios. This was definitely the ride I wanted to go on the most. I still remember that moment to this day. The wonder of seeing the world of Jurassic Park in front of my eyes, and being completely terrified in the scary finale. I'm pretty sure I still have some Jurassic Park collectibles boxed up somewhere. It's still an absolute classic that I think will never get dated.

THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD - The first of my films that I will be surprised to see other peoples lists. I'm not sure how, but I managed to cross paths with this 1938 classic during my childhood. I think most likely, my parents introduced me to it. Plus, I know my grandma was a big Errol Flynn fan.
Like my previous two films, I watched this a ridiculous amount of times. I remember loving the action set-pieces, particularly when Robin's men jump the King's guard and the brilliantly choreographed sword battle between Robin and Sir Guy. It also became highly quotable any time I went on walks during my holidays with my parents and pretending to be in those scenes.

THE MIGHTY DUCKS - Another personal choice, and it is the film that got me into watching North American sports, sports films and pretty much began my love sport in general.
The fun, excitement and intensity throughout just had me wanting to try the sport of Ice Hockey. Sadly, we didn't have any ice rinks near me. So the next best option was Field Hockey and I had an enjoyable junior career from that.
The two sequels also have a special place in my heart. But this was the one that started it all.

RETURN TO OZ - A film that expanded my imagination and my first feeling of being part of a film cult following. I think it was my last child-minder that introduced me to this. I had seen the original plenty of times and loved it, and I don't know why, I seemed to completely embrace this, despite the tone being totally different.
Over time, I found so much information about the universal negative reaction to it, and how there is a growing amount of love for this from people who were also brought up with it. It did help that it was shown at least once a year on TV here in the UK.
But now, I try and recommend it at any chance I've got. I also try to mention the amount of fan-made documentaries there have been. The most notable being 'The Joy That Got Away'. There is also another one coming out soon, and I can't wait to see what this one has got to offer.

TITANIC - While I have this film in my top 100, it is more about me living through the build-up and reaction of this massive blockbuster that has got this film in my list.
I remember seeing all the marketing around this film on various forms of media, the programmes being dedicated to it and the records this film was breaking. This was my first experience of a blockbuster, and at the time it became the biggest grossing film of all-time. It was not until then when I knew how popular a film could be, and what it takes to become a blockbuster.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - This is still the best cinematic experience I have ever had. I remember it very clearly. I knew nothing of this film and my parents took me to see it, because they think I would enjoy this. We went to see this at a cinema in one of our neighbouring cities as our local was being demolished with a new one being constructed at the time. The screening we were in was packed and so we had to find some seats towards the front, and so we had to look up for the film.
The almost 3 hour running time completely flew by and I had been transported to a whole new world and learnt the meaning of an epic film. I had never been any more gripped and in awe of what I saw. What was even better, was that I had no idea that there were two more films in store. So by the end of this one I was saying "Oh! Why did they stop it there?!  Don't we find out if Frodo and Sam ever get there?" I was pleased to hear my parents say that there were two more.
I saw The Two Towers and Return To The King at our now current cinema, and it capped off what I feel to be the perfect trilogy.

KILL BILL VOL. 1 - We now move to my sixth-form years, where I took my first steps into more mature films, and a what film to do that. The brutality of the opening scene just settled me in for such a memorable ride.

Not only did it made me realise that there are films for adults out there. But it also introduced me to director Quentin Tarantino, who I am a big fan of now. This film remains to be my favourite of his works.

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA - Quite the captivating experience that I was not expecting. I remember wanting to see this film for some time as the trailers had me intrigued. When I finally bought it on DVD, I thought it was quite delightful. Then suddenly, one particular scene had me gasping so loudly, that it effected me in such an emotional way and it stayed with me for quite some time.
There are  not many films that I always cry to. But this is one that gets me going in the biggest way. This is such a beautiful film.

SPIRITED AWAY - We are just heading into University, and this film opened the door to another different world within film-making for me, the world of anime.
I was curious to see this film when I saw it listed on the TV schedule and noticed it had received an extremely high rating. So I checked it out and was very impressed by its imagination, wonderful story and captivating visuals.
That film basically introduced me to Studio Ghibli, which is basically Japan's Disney in terms of heritage within Japanese culture. Since then, I have seen all of their previous feature films and is one of my most important discoveries when exploring new film genres.

HUGO - I am well into my University years now, and whilst on my Christmas break during my second year, this film interested me, despite the trailers not really explaining what type of story we were getting.
I was totally not prepared for what I saw. Whilst showing a wonderful family drama, it also made me understand the foundations of cinema. After that, I educated myself into the history of films and the pioneers of film-making.

CLOUD ATLAS - My most recent entry, and we have come to February 2013. The trailer showed so much, and yet explained very little. But what I saw at the cinema had me not realising until long after leaving my screening is that I feel I have seen one of the best films of all-time.
This film really opened my eyes into new ways of exploring certain themes and ways of telling a story. The Wachowski's did such a fantastic job with this, and I believe this will get the credit it deserves later in life.

Review: Black Panther

The superhero films keep on rolling, and it's the first one for 2018, and in terms of hype, this seems to be one its most anticipated.

Black Panther might not be the most well known superhero, but it is the fact we have a major blockbuster release with cultural importance that is getting the headlines. That seems to be getting many demographics excited to see something like this on the big screen and be heavily promoted under a major studio.

If you are up to date with the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, you will have obviously encountered Black Panther in a minor role in 'Captain America: Civil War'. I thought it was a good enough introduction for me to want to know more about him. Especially as Chadwick Boseman played the role really well.

Now as a standalone, I thought this was pretty entertaining. There's a good opening, a solid introduction to a brand new world we have never encountered before. But with some poorly executed action set-pieces, it was an ok opening act. After that, it just gradually built up both in its quality of story-telling and character development, but in its action. By the end of it, I felt it to be a satisfying finale and another strong addition to the MCU.

Now despite this being a release aimed for a mainstream audience, the story-telling felt a bit more thorough that you would normally expect from other blockbusters.
The characters in particular were well written, developed and actually felt intelligent in their actions. What also helped was that the cast for this film was pretty strong, and they don't hold anything back.
Michael B. Jordan was easily for me me the best part. A memorable Marvel villain has been hard to find, and he could very well be up there with Tom Hiddleston's Loki as one of the best. His presence from the very beginning is quite striking and highly impactful in many scenes. He felt like how a villain should be. He has a story-arch, you are terrified by his actions whilst also understanding where they're coming from and you feel genuine fear for our protagonist. In the end, you just feel so much empathy for him. A good villain is definitely something that many big budget films have lost these days.
Boseman carried the film well. But despite being our protagonist, the story did not feel like he was central character. It seemed to be more of an ensemble piece with him being the face of it. But when had his moments in shine, they were all well executed.
I also have to give props to Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright and Winston Duke for top supporting roles. There contributions felt committed, integral and memorable enough for you to support whenever they are involved in any set-piece.
Andy Serkis gave a solid contribution and you can tell he is having a fun time playing his borderline over-the-top character. His well known screen presence is as strong as you would expect.
I was a bit disappointed with Daniel Kalluya. He might not have been anything exceptional. But nevertheless, he was perfectly fine in his role. I think after seeing him in Get Out, I was expecting a bit more. I final mention to Martin Freeman's character, who sadly felt a bit of a waste in this and was very forgettable.

Another strong aspect that almost matched the quality of the performances, was how director Ryan Coogler introduced us to the world of Wakanda. It established the law and geography of it really well in a crash-course style, and it made me understand this hidden world and made me invest in each characters origins. When a world becomes a character in itself, you know you have done something right.

Despite having many things that I was not expecting, it still had some good stuff that we come to expect in any Marvel film. One thing that this franchise are known is for a solid amount of comedy. There is not that much in this one. But when they do for the comedic moments, the execution is pretty good and had me chuckling a few times.

From the technical side, the score by Ludwig Goransson was surprisingly impressive. The wonderful mix of tradition African instruments and current sounds worked really well at the right time and perfectly enhanced scenes when needed.
The costume designs were noticeably strong in their variety and detail. I can see it being an early contender for a Oscar nomination in next years awards.

On a side note I must mention, I noticed that this film weirdly felt very James Bond. In particular, there were similarities to Skyfall in two scenes. Be sure to check them out.

It wasn't all gold on screen. There were moments that I was not that engaged with and the slow moments were not all that impactful. The biggest problems I had with this were some of the lighting and camerawork issues during the fight scenes early on. There was a lot of 'shaky-cam' moments and with it also being particularly dark and hard to see, those entire set-pieces were incredibly difficult to watch and make sense of.
They did get better in the second half. But, it was hard to ignore what I had seen before that.
Also, I think parts of the visual effects looked like they could have been improved as they felt too much like a cartoon.

But you'll be glad to hear, that I felt this to be a pretty entertaining experience and it has introduced me to a new world within the MCU that I would happily find out more about.
Ryan Coogler and his team should be proud of what they made and I can see being watched a lot, as it has fairly strong re-watchability. You can feel how much his direction was put into this story. For a director that's pretty young by usual standards, he has already created a fair amount of high-quality features such as Fruitvale Station, Creed and now this.

I have noticed that the studio is listening to its fans and making sure its features are not having the same generic tone. I felt all of their 2017 releases to be different and almost feel like a standalone. For me, Black Panther has felt their most standalone piece of work since the first Guardians Of The Galaxy. The biggest part of it standing out I felt was that it concentrated on its characters more than anything else. I have always felt that if you invest in the development of your characters, then you can make anyone get invested. No matter how crazy the story sounds.
What also makes it stand out is it messages coming from within the character development. Sure it may have many scenes that you expect in a superhero film. But it also covers the topics of social commentary, learning from the past and understanding all of the problems from previous generations.

Lastly, it's a Marvel movie, so expect bonus scenes during the credits. There is one midway through the credits which is fine and the one in post-credits was interesting to see where they go with the character that they showed.

Rating: 7/10

Review: I, Tonya

As I'm a big fans sports fan, I am already aware of this particular incident that the film is covering.

The story itself is quite fascinating and does show America in its darkest side of stereotype. We all know America's strong mentality to win and dominate. This is wonderfully portrayed in this dark story and I am pretty positive people who watch this film that are not aware of the story will be totally amazed by it.

What I noticed early on, was that it was going to tell this story as a dark comedy. It was a bold move, but it certainly put me at ease early on with some top comedic moments. Director Craig Gillespie and his team could have gone serious with its tone. But to make it more of a comedy that is similar to Goodfellas, Wolf Of Wall Street or even The Big Short at times made this a much more enjoyable viewing experience than I expected.
It even included some solid uses of breaking the fourth wall. The first half was very strong, and then the second half portrays the craziness section of the story pretty well. However despite being accurate, I did find it hard to completely it enjoy it. This was because it just reminded me how dumb and stupid some of these characters were. That kind of thing can be hard to make you invest and root for the characters involved. But if the shock value of the story can keep you gripped, then the whole run-time will be nothing short of phenomenal for you.

Margot Robbie was very good as the lead. She was believable as the rugged and redneck Tonya Harding and really made you think about how Harding herself was treated and if it was right. I am actually getting pretty impressed with the choices Robbie is making. On the surface, she does strike you as the type of actor that because of her popularity and looks, she would just turn to mainstream films. But she has gone for a lot of highly acclaimed projects. I think she may be more of a method actor.
While Robbie's performance is deservedly being recognised, the real stand-out is Allison Janney. The in-your-face character she is portraying is just a comedic delight, even when it gets incredibly dark. Everything she did was spot on and the majority of the comedy comes from execution with the high quality dialogue. Do not be surprised if she just sweeps the major awards.
Another scene stealer, particularly in the second half was Paul Walter Hauser's character. He does end up being one of the dumb characters that you just can't believe is a real person. But the accurate portrayal made me feel shocked once again.
I was so pleased to see how good Sebastian Stan was. You will probably know him for playing the Winter Soldier in the Marvel superhero films. But he is almost unrecognisable in this vital role. He never felt out of place and felt like a well established actor that has done a variety of things. I hope this memorable performance opens more doors for him outside of the mainstream.
My final mention in the acting aspect of the film is going to the terrific child actor Grace McKenna. She is not in it for long. But it is long enough to be integral to the story. I first saw her last summer in Gifted, and she was a complete triumph. It is more of the same, and be on the look out for any more projects she is part of. A true star she is.

I only have the cinematography, editing and a bit of the visual effects to comment from its technical side. A lot of the camerawork in the skating scenes reminded me of the execution of the ballet sequences in Black Swan. So it consists of a lot of shaking. But not enough to disorientate you or confuse you as to what is going on.
The quick cuts in the editing really gave a romping pace, which just added to the enjoyment of it all.
As for the visual effects, you can tell that Robbie's face is super-imposed during the skating scenes. But I don't think it took me out of the moment. So I think to the untrained eye, it may look genuine to you.

So while I did enjoy a lot of it, I preferred the first half to the second. Like I said before, it was mainly due to me just being annoyed by this stupid characters doing something so despicable. It was only a minor negative as I was aware of the story and its end result. But just seeing it unfurl on screen just made me get annoyed with the decisions some of these characters were making, and therefore made it hard for me to care or root for them.
Also, while I liked the soundtrack, I think at times it was a bit on-the-nose. Those things just about prevented from being one of the standouts from 2017.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this. If you know story and/or were around at the time of the incident, the biggest you might get out of this this film is that it could make you see Tonya Harding in a completely different way. It could very well make you re-visit this story and read about it in detail.
But for people who are not aware, then I think you will be thoroughly entertained with a shocking story and many performances that was very well directed.
I think Margot Robbie and Allison Janney in particular deserve the awards nominations that they are getting. I would have liked Sebastian Stan to have been nominated for something in the major awards, as his performance was a really big surprise.

I must finally mention that in the early part of the end credits, they show some actual footage of the story. It is quite impressive as to how accurate they executed in the film when you compare the two.

Rating: 8/10

Review: The Mercy

I knew nothing about this story. Even after briefly watching the trailer, I still had no real expectations for it. So after seeing it, I was amazed that this tale is not more widely known.

It is set during a time when exploration achievements was still a popular thing as a few things were yet to be achieved.

The opening act gives you a real sense of adventure and I certainly got intrigued as how it would all turn out. But when a twist comes in the second half,  I was just so shocked as to how sad I felt by the end of it. That was thanks mainly to Colin Firth's performance as the main character.

You do struggle to think of a bad Firth performance, and in this one, he makes you feel a lot of sympathy for his character by the end of it. If it wasn't for Firth being cast, then I think it would be nothing more than ordinary.
Rachel Weisz did a good job as the female lead. She had solid chemistry with Firth, I believed in them being together and there are some strong scenes involving her. This includes very strong speech towards the end that just further impacted my emotions during the final act.
The top British cast does not stop as David Thewlis was the main support, and was as good as you expect him to be. I particularly loved his broad northern accent. I can't not mention British acting legend Ken Stott being in this. It's not much to make an impact. But he is certainly noticeable.

I can't think of much wrong with it. However if I was being cruel, I think they could have gone a bit more into the psychology of the central character, especially in the final act. That would elevated the impactful scenes into the stratosphere.

So while I think there is a lot of good stuff in this, it's just not strong enough for me to give an exceptional rating.
I think for the most part, it is pretty solid. But my liking for it gradually grew, and the emotional and profound finale made me strongly react to it in a pretty positive way. It definitely made me want to know more about it, and I think it will with many others.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Journey's End

It's no surprise that there was going to be a film coming out to commemorate the centenary anniversary of the end of World War I.

This new release comes from Saul Dibb, the same director of World War II romantic drama Suite Franchise which I felt to be pretty decent, and yet somehow forgettable at the same time.

This one seems to concentrate more on the psychological side of war and during the brink of the most famous offensive moves during this particular War.

The pacing is slow and there is always a sense of waiting throughout. Plus the atmosphere does walk a fine line between boredom and terror. While I felt more of the former, I can see others experiencing the latter. It is quite a sad and depressing film, and yet also was a true reflection of this part of history.
The character development was pretty strong throughout which kept me interested and I felt the ending was a very poignant one that also reminded me of the end of the Blackadder TV series.

The performances are certainly the strongest part. Sam Claflin continues to expand his talent into many genres, and carried the film extremely well as the central character. The unstable mentality his character had was interesting to once and was very genuine in his tense moments.
Another actor who continues to impress me, is Asa Butterfield. After emerging in The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and Hugo, he is beginning to prove that he is more than just a child actor. This is certainly the most mature I've seen of him, and I cannot wait to see what he does next.
There were also a couple of nice reliable faces to help support our main characters in the form of Paul Bettaney and Toby Jones. Bettaney is also a wonderful support and he certainly has his flourishing moments in this. Jones does not have as much screen-time. However, he makes the most of the moments he is given to make an impact.

There's good comradeship between all the soldiers. You can certainly feel the togetherness they all had.
I also liked seeing that British stiff-upper-lip way of behaving from that era, even during wartime. That aspect also brought out some nice little comedic moments. That for me showed the realism, that you always try and fine a bit of wit and humor, even on the brink of death.

It's strange that while there was a fair amount of strong content in it, especially at the end, I just think the slow pacing and lack of impact on a surface level just made this tough to get through. It is more of a character piece which I was fine up to a point, and the good stuff just was not strong enough to keep my interest throughout.
Despite all of that, I thought it was a nice tribute to this moment in history and I can see a lot of fans of this genre and historians will get a lot out of this. But I think as you can tell, I probably won't watch this again.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Roman J. Israel, Esq.

When I heard about this and saw the trailer, everything about it had a 'true-story' feel to it, and yet it actually isn't.

This is an original piece of work from Dan Gilroy, who debuted as a director with the highly entertaining Nightcrawler a few years ago.
Now that I've seen Gilroy's latest feature, it seems the director likes doing stories that centre on socially awkward characters.

Instead of a psychotic Jake Gyllenhaal, we get a schlubby Denzel Washington. The viewing experience is a peculiar one. It starts with an interesting premise that would probably sound better on paper, as the pacing and execution of it does not match the enjoyment you might expect from it.
Thankfully, the performances keep moving it along.
There are some shifts in the second half that did not quite work for me. This included one scene just before the final act that felt very strange and incoherent to me.
It does lose its way by the time we get to the final act as it seems to be having a hard time tieing in all the loose ends and make it flow well. You can see what they were trying to do. But it just did not feel right in the end product.

Denzel Washington is easily the best part of the film. He does a great job giving us a character that we now associate with Gilroy's film. I was happy that despite the film not be that memorable, Washington can still one of our most reliable actors working today.
His chemistry with Carmen Ejogo's character was solid and intriguing to watch. Ejogo herself held her own become more and more interesting as the film went on.
I had no idea Colin Farrell was in this, and I was happy to see him as he is a pretty consistent actor. He did a solid job in this one despite being under-written.

There wasn't much wrong with the technical side of the film. However, there wasn't much exceptional stuff either. Everything was perfectly functional. It looked good, there were some moments of editing that meshed in well the soul inspired soundtrack which was a nice treat for the ears. There were also some good looking costume designs that might inspire various businessman when expanding their wardrobe.

But sadly for a director who debuted with Nightcrawler, you do expect something that is gripping and entertaining. But the writing and pacing was disappointing first and foremost. It's a peculiar film and it has very interesting ideas with a strong cast and a breakthrough director and writer. It's not bad. It's just that the final product does not become completed fulfilled.
This also might be my least favourite film involving Washington. However, on the performance side, he was really good and makes this film passable at best. He manages to keep you interested in the story and it prevents the film from falling in on itself.

It only becomes more interesting when you read more about it afterwards. You could see some similarities from Nightcrawler throughout. But by the end of it, it just does not feel as impactful as Gilroy's predecessor.

I feel this will do better on the small screen as very little of it felt cinematic. So if you are regular cinema-goer or a fan of Washington, then this might fit into your schedule. However, if you feel you need to choose wisely when attending your multiplex, then you might not want to consider seeing this.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Phantom Thread

I never go nuts for a Paul Thomas Anderson film, but like the Coen Brothers, I always appreciate them. Which I feel is mainly to do with their high-quality film-making.

My personal favourites of his are probably Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights.
His last two I sadly did not get into that much. While The Master and Inherent Vice were well made, I could get invested much into the story. So in the end, they were both nothing more than passable.

But with this latest feature supposedly being Daniel Day-Lewis' final film, there is some added incentive to expected something pretty big.

A lot has been said about Day-Lewis and the 3-time Oscar winner will forever be seen as one of the all-time greats. What makes Day-Lewis so good for me, is that it is always a different performance. There are plenty of actors that you can tell they are just doing their normal shtick that you expect to see. But not with Day-Lewis. His method style of acting makes you always see the character and never the actor, and in such amazing detail.

The story is all about fashion, and while it may feel like a true story, it is only loosely based on an English fashion designer from the 1930's-50's.
The first half really sucks you in and had a dream-like quality, and I feel that is thanks to the cinematography and Johnny Greenwood's score, which added to the film's sophisticated look.
It's subtle but powerful style of story-telling was really working for me as we entered the second half. I was liking the way the story built up by planting in certain scenes that you can tell will come to fruition later on. I also noticed that they somehow managed to be a healthy amount of comedic moments, which worked well due to the strong performances.
Towards the end, the story took quite a turn that might lose some people. Thankfully for me, it just added to the characters story arch really well and showed you the mentality of some highly successful personalities.

There are three very strong performances coming out of this. Obviously Day-Lewis is one of them. Like with all of his performances, you can tell that he has disappeared into the character, and you don't see him at all. That's what makes a great method actor and if this is to be he last outing, then it was a very memorable one.
Largely unknown Luxembourg actor Vicky Krieps did an amazing job as the female lead and was certainly matching Day-Lewis throughout. I had only seen her do very minor roles. But seeing her in this quite the revelation. She carried her own extremely well and I hope this ends being her breakthrough into more leading roles.
Lesley Manville was great and deserves the nominations she's been getting at the major awards for her no-nonsense character who had wonderful back-and-forth with Day-Lewis and delivered many memorable lines with such gusto.

What I liked about this film the most was it the central characters passion, precision and determination to their work really well and his development was pretty thorough. The narrow mentality to his work was fascinating to see be portrayed on screen and must have been fun for Anderson to write and direct.

A lot like the dresses you see get made, this film is made delicately and elegantly. It goes at a gentle pace and gives you plenty of time to get into this world and get invested with these fascinating characters. The performances are very memorable, and many aspects to this film are awards worthy. As expected, with a film being about a highly successful fashion designer, the costumes are wonderful to look at.

However, I can't see it being for many mainstream demographics, as the pacing is slow and on face value, not a lot happens. So I can completely understand if you feel the film to be boring. But if you are a fan of Paul Thomas Anderson or Daniel Day-Lewis, then this is a must-watch. While it may look subtle throughout, Paul Thomas Anderson's style makes it feel very powerful.

Rating: 8/10

Review: The Shape Of Water

Director Guillermo Del Toro has a had strange but successful career so far. While he is highly regarded by critics, the majority of choices he makes are more blockbuster based. With films such as Blade II, Hellboy or Pacific Rim.
But every so often he does these really touching dramas, and the obvious example is Pan's Labyrinth, his most acclaimed film so far.
The Shape Of Water is certainly something pretty close to that in terms of the tone and the message that is similar to many fairy-tales.

While the story was intriguing me up to a point in the first half, it was the production that was not just very impressive, but pretty much perfect. Del Toro is well known for his heavily detailed practical sets and this is another gorgeous one to look at. There is one setting that is in a facility, and a lot of it reminded me of Gore Verbinski's 'A Cure For Wellness'. There were also some moments that reminded me of Amelie in terms of how the shots were executed and the small quirky shifts in tone.
But the longer the film and the more the story developed, the bigger my investment was to the entire product.
There is a romance angle in the second half that will most certainly make or break the audiences views. It could be a real turn-off for them, or it might be seen as something special. At first, I did feel it was peculiar. But I understood what Del Toro and his team was going for, so I accepted it. It was not until the finale that consisted of some strong scenes that won me over and I believed in the romance and became invested in it.
For me, a film that has a strong ending has a chance of changing my entire view of the film. For most of the film, I thought it was very good in its construction. But I wasn't going nuts for the story. However, I really enjoyed how they finished it and that made me remember the previous scenes in the film with great fondness.

The acting on the whole pretty top-notch. Sally Hawkins does a great with her character and accomplishes something that I don't think many actors could pull off. Michael Shannon is always good value, and he is great as the main villain. Octavia Spencer and Michael Stuhlbarg did not feel that exceptional. But they did the stuff that we know them for well. It feels ages since I have seen Richard Jenkins in something, and his performance definitely reminded how talented this guy is.
Particular props have to go for Doug Jones who follows on from his performance as Abe Sapian in the Hellboy films. His track record as a physical actor is pretty solid, especially with Del Toro's films. He's the type of actor that I think should work with people like Andy Serkis in future projects.

As mentioned before, the production is quite an accomplishment. But I must add my praises to the score by Alexandre Deplat. I found it rather enchanting, whilst having its moments of charm, mystery and intrigue. Don't be surprised if this wins the major awards.

Speaking of awards, I feel its current success in them is warranted and deserved. It might not be one of my films of 2017. But it's pretty damn close.
The only down side I had to it was that there is one side-story that I was not bothered by and it kind of kept slowing the momentum down.

But on the whole, this is a really delightful fantasy romance. I know a lot of people won't take this film seriously by the end of it, but if you know what Del Toro is like, then you can be swept away by this.
I liked the message that it was saying, the character development is strong, as is the visual story-telling and I think all of these aspect worked really well together and it has had me thinking about it for some time. Only Del Toro could have executed this type of romance story.

A final thought. Once you've seen it, it is damn hard to ignore that this could easily be a prequel to a particular character from the Hellboy franchise.

Rating: 8/10