2017 Movies TV Recap Thoughts

Just like with 2016's entry, here are my quick thoughts / rankings of what I saw in 2017. Overall, despite lots of talent, diversity and variety, I didn't think 2017 was nearly as interesting as 2016, due to a mix of writing and execution. That said, let's get things started with...

Movies

Favorites
Get Out - Tight script, fantastic direction for Jordan Peele who brilliantly walked the line between horror and comedy, great social commentary re: racism, solid acting, atmospheric music and tension. Would be very happy if this won Best Pic

Kong: Skull Island - Total B-movie that was lots of fun. Went in with little expectations and came out very pleasantly surprised. Sam Jackson once again proving to be an excellent character actor, with John C Reilly being his goofy "self" right behind him.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle - It's more of the same from the first, taking some interesting leaps in creative choices while holding back on others; particularly with how it riffs on James Bond. Definitely flawed with a number of missed opportunities, but lots of fantastic action sequences and a number of fun jokes and callbacks. I had a blast.

Colossal - What a bold and interesting movie! No one's really likable, though Anne Hathaway manages to make her character endearing/tolerable, but the way it handles toxic masculinity amidst Rampage-like giant monsters is utterly unique, which earns it major bonus points.

The Big Sick - There's so much to love with this very personal and based-on-true-events story from Kumail Nanjiani. Is it surprisingly a little formulaic for a reality-based rom-com? Sure, but that doesn't take away from how charming it is. Ray Romano was a surprising delight, along with Kumail's family.


Very Fun
Happy Death Day - It doesn't quite achieve the highs of either Groundhog Day or Scream, but damn if it isn't a fun time and seemingly achieves everything it set out to do. It left me wanting more in a good way.

Thor: Ragnarok - Taika Waititi's direction is basically the biggest selling point for me. Watching him just "play" with all his characters and settings is a treat, even if the stakes and tension are a little on the flat side; Cate Blanchett is a delicious villain, even if under-utilized / under-developed. Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum and Waititi as the CG rock monster Korg steal the show.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - Pleasant surprise is maybe the best way to describe this film. It was a treat to just watch the riffs on both the original, video games, and most of the actors playing characters playing other characters - Jack Black absolutely steals the movie, with The Rock and Karen Gillan not far behind him, whereas Kevin Hart for better or worse is largely playing himself. Some really nice life lessons in the film, if a bit direct / on-the-nose.

Fun, But Room for Improvement
The LEGO Batman Movie - High energy and fun, touching on the essence of Batman and filled with interesting explorations of his various relationships. I would have liked a little more breathing room or something, but still good / very good.

Spider-man: Homecoming - Tom Holland quickly asserts himself as THE Spider-man. While fun to see a John Hughes-esque Spider-man movie, the films tones are uneven (fun comedy vs dark action), with the drama CONSTANTLY undercut but humor. Glad to see Michael Keaton as villain the Vulture, but felt a bit out of place / underutilized.

Split - M. Night Shyamalan returns to some familiar areas here. Sure, it can be faulted for using some outdated tropes and psychology info, along with once again having someone with a mental disorder as a villain, and there are a number of poorly written character, but DAMN if that ending isn't fantastic, not to mention the general high-level concept of the film tied to the ending makes for such interesting execution.

The Girl With All the Gifts - Good acting from Sennia Nanua and others. It's a nice story that's a little too video game-esque at times, but entertaining.

Life - This is both a not good and not bad movie, that doesn't really have any characters and is just the slow victory of the alien entity, with an ending that tries to pull something off but really didn't work. More fun to think of it as a backdoor pilot for a Venom movie.

Wonder Woman - Great to finally see DC's third biggest character on the big screen, but multiple weak villains and at least one weak act, plus a number of questionable choices ("hi" relationship to Steve Trevor) hold the movie back. Happy to see it get such success, here's hoping the sequel has more women writing the film with more insight from director Patty Jenkins.

Ghost in the Shell - It does a number of things wrong, like butchering the story, being convoluted, and the controversial casting, but it's also relatively entertaining. The Major deserves better and Paramount butchered this one.

Stephen King's IT - Entertaining, but over-reliance on CG and repetitive plotting hurt. It's almost as long as the original mini-series, but doesn't cover nearly as much ground, though smart to divide the story into two parts focusing on the past and present. The 80s kids group direction was interesting, but didn't fully work for me.

Logan - Sure, I guess? The first half is better, but really, really weak villains, a weak second half and an awful decision to not include Sabretooth to round out the themes of family hurt the film.

OK
Alien: Covenant - It's a more even version of Prometheus, that doesn't hit either the highs or the lows, and the mad scientist angle with David is somewhat interesting, but it's not really a great "Alien" movie and hard to really care about anyone or anything going on - lots of characters still making stupid choices. Ridley Scott needs to get away from this franchise, though I'm mildly curious about him completing his trilogy.

Blame! - There are a number of interesting elements and parts to like, but the setup is missing along with compelling characters.

The Void - The ending is when things get good, but before then is less compelling characters, writing and plot. A nice homage to John Carpenter at the end may be worth the watch.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 - Really ham-fisted dialogue + meandering plot + underwhelming soundtrack + Mantis issues + too many flat jokes = Guardians 2. Kurt Russell is entertaining, but also poorly utilized. There is a moment with Drax and Mantis sitting and talking that's really sweet, but isn't enough to save the film.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword - There may be a really good movie hiding in here somewhere, with a pretty interesting ending, but the intro and rest of the movie are awkward, flat and uninteresting, with some shoddy editing. The brawler aspect of Arthur is interesting.

John Wick: Chapter 2 - Not as good or interesting as the first, but also just didn't quite work for me. I can technically respect the action sequences and practicality, but it's like watching someone play a video game on easy mode.

Tokyo Ghoul - Shrug. Some interesting parts, but falls into the same boat as other mediocre live action anime/manga adaptations. The score by Don Davis (The Matrix) wasn't enough to save the film.

Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You - Some interesting and well-animated parts, but also fairly uneven and the ending is rather questionable - there are some fun videos on Youtube of people's reactions that almost make this worth it.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter - Low expectations helped make this more "enjoyable." It's completely serviceable and by this point you should know what to expect from the series.

Didn't Care For
Coco - This may be a good or fine movie, but I'll admit I struggled to connect to it, as I can't stand families that aren't supportive, even if there's relative justification for why they are the way they are. To me, too many characters were assholes (who made bad choices). Visually, it's absolutely gorgeous, though, but that wasn't enough to save a fairly by-the-numbers plot. Pixar is feeling tired and could use fresh blood. Great to see Mexican culture on screen, though! Particularly when it connected with so many people.

Baby Driver - I greatly respect and admire director Edgar Wright, and technically this is a fantastic film, but the music selection didn't appeal to me, along with the uneven tones and characters. I'm fully convinced there's an amazing 45-minute cut that better follows the journeys of Baby and Jon Hamm's characters.

Blade Runner 2049 - 2049 offered me nothing of interest - the music, visuals, characters and general story just didn't work for me. With such great talent behind the film, perhaps my expectations were too high.

Justice League - Underwhelming. This was DC's big debut of the team and that was it? Generic villain and plot? Over-reliance on CG? Inconsistent character direction from previous films? Looking at you - Batman (comedic) and Wonder Woman (not as compelling as Jenkins' direction). Time for a reset.

Really Didn't Care For

Bright - Interesting concept, but just bad execution thanks to director David Ayersand writer Max Landis. Underwhelming visuals and direction made the world feel really small. Joel Edgerton is the best part of the film, but can't save it. I'm confused where the supposed $90-million budget went.

XX - Perhaps my expectations were too high, as I really wanted to like this horror anthology by women, but it just fell flat almost every time. Some interesting parts, but outweighed by the not interesting.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - It's not the worst movie I've seen in theaters (Man of Steel), but I was face-palming frequently at the creative choices, execution and twisted/bad characterizations. Writer-Director Rian Johnson tried so hard to be clever with this one, which really, really didn't work for me. He did a disservice to the history of both the original trilogy and the setups from The Force Awakens (I'm OK with ignoring the prequel trilogy).

Didn't see, but want to:
Your Name
Dunkirk
The Disaster Artist
Logan Lucky
Girls Trip
Call Me By Your Name
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Lady Bird
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
I, Tonya
Mudbound
The Florida Project
Mother!
Okja
It Comes at Night
Phantom Thread?
The Post?

TV:

Favorites
Legion s1 - Such wonderful writing and execution. Highly creative, and a great depiction of both the character and X-Men universe. Phenomenal acting by Dan Stevens, and the rest of the cast is fun, particularly Aubrey Plaza

Master of None s2 - What a gorgeous and delicious season, with poignant writing and beautiful cinematography that's a touching homage to Italian cinema. The unfortunate scandal surrounding Aziz does hurt things a bit.

GLOW s1 - So much fun! Excellent soundtrack, filled with fun characters and clear respect for pro wrestling, the season starts good and just gets better and better.

The Good Place s2 - I may be cheating by including this, but that's the fault of broadcast TV. Season 2 has each episode upping the game, exploring new topics and constantly moving things forward. The season particularly stood out as a brilliant romance that explores philosophy in an almost child-like, storybook way.


Fun
Bojack Horseman s4 - Still entertaining, but not as good as past seasons, being uneven and less cohesive. Favorite episode was the 11th one, Time's Arrow, which is my preferred version of Coco.

Rick and Morty s3 - Still entertaining, but not as good as past seasons. Pickle Rick was my favorite episode, starting kinda meh, but quickly getting better and better, ending with a phenomenal monologue that fully analyzes and takes down Rick.

Doctor Who s10 - Easily my favorite season of Peter Capaldi's, which finally had the writing and plot gel. Pearl Mackie was so refreshing as new companion Bill. It's a shame we won't really get more of either.

Channel Zero: No End House - I like the tone of this show. This season has an interesting premise, that's maybe not as interesting as the first season, but it's a just to watch things unfold.


Good parts, but room for improvement
South Park s20 - Not as cohesive as past seasons, but almost always interesting.

Game of Thrones s7 - With one season left after this, we're in full swing towards the end game, which unfortunately means rushing through time at the expense of all the beautiful pacing of the first four seasons. Now that we're supposedly past the books' content, we're falling into disappointing fantasy and TV tropes. Showrunners Benioff and Weiss will really be proving themselves with the final 8th season.

Castlevania s1 - Only four episodes, with the first being an interesting and humanizing exploration of Dracula, and the fourth featuring some excellent (!) action, but the middle two episodes leave more to be desired.

Stranger Things s2 - Didn't seem nearly as cohesive as the first season. Perhaps changing the show to more of an anthology would be better?

Black Mirror s4 - Hang the DJ was a pleasant treat, but the rest just... left much to be desired, with a number of episodes exploring the same topic - digital consciousness and the exploration of its humanity. 


Didn't finish
Twin Peaks: The Revival - Got 5 episodes in before stopping

Star Trek Discovery - Watched the 2-part pilot when it came out, which left a lot to be desired, will aim to catch the rest once the season's done

Finally watched the pilot to Westworld. Thoughts with minor spoilers...

I largely enjoyed it as the first chapter in an ongoing story, so the slower pacing was tolerable. It did get particularly slow in the middle, but what can you do.

Easily the worst part of the episode was the music - the title sequence felt like a Game of Thrones rip-off (not surprising), the general score was whatever, and then the crowning achievement of crap: the cover of "Paint It Black." It was a bad cover and didn't fit the scene (felt forced). It's like they were going for Battlestar Galactica's "All Along the Watchtower" cover and failed miserably.

Also, there were some stupid (world-building) moments, which presumably will be built on but I'll call out now:
1. The engineer (is that her job?) lady kissing the whore IN THE WIDE OPEN. Unless your job is to QA the bots like that, you're going to be having a talk wtih your supervisor. Skipping the kiss and teasing her intrigue would have been a better way to go.
2. The dialogue writer is shitty with dialogue. This is a multi-million if not billion-dollar experience and they get a hack writer as the lead?
3. Similarly, why introduce a coup/climb the corporate ladder/nefarious ulterior motives for Westworld in the first episode? That scene could have been cut to shave time and placed in a later episode. Let Jeffrey Wright and Anthony Hopkins fuck up a bit more.
4. Back to the business of Westworld - this is a huge, highly resourced entertainment/electronics company and they do no real QA before releasing updates to their consumers? What in the fuck?!

What self-respecting company wouldn't have a beta environment with beta testers to test out the potentially dangerous and life-threatening robots. Maybe if they want to save expenses, but if there are fatal flaws and the company gets shut down, they have no business. I thought Jonathan Nolan had gaming experience...

A couple quick things I liked:
1. The "programmed" state of some of the narratives, with branching options. It was interesting to watch how the robots behaved when new elements would be introduced (e.g. robots being distracted or humans interfering). This helped to show how game-like the world is.
2. The fly narrative. A simple tactic, nicely executed.
3. Ed Harris as the Man in Black. Dig it.

I am definitely curious about the show and look forward to watching the next few episodes. This has me intrigued in a way that Preacher did not.

The pilot gets a solid RECOMMENDATION as a very good episode, just shy of greatness (though it may be arguably great).

The Godfather (1972) 2015 review - Modern Storytelling Has Evolved

The Godfather does NOT hold up as a great movie.

It's good on the technical aspects and performances are OK (Brando's actually pretty hokey, with his nuanced ticks feeling more like something to cover up the fact that he didn't memorize his lines), but the narrative lacks solid emotional connection and good character development - the movie is all plot. Yes, there's the "story" of the business being handed down the family and trying to prevent an all-out mafia war, but the relationships between the characters are poorly, if at all, developed. Vito and Michael's relationship is weak and Tom Hagen barely feels like a brother; the entire family dynamic is strange. Not to mention the time jumps detract from narrative - it should have been more contained to help stress the development, particularly for Michael's descent. Also, the women in the movie are given "damsel" roles.

When is there ever good banter to show the relationships? It's a weak "family" movie.

Game of Thrones is what The Godfather wishes is could be. While The Godfather obviously paved the way for a lot of things in modern cinema (whether film or TV), it unfortunately doesn't hold up from a storytelling perspective.

Admittedly, I'm not a drama guy. It's very hard for me to enjoy a movie that's pure drama or always serious. My biggest issue is the film grossly lacked humor and comedy (humor doesn’t mean slapstick, it can be dramatic). To me, comedy is truth, comedy is life. If I don’t find humor in something, it rings hollow.

The Godfather is always serious.

Again, humor doesn’t always have to be about a “joke” or slapstick. Humor can be simply relating to something or a character having an honest reaction. There are maybe a handful of moments that actually felt human to me:

1. “Take the cannoli”
2. Sonny coming to the aid of his sister
3. Apollonia driving in the car
4. Tessio asking to be spared (specifically Tessio, not so much Tom)

Nearly all other moments in the film are serious, as there’s very little brevity or banter between the characters and ESPECIALLY no humor, which is very strange for an Italian family, as Italians are probably the best example of running the full gamut of emotions (or at least the anger to happy spectrum). Granted, this may be an aspect of Italians of the 40s, as Joseph pointed out, whereas I'm familiar with modern Italians, actually being one.

Let's address the two main characters, Vito and Michael Corleone. For their arcs and emotions, here’s what I saw:

Michael Corleone, as played by Al Pacino, has the arc of being the good boy of the family, who wasn’t supposed to get involved in the family business, actually getting involved and ascending into power while descending his humanity. He debuts in the wedding scene and starts at about an ambivalent/neutral 5 on the emotion spectrum, where 10 is manic Robin Williams and 1 is angry Pacino.

At no point do we really see Michael as the happy guy away from the family business. Sure, he’s a war hero, which assuredly changes him so he probably won’t be as happy-go-lucky, but at no point in the movie does it ever feel like he’s not in the business. As well, if his arc is about his descent/loss of humanity and his big turning point is the restaurant assassination as his means of getting involved, the setup prior to the moment wasn’t enough to justify his turn (again, he’s always been present in the film and with the family to that point). They tried to show his humanity and confliction of the assassination by closing up on his eyes/face, showing his eyes darting around, but his arc to that point wasn’t strong enough to justify his nervousness. Also, what did he do in the war? Did he kill anyone? If so, why is he so nervous now?

From there, he descends on the emotion spectrum to a 4, possibly a 3, as he moves to Italy to avoid the fallout. He sees a girl that he “falls in love with” which equates to staring intently. Staring. Intently. She comes across more like a possession he needs than someone he’s falling in love with. The whole point of his time in Italy is to further the idea of keeping him out of the business by establishing him falling in love, so that when Appollonia is assassinated he further descends down the spectrum, he comes back to America for vengeance.

Back in America and rising to power, Michael is at a 3 or 2 on the emotion spectrum. He’s more aggressive, conniving and ruthless. He’s asserting his power by re-organizing the family, as the family has been falling apart over time. By the culmination of the baptism-assassination, he’s taken control as the new Godfather, where he’s at a solid 2 on the emotion scale. During his last scene with Diane Keaton, he has a flash of 1 as he briefly pulls out angry Pacino. You can see in his eyes that he’s pretty gone and lost his humanity.

The big problem with Michael, for me, is that nowhere during that spectrum or arc do I care for him. At no point has he ever shown any humanity worth attaching to:

1. He has no real love for Diane Keaton
2. He has no innocence as he was never actually away from the family business
3. He has no real love for Appollonia

Why should I care about Michael besides the fact that he’s the main character? He’s not a badass rising to power like Scarface. For someone going through horrible events, he’s not nearly as relatable or has as wide an emotional range of, say, Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave, who starts at a happy 8 and descends to a darker place (a 3, maybe a 2), only to come back to a happier side by the end, but clearly still an affected person.

As for Vito and Brando, he starts the film on the serious side, around a 3, and pretty much hovers there for most of the movie (getting closer to a 5 or 6 towards his end, after he’s dethroned). He’s serious and trying to do business. He’s shown only focusing on business. He never talks about family or anything human, it’s just business, business, business, nothing personal. Then again, perhaps Vito was never about family and it's a false assumption on my part, as I don't recall him interacting in his daughter’s wedding much and barely ever with his wife. His personal side doesn’t come out until the end, when he becomes the “old grandpa.”

Because of that, Vito’s big emotional reveal of not wanting Michael to not be in the business falls completely flat – it was barely ever established. It was a falsely emotional scene. They never had heart to heart conversations, it was rarely established that Vito didn’t want Michael involved. Michael was pretty much always present.

Now, if that is the point of Vito’s story arc, in which he’s a guy who never had control of his family despite having control of basically an entire city, then that seems like a bit of a stretch. Half of his family is working with him, how hard would it be to check on his wife, daughter and “favorite” son? I find it hard to believe a guy that powerful wouldn’t be checking in on his own family and people. Speaking of which, his daughter is a complete farce as a character – by no means does she seem like either a mob daughter’s boss or an Italian woman. Italian women are strong as hell. She’s a princess/damsel. She is a plot device.

Speaking of which, the way the story presents itself, the characters rarely felt like they had any agency. Every character largely felt like they were going through the motions of the writer/screenwriter, rather than having things organically happen to them. The writing came across as putting the characters through these scenarios in order to make me FEEL, but the pacing and flow didn’t match. There was little character pathos, just manipulation.