DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult

[HarmonicGenerator]

I think I've now seen all the 'new release' films that I plan to this year (that is, films released in the UK this year) ... which means it's time for my annual 'go through them all on the UKFF and figure out my favourites' post!

I'd still like to see Jumanji, but I don't know if we'll get to by the end of the year. If we do, I'll add it into this post.

Couple of warnings before I start:

 - I haven't seen that many films. I count 28 - so this is by no means exhaustive or thorough. It's just which of the films I've seen I liked most.

 - There are some wonderful, knowledgeable film fans on this forum. Devon Malcolm, Scott Malbranque, Astro Hollywood and more. I fear (and in Devon's case, I know) that my opinions on films are pretty much the opposite of theirs. If they hated a film... I probably really liked it. And vice versa. I apologise in advance to all of them for being wrong.

 

-

 

My 2017 cinematic journey began on the 2nd of January with Assassin's Creed. Not off to a good start, was it? I had actual real hopes for this film - Fassbender, Cotillard and Kurzel had done Macbeth together and that was really good. Assassin's Creed was really not. I don't know if I've ever seen another film that took itself this seriously, and who, who, having played any of those games, thought "right, let's sideline the bits where they're parkouring off historic buildings and actually assassinating people, and make it all about the boring lab bits you have to play when the game itself is loading"? Rubbish. Straight to the bottom of my list where (spoilers) it sticks around for the rest of the year.

We also went to see La La Land because I always like to see, if not as many of the Best Picture nominees as possible, the one that's going to win, and this was such a sure thing, wasn't it? Didn't live up to the hype, though. It was fine but had one of those stupid stupid STUPID endings where they separate the two romantic lead characters instead of letting them be happy and I hate those kinds of endings. I hate them. See also the third Pirates of the Caribbean and His Dark Materials. So we left La La Land with that stupid disappointed sad feeling instead of any kind of happiness.

 

Luckily things picked up in February, with the usual non-traditional Valentine's Day film which this year was The Lego Batman Movie. It's not quite as good as The Lego Movie but it's got loads of really funny jokes in it and we left it feeling happy. So suck it, La La Land.

 

On to March! I think this was the month Kong: Skull Island came out, which I was pleasantly surprised by. It reminded me a little bit of Edge of Tomorrow, as a kind of 'wasn't fussed, but the trailers brought me round, and I ended up liking it quite a lot' sort of film. I'm generally happy to watch anything with Brie Larson in it (and Hiddleston, for that matter) and the style of it was what Miserable Godzilla should have been. Good fun.

We also did a double feature of Logan and T2 Trainspotting back to back. Logan was great, at its best when it was Logan-Charles-Laura on their road trip. I know it had to elevate the stakes for the finale, but that felt like a comedown into regular X-territory until the final moments, which is a shame. I liked it but I didn't love it. T2 was a pleasant surprise - I wasn't part of the Trainspotting generation so it wasn't like watching a part of my heart growing up or any of that stuff, but it was surprisingly moving all the same. And we watched the film in Edinburgh so we could be all "been there! Walked there!" and there was a scene we'd seen them film the previous summer so we could be "was actually there".

Finally - March was a busy film month it seems - my sister and I took our mum to see Beauty and the Beast for Mother's Day. Now this one did have sentimental attachment - we'd both grown up with the animated version, it was my sister's (and my mum's) absolute FAVOURITE and this version gets high marks in my book just for the joy it brought my mum watching it. Proper Disney magic (even if it doesn't hold a candelabrum to the original).

 

My films of the year, as of the end of March:

1 Beauty and the Beast

2 Lego Batman Movie

3 Kong: Skull Island

4 Logan

5 T2 Trainspotting

6 La La Land

7 Assassin's Creed

 

At some point around April-ish, I watched Don't Think Twice on iTunes (it had a US release last year, but only came out this year over here). I hadn't heard of it at all, but saw a quick Twitter review about it being "about improv, but not improv-ed" and that appealed. I loved the film. If you haven't heard of it either, it's about a small-time improv group who are all friends and do regular shows, but when one of them manages to hit it big on an SNL equivalent, things start to fall apart for them all in different ways. I identified with the improv aspect of it because that's kind of my thing, but the other themes running through it were so, so similar to things I've gone through with friendships and growing up as well. Great film. And very well-scripted - despite being about improv they didn't feel the need to freewheel through scenes.

Marvel time! Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Not on the level of the first instalment but still a cracking couple of hours' entertainment. Big Dave's hilarious, Mantis was a great addition, super opening sequence. There's a few flaws with it (when heroes murder henchmen it never seems to 'count' as killing) but it was my favourite superhero film of the year.

Went to a special screening of Mindhorn that was part of the Q&A tour Julian Barratt and Simon Farnaby were doing for it. I... probably liked the Q&A more than the film itself, unfortunately, but there are some great bits in the film too. One of those good-but-not-great type of films. But my student self would have been over the moon (reference intended even though that was Fielding's character) to meet and get a photo with Barratt afterwards.

 

May. Alien Covenant. It was a bit shit. It made me want to watch Prometheus again and I'm not sure that's advisable. But, because I went to see it with a group of friends from school, and we so rarely manage to actually get all together these days (the cinema trip we'd managed before this was Deadpool for fuck's sake), I've got gratitude for Covenant. And the theory I read recently that the aliens aren't actually the villains of the series, it's the robots, might make me think slightly better of it.

 

My films of the year, as of the end of May:

1 Don't Think Twice

2 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

3 Beauty and the Beast

4 Lego Batman Movie

5 Kong: Skull Island

6 Logan

7 T2 Trainspotting

8 Mindhorn

9 La La Land

10 Alien Covenant

11 Assassin's Creed

 

June! Summer blockbuster season, still, I guess, even if Marvel have sort of moved that back to April now? 

Anyway, Wonder Woman - which I went to with some reluctance because I'd seen all the DCEU films up to that point and didn't like any of them. But this one was getting good write-ups. I'm glad I gave it a chance. Didn't blow me away or anything but it's good which is more than DC can say for anything else they've put out. And Gal Gadot is a great Diana, her reactions to the World War I stuff were spot on. I was really worried they were going to veer into tastelessness and make light of the war by putting a character like that in there, but she (and the filmmakers) sold it exactly the right way and it worked. Also Gal Gadot is a GODDESS. She has to be some kind of divine entity. Nobody can be that beautiful and be a mortal, right? She's stunning.

I did an IMAX 3D trip to see Transformers: The Last Knight. Look, I know, but I can explain.

 

They filmed a bit of it where I work and I got to be on-set and chat with Anthony Hopkins for a couple of days, so I had a connection!

The film's terrible. I mean, it's really, really garbage. The first hour's not so bad...

 

(that's the bit that I saw them film. I had to move items around for them. I actually got directed by Michael Bay.

... but by the end I had no fucking clue what the fuck was happening. Nor did I care.

BUT! It wasn't even the worst film I saw in June. That honour's going to The Circle which is a pile of shite. I'd recently read the book and I loved it. So, the fact they were making a film, and it had a great cast (Karen Gillian, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, Patton Oswalt, Emma Watson - I like all those people) was exciting. It went straight to Netflix over here which should have been a sign to avoid. But I didn't. And I don't know how it's possible to get such a good book so, so wrong. But they did. And my goodness, it's an appalling film. Worse than Transformers 5. Yuck. 

Neither of them were as bad as Assassin's Creed though, so silver linings.

Rounding off the month, we went to Baby Driver. The film cut out about an hour in, which maybe spoiled the momentum very very slightly, but the cinema people fixed it and gave us all a free ticket voucher so that was alright in the end. I really, really liked the film - the 'Bellbottoms' and 'Hocus Pocus' sequences especially. I don't know how I'd feel about it on a rewatch now because Spacey, but I liked this a lot at the time.

 

July saw me use my free voucher to go to War of the Planet of the Apes which I know I liked a lot, but five months on I struggle to remember much about it. I didn't have that trouble with Rise, but I can't remember anything at all about Dawn, which I guess makes War my second favourite of the new Apes films. 

This was a double-feature day as well - the message being I didn't get many free days this year, so when I did, I had to use as much time as possible for films as close together as I could. The second film on this day was Spider-Man: Homecoming. It's alright. Another of those good-but-not-greats. I found myself getting annoyed at Peter Parker quite a lot for prioritising being a superhero over things like his friends, education, family, etc, and I know that was part of the character but mate, get your priorities balanced, it's hard but it can be done.

Then, because my mum had had a cinema trip earlier in the year, I took my dad to the IMAX for Dunkirk because he likes a war film. I'd known Nolan was making a war film for a while, before he even announced it in fact because I'd spotted him at the Imperial War Museum in early 2015 and suspected he'd been doing research. The finished result blew me away - superb stuff. Had me tense and gripped throughout, really liked the interweaving timelines, just thought it was really well done in every way. Don't know how it'd come across on a small screen but as a cinema experience - yep. Excellent.

 

My films of the year, as of the end of July:

1 Dunkirk

2 Baby Driver

3 Don't Think Twice

4 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

5 Beauty and the Beast

6 Lego Batman Movie

7 Kong: Skull Island

8 Logan

9 War for the Planet of the Apes

10 T2 Trainspotting

11 Wonder Woman

12 Spider-Man: Homecoming

13 Mindhorn

14 La La Land

15 Alien Covenant

16 Transformers: The Last Knight

17 The Circle

18 Assassin's Creed

 

Didn't get to the cinema in August at all. And only once in September, when the other half wanted to see Victoria and Abdul. This is probably my pleasant surprise of the year, I had no desire to see it beforehand but thoroughly enjoyed it. The two main actors were very good indeed, it shed light on a story I'd never known about, and Eddie Izzard was a properly nasty villain. It might be a bit 'British period film' for some but if you're looking for an easy-going inoffensive way to spend a couple of hours, I recommend it.

October! I can't remember when in the month it came out, but this was the month of Blade Runner 2049. I went into this as not-the-biggest-fan of Blade Runner, having watched it as a teenager full of the 'THIS IS THE GREATEST FILM EVER' expectations that had been placed on it, and of course it was going to struggle to live up to that. I watched it again a couple of weeks before 2049 came out and enjoyed it a lot more on its own merits. 

2049, however, was incredible. So glad I saw it in a cinema. Visually spectacular, sound impeccable, design and direction sublime. What a film. Stunning. Big Dave great again too. A massive shame it didn't perform better at the box office, but at least they made a fantastic film. My only problem with it was Jared Leto, because see last year's Twatlist. When I discovered his part had been written for Bowie, it only makes Leto's shitarseness more apparent. But everything else? All the thumbs up.

Had a day at the end of the month where partner was at work and I was waiting for her to finish... that meant a double-feature! This one began with Loving Vincent. Did I say Blade Runner was visually spectacular? It's got competition in those stakes. Vincent is a fucking WORK OF ART.

Quite literally, it's thousands of works of art. It's an oil-painted film. Every frame is a painting. It's a baffling, staggering achievement, and one that actually takes a little while to get used to when you're watching it. When you do, though, my goodness, it's beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. And emotionally, the story of Vincent Van Gogh and what happened to him crushes me. It destroys me, whenever I think about him. I was in floods by the end of this film. 

How to pick myself up? The Death of Stalin, that'll do the job! While not the laugh riot a lot of reviews promised, I can't fault a tremendous script and some tremendous performances.

 

My films of the year, as of the end of July:

1 Dunkirk

2 Blade Runner 2049

3 Baby Driver

4 Loving Vincent

5 Don't Think Twice

6 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

7 Beauty and the Beast

8 Lego Batman Movie

9 Kong: Skull Island

10 Victoria and Abdul

11 Logan

12 The Death of Stalin

13 War for the Planet of the Apes

14 T2 Trainspotting

15 Wonder Woman

16 Spider-Man: Homecoming

17 Mindhorn

18 La La Land

19 Alien Covenant

20 Transformers: The Last Knight

21 The Circle

22 Assassin's Creed

 

We're nearly at the end now, don't worry.

Thor Ragnarok was another one where the reviews promised a laugh riot, and, being honest, I didn't laugh all that much. Some very funny bits to it - mostly when the film's at its most Waititi-ish with Korg - and some lovely touches (a hammer's-eye-view shot near the start, and the best use of 'Immigrant Song' you could hope for) - but it wasn't my favourite Marvel of the year, nor is it my favourite Thor film, now I think of it. Yay Taika, though. 

A couple of weeks after that, Paddington 2. To rip off Jon Stewart, "do you like joy? Are you a fan of joy? If you like joy, go see Paddington 2." It's a hug, a lovely, warm, safe hug of a film. It's just bloody lovely. I can't say "marmalade" without trying to sound like Knuckles McGinty. They've just got the tone of these films so perfectly right. And that ending... my god, I think everyone in that cinema was either holding back tears or outright crying. So much snuffling over the end credits. I'm welling up just thinking about that ending! Wonderful film.

 

And lastly, December. I won't bore anyone with my thoughts on The Last Jedi because they're in the Star Wars thread, but fuck the haters, I loved it. And let's face it, any Star Wars film's going to be high on my list pretty much automatically, at least until the dust settles on it and I've watched it several more times.

I like to catch up on a few films while wrapping Christmas presents, and this year's choices were Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond and Hacksaw Ridge. Jim & Andy was fascinating, a really interesting look at performance, acting, and how far people will go, and how people can break doing so. I've got memories of Man on the Moon from family holidays in the Netherlands where the TV had a Canal Plus style channel that replayed a few films over and over, so every few days you'd be seeing The Perfect Storm, Charlie's Angels, Me Myself and Irene, Cast Away or Man on the Moon. Would be very keen to see it again now.

Hacksaw Ridge is fine. The bits where Desmond Doss is actually performing his acts of heroics that earned him a Medal of Honour are far and away the best scenes in the film. Everything else had a feeling of 'seen this before, but done better'. There's a down-home country upbringing with family issues... well, that's Walk The Line. Boot camp? Full Metal Jacket. The horrors of WW2 battle? Saving Private Ryan. And for a film celebrating a conscientious objector who refused to pick up a rifle, Mel Gibson does dwell on the violence an awful lot.

Last film! Just yesterday, I stuck Bright on. It's not very good at all. I like the premise, but the execution does not live up to it at all. It's not as bad as Assassin's Creed but I wish there had been a film that made the most of the concept.

 

Which means...

 

My films of the year 2017: The final list

1 Dunkirk

2 Star Wars: The Last Jedi

3 Blade Runner 2049

4 Baby Driver

5 Loving Vincent

6 Paddington 2

7 Don't Think Twice

8 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

9 Beauty and the Beast

10 Lego Batman Movie

11 Thor Ragnarok

12 Kong: Skull Island

13 Victoria and Abdul

14 Logan

15 Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

16 The Death of Stalin

17 War for the Planet of the Apes

18 T2 Trainspotting

19 Wonder Woman

20 Spider-Man: Homecoming

21 Mindhorn

22 Hacksaw Ridge

23 La La Land

24 Alien Covenant

25 Bright

26 Transformers: The Last Knight

27 The Circle

28 Assassin's Creed

 

 

And there we have it! Bring on 2018, where, for the first time, I wonder if the year's Star Wars offering will make it into the top 5...

Edited December 23, 2017 by HarmonicGenerator

[Devon Malcolm]

Actually, HG, I think we agree on most things there. The superhero and Transformers stuff aside, which I haven't seen, and Baby Driver, which I hated, I think we're in agreement on most stuff there. I'm going to do a couple of end of year lists on Letterboxd by the end of next week so I'll link them here when I'm done.

[HarmonicGenerator]

32 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Actually, HG, I think we agree on most things there. The superhero and Transformers stuff aside, which I haven't seen, and Baby Driver, which I hated, I think we're in agreement on most stuff there. I'm going to do a couple of end of year lists on Letterboxd by the end of next week so I'll link them here when I'm done.

Oh! That’s pretty good then! I always look forward to reading your reviews so will wait for your Letterboxd links eagerly - there’s loads of gems I’ve missed this year.

[Devon Malcolm]

Here you go:-

https://letterboxd.com/settingsun/list/films-released-in-2017-ranked/

I'd say everything up to Wheelman is worth seeing. I thought it was a really strong year, actually, and there were a fair few really enjoyable Netflix original releases which I think is really encouraging.

Except Bright, of course.

[Lorne Malvo]

Great write-up, HG. Really enjoyed reading that. 

This is my list of films seen this year, along with one-line reviews; still a lot I need to catch up on. I've taken out films that really arn't worth mentioning. Spoilered cos it's massive.

Denial (2017) - Good courtroom drama.

Manchester By The Sea (2017) - This film broke me and has stayed with me all year. Incredible and heartbreaking.

A Monster Calls (2017) - Left me a little cold, but I'm not a huge fan of these fantasy parable type-films. See Pan's Labyrinth too.

Hacksaw Ridge (2017) - I really enjoyed this, the Jesus imagery is as subtle as a sledgehammer but the war scenes are fantastic.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2017) - Odd film, can't remember much more about it.

Jackie (2017) - Found it much too ponderous and boring.

Moonlight (2017) - Another one I loved which has stayed with me. Worthy Oscar winner. I mean that in a good way!

Fences (2017) - Viola Davis is incredible in this, the film is much too stagey. 

Trespass Against Us (2017) - Fassbender and Gleeson are both good, the plot never really gets going and I found it pretty boring as it went on.

Sing (2017) - Really enjoyed this, although I think it's probably responsible for Elbow's horrible Golden Slumbers cover being everywhere right now.

Live By Night (2017) - Fine gangster film, better than the sniffy reviews would have you believe. Nowhere near as good as Argo.

The Young Offenders (2017) - Really funny low-budget Irish film.

Assassin's Creed (2017) - Shite. Really shite.

Patriot's Day (2017) - This didn't sit right with me, felt a little too soon to turn a tragedy of this sort into a generic cop film.

Christine (2017) - Worth watching for Rebecca Hall's performance.

20^th Century Women (2017) - This is great, one of those films that just makes you smile.

The Founder (2017) - Michael Keaton can do no wrong in my eyes, really liked this.

Hidden Figures (2017) - Nothing new and does exactly what you'd expect, but it's fun.

Lion (2017) - Loved the first half but the second half lost me. Dev Patel whinges about his parents, repeat twenty times.

Split (2017) - McAvoy is fantastic, it's a bit daft though isn't it?

La La Land (2017) - It's great, the songs are great, fuck the haters.

Silence (2017) - Fucking hell, was this 2017? I enjoyed it, probably wouldn't watch it again though. 

The Love Witch (2017) - Didn't get it, sorry.

The Eyes Of My Mother (2017) - Creepy little horror film, worth a watch if you like horror.

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe (2017) - Probably the best horror I've seen all year. Genuinely scary.

Gold (2017) - This is actually good fun with McConaughey clearly enjoying himself.

Rules Don't Apply (2017) - Didn't seem like it knew which film it wanted to be.

Rings (2017) - Worst film I've seen this year.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) - Great fun, Marvel have their formula nailed down and it works. Genuinely funny and exciting. See also, Thor Ragnarok and Spider-Man.

The Void (2017) - Great effects, ropey plot.

Sleepless (2017) - Jamie Foxx can be a complete bore at times.

The Great Wall (2017) - Better than expected.

Get Out (2017) - Loved it, one of my films of the year.

Miss Sloane (2017) - Jessica Chastain's performance is better than the film.

T2 Trainspotting (2017) - Didn't mind it at the time, looking back I can't remember much about it. Begbie was a little too pantomime villain.

Prevenge (2017) - Reminded me of Sightseers in that it was a bit of a boring mess.

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) - Better than the first, can't wait for the third. Best action film of the year.

Logan (2017) - Best X-Men film to date, loved it. 

The Lego Batman Movie (2017) - I liked the Lego Movie, but this was rubbish. I laughed once. 

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) - See Guardians.

Free Fire (2017) - Finally a Ben Wheatley film I liked! It's decent, although Baby Driver has a shoot-out scene much better than anything in this. Glad Armie Hammer is getting more roles too. 

War For The Planet Of The Apes (2017) - The best of the trilogy and has some stunning choreography. 

Dunkirk (2017) - Enjoyed it at the time but much like all of Nolan's work (bar The Prestige), it left me cold afterwards.

Kong: Skull Island (2017) - Enjoyed this much more than I expected. Although Hiddleston seems to be sleepwalking through his performance.

Jawbone (2017) - Everyone loves a good boxing film, right? Worth checking out.

Life (2017) - Completely generic, but I watched Alien: Covenant afterwards and this seemed like a much better film after that.

Alien: Covenant (2017) - Stop fucking around with the Alien mythology Ridley. Even worse than Prometheus, somehow.

Lady Macbeth (2017) - Loved this. Great sound and set design, goes in different directions than you'd expect. Check it out.

The Levelling (2017) - This is fantastic. Hope Dickinson Leach and Ellie Kendrick deserve to go on to bigger things after this.

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (2017) - Shit.

Gifted (2017) - Completely generic Nick Sparks territory, but Chris Evans and McKenna Grace are good enough to get away with it.

Mindhorn (2017) - Funny as fuck, this. 

Colossal (2017) - Still not sure what to make of this. It's interesting, but really fucking weird.

Wonder Woman (2017) - Great for 90 minutes, shame it's 2 hours long. The last 30 minutes almost undoes all the goodwill the film had managed.

The Mummy (2017) - It takes some doing to make Tom Cruise boring, but this manages it.

My Cousin Rachel (2017) - Another film where the lead performance is better than the actual film.

Whitney: Can I Be Me (2017) - It's decent but obviously suffers in the shadow of Amy.

Okja (2017) - It's good but what the fuck was Jake Gyllenhaals performance about?

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge (2017) - Rubbish, ennit. 

Song To Song (2017) - Better than The Tree of Life, but I can't get on with Malick. 

The Big Sick (2017) - A little overrated, but I fucking love Ray Romano.

Baby Driver (2017) - I loved it. The Hocus Pocus scene is my most watched of the year.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) - Takes all the worst parts of the first film and makes them even more offensive and rubbish.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) - See Guardians.

Handsome Devil (2017) - This is well worth checking out, another fine Irish coming of age film.

[ColinBollocks]

My ever changing top ten, probably:

1 - The Red Turtle - A silent cartoon. Has every right to be pretentious rubbish, but no other film had me fighting back the tears like this. Beautiful.
2 - Blade Runner 2049 - Blade Runner is probably my favourite film of all time, but this sequel was more than I could have hoped for. Bless Denis Villeneuve; maybe the best in the game.
3 - Logan - I had high expectations for this, walking in and it very much delivered. Walking out I was of the opinion it's the best superhero movie ever and one of the best films of 2017. Nowt has changed.
4 -The Florida Project - Probably the funniest film this year. The little girl in the movie is tremendous.
5 - After The Storm - This film turned me into a fan of Hirokazu Kore-eda. Subtle, well acted and written.
6 - John Wick 2
7 - A Ghost Story
8 - War of the Planet of the Apes
9 - Dunkirk
10 - Okja

I've still yet to see a couple of films of note (Get Out being a big one), but I'd say my top 5 is fairly solid, in terms of moving about. Honestly, it's been a fantastic year in cinema. Films like God's Own Country, The Beguiled, My Life as a Courgette etc are all brilliant, but they didn't make the cut.

[Devon Malcolm]

That's a really strong list, ColBol. Just watched Dunkirk on Friday, easily Nolan's best film to date.

For some reason I can't wait to hear what @Scott Malbranque thinks of Bright, being a buddy cop devotee like me.

[Scott Malbranque]

I was actually going to give it a wide berth going by what your good self, and a few others I've spoken to, have  said about it, but I now feel obliged to sit through this and give an opinion.

Out of sheer respect to you D-Mal, I'm going to brave this tonight.

It looks like Alien Nation by way of some poxy CS Lewis story.

But in saying that, I was seemingly the only person who thought Elysium should have been deemed the most important sci fi film of it's generation, so I have to go in open minded to this...

[NoUseforaUsername]

Just paid a visit to Max Landis' Wikipedia page and saw a picture of him I wish I didn't.

Yikes.

I'm not surprised he sexually harasses women.

[Devon Malcolm]

31 minutes ago, Scott Malbranque said:

I was actually going to give it a wide berth going by what your good self, and a few others I've spoken to, have  said about it, but I now feel obliged to sit through this and give an opinion.

Out of sheer respect to you D-Mal, I'm going to brave this tonight.

It looks like Alien Nation by way of some poxy CS Lewis story.

But in saying that, I was seemingly the only person who thought Elysium should have been deemed the most important sci fi film of it's generation, so I have to go in open minded to this...

Ooh, well, I didn't like Elysium at all so this is interesting now!

Alien Nation is great though.

[Tommy!]

I watched 12 monkeys. I really enjoyed it. I'm not a big Bruce Willis fan but enjoyed him in this. Pitt was a bit much though, but I genuinely really enjoyed the story. 

It reminded me of the other Bruce Willis time travel dystopian future child sees a murder in the present film Looper, which I also enjoyed. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Looper is fantastic. @Keith Houchen will insist otherwise but he's an Aronofsky fan so it doesn't count.

[Sergio Mendacious]

Currently watching Super Xuxa Contra O Baixo Astral (Super Xuxa vs. the Down Mood) — super-cheesy Brazilian kids movie from the 80s, with a good amount of satire and social commentary, and also Xuxa in short shorts, which is nothing to complain about. It's one of those films that cost about £20 to make, and benefits from that. Bad singing, worse dancing, almost no acting (although the villain, Baixo Astral, is a great panto villain), and I adore it.

[zep81]

Found this a compelling piece and it was good to see him bring so open about everything too.

[Fox Piss]

I just watched Baby Driver. 

It's watchable. It's just that when you've watched it, you think it's trash. It feels like no story ever kicks in or gets going (Love or Heist).

The music element was pretty tripe too. I'm at a lost with this films hype i really am. 

If there was a genre for weird getaway drivers it wouldn't even be in the same stratosphere as Drive.