Resident Evil: The Final Chapter - 9/10

 

Kingsman: The Golden Circle - 9/10:

I'm not sure what the critics are whining about, this is a very solid flick and followup to the original. While it might not be better than the original, I'd say it's at least on par or close to it.
My complaints are as follows:
-Too long. They could shave about 10-15 minutes and it'd be perfectly fine as is.
-Too much. They crammed way too much into the running time.
-Poppy. While I thought Julianne Moore's performance was EXCELLENT (seriously, she was terrific and funny), she wasn't quite the villain she needed to be. (That's not a spoiler. That's saying she doesn't step up like Valentine did in the first film.)
-The tracker scene. I must agree with the critics that did complain about this one, it's...tasteless and pushes boundaries that shouldn't be pushed and I can see why people didn't like it. It wasn't even funny, it's just in poor taste, at best.

Aside from those things, I loved the film and they're small pieces that aren't enough to ruin the experience or the fun. Fantastic action set pieces, tremendous visuals and one of the absolute best car chase scenes I've ever seen. (Seriously, the opening sequence is just incredible.) The action is pretty much breathless and the film moves from scene to scene quite fast without giving you a chance to process the next moment, even in a film that's a bit too long. I never found it boring or slow, just too much.

And yes, as stated before, Sir Elton John was absolutely hilarious. One of the best parts of the film and while it seemed odd at first, it was easily explained away and then became a recurring joke that was actually funny.

Speaking of funny... The first film was funnier, this one was sadder and more serious, which is not a bad thing, but it lost a bit of charm because of this. That being said, when it IS funny, it's really funny and they make up not being a laugh a minute riot.

Absolutely worth your time, go see it, it's a LOT of fun.

 

Finally got around to watching Fantastic Beasts. It was a solid 7 until the hacky ending dragged the whole movie down to a 3.

 

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - 4/10

 

IT - 10/10

Absolutely fantastic! Scary, suspenseful, and funny all at the same time.

 

Wonder Woman- 8/10

Great movie, until the fight with Ares. This was my second time seeing it. Hadn't seen it since it was in theaters.

 

Kingsman: The Golden Circle - 6/10

 

Wonder Woman - 8/10:

Well, well, DC *can* make a good movie. About time. This was really quite good and well worth your time. I was wrong in my initial assumptions about this film and I'm willing to say so. Gal Gadot was perfectly on point the whole way through. She was pitch perfect and Chris Pine meshed well with her. Couldn't have asked for a better casting. Perhaps a bit too long and the middle sags just a bit, but yeah, well worth your time. It's a shame that villain's reveal was spoiled here for me months ago, but the film was still worth watching.

Now, the real question is... Can DC make a worthy followup? Let's hope.

 

The Abominable Dr Phibes - First off I need to say this. Holy crap, Dr Phibes was the original Jigsaw. Like this movie screamed Saw so much that it is undeniable that it influenced the gang behind that franchise. It also made me think of Seven, but with the plagues instead of deadly sins.

Anyway, I thought I had seen the best of the best of Price's movies from these sets, but this film proved me wrong. It was masterfully crafted and so unique that it stands above even the likes of Usher, Last Man, Pit, and Palace. It was so interesting, so well told, and so damn good! The actors all did an excellent although I must admit it was weird to see Joseph Cotten in color and with grey hair no less. I have no idea how the hell there is a sequel considering the finite ending this movie has. On one hand, I don't even want to touch the sequel for fear it may taint this film. On the other, I'm need to know how they managed to crap one out. Well regardless, this is a magnificent movie and I wish I had gone to see it on the big screen last year when my local Alamo Drafthouse had shown it. Oh well. Another spectacular 10/10 masterpiece.

 

Shin Godzilla - 10/10

Shin Godzilla - Minimal Godzilla screen time, lot's of characters talking - Best Godzilla movie ever!

Godzilla (2014) - Minimal Godzilla screen time, lot's of characters talking - Worst Godzilla movie ever!

What the hell?

 

The basic premise of every Godzilla movie ever. Except for Godzilla vs, Hedorah. He had a lot of screen time in that one.

 

Yeah, I also just re-watched this for the first time since seeing it in the theater, and I actually liked it a bit more than the first time. Even the final battle with Ares didn't seem as bad this time around. The whole cast did well, but Gadot and Pine were great.

Slight spoilers -- I had forgotten about the bit near the end where Steve is telling Diana goodbye, but she can't hear hear him (until later) because of the ringing in her ears. Anyway, I really like that scene -- it's a really cleaver way for that to play out. 7.5/10.

 

Wonder Woman: 6.5/10

Really didn't like it much on rewatch. Third act is just atrociously bad, even by comic book movie standards, and the opening just feels off too.

The Big Sick: 8/10

Really enjoyed this one. Ray Romano was a delight, which isn't something I thought I'd ever say. I was worried from the start it would be more typical romcom than I can stand, but the second act really throws out the genre conventions and puts it more in family drama territory, which I really appreciated.

It Comes At Night: 9/10

One of my faves of the year. The building dread through the entire film is really well done. I know a lot of people were disappointed because it wasn't traditional horror, but I'm pretty tired of traditional horror at this point. Give me more like this.

 

Iron Man - 10/10

Still my favorite Marvel movie.

 

Fantastic Beast and Where to find them 6.5/10.

 

Phibes Rises Again - Good bye originality. Good bye creativity. Good bye horror. Good bye everything that made its predecessor so great. Hello retcon. Hello pointless comedy. Hello sleep.

Seriously, good god, I knew it wasn't going to be as good as the first one, but god damn this was bad, like really bad. Did they just decide there was no way they could to live up to the original and decided to just half ass everything including turning the cops from intellectuals into comedic relief? Good god, Trout was just down right stupid as all hell in this thing. Of course, that was the least of this movie's issues. Retconning the ending to the first one was a huge one. Not only did they just make up some lame ass explanation as to why Phibes is alive despite the bottles clearly saying EMBALMING FLUID on them, but they also just brought his assisstant back without any explanation as to how. Additionally, she was played by a new actress, who had no acting ability whatsoever. If you are going to play a character that pretty much silent, you need to have the body language to pull it off and she did not. Speaking of being silent, Phibes was way too talkative this time around and they kept forgetting to make it sound like he was talking through a horn. Sometimes it would sound like he was, sometimes it wasn't. The worst was when he was having a full on conversation with the archeologist dude and it would sometimes sound like it was coming out of the horn, other times as if he were talking naturally.

The biggest tragedy though was this film was just flat out boring. None of the characters were the least bit interesting, the plot was uninspiring, and none of it made any sense. Unless Return of the Fly ends up being worse, this is the worst of the Price movies between the two volumes I have. Ugh. A generous 3/10.

 

Lost World - 10/10

 

The Fog - 9/10.

 

Kingsman 2 - 8/10

 

La La Land (8/10) It's been a while since I've watched a musical and La La Land was a great one.