Hello, and welcome to the first part of my 2017 wrap – the movies I saw at the cinema. In a later post, I’ll discuss the notable games I played.
The movies can be divided into several tiers, from great to bad:
The Greats
Blade Runner 2049 – Overall, my movie of the year. An excellent piece, succeeding on multiple levels: (1) as a cyberpunk thriller; (2) as a thematically rich story about one person’s search for identity; and (3) as a commentary on humanity’s relationship with technology.
La La Land – My surprise hit of the year: beneath the catchy songs, I found a deeply resonant story about what it takes to fulfill a dream: hard work, setbacks, and ultimately, sacrifice.
Honourable mentions
Dunkirk – A war movie that eschews bombast for quiet heroism.
Entertaining time-killers
Star Wars: Rogue One
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
While not very deep, Rogue One succeeds as an action-oriented return to the original timeline. The highest compliment I can offer is that it made me yearn for a good Star Wars game!
Like The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi is a remix of the original trilogy, but compared to its predecessor, it’s smarter, more self-aware, and more willing to diverge from the originals. It does stretch on too long.
Valiant defeat
Ghost in the Shell – Visually striking anime adaptation (drawing especially on the 1995 movie and the Second Gig TV series), brought down by a reliance on cyberpunk cliche.
Avoid
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – A mess of a movie, missing much of the original comics’ charm.
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Dunkirk was a very different war film, but one I did enjoy. It isn’t something I could imagine watching again, but that is not any kind of criticism of the film.
Love Rogue One, one of my favorite SW films, and really enjoyed The Last Jedi.
I didn’t have high hopes for Ghost in the Shell, but it was even more of a let down than I thought it would be. I was glad I didn’t go to the theater to see it.
I do plan on watching Valerian when it comes up on free streaming. Not at all familiar with the comics.
Thanks for commenting, Carl!
Sounds like we have similar takes on Dunkirk.
I went into Ghost in the Shell with fairly limited expectations and liked quite a few of its ideas – unfortunately the overall package was less than the sum of its parts.
The Valerian comics are available in English from Amazon US (hardcopy & Kindle). They’re cheerful, pulpy space opera – quite fun once they hit their stride, and at their best, uniquely whimsical (aliens disguise themselves in the rush hour on the Paris Metro!). Worth a glance if that interests.