The best of 2016 version 2.0

Having now seen most of the 2016 releases I was interested in here is a revised list of the best films of that year.

10.Snowden
9.The Light Between Oceans
8.Zootopia
7.The Accountant
6.Indignation
5.Jackie
4.Weiner
3.Sing Street
2,Moonlight
1.Manchester by the Sea

Best of 2017 Version 1.0

Still a lot from 2017 to see, but here are the 10 best 2017 film releases I saw during the calendar year of 2017.

10.Our Souls at Night
9.All The Money in the World
8.Logan
7.The Big Sick
6.Columbus
5.Baby Driver
4.Get Out
3.Ladybird
2.The Florida Project
1.Wind River

Bird on a Wire (1990)

I remember my parents renting this back in the day, I came into the room long enough to catch some of the sequence at the run down motel, which might have been the part of the film least likely to catch the interest of the 10 year old me. This film is only okay, both Goldie Hawn and Mel Gibson are just costing, but Mel Gibson's better at doing that. **

John XXIII (2002)

A good enough overview of the life of the late pontiff born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, though I think it overstates the importance of his role in the Cuban missile crises. Joint Anglo-Italian production not always well dubbed. Edward Asner inspired casting as John XXIII. Not as good as the Pope John Paul II mini-series made about three years later. **1/2

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

I've been surprised by the amount of backlash The Last Jedi has gotten, I think a lot of Star Wars fans don't know what they want. I was favorably impressed on first viewing and having now seen it a second time I think the story really holds up, or at least it did for me. The film is true to the original Star Wars trilogy, there are certainly homages to The Empire Strikes Back and other films, but its not as slavishly devoted to re-creating them as The Force Awakens was. In fact "let old things die" was an explicate theme of this film, and some of the plots developments in it recast The Force Awakens as a master misdirect. There are some moments in the film that I am genuinely very glad I got to see, there are low key elements to it as well that help to offset the temptation to always try to top what came before in terms of spectacle. This movies also got a good sense of humor, and leaves off in a place where I genuinely do not know the shape the next movie will take, and I'm thankful for that, let me be surprised. ****

Specter (2015)

I watched Specter again as part of my recent viewing of all the Bond movies. I still think Bond #24 is the weakest of the four Daniel Craig films, but is still okay. I love the opening sequence in Mexico City, there must have been tens of thousands of extras in that thing. I actually think Christoph Waltz might be my least favorite Blofeld, the casting was almost too obvious. Léa Seydoux character was more substantive then your typical Bond girl. Exotic locations Mexico City, London, Rome, Austria, Tangier and the Sahara. Good title song performed by Sam Smith. ***

Of the Bond movies as a whole I enjoyed them more then I thought I would, and I'm glad I watched them in fairly close succession. Maybe 2 to 4 of the movies might reasonably be called bad, but I thought for the most part this was an unusually strong franchise, and I enjoyed watching the tone and approach to the material ebb and flow and how the different movies and performances reflected the times in which they were made. I may get around to attempting a ranking in the near future.

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

After the mixed response to the 1976 King Kong remake, setting ones Kong film in the 1970's seemed a bit of an odd choice, but here it paid off. Kong: Skull Island is the second film in Legendary Entertainments 'MonsterVerse' after the 2014 Godzilla, the film is an enjoyable revisionist take on the giant gorilla story. In 1973 a group of solders returning home from the Vietnam War and commanded Samuel L. Jackson accompany a group of scientists lead by John Goodman, a photojournalist (Brie Larson), and an expert tracker (Tom Hiddleston), on an expedition to the mysterious and uncharted Skull Island. On the island the team encounters Kong and various other giant animals and gets scattered into smaller groups, they also run into John C. Reilly, a downed fighter pilot who has been stuck on the island since World War II. The film melds its genera's well, and makes strong homage to Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness in plot, settings, and character names, Hiddleston's master hunter is called Conrad. This movie was a bit of surprise, an enjoyable watch that was both smarter and funnier then I was expecting. Stay tune at the end for the rather self aware post credits scene. ***

Skyfall (2012)

Skyfall, Bond #23, is the last entry in the franchise that I had not previously seen. This film continues the pattern of the Daniel Craig Bond films of not essentially reverting to status quo at the end of the movie, which the franchise had more or less done since Sean Connery left the second time. The plot here concerns a MI6 agent gone mad (Javier Bardem, who is really good in this, a memorable villain) and his revenge plot against M (Judi Dench) who he blames for letting the Chinese capture and torture him 15 years earlier. The movie itself starts with Bonds presumed death, he of course survives but goes underground, thinking he may have found a way out of his dangerous life, only to re-emerge when he feels he is needed. Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory, Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny, and Ben Whishaw as a young Q are all introduced in this movie. Bérénice Marlohe is a Bond girl, Albert Finney is the games keeper at the Bond family estate (there is probably more Bond back story in this film then in any previous movie). Exotic locations include Istanbul, London of course, uncertain but tropical, Shanghai, Macau, island near Macau, and Scotland. The theme song performed by Adele will nicely root this movie in its time for future audiences. ***1/2

The Disaster Artist (2017)

The Room, an independently made film from 2003 written, produced, directed and staring the enigma that is Tommy Wiseau is widely regarded as one of the worst movies ever made. The Disaster Artist, a film based on a book of the same name by Tom Bissell and The Room co-star Greg Sestero, and produced, directed and staring James Franco, well that's a pretty good movie. Giving its subject matter the Ed Wood treatment The Disaster Artist is a good spirited look at what it is to make a bad movie, and that sometimes even a horrible film can be kind of a good thing. The movie is just loaded with celebrity bit parts, many playing themselves such as Bryan Cranston and Judd Apatow. Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael, actors who co-host a podcast about bad movies call How Did This Get Made all have roles in the film. James Franco in his role as Wiseau gives a performance that works both as caricature and portraiture. This begs the question, can one do an Oscar worthy performance of a Razzie worthy performance? Dave Franco plays Wiseau's friend and co-star Greg Sestero. Wiseau himself, a man about whom shocking little biographical information is known even now, has a brief appearance in a post credit scene which may be worth staying for if your curious. A funny and surprisingly warm movie which is already getting awards buzz. ***1/2

Zoolander (2001)

Nope, I'd never seen Zoolander before. Though seldom laugh out loud funny this movie is consistently amusing. One of the most endearing things about the film is the odd specificity of its satire, who know American audiences in 2001 were ready for a comedy about male models, Ben Stiller, that's who, a visionary. That's Stiller's real life wife Christine Taylor as his love interest. Early film appearances for Judah Friedlander and Patton Oswalt. Will Ferrell's Jacobim Mugatu, fittingly strange. ***

Krampus (2015)

Tonally a little odd, but ultimately enjoyable, Krampus starts out as a vaguely National Lampoon style tale of family dysfunction at Christmas time, but after a young lad loses the holiday spirit, he inadvertently invites the vengeful Germanic spirit Krampus to wreak vengeance on his kin. Paired down some I can totally see this plot being an episode the 80's anthology series Amazing Stories. **1/2

The Children's Hour (1961)

The Children's Hour is a story about the destructive power of gossip and innuendo. A bored young girl overhears a conversation related to two teachers at the private school she attends, she passes this information onto her grandmother, who misinterprets it and spreads it. Before long the two teachers, played by Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine are roundly believed to be lesbian lovers, endangering the formers engagement to a doctor (James Garner) and threating to shut down their school. While such allegations would in no way have been helpful to teachers in 1961, the scale of the reaction seems perhaps more appropriate to 1934, the year the Lillian Hellman play on which this is based was first staged. None the less this is a powerful film with strong performances, particularly Ms. MacLaine's, and far darker and less life affirming then is typical of the work of its director William Wyler. Tonally reminiscent of Tennessee Williams. ****
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Quantum of Solace (2008)

The most direct sequel in the history of its movie franchise, Bond #22 Quantum of Solace picks up just after the events of Bond #21 Casino Royal, by perhaps as little as a few weeks. The story tries to recapture the On Her Majesties Secret Service / Diamonds are Forever revenge arc, while the plot concerns the intelligence communities gradual awaking to the existence of Specter. Mathieu Amalric is an evil energy company executive, Stranger Things David Harbour a CIA Station Chief. Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton are the Bond girls, the latter with the Bondian name of Strawberry Fields. Exotic locations are Italy, the UK, Haiti, Austria, Italy again, Bolivia, and Russia. Highlight sequences include the opera meeting and the stuff that happens at that weird hotel in the desert. Jack White and Alicia Keys perform the theme song. ***

Justice League (2017)

A poor mans Avengers. Despite what I thought was a strong build up with Wonder Woman and Zack Snyder's two Superman films (the lesser Suicide Squad being more of a side story) Justice League was a disappointment. For one thing I'm tired of that 'alien conquerors want to turn our world into their world' plot (Man of Steel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), come up with another plot please. Like the Marvel movies Thanos, the villain here is a giant CGI alien, only instead of searching for six magic stones he's searching for three magic boxes. Also the bad guys name is Steppenwolf, yet at no time does he express the desire to take anyone on a magic carpet ride. That's a let down.

Superman of course is brought back to life in this movie, though it never really gets into the after effects of his rebirth like this and previous films had dealt with the aftermath of his death. Also a lot of the heroes in this film a very lose with their own, as well as others, secret identities. Ezra Miller's Flash got the most laugh lines, he's a different take on the character from what I remember of previous versions, here he is presented as a neurotic Jew, and this is certainly an odd cultural moment to introduce a superhero who is reminiscent of Woody Allen. **1/2

Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale, Bond # 21, is a hard reboot of the franchise and features Daniel Craig as a Bond early in his career, earning his double-O status in the pre-credit sequence. The plot focuses on international money laundering for war lords and the like, and gives us our first hints of the existence of Spector since the Sean Connery era. We also learn, I think for the first time, that Bond is an orphan. The films high stakes Texas hold'em card playing sequences are surprisingly gripping. Mads Mikkelsen is one of the more believable Bond villains as Le Chiffre, Eva Green is a nicely matched love interest for Craig. An unusual amount of exotic locations this time, Prague, Uganda, Madagascar, The Bahamas, Miami, Montenegro, Venice, and I think Switzerland. This film really breaths new life into the franchise like no film since The Living Daylights and takes its self mostly seriously. W. Bush era cell phones sure seem quaint now. Jeffrey Wright makes his first appearance as Felix Leiter. ***1/2