December 17, 2017

What’s this?! A blog post that is neither music related nor horror-centric?

Well, look, it’s my personal blog! I can do whatever the hell I want here!

And it dawned on me that because of my 14 year history writing exclusively for horror web publications, I’ve never actually cataloged my favorite non-horror movies in any sort of “end of the year” list. So, I’ll be damned, I’m going to do it right here, right now!

Fair warning, if you’re familiar with my general tastes either from listening to the Shock Waves podcast, or the much broader “pop culture” show I co-host with Tony Giles TWO DUDES TALKING, you’ll know that my sensibilities tend to fall on the “commercial” side. Meaning, my entire list isn’t going to be compromised of “art-house” fare or festival darlings or solely new foreign films. I like what I like! And really… it’s just my opinion. What does anyone care about that?

But, for the select few that do care, here we go. And naturally, I missed quite a bit this year: DUNKIRK, WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, I TONYA, THREE BILLBOARDS. Anything “genre” will be in my next blog dedicated to my top 10 horror movies of 2017. (Which I already revealed in the latest episode of Shock Waves!) For now, here’s my favorite 10 films that came out this year!

10 – JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND

I have a love of documentaries, especially ones that offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the making of movies. This Netflix original, however, I initially had a lot of trouble getting through. JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND features a new interview with Jim Carrey and never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage of the making-of MAN ON THE MOON, the Andy Kaufman bio-pic from director Milo Forman, dating about 20 years back. What we never got to see was Carrey’s transformation into Andy Kaufman and his vulgar counterpart Tony Clifton. This takes “method” acting to a new level, and hence, it was really, really uncomfortable to watch some of the annoying antics Carrey put the entire cast, crew, and the nearing-a-nervous-breakdown director on set. But, it’s also the incredible story of how Carrey “made it” and how even after all your dreams are fulfilled and you make 10 million dollars for a movie, the problems you had before are still there. What else is there to achieve? A fascinating look at fame, a troubled artist reflecting on the period where he was on the top of his game, and a loving tribute to the one comedian who couldn’t take any of this stuff seriously.

9 – LOGAN

This was a pleasant surprise! After the success of the R rated DEADPOOL, and a few X-Men movies that I enjoyed, but that definitely started to feel a bit repetitive, I was initially nervous about this “R rated” take on Wolverine by director James Mangold with Hugh Jackman claiming this would be his final time playing the title character. And in fact, for the first 20 or so minutes, with an excessive amount of F bombs, I was convinced this wasn’t going to be for me. BUT, what emerged was one of the most emotionally poignant stories about a “family,” stripped down to simply Logan, Professor X (as the father figure), and Laura, an angry young mutant that shares Wolverine’s abilities and rage, trying to stick it out and survive. It also has the key underpinnings of a traditional Western. When the trio end up with the Munson family in the center part of the movie, and things go South for all of them, it hurt. I genuinely cared about all these characters introduced, along with the ones I’ve watched on screen for 17 years now. By the end, I was, in fact, sobbing in my seat. If this truly is the last time Jackman plays Wolverine as he promises (same for Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier), they went out on such a high note. Only downside? We never got Wolverine’s yellow and brown comic book costume!!!

8 – I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE

The directorial debut of actor Macon Blair premiered on Netflix as one of their originals back in February of 2017, and was one of the wildest, most unique, and at times shocking new films I saw this year. Melanie Lynskey plays Ruth, a woman who is passive about the negative things in her life up until she’s burglarized. Along with her eccentric, nunchuck touting neighbor Tony (Elijah Wood), she sets about getting her stuff back and evening the scales a bit. They inadvertently get in the path of a group of deranged criminals, led by Jesus Lizard singer David Yow! The conclusion to this black comedy is absolutely bonkers and goes way beyond what you’d expect. I love Blair as an actor, but as his writing & directorial debut, I can’t wait to see what other kinds of stories he has to tell!

7 – WONDER WOMAN

I love superheroes. I grew up a ginormous comic book fan. I want all these comic book movies to be good, so when I critique one of the DC movies, it’s not because I’m predetermined to make some sort of Marvel versus DC argument. Hell, I grew up on the Christopher Reeve SUPERMAN movies and Michael Keaton’s BATMAN. I want all of these movies to be awesome, and I’m glad I live in a time where they’re getting made! That said, it’s been a rocky start for the DC cinematic universe these last few years. While I appreciate some of Zach Snyder’s films, he has proven to be the absolute wrong choice for SUPERMAN and the JUSTICE LEAGUE. And I tried to watch SUICIDE SQUAD a second time when I got the 3D Blu-Ray, and just couldn’t make it through it again. The entire point of these stories with superheroes is to show us the best that we can be; how they can inspire us to be better. And finally, WONDER WOMAN was the movie to get that spirit 100 percent right. On top of that, it was thrilling, fun, and full of heart, not to mention filled with irresistible characters, including Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), Etta (Lucy Davis), Ewan Brenner from the TRAINSPOTTING movies, and many more. Sure, the third act fell into the usual CGI finale battle we’ve come to expect, but Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins delivered exactly the hero we absolutely needed this year, especially considering what’s going on in the world right now.

6 – OKJA

Another Netflix original, but one I was fortunate enough to see on the big screen. I wonder if this had the same whimsical magic at home for people as it had with a sold out crowd the way I got to experience it? The New Beverly Cinema here in Los Angeles had a 35mm print created exclusively for their theater and programmed a full week of Joon-ho Bong’s latest. (On some night’s, it was paired with his other features, such as SNOWPIERCER.) The gist of the story revolves around this giant corporation, fronted by Tilda Swinton’s Lucy Mirando, in which they’re breeding this new animal and raising them for eventual consumption. But one of these beautiful creatures, affectionately named Okja, has formed an incredible friendship with 10 year old Mija in an isolated part of South Korea. When they take Okja back to the States, she sets out on an adventure to get her friend back, and teams up with a group of anti-animal cruelty advocates. Very much like Joon-ho’s THE HOST, this film crosses a lot of genres and mixes a whole lot of tones through out, but deep down, it’s got a lot of heart. The only thing that sticks out like a sore thumb for me is Jake Gyllenhaal playing reality TV survivalist Johnny Wilcox. He makes a “choice” with how to play that character, and goes for it. I just think it’s the wrong choice. (And hey, I loved him in LIFE, also out this year.) Paul Dano on the other hand, and Steven Yeun absolutely shine in their respective roles as Jay and K. If you haven’t seen it yet, put it on your Netflix Instant queue. And be sure to wait until after the credits for one more scene…

5 – SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

At this point, we’ve now had 5 Spider-Man movies. And Spider-Man is my all time favorite comic book character. I recall seeing Sam Raimi’s first film 7 or 8 times in theaters!? 4 times within the first 24 hours of release! At the time, I was just so happy that a Spider-Man movie finally existed and now look where comic book movies are at! That said, it was amazing to hear that after many years of rights entanglement, Sony had wisely made the decision to let Marvel use the character and collaborate on future movies. With 2 scenes in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, Marvel managed to return Spider-Man to all his glory and give us the best cinematic version of him yet! So what could director Jim Watts bring to the table that would be new in his next solo outing? A lot!

My favorite thing about the new Spider-Man is that almost every aspect of it was brand new and not based on some pre-existing version of the character. Nothing directly lifted from any comic books stories, or recycling characters or villains we’d already seen on the big screen. We got the mighty Michael Keaton as Andrian Toomes aka The Vulture (who isn’t nearly as big a villain as Tony Stark is!), the Shocker and The Tinkerer (in minor roles, rather than the traditional over-stuffing of multiple villains), a rich, diverse cast of irresistible supporting characters (Ned Leeds, Liz Allen, Michelle). A companion in artificial intelligence Karen (aka the Spidey suit’s voice) played by Jennifer Connelly. The answer to what happens when Spider-Man doesn’t have buildings to swing from, and much, much more. It relies very heavily on embedding itself in the pre-established Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they pulled it off. As a die-hard Spidey fan, it managed to surprise me multiple times through out, and instantly became one of my favorite Spider-Man films. Can’t wait for Tom Holland’s return in THE AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR!

4 – BABY DRIVER

I like Edgar Wright movies, but I don’t love them the way most people do. Sure, SHAUN OF THE DEAD is a horror/comedy masterpiece and among one of my all time favorites, but… SCOTT PILGRIM? Oof. So, I wasn’t in too much of a rush to see his latest, filled with the usual quirky actors, great soundtrack, fast paced editing, and everything else that comes along with Wright’s style. Even worse is that everyone kept telling me how much I’d love this movie, which also deterred me from seeing it sooner. But, I took advantage of a Black Friday deal, kicked back when it arrived, and made a Friday night of it. Damn those friends that kept pushing me to see it, because they were right. I loved it. It kicks off with the John Spencer Blues Explosion, so I perked up at that. And the first act played like a traditional Wright film. But then, it just takes a wonderful, surprising dark turn. And suddenly the stakes are incredibly high! And Jamie Foxx is scary as hell! And so is Jon Hamm! And the soundtrack continues to kick ass! By the end, I was taken aback by the underlining romantic story, which reminded me in spirit of TRUE ROMANCE. (With, of course, a heavy influence from Walter Hill’s THE DRIVER. A masterpiece if you haven’t seen it.) I’m extremely smitten by the characters that Ansel Elgort and Lily James brought to life. Go in the way I did, knowing as little as possible, and let go & enjoy!

3 – STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

I had a really tough, stressful, long week at work. But last Thursday, with the impending holidays, things started to lighten up. We had a board game day in the office and my fellow co-workers and I enjoyed a round of MIXTAPE MASSACRE. Then, I trekked over to the Arclight Cinemas in Sherman Oaks, because low and behold, a freakin’ new STAR WARS movie was out and I almost completely forgot about it with my workload. 2 and half hours later, I was all smiles. I had a good, enthusiastic audience. There were maybe 5 key moments that elicited applause. And I was so thrilled by how little I knew about the movie going in. I managed to avoid all spoilers and only had the two trailers as reference, but Rian Johnson managed to deliver one of the first STAR WARS movies that truly kept me guessing the whole way through, thoroughly entertained me, let me spend some time with characters of past and present that I love, and took me to where no other STAR WARS movie has as of yet. Basically, I’m just happy they keep making these now that I can enjoy them as an adult. I mean, Luke Skywalker!!! In a new STAR WARS movie! Then, the next morning, I was baffled by the tremendous amount of hate and negativity this film seems to have garnered. I genuinely don’t know what people want out of a STAR WARS movie anymore? It’s a space opera! It’s entertainment. I just want to let go and forget about this incredibly toxic world we live in nowadays, and the crap that’s consistently hammered at us on social media. I loved them all, but the major complaint on the last two movies were that they skewed a little too close to the original film. Now this one is too different for peoples tastes? So again, I don’t know what other people want. But I know that I loved this movie. Kylo Ren has proven to be one of the most fascinating, conflicted characters of the entire saga, and I love Rey. You can read my buddy Eric Vespe’s spoiler break down on the themes of the movie if you want more specifics on why I loved it as much as I did, as he sums it up better than I ever could. This was one of my favorite theatrical experiences this year. And it will one day go down as one of the best STAR WARS movies, mark my words.

2 – THE DISASTER ARTIST

I’ve never seen THE ROOM. I’ve seen enough of it via You Tube clips, and have heard enough about the bizarre and surreal cinematic experience created by the enigma known as Tommy Wiseau that I felt I didn’t really need to subject myself to a movie people referred to as “so bad it’s good,” a term I actually despise. But, I also have a tremendous soft spot for movies about making movies. And so, James Franco literally channels Tommy Wiseau and directs a stellar adaptation of the stranger-than-fiction book THE DISASTER ARTIST. ED WOOD remains my favorite Tim Burton movie, and even to this day I haven’t seen a whole lot of Ed Wood movies, so I didn’t think it’d matter if I saw THE ROOM going into this one. And it didn’t. This film skews that fine line of being a bit sad and depressing. Does it make fun of someone that genuinely was trying to make a great film? Or deep down, is it a heartfelt tale about two friends not letting each other give up on their dreams? Maybe it’s all of that and more, but having now seen it twice, it’s heart is absolutely in the right place. And Franco deserves an Oscar. OK, and maybe now I will check out THE ROOM.

1 – THE SHAPE OF WATER

Last but not least is the new movie from Guillermo del Toro, which as most people are saying (and I agree) is his best film. The screening I caught at the Arclight had a video Q & A with del Toro following the presentation and in it, the interviewer asks him when did he first get the idea for THE SHAPE OF WATER? Del Toro recounts seeing the CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON for the first time on TV when he was 6 years old, and in particular the scene when the Creature is swimming in what could be considered an operatic dance with Julie Adams. In that moment, del Toro thought, “wow, I really hope they end up together!” And hence, that’s what this movie is about.

It’s 1962 and a lonely, mute janitor discovers that a merman is being held captive at the facility she works at, and they form a bond. Sally Hawkins is incredible as the sweet, mute Elisa. Del Toro regular Doug Jones is the creature, of course. Richard Jenkins is her neighbor Giles. And Michael Shannon plays the villainous Richard Strickland. At this point in his career, del Toro absolutely has complete command of the camera, and I couldn’t help but marvel at the constant fluidity of the first 20-25 minutes or so. The whole movie just moves and flows like the adult fairytale it really is. And while I loved the majority of it, I was a bit baffled by a few bits. Things like creature sex, cat consumption, and a musical number. Sometimes I wonder if del Toro brings us to that edge, and pushes us a bit just to see what we’ll accept, or what he can get away with. But those things can’t deter from the fact that this is still one of the best, most unique movie experiences I’ve had all year.

NOTABLE MENTIONS!

Another surprising, and incredible cinematic experience this year was THOR: RAGNOROK, directed by WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS’ Taika Waititi. It took the last dark and serious THOR movie, and basically threw out every major plot point as a joke in this new one. (Much like THE LAST JEDI did of THE FORCE AWAKENS, now that I think about it!) At first, I was alarmed by this tonal shift into comedic territory, but by the time the Hulk shows up in the movie, it completely won me over, and I just walked out of that movie having had a total blast. Similarly, seeing KONG: SKULL ISLAND at the beginning of this year in 3D IMAX was equally as fun a time as I’ve ever had at the movies. All I wanted was Kong, a giant monster, to fight other giant monsters, and I got that in spades. Plus: John C. Reilly? Samuel L. Jackson? Brie Larson? Shea Whigham? Solid cast across the board. It was just pure fun.

Now that the holiday break is almost upon us, I’m looking for a little downtime to catch up on whatever movies I may have missed, not to mention some great TV we had this year. And even more Netflix originals that just dropped!

For the curious, my previous blog post focused on my favorite horror vinyl soundtrack releases. Check that out right here!

UPDATE: With 3 days left to spare until the end of the year, I just watched writer/director Martin McDonagh’s latest flick THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. And it is a masterpiece! Several years back, my roommate pushed me to watch McDonagh’s first feature IN BURGES, if anything, to solidify that Colin Farrell is a pretty darned great actor and deserves a pass for everything because of IN BURGES, and I agreed. Haven’t seen his second feature SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS yet, but after checking out THREE BILLBOARDS, it’s shot up to the top of my Amazon Prime queue. The less you know the better, but in broad strokes, it’s about a town rocked by the murder of a teenage girl, and the three billboards posted from a grieving mother asking why. Top notch performances by Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell, multiple twists and turns, and a gut-wrenching character drama, THREE BILLBOARDS is my favorite of the year.