Same Kind Of Different As Me (2020) - Movie Review

Okay, this film technically came out in 2017 (which was after it spent a good three years on the shelf from its 2014 finish date), but considering it only just became available here in Australia this year, and how royally muffed-up the cinematic release schedule has been across the board all year, I’m counting this as a 2020 movie. This is actually one that I’ve been keeping an eye out for when it would drop over here, and it’s something I hinted at when I reviewed Monster Trucks. Yep, this is another film with Don Burgess attached to it as DOP that seems like a major step-down for such a legendary figure. However, as I’ll get into, this is a much better fit for him than something like Monster Trucks.

Top 11 Biggest Disappointments (2017)

2017 was a very disappointing year. It revealed how much genuinely heinous behaviour was being kept under wraps, how desperate people were to excuse those actions (the double-team of Kevin Spacey and Australia’s own Don Burke was particularly gross in that regard), and how a person’s past actions can come back to bite them in the arse in a major way. 2017 wasn’t just disappointing because it fell below the median; it created disappointment in individual people, people that up until that point the general public gave the benefit of the doubt. It’s rather fitting then that, along with some surprising successes, the year’s cinema would turn out some unbelievable letdowns. Seriously, this is the year that created some of the biggest cinematic nosedives I’ve ever covered, and the legendarily weak box office receipts show that audiences definitely noticed.

However, we’re not talking about the obvious suspects. As bad as films like Fifty Shades Darker, Collateral Beauty and even The Emoji Movie are, it was a given that they weren’t going to turn so well in the first place. No, this list is dedicated to the films that showed a lot of initial promise… and then proceeded to spoil it in increasingly disastrous ways. Let’s test how much worse the phrase “I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed” can be to blind rage and go over the Top 11 Biggest Disappointments of 2017… and oh boy, I had to do some serious trimming down to fit in only 11 this year.

Top 11 Biggest Surprises (2017)

2017 will likely be remembered for a lot of things: First full year of the Human Jaffa as the U.S. President, a series of sexual abuse allegations that made us all question our “heroes”, some of the worst box office returns in the history of Hollywood, Andrew Tate being an absolute fuck-knuckle, and that's just for starters. However, at least in the context of what I do on this blog, 2017 came to mean something a little different: Namely, it was one of the most consistently surprising years since I starting doing this. Never before have my expectations been so efficiently worked around, resulting in a lot of films during the year that I never would have guessed would be as good (or as bad) as they were. Which films genuinely turned out better than I suspected going in? Let’s find out. Here’s quite possibly the most apt year to do this for: It’s the Top 11 Biggest Surprises of 2017.

Okja (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: For the past ten years, South Korean girl Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) has looked after Okja, a “super-pig” that is one of 26 specimens sent out by the Mirando Corporation to different farmers all over the world. However, when Mirando CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) takes Okja away to take part in a competition in New York, Okja finds herself in the middle of an open battle between Mirando and a group of animal rights activists led by Jay (Paul Dano) as to what Okja, and the other super-pigs like her, will become.

Downsizing (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: As a means to combat overpopulation, a group of Norwegian scientists have come up with a ground-breaking solution: Literally shrinking the population down to a height of only five inches. Suburban couple Paul (Matt Damon) and Audrey (Kristen Wiig), unsatisfied with their current living conditions, decide to take part in the procedure… only for Audrey to back out at the last minute. Now shrunken and alone, Dave takes part in this brand new miniature society, only to discover that even this scenario has its drawbacks.

Coco (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) wants to become a famous musician like his hero Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), something made difficult by how Miguel’s family have expressly forbidden any of them getting involved in music. However, when Miguel finds himself in the Land Of The Dead on the night of Dia de los Muertos, his struggle between his dreams and his family is about to get even more complicated as he discovers that he and Ernesto might have a lot more in common than he first thought.

OtherLife (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Programmer Ren (Jessica De Gouw) and her business partner Sam (T. J. Power) are less than a week away from launching their product OtherLife, a breakthrough in biotechnology that allows them to create and administer virtual experiences; in the space of a minute, a person lives out an entire day’s worth of memories. However, as they are trying to iron out the bugs before the big launch, it seems that Ren has been some work of her own with the tech… and if she isn’t careful, she could be stuck in a virtual nightmare.

Breathe (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Tea broker Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield), after being stricken by polio and rendered paralysed from the neck down, has been given only three months left to live. However, between his wife Diana’s (Claire Foy) words of encouragement and his own resolve, he plans on being around for a bit longer than that. As he adjusts to his new living conditions, his friends and family all chip in to help him out, starting a movement that would lead Robin Cavendish to become one of the most famous advocates for the disabled in history.

Call Me By Your Name (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: While living with his parents (Michael Stuhlbarg and Amira Casar) in Italy, Elio (Timothée Chalamet) strikes up a friendship with Oliver (Armie Hammer), an archaeology graduate who Elio’s father is helping with his academics. However, as Elio continues his relationship with his girlfriend Marzia (Esther Garrel), he discovers that he has certain… feelings towards Oliver. He begins to explore these feelings with Oliver, whom reciprocates, but just how long can this affair last?

The Belko Experiment (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: For the workers of Belko Industries, situated in an office building in Bogotá, it started out like any other work day. That is, until a mysterious voice rings out through the building posing a terrible ultimatum. All the doors have been locked down, and every window has been shuttered; the workers are trapped inside. The mysterious voice tells them that, of the 80 workers in the building, 30 must be killed in order for the rest to make it out alive. If not, 60 of them will be randomly selected to die instead. With their options running out and tensions running high, it seems that some are more willing to play along than others.

The Most Hated Woman In America (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Atheism activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair (Melissa Leo), her son Jon (Michael Churnus) and her granddaughter Robin (Juno Temple) have been kidnapped by Madalyn’s former work colleague David Waters (Josh Lucas) for a ransom. As they try and find a way out of their situation, Madalyn reminisces about the events that led her to this point, from working with her other son William (Vincent Kartheiser) to ban in prayer in public schools to founding the organisation American Atheists to her frequent clashes with the Christian populace. It seems that no good deed truly goes unpunished.

1922 (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Farmer Wilf (Thomas Jane) has holed up himself up in a hotel to write down a confession. In 1922, in response to his wife Arlette (Molly Parker) inheriting 100 acres of framing land, he decided to kill her and take the land for himself. However, as he and his son Henry (Dylan Schmid) try to cover up their crime from their neighbours, the weight of Wilf’s actions starts to bear down on him. In an attempt to have more, he is about to lose everything.

Lady Macbeth (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: In 1860’s England, Katherine (Florence Pugh) has been sold into marriage to Alexander (Paul Hilton), expected to conceive an heir for him. However, when both he and his demanding father Boris (Christopher Fairbank) leave the estate for a few days on business, Katherine is given a chance to exercise some personal freedom. She takes advantage of the situation, starting a passionate affair with estate worker Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis), and she starts to like the idea of acting as her own person. And she will do anything to keep that freedom.

Miss Sloane (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Lobbyist Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) has been brought before a congressional hearing under suspicion of violating U.S. Senate ethics law. She recalls the events of the last three months, specifically her involvement in getting a gun control bill passed into congress and the efforts of her and her team to secure the votes. However, in the process of trying to win the battle, her determination has led her to increasingly dubious choices that may show her to be the bigger threat than the people she’s fighting against.

Hounds Of Love (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: On her way to a party, teenager Vicki (Ashleigh Cummings) is picked up by suburban couple Evelyn (Emma Booth) and John (Stephen Curry), who offer her a lift. However, they don’t take her to the party; they take to the same place they took the last few strays they picked up from the side of the road: Shackled to a bed in their home. Turns, Evelyn and John’s sexual tastes lean to the more… adventurous, and if she wants to make it out alive, she’ll have to figure out how to turn the tables against her captors.

The Beguiled (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Amy (Oona Laurence), a student of a Virginian girls school during the American Civil War, comes across a wounded Union soldier in the woods surrounding the school. Amy brings the soldier, named Corporal McBurney (Colin Farrell), to the school where the headmistress Martha (Nicole Kidman) agrees to bring him in and get him better. However, with Confederate soldiers frequently marching outside their gates, and the girls at the school not being sure how much they can trust the Corporal, they may have to come to a difficult decision about what to do with him.

The Glass Castle (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Jeannette Walls (Brie Larson), now a successful businesswoman, reminisces about her childhood. Specifically, being raised alongside her sisters Lori (Sarah Snook) and Maureen (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and her brother Brian (Josh Caras) by their mother Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) and Rex (Woody Harrelson). As she recollects her family’s secluded and rather destitute living conditions, and sees her parents’ current living conditions, she has to come to terms with what they did to her and her siblings, both the good and the bad.

You Get Me (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: After a messy break-up with his girlfriend Alison (Halston Sage), Tyler (Taylor John Smith) ends up spending the rest of the weekend with the seductive Holly (Bella Thorne). However, after he sobers up from the experience, he makes up with Alison. Holly is not happy about this, and she’ll do anything to have Tyler all to herself. Anything.

The Greatest Showman (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman), after being laid off from his job, has stumbled onto an idea. He decides to create a show for children of all ages, comprised of the many peculiarities of the world. As his show gets off the ground and New York is shown such oddities as the pint-size General Tom Thumb (Sam Humphrey), the bearded lady Lettie Lutz (Keala Settle) and trapeze artist Anne (Zendaya), Barnum starts to lose sight of why he is in “show business” in the first place. Will he stick by his co-stars and his family, or will the spotlight drive to the very people he set out to disrupt?

El Camino Christmas (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: Eric (Luke Grimes) has arrived to El Camino, Arizona, in search of his lost father. However, he soon finds himself in a bizarre hostage situation when he, local policeman Carl Hooker (Vincent D’Onofrio), mother Kate (Michelle Mylett) and her son, and town drunk Larry (Tim Allen) are stuck inside of a liquor store. The officers outside, particularly Sheriff Fuller (Kurtwood Smith) and Deputy Calhoun (Dax Shepard) have no idea what’s going on, and the situation inside is far from cut-and-dry. It’s going to be a long Christmas.