Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) - Movie Review

As I explained around this same time last year, I’m not the biggest fan of Star Wars. I recognise its cinematic significance and I get a certain amount of enjoyment out of the films themselves (even the ones that the rest of the world seems to hate with a passion), but I never really bought into the hype that those films carry to this day. Incessantly pushing The Force Awakens in my face for pretty much all of last year definitely didn't help, even with how much I ended up liking that film.

So, with all that in mind, even I am legitimately hyped for this film. The lack of obnoxious advertising could be a part of it, but there’s something else here that makes me anxious to check it out. Knowing how other cinematic continuities have been going of late, with even DC figuring out that some form of variety would be much appreciated, this film could present something different and help strengthen the series, considering this will be the first of the Star Wars cinematic Anthology with more already on the way. But even I couldn’t have expected this film to be this different.

Arrival (2016) - Movie Review

This might have the single weirdest initial expectation of any film I’ve covered on this blog so far, based purely on the people behind the scenes. On one hand, you got director Denis Villeneuve, one of the greatest filmmakers working today who specialises in digging deep into the murky guts of humanity to create genuine works of art. On the other, you have writer Eric Heisserer who, aside from penning the woefully unnecessary Nightmare On Elm Street remake, also wrote this year’s winner for “No, I’m still not over this piece of shit” Lights Out. Conflicting opinions is putting it mildly. Then again, the big failing with Lights Out wasn’t exactly the writing, but more the director’s unwillingness to accept the far darker aspects of the themes involved. Anyone who has sat through Villeneuve’s recent works like Prisoners and Sicario will know that he can do no such thing. To make matters even weirder, what really makes this film stand out ultimately has nothing to do with explorations of morality or even getting into properly dark territory. Why did I bring it up then? Because sometimes, even if we want to argue otherwise, expectations don’t mean a damn thing.

Southpaw (2015) - Movie Review

Jake Gyllenhaal might be one of the last few ‘actor’s actors’ still working today that hasn’t become dulled with age. Between his obsessed cartoonist in Zodiac, his bubbling-under-the-surface detective in Prisoners and his complete psychotic in Nightcrawler, he has proven time and again that he throws everything he has into the roles he’s given. Well, save for The Day After Tomorrow, but barely anyone survives an encounter with Roland Emmerich and has a career left to tell about it. So, one look at Gyllenhaal’s scrawny visage in Nightcrawler to the gritty muscle he’s packed on for today’s film gives hope that this will be much the same.

Taken 3 (2015) - Movie Review

Even in today’s cinematic day and age, the threequel still presents a challenge both for creators and audiences. In order to keep audiences invested enough to stick it out for a third film based in the same universe, the creators need to create a story that is worthy of being continued for that long for whatever reason. Whether it’s pre-conceived to be a trilogy, like Star Wars or Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, or it adds on films based on public or studio demand, like The Matrix or Pirates Of The Caribbean, there needs to be that factor that brings people back into theatres. With Taken still well and truly in the current cultural mindset, with it being attached in one way or another to everything Liam Neeson stars in (even prior to Taken retroactively), it does make some sense that this would be chosen for a third installment. Time to see how this supposed final film closes out the series.