Movies 2016

2k16/12

• Rogue One. 10/10. On second viewing the movie felt less rushed. There's not a lot of concrete detail behind any characters, and Jyn definitely switches much too instantaneously from anonymous criminal to inspiring Rebel leader. What the movie really needed is a few minutes of her fighting with Gerrera. That would establish her as having the Rebellion at her core, so it's not her switching from anonymous criminal but instead returning to her militant freedom fighter roots. That would make it super believable. The other characters I think don't need much more detail. We see Cassian kill two Rebel-aligned people. Chirrut notes that Baze used to be the most devout, and now the latter is clearly fighting heartbreak with jokes and pretending the temple didn't fall. Rook we know a lot about: He was an Imperial pilot, he spent time with Galen, he had a conversion just like tons of famous Rebel figures. There is more supported explicitly by the text of the movie than it might at first seem. It just moves along so quickly that it's easy to miss.
• The Expanse. Season 1. 8/10. TV version of Corey's Leviathan Wakes trilogy. Excellent production values. The ships, scenery, costumes, frequent low-gravity scenes, etc., are all very good. Many good actors and characters as well. Thomas Jane in particular does a good job here. For most of the first season it's really good, though I thought it tapered down a bit at the end. Much of the big reveals are fairly predictable, and there's no real conclusion. It's not that it really ends unsatisfactorily, it's just that this is basically the first book of the trilogy (which I have not read) so the ending really just sets up the next season.
• Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. 7/10. These all kind of blend together, but that's ok. Just appealing enough to be fun, forgettable action movies.
• Captain America: Civil War. 6/10. The Cap and Tony Stark go at it. Not a particularly exciting movie. The main problem is that there's no one to cheer for. Stark largely has the right political position but is wrong on all the specifics and an ass besides. Cap is right on the specifics and sticking up for his friend, but wrong on the political positions. He uncharacteristically sides with the highly individualistic domestic self-image of America, whereas America in reality and external image has largely been about globalization, alliances, collaboration. Makes the whole movie kind of boring as I kept wishing for nothing more than all of them to be wiped out and stop whining.
• U-571. 7/10. Entirely fictional tale of capturing of an Enigma machine. Better movie than I expected. Thoroughly predictable, not too deep (haha!), but compelling enough to keep watching.
• Spectral. 6/10. It's not that this is terrible, it's just super bland.
• Rogue One. 10/10. Finally a really good prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy. An incredible movie. The only downside here is that they've packed too much into one movie, such that the characters are lost a bit, and several events are much less dramatic than they could have been. It will probably turn out that this deserves to be a trilogy much more than The Force Awakens arc does. So many of the characters seem extremely interesting, and there are a ton of openings to make them so, but the movie just doesn't have time to do so. Cassian's internal conflicts, Gerrera's (self?) exile from the Alliance, Blaze and Chirrut's friendship, the town of and fight for Jedha, there's so much here. But it all whips by visibly quickly, moving from scene to scene at rapid pace. Jyn in particular suffers greatly from this, her character goes from a low life criminal to a leading voice of the Rebellion in literally no time. It's undeserved, forced and rush by the plot rather than plausibility. However, there is a lot to watch and rewatch in this movie. It excels at all the usual Star Wars elements---scenery, effects, costumes, sound. But it also has just a bit more relatable politics due to its down-to-earth focus and war movie feel. It's like a really really slick World War 2 movie about a secret operation run by the French Resistance and the Allies, but set in space with lasers and robots. The original trilogy has nostalgia and the time to have a slower pace for more character development, but Rogue One is otherwise at a minimum right up there with them. It's certainly vastly more compelling than The Force Awakens and incomparable to the prequels.
• Burn After Reading. 7/10.

2k16/11

• Arrival. 10/10. A quiet, understated movie. I appreciated that the aliens are vague and yet very concrete. It should also not go unemphasized that this is a movie about communication. Of course up front it's about communicating with the aliens. But again and again it hits that theme in big and small ways: The governments all cutting off discussion with each other, the troops not knowing what's going on, the Chinese general keying in on his wife's last words. Most importantly, much of the subtext is about Ian's inability to communicate and express himself. This gets hits just a couple times, quietly, most notably when he explicitly says something to the effect of if he had to do it all over again he wishes he would express himself better, and again when it becomes clear they break up because he can't talk about how Louisa could have their baby knowing what would happen. This thick layering of on exploration of communicating elevates the movie from a good sci-fi movie to purely a good movie.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation. Season 4. 10/10.
• Encino Man. 7/10.
• Judge Dredd. 7/10.
• Mr 3000. 6/10.
• Person of Interest. Season 5. 9/10.
• Zootopia. 7/10.

2k16/10

• Luke Cage. Season 1. 7/10.
• Longmire. Season 5. 8/10.

2k16/09

• Star Trek: The Next Generation. Seasons 1--3. 10/10.

2k16/08

• No Country for Old Men. 10/10.
• The Martian. 10/10.
• Always. 8/10.
• The Big Short. 9/10.
• There Will Be Blood. 10/10.
• Stranger Things. Season 1. 9/10.

2k16/07

• Mr Robot. Season 1. 10/10.
• Contact. 10/10.
• Meet Joe Black. 9/10.
• Swordfish. 7/10.
• Lethal Weapon 4. 6/10.
• Lethal Weapon 3. 6/10.
• Lethal Weapon 2. 7/10.
• Lethal Weapon. 7/10.

2k16/06

• The Sandlot. 8/10.
• Jurassic Park: The Lost World. 6/10.
• Continuum. Season 4. 7/10.
• Continuum. Season 3. 7/10.
• Jurassic Park. 9/10.
• The Usual Suspects. 9/10.

2k16/05

• The Replacements. 7/10.
• Braveheart. 8/10.
• Marvel's Jessica Jones. Season 1. 8/10.
• Marvel's Daredevil. Season 2. 7/10.
• Ronin. 8/10.

2k16/04

• 16 Blocks. 7/10.
• Harry and the Hendersons. 8/10.
• 2001: A Space Odyssey. 10/10.
• Spy Game. 9/10.
• Inside Man. 8/10.
• Batteries Not Included. 8/10.
• Archer. Season 6. 7/10.

2k16/03

• Blade Runner: Theatrical Cut. 9/10.
• The Saint. 7/10.
• Maggie. 8/10.
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens. 7/10.
• Terminator: Genisys. 7/10.
• Twister. 7/10.
• Interstellar. 10/10.
• The Mist. 7/10.

2k16/02

• Major League. 7/10.
• Ken Burns: The Civil War. 9/10.
• Star Trek: Nemesis. 6/10.
• Star Trek: Insurrection. 6/10.
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. 8/10.
• The Bank Job. 7/10.
• The Ladykillers. 5/10.
• Turbo Kid. 7/10.
• Better Call Saul. Season 1. 9/10.
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. 7/10.
• Justified. Season 6. 9/10. Excellent finale.

2k16/01

• Hellboy. 8/10.
• The Walking Dead. Season 5. 8/10.
• Constantine. 8/10.
• Star Trek: Voyager. Season 1. 7/10.
• Person of Interest. Season 4. 9/10.