Movies

 

I set myself a target of  one movie a week, and just popped over that with a total of 54 viewed, although less of them at the cinema than I would have liked. 

As I’m such a sucker for franchise flicks, naturally there’s a whole bunch of sequels and series movies, but I don’t care. I love big, brassy blockbusters and there were many. My top picks: Atomic Blonde, Solo, Mission Impossible: Fallout and Into The Spider-Verse.

Here’s my complete list:
Drone, Sicario, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge, Jarhead 3: The Siege, Black Panther, We Still Steal The Old Way, Despicable Me 3, Transformers: The Last Knight, The Last Witch Hunter, Cars 3, Wonder Woman, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Pacific Rim Uprising, Triple 9, Avengers: Infinity War, Alien: Covenant, Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & The Punisher, Atomic Blonde, Anon, American Made, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Ocean’s 8, The Great Wall, The Mummy [2017], The Transporter Refuelled, Kong: Skull Island, Drug War, Alien Invasion: S.U.M.1, Please Stand By, The Dark Tower, Bastille Day, The Operative, Search/Destroy, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Geostorm, Renegades [2017], Mission Impossible: Fallout, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Justice League, Ant-Man & The Wasp, Final Score, The Shanghai Job [aka S.M.A.R.T. Chase], Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Logan Lucky, American Assassin, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Mechanic Resurrection, London Has Fallen, Now You See Me, A Walk Among The Tombstones, Gods of Egypt, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Now You See Me 2.

And the last of my annual listicles is a look over all the movies I watched in 2017. Numbers were down a little on the 2016 score, but I was pleased to get out to the cinema a little more than I had in previous years -and I had a long flight to California in August, so that always ends up like a little film festival for me to while away the hours on the plane. I saw a lot of great stuff I really enjoyed – Thor: Ragnarok and The Fate of the Furious were especially tons of fun – and Blade Runner 2049 was the movie I had been waiting decades to see. 

But I have to admit, I feel like I’m getting a little punchy from all the sequels and franchise films out there. Don’t get me wrong, I love Star Wars and the Marvel universe – but I kept grasping for smaller films like Kill Command or Level Up, where I didn’t know what to expect. I also feel like there’s a lot of movies I saw this year that I need to see again to crystalize my opinions of them. Top pick of the year? Blade Runner, natch.

Here’s my full list of flicks viewed:
Zootropolis; The Double; Kill Command; Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice; 2 Guns; A Better Tomorrow 2012; Ghost in the Shell [2017]; Fast & Furious; X-Men: Apocalypse; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2; Elstree 1976; Suicide Squad; The Raid 2; Jack Reacher: Never Go Back; The Call Up; Survivor [2016]; New Police Story; Dune: The Alternative Edition Redux; Inferno; Baby Driver; Spider-Man Homecoming; The Fate of the Furious; Assassin’s Creed; John Wick Chapter 2; xXx: Return of Xander Cage; Logan; The LEGO Batman Movie; Free Fire; Police Story: Lockdown; The Rebound; Passengers; The Last Stand; Marauders; Blade Runner: The Final Cut; Blade Runner 2049; Thor: Ragnarok; Level Up; Underworld: Blood Wars; Kill Me Three Times; What We Do In The Shadows; Star Wars: The Last Jedi; Good Kill

Time for the first part of my annual year-end listopia; movies!

I broke my total of films seen from 2015 by just one in 2016, and nearly half of them were SF-themed, with action and thriller flicks a close second.

My best-of-year runs from the potato-riffic The Martian and Arrival to the bullet-laden John Wick and the epic Mad Max: Fury Road (Witness Me!) It was certainly a good 12 months for some of my favourite franchises with new entries in the worlds of Marvel, Star Trek, Star Wars and more – and a special documentary shout-out to Future Shock!, a terrific look at the history of 2000AD, the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic.

Here’s the full list:
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance; Kingsman: The Secret Service; Ex Machina; Run All Night; Chappie; Robocop [2014]; Seventh Son; John Wick; Exodus: Gods And Kings; Spooks: The Greater Good; Fast & Furious 7; Escape Plan; Barely Lethal; Mad Max: Fury Road; Jurassic World; Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD; Last Knights; Entourage; Captain America: Civil War; Ender’s Game; American Ultra; We Still Kill The Old Way; Independence Day: Resurgence; Space Station 76; Robot Overlords; Star Trek Beyond; Ghostbusters [2016]; Jason Bourne; The Man From U.N.C.L.E. [2015]; Hyena Road; The Martian; Narcopolis; Infini; Kite; I Am Wrath; Sisters [2015]; Extraction; Snowden; Colt 45; Arrival; Doctor Strange; The Accountant; Tube; Non-Stop; 13 Hours; Zoolander No.2; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Deadpool.

The fun never ends here at Red Flag, as I desperately try to quantify the passage of my years with lists of things; today’s vision of months past takes stock of all the feature films I absorbed, good, bad and indifferent. And there were plenty of all three, let me tell ya.

There were a lot of challengers for the bottom slot this year, it seems. Some flawed gems like Tomrrowland and Interstellar, others just plain flawed. Terminator, Pixels, Gamechangers, Jupiter Ascending, I’m looking at all of you. I’m not angry, just disappointed. But I had a lot of love for Big Hero 6, which was by turns sweet and action-packed. I had tons of nostalgic fun with the bat-shit crazy Knights of Badassdom and Plastic Galaxy. I liked Project Almanac‘s lo-fi grab for high-concept SF, and Black Sea‘s tense thrills. But as much as I loved Avengers and Ant-Man, this was the year for Star Wars. So, yeah. The Force Awakens was my movie of 2015. No surprise there, nerfherders.

Here’s the full list:
The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Sweeney [2012], Transcendence, Planes: Fire & Rescue, The Last Days On Mars, Big Hero 6, Taken 3, Knights of Badassdom, 300: Rise of an Empire, Going Cardboard, Atari: Game Over, Olympus Has Fallen, Brick Mansions, Plastic Galaxy, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Avengers: Age of Ultron, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Anomaly, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Robot & Frank, Renaissance, The Equalizer, Spy, Lucy, Terminator: Genisys, Ant-Man, Rush, Red Dawn [2012], Godzilla [2014], A LEGO Brickumentary, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Pixels, In A World…, Blackhat, Gone Girl, Interstellar, The Expendables 3, The Gamechangers, The Interview, American Sniper, Spectre, Project Almanac, Jupiter Ascending, Tomorrowland, Black Sea, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Hitman Agent 47, Fantastic Four [2015]

My last list-of-the-year-end, and it’s movies. I got a little more flicks in over 2014 than in previous years. The split between my two favourite genres (action vs. sci-fi) was pretty much 50-50 and top picks for 2014 were (perhaps unsuprisingly for me) the hugely fun Guardians of the Galaxy and the great LEGO Movie, which I found unexpectedly clever and charming. Can I just say, being a Marvel comics geek since the 70’s, I am still a little amazed that I live in a world where there’s a GotG film (and that there’s going to be another one). What with the slate of Marvel movies announced way up until 2019, this is probably the best time ever to be a superhero fan.

Here’s the list:
A Good Day To Die Hard, Drive, The World’s End, Alter Egos, Cloud Atlas, Cars 2, After Earth, Django Unchained, Jack The Giant Slayer, Shoot ‘Em Up, Click Print Gun, Fast and Furious 6, Planes, Despicable Me 2, Man of Steel, Marooned, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, The LEGO Movie, Iron Man/Hulk: Heroes United, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Europa Report, Moneyball, White House Down, Kick-Ass 2, Edge of Tomorrow, The Wolverine, Empire of Dreams, The Hunger Games, The Lone Ranger [2013], Guardians of the Galaxy, R.I.P.D., Fire With Fire, Tower Heist, Ebirah: Horror of the Deep, End of Watch, 47 Ronin, The Sky Crawlers, Lone Survivor, R2B: Return To Base (aka Black Eagle [2012]), Death Race 2, Captain Phillips, Death Race 3: Inferno