Movies

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

We all know how this story is going to end. But that is not the point. It is the journey that really matters.

Star Wars has been a part of my life since as far back as I can remember. And this movie did not disappoint story-wise.

I highly recommend seeing this movie in the theater.

This movie kept the dirty aesthetics from A New Hope. The special effects were overall good. But. I do want to get my only real negative out of the way. There are 2 CGI human characters in the movie that totally take you out of it. One is only shown at the end. We did not need to see that characters face to know who it was. But the other character is in a large part of the movie. Every time I saw this character’s face, it completely removed me from the movie. This role could easily have been recast. The de-aging effect performed on Michael Douglas for Ant-Man was way more believable than the work on this character.

Okay. Negatives done. Back to gushing about the movie.
(more…)

Office Christmas Party

Office Christmas Party is a fun little movie. The plot revolves around the “Save the Rec Center” and is predictable – but was fun anyway. This movie would be best seen with a huge crowd in a theater.

The premise of the movie is that a brother has to save his failing branch of the family’s tech company before his sister can close them down. To say they do not have the best of relationships would be an understatement. To land the deal that is supposed to save the company, the brother expands their canceled wine and cheese christmas party to an over the top event. With a DJ, snow machine, live reindeer, eggnog luge, etc.

We get to see how things start out fine, then progressively worsen as the night goes on.

Starring: Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, T.J. Miller, Jennifer Aniston, Kate McKinnon, Courtney B. Vance, Jillian Bell, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park, Sam Richardson, Karan Soni

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

Arrival

Ultimately, Arrival is like Contact. I liked the design of the aliens in this movie, the path to communication, and the gut punch revelation for the main characters, but this was a long movie. I left the theater multiple times and did not feel like I missed anything when I got back.

Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a fun romp in the Harry Potter world. It was nice to see another wizarding community – especially set during the prohibition era.

I really enjoyed this movie. Was it the best thing I have seen this year? Nope. But it was nowhere near the worst.

This movie had me smiling through most of it. It had good effects, funny comedic moments, and some spell-slinging action.

Thankfully, this is not exposition the movie. Since this is set in the Harry Potter world, we do not have to be reintroduced to the way things work here. We get some familiar names sprinkled throughout.

Loved the villain reveal at the end of the movie.

If you enjoyed the Harry Potter books or movies, you should see this in theaters.

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrell, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange does an excellent job of introducing magic into the Marvel movie universe. Since they treated Asgardians as aliens with technology, I was not sure they were going to get mystical.

Doctor Strange is the story of a highly-skilled, arrogant surgeon who has a terrible injury to his hands. He goes through every conceivable medical treatment possible before turning to … other options. During the course of his training, he has to face off with a sorcerer who has turned his back on the Earth and is welcoming Dormammu – think mystic Galactus.

The special effects are everything you would expect from a Marvel Studios production now. The reality bending effects did make me a tad dizzy at points, but they did their job at disorienting people.

There is a mid-credits scene and an after credits scene you will want to stay for.

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Tilda Swinton, Benjamin Bratt

Vía Letterboxd – AngryTownsman