Best of 2017

Thor: Ragnarok

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Thor: Ragnarok
  • IMDb: link

Thor: Ragnarok movie reviewMarvel has struggled with creating a consistent and fully-realized film for either Thor or the Hulk. Sure Thor is okay. And The Incredible Hulk is fine, but neither is likely your favorite Marvel movie. The solution to throw the two together with a Ragnarok (end of Asgard)/Planet Hulk mash-up proves to be just what the doctor ordered. Oh, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is here, too. Thor: Ragnarok marks the first time in four films that Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has actually been more interesting than Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Don’t get me wrong, Hiddleston is still charming as hell, but taking Thor away from Earth and (mostly) Asgard frees the character up considerably for one hell of a fun ride that rivals Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel Studios’ best space adventure.

After defeating the creature prophesied to bring about Ragnarok, Thor returns home only to find Loki (disguised as their father) ruling Asgard. Without giving too much away, the pair head out to find Odin (Anthony Hopkins) only to run into the sister (Cate Blanchett) they never knew existed and get banished to the far end of the universe on a gladiator-style planet run by a smarmy Jeff Goldblum.

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Baby Driver

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  • Title: Baby Driver
  • IMDb: link

Baby Driver movie reviewWritten and directed by Edgar Wright, Baby Driver is a fast-paced crime thriller overfilling with plenty of humor and music. Centered around a getaway driver named Baby (Ansel Elgort) attempting to pay-off a debt to local gangster (Kevin Spacey), the film is a mix of over-the-top action and characters and much more realistic violence and emotion. At times Wright struggles balancing the two sides of the film, especially in the final act which drags on with multiple epilogues, but when it works it’s a joy to behold.

With Baby driving for Doc’s (Spacey) crew on multiple jobs, we meet an assortment of criminals including the romantic pair of Buddy (Jon Hamm) and Darling (Eiza González), Griff (Jon Bernthal), and Bats (Jamie Foxx). We also learn while others are quick to underestimate Baby, there’s more going on with the young man who drowns out the noise of the outside world with his constantly playing iPod than meets the eye. We meet his foster father Joseph (CJ Jones), while seeing tragic flashbacks to his mother (Sky Ferreira) and father (Lance Palmer), and are introduced to Baby’s new love interest in the beautiful waitress Debora (Lily James).

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Wonder Woman

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  • Title: Wonder Woman (2017)
  • IMDb: link

Wonder Woman movie reviewIt took four movies, but the DC Extended Universe has finally delivered a true super-hero movie. With Wonder Woman, for the first time, DC gives us a protagonist who is actually a hero (rather than one brought up to be selfish about his gifts, a group of killers brought together for a good cause, or one obsessed with murder and vengeance). I doubt the limited input of Zack Snyder or the lack of involvement from David Goyer is a coincidence. There’s a lesson to be learned there, if anyone at DC or Warner Bros. is paying attention.

Credit goes to director Patty Jenkins and screenwriter Allan Heinberg in taking the best aspects of Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor and merging them into a film better than either of the two. Wonder Woman isn’t without its flaws. It drags on (especially during its CGI-heavy final act) and it can’t quite shake free from Snyder’s hard-on for slow-motion action scenes (although Jenkins is mercifully more adept and not prolonging or overusing the technique). What it gets right is its choice of stars and, for the first time in the combined DC movie universe, a willingness to give the central character heart (something sorely lacking in DC’s previous films).

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Colossal

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  • Title: Colossal
  • IMDb: link

Colossal movie reviewAnne Hathaway stars as Gloria, an unemployed alcoholic who is forced to move back home to her parents’ abandoned house after her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) kicks her out. Back home, she reconnects with childhood friend Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) while struggling not to fall back into old patterns. All the pieces are here for an entertaining dramedy focused on Gloria, her questionable choices, and the people in her life. However, writer/director Nacho Vigalondo has something far more unusual in mind.

At the same time Gloria returns home a giant creature appears on the streets of Seoul, South Korea. Watching news footage, Gloria can’t help but notice some similarities between the creatures mannerisms and her own and quickly discovers that at one spot in her town, and one specific time, she causes the creature to manifest halfway around the world and controls its actions (be that wanton destruction or goofy dancing). From here the movie could devolve into a wacky comedy, but once again Vigalondo has something more interesting in mind as the film takes an unexpectedly dark turn.

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