Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange looks good and the magic stuff is fun to see, but it’s still a pretty unremarkable movie, and Dr. Strange himself is a jerk.

I didn't know anything about Doctor Strange before I saw this movie, other than his scenes in Thor: Ragnarok. They really set him up in the beginning of the movie as a complete jackass.

Dawson City: Frozen Time

Dawson City is about the history of the town, and how the last remaining copies of hundreds of film reels wound up being preserved. It sounds cool, but the way they presented it is actually pretty boring.

Dawson City is a documentary about old film reels. In the early 1900s, silent movies were recorded on explosive film. And this town in Canada was the end of the distribution line, so most of the reels stayed there and never went anywhere else. In the '70s, they wound up having about 300 reels that were the only surviving copies of those movies. So that's pretty cool.

The movie lays out the history of the town, ever since it was started, and the gold rush, all the way up to the '70s. There's also some footage of the films they found, and newsreel footage. The weird thing is there's no narration. Maybe they did that in homage to the fact that all of the movies they found were silent movies. There was some music in the documentary, but it was really terrible, and I was dying to hear someone say something.

I didn't like having to read all the information, and it was super boring. The most interesting part of the whole thing was after it was over and one of the special features talked about the people who found and restored the films, and showed where they're stored now.

They had to have the military transport them through part of Canada, because no one else would touch them. And when they brought the American ones to the United States, they took them to a building that had just burned down because of all the film that was in it. I was surprised they took them there. They obviously didn't have very good storage practices.

The actual old film footage turned out to not be very interesting. It was kind of cool learning things about the town, like the fact that the business district burnt down every year for the first nine years after they built it.

Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child

The acting and the dialogue in Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child aren't always the greatest, but I enjoyed it anyway.

I didn't know that Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child was a small-budget movie. I just saw a trailer for it and thought it looked interesting. The trailer kind of misrepresents what it is. It basically shows the first 10 minutes of the movie, but there's a lot more to it than that.

The timeline is kind of crazy. It's all over the place. But I liked it. It kept things interesting. And I liked the chapter headings. The only thing that didn't work at all was the slo-mo during the jail fight. That was super weird.

Swiss Army Man

Swiss Army Man is a weird movie. It makes a valid point, but the presentation is pretty rudimentary.

Swiss Army Man didn't pique my interest when I saw the trailer for it. I think any reviews I saw about it said it was "okay," which certainly didn't motivate me to see it. When I started watching it, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it starred Paul Dano. I remembered that Daniel Radcliffe was in it.

They kind of beat you over the head with the theme that we're really all the same, and we all do embarrassing things that wouldn't be embarrassing if we would stop making people feel bad for doing them. It's a valid idea, but the way in which it was conveyed wasn't terribly entertaining.

Assassin's Creed

I wound up not 100% paying attention to Assassin’s Creed, but the general feeling I got was that it’s not that good. It’s a little hollow, and there are some weird plot and editing choices. It does look pretty good, though.

I’m kind of fond of the Assassin’s Creed games, even though I’ve never played them. But I’ve seen them played through at least partially and they look cool. And I like Michael Fassbender, so I wanted to see this even though the reviews weren’t good. I wound up not really being able to pay attention to it, but I think I can tell it wasn’t good enough to be worth watching again.

It did look cool, for the most part. Not cool enough that I regret not seeing it in the theater, though. I liked the character design for the past. The clothes and tattoos were cool. They did seem to be doing a lot of superhuman stuff for no reason. I was like wow, people’s abilities were a lot different in the past. I kind of missed what they were talking about with how the assassins first got created. That might have been interesting to know.

Storks

Storks is mostly insipid and pointless, but it does have a few funny moments.

I had zero interest in seeing Storks. The trailer made it look like Tulip was really annoying. And it turns out, she was. The whole premise of the movie is silly. And it’s just kind of dumb in general. Although for some reason I thought Pigeon Toady was basically the funniest thing ever. Brah. And I just got the joke of his name now that I see how it’s spelled. That makes so much sense.

Dancer

Dancer (aptly titled since that’s all the subject is, having no room in his life for anything additional) is pretty sad, but I guess it’s kind of interesting, and at least it ends on a hopeful note.

I read a review for Dancer and checked out Sergei’s “Take Me to Church” performance, which is pretty amazing, and decided the movie might be interesting to watch. It was kind of interesting. And also kind of boring. And also sad.

Sully

Sully is kind of a disaster. It manages to have a few engaging moments, but there’s not much point in watching it.

I knew before I watched it that I wasn’t interested in seeing Sully. There wasn’t any point. Tom Hanks looked really weird with that mustache, and so did Aaron Eckhart.

I guess I kind of liked the drama of “is Sully really mentally sound or not.” It did make you question if he really needed to land the plane like that or if he could’ve gotten back to an airport. I felt bad about the whole situation between him and his wife. I wonder how that turned out. Although they showed the real Sully at the end and he seemed like kind of a jerk. I think Tom Hanks’ version was a lot nicer than the real guy.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

There isn't a whole lot more to the plot of Fantastic Beasts than "the guy has to get his creatures back," but I do always like the world of Harry Potter, and it's interesting to see it in a different country, in the '20s, without Harry Potter or any kids at all. It's a pleasant starting point for the series.

Last movie of 2016, in which I saw eight more movies than 2015. Still didn't quite hit my goal of one a week. I'm glad I saw Fantastic Beasts in the theater, although a lot of the CG was slightly off. I wasn't expecting much, and it delivered on that; another one of those where it's pretty much all in the trailer. Newt was a likeable character. He reminded me of The Doctor, probably because of the hair, the blue coat, and being British. All of the characters were likeable, though, especially Queenie and Jacob.

Suicide Squad

 Suicide Squad had a lot of promise. I like the world of Batman (especially without Batman in it), a lot of the characters were cool, and there were some funny moments. But the Joker was atrocious, a lot of the dialogue didn't work, the plot started out as nonsense and only got worse, and the editing was a mess.

I've been hearing hype about Suicide Squad for like two years now, starting with the big reveal of Jared Leto's makeup. And let's just start there. What a horrible Joker he was. I don't get what was with the teeth. They looked so awkward. The hair color didn't work at all, the lipstick was crazy. The voice he went with reminded me of Bruce Jenner. We never really got a feel for what his character was about. It was just so random when he killed people, which I guess might be the point, but it didn't work for me. People complained that he wasn't in the movie enough, but I hated all of his scenes, so it was more than enough for me.

I knew going into it that people said the movie was terrible, but I had some hope anyway. I did like the colors of the logo a lot, and the art they did at the end to represent the characters. Harley's outfit was interesting, and I liked her accent. She was a pretty cool character overall, although I was really confused by Dr. Quinzel. She wasn't very believable. Deadshot/Will's performance was interesting I guess.

Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang

Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang is kind of frustrating in how it just skims the surface of Cai and his art, but it's still interesting to watch.

I read a review of Sky Ladder on Ebert's website, and it sounded interesting. Unfortunately, the review pretty much laid out the entire movie. The movie seemed to just kind of skim over the surface of things. It didn't go in-depth on much. I guess it really was mostly about the Sky Ladder project, which is a pretty weird project.

The Magnificent Seven

The Magnificent Seven has a lot of flaws, and the acting isn't good enough to carry the lack of plot and character development. Some of the action is cool, but it's not really enough to make it worth watching.

The Magnificent Seven got mixed reviews, but I was hoping it could be carried on the virtue of the actors. Turns out it couldn't. The plot is ridiculously simple, but you know that going in, so they really need to do some character development or have some cool tricks or something, but they don't. It felt really tired and unispired. The whole "defending a small town with tricks" thing has been done to death. You've got to have some spectacularly impressive tricks if you're going to make it entertaining, and they didn't.

The Nice Guys

I probably would have enjoyed The Nice Guys more if I had understood what they were going for when I watched it. It was consistently funny, but some of the characters were annoying, a lot of the scenes didn't work, and the ending was strangely unsatisfying.

The trailer for The Nice Guys looked funny, and Roeper liked it, so I guess I had unreasonably high expectations. It was kind of disappointing. Russel Crowe's character was cool I guess, but March kind of got on my nerves. Ryan Gosling did look good at least.

Hail, Caesar!

I'm not the biggest Coen brothers fan, but I liked "Hail, Caesar!" All the actors are good, it's fun to see how they used to make movies, and there are a lot of funny scenes.

I'm not a huge Coen brothers fan. I either haven't seen or haven't been that into most of their movies, although I did like The Ladykillers (what) and True Grit. But Hail, Caesar! just looked interesting on its own merit. Roeper liked it; the friend I watched it with had seen it already and didn't like it because it seemed too "disconnected." Maybe I was inclined to like it just to be contrary. I didn't really find it to be disconnected. Everything seemed to go together pretty well. And overall it's exactly what you're promised – a funny look at how they used to make movies back in the '50s.

Captain America: Civil War

There wasn't a lot of substance to Captain America: Civil War. It basically left me feeling like, "Was that a movie? Did I just watch something?" Some of the action was cool, and I guess the question it raises is interesting, but it's less than memorable.

I didn't see the first two Captain America movies, so I guess I was missing out on a bit of backstory here (and apparently the second Avengers movie would have been relevant as well, which I also didn't see). But I think I get the idea – the Avengers are destroying stuff, and Cap and Bucky were friends when they were growing up. I think I read a review that said it's an interesting dilemma, the fact that so many innocent people die in these things, and that this movie doesn't really provide any answers.

I think it sort of does. Cap's logic seems pretty sound. I guess it's just like in any war. Ultimately you're saving more lives. It's not like they're out there *trying* to kill innocent people. And putting the government in charge of them wouldn't be good. Although there probably should be some sort of system of checks and balances in case one of them is ever less than altruistic. Maybe it works if they're just self-policing.

X-Men: Apocalypse

There's not much to say about X-Men: Apocalypse other than if you like the X-Men, you'll probably like it. The action looks cool, the plot is interesting (albeit simple), and you get to see more characters in their younger iterations.

I begin this post about X-Men: Apocalypse with the disclaimer that I've never seen an X-Men movie I didn't like – although that could be because I've strategically avoided X2 and X3. And I knew I didn't want to see The Wolverine. And it's not even listed as an X-Men movie, so I'm not counting it (I didn't like it. But I did like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, unlike everyone else). I watched and liked the animated series, and the X-Men are definitely my favorite superheroes.

Apocalypse got a lot of bad reviews. It seemed like no one really liked it. I liked it. I didn't think it had too many characters or anything. A lot of them were people we already knew. I can't stand Sansa as Jean, though. I just don't like that actress. Then again, I felt the same way about Jennifer Lawrence, and I'm getting more used to her in the role now I guess.

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Alice Through the Looking Glass was cool to see in the theater, but I wouldn’t recommend it outside of that. It could’ve been a lot better. Aesthetically it alternates between gorgeous and freakish; the plot’s largely contradictory and uncompelling; the dialgoue is trite; and Mia doesn’t quite have the presence to pull off the Alice they’re trying to portray.

Roeper warned me that Alice Through the Looking Glass wasn’t going to be any good, but I didn’t listen. It looked pretty, so I wanted to see it. It was pretty. Although the Hatter and the Red Queen looked really freaky and screwed with the aesthetic appeal for a lot of the movie. Alice’s outfits were really cool, though. I loved that crazy thing that she wore to the ball.

Deadpool

Deadpool as a character isn't entirely my thing, and the voice Reynolds went with was pretty obnoxious. But T.J. Miller was great, the action was cool, and it was funny as a whole.

Congratulations to me for finally seeing a movie from 2016. I hadn't heard great things about Deadpool, and I wasn't expecting to like it that much. I haven't seen much of the comics, so I spent a lot of the movie going, "I wonder if it's like that in the comic." I wasn't a fan of all the "fourth wall" stuff, but maybe because I had heard people praising a lot of it already. The tone as a whole didn't 100% click with me. Maybe more like 70%. It was a little too fast/cocky/self-aware for my taste. 

I don't know what Ryan was doing with that voice - another "is it like this in the comic?" moment - but at first I was pretty sure I was going to hate the entire movie because of it. It didn't seem so bad after we got to see Wade, though; and somehow it was even easier to take after we saw how he became Deadpool. He probably still could've dialed it back a smidge, though.