The first 2017 film I saw was “Resident Evil: Final Chapter” and it turned out to be the worst of the year, so it was all uphill from there. Looking back, it ended up being a solid year at the cinema and now that I’ve seen all the relevant movies, it’s time for my top 10 of 2017.
Tag: Oscars
2018 Oscar Docs: A Look At The Nominees
The Best Documentary category at the Academy Awards is always a great window into the human experience and this year is no different.
Movie Report: In SHOCKING Turn Of Events, ‘Moonlight’ Wins Over ‘La La Land’
At the night’s climax, it had seemed “La La Land” had captured Oscar No. 7, winning the biggest award of the ceremony.
Then, in a surprise, it all turned around.
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Top 10 Films of 2016
Films come out in all different types of genres and with different goals of what they want the audience to experience. In that sense, sometimes coming up with 10 of your favorite movies from a year can be easy, but ranking them is a little more tricky.
With that in mind, while some movie may be ahead of another, it doesn’t mean that there’s an astronomical difference. All the movies listed on my top 10 list are there in how I well I received them, but the order isn’t extremely important.
REVIEW: ‘Manchester By The Sea’ Is An Emotionally Compelling Cinematic Triumph
No other film in 2016 may be as gutting as “Manchester by the Sea.”
The Kenneth Lonergan-directed feature tells the story of Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), a man who just gets by on a day-to-day basis, working maintenance at a Boston suburb apartment building he also lives in.
He is called back to his home town, though, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., when he finds out that his brother passed away. As a result, Lee has to return to a city filled with painful memories and also be the guardian of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges).
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REVIEW: Streep, Grant Shine In The Fantastic ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’
Meryl Streep could very well get some award attention again for her performance but Hugh Grant shouldn’t be overlooked in this picture.
“Florence Foster Jenkins” follows the story of a real life New York City woman who was heavily involved in the area’s musical scene. While she knew and was on largely good terms with many of NYC’s musicians, artists and composers, though, she herself didn’t have the best singing talent.
The film picks up with her taking singing lessons in 1944 with help from her husband St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) and a young composer named Cosme McMoon (Simon Helberg). Despite her continued practice, though, Jenkins doesn’t particularly improve over time. However, Jenkins believes she’s a world class singer and it’s up to the film’s other character to help her continue to believe the product she’s putting out.
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Movie Report: ‘Spotlight’ Wins Top Prize, Stallone Upset By Rylance
At the end of the ceremony it was “Spotlight” left standing in a stacked Best Picture category. Beating out Producers Guild Award winner “The Big Short” and Directors Guild Award winner “The Revenant,” “Spotlight” took Best Picture as its second victory of the night, the first being Best Original Screenplay.
Likely the biggest story from the ceremony, though, was Mark Rylance of “Bridge of Spies” winning a huge upset over Sylvester Stallone who starred in “Creed.” Stallone had won plenty of hardware and momentum going into the evening but it was Rylance who took the trophy.
Another upset from the night was “Til it Happens to You” from the documentary “The Hunting Ground” losing to “Writing’s on the Wall” from the latest James Bond flick “Spectre.” Both upsets were a shock from my perspective and each announcement made the Twitter-verse explode.
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REVIEW: ‘Room’
Director:
- Lenny Abrahamson
Cast:
- Brie Larson
- Jacob Tremblay
- Sean Bridges
- Joan Allen
- Rated: R
Brie Larson plays Joy in “Room,” a young woman who is held captive in a single small space and is left to care for her son Jack (Tremblay). Her captor, only referred to as Old Nick (Bridges), sexually abuses Joy on a constant basis and only leaves her with minor needs for both her and her son to survive.
Since it’s shown directly in the trailer I will say in this review that both Jack and Joy do manage to escape. However, this still leads to new challenges as they both have to learn how to cope.
Spotlight review
Director:
Tom McCarthy
Cast:
Mark Ruffalo
Michael Keaton
Rachel McAdams
Liev Schrieber
John Slattery
Brian d’Arcy James
Rated: R
“Spotlight” follows the titular investigative journalism team at the Boston Globe in the early 2000s when the reporters uncovered a massive child molestation cover-up within the Catholic Church.
The film picks up when new editor Marty Baron (Schreiber) tasks the Spotlight team, which includes Mike Rezendes (Ruffalo), Walter Robinson (Keaton), Sacha Pfeiffer (McAdams) and Matt Carroll (James), with digging deeper into the cover-up by the church which had been reported on to a smaller extent beforehand.
Top 10 Movies of 2014
2014 Honorable Mentions:
- Big Eyes
- What If
- Begin Again
- How to Train Your Dragon 2
- 22 Jump Street
- Chef
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Foxcatcher
- American Sniper
- Selma
- The Imitation Game
Now, onto the main list
Matthew Liedke on Film 