So it's the start of a new year and it's usually the point of the year where the best films of the year are given awards. But I want to do something different. I want to make a list of films I was interested in seeing this year but didn't get the time to see. Now here's the criteria for the list: Films that are no longer showing in cinemas and are on DVD now. I live in England and we get the award season films in at the start of the year, so Lady Bird and the Disaster Artist will not be on this list. So let's see how lazy of a film cinefile I was this year.
1. Valerian and the City of Thousand Planets
Now there are several contributing factors for me not seeing this film. Firstly, the trailers (get used to seeing this word pop up a lot), while making the film look cool, showcasing the special effects and visual, they weren't working on me and how it showed off that is was based on one of the most influential graphic novels ever, which no one ever heard off, even me and I can list 12 comic book characters no one's heard of. Lastly, the two main leads; Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. Now I have nothing against them personally, they seem like cool people and their OK actors, DeHaan was alright in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with where they were taking Harry Osborn in that film, except when he tried to out ham, Willem Dafoe. Cara Delevingne seems alright as an actress, I 've only seen her act onscreen in Suicide Squad and her voice acting work in GTA V as radio host (which she was good at). Now after seeing it bomb at the box office was also a turning off point for me, but after a while, I do want to check out the film and judge for myself. It might a future cult classic, like Fifth Element (which by coincidence is a Luc Besson film) or Flash Gordon.
2. Atomic Blonde
Now the trailers and the plot of the film had me very intrigued in this film. The plot of this film, based on the graphic novel, The Coldest City by Anthony Johnston and Sam Hart, is a about an secret agent sent in to find double agents in Berlin on the eve of the fall of communism during the 1980's. The film had all the factors that would attract me to a film, a great cast consisting of actors like Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Toby Jones and Sofia Boutella and great action scenes which is no surprise as it's directed by one of the John Wick guys. Ultimately when the film came out I had to decide between this or Hitman's Bodyguard and honestly, Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds' version of Midnight Run looked fun.
3. Logan Lucky
So this looked interesting, a heist film set in rust belt America with an eccentric and interesting looking cast of characters directed by Steven Soderbergh. As mentioned above the premise was good enough for me. I also liked the cast for this film, ensembles pieces are a favourite of mine and with a cast which consists of Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Katie Holmes, Sebastian Stan and Seth MacFarlane. I did hear good stuff about this film but I didn't get to see the film. Possibly because I was busy at the time or there was some other film on at the time, details are bit foggy but I didn't see this.
4. Lucky
Wow, 2017 was a big year for films beginning with the letter L. While I actively sought out to see this film. I check the internet for a UK release date but the only date was at a film festival far away from where I live and I didn't managed to see it. The film tells the story of Lucky (Harry Dean Stanton) a 90-year old atheist who finds enlightenment while living in an off the map town filled with well known character actors. One reason I wanted to see the film was Harry Dean Stanton, who passed away this year, in his second leading man role. I have an appreciation for films about people and smaller subjects and this film looked liked one I'd watch. The film was also a love letter to Harry Dean Stanton's life and career, they got David Lynch (who Stanton collaborated a lot in his career in films like Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Inland Empire) and Tom Skerrit (the captain from Alien) to appear in it. When this film shows up on DVD or on Netflix, I'm going to watch this immediately.
5. Wilson
So this film flew under my radar and that's the reason I missed it. Wilson is about a lonely neurotic middle-aged man, played by Woody Harrelson, who reunited with his estranged wife, played by Laura Dern (She's been in a lot of stuff this year. Great for her) and daughter. The trailer made the film look like an really funny black comedy.
6. Death of Stalin
So I was going to see this film, but Thor: Ragnarok was coming out so... I wanted to see Taikia Waititi's fun sci-fi adventure. The film, based on a graphic novel of the same name, tells the story of power struggle that happened after the death Josef Stalin in 1953. The film had everything going for me, directed by Armando Iannucci, creator of The Thick of It, a great cast consisting of Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Isaacs, Michael Palin and Paddy Considine. The film looks like a fun historical romp.
7. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
So when I was very, I remember seeing Captain Underpants everywhere but I never read the books. I was more of a Horrible Histories fan myself. But the film looked fun. The plot is that stern teacher Benny Krupp (played by Ed Helms) is turned into a superhero by two students (Thomas Middleditch and Kevin Hart) and fight an toilet themed villain (Nick Kroll). The film had me interested, the character designs and animation capture the art style of the book, which I do remember strongly. We also have a talented voice cast, excluding the ones mentioned previously but Kristen Schaal, Jordan Peele and Brian Posehn. I didn't get to see the film because I had a holiday in Cyprus at the time.
8. John Wick: Chapter Two
So after the surprise hit of the original John Wick, a pretty fine action film, with great fight choreography and an awesome cast including Keanu Reeves, Willem Dafoe, Ian McShane, Adrianne Palicki, John Leguizamo and Alfie Allen. A sequel was release last year taking action to Italy, with more stunts and gunfights and another awesome cast Reeves, McShane and Leguizamo return with some awesome new additions like Laurence Fishburne, Peter Stormare, Peter Serafinowicz and Franco Nero. Now I gave the first film a miss, I'll get it on DVD or wait for it on Netflix, I thought to myself back then. Which I did and I'll do the same for this film. Not a slant. Looks like something I would watch on DVD or Netflix at night.
9. Free Fire
So this film had an interesting premise, a prolonged gunfight set in one location, with a murder's row of different characters and set in 1970's Ireland. As elaborated previously I like ensemble cast movies. The cast included Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley, Cillian Murphy and Noah Taylor. The setting was also interesting, if you understand anything about the 70's, apart from Vietnam, Watergate, three day weeks, Winter of Discontent and Bloody Sunday, that was when the IRA and the Troubles in Ireland were coming up. I was interested in this film.
