cannastop Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 I really like the drawings, man. It makes the list special. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 Trailer IMDB RT: 96% Box Office: 13.6M Sing Street is a cute movie. It invoked nostalgia for a time I wasn’t even alive, which was impressive. Their town seemed pretty shit to be honest so I'm not sure why that happened but anyway. The music is delightful and the characters are fun. The ending was dumb as fuck but other than that, I had a good time. Jack Reynor and Lucy Boynton were the standouts for sure; Reynor impressed me a lot considering the only other thing I’ve seen him in is Transformers 4 which was... yeah. The tone was juggled well, bouncing from sweet to bittersweet perfectly. Not much else I can think of to say about this one. It’s a great little flick. Hopefully my list now has the @CJohn seal of approval . 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 1 minute ago, cannastop said: I really like the drawings, man. It makes the list special. Thanks so much, though . 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJohn Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 It needs A Monster Calls too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 1 minute ago, CJohn said: It needs A Monster Calls too I mentioned it in the second post . Hasn't come out here yet, unfortunately. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJohn Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 1 minute ago, AABATTERY said: I mentioned it in the second post . Hasn't come out here yet, unfortunately. Yeah, I was about to come here and mention it. That sucks 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPink Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 I <3 the drawings. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 (edited) Trailer IMDB RT: 98% Box Office: 1.024B Zootopia was great. It may be as subtle as a brick to the face, but it was an excellent satire of real issues. The films greatest strength in my opinion is its world building; they managed to make a world for anthropomorphic animals that actually made sense. This world they built felt real and allowed the movie to go to the places it did. The animation was beautiful, as I've come to expect from WDAS. Some of the references were a little too obvious for my taste (like the Breaking Bad one) but the script was quick and clever. I’m glad that WDAS got to make a buddy-cop movie because it was a genre ripe for an animated film like this. The voice cast is fantastic, particularly Idris Elba and Ginnifer Goodwin. The concert at the end was kind of lame though. But regardless, this really was an amazing film. The WDAS Renaissance is in full swing right now, with pretty much every movie they've released over the last 5 years being good to great. Edited January 1, 2017 by AABATTERY 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 (edited) Trailer IMDB RT: 97% Box Office: 288.8M+ I didn't know what to draw for this one so I did a bowl of rice. Something I quickly regretted because circles are hard. Anyway, I usually hate anime. It’s irrational and I know that it covers a ton of genres, but it’s just how I am. I haven’t watched any Ghibli films though so I should probably do that. I was dragged to this by a friend who insisted it would be great and I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. The backgrounds were absolutely stunning. The character designs were anime so I was ambivalent on them but I think I’m in the minority there. The story itself was cute. The twists and turns were engaging throughout and made for an enjoyable time at the cinema. It still had some anime tropes in it that weird me out, like a couple of panty shots of the main girl and some songs that took me out of it. Overall though, it was a beautiful and touching story. If I'd watched any Ghibli films, I'd probably say that the guy who made this is the new Ghibli but I haven't so I'll just say that it's a great movie. It’s box office run over in Japan is also nothing short of incredible. It’s worth looking up because damn. It’s easy to focus on just the domestic box office, but then you miss out on incredible runs like this. If anyone could recommend what the best Ghibli films are that would be cool, because I've been meaning to watch some for a while. If they're as good as this one, I should be in for a treat. Edited January 1, 2017 by AABATTERY 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cannastop Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 (edited) 20 minutes ago, AABATTERY said: If anyone could recommend what the best Ghibli films are that would be cool, because I've been meaning to watch some for a while. If they're as good as this one, I should be in for a treat. Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. They're the most basic choices, but I think they're the best. Hayao Miyazaki's consecutive masterpieces. I don't think either of those movies really have anime tropes, though. I'll consider Your Name if I get a chance to see it. Edited January 1, 2017 by cannastop 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 (edited) The last two, and the next one are all pretty much equal in my book. The only reason I've ordered them like this is because I have a friend who made me put Your Name above Zootopia because he didn't like Zootopia and the next one juuuust edges these two out because I loved the music in it so much. Edited January 1, 2017 by AABATTERY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 Trailer IMDB RT: 95% Box Office: 355.7M+ Moana is a beautiful film with great music. The plot is solid, but is elevated by its delightful characters. Alan Tudyk is a great chicken. The fact that he plays a chicken is amazing. Anyway, the music in this was really, really good. I pretty much had it on loop for two weeks. Getting Lin-Manuel Miranda involved was an inspired choice and I look forward to his further collaborations with Disney (get that boy his EGOT). Dwayne Johnson is his usual self, charismatic as ever and newcomer Auli’i Cravalho was excellent as Moana. The standout for me though was Tamatoa. Being a New Zealander, and a huge Flight of the Conchords fan, I was delighted with his part in the film. It also served as a touching Bowie tribute, which I thought was sweet. On top of all this, Moana is WDAS’s most beautiful film to date. It makes Frozen look dated in comparison. Everything from the hair to the water looks almost photorealistic and the bright colours of the Pacific make this movie a work of art to behold. If you haven’t read up about Hyperion, you should because the stuff Disney is doing is simply incredible. I ended up with a lot of animated films on my list this year. Goes to show how great a year it's been for them. Moana was, but not by much, my favourite of them all this year. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 (edited) Trailer IMDB RT: 96% Box Office: 918K Well, I'm super glad no one walked in on me drawing for this one. I’m not going to say anything about this other than tell you that it is an amazing documentary with an insane subject. The rabbit hole goes deep in this one and it is one hell of a rabbit hole. If you do get around to watching this, do the best you can to avoid spoilers. Watching this web unfold is an absolute delight. Edited January 1, 2017 by AABATTERY 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 I'm gonna leave it at that for tonight because I have run out of drawings. I hope you all enjoyed the first 15! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porthos Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 I want to rec all of these, just for the drawings. (I'm actually skipping a couple thou ) Utterly fantastic work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasmmi Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Meh i was adding drawings to year in review threads before it was cool As for ghibli animation: grave of the fireflies and when marnie was there are the two i will put forward 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 Trailer IMDB RT: 90% Box Office: 108.3M I swear it was an accident that this ended up being number 10. But yeah, this movie was intense. John Goodman was so good, man. I’m glad Paramount fielded at least one surprise hit. This is Dan Trachtenberg’s first feature film and boy did he knock it out of the park. I don’t want to spoil anything because for those who haven’t seen it but this movie really does keep you guessing. I know a lot of people weren’t huge on the ending, but I really liked it. Also, this one is great fun to watch with someone who hasn’t seen it. You can just sit there waiting for their reaction to John Goodman and the twists and the turns. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 Trailer IMDB RT: 85% Box Office: 706M+ The first act is janky as hell, the second act is better but then the third act hits and WOOO. I’m one of a countless many who pretty much grew up on Star Wars. I think I’ve told the story here before of how my grandpa used to play the OT for me and my brother when we were toddlers; more for himself than for us. But anyway, it was great to go back to that world. They really translated the feel of the OT for this movie. This movie is probably the prettiest Star Wars movie; Gareth Edwards once again shows how great he is at filming large things (from Godzilla to Star Destroyers). Moments in this are some of the greatest in any Star Wars movie; the two standouts for me was the Hammerhead Corvette vs Star Destroyer and the Vader scene. I did find the characters a bit weak, especially when compared to The Force Awakens but a few members of the cast were great. K-2SO, Krennic and Chirrut were my favourites. Overall, Rogue One was a great addition to the Star Wars canon. On my second viewing, I followed it up with a rewatch of the OT and TFA which helped me see how well they have made it fit into the saga. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 (edited) Trailer IMDB RT: 86% Box Office: 4.6M Here it is. The most chill movie of 2016. This one is Linklater through and through. Everybody Wants Some!! is one of those movies you just don’t want to end. It’s about the first week of college for a group of baseball players. And from there, it cruises. The epitome of slice of life; it feels so very genuine. The lack of conflict is refreshing in this day and age and the meandering plot is actually fairly engaging. The tensest moment (and closest thing to conflict) is during a game of table tennis. Everyone in the cast are great, but the MVP of the film is definitely Glen Powell, who’s character is a delight to watch. The baseball backdrop is cool enough. Baseball isn’t really a huge thing where I’m from but the baseball scenes were pretty fun. But yeah, this movie is fantastic. Linklater films are something else. Edited January 1, 2017 by AABATTERY 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabattery Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 Trailer IMDB RT: 98% Box Office: 31.1M Hell or High Water was a simple film, but immensely gripping throughout. I really liked Sicario last year, and this felt somewhat similar to that (thanks to the same screenwriter). The acting in this film is some of the year’s best. Chris Pine is great but his co-stars, Ben Foster and Jeff Bridges, are absolutely incredible. The relationships between the characters feel so very real. Even the most minor characters make this film seem almost brutally realistic. There’s no bullshit, Hollywood-esque violence; just sudden and brutal violence. I don’t know if anyone has seen Justified but it really did feel similar to that, which is a good thing. Justified is great as well. My thanks go to those on this forum who were gushing about it after they saw it in the original thread. If I didn’t see that this one might have flown right over my radar. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...