Now, here are the movies that came in at #40 – #31 on my complete movie list for 2017. Expect to see a movie where Chadwick Boseman plays ANOTHER famous black person, the ‘Lego Movie’ spin-off they probably shouldn’t have made and more.
40. The Great Wall
- Probably would have been sweet if I watched it in 3D
- It did the generic use with 3D and actually seemed to make a lot of weapons and monsters pop out at you
- Matt Damon must have phoned this one in because his performance sure made it seem like that was the case
- I enjoyed all the battle scenes
- They aren’t going to be memorable but there was a bunch of them
- Didn’t understand what the big hubbub was over the movies all important black powder
- Also, someone explain to me why the monsters just freeze when their Queen is killed
- To Sum it Up: The simplicity of the plot and a bunch of unmemorable action make for an entertaining viewing that isn’t too long but it will hurt its overall quality if I were to ever watch it again
39. Logan Lucky
- Funny line in the movie that referred to the crime committed by Logans as ‘Ocean’s 7/11’
- Funny in prison ‘Game of Thrones’ conversation that dealt with the inmates not knowing that ‘Winds of Winter’ didn’t come out when it was supposed to and that the TV series passed the book
- For those who seem like simple minded country folk, team Logan did some clever stuff during the heist
- The Bang brothers(Brian Gleeson and Jack Quaid) and Daniel Craig were the standouts
- Expected an amazing, lost in character performance from Craig but that didn’t happen. It was still great though
- Adam Driver and Channing Tatum’s accents took some getting use to but Tatums was the worst of the bunch
- He didn’t lay it on thick, so it sounded like it would go in and out
- The plot had no real conflict. Everything just moved along smoothly. Sometimes you need movies like that
- Good movie but I wish the fun was amped up more to maximize that plot element
- To Sum it Up: Good performances but unexpectedly that didn’t drive the movie. Instead it was the story
38. Marshall
- Here we, once again, have the black acting king of impersonation: Mr. Chadwick Boseman
- Boseman gave us a glimpse of his moves in what most of the world has already saw in ‘Black Panther’ with a quick racist bar fight scene
- I don’t like that Marshall (Boseman) played the background, or the puppet master, in all the important courtroom scenes
- You would think Marshall would be the all out star in his movie…especially when it’s named after him
- This movie should be called ‘Marshall and Freedman’
- This movie is just as much Josh Gad’s as it is Boseman’s
- Great acting from the whole cast
- Racism movies get harder and harder to watch because the sheer ridiculousness from white people thinking they are so much better than “coloreds” for whatever old timey reason
- To Sum it Up: A good courtroom drama that is appealing because of the case but I’ve seen better with ‘The Judge’
37. The Lego Ninjago Movie
- The cat and lazer pointer scene was unexpected and hilarious because cat movements crack me up
- The first act of the movie is zany, funny and had the spirit of the previous Lego Movies
- But it seemed like it was trying too hard to be like the other two
- When the movie settles down in the middle and starts getting all soft and sentimental, it started to lose me until the end
- Justin Theroux’s voice performance was the best of the cast
- The Lego universe was on fire and this installment seemed like it was the one idea they wanted to see if they could get away with
- Releasing two movies in one year might have also hurt this one. Made this one seem less important
- Seriously though, they can chill on the spin-off movies
- To Sum it Up: Although enjoyable and funny, it still seemed like this movie should have stayed as an idea on a white board
36. Bright
- David Ayer keeps giving Ike Barinholtz small roles
- One movie with a bigger role won’t hurt
- Did the whole “wand can’t travel too far from its owner” or whatever that story detail was, get forgotten about?
- Sure seemed like it did right after it was mentioned
- Was glad Leilah (Noomi Rapace) didn’t get killed as easy as was first let on
- Seemed to strong to get taken out so fast
- Of course Ward (Will Smith) is revealed to be a Bright at the end
- Was expecting Kandomere (Edgar Ramirez) to have a much bigger role in the story
- Would have thought we would have seen Ward’s daughter again or maybe even his wife after their two appearances
- Especially all threats to them and how things went the last time we saw his daughter
- When you let Smith do his thing, his presences can make up for a movie’s flaws
- Did so here
- Smith and Joel Edgerton had some enjoyable chemistry
- Movie wasn’t boring or as awful as many of the reviews said it was
- Had a cool mix of violence action and humor
- To Sum it Up: I don’t care much for the message behind the movie (you know, the whole racial aspect) because I was trying to be entertained and I was
35. Detroit
- Jason Mitchell was barely in the movie, but he showed to me he’s still the best actor of the ‘Staright Outta Compton’ bunch
- Will Poulter was great as the in-charge antagonist
- John Boyega was in the movie a lot but played the sideline throughout but when he was asked to really show emotion, especially towards the end, he showed his talent as an up-and-coming actor
- Too much time spent on the questioning of the alleged sniper
- Didn’t think that was going to be the movies focus
- It came off as a very long racist, torture scene
- Thought it was funny that Algee Smith’s Larry was replaced by Miguel, or whatever his characters name was, in his group
- That’s a huge improvement
- To Sum it Up: Another tough reminder of how unfair the world was back in the day but once the movie ends, you can look at the movie as having done a solid job delivering a tough message
34. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales
- Good special effects
- Javier Bardem wasn’t out of this world but I thought he made for a good and formidable villain
- Johnny Depp was entertaining, as he usually is in this iconic role, but I feel like he was scaled back a little compared to previous times
- The new young cast members were OK, but they were definitely upgradable
- To Sum it Up: A fun and entertaining adventure that I have no clue where it falls within the rest of the series because I barely remember the other four
33. Dunkirk
- Great score thanks to its sound of urgency and danger. Fits perfectly with the situations
- Hard to understand a lot of the dialogue
- Could barely tell the three guys who starred in The Mole storyline apart
- The real effects used made for a better look
- Made you feel like you were watching this historic true event in real time
- The structure of the movie was cool, but I wish it was a little easier to follow for idiots like me
- One of my least favorite Christopher Nolan movies but that’s not necessarily a bad thing since he has such a great catalogue
- To Sum it Up: The edge of your seat thrill of the situation and how the movie played up to it made this a good movie but it’s not for everyone
32. Kong: Skull Island
- Great angry visuals and crash action during the entrance into Skull Island a.k.a. King Kong’s first attack
- Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts did a good job in certain moments bringing his own style to the film with the angry style visuals and slow-motion technique
- Even with a great cast, the movie didn’t make me care about any of them
- Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston’s characters were boring and didn’t feel needed. They were just forced to be there in the end
- The action was cool but nothing memorable
- The last battle was the same
- Kong was entertaining and I’m glad he was shown throughout the movie
- To Sum it Up: The movie kept things moving so I was entertained and impressed by the directing but the characters and lack of “oomph” held things back
31. Split
- James McAvoy was great at playing all personalities and keeping them noticeably different
- The long build up to the best and what he was going to do didn’t really pay off especially after he just let Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) go because she’s been through hardships too
- The twist at the end of this being in the same universe as ‘Unbreakable’ had me groaning and rolling my eyes but I began to like the surprise more and more after leaving the theater
- Watching the movie wasn’t as satisfying as reading about the movie afterwards.
- The psychological reasoning makes it a better movie
- Looking forward to watching the movie a second time to see if the movie viewing experience changes
- To Sum it Up: It looks like the M. Night Shyamalan with all that potential back in the day is finally starting to show himself again
My 2017 Complete Movie List: #50 – #41| My 2017 Complete Movie List: #30 – #21
(Photo Credit: Menachem Rephun – https://www.moviequotesandmore.com/detroit-2017-movie-review/; STUDIOCANAL; http://www.fatmovieguy.com/review/kong-skull-island/kong-skull-island-movie-review-image-9/)
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