Special: Best of July 2017

Best Theatrical Film:

Atomic Blonde

I wouldn't say that this is a fantastic movie by any stretch but the reality is this is the only one I saw since I've been avoiding the theater this month since it's a long weekend in Canada this weekend which means four features at the drive-in and we always seem to have seen a film or two at each screen which makes us not want to go but this time we're prepared! (checks listings... Still seen at least 1 film on each screen... FUCK!!!)

Best Rental Film:

Kong: Skull Island

Again, not a fantastic film... But the best I've seen that has come out. I have yet to watch some that appear to be good (Free Fire, Resident Evil: Vendetta) but at the end of the day you have to go with what you've seen and this overgrown ape film was much better than Ghost In The Shell so it gets the nod... I've also mini-reviewed it so check that out if you wish!

Best Album:

Silverstein - Dead Reflection

At Warped Tour this year I was able to pick up 2 records the day before release, Silverstein's Dead Reflection and The Gospel Youth's Always Lose. Both are great records but Dead Reflection is approaching Record of the Year territory after a few listens so naturally it's more deserving of this spot but The Gospel Youth's debut deserves a tip of the hat and more for it's emo revival sound which is more back to the roots than the usual emo revival fare.

Best Graphic Novel:

A.D. After Death, by Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire

Two of comics’ biggest names collaborate on this twisty-turny science fiction story of a near-future world in which we’ve solved humankind’s oldest and most intractable problem: there’s a cure for death. Of course, things are never that simple, and living in a world in which death might not be the end requires a massive re-think. It’s a story that’s both epic and very personal, from the unique pairing of writer Snyder and artist Lemire.

Best Video Game:

Splatoon 2 (Nintendo Switch)

Special: Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Fist Fight, Kong: Skull Island Mini-Reviews

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales:

Synopsis: Johnny Depp returns to the big screen as the iconic, swashbuckling anti-hero Jack Sparrow in the all-new "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales." The rip-roaring adventure finds down-on-his-luck Captain Jack feeling the winds of ill-fortune blowing strongly his way when deadly ghost sailors, led by the terrifying Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), escape from the Devil's Triangle bent on killing every pirate at sea-notably Jack. Jack's only hope of survival lies in the legendary Trident of Poseidon, but to find it he must forge an uneasy alliance with Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), a brilliant and beautiful astronomer, and Henry (Brenton Thwaites), a headstrong young sailor in the Royal Navy. At the helm of the Dying Gull, his pitifully small and shabby ship, Captain Jack seeks not only to reverse his recent spate of ill fortune, but to save his very life from the most formidable and malicious foe he has ever faced.

My thoughts: Continuing the theme of decreasingly good pirates movies after the action-adventure of the first and the the adventure/comedy romp that was it's sequel. Since then we've gotten 3 films, Dead men included, that tries to do the best parts of the 2 earlier films but falls flat in comparison, not to say that this entry is a failure, by all means it's not but at the same time it's disheartening knowing what this film could've been.

Final verdict: 4 pirate zombies out of 5.

Fist Fight:

Synopsis: A mild-mannered high-school teacher (Charlie Day) is accused of getting a fellow teacher (Ice Cube) fired, and is challenged to a fight after the school day ends in this comedy directed by Richie Keen.

My thoughts: It had it's share of laughs but overall doesn't do much to push the comedy genre. Caught between a stoner-high school comedy and a raunchy comedy, Fist Fight goes back and forth trying to define itself and instead of doing one well it half-asses both. The leads play their roles well, as you'd expect with Ice Cube as a bully and Charlie Day as the neurotic nerd that's not looking for any trouble. The real theme here isn't the fight though, it's the downsizing of our school system which put into perspective works well but overall it's thrown to the background too much so that they can add more half-jokes.

Final verdict: 3 horses on meth out of 5.

Kong: Skull Island:

Synopsis: Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures' "Kong: Skull Island" reimagines the origin of the mythic Kong in a compelling, original adventure from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts ("The Kings of Summer"). In the film, a diverse team of explorers is brought together to venture deep into an uncharted island in the Pacific - as beautiful as it is treacherous - unaware that they're crossing into the domain of the mythic Kong.

My thoughts: Kong does a lot of things right. The visuals are top notch and the script is strong and it's backed by top notch acting. However here's where the problems creep up, they tried to cut down the running time by moving along at a fast pace, this ends up hurting the character development as there is a slew of characters to like and dislike, they only give you enough info on about 3-4 of them to feel for them, so when others die, survive, do something cool, you're left with a "meh".

Final verdict: 3 crashed copters out of 5.