Whether it was at the movies, at home, Redbox, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Vudu, Hulu or whatnot...

Which movies have you watched for the first time in 2017?



I'll start out with a new family favorite, and therefore immediate contender for "Best of the Year" status:


1) Central Intelligence - Even the family members that don't care for Kevin Hart enjoyed this one as he apparently dialed it back a bit, and the Rock amped up his humor more than he's allowed in most movies.

1) The Accountant - 3 out of 5. Great premise, but they're just not capable of displaying a true high functioning Aspberger's person in movies. Note to Ben Affleck....stop making eye contact right after you just said you have difficulty making eye contact.

2) The BFG - 3 out of 5. The mo-cap is terrific, and Mark Rylance's big-eared, mushmouthed giant was somehow more believable than the CG Tarkin in Rogue One. Oh, and the Queen of England farts so hard it blows out the underside of a table.

3) Snowden - 3 out of 5. Nice to see that Oliver Stone is back on his Ritalin prescription. He really is a gifted filmmaker when he dials back all those excesses and tries to tell a simple story.

Too bad the story was almost complete bullshit.

I lost the narrative somewhere along the way in the 2016 thread, so I'll start again with 2017. Only listing movies I see in a theater.

1) Sing. Wow, have there been a lot of animated movies about anthropomorphic animals lately. This one is above average.

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). Still the best of the musicians's biopic sub-genre. Simply amazing job Sissy Spacek did with the singing and the acting performance, while at the same time the movie is practically about Tommy Lee Jones' character, Doolittle.

Only movie I keep seeking so far in 2017, Rogue One, trying to get it right.
This time in Dolby Atmos....ah that's the ticket, finally sound and vision come together for a rumbling good time.

2) Skiptrace - Terrible title, not a bad action comedy as Renny Harlin directs Jackie Chan in another teamup with an obnoxious American partner. This time Johnny Knoxville gets the nod. It's not Shanghai Noon or Rush Hour, but it wasn't too bad. And Jackie's still got it for a 60+ year old!

4) Masterminds - 3 out of 5. Why wasn't this a bigger hit? It's hilarious. It loses focus and meanders a bit towards the end, but the comic timing of all the leads is fantastic.

5) Morgan - 2 out of 5. I really wanted this to be more than it was. It's just a standard "scientists create monster that escapes" movie, with a end twist that you can pretty much guess within the first 30 minutes.

6) Inferno - 1 out of 5. Why do I keep watching these Dan Brown adaptations? This one is just lame. At least The DaVinci Code had Ian McKellan chewing up the scenery.

7) Nocturnal Animals - 4 out of 5. How do you make a movie that is nothing more than a middle aged LA socialite reading a book feel like the tensest thriller since Hitchcock? This movie is pretty amazing. One of my top 10 of 2016.

Just watched the trailer.

Looks fun, and I'm a sucker for just about anything Sudeikis shows up in.

However, since today is the first time I've heard of the film, that might answer your first question.

3) Precious Cargo - A "B-movie" heist film starring Zack from Saved by the Bell and Bruce "I make a living doing these now" Willis. Still, entertaining enough.

It's what Bruce does now between Die Hard sequels.

4) Sausage Party - I hated this movie. Watched 15 minutes, turned it off. Wasn't funny. The animation was pretty good though, too bad they apparently didn't pay or credit half the staff that worked on it. I'm sure something will come along to bump it out of the top spot, but for now, this will be hard pressed to bump off the top of my worst of the year list.

2) 20th Century Women. Good movie, Oscar-caliber performance by Annette Bening. Set in 1979, some awesome punk/new wave music on the soundtrack: Talking Heads, Black Flag, Suicide, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Buzzcocks, etc.

3) Fences. Wonderful acting, but very talky melodrama (not surprising, since it was written for the stage). Viola Davis will win the Oscar for allowing herself to be filmed with all that snot on her face during her big dramatic speech.

4) Hidden Figures. True story of black women working for NASA during the Mercury Program. Feel-good movie that gets its points across.

8) Blair Witch - 1 out of 5. Ugh. I was really looking forward to this. I liked the guerilla-style filmmaking, where they promoted this as an unrelated movie ("The Woods"), and then revealed it was a Blair Witch sequel at the last minute. I think director Adam Wingard is a talent to watch, and was really impressed with his "You're Next". But this was just flat and pedestrian in every way. Very disappointing.

#2: La La Land.

So I've seen Rogue One and now the possible Oscar winner La La Land. That's it's I'm done for 2017.

2. Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone (2001) -- family movie night, and the kids in my kids age group really love these movies. These will endure. My first time seeing it, or any of them.

3. Dr. Strangelove (1963) -- one of the best movies of all time, and funniest black comedies. When I was in the Air Force, this was every Air Force officer's favorite movie.

5) Nerve - Very fun thriller with an internet "Dare" game that let's users participate in one crazy stunt after another while thousands of followers watch online as the stakes get higher and higher.

My issues with MoviePass have been worked out, so I am back in the movie-viewing business!

1. 01/09 - Fences (2016) (theatre) ***

Directed by (and starring) Denzel Washington, this adaptation of the August Wilson stage play is a bit too 'stage-y' in its presentation, but the powerful performances (particularly from Viola Davis) kept me invested in the story and the characters.

His films are best if you just approach then as historical fiction and just enjoy the movie on its own merits.