Jan 10, 2016

WIWTW #29

The words of this week were Star Wars. That's been the case for the last couple of weeks in reality, but I'm referring to the fact that I watched the entire series over the course of the week. It's been a while since I did a watch-through of the series so it was good to get that out of the way before I go see The Force Awakens in theatres. That's right, I still haven't seen it. That will soon be rectified.

But first...

Some News (That I Actually Care About)

  • El Chapo biopic incoming? Certainly looks that way with it being reported that Sean Penn met with the Mexican drug lord for a seven hour interview right before his most recent arrest. @BBC
  • Box office report: Yes yes, Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued its winning streak. With a $41.6 million weekend, it's been #1 for four weeks in a row now and has become the first movie to gross $800 million domestically. The real news though is how well Alejandro G. Inarritu's The Revenant performed. Locked in battle all weekend with Star Wars, it exceeded expectations with a hearty $38 million. The Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy's Home took the #3 spot with $15 million and has done quite well with $116.3 million overall. The disappointment of the week would definitely be Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight which dropped 60% from last week to a lowly $6.4 million despite adding several hundred screens.
  • So what was John Boyega doing before starring in Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Isn't it obvious? He was a stock photo model of course. @Daily News
  • Rejoice horror fans, upcoming horror film The Witch which has built up a considerable amount of hype has just had its release date moved up by a week. @IndieWIRE
  • Composer Hans Zimmer will continue his ongoing film score bromance with Christopher Nolan and his upcoming film Dunkirk@IndieWIRE 
Video of the week: Here's the trailer for Matthew McConaughey's next movie, Free State of Jones.

 _______________________________________________________________________

Number of movies watched: 10

Average rating: 7.35
_______________________________________________________________________

January 3rd

 

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Rating: 6/10

What is it: The once massively anticipated first entry of George Lucas' Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
What's good: Some pretty good action, great score
What's bad: Flat direction and writing, humour is childish and misses its mark, not to mention a certain all-CGI character...

 

 

Trailer Park Boys (1999)

Rating: 7.5/10

What is it: The pilot film for the long-running Canadian TV series of the same name
What's good: Great use of mockumentary format, convincingly acted, laid-back humour
What's bad: /

January 4th

 

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Rating: 6.5/10

What is it: George Lucas continues to prove that he's not much of a dialogue writer
What's good: Great special effects, good score, and a pretty long list of solid action sequences
What's bad: Gratingly bad romance scenes, poor direction and dialogue can be hard to stand at times

January 5th

 

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Rating: 7.5/10

What is it: The conclusion to George Lucas' Prequel Trilogy
What's good: Action sequences, superb score, reaches tragedy-level amounts of drama
What's bad: More than its fair share of wooden dialogue, actors are left out to dry more often than not

 

 

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

Rating: 9/10

What is it: Needs no introduction
What's good: Unbelievably thrilling, unbelievable special effects, imaginative and memorable
What's bad: /

January 6th

 

Munro (1961)

Rating: 7.5/10

What is it: An Academy Award-winning animated short
What's good: Effective voice acting, intelligently lampoons the military
What's bad: Minimalist animation is not going to win any beauty awards

 

 

Moonbird (1959)

Rating: 6/10

What is it: Another Academy Award-winning animated short
What's good: A good example of creative minimalist animation, concept of film is fascinating
What's bad: Pretty much incomprehensible due to the voices recordings of young children

January 7th

 

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980): Best Movie of the Week Award

Rating: 10/10

What is it: The mature older brother of A New Hope
What's good: Enthralling storylines, unforgettable characters, great score and special effects
What's bad: /

January 8th

 

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Rating: 8/10

What is it: The finale to George Lucas' space opera trilogy
What's good: Satisfying conclusion to a great series, more entertaining action and special effects
What's bad: George Lucas' juvenile instincts become more apparent throughout

January 9th

 

Indian Summer (1993): Worst Movie of the Week Award

Rating: 5.5/10

What is it: A summer camp nostalgia trip with an ensemble cast
What's good: Good filming location, Alan Arkin as the camp leader is a nice fit
What's bad: Hard to really care about any of the characters or their problems, Sam Raimi seriously miscast as the comedic relief 
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