Go watch it, you won't regret it. 

My first thought as I came out of it was that this was the sort of film that an alternate universe Shyamalan would have made - the alternate universe where he continued to realise his potential after his early successes (obviously not the universe we're living in). 

YOU RAMPAGING BUTTOCK CREVICE SNIFFER 

Mods feel free to edit my post 

Welp. That was definitely a thing. I found the goody characters rather boring and undeveloped and impossible to give a shit about. Rather charmless. New baddy Krennic chap was good though. However I liked the film overall - a lot actually - because once it gets going, the action is balls-to-the-wall amazeballs and super-ultra-Star-Warsy. I guess that makes me part of the problem. :/

MINOR SPOILER BELOW THIS LINE!!!!
==================================

A certain key human character from the OT is resurrected via CGI...it's pretty awesome that the character is there and has a surprisingly amount of screentime, but the fact that the CG is definitely not perfect just makes it really weird. 

echoes post 5784 but with a reverse outcome! 

A certain key human character from the OT is resurrected via CGI...
Is this really still a spoiler? I bet almost everyone interested in Star Wars already knows who you're talking about. In case some don't, no, it's not our favorite asthmatic buckethead. 

Is this really still a spoiler

It's one of the big moneyshots, so yeah I think so. Considering I got called out for mentioning Arrival had a twist (but not actually hinting what that twist was in any way) I think it was best not going into too much detail. 

before going in.

But could tell it was off straight away before realising of course it has to be off. 

I liked it more than ep7. I'm glad they had the balls to nuke a few people.

New baddy Krennic chap was good though

Agreed. I liked the character. fun fact: I did some photoshop and print work for that guy. I didn't know who he was until after the job was done. He was friendly dude, I assumed he was an alcoholic carpenter. you just never know. Also, he's like four feet tall. 

Yay :) 

Rogue One - 5/10. Found it to be very mediocre personally. Did not care about anything that happened.

Arrival - 8/10. Moody, intelligent sci fi. Amy Adams outstanding, score and direction also top notch.

Paterson - 7/10. Familiar feeling Jarmusch film but the characters are very likeable and the performances also lovely.

Nocturnal Animals - 8/10. Bold and stylish, acting all round is fantastic, thematically quite ambitious. 

Rogue One - I can't really rate Star Wars movies other than knowing that the old ones are overrated and "episode one" with Jar Jar Binks was ridiculously shitty; but it just seems like they keep making the same movie over and over again. I am indifferent to these movies but other people want to go; 5/10 I guess.

Arrival - I liked the premise and Amy Adams is always good, but the whole thing also felt a bit... M. Night Shamylan-ish. Points for a unique idea of first contact but unpoints for hippie-ness and Deus Ex Machina. 6/10.

Nocturnal Animals - Mysterious without being all that compelling, but at least interesting, and Amy Adams gives a great performance again. Points for Michael Shannon, my favourite actor these days. 7.5/10.

Dr. Strange - Trailer looked trippy with Inception-type stuff going on so a good movie to see in theatres. Same old comic movie plot but Cumberbatch and Mikkelson are good and the attempt to visualize supernatural and other-dimensional stuff is interesting. 8/10

Passengers - Hadn't even seen the trailer just heard it was scifi, actually turned out to be really good. For a "space voyage" movie the script was a lot better than average and the design for the ship was nice. I tend to dislike it when they try to add romance elements to scifi but it seemed well done here. Chris Pratt was good (but nearly any role would be best replaced with Michael Shannon - lol at how that would change this movie). Jennifer Lawrence was good as usual. 8.5/10 

Just like Tronyn I went in without knowing what to expect but sci-fi. Unlike Tronyn, I thought the romance screwed this movie sideways. It's not that bad at first, even pretty good, but the end is simply ridiculous! [SPOILER]I mean once she knows what he did but still comes back crawling in his lap.[END SPOILER] Yeah, the ship has a badass design, some of its interiors would be a perfect fit for the Inspiration & Reference thread. 

I could think of several better endings for that movie, and the movie itself tricked me into thinking the ending was going to be different once or twice, but the endings I wanted would have been less crowd-pleasing. Still I was astounded to see how low the score is on Rotten Tomatoes, but apparently the particular ending pissed off critics because feminism. Even though the ending was also thematically consistent with the rest of the movie, many critics seem to take it for granted that the purpose of art is to reinforce moral opinions one already holds. I have to say, since apparently it's the same writer as Prometheus I have to admit he regained some respect from me. This movie was so, so much better than fucking Prometheus.

Then again you should probably disregard everything I said because I liked "Antichrist" - now THERE is a problematic ending. And yet it has a higher rating... lol. 

 

Barry Lyndon

and I'm a kubrik fan! /ashamed

this scene is phenomenal, imo 

La La Land - 7.5-8/10. Starts shakily, but then peaks very highly from the first song sequence with the two leads to 'City of Stars'. After that it settles into a nice rhythm but never really reaches the same peaks (or the same lows as the start). Made with considerable skill and with absolutely radiant performances, particularly Emma Stone. 

is his earlier stuff IMHO.

I never got the love for say Full Metal Jacket. The Shining I have more time for but it's still not as good as his earlier stuff. 

Barry Lyndon was filmed on one of my dream lenses. Seriously Kubrick used an ex NASA lens to film the candle lit interior scenes. Awesome shit. 

weren't only like 5 of those particular lenses made at the time? 

is his mid 60's to early 70's stuff, namely Dr. Strangelove, 2001 and A Clockwork Orange. His earlier stuff like Killer's Kiss already shows great technical and visual mastery, but it's just not as awesome as these 3.

Fun fact: I saw a picture of young Kubrick and couldn't help but notice his physical likeness to young George Harrison. 

but more stuff like The Killing and Paths of Glory (as well as Strangelove and 2001), those 4 are his best IMHO. 

Jackie - 8/10.

Unconventionally written and directed, this will not be everyone's cup of tea. For me, Chilean director Pablo Lorrain and writer Noah Oppenheim's approach was fascinating and very engaging, particularly in its ability to simultaneously convey conflicting emotions and tones. Natalie Portman was outstanding (as was most the supporting cast). 

Thanks for the heads-up.