Well it's tradition now. Last day of the year brings my wee film awards for everything I watched over the past 12 months, the Scottscars! As well as a recap of how I got on with my predictions from last year and a set of fresh new ones for next year!
Wasn't this a much better year for movies than last year? Transformers was back to being laughably bad instead of sad and depressing, DC didn't bore us into submission and question our love for movies as a whole, and Universal cancelled their Dark Universe!
As for my movie stats this year, I ended up watching 104 movies, exactly the same number as last year! 54 of which were at the cinema and 33 of which were rewatches. More interestingly, this was the first year that I watched less on physical media than through streaming, 2 less to be precise! As someone who champions physical media, this was a big surprise, but if the support means that Netflix can make more content like Okja, then let's all go digital!
Anyways, onwards to the part you're all here for, the awards that the Oscars wish they could be, the Scottscars!
The Apes films always wow with their advances in technology, but this was just a whole new level. The incredible detail on each ape, crowd scenes, weather effects, cloths and fabrics on each ape, all just unbelievable. Incredible work from all departments, especially the CG animators who do so much more than the 'CG makeup' Andy Serkis would have you believe.
A fitting and satisfying send off to two of the most recognisable and likeable characters in any cinematic universe, Wolverine and Professor X. This is the first time Jackman's Logan has been truly unleashed, free from the largest possible demographic audience and PG13 rating that Fox love so much and the extra freedom allowed with extremities and profanities, such as gore and swearing give this incarnation of Logan an extra level of impact. Bloody and brutal while also caring and compassionate, Hugh Jackman's Logan will be sorely missed. Almost ruined by a 'comic book villain, with symbolism that's a little too literal, but there's just too much right to bring it down.
Runners Up:
Spider-man Homecoming
Thor Ragnarock
The Nicolas Cage Award for STANDOUT PERFORMANCE
Runners Up:
Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)
Chris Pine (Wonder Woman)
The Last Airbender Award for BIGGEST LET DOWN
After seeing Dane DeHaan in several roles playing Mr-Creepy-Villain-Man, I was interested to see how he could transform himself into the likeable, charismatic leading protagonist of a big budget adventure romp and what I discovered is that he can't. A crying shame that a such an influential graphic novel series such as Valerian, inspiration of Star Wars and Luc Besson's own Fifth Element, could end up as such an incohesive, boring and cringey film with a lead who wants to be there even less than the audience does.
Runners Up:
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage
Alien Covenant
If you've seen Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, then you don't need me to explain this one. I'm just going to leave this quote by Han Solo from The Force Awakens.
"That's not how the force works."
Runners Up:
Pokemon I Choose You- Pikachu Speaks.
Mother- the entire second half
Since Netflix and other streaming services began to create their own original content, Okja was always the type of movie I wanted to see being produced due to how completely unique and original the synopsis of it is. A bizarre concept, that of a lush public competition for which could raise the best giant 'superpig' and one girl's journey to save her best friend Okja from the slaughter, would not have been greenlit from one of the major studios, nor had the budget from an indie. With A-listers Jake Gyllenhaal and Cate Blanchett adding to both the legitimacy and overall level of the film, Okja is a unique idea, made well. Long live Netflix originals if they keep giving us fresh ideas like Okja!
Runners Up
Shin Godzilla
Wonder Woman
It
Assassin's Creed had two major things going for it that had me genuinely excited that this could be the first great video game movie adaptation- Michael Fassbender in the leading role and UbiSoft's Movie Division making it. Unfortunately what we ended up with was just plain nonsencial, boring tripe, favouring spectacle over any kind of character or plot development. This could potentially be the most bored I've ever been in a cinema.
Runners Up:
xXx: Return of Xander Cage
King Arthur
The Mummy
La La Land
For the second time Damien Chazelle delivers my favourite movie of the year. La La Land is a love letter to old Hollywood, theatre and jazz, that also dives into the darker side of following a career in the arts and the trials and tribulations on those who try. In this sense, La La Land carries on from Chazelle's previous work Whiplash, but this time from a different perspective, that of the charming aspiring actress Emma Stone and hardcore Jazz enthusiast, musician Ryan Gosling, as opposed to the single minded and brooding Miles Teller. By focussing on these two charismatic leads, the film emits a more positive tone, giving us more of a song and dance, while still climaxing in a multilayered emotional ending, inviting the audience to decide if everything ended up a success or tragedy. La La Land's more surreal nature allows it to go further than the grounded-in-reality Whiplash by giving us an alternative ending within the film's running time, further challenging the audience to decide what defines success and failure in life.
Oh and the musical numbers are catchy as all hell too ;)
Runners Up:
Logan
Hacksaw Ridge
Spider-man Homecoming
Let's see how I did with my predictions from last year!!
TOTAL: 7/19
I need to make less vague predictions!
1. Jurrasic World: Fallen Kingdom will be laughably bad.
2. Bumblebee will be loved by audiences, will revitalise interest in the Transformers franchise.
3. Deadpool 2 outgrosses both X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants put together.
4. Disney announce a Fantastic Four animated movie.
5. Tomb Raider to be the worst film of the year for me, gets slated critically.
6. Alita: Battle Angel to be a massive financial disaster, potentially the biggest flop of the year.
7. Solo to be criticised for adding nothing worthwhile to the Star Wars mythos and being 'pointless'.
8. Aquaman to be pushed back to 2019.
9. Del Toro's The Shape of Water to be my film of the year.
10. Avengers: Infinity War is everything we hope for. Highest grossing movie of the year.
Cheers everyone! Catch you again on the 31st December 2018 to talk about how great Bumblebee was ;)
Wasn't this a much better year for movies than last year? Transformers was back to being laughably bad instead of sad and depressing, DC didn't bore us into submission and question our love for movies as a whole, and Universal cancelled their Dark Universe!
As for my movie stats this year, I ended up watching 104 movies, exactly the same number as last year! 54 of which were at the cinema and 33 of which were rewatches. More interestingly, this was the first year that I watched less on physical media than through streaming, 2 less to be precise! As someone who champions physical media, this was a big surprise, but if the support means that Netflix can make more content like Okja, then let's all go digital!
Anyways, onwards to the part you're all here for, the awards that the Oscars wish they could be, the Scottscars!
The Scorpion King award for MOST IMPRESSIVE VFX
War for the Planet of the Apes
The Apes films always wow with their advances in technology, but this was just a whole new level. The incredible detail on each ape, crowd scenes, weather effects, cloths and fabrics on each ape, all just unbelievable. Incredible work from all departments, especially the CG animators who do so much more than the 'CG makeup' Andy Serkis would have you believe.
The Suicide Squad award for FAVOURITE SUPERHERO MOVIE
Logan
A fitting and satisfying send off to two of the most recognisable and likeable characters in any cinematic universe, Wolverine and Professor X. This is the first time Jackman's Logan has been truly unleashed, free from the largest possible demographic audience and PG13 rating that Fox love so much and the extra freedom allowed with extremities and profanities, such as gore and swearing give this incarnation of Logan an extra level of impact. Bloody and brutal while also caring and compassionate, Hugh Jackman's Logan will be sorely missed. Almost ruined by a 'comic book villain, with symbolism that's a little too literal, but there's just too much right to bring it down.
Runners Up:
Spider-man Homecoming
Thor Ragnarock
The Nicolas Cage Award for STANDOUT PERFORMANCE
Patrick Stewart
Logan was the movie that allowed Patrick Stewart finally show a true emotional range in the role of Professor X, showing us the tragedy of what happens when the most powerful brain in the world begins to fail.Runners Up:
Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)
Chris Pine (Wonder Woman)
The Last Airbender Award for BIGGEST LET DOWN
Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets
Runners Up:
Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
xXx: The Return of Xander Cage
Alien Covenant
The Miley Cyrus award for WTF Moment
Princess Leia
"That's not how the force works."
Runners Up:
Pokemon I Choose You- Pikachu Speaks.
Mother- the entire second half
The Deadpool Award for UNEXPECTED BRILLIANCE
Okja
Since Netflix and other streaming services began to create their own original content, Okja was always the type of movie I wanted to see being produced due to how completely unique and original the synopsis of it is. A bizarre concept, that of a lush public competition for which could raise the best giant 'superpig' and one girl's journey to save her best friend Okja from the slaughter, would not have been greenlit from one of the major studios, nor had the budget from an indie. With A-listers Jake Gyllenhaal and Cate Blanchett adding to both the legitimacy and overall level of the film, Okja is a unique idea, made well. Long live Netflix originals if they keep giving us fresh ideas like Okja!
Runners Up
Shin Godzilla
Wonder Woman
It
The Batman V Superman award for WORST MOVIE OF THE YEAR
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed had two major things going for it that had me genuinely excited that this could be the first great video game movie adaptation- Michael Fassbender in the leading role and UbiSoft's Movie Division making it. Unfortunately what we ended up with was just plain nonsencial, boring tripe, favouring spectacle over any kind of character or plot development. This could potentially be the most bored I've ever been in a cinema.
Runners Up:
xXx: Return of Xander Cage
King Arthur
The Mummy
The Transformers award for FAVOURITE MOVIE OF THE YEAR
La La Land
For the second time Damien Chazelle delivers my favourite movie of the year. La La Land is a love letter to old Hollywood, theatre and jazz, that also dives into the darker side of following a career in the arts and the trials and tribulations on those who try. In this sense, La La Land carries on from Chazelle's previous work Whiplash, but this time from a different perspective, that of the charming aspiring actress Emma Stone and hardcore Jazz enthusiast, musician Ryan Gosling, as opposed to the single minded and brooding Miles Teller. By focussing on these two charismatic leads, the film emits a more positive tone, giving us more of a song and dance, while still climaxing in a multilayered emotional ending, inviting the audience to decide if everything ended up a success or tragedy. La La Land's more surreal nature allows it to go further than the grounded-in-reality Whiplash by giving us an alternative ending within the film's running time, further challenging the audience to decide what defines success and failure in life.
Oh and the musical numbers are catchy as all hell too ;)
Runners Up:
Logan
Hacksaw Ridge
Spider-man Homecoming
LAST YEAR'S PREDICTIONS!
Let's see how I did with my predictions from last year!!
1. La La Land to be my film of the year. Yes, I have the right year this time.
Yup, indeed it was. 1/1
2. Power Rangers to be the worst thing that comes out this year. Pulls in around the $300m mark but gets completely slated critically.
Nope, wrong on all 3 counts. I actually gave it a 7/10, it made $146m and reviews mere mixed to good. 0/3
3. Ghost in the Shell to do well at the box office, outperforming Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, but Valerian will be the much better movie.
Wrong again on both counts. Valerian pulled in $225m against Ghost's $169m and I hated Ghost SLIGHTLY less than Valerian. 0/2
4. xXx Return of Xander Cage kills the franchise for good this time. Performs poorly and reviews even worse. I'll love it.
Totally wrong again. It performed the best in series with $346m and I despised it. 0/2
5. Alien Covenant to be the Alien movie we've been waiting for with unanimous praise.
Wrong again. Critical reception was lukewarm with a 55% audience score on RT and I personally wasn't a fan. 0/1
6. Blade Runner 2049 to be the best reviewed movie of next year, barring perhaps La La Land for us UK folks.
An argument could be made here to give me the point (it was a bit of a vague prediction). IGN gave it film of the year and I gave it a 9/10 so I'll take the point. 1/1
7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to be criticised for just copying the first film completely, bringing nothing new. Will cross $1bn at the box office though and will outgross Transformers 5: The Last Knight and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Pretty on the money here (get it?). Adding nothing new to the formula was certainly a criticism of GOTGv2 and it outgrossed both Transformers 5 ($605m) and Pirates 5 ($794m), but it did fall short of the $1bn mark with $863m. 2/3
8. Justice League will be better than Suicide Squad and BvS, but will still be considered an unbalanced mess with a forgettable villain, awful pacing and bloated run time.
Yes! Mainly.... Thanks to a botched surgery in post production the edit ended up being a little shorter, cutting out everything Zack Snyder shot. 2/3
9. Spider-man Homecoming will be a huge success, with critics saying it's the best standalone superhero film since The Dark Knight.
Nearly, I was a little excited when I wrote that. It certainly was a huge success both commercially and critically but the Dark Knight comparison was a bit off. 1/2
10. Logan to be dangerously close to superhero film of the year but be let down by a few ridiculous and distracting over the top superhero set pieces, similar to how the giant robot samurai destroyed The Wolverine.
Thankfully, not quite. Although as mentioned earlier the comic booky villain almost let it down in a similar fashion to the giant robot samurai, but it didn't and it was my superhero film of the year. 0/1
TOTAL: 7/19
I need to make less vague predictions!
2018'S PREDICTIONS!
1. Jurrasic World: Fallen Kingdom will be laughably bad.
2. Bumblebee will be loved by audiences, will revitalise interest in the Transformers franchise.
3. Deadpool 2 outgrosses both X-Men: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants put together.
4. Disney announce a Fantastic Four animated movie.
5. Tomb Raider to be the worst film of the year for me, gets slated critically.
6. Alita: Battle Angel to be a massive financial disaster, potentially the biggest flop of the year.
7. Solo to be criticised for adding nothing worthwhile to the Star Wars mythos and being 'pointless'.
8. Aquaman to be pushed back to 2019.
9. Del Toro's The Shape of Water to be my film of the year.
10. Avengers: Infinity War is everything we hope for. Highest grossing movie of the year.
Cheers everyone! Catch you again on the 31st December 2018 to talk about how great Bumblebee was ;)
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