The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Another outstanding and original modern day morality fable by Yorgos Lanthimos inspired by the Euripides' "Iphigenia in Aulis". Highly macabre and deeply disturbing, but yet tinged with the bleakest of black humour in its harrowing - yet darkly honest - exploration of humanity, family, parenthood and responsibility. Led by a suitably restrained Colin Farrell and a chillingly haunting, top-formed, Nicole Kidman, with a breakout performance by Barry Keoghan. The film was also enhanced by the eclectic and aptly fitting, atmospheric music/score by sound designer Johnnie Burns and Lathimos, and the visual cinematography of Thimios Bakatakis.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

As part of the Star Wars franchise, this was a great entry into the mythos with major character developments coupled with good action, narrative twists and emotional relevance. However, objectively, as a film, it was poorly acted (still looking at you three Daisy Ridley the blank, Adam Driver the petulant pout and John Boyega the stare) and ham-fistedly scripted, riding on the goodwill of the fan base to cover up the lack of emotional resonance, multiple plot holes and contrivances and heavy handed mythology exposition - too much tell, too little show, Rian Johnson. And as cute as the Porgs were, it was too much blatant merchandising branding by Disney. At least we had Laura Dern, Benicio del Toro and Oscar Isaac, some gorgeous cinematography by Steve Yedlin (one moment at the end of the Second Act was simply...WOW!) and another great score by John Williams. "The Last Jedi" clearly moved the pieces to prep the stage for a potentially great finale, and with JJ Abrams back at the helm it should not disappoint. Here's hoping.

Murder on the Orient Express

A competently directed and beautifully shot film by Kenneth Branagh that did not veer too much from Agatha Christie's source material. A refreshing take of a classic story that engages but never really hooked the audience. And if not for the strong ensemble of veteran thespians holding this film up, it would surely have not been as entertaining especially since the younger actors were general disappointments (with the exception of breakout actor Tom Bateman) as their obvious inexperience were starkly apparent when compared directly opposite the likes of Branagh, Dame Judi Dench, Olivia Coleman, Derek Jacobi, William Dafoe and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Branagh and writer Michael Green managed to inject some originality and freshness to this (mostly) familiar story but despite Branagh's eye for staging, blocking and mood, he never really managed to capture that elusive hook that made this improbable Christie's story so gripping in text. There was a lack of climatic excitement and the urgency of solving a murder which made the book such a page-turner.

Similarly, compared to superior 1974 version - which had an all round star-studded and competent actors - this version lacked the suspense and a genuine sense of whodunnit even despite knowing the source material.

Branagh managed to ensemble a great cast of named-stars both veterans and up-and-comers. However, as aforementioned, the younger cast members could not hold their own against these established, and academy award winners and nominees. Every actor has a scene whereby they are the focus and it was so stark the difference between how veterans like Dench, Dafoe, Coleman, Jacobi commanded the screen compared to the blatant acting of young ones like Daisy Ridley, Leslie Odom Jr, Lucy Boynton and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. If only Branagh - and his odd accent - could have cast or directed these younglings better.

Kudos to cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos and composer Patrick Doyle for providing excellent craft support that bolstered the film.

Now, as we wait for the sequel Death on the Nile, hopefully if Branagh returns to direct, he will have improved on the short-comings of this production.

Coco

An absolute crowd-pleaser  for the whole family. Pixar has done it again with a four-quadrant winner that resonated across generations and culture. It may not be as (pseudo)-intellectual as Inside Out but it definitely pack a great emotional punch especially in its third act, with a strong story line on the evergreen theme of family vs self and obligation vs passions that never turned schmaltzy. Great voice work all around in particular Anthony Gonzalez and Gael Garcia Bernal, with great music and score from Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the duo that gave us the hits from Frozen, and Michael Giacchino who is back - at last - with a mariachi-tinged score that delivered on the emotional journey.

Directed by Lee Unkrich, who also gave us the last real Pixar tearjerker, Toy Story 3, Coco continued Pixar's animation technological supremacy. The film was gorgeous to behold and tiny nuances like the translucency of the skin, the glow of candle light and the luminosity of the alebrijes, especially Pepita's - oh Pepita! - are mesmerising. The animation is fluid and never distracting.

The main story itself was simple, and Unkrich told it efficiently but yet without ever holding back anything. At a brisk 109 minutes, the only letdown was the slightly draggy second act as well as the predictability (for an adult perhaps?) of the finale. However, the emotional sincerity of our lead character Miguel held steady throughout and helped to sell the story, predictability and all which led to very, very strong third act and finale that will surely tug at the heartstrings of even the meanest scrooge. And for most, tears will be inevitable. But the tears were well-earned.

Coco proved that Pixar (and to a smaller extent, Disney) can still create wondrous, original content instead of just money-making, merchandising-selling sequels. In addition, well-thought out characters that have rich, emotional depth will always connect with the audience.

Key to the success also laid in the music and the Lopez have definitely nailed it with the potential Best Song nominee Remember Me. Giacchino has also found his groove back with a great score, echoing the success he had back in his last collaboration with Pixar for Inside Out. Hope he can continue this collaborative streak in The Incredible 2.

Coco is definitely the animation to beat this year for the Best Animation Oscar. And I daresay it should even have a shot, albeit a very long one, in this year's wide-open Best Picture race if for nothing else but its optimistic outlook and attitude on love and acceptance - elements sorely lacking in the world these days.

Justice League

An entertaining film that brought some laughs and some serviceable action, but ultimately felt like a wannabe Avengers. Although a definite improvement over the travesty that was Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, it was still far from the (overrated) high bar of Wonder Woman. The film rushed through its introduction of the new characters leaving most of the newbies as one-dimensional freaks with gifts, and the primary conflict itself suffered from a paper-thin villain and a drastic lack of urgency and gravitas.

Justice League also suffered from being tonally unevenly throughout its near 2-hours run, and it was clear that there were more than one pair of hands involved in the creation of this film. From the hyper-realistic and over-stylised shots of Zack Snyder to the oddly more intimate and less grandoise moments by (likely) Joss Whedon; similarly, for every zinger and witty repartee, there were ten equally eye-rolling clunkers and clumsy bantering.

Wonder woman remained the most interesting character with Superman a close second; similarly Gal Gadot and Henry Cavill were both very charismatic and embodied their characters, especially Cavill who should consider venturing into comedy more. Ben Affleck is better as Bruce Wayne rather than as Batman; Jason Momoa made Aquaman a film worth looking forward to. Unfortunately, Ezra Miller's maniacal, child-like, Barry Allen was made to be too much of a wisecracker and it bordered on being annoying (and after 4 years on TV, CW's Grant Gustin's The Flash somehow still seemed a better fit for the character), his lacked of backstory definitely also did not help; same for Ray Fisher's Cyborg who remained a cipher. I don't feel like I want to know more about the last two superheroes.

The action sequences were rather messy (very unlike Snyder) and were not as well shot or choreographed, but at least they did not drag on for longer than necessary. But even then, it lack the awe and spectacle that one has come to expect of superhero franchises (blame it on Marvel). Worse of all, the final fight lacked the money-moment where you would expect all the heroes to come together (preferably in a single frame) to defeat the villain (see: Avengers I and II). Which was a shame, as that is what fans wanted to see.

Danny Elfman seemed to have lost his mojo and turned out another lacklustre and unmemorable score. When was his last good score? 2006's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? 2008's Milk? Or  2010's Alice in Wonderland?

Fabian Wagner was the cinematographer for the film and he at least used a few interesting shots to capture the characters and his action. It will be interesting to see how he progresses from television work (albeit the cinematic Sherlock and Game of Thrones franchises) to the large screen.

I am glad I did not fork out the extra for IMAX or 3D and I am not sure if the latter will be actually worth it.

Stay till the end for both a cheeky, unrelated, mid-credits scene and a do-we-really-want-it? post-credits scene.

Justice League was better than expected, and despite Whedon having a hand in it, the DCEU is still unable to climb out of the doldrums of its own making. But at least Wonder Woman still slays.

The Mountain Between Us

The seemingly impossible has happened. There was nary a spark of romantic chemistry between both Kate Winslet and Idris Elba. Who knew that that would have been possible between these two gorgeous people. Coupled that non-chemistry with a survival-in-the-wilderness film that lacked realism and grit, this film ended being as frigid as the mountain our two leads were stranded on. 

The lack of chemistry between Winslet and Elba was not only in the romantic side of things, but also in general. The weak script left much to be desired as bantering gave way to heavy-handedness and Nicholas Sparks-ian dialogue. Unfortunately, as the main stars of the film, these two heavyweight actors did not work.

The first fifteen minutes showed potential, as director Hany Abu-Assad effectively set the premise, but from then on, the 112 minutes film just dragged on with many languid moments of waiting and longing and trudging through snow. Abu-Assad and writers Chris Weitz and J Mills Goodloe were egregiously guilty of telling way too much rather than showing. The stars' lack of chemistry, Ramin Djawadi's uninspired score and Mandy Walker's only occasionally beautiful cinematography (it definitely ain't near Emmanuel Lubezki's gorgeous snowscape in The Revenant or Roger Deakin's stark bleakness in Fargo) did not help to unleaden the bloated run time.

Abu-Assad's decision to not inject realism in this survival tale was extremely distracting and absolutely did affect the appreciation of the narrative and the characters' predicament. Winslet's silky billowy hair, and her near-flawless makeup throughout was unbelievable; as was the seemingly lack of visible physical changes in the stars' appearance (come on, the magic of CGI and hair/makeup?). 

All of the above really affected the urgency and realism of the film and the genre (look at the dedication of similar genre films like Everest, or even The Lost City of Z). The lack of urgency really just failed to ignite any sort of passion or empathy in the audience. 

All that together just made the events unfolding on-screen seemingly eye-rollingly unbelievable and ridiculous.

The unnecessarily long epilogue did not help to end the film on a bright note too.

It is unfortunate that both Winslet and Elba ended with such a dud. Winslet had moments - brief ones - where she showed glimpses of award-winning calibre acting; whereas Elba failed to excite anybody of his chances to be the next Bond or even Doctor.

This film could have been so much more if they had just embraced the poppy aspect of the premise, instead of trying to make it more elevated than it actually is. The film failed to excite me to want to read the original source novel.

Suburbicon

A typical Coen brothers black-comedic opera that, unfortunately, under George Clooney's direction ended up being neither dark nor funny. What Clooney gave us was instead a messy juggling of a pseudo-murder mystery and a socio-political satire that lacked subtlety and finesse; the former being eye-rollingly ridiculous and the latter being narratively incoherent and irrelevant. Clooney even managed to mangle Alexandre Desplat's score with odd musical cues. The film was only saved by the brilliant - and only truly darkly comedic - Julianne Moore, who - yet again - beautifully embodied the persona of a 50s housewife, and also by the brief comedic turn of third-billed Oscar Issac.

Suburbicon, as a film, had nothing new to say. It seemingly wanted to comment on white-privilege, racial discrimination and maybe even political hypocrisy, but none of those messages were coherently translated on to the screen. Throughout the film, a big question mark looms over the whole narrative, begging the question "Why?". Why is this scene necessary? Why is this happening? Why are they so stupid? Why is Clooney doing it this way?

The problem is not that the characters are dumb or that coincidences conveniently deus ex machina everything, but in how the story unfolded. On more capable hands, such contrivances can work brilliantly, see the Coen brothers' own Burn After Reading or Fargo (or even Noah Hawley's terrific TV version). However, Clooney may have been overly ambitious and bit off more than he could chew with trying to make the plot seemingly more current and more political than it should have been.

Matt Damon - known best friend of Clooney - may not have been the best first choice to lead this dark comedy. His performance lacked the subtle maniac oddness that would have elevated the lead character. On the other hand, Moore fiercely embodied that campy madness and she stood out so much more for that role.

Damon and Moore were incompatibly matched, both in terms of oddball craziness and romantic chemistry. The one and a half scene between Moore and Issac, on the other hand, was sizzling and electrifying to watch as they both gleefully chewed - and chewed and chewed - on the scenery.

Young actor Noah Jupe was competent enough - and cute enough - but he was no Jacob Trembly in Room.

Desplat scored the film and, as aforementioned, the score throughout the film was jarring and annoying. And it was only during the end credits can you properly appreciate Desplat. Robert Elswit lensing gave the film an authentic 50/60s vibe but none of the scenes really stood out.

Suburbicon had potential and perhaps if co-writers Clooney and Grant Heslow (also a co-producer) left the Coen brothers' script alone, the outcome might have been tighter, cleaner and less muddled.