Ben-Hur (1959)

For a film as old and as famous as Ben-Hur, I was expecting fewer surprises.

It's as long as expected, but for the most part doesn't feel like it, because there's more plot than I thought; it's more subtle and even-handed, politically, than I thought it would be; and it's got a lot more Jesus than I expected, as he shows up periodically to give someone a drink or wander around on a hill in the background, always shot from the back so you can only see his magnificent hair.

He's always accompanied by an organ swell, too, just to make sure you know it's really Him.

Rogue One

I love Star Wars.

The Empire Strikes Back is probably my favourite film of all time. I mean, sure, I was burned by the prequels, I'm not the hugest fan of The Force Awakens, and I think Return of the Jedi is actually more than a little bit rubbish, but I love Star Wars.

I hated Rogue One.

The Thing (1982)

Waaay late to the party on this one; I've owned The Thing on BluRay for about two years, but I only finally got around to watching it last night, after seeing a bunch of people on Twitter talking about it in relation to an allegedly-anachronistic reference in the Netflix show Stranger Things.

It's been a journey.

Anyway, we watched it, and #controversialopinion time: The Thing isn't really that great.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition)

When Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (I'm not going to bother typing the full title again) was released to a critical savaging, my interest level in it leapt dramatically upwards. I wasn't a huge fan of Man of Steel, and I don't know that I've seen a Zack Snyder film that I thought was particularly good (though Watchmen probably comes closest), but there's something much more compelling to me about a grand, glorious catastrophe.

But as the venom for Dawn of Justice faded, so, too, did my urge to see it, and I ultimately never got around to watching the thing theatrically. But now the alleged Ultimate Edition is out, and the talk online was that it actually wasn't bad - so, I figured, why not.

Now, I've still not seen the theatrical cut, so comparisons aren't possible - but I figured that it'd be interesting going into the "director's cut" without any baggage (well, aside from the trailers, and the aforementioned critical mauling)... but I can easily see how a hacked-down version of this could have been terrible.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition... is.

Warcraft: The Beginning

There are probably two major barriers to entry on Warcraft, and characters with names like Gul'dan, Khadgar, and Medivh only represent one of them; the other one, and perhaps the bigger of the two hurdles, is that there's just too much here to fit into a two-hour movie.

The opening is breakneck, throwing characters, locations, and names around with enthusiastic abandon, but without really introducing any of them. It's a shame, because there are some valiant attempts at character work scattered throughout, but a huge amount of development feels missing - it often feels like they've left fast-forward on for long sections, as we whizz through (or, more often, past) the "craft" part for the sake of getting to the "war".

Full disclosure: I was a big WoW player for about seven or eight years, from just after launch in 2007 to about midway through Cataclysm. In that time, I was something of a lore fiend, and went so far as to read several of the tie-in novels. The point being, I already had some idea of what the plot of Warcraft was going to be before I even got close to booking a ticket.

I have no idea how confusing this film must be for someone without that reference point.

The Jungle Book

Lots of people have a nostalgic attachment to Disney’s first take on The Jungle Book, but I'm not one of them; there are a couple of catchy songs in there, but there’s not a whole lot in the way of story, or even characters. So I thought it was an odd choice for a live-action remake, but the fact that there’s so much space to fill in means that on reflection, it probably makes more sense than Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid.

And it really works - the script fleshes out the world and the characters, and builds a more robust plot with actual stakes. The credits describe it as "based on the books by Rudyard Kipling", so perhaps the changes come from this being a more accurate adaptation, but either way, it's a much better story than the 1967 version.

X-MEN: Apocalypse

For the most part, movie versions of comic book properties have largely avoided the convoluted continuity that’s always been (for me) the biggest barrier to reading comic books. With the ongoing success of the MCU, however - and to a lesser extent, Deadpool and Batman v Superman - we’re starting to see more and more characters forming larger and larger teams.

The X-MEN franchise's ownership by Fox means that (for now) Avengers crossovers are off the table - but there have been a LOT of X-Men over the years, and X-MEN: Apocalypse wants to play with them all.

To that end, it brings back most of the First Class/Days of Future Past roster (Xavier, Magneto, Mystique, Beast, Havok, Quicksilver), along with the titular Apocalypse; joining them are new versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Angel, plus cinematic newcomers Psylocke, Jubilee, and Caliban.

Most of these characters have very little to do; aside from Magento, Apocalypse's horsemen serve the same basic function as set decoration.

Jubilee's entire contribution is taking Nightcrawler to the mall.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Yeah.... I’m a little bit late. The Force Awakens released on Blu-Ray in April, but I hadn’t seen it since it opened theatrically in December, and yesterday seemed as good a time as any to revisit.

The reason I put off rewatching it for so long was….

Okay, so a little bit of personal history: the high bar for Star Wars, walking into The Force Awakens, was The Empire Strikes Back, which is probably my favourite movie. When The Phantom Menace was still in production, I avoided pretty much everything about it (only to be spoiled by the soundtrack listing - thanks a lot, Qui-Gon’s Noble End), only to be horribly disappointed.

Two days before Attack of the Clones was released, I read the screenplay, which is the clearest demonstration I can come up with for how much The Phantom Menace had damaged my affection for the franchise.

The Force Awakens was going to be different, though - the first new “main series” Star Wars in a decade, with not just a new director, but one who was a self-professed fan. Even watching Abrams’ Star Trek, he seemed like he’d be a better fit for a galaxy far, far away….

Captain America: Civil War

It's good.

Really, really good.

...I guess I need more than that?  Okay, then...

Captain America: Civil War isn't just a sequel to Age of Ultron, although it is that as well; it's also a sequel to The Winter Soldier and The Avengers - even Ant-Man, to an extent. It's the first Marvel movie that seems to really reward - if not outright rely on - knowing who all these guys are, and if you've skipped any of the four movies mentioned above, you might find yourself a little confused.

Especially by Vision.

Having said that, it does a pretty good job of re-establishing who people are and how they relate, without getting bogged down in retreading stuff you already know if you rewatched the lead-up recently.

I'm going to try and avoid spoiling anything, but be warned - if you want to go in blind, all you need to know is this:

It's good.

Really, really good.

The Road to Civil War - Avengers: Age of Ultron

With Captain America: Civil War less than a week away (for the UK; two, if you’re Stateside), I’ve gone back to rewatch some of the MCU movies leading up to it. The most directly-related, I figure, are Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble), Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, so those are the ones I’m going to be looking at. It’s been a while since I’ve seen most of these, so it’s interesting to revisit them with a new perspective: both the passage of time, and the knowledge of just how successful Marvel’s grand cinematic experiment actually turned out to be.

I previously reviewed Age of Ultron for this blog, but it's interesting to go back to it - both with a little bit of hindsight, and the lead-up movies fresh in mind.

Ultimately, Age of Ultron is a movie that I feel a little bit conflicted about; a lot of the sequences are great, and the dialogue is solid, zingy Whedon, but some of the character beats still feel odd, even if nothing is outright wrong.

This is now the third time I've seen it, and having previously watched it with the commentary track on, I think I understand better what Age of Ultron is attempting - even if I'm not sure it succeeded on all counts.

The Road to Civil War - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

With Captain America: Civil War less than a week away (for the UK; two, if you’re Stateside), I’ve gone back to rewatch some of the MCU movies leading up to it. The most directly-related, I figure, are Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble), Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, so those are the ones I’m going to be looking at. It’s been a while since I’ve seen most of these, so it’s interesting to revisit them with a new perspective: both the passage of time, and the knowledge of just how successful Marvel’s grand cinematic experiment actually turned out to be.

Much has been made of Steve Rogers' status as the man out of time; a guy from a simpler time, with simpler values. Usually, this is to show how a more straightforward, black-and-white, right-and-wrong attitude is better. And yeah, Steve always tries to do The Right Thing; but a Good Guy Doing Good Things isn't interesting - the core of good storytelling is conflict - so the question with The Winter Soldier is, how do you make Steve Rogers conflicted?

The Road to Civil War - The Avengers (Avengers Assemble)

With Captain America: Civil War less than a week away (for the UK; two, if you’re Stateside), I’ve gone back to rewatch some of the MCU movies leading up to it. The most directly-related, I figure, are Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble), Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, so those are the ones I’m going to be looking at. It’s been a while since I’ve seen most of these, so it’s interesting to revisit them with a new perspective: both the passage of time, and the knowledge of just how successful Marvel’s grand cinematic experiment actually turned out to be.

It’s hard to imagine, after four years and over a billion dollars, a time when The Avengers seemed like a risky proposition - but even with the successes of Iron Man, Thor, and The First Avenger, a team-up movie on this scale was a big gamble. Getting Nerd God Joss Whedon to take the helm helped build up a lot of good will, though - after if anyone could handle an ensemble this outlandish, it was going to be Whedon.

So out it came, and the rest is incredibly profitable history. Marvel cemented themselves as a box-office force to be reckoned with, letting them run wild with their weirder properties and led us to the five-year slate of releases ahead, including Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel - all of which would have been completely unimaginable a few years ago.

So, the gamble paid off - in just about every way. The Avengers Assembled, and to a great reception.

So, four years and six more movies later, how does it stand up?

The Road to Civil War - Captain America: The First Avenger

With Captain America: Civil War a week away (for the UK; two, if you’re Stateside), I’ve gone back to rewatch some of the MCU movies leading up to it. The most directly-related, I figure, are Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble), Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. It’s been a while since I’ve seen most of these, so it’s interesting to revisit them with a new perspective: both the passage of time, and the knowledge of just how successful Marvel’s grand cinematic experiment actually turned out to be.

When Captain America: The First Avenger was initially released, I liked it, but less than I wanted to. It had most of the ingredients - the performances are pretty universally great, especially Chris Evans’ earnest, noble Steve Rogers, and the script has all the wit and character that are Marvel’s hallmarks - but I remember leaving the cinema with a sense of airlessness, a lack of gravity to the whole thing, like there was never any real feeling of threat.

Part of that I put down to director Joe Johnson, whose 1991 movie The Rocketeer - which also revolves around an average-guy-turned-hero fighting nazis in the 1940s - left me with a similar lack of more visceral excitement. Maybe before, I just wasn’t paying attention, though - The First Avenger is better than I remembered.

A lot better.

Doctor Strange (teaser trailer)

The first teaser for Doctor Strange is out:

I can't remember the last time I was awestruck by a trailer. I mean, yeah, Cumberbatch sounds a little more... Gregory House than I expected, but but... holy hell, this looks incredible.

Mad Max: Fury Road

I am not what you'd call a Mad Max fan. I never saw the original three growing up, at the early- or pre-teen age that seems to be when most of my generation developed a fondness for them; my awareness of Mad Max as a character or a movie phenomenon was largely through the zeitgeist - all I really knew was that it was a weird, car-obsessed post-apocalyptic action franchise.  Then, when the Fury Road hype started to build (and, let's face it, those visuals), I decided it was probably time I had a look.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a good movie. It's a hell of a lot of fun, with some great set-pieces, and zippy dialogue; but it has a few problems, too, which mean it fails to elevate itself to Avengers Assemble heights.

Some spoilers follow, but I'll try to keep things as safe as possible.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I enjoyed the spectacle of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, though I don't think The Two Towers or Return of the King impressed me quite to the degree that The Fellowship of the Ring managed.  My main memory of leaving the cinema after Fellowship was thinking how great the Balrog had been, but Towers and King really just felt like More Of The Same; having read the books, the story was no surprise, and so all there really was left was the grand visuals (and Andy Serkis' phenomenal Gollum).

Enter the Hobbit.

The Dark Knight Rises

Forests' worth of writing has already been done on this subject, no doubt, and I'm not sure how much there really is to say.  I've been a huge fan of Nolan's take on Batman from the beginning, and despite a few minor flaws, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are way, way up on my list of movies I could watch repeatedly forever.

The Dark Knight Rises (or TDKR from here on out) is the last of Nolan's trilogy, and picks up 8 years after the death of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight.  Thanks to laws passed in Dent's name, Gotham is cleaner than it's ever been, but Jim Gordon is still torn up a bit by the lie he and Batman fabricated to keep Dent's name clean.

The Bourne Ultimatum

Thanks to page four of G2 in today's Guardian, got to see the third installment of Matt Damon's powerhouse Bourne franchise a couple of days early, and for free.

And I really don't know what to say.

A Scanner Darkly

This is one of those movies I wanted to see at the cinema, but never got round to. I think, in retrospect, it was better to have seen it on a TV, because this is a seriously weird film. 

Even now, I'm not quite sure what happens in it, but I'll be damned if it doesn't look amazing. The colours, the lines, the slight distortion of moving objects all combine with the general confusion of both the plot and that the characters are experiencing in a great way. I'm definitely going to have to watch it again, when I'm a bit more awake, and see if I can make more sense of it.