Cinematic Shame... with a "Stay Positive!" Twist

Year in Review. Every day a new wrap-up. Tonight, the "worst" of the year... 

Since we are absolutely determined to make 2017 the greatest year it could possibly be despite oppressive circumstances, let this post serve as last call for excessive negativity. Get it all out of your system in the comments, mkay? We'll also put a positive spin on these dubious "awards" for ungreat things at the movie theaters this year... 

WORST OPENING SCENE(S)
Hacksaw Ridge begins with such overworked hokey cartoonish Americana and Andrew Garfield plays his eventual pacifist hero as such a Forrest Gump style village idiot that it's something of a miracle that the movie becomes a surprisingly watchable war drama thereafter.

Even Garfield manages to turn his initially quite awful (sorry) performance around in the final hour of the film. I personally haven't seen a decent / good movie start so much like it was a terrible movie since Juno, have you?

WORST MIDDLE
Suicide Squad is so inept that it never gets past character introductions. Criticisms that it was just a movie trailer with a real movie running time proved to have deadlier aim than Will Smith's Deadshot.

Best Acting in Bad Movies, and other "Honors" after the jump.... 

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Yes No Maybe So? "Spider-Man: Homecoming"

By Nathaniel R

Spider-Man longs to be on top. But there are still more Batman movies.You might safely be asking 'why do we need a sixth Spider-Man movie in fifteen years?' The answer is of course 'We don't.' But an equally correct answer might be 'We don't... but Tom Holland! The correct comic pitch. Marvel Studios is finally involved... at least in some capacity. Etcetera'

If you answered the question the first way, chances are you're a "no" sight unseen. We would've been in that camp but for the fact that we kept campaigning for Tom Holland to get the part (his incredible work in The Impossible was enough) without actually believing that he would get the part. So now we must keep an open mind.

If you answered the hypothetical question the second way chances are you've probably already seen this new Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer. Either way we'll break it down together via our Yes No Maybe So survey...

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Oscar's Visual Effects Race, Round One

This just in... The Academy will narrow down the list of possibilities in Visual Effects on a couple of weeks to ten films but they've cobbled together the initial list of 20 semi-finalists. Along with all six superhero films of the year, the presumed frontrunner The Jungle Book is accounted for as is one animated picture - Kubo and the Two Strings. Kubo isn't the first animated picture to make the bakeoffs but only one has ever been nominated for the Oscar in this category (The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993).

The complete lists of finalists, Oscar trivia, and the films that didn't make the cut are after the jump...

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Doctor Strange and the Comic Book Movie Dilemma

by Deborah Lipp

I have a pet peeve about comic book movies, and Professor Spouse is sick of hearing it, so I’m imposing on you all. When Professor Spouse and I got back from seeing Dr. Strange, I said, “I have one* complaint—it’s an origin story.” She said, “I knew you would say that.” 

*Well, only one complaint that is the subject of this essay.

The fundamental problem in comic book movies is the shift into a different medium, though in many ways the mediums are a natural fit...

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Box Office: Doctor Strange, A Man Called Ove, and More...

What did you see this weekend?

The bulk of the moviegoing nation went to either Doctor Strange (reviewed) or Trolls as expected. Doctor Strange's nearly 85 million is a major success for Marvel Studios, though weaker than the Guardians of the Galaxy launch it was quite a lot stronger than the Ant-Man launch. It's already earned over $325 million globally. When is Marvel going to have their first flop? It seems a long way off, doesn't it? 

The top 10 wide and limited charts and notes on other pictures after the jump... 

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