March is coming to an end in roughly a week and a half. With it the first quarter of 2017 will be closing as well.
Cinematically I typically spend the first quarter of the year finishing up what I need to see from last year and seeing some mediocre releases. There are obvious exceptions to this. The Witch & 10 Cloverfield Lane from 2016, Kingsman: The Secret Service from 2015, and The Lego Movie & The Grand Budapest Hotel from 2014 are all great examples of first quarter stand outs.
I must admit 2017 brought me not one, not two, but four stand out releases. Split, A Cure For Wellness, Logan, and Kong: Skull Island all were exciting adventures in moviegoing for 2017.
Let’s start with M. Night Shyamalan’s Split. Yes you read that right M. Night Shyamalan. I could do an entire blog on how much I’m enjoying this low budget/high story portion of his career with The Visit and Split. The film centers around three teens kidnapped by a man suffering from multi personality disorder. James McAvoy portrayed the central character in a well written and cleverly directed film. It also tied in very nicely into the Unbreakable film universe. It was hard for me to settle into my seat with this film as I was on the edge of it for a lot of this movie.
Moving on, A Cure For Wellness came out next. If you want to see a well thought out psychological thriller look no further then this one. It’s very atmospheric with a slow burn in the thrills. In that way it reminded me a lot of Dario Argento’s 1977 Suspiria.
Logan was released in early March and as for comic book movies this one is one of the best. It plays like a western and explores a lot of ideas that fascinated me. Chief among those ideas was what Charles Xavier’s mind looks like as it fails him. The action sequences were few and far between, all of which were well crafted. In between a story developed that was very compelling. It introduced new characters into the film universe that were interesting and very well developed.
The fourth film that was mind blowing to me was Kong: Skull Island. The film showed Kong as an incredible hero. The characters and visuals were both very well crafted. Combing that with a well written story the film is one not to be missed.
I must give an honorable mention to The Lego Batman Movie. It was simply a lot of fun to watch.
With all that said I look forward to what the rest of 2017 brings.
