2016 The Year of Films [May]

Onto May. Here is the list of films I've watched this month. Click here to go to the year index.

01. Captain America: Civil War [Cinema] (01.05.16)
Very well handled, from motivations to screen time and direction. Loved the new guys and the interactions between them all. Awesome film.

02. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (02.05.16)
A film of three very distinct parts. They are all fantastic parts that form a very odd jigsaw. From hard action to Peter Pan; it's tone swings but then from Mad Max what can we expect (or trust).

03. No Country for Old Men (06.05.16)
A anti action film of sorts. Very well put together but missing the parts that would make it a action film. There are no big shoot-outs shown, but the film is full of tension and drama. The plot is creative and well told but in a way where they leave a fair bit out and you have to infer a lot.

04. From Up On Poppy Hill [Ghibli] (07.05.16)
First Ghibli film I've seen in a while in English. Its in the same vain as 'Only Yesterday' and 'Whisper of the Heart', funny at times and very emotional, with a well paced story, beautiful visuals and music. Loved it.

05. Moon (08.05.16)
A few small (and somewhat rare) SIFI ideas smashed together to make a nice little film. Not mind blowing but well executed in plot and direction. Bad dated CGI but the music and sets were great. Not a fan of the background science but at least it was mainly window dressing to hang the plot upon.

06. The Wind Rises [Ghibli] (13.05.16)
Hayao Miyazaki's last film. A sad tale of a aeronautical engineer as he goes through life pre war making planes for the war to come. Some nice touches like the voice acted sound effects and the dream parts. Looks and sounds beautiful.

07. Predator (20.05.16)
Some very cool effects for its time and the Predator is well realised. The are some hard to follow action scenes; it was shot of firing - reverse shot of explosion, not very engaging. Over all I like the tone of the film and it dose a good job of letting small details tell the story.

08. Pitch Black (21.05.16)
Holds up well, some dodgy effects on the creatures but Riddick's vision effect was still cool. The edit felt off like with BatVSup it was a bit rushed. Nice little sifi romp with some good character moments between the great action. The best thing by far was the visual style and some of the shots were beautiful.

09. Know Your Ally: Britain (28.05.16)
A American documentary from 1944, very much a propaganda piece that show them who they are fighting with and it also is a response to Nazi propaganda designed to feed discord. Very interesting look into history and at how we are perceived by the Americans, very staged and a bit too nice but it was a fun watch. [LINK]

10. Rogue Farm [Short] (29.05.16)
Based on a work by Charles Stross its a short animation of life after loosing a apocalyptic alien invasion. The is a fair bit to it; from the nature of aliens, to Human singularity's and the evolution of the conciousness past the need of a  body. Some nice shots but the character models and animations is very dated. Nice look and feel to it overall.


A slow month I would have liked to have watched more but the was some quality. Best? From up on Poppy Hill