‘Phil’s Quick Capsule Review’ (a nod to legendary comedian Bill Hicks who coined the phrase when he reviewed ‘Piece Of Shit’ movie Basic Instinct)… where a perfect 10 is rarer than a rain free British summer!
Written by Phil Hobden – UK based podcaster, writer and former filmmaker. Part of the All Things Film network…
Phil’s Quick Capsule Review: 1917 is a technical masterpiece. Director Sam Mendes alongside cinematographer Roger Deakins take a well worn genre and put a new spin on it with a clever one shot motif that adds a sense of drama. The films strength maybe also be it’s one weakness however as for me a certain tension get’s lost and the passage of time feels both tricked and, at times, laboured. That said 1917 is still a brilliant film, with expertly placed action, shocks and spills and a whose who of British actor cameos. Mendes finally redeems himself for Spectre.
Best Bit: The front line
Cinema, Stream, Avoid: Cinema
If You Liked this Try: Dunkirk, Hacksaw Ridge, Full metal Jacket
Phil Hobden is the former Film Editor & Writer for renowned martial arts focused COMBAT MAGAZINE in the UK. He is also a filmmaker in his own right, having produced two cult Independent action films in LEFT FOR DEAD and TEN DEAD MEN. He was the host for the award nominated Filmsploitation podcast for 4 years, currently co-hosts Ross And Phil Talk Movies and is a writer/editor for his own blog Phil’s Quick Capsule Review…
This episode Ross & Phil Talk… The Oscars That Should & Shouldn’t Have Been!
This episode we jump on the Oscar bandwagon, we give out the very first (and unofficial) Stunt & Action Oscars (the quippyly titled Boscars) and take a look at the best and worst decisions of the academy in our lifetime. All in a special extended 60 minute episode.
Hosted by Award winning Filmmaker Ross Boyask and blogger/writer/failed filmamker Phil Hobden.
Films Discussed: The Departed, The Wolf Of Wall Street, Gladiator, Baby Driver, GI Jane, Brawl In Cell Block 99, Moonlight, Forrest Gump, Goodfellas, Dances With Wolves, Tootsie, Rocky, Room, Titanic, Hacksaw Ridge, Jailbreak, Fate Of The Furious,Trainning Day
#RossAndPhil #RossAndPhilTalkMovies
For more subscribed on iTunes or check out www.philhobden.co.uk
For more on Phil Hobden check out www.philhobden.co.uk For more on Ross Boyask search @RossBoyask on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook
So 2017 is almost over and it’s that time a year again where everyone reflects back on their best and worst films of the year. So we’ve covered our best and our worst films of 2016, so before we look at the films coming up in 2017 here’s my ‘Alternative’ End of Year Awards for 2017…
The Most Entertainingly Bad Film Of The Year Award… Geostorm
The Gerard Butler Award For Consistently Making Entertainingly Terrible Films Gerard Butler (Geostorm)
Surprise of The Year Award… That Any one’s left standing in Hollywood after the year of deaths and scandals…
Performance Of The Year Award… Mark Kermode AGAIN… for his still oddly favourable reviews for his friends movies (see Murder On The Orient Express)
Just Fuck Off and Die Award… Michael Bay & Transformers. Just stop. Now.
Least Deserving Commercial Bomb of The Year (Maybe EVER) Award… Blade Runner 2049
Shit so I still can enjoy these films right, even though their lead/producer/co-star was a pervert/bully/ sex offender/Insert Crime Here Award Baby Driver, Swimming With Sharks, Pulp Fiction, X-Men 2, Toy Story… agh almost ALL my favourite films. God damn you Hollywood.
Come In Your time is Up Award… Zack Snider. You made two good films. EVERYTHING else has been deeply average. TIED with Harvey Weinstein – your a cunt Harvey pure and simple.
Trailer Of The Year Award… Logan Redband Trailer
Let Down of The Year Award… Hollywood. A seething industry of low lives and scum.
Yes it’s Good. But come on people its also a bit Emperors new clothes… Get Out
Low Budget Straight To DVD Surprise of the Year! Shot Caller
The ‘YES! See We don’t Always Fuck Up Award’ DC/Warner Brothers. They Made a Good Film! (Wonder Woman)
Fuck! We Spoke Too Soon Award DC/Warner Brothers for Justice League
Let Down of The Year Award Part 2…. George Romero NOT coming back as a Zombie when he died.
Cameo of The Year Award… Tim Curry’s original Pennywise The Clown in the 2017 version of IT.
The Prove That ‘You Can Come Back from Horrible Shit’ Award (Aka The Future Kevin Spacey Award) Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge, Daddy’s Home 2)
The Oscars only like REALLY famous dead people award for missing out other stars who died Award… Garry Shandling, Florence Henderson, Alexis Arquette, Doris Roberts and Robert Vaughn
The Proof That Award Shows Suck Award… Snubs (Didn’t wins or Not Nominated) for I Daniel Blake, Hunt for The Wilder People, Sing Street, Hell Or High Water, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kubo And The Two Strings, Silence, Amy Adams and many more
The Poof That Award Shows DONT Suck Award… It’s La La Land… No Moonlight… No Titanic… No it’s me. The awards themselves offered few surprises, The Oscars even less, but the best picture cock up at the Academy Awards was pure gold!
The Audience Wins! Award. 2017 Sees LESS remakes/Reboots than ever before. Some still sucked. Flatliners, The Mummy
Not ALL remakes & reboots suck Award… IT 2017. Just awesome.
Yup we just made it for the money award (aka The Sequels Suck) Award… Transformers Age Of Extinction
Films That SHOULD have been on my 2016 List’s but I Hadn’t Seen… The Edge Of Seventeen, The Girl With All The Gifts, Train To Busan, Deepwater Horizon, Kubo & The Two Strings, Sing Street, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, 13th, I Daniel Blake
Next time: Phil’s Look at 2018 and a look back at my 2017 predictions…
So 2017 is almost over and it’s that time a year again where everyone reflects back on their best and worst films of the year.
So first up… the 5 WORST films of 2017. And, as always, there were quite a few to choose from..
Stinker of The Year: Fifty Shades Darker (2017) In Brief: It’s so bad it’s not even fun. Yup Fifty Shades Darker takes off where 50 Shades Of Grey finished – mostly bad script writing, score core S&M and some Movie Channel poor acting. It’s totally amateur and I’m beyond gobsmacked that they made this film, let alone the upcoming sequel. Lets be honest if a film can beat a Michael Bay Transformers film to Worst film it’s pretty bad.
2. Transformers The Last Knight In Brief: Another year this would have romped it home, but few things can beat Fifty Shades in a shit film contest. That said Hopkins slumming it, more Marky Mark and a pointless nonsensical story get’s pretty close.
3. Assassins Creed In Brief: Video name adaptations don’t come more asinine than this. It’s dull, it’s silly, it makes no sense and you stop caring after a few seconds.
4. Underworld Blood War In Brief: The Underworld films have always been little more than OKAY but Blood War was a case of flogging a very dead horse.
5. The Mummy (2017) In Brief: CGI strewn humourless Pants… The Mummy is a hot mess of a film that even the usually robust star power or Cruise couldn’t save. It’s just terrible.
6. The Circle – Boring Netflix drivel
7. Power Rangers – Pointless
8. A Cure For Wellness – Pretentious, long and dull
9. Leatherface – A film you didn’t need or want
10. Hacksaw Ridge – Nice to see Mel back but this was just jingoistic war porn.
Dis-Honourable Mentions:King Arthur Legend Of The Sword , Live By Night, Sing! , The Boss Baby, The Dark Tower , The Limehouse Golem, Justice League
The 2017 Films I just couldn’t Finish: Sleepless, The Ghoul, The Lost City of Z
So this is it… Phil’s Quick Capsule Review & Guests (including podcasters Mike Parkin & Josh Morris, Filmmaker Ross Boyask and Phil’s Quick Capsule Review writers Will Strong & Matt Duddy) LONG list of the xx must see films of 2017
This list will also form the basis of our vote for the Essential Films of 2017.
So how many have YOU seen?
Wind River Paddington 2 Beauty and the Beast Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 La-La Land T2 Trainspotting Baby Driver Raw Happy Death Day Elle The Triangle Spiderman: Homecoming Operation: Mekong Let Her Out Despicable Me 3 Dunkirk A Monster Calls Star Wars The Last Jedi Thor Ragnorok Get Out Lady Macbeth Brawl in Cell Block 99 The Fate of the Furious Hacksaw Ridge Shot Caller
Check back in the next few days for our final list or take the QUIZ HERE To see how many you have seen!
Another year goes by and like very much like 2016 its been a mighty disappointing one for us film geeks.
The blockbuster season (which started in about April) was without doubt the worst i have ever known – littered with remakes, sequels and reboots that proved there is a total lack of any new ideas flowing through Hollywood at the moment. Time and again it seemed that millions of dollars had been simply thrown away on the likes of utter rubbish such The Dark Tower, Valerian, King Arthur and that awful Transformers sequel, with nary a single passing thought to investing in creating proper stories, decent scripts or even a hint at actual risk taking. Instead, for the most part we got nothing more than good looking dross aimed at the 12A moron crowd who wouldn’t know a proper film if it came up and bit them on the arse.
What is painfully obvious is that the film industry as a whole needs to completely take stock, cease trying to create the next expanded universe or indulging talentless idiots like Roland Emmerich, Michael Bay and (whisper it) Luc Besson and start delivering edgy, daring material that at least has a go at being original, thought provoking and dare i say it – not solely aimed at the average 12 year old boy, then maybe we would have a chance of far more satisfying years at the cinema than this one turned out to be.
I will concede that it wasn’t all bad as there were a few shining lights. Logan proved to be the best X-Men film since X2, Dunkirk solidified Christopher Nolan as one of the greatest directors working in Hollywood today, Thor Ragnarok was utterly insane and turned out to be the funniest and most enjoyable standalone film of the MCU universe, Fast 8 was great fun and Star Wars The Last Jedi was fantastic, in addition some smaller more independent films also managed to impress – the likes of Wind River, Manchester By The Sea, Molly’s Game, Lion and A Monster Calls were all top notch. Plus there were some great performances – Chris Evans, Andy Serkis, Adam Driver, Jessica Chastain, Mark Rylance and many others all did very well in challenging and memorable roles that impressed critics and audiences alike.
However, despite this i still have to say that over all this year was sadly a massive let down and one can only hope that 2018 is a significant improvement……we live in hope.
So without further ado please see below my personal list of the good, bad and in many cases very ugly films of 2017.
Top Ten Best
Dunkirk
Thor Ragnarok
Star Wars The Last Jedi
A Monster Calls
Manchester By The Sea
Lion
Spiderman Homecoming
Blade Runner 2049
Logan
War For The Planet of The Apes
Top Ten Honorary Mentions
Wind River
Molly’s Game
Gifted
Wheelman (catch it on Netflix – its great)
Fast 8
Hacksaw Ridge
John Wick Chapter 2
Wonder Woman
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2
The Hitman’s Bodyguard
Top Fifteen Worst:
Transformers:The Last Knight (the cinematic equivalent of being disemboweled with a blunt spoon then slowly and choked to death with ones own entrails – I HATED this film)
Underworld 5 (god-awful rubbish)
XXX3: The Return of Xander Cage (at least 15 years out of date, bereft of entertainment value and utterly juvenile to boot)
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (horribly crass, overlong and an insult to the brilliant original)
The Discovery (torpor inducing nonsense)
The Snowman (considering the talent in front and behind the camera it beggared belief as to how rotten this film was)
Ghost In The Shell (boring and bland in the extreme)
Free Fire (crap)
Unlocked (mega crap)
King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (a misfire and a complete mess of gargantuan proportions)
Silence (Scorsese’s $40 million dollar vanity project that was, without a shadow of a doubt THE most boring cinematic experience I have ever had in my entire life)
The Bye Bye Man (just bad bad bad)
The Dark Tower (a catastrophic waste of time and money – how this version of Stephen King’s classic novels managed to get the green light from the studio I will never know)
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge (Johnny was good value as always but this moribund franchise needs to end with immediate effect)
Assassins Creed (good looking film but could have been so much better)
Top Fifteen Favorite Performances:
Chris Evans – Gifted
Mckenna Grace – Gifted
Hugh Jackman – Logan
Mark Rylance – Dunkirk
Ryan Reynolds – The Hitman’s Bodyguard
Frank Grillo – Wheelman
Jessica Chastain – Molly’s Game
Adam Driver – Star Wars The Last Jedi
Mark Hamill – Star Wars The Last Jedi
Chris Hemsworth – Thor Ragnarok
Jeff Goldblum – Thor Ragnarok
Dwayne Johnson – Fast 8
Chris Pine – Wonder Woman
Andy Serkis – War For The Planet Of The Apes
Tom Holland – Spiderman Homecoming
Top Ten Best Action Scenes:
1.Star Wars The Last Jedi: The final battle – Chewie and Rey arrive in the Falcon in the nick of time
2.Thor Ragnarok – That god almighty scrap on the Bifrost Bridge – all brilliantly played out to Led Zepellin’s classic Immigrant Song
3.Star Wars The Last Jedi – The Throne Room Lightsabre duel
4.Dunkirk: Tom Hardy’s RAF spitfire pilot desperately tries to bring down a German Bomber before it kills scores of soldiers who are stranded the water plus pleasure boat captain Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) and his son Peter -total edge of the seat, nail biting stuff – all together now “Come on Farrier!”
5. Fast 8 – Jason Statham (plus very cute baby) vs an entire plane load of baddies
6. Fast 8 – Dwayne Johnson vs speeding torpedo
7. Wonder Woman – The No Man’s Land dash
8. Spiderman Homecoming – The Washington Monument rescue sequence
9. Justice League – The League’s first proper battle with Steppenwolf and the Para Demons
10. Thor Ragnarok – Thor vs The Hulk
Best One liners:
“Im gonna shove your teeth so far down your throat that your gonna have to shove a toothbrush up your ass to clean ’em!” – Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) – Fast 8
“Im gonna beat you like a Cherokee drum!” Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson – again) – Fast 8
“By the beard of Odin you will not cut my hair!” Thor (Chris Hemsworth) – Thor Ragnarok
“Please kind sir do not cut my hair!” – Thor (Chris Hemsworth) – Thor Ragnarok
“I have legendarily huge turds” – Drax (Dave Bautista) – Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 2
“What the F….!!!!!” Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) Spiderman: Homecoming
Right, there we have it – my work here is done for another year – as ever i would like to thank my dear friend Phil Hobden for letting me contribute to this fantastic website (despite the fact that he is still remains to be utterly wrong about Paul WS Anderson and The Hobbit Trilogy!) and finally my heartfelt thanks go out to all our loyal readers (whoever the hell you are)
I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.
My name is Will Strong and i’ve been Grosse Pointe Geek.
So this is my semi-regularly updated of the BEST and WORST of 2017’s movies, as well as the best films I missed from last year and the Phil’s Quick Capsule Review Sharknado Award.
This will be the LAST Edition until our final end of year Wrap up.
All in my very humble opinion…
BEST Films Of 2017… So Far:
Baby Driver (9/10)
T2 Trainspotting (9/10)
Paddington 2 (9/10)
Raw (9/10)
OJ: Made In America (9/10)
Honourable Mentions:
Blade Runner 2049 (8/10), La La Land (8/10), IT 2017 (8/10); Thor: Ragnarok (8/10), Shot Caller (8/10); Dunkirk (8/10), Spider-Man Homecoming (8/10), Logan (8/10), Prevenge (8/10), Logan Lucky (8/10), Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (8/10), Counterpunch (8/10), Jawbone (8/10), Silence (8/10), Hidden Figures (8/10), War For The Plant of The Apes (7/10), Wheelman (7/10), Happy Death Day (7/10)
WORST Films Of 2017… So Far:
Fifty Shades Darker (2/10)
Transformers The Last Knight (2/10)
Sleepless (3/10)
Assassins Creed (3/10)
Underworld Blood War (4/10)
Dis-Honourable Mentions:
The Mummy (4/10), The Circle (4/10), Power Rangers (4/10), A Cure For Wellness (4/10), Gaga: Five Foot Two (4/10), Leatherface (4/10), Hacksaw Ridge (5/10), King Arthur Legend Of The Sword (5/10), Live By Night (5/10), Sing! (5/10), The Boss Baby (5/10), The Dark Tower (5/10), The Limehouse Golem (5/10), Justice League (5/10)
The 2017 Sharknado Award for Films So Good (!) They Cant Be Rated:
2 Lava 2 Lantula & Sharknado 5: Global Swarming
The 2017 Films I just couldn’t Finish…
The Ghoul, The Lost City of Z
Great Films Of 2016 That I saw In 2017:
The Edge Of Seventeen, The Girl With All The Gifts, Train To Busan, Deepwater Horizon, Kubo & The Two Strings, Sing Street, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, 13th, I Daniel Blake
So this is my semi-regularly updated of the BEST and WORST of 2017’s movies, as well as the best films I missed from last year and the Phil’s Quick Capsule Review Sharknado Award. All in my very humble opinion…
BEST Films Of 2017… So Far:
Baby Driver (9/10)
T2 Trainspotting (9/10)
Raw (9/10)
OJ: Made In America (9/10)
Blade Runner 2049 (8/10)
Honourable Mentions:
La La Land (8/10), IT 2017 (8/10); Shot Caller (8/10); Dunkirk (8/10), Spider-Man Homecoming (8/10), Logan (8/10), Prevenge (8/10), Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (8/10), Counterpunch (8/10), Get Out (8/10), Jawbone (8/10), Silence (8/10), Hidden Figures (8/10), War For The Plant of The Apes (7/10)
WORST Films Of 2017… So Far:
Fifty Shades Darker (2/10)
Transformers The Last Knight (2/10)
Sleepless (3/10)
Assassins Creed (3/10)
Underworld Blood War (4/10)
Dis-Honourable Mentions:
The Mummy (4/10), The Circle (4/10), Power Rangers (4/10), A Cure For Wellness (4/10), Gaga: Five Foot Two (4/10), Hacksaw Ridge (5/10), King Arthur Legend Of The Sword (5/10), Live By Night (5/10), Sing! (5/10), The Boss Baby (5/10)
The 2017 Sharknado Award for Films So Good (!) They Cant Be Rated:
2 Lava 2 Lantula & Sharknado 5: Global Swarming
Great Films Of 2016 That I saw In 2017:
The Edge Of Seventeen, The Girl With All The Gifts, Train To Busan, Deepwater Horizon, Kubo & The Two Strings, Sing Street, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, 13th, I Daniel Blake
So this is my semi-regularly updated of the BEST and WORST of 2017’s movies, as well as the best films I missed from last year and the Phil’s Quick Capsule Review Sharknado Award. All in my very humble opinion…
BEST Films Of 2017… So Far:
Baby Driver (9/10)
T2 Trainspotting (9/10)
Raw (9/10)
OJ Made In America (9/10)
La La Land (8/10)
Honourable Mentions:
Dunkirk (8/10), Spider-Man Homecoming (8/10), Logan (8/10), Prevenge (8/10), Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (8/10), Counterpunch (8/10), Get Out (8/10), Jawbone (8/10), Silence (8/10), Hidden Figures (8/10), War For The Plant of The Apes (7/10), Wonder Woman (7/10),
WORST Films Of 2017… So Far:
Fifty Shades Darker (2/10)
Sleepless (2/10)
Assassins Creed (3/10)
Underworld Blood War (4/10)
The Mummy (4/10)
Dis-Honourable Mentions:
The Circle (4/10), Power Rangers (4/10), A Cure For Wellness (4/10), Hacksaw Ridge (5/10), King Arthur Legend Of The Sword (5/10), Live By Night (5/10), Sing! (5/10), The Boss Baby (5/10)
The 2017 Sharknado Award for Films So Good (!) They Cant Be Rated:
2 Lava 2 Lantula
Great Films Of 2016 That I saw In 2017:
The Edge Of Seventeen, The Girl With All The Gifts, Train To Busan, Deepwater Horizon, Kubo & The Two Strings, Sing Street, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, 13th, I Daniel Blake
So this is my semi-regularly updated of the BEST and WORST of 2017’s movies, as well as the best films I missed from last year and the Phil’s Quick Capsule Review Sharknado Award. All in my very humble opinion…
BEST Films Of 2017… So Far:
T2 Trainspotting (9/10)
OJ Made In America (9/10)
La La Land (8/10)
Logan (8/10)
Prevenge (8/10)
Honourable Mentions: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (8/10), Get Out (8/10), Silence (8/10), Hidden Figures (8/10), Fast & Furious 8 Aka Fate Of The Furious (7/10), Wonder Woman (7/10), The Founder (7/10), XXX: Return Of Xander Cage (7/10), Ghost In The Shell (7/10), Alien Covenant (7/10)
WORST Films Of 2017… So Far:
Fifty Shades Darker (2/10)
Sleepless (2/10)
Assassins Creed (3/10)
Underworld Blood War (4/10)
Hacksaw Ridge (5/10)
Dis-Honourable Mentions: King Arthur Legend Of The Sword (5/10), Live By Night (5/10), Sing! (5/10)
The 2017 Sharknado Award for Films So Good (!) They Cant Be Rated:
2 Lava 2 Lantula
Great Films Of 2016 That I saw In 2017:
The Edge Of Seventeen, The Girl With All The Gifts, Train To Busan, Deepwater Horizon, Kubo & The Two Strings, Sing Street, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, 13th, I Daniel Blake
