The Commuter (2018)

The Commuter follows Michael on the day he gets fired from his job and takes the train ride home to tell his wife. On the train a lady asks him a hypothetical question that turns out not to be hypothetical.

Upside
Visual story telling - the first scene kind of blew my mind
                                -so many important details are only communicated visually
The ending
The fight scenes

Downside
The non-fight action scenes - a regular person would not survive that long
The family's reaction to Michael's day was underwhelming

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Hercule Poirot the famous detective is taking a holiday train trip on the way to another crime. During the 3 day trip a murder is committed. The train then gets derailed by snow in the mountains. During this delay to the next station Poirot must find the murderer.

Upsides
Some laughs - my theatre often laughed out loud
Character introductions - especially Poirot and Booker

Downsides
Some of the detecting at the end

and



!SPOILERS!

There is no way all 12 people would be able to believably act as if they did not know each other if they were recruited beforehand






P.S. I had not read the book before seeing the film, I liked it so much Hercule Poirot will be the net mystery books I read

Snow (2004)

A Santa Claus origin story "Snow" follows Nick Snowden on the week before Christmas. Nick is the next Santa and is preparing for the big day. Sandy works at the San Ernesto zoo. The zoo just got some new reindeer but one of them belongs to Nick. Nick leaves the North Pole to get the reindeer back before Christmas.

Upsides

Fun characters - Hector is awesome
Good special effects - the animated reindeer doesn't hold up, but the mirror looks really good
New Santa origin story
They made a sequel

Downsides

It ends with a couple questions - Can Nick understand NFRs too? What if there is no son in the family? Can people still find the workshop if it isn't the week before Christmas?

The sequel isn't as good

Bladerunner 2049 (2017)

Bladerunner 2049 is a sequel to a 1982 film based on a 1968 sci-fi book.

Upsides
It lives up to the first film well
It continues to make you think after it is over
They never answered whether Deckard is a Replicant
Scale

Downside
The music of the first film was iconic and different - they only used that style a few times




P.S. I still like the book "Do android's dream of electric sheep?" by Philip K Dick better.

P.P.S. The book and film are set in the same world but the story and characters are very different

Justice League (2017)

Justice League is the DCEU's answer to the Avengers of the MCU. Justice League Picks up right after Batman v Superman. Batman recruits the people in the video files. He visits Aquaman first but is unable to convince him to fight. Diana works to recruit Cyborg and is also turned down. Batman then finds Flash and recruits him. The villain is from Diana's history so she explains the goals and past of the people they are fighting.

Upsides
Much better than Batman v Superman - the story makes sense
Barry Allen is really funny - I was worried because his character is so well established on TV but the differences are big enough to still be the Flash and not feel like a copy


Downsides
Tries to be a team up story as well as Cyborg's origin
Superman's character isn't consistent with the previous movies
They don't call Barry, Flash or Victor, Cyborg

Lego Ninjago (2017)

"Lego Ninjago" is a mostly animated movie about LEGO. It follows a 16 year old and his friends in the city of Ninjago. Lloyd is a kid who doesn't fit in because his Dad is the city's bad guy. Lloyd only has a few friends and together they protect the city from Garagamon (Lloyd's Dad). The film is about talent and the influence and importance of family. Lloyd becomes a leader through the film as his friends learn to work together.

Upside
Some good action sequences
One good joke for the adults - paraphrase  all outta bubble gum quote from "They Live"

Downside
Very Power Rangers - teenager heroes, driving mechs, identified by colours
The theme was very superficially explored
The live action scenes felt unnecessary and unrealistic

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) !Spoilers!

The following synopsis contains major spoilers. Skip to the Upside/Downside to escape spoilers.


Eggsy is enjoying his life as a Kingsman while living with his girlfriend. Everything goes sideways when a drug cartel decides to take out Kingsman. The small organization hasn't had time to rebuild since the first film and now only Merlin and Eggsy are left. This leads to emergency protocols that take them to Kentucky to meet the Statesmen. The Statesmen are the American version of Kingsman, but with drink code names. The drug cartel poisons all its users, taking them hostage against the leaders of countries around the world. The United States is forced to decide how to proceed. The President wants to let all the infected illegal drug users die, including his aid. The small Kingsman force joins the Statesmen to fight the cartel. They travel the world following the girlfriend of  a henchman until they reach the antidote. They lose the antidote and have to get to the boss of the cartel. Then death, fighting, betrayal until the world is saved. Statesmen and Kingsman officially join together and Eggsy marries his girlfriend.

Upside
Slow motion moments in fights are really well done
The 'dinner with the parents' scene
The Whitehouse scenes were all very enjoyable

Downside
Some fight CGI was really obvious on the big screen
It felt like more swearing than the last one, also the gore starts right away
My favorite character dies