Worst2First: 2017 Films #60 - #41

Worst2First: 

2017 Films #60 - #41

2017 was a spectacular year for film, and I was privileged enough to see 80 of those movies.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see them all (such as "The Disaster Artist" or "The Shape of Water"), but I was able to see a large amount.

So I compiled all the 80 movies I saw that were released in 2017 and made four different Worst2First lists, breaking it up so you don't have to read through one super long list.  I've also split the films by color, as well as number:

If the film image is in red, it means I graded it a D+, D, D-, or F, and should probably never be seen again.
If the film image is in yellow, it means I graded it a C+, C, or C-, and if you want to watch them, be warned that they probably won't be great.
If the film image is in blue, it means I graded it a B+, B, or B-, and that means the film was alright - not memorable or terrible, just forgettable.
If the film image is in green, it means I graded it an A or A-, and while they were missing that certain special something, you should definitely give them a shot.
If the film image is in purple, it means I graded it an A+, and was among the best films of the year in my opinion.

So I will now continue the list with ranking #60 - #41.

**THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS**

Scarlett Johansson is known for her femme fatale roles in films like "The Avengers," so seeing her in a comedy along the lines of "The Hangover" was just weird, and she seemed weird playing it.  The only truly funny actress here was Kate McKinnon, and the rest was a laugh-fest in the worst way - where we ended up laughing AT the actors and not WITH them.

Just another weak addition to the "Michael-Bay-is-killing-my-childhood" film series.  Unfortunately it didn't take its title seriously, so this isn't the "last" time we'll see these mechanical monstrosities fighting one another.

"Battle Royale" meets "The Office," "The Belko Experiment" had a lot of gory kills and thrills, but failed to deliver a passionate story or characters we actually cared about.  Plus it seems like something that's been done before...again and again.

Speaking of something that's been done before, "Before I Fall" takes the classic "Groundhog's Day" concept and turns it into a young adult drama filled your typical teenage angst problems, resulting in a predictable outcome you could see coming better than a Mac truck bearing down on you.

This film had so much promise - two bright, young, attractive, talented stars, a modern re-telling of a "Romeo & Juliet" style romance, and some beautiful artistry - but then the third act tried too hard to do something original, which resulted in a sour taste in my mouth.

Kate Winslet and Idris Elba seem like a match made in Hollywood heaven, but this uninspired tale of two strangers stranded on a mountaintop failed to tread any new ground and resulted in a film's worth of tired cliches and predictability.

Going the predictable route, "American Assassin" seemed to have been written by a first year film study student.  You have your typical guy who wants revenge against a terrorist group for killing his girlfriend, who goes against the rules clearly set before him, but gosh darn it he gets results!  Kevin Coster was wasted in this by-the-numbers action flick with little emotion or character buildup.

Jessica Chastain acted perfectly, but the issue is with the script itself.  It was just bland, uninspired, and even though it tried to tug at your heart strings, it failed to hit any positive notes.

Created solely to re-vitalize Johnny Depp's fledgling film career, "Dead Men Tell No Tales" would've made sense if it was a direct sequel of the first film - not the fourth sequel in the franchise.  Here, the thing Jack Sparrow is looking for could've solved all his problems way before he even created them, which, again, proves that no one had this film thought out in the long run.

A throwback to the classic '80s and '90s action flicks that have little character development, no cohesive storyline, nor anything that remotely makes any physical sense - but it sure was a lot of fun!  Vin Diesel returns as Xander Cage and brings with him a ragtag group of people to shoot and blow stuff up.  That's all there basically is to this film, and that's perfectly alright for a generic Saturday-afternoon action film.

Guy Ritchie planned on spring boarding his own King Arthur Cinematic Universe with this Charlie Hunnam-led outing, but even though the film was stylistic and engaging, it was missing a lot of crucial elements - such as an actual story - to make the film anything near profitable.  Then there's Jude Law's cringe-worthy bad guy role.

The only positive thing I can say about this is that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  It had surprising depth of characterization and tended to shy away from the campy nature of the television series, but it's far from perfect.

DC rushed their hand to bring out their version of "The Avengers," resulting in characters that were never fully developed before (Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg), Frankenstin-level directing (Zack Snyder filmed most, but Joss Whedon also directed a good amount of Snyder had a severe family emergency) that resulted in odd editing (such as two introductions of Aquaman), some of the most laughable CGI effects to date, and a story as generic as they come.  Yet, it was fun!  So they had that going for them.

This is definitely franchise fatigue, as the Lego brand already released a much superior spinoff earlier this year.  "Ninjago" just seemed tired and would've been better if it was released later.  Still, it's funny enough, heartwarming enough, and action-packed enough to make it in the green.

The classic Agatha Christie novel gets another cinematic take, this time with Kenneth Branagh starring (and directing) as the famed detective Poirot.  Yet, despite fantastic performances from Branagh and Michelle Pfeiffer in particular, the film fell short with too many major actors in such diminished roles (I totally forgot Willem Dafoe was even in the film), and Branagh's distracting whiskers.

A film that didn't really add anything new to the franchise, they're better off splitting apart and focusing on the Minions more and letting Gru fade into obscurity.

A well-crafted, well-acted story of how Charles Dickens ended up writing the most beloved Christmas story of all time, "The Man Who Invented Christmas" was heightened by the performance of the always-amazing Christopher Plummer as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Despite the whitewashing controversy, and the lack of a compelling story, this Scarlett Johansson-led action thriller really delivered the stylistic action and intriguing futuristic landscape.

Sure, it's a typical story: an alien is unleashed on an unsuspecting group of astronauts who can't escape it because they're all stuck on a space ship, but with the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson leading, you have a film that goes above that traditional subgenre and delivers a powerful blow, especially the ending.

"The Fast and the Furious" franchise has somehow gotten better with each successive outing, mostly due to a cast of well-knit actors who've been together for awhile, and who really play off the aspect of family so much that you believe it.  Even though the fractures are showing (Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson had a well-known feud behind the scenes), they still came together to deliver an over-the-top action film that, while totally unbelievable (a nuclear submarine chasing cars for one), took your mind off the troubles of the world and allowed you to relax and enjoy turning your brain off for some fun, mindless action.


So there's the second segment of my favorite films of 2017, please come back tomorrow for #40 - #21!