SPECIAL: The Best Movies of 2017

Image: Warner Bros.

Chris Luckett

Amongst my critic friends, a consensus emerged a month or two ago declaring 2017 to have been a great year for movies. I didn’t agree. I tend to judge (modern) years’ film quality by how many movies make the cut for my end-of-year article — that it, how many 4½- and 5-star movies there are. And based on that, I’d been feeling like it had been a rather weak year.

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SPECIAL: The Best Movies of 2017 So Far

Image: Warner Bros.

Chris Luckett

Reserving judgments on how 2017 will ultimately look once the crop of awards movies and late-year blockbusters are out is easier for me this year, as I haven’t seen or reviewed quite as much as in previous years.

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REVIEW: Kong: Skull Island

Image: Warner Bros.

Chris Luckett

There were many things working against Kong: Skull Island, but the biggest was the simple fact it’s the fourth telling of an incredibly iconic story. Does the world really need another telling of King Kong? Particularly just a dozen years after Peter Jackson already reintroduced the mammoth monkey to the CGI generation, is there anything new to be done with the gigantic gorilla?

Absolutely, it turns out. The truly reimagined Kong: Skull Island somehow finds a whole new way to tell a story most already know too well, subverting almost each expectation in turn and breathing new life into Merian C. Cooper’s behemoth creation.

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CORE STORY: Godzilla 2 delayed, but there’s a Kong-sized silver lining

Photo: Warner Bros.

Photo: Warner Bros.

Chris Luckett

After the smash success of Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla reboot, fans have been waiting with baited breath for Godzilla 2, which was planned for a June 2018 release.

Word has come out that Godzilla 2 will now be released in March 2019, but it comes with news of another title arriving the year after: Godzilla vs. Kong. Continue reading