Categories: Movie

[Just before the break] Films & Series Worth Your Time [Films]

This time I thought I’d write about the films I’ve seen that I really want other people to see. Don’t just watch Japanese cinema — watch what comes from abroad too!! Next time: the TV series edition!

Films

Rogue One

Full of fan service — if you know the material, you’ll be grinning the whole way through.

The close-quarters fighting against the Stormtroopers is unbearably cool. The visuals are dynamic too, so if you love science fiction, go and see it!

If you’ve never seen Star Wars at all, watching just Episode IV first would do the job.

Fantastic Beasts

The Harry Potter spin-off! Set in 1930s America (that’s my own reading, going by the Empire State Building being half-finished and Prohibition being in force), and the hero is the author of the textbook Harry will end up using.

All sorts of magical creatures turn up and they’re adorable! There’s plenty of action to enjoy too. You’ll be fine if you haven’t seen Harry Potter, but knowing it makes the whole thing richer.

Your Name.

There’s a science fiction element to it and I simply enjoyed it.

Whiplash

I’ve written about it before — one of the three best films of my life. It gets right into you.

Fight Club

You might not know this one unless you’re into film. Another of the three best films of my life.

Starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Through a strange turn of events, Edward Norton’s “narrator” ends up starting a bare-knuckle club — Fight Club — with Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt. The membership grows, and just when you think that’s the whole story, Fight Club transforms into something close to a terrorist organisation…

The first rule of Fight Club:

You do not talk about Fight Club.

If you’re a man, you have to see it! It goes straight at your instincts. What does a human being actually look like underneath?

Interstellar, The Martian, Gravity

I’ve written about these before as well. You can enjoy them even if you’re not used to science fiction.

https://movie-paradise-blog.com/en/2016/12/2016-12-15-142825/

The Marvel series

The hottest run of comic book films going right now!!

For anyone who doesn’t know: American comics have two giant publishers. In Japan you’d say Shueisha and Kodansha. In America it’s DC Comics and Marvel. American comics are also notable for how often quite separate titles cross over with one another.

The project to film the titles Marvel publishes began with Iron Man, under the name Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It’s split into three phases, and right now everything is building towards the enormous story of Avengers: Infinity War in 2018!! Which means the MCU has one weakness: you can’t keep up without watching a lot of Marvel films… but! Because dozens of films feed into each other, the depth you get is extraordinary!!

Marvel Cinematic Universe — Wikipedia

Here’s the bare minimum viewing order I’d suggest!

  • Iron Man
  • Iron Man 2
  • Captain America: The First Avenger
  • The Avengers
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  • Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron
  • Ant-Man
  • Captain America: Civil War

Watch that lot and I think you’ll be able to follow whatever comes next! You may want to see the Thor films too, if you have the time lol

Japan. This is cinema! Don’t just watch Japanese films — watch what comes from abroad too!!!!

The Dark Knight trilogy

Batman films. The Dark Knight series — Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises — was, to my mind, the spark that lit the second comic book movie boom! The first was Spider-Man.

These films overturned the prejudice that comics are a genre for children. The material is properly dark and it makes you think. That paid off: the industry took them seriously, and the second film won that most remarkable of prizes, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

You there, thinking comic book films are for kids! Watch this one first, and then say it!!

Star Wars

Another one with a lot of films. Star Wars actually started with Episode IV — that’s right, film number four! Then came 5 and 6, then about ten years later Episodes 1 to 3, then last year the seventh, and this year Rogue One, the spin-off. Put simply, 1, 2 and 3 are the prequels. So for viewing order I’d go:

Episodes 4, 5, 6 → Episodes 1, 2, 3 → Episode 7 → Rogue One

I can’t begin to fit what makes it special into this post so I won’t try, but a series the whole world is this mad about really is worth seeing.

Elflord

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