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I was incredibly disappointed with Stars Wars: The Last Jedi (TLJ). I cannot believe some people are saying this is the best one since Empire, bcoz it's not even close. There are so many problems with the movie; the writing, the poor structure, the lack of innovation and focus.

But first, I'll start with the positives. I think Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill gave a wonderful and committed performance to their roles, despite qualms I have about the material they've been given. Daisy in particular really shines throughout; she has great screen-presence and is very enigmatic. Secondly, I was surprised by the abundance of humor in the movie. I really enjoyed the comedy and found all the jokes really funny and organic to the story in a way that never feels out of place. Also, the Porgs were kinda cute. Lastly, I thought there were two great action set pieces that really elevated the film above TFA & RO. The opening space battle was quite amazing and well-done. The dogfights and ship battles were very thrilling and suspenseful. Then there's a lightsaber fight towards the end that was just spectacular and could rank as one of the best set pieces in a Star Wars movie. It was also one of the most beautifully shot scenes in the movie, with really impressive lighting, wide angles and long takes to really highlight the complex but excellent choreography.

Now the negatives. Overall, I found the movie to be incredibly messy and badly paced. The story is incredibly boring and feel like they're threading the same ground as the original. There were many plot lines that felt lifted whole cloth from Empire and Return of the Jedi, and when they happened I was like "Are we really doing this again?" It quickly becomes evident that these movies feel like The Hobbit to the Star Wars franchise - in that, there's not enough material to warrant a new trilogy. TLJ never feels like the 2nd book of a trilogy. It feels more like the 2nd act of an incomplete story. Like TFA, this movie will leave you incredibly dissatisfied. Entire subplots were invented for our main characters, only for the outcome to yield absolutely no results. There were also way too many new characters introduced in the movie, all of whom took significant screen time away from characters that we already know. A character is introduced and is given the kind of epic send-off that should have been given to an established character we know and love, but bcoz we don't know this new character, that send-off lacks any impact. Also, too much time was spent on the island with Rey and Luke and nothing was accomplished. Rey's talents also remains largely unexplained.

My biggest issue with the movie however is the depiction of Luke Skywalker. Prior to this, I had read that Mark Hamill was really unhappy with Rian Johnson's direction for his character, and it's true. The Luke Skywalker in this movie IS NOT THE LUKE SKYWALKER WE KNOW & LOVE. Many of Luke's actions seem very out-of-character and contradicts everything that George Lucas had established about him in the originals. There is one particularly egregious act that Luke commits that feels like an absolute betrayal to that character. It undermines all the goodwill of Luke's arc in the originals that Lucas worked so hard to build-up and complete. Also, they seemingly established Luke as the main character and give him the same hero's journey as ROTJ again, only for him to be missing for 45 mins in the movie. And boy, do they really abused the classic John Williams Luke theme in this. You won't go for 5 mins without hearing his theme over and over again.

So overall, I did not enjoy watching TLJ. You're probably going to watch it once bcoz it's a Star Wars movie but trust me, there won't be any repeat viewings on this one, bcoz it lacks substance. My theatre audience was silent for the entire movie, saved for a few laughs at jokes that were effective, but there were at least 3 fan service/ shocking moments that should have elicited a response from the crowd, but everyone was dead quiet. You know the movie is incredibly ineffective when even the things fans want to see lands like a thud.

So I'm giving it a 3 out of 10; two points for that amazing 3rd act lightsaber battle, and 1 point for both Mark and Daisy. For those who are seeking a true sci-fi action adventure experience, I recommend watching Luc Besson's Valerian (2017) instead. That movie is bursting with creativity and feels like it's blazing a new path for the sci-fi genre that these new Star Wars movies should be doing but aren't. Most importantly, that movie feels fresh and innovative, two things that TLJ were seriously lacking.

This is possibly the most surprising movie of 2017 for me. It's about a straight-A high school student who forms an exam-cheating syndicate in exchange for money, and soon finds herself orchestrating very complex but clever schemes to overcome exams that become increasing more high stakes and difficult. What makes this film absolutely brilliant is that the exams are presented as a series of heist-like set pieces that are very intense, nail-biting and suspenseful, with the kind of edge-of-your-seat thrills befitting a Mission Impossible movie. From the camera movements to the pulse-pounding music, the film uses the cinematic language of bank-heist capers to frame its exam scenes, turning the mundane act of high schoolers cheating at exams into a completely enthralling high stakes set piece. It also features an incredibly talented and likable cast of young actors, but the breakout star of this movie is Chutimon, in her acting debut. She is the heart of the film and an unstoppable force, delivering scene after scene of phenomenal acting. As much as it's a thriller, the movie is also a very funny teen comedy, with many wonderful moments of levity. The script is really clever and there were lotsa creative ideas in the exam sequences. The music is also really good, very much Atticus Ross Social Network inspired.

Overall, I had an absolutely wonderful time watching this film, and cannot recommend it highly enough. It's an absolute crowd-pleaser, but also one of the most intelligent movies of the year. The movie completely earns the moniker of "genius" in its title. I'm not surprised that this is the highest grossing Thai movie of all-time, beating Tony Jaa's Ong Bak. It's one of the best Thai films ever made. It has a really clever and unique premise that's just begging for a Hollywood remake.

American Assassin is the first film I've walked out of the theatre this year. It's also the first film that I've ever seen that's had me convinced that the script was written by a computer. I was shocked to find out that this was based on a book franchise of which there are 10+ novels, because almost every scene or dialogue in the film contains a horrible and tired cliché that you've seen in any spy/ action thriller. It's as if the producers of the film typed the words "spy movie thriller for young adults" into a computer and it regurgitated a bunch of words describing popular plot lines from every action movie you've seen and slapped a link to Dylan O'Brien's wikipedia page on it. From the fridging of the main hero's love interest (the plot of every revenge movie ever) to the hero's lone-wolf, silent but badass demeanour (every action movie ever) to his rebellious nature against the authorities but always comes off more heroic than every single law enforcement officer in the film (every cop movie ever) to the utterly predictable villain backstory (every villain in every spy movie ever) to the unorthodox but wise mentor who the hero hates but grows to respect him (I give up) - to count the 5 out of a 100 clichés - it's as if American Assassin is trying to one-up every single one of these tropes by being a total parody of them. Like, are you really doing the beautiful-girl-treating-the-badass-hero's-wounds cliché? Really, movie?

All of this is further exacerbated by the completely lifeless and lackluster direction. The plot is pedestrian, derivative and painfully boring to watch. The action lacks tension and is shot horribly, with really lazy choreography and terrible editing. Visually, the film looks very ugly and desaturated all the time. As for performances, this movie was so bad it made Michael Keaton looked like a bad TV actor. The worse is the complete lack of charisma from the two leads Dylan O'Brien and Taylor Kitsch. Their characters are so boring to watch and every line from their mouth makes me want to barf. Once again, Hollywood commits the big sin of casting cult-favorite DTV action and martial-arts superstar Scott Adkins - who has proved he has more charisma and athletic talent than most living action movie stars today - and given him absolutely nothing to do and no spotlight to shine under.

This is one of the laziest movies I've ever seen, and possibly the most forgettable movie of 2017. I would NOT recommend this movie to anyone, because there's not a single aspect that's redeeming about it. It is a complete waste of time, the equivalent of watching two hours of paint on a wall dry. If you're reading this review then I might as well recommend some great films of this ilk that you should be watching. Donnie Yen's Killzone 1 and Tony Jaa's Killzone 2 (also called SPL1/2) & The Thieves (2012 Korean movie) are great. Scott Adkins Undisputed 3 and Boyka: Undisputed are two of the best martial arts movies ever made and makes full use of the actor's talents. Peter Berg's Patriot's Day. All of these are 10000x better than American Assassin.