Sunday, January 3, 2016

Best of 2015

NOTE: Spoilers.


2015. The year Marty McFly and Doc Brown finally made it to the future. We were reunited with Rocky Balboa, the Avengers, Ethan Hunt, Katniss Everdeen, James Bond and, of course, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa. We were reintroduced to Mad Max and, more importantly, George Miller as a major blockbuster director; as well as Pixar coming back in full force with two films for the first time in the same year. It has not been the worst year in movies for certain, but it certainly has not been perfect. With that said, let me walk you through what I consider the top 10 best movies of the past year. 



10. Ant-Man
Director: Peyton Reed
It is hard these days to say that a superhero movie can come out of nowhere, but certainly no other superhero movie has humbler source material. For decades, Ant-Man was mired in the middle of nowhere in the Marvel Universe; writers attempted to give the character edge by making him a paranoid wife beater. Fortunately, the film adaptation of said character wisely bypasses all the tough stuff and has fun with itself just for the hell of it. Paul Rudd may not strike one as the superhero type, but like Michael Keaton as Batman years before, he makes the suit do most of the work for him. Having an acting legend like Michael Douglas in the film lends it weight and gravitas and Douglas is game to work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (hopefully he will help to lead the way for his acting peers to join a superhero movie). The supporting cast also pulls together the film with memorable characters. It should be mentioned that director Reed certainly came into the job under intense scrutiny after the public demotion of Edgar Wright to writer-in-name-only. Admirably, he made the best movie possible and the funniest Marvel movie since Guardians of the Galaxy (my #1 film from last year).



9. Furious 7
Director: James Wan
A lot of filmgoers walked into Furious 7 with heavy hearts and more than a little curiosity on their minds as this would be the final performance of franchise mainstay Paul Walker. However, as daunting as the task was, the filmmakers rose to the occasion and delivered a quality action film that also works as a fitting sendoff to the character of Brian O’Connor. While there are some scenes near the end of the film that are trying to hide Brian’s face, the technical work by WETA Digital at preserving his performance is sublime. But with all that aside, Brian does not get a lot to do in this movie. After Fast & Furious, the movies became ensemble, with a large cast. It is a literal return to the place where the “familia” started, Los Angeles. One of the interesting twists the film takes is removing Hobbs from the equation and temporarily replacing him with Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell); after the film was released, it was announced that Dwayne Johnson was going to star in a remake of Big Trouble in Little China, which starred Russell. As revealed in Fast & Furious 6, the big bad in this film is action movie star Jason Statham, who adds considerable menace. Where the F&F films go from here, nobody knows. It is up to Universal to flip on the high beams. After Furious 7, they'll be brighter than ever.



8. Tomorrowland
Director: Brad Bird
When one has a filmography as pervasive as Bird's (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), film fans were jumping at the bit for Tomorrowland. Bird was returning to Disney for their biggest original project in quite some time. Still, eyebrows were furrowed when Bird was joined by screenwriter Damon Lindelof, J.J. Abrams' second-in-command; a man infamous for raising questions he has no intentions of answering and is often declared as the one who ruined Prometheus and World War Z. While the film is by no means utterly despised by anybody, it certainly does not shine as brightly as Bird's previous work. On the positives, Bird should be commended for getting George Clooney in a Disney movie; no small feat. He also still has a good hand in casting, bringing to light Britt Robertson and Raffey Cassidy - both of whom I am sure we will see more of. The story has a sense of promise, but what it delivers is what it thinks audiences want, rather than what they actually want. Still, if you have not seen it, I recommend it.





7. The Martian
Director: Ridley Scott
A worldwide-accepted science-fiction film in this day and age is pretty hard to find. But what make this one work is that it has a sense of humor. Drew Goddard's brilliant screenplay is well-adapted from the original novel (with few hiccups in transcription). It seems rather funny to me that both Saving Private Ryan stars Matt Damon and Tom Hanks have both done (separately) movies in space and movies where they are stranded in a distant location alone. The disco soundtrack keeps the positive feel of the movie rolling without always being the punchline. If there is one fault I think the movie has is as fun as Mark's adventure on Mars is, the events on Earth are almost deadly dull. Granted, it is not meant to be a laugh-fest - they are indeed spending a lot of time and money to save one man - but a few chuckles here and there would not go unappreciated. The world of Mars is very stunning to look at; never once does it enter that naturally, it was filmed on Earth. Ridley Scott has made a triumphant return after a few misfires and I am sure The Martian will continue to invade screens everywhere.





6. The Walk
Director: Robert Zemeckis
If there was one movie I wish a lot more people had seen, it was this. The Walk, apart from being a ripping true story yarn of doing amazing things despite people telling you it is impossible, is a masterful event in filmmaking, digitally bringing the World Trade Center back to life. It is no secret that Zemeckis is one of my great filmmaking heroes and this is his best film in quite some time. He brings together a good cast, headlined by Joseph Gordon-Levitt with a French accent (bringing to mind PepĂ© Le Pew). I think over-promoting the film as an IMAX experience was not the best course of action; considering IMAX is a premium experience that not everyone can just go to down the street. The 3D element of the film is one of the best I have seen in quite a while; things come out at you, but also establish a sense of place and scale. The film's financial debacle, aside from The Martian coming out earlier and stealing a bit of thunder, perplexes me. I suppose the period aspect of the film also may have had an effect. But I often find that a lot of the great visual-based movies are often found later in time than immediately. When the audience is ready, The Walk will be there; daring you to cross it.




5. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Whether or not you approve of Tom Cruise's personal life, one cannot argue his enthusiasm for showmanship. If you are coming to one of his films, he feels you deserve an experience. Mission: Impossible has become his playground, experimenting with a central concept with different directors. With the fifth installment, Cruise brought onboard Christopher McQuarrie, who had directed him in Jack Reacher. After the lightheartedness of Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation presents our characters in darker situations with a more compelling opponents: the Syndicate (as promised by the end of the previous film). One of the more head-scratching decisions films the movie makes is taking the movie's main "WTF" stunt sequence - Ethan Hunt hanging from the side of a plane - and sticks it at the beginning of the movie. The Burj Khalifa sequence from Ghost Protocol was the main selling point of that film and took its time getting there. I feel like they played that card too early in this film and as cool as the car/motorcycle chases are, it holds no candle to the plane stunt. McQuarrie will return for M:I 6 (marking the first time in the franchise that a filmmaker has returned for multiple films) and I know he will only improve.



4. Jurassic World
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Reopening the park is a bad idea. Reviving Jurassic Park as a franchise is not. Now one of the highest grossing films of all time (though its particular position is being threatened by another film on this list), Jurassic World is what audiences wanted to see: a functioning dinosaur park. However, I feel the movie has a lot to be desired: stronger characters, a less serious approach and let us face it, actual dinosaur puppets made the original film. CG everywhere does not make one believe the characters are in danger when they are just running around an exploding film set. An actor staring at a 60 foot T-Rex staring back at them does not have to act fear, it happens. Trevorrow gets a lot of flack for the somewhat emotionless performance of Bryce Dallas Howard (while there may be good points, I feel the online argument is slightly exaggerated), but to me, Chris Pratt's practically humorless character of Owen Grady is more jarring. Granted, I would not want to see him repeating his performance of Peter Quill outside of the Guardians movies, but the comedic possibilities of running around a dinosaur park go woefully unused. A sequel is on the way, and hopefully more will be added for a more entertaining experience, but for the big dumb action blockbuster of the summer, Jurassic World is the perfect candidate.




3. Inside Out
Director: Pete Docter
After a year away from silver screens, Pixar returned triumphantly with what on the surface might seem a simple film but is remarkably expansive in its premise. It is well reported that Pixar often goes through several drafts of a story before finally hitting on what audiences all over the world will see (Up went through the most; Toy Story 3 went through the least). Being inside the human mind certainly presents loads of comedic opportunities and Inside Out does not miss a one of them. Its strengths are in hitting on what everybody goes through: getting a song stuck in our heads, losing our train of thought and even brain freeze. The voice cast is spectacular and is among the best Pixar has ever assembled. The design of Riley's mind is well-done and is fun to look at and think what our own minds would look like through Pixar's eyes. A lot of people think that a sequel would be really good to tackle, but I kinda feel like they may need to leave well enough alone.




2. Mad Max: Fury Road
Director: George Miller
If Jurassic World was the big dumb action movie of the summer, Mad Max: Fury Road was the big smart action movie of the summer. We all forgot George Miller was this master of action filmmaking, largely due to the Happy Feet films. What a better position he was in to surprise us all. It is also a modern miracle that a major Hollywood studio like Warner Bros. did not attempt to mess around with the film like we hear about all too often. You would think they would be thwarted by being a sequel to a 30-year-old film (Beyond Thunderdome) that does not even have the original star of said film (Mel Gibson). Despite all of these potential roadblocks (pun intended), Fury Road may not have made a major financial impact this year (though collected more at the box office than was initially predicted) but culturally, it has started a massive storm for people who like and do not like it. As many people dress up as Max, Furiosa and the other characters, there are others who decry the film as misleading - saying that a masculine film series like Mad Max makes women more important than men in Fury Road. Those fools miss the point of the film: Max is searching for a righteous cause to get behind and in doing so, regains some semblance of his former humanity. You, however, have to search no longer. Fury Road is certainly a righteous cause.

... and my #1 film of 2015 is ...




1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Director: J.J. Abrams
As I have said before, like you guys did not see this coming. It is the first Star Wars movie in 10 years. I will not say too much about this since my review is still fairly new. To summarize it, I am glad that respect was kept for the original cast, while also establishing a new cast that everyone will want to see in the next installments. Practical effects win out over CG, but the new CG characters are not given much establishment. The paternal reveal in this film is also not handled very well; it is delivered as though somebody is giving out directions. But my God, the stuff that works in this movie works: the performances, the action, the character interactions; everything that we did not get in the prequels. As it is highly unlikely if you are reading this that you have not seen the movie (even my parents who do not go to movies all that often got out to see it), Star Wars: The Force Awakens is my #1 movie of the year.

Honorable Mentions: Goosebumps, The Peanuts Movie, Spectre

Worst of the Year: Vacation, Daddy's Home, Strange Magic, Blackhat, Get Hard, Steve Jobs