The Next Generation of Never Happened

Back in the day, there was a great movie podcast called "The Hollywood Saloon", hosted by Andy Siems and John Jansen. Before there was an unfortunate falling out between the two, they posted a three-hour swan song of a show entitled "Never Happened". This was a show dedicated to the movie projects that were so close to being made and never got made. Examples include Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon, George Miller's original take on Mad Max: Fury Road (starring Mel Gibson) and Quentin Tarantino's pitch of Casino Royale (starring Pierce Brosnan). If a three hour podcast seems overwhelming, fret not because Andy and John had a way of talking that had a great pace; getting out all the necessary information in an entertaining fashion. Although they are now gone, the idea is still sound and in need of updating! So without further ado, here are five projects that never saw the light of day: The Next Generation of Never Happened!

• Robert Zemeckis' Yellow Submarine

In 2008, Robert Zemeckis and Walt Disney Pictures signed an agreement to house performance capture production company ImageMovers Digital. The deal, headed by then-studio head Dick Cook, was bringing the Academy Award-winning director and his new favorite filmmaking technology to the Mouse House. In three years, the studio released two films, Disney's A Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms, with a third in development. However, Mars Needs Moms bombed so badly that Disney immediately disowned ImageMovers leaving a distraught Zemeckis to return to live-action filmmaking with Flight and The Walk. 

NOTE: The above image comes from "The Beatles: Rock Band".

The decision left behind the unmade 3D remake of The Beatles' Yellow Submarine. At the time, it was considered that a combination of Disney, the Beatles and Zemeckis would be irresistible. Zemeckis, himself a Beatles fan, began his directing career with a love letter to the Fab Four, I Wanna Hold Your Hand. It was so far in development that it was already being previewed at the first ever D23 fan convention (where the title treatment image was taken) and casting was already underway including Cary Elwes (Disney's A Christmas Carol) as George Harrison and Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead). The Tenth Doctor himself, David Tennant, had auditioned for the film's chief villain - the Blue Meanie. Appearances by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two remaining Beatles, were being planned but like the rest of the project, never transpired.

"That would have been a great one to bring the Beatles back to life. But it’s probably better not to be remade – you’re always behind the 8-ball when [you do] a remake. It gets harder and harder [to make movies]. With the current state of the industry, it’s difficult to stay passionate about it. The hardest thing for a filmmaker as he’s aging is saying, 'How much more of this crap can I take?' It’s tough, I can only do it if I have a script to believe in."

- Robert Zemeckis

Likelihood (to ever be made): Never.

• Frank Oz's The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made

Before the Jason Segal reboot of The Muppets, Disney had been courting an idea before 2011 that was actually co-developed by Jim Henson before his untimely death. Entitled "The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made", the movie would start with the greatest 3D opening title sequence ever created. It would soon be revealed that the Muppets were sitting in a screening room watching this footage, as directed by Gonzo. Kermit would praise Gonzo for his efforts but Gonzo would sheepishly reply, "There's one problem, I just blew the whole budget on the title sequence." As they're wondering what to do, there's a studio executive banging on the door to the screening room screaming, "WHERE'S OUR MOVIE?!" Sneaking out the backdoor, the Muppets steal a few cameras from the Disney lot. They go off guerilla style and finish the movie with a few unsuspecting celebrities (among them were rumored to be Vince Vaughn, Rachel Ray and... Christian Bale in character as Batman). Sound familiar? Well, that's because it's also the plot to Frank Oz's film Bowfinger.

Oz hadn't worked with the Muppets extensively since The Muppet Christmas Carol; his Muppet roles for Muppet Treasure Island and Muppets in Space were all done with Oz contributing the voice for said characters in post-production. Working Muppeteer Eric Jacobson has since taken over for most of the Oz characters. Once Disney purchased the film rights to the Muppets, studio executive Dick Cook went to Frank Oz about making the film Jim Henson left behind. Though it was familiar territory in more ways than one, Oz was intrigued and spent a few weeks going over the script and building a preliminary budget. He presented the budget plan to Dick Cook and it's $40 million and Cook nearly has a heart attack. "It's The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made," he complained. "I was thinking like $15 million?" Oz looks Cook dead in the eye and says deadpan, "Do you understand how much money it takes to make things look cheap?" So Oz was let go and Jason Segal was allowed in. Frank Oz's last directorial film in theaters was the British comedy, Death at a Funeral (which was later remade in America with Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence and Tracy Morgan in the leads) and he continues to work in TV. The Muppets finally made it in theaters in 2011 to $165 million worldwide which leads to the Segal-less sequel, Muppets Most Wanted, three years later which grosses less than half of that worldwide. 

Likelihood: Probably never

• Richard Donner's Crazy Taxi

In probably one of the most weird combinations of directors and material, filmmaker Richard Donner (The Omen, Superman: The Movie, The Goonies, Scrooged and the Lethal Weapon movies) was approached about creating a movie based on the hysterical video game "Crazy Taxi". In the game, you take on one of four wacky drivers who will literally do anything - legal or illegal - to get their clients to their destination on time. Players fell in love with its insane gameplay without any consequences from police or other authority figures, the often irascible customers who will jump out of the car if you are late to their destination and the inimitable soundtrack exclusively featuring the bands The Offspring and Bad Religion.

Somehow, a game controller connected to "Crazy Taxi" wound up in the hands of Richard Donner. He played the game and loved it. SEGA was even prepared to redefine their franchise by what Donner and crew would create with the new film, though Donner downplayed any ideas of sequels before the first film had even been released (an oddity 10 years ago, a near impossibility today). Unfortunately, by the time Donner was able to tear himself away from the game and sit down with potential writers, it was determined that there was no real way to create enough of a plot to satisfy both gamers and moviegoers. SEGA had to watch as Donner removed himself from the project, effectively killing it. They were, however, out of the line of fire as the next decade of filmmaking could not save video game movies like Doom, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Max Payne, two different Hitman movies and most recently, Assassin's Creed and Rampage. Next year will be the time SEGA finally jumps to the big-screen with their flagship character Sonic the Hedgehog, who has previously made appearances in Wreck-It Ralph and Ready Player One. Will fortune smile upon the Blue Blur? Time will tell, but Crazy Taxi stalled out in first gear.

"I plan on doing a lot of experimentation with this film, trying things no one's really played around with, to really put the audience in the front or back seat of the taxi during the action sequences. You can do a lot more with the camera work in a movie to make the action sequences feel like those in the game. While a lot of video games are set in science-fiction environments or fantasy worlds, Crazy Taxi is set in New York City with a Russian cab driver. If you do this right, it'll be a lot of fun."

- Richard Donner

Likelihood: Never.

• Brad Bird's 1906

Two-time Academy Award winner Brad Bird is one of the film community's most beloved storytellers. Starting with the immortal tearjerker The Iron Giant and rounding out with the recently released Incredibles 2, Bird has proven himself to be a capable filmmaker with almost anything you put in front of him (Tomorrowland notwithstanding). However, there is one project that has continually eluded him - an epic drama adventure based on a book called 1906. 

The film, a retelling of the tragic 1906 San Francisco earthquake, was being developed by Warner Bros. Pictures in the hopes of replicating another Titanic by including a love story in the midst of chaos. Following completion of Ratatouille, Bird signed on to direct and rewrite the screenplay written by the book's author. To alleviate fears of an escalating budget, an unusual contract was put into place for the film to be a co-production between Warner Bros., Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar. The Shelby Forthright sequences of WALL-E are rumored to have been a test for Pixar to try out live-action filmmaking for both Bird and future John Carter director Andrew Stanton. However, the fact that Brad Bird had never directed a live-action film before continued to stick with Warner Bros. and they were reluctant to commit potential hundreds of millions toward a "cartoon" guy.

Hope came in the form of J.J. Abrams, who texted Bird with one word: "Mission?". A two-year journey began for the Incredibles filmmaker to finally make the jump from animation to live-action with the 2011 film Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. The film quickly became not only the highest grossing film in the series but the most critically acclaimed as well. Bird proudly came back to the Warner Bros. lot, expecting the executives to be suitably impressed. Apparently not, as Bird was told, "You directed the fourth installment of a film franchise based on a television series starring the most recognizable movie star in the world. What else ya got?" Bird was incensed, but began looking for another bankable project. Then, Tomorrowland happened. All this time, Brad has been the sole cheerleader for 1906 - even recently, on the press tour for Incredibles 2 he was quoted as saying that the project was not dead and may use the plan that Dark Tower abandoned: an intertwining media project of a TV miniseries culminating in a feature film for the actual earthquake. If cameras began rolling tomorrow, they would do so without the participation of Disney; with Marvel and Lucasfilm, they have bigger fish to fry. It seems that for now, all of Bird's men may not be able to put 1906 back together again.

“At (that) time, Chinatown was coexisting with the Barbary Coast, which was like the Wild Wild West, and at the same time Nob Hill had the upper class. It was a time between two centuries. You had horses and cars existing simultaneously. It’s just a volatile mix of things and then you throw in an earthquake. I mean, come on, if that doesn’t buy popcorn …”

- Brad Bird

Likelihood: May still happen.

• Terry Gilliam's Son of Strangelove

I have made no secret that my favorite of the films directed by Stanley Kubrick is his sole comedy, the witty war film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. It is hysterically funny, showcasing the last people we would ever want in charge if the nuclear bombs were going to fall. The incomparable Peter Sellers delivers not one, not two but three landmark performances and even has two of them carry on conversations with each other. Though one must not ignore the amazing work of George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson, who literally trips himself up without breaking character in one of my all-time favorite shots of cinema. In his career, Stanley Kubrick never made a sequel to any of his other films; though a sequel to his Strangelove follow-up, 2001: A Space Odyssey (recently re-released in IMAX and it was breathtaking), was made without his cooperation. Such a concept seemed beyond a master like Kubrick. But almost 20 years after his death, the master is still taking us back to school.

A sequel to Strangelove is a tale of two Terrys - Terry Southern, one of the co-writers of Dr. Strangelove and Terry Gilliam, famed Monty Python comedian and director of such films as The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. After the death of Southern in 1995, his family donated boxes upon boxes of his literary work to the New York Public Library where it was recently discovered treatments for a film titled Son of Strangelove. Other potential sequel titles included Turgidson's Mother or: Into the Shaft! and Muffley Strikes Back. As Strangelove ends with the end of the world via the Doomsday Machine, the film would have followed through with Strangelove's mad plan to repopulate the world in mine shafts, with "10 females to each male". No word if Dimitri got to make it into the shaft with his poached eggs. Kubrick apparently approved the development of the film and chose Terry Gilliam to direct it, feeling he had the right sensibilities. There was just one problem: Gilliam did not know about the project himself until over a decade after the passing of both Kubrick and Southern. Gilliam said he would have most definitely taken on the project. My only question is who on Earth would have been able to follow in the footsteps of Peter Sellers? Steve Martin tried it with his two Pink Panther films and they went nowhere. I think it's best to leave Dr. Strangelove forever in the War Room, where it can walk into immortality.

And that's just five of the projects that never ever got off the ground. Should they have? Are there more you'd like to hear about? Let me know in the comments! 

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY - Sidetracked

Note: Here's where the spoilers begin.

"Let me give you some advice: assume everyone will betray you, and you will never be disappointed."

- Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), Solo: A Star Wars Story

In the summer of 1977, moviegoers were introduced to two new dynamic movie characters: daredevil adventurer Bo “Bandit” Darville (Burt Reynolds) from Smokey and the Bandit and wisecracking mercenary Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from the original Star Wars. Both of them were devil-may-care showoffs who were seemingly only preoccupied with money but ultimately are revealed to have hearts of gold. In the case of Han Solo, audiences fell in love with Ford’s charismatic performance, which was augmented by his many improvisations as well as uncredited dialogue passes by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. George Lucas’ original dialogue was said to be so esoteric that Ford famously complained, “George, you can type this $#*! but you can’t say it.”

Having been established as a movie star, Ford was reluctant to reprise his role of Han Solo for Return of the Jedi. He had already played characters with more depth like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rick Deckard in Blade Runner and even got an Academy Award nomination as the Amish-protecting city cop John Book from Peter Weir’s Witness. The cliffhanger ending to The Empire Strikes Back left Solo frozen in carbonite and as far as Ford was concerned, he could stay there. “He’s got no mama, he’s got no papa, he’s got no future.” However, Lucas’ thinking prevailed and Ford was defrosted. His clear and utter contempt for the material (“Well, why don’t you use your divine influence and get us out of this?”) is evident but remains entertaining. For decades after Jedi, Ford’s career would continue to rise but he made an effort to steer clear of science-fiction (with few exceptions like Ender’s Game and Cowboys and Aliens).

In 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm Ltd. and set into motion production on the long-awaited sequel trilogy. While it was assumed that Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher would be more than willing to join the cast, many felt that Harrison Ford would be the lone holdout. Then, head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy hired J.J. Abrams to direct The Force Awakens; while it is true that she was looking for him to revitalize the franchise the same way he did Star Trek, one might see an ulterior motive. In the early years of Abrams’ career, he wrote a screenplay entitled Regarding Henry, which was made into a movie starring Ford and directed by Mike Nichols. In fact, Abrams was given a cameo role as a pizza boy delivering to Ford’s character in the film. Hiring a familiar face from the past who just so happened to have a major career boost may have turned the tides for Ford’s participation with one major stipulation: Han Solo had to die by the end of the film.

Naturally, with Han Solo being killed by his own son, Disney had to find a way to lighten up the franchise. They began looking into spin-off films that would be released in the intervening years between saga films. One of the first ideas to come up was the origin story of Han Solo, to be written by long-time Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan and his son, Jon. To bring their concept to life, Kathleen Kennedy hired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Their body of work was nothing but comedies – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the Jump Street films and The LEGO Movie. Over and over again, they had managed to take ideas that were skeptical at best and ridiculous at worst and turn them into box office gold. It was hoped that by giving them a higher budget than they were used to would allow them to take their abilities to greater heights. Almost immediately, Kennedy and the directors were at odds with each other. Coming from an improvisational background, they would often film scenes with multiple takes, each with a different delivery from the actors so there would be a wealth of options for the editing room. Kennedy was expecting more from them and Kasdan was said to be immensely displeased. Lord and Miller were themselves not used to this amount of pressure from a studio. As talking points began to break down, the end was near. Lucasfilm publicly announced that Lord and Miller were no longer involved with the project and a search for a new director would soon begin.

Enter Ron Howard, the Academy Award-winning director of such beloved films as Splash, Cocoon and A Beautiful Mind as well as less-regarded films like The Grinch, The Dilemma and In the Heart of the Sea. His Lucasfilm bonafides included having starred in George Lucas’ Modesto cruising comedy-drama American Graffiti as well as directing the fantasy adventure Willow. It has also been confirmed that Howard was among the first names on Lucas’ mind to direct The Phantom Menace before infamously taking on the job himself. Kennedy needed a name that was reliable and could work fast to undo the “damage” done to the Kasdans’ script. Howard, having never done an outer-space adventure film before, was intrigued and took the job. Bringing the cast back together for reshoots was no doubt a nerve-racking achievement, but from all accounts Howard had the time of his life and took to the world of Star Wars like a duck to water.

All his life, young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) has dreamed of a life where he can fly amongst the stars and be the captain of his own ship. After being forcibly separated from the love of his life, Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke), Han joins the Imperial infantry looking to become a pilot but is instead placed on the front lines. There, he meets a group of undercover criminals led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and bumps into a Wookiee that becomes a life-long friend Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Together, they go on a heist set by a crime lord named Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), who promises death if they fail to live up to his expectations. On the way, the crew finds a famous smuggler named Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) with just the ship they need, the Millennium Falcon. But as Han soon discovers, everyone has secrets they hide and few can be trusted.

While I think that Solo was much better than Rogue One, I still would have preferred to have seen Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's comedy version to the one audiences got. I would very much still like to hear their side of the story and I am sure due to non-disclosure agreements, they will not be saying much until years from now. Though I am sure they would have added a lot of lowbrow humor to the film, they also would have captured the heart and made the idea wholly worthwhile. In fact, their improvisations might have made the film that much more memorable, ala Harrison Ford's contributions to Star Wars. On the final film, they are credited as executive producers. Currently, they are said to be developing the sci-fi movie Artemis, from the author of The Martian and if that film is any indication, I am sure Lord and Miller will be bringing their creative sense of humor to this new production. All in all, there had to be have been some other way to have settled differences between the directors and Lucasfilm. Maybe assigning them to another project or allowing them the ability to create something all on their own. But now and forever, Solo will have the distinction of having started out with two directors and finishing out with one. Very few memorable movies can say that is a plus.

But to talk about the movie audiences *did* get, Solo is a fine adventure film. It has a lot more fun action set-pieces than the other Disney Star Wars films have, aside from Force Awakens. The big elephant in the room is Alden Ehrenreich and his performance of Han. When he was first announced all I knew him from was the Coen Brothers' Hail, Caesar (a movie that I believe suffered from misleading advertising). While he certainly *can* act, he can not act as Han Solo. I just do not see any of what would eventually become Harrison Ford in his scenes. On the other hand, Donald Glover captured exactly what one expects from Lando Calrissian; "an ol' smoothie". Woody Harrelson does good work as Han's mentor but the fact that he does eventually betray Han is unfortunately totally predictable; though he does bring to mind another character from another Lucasfilm production - the curiously named "Fedora" from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ("You lost today, kid. But it doesn't mean you have to like it.").  Emilia Clarke is, of course, stunning as ever but does not offer much outside of being Han's love interest. Paul Bettany's crime boss is supposed to be ruthless and menacing, but I do not find him to be so. This is a decent cast, but they are just not allowed to take risks or do anything out of the ordinary.

There is a surprise cameo in the film and while I was thinking it was going to be Jabba the Hutt (maybe even a pracical puppet like Yoda from Last Jedi), but it turned out to be Darth Maul from The Phantom Menace. That is pretty cool, but I imagine pretty confusing to people that have not followed Lucasfilm's animated series(es) "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" who find out that Darth Maul did indeed survive his slice in half via Obi-Wan Kenobi and now has robot legs. I appreciate that Ray Park was brought back to reprise his role though he is once again dubbed over. So now the first question to ask is why is Lucasfilm bringing back Darth Maul to live-action? Are they setting up a new trilogy of films where Han will eventually take on Maul before he gets to the Mos Eisley Cantina? Will this lead into the long-rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi movie with Ewan McGregor? Maul is certainly a character that can be added to and I am curious to see what he does next.

Fact 1: No one involved with Rogue One ever said this. This is a parody post.

Fact 2: To quote Perry White from Batman v. Superman, "Other breaking news, water... wet."

The fans who got upset with The Last Jedi will most likely find things to get upset over with Solo, but really, if these movies bug you that much - get over yourselves. Seriously. Go find something else to bide your time with. If you are actually going to boycott something, boycott something that actually matters. This is escapism, pure and simple. I have movies that I hate for certain - Vacation (2015) and Ghostbusters: Answer the Call among them. I can, without resorting to violence or anger, reason out why these movies do not work as movies and why the damage the franchises involve with. These other boycotts are just evil, political manipulations of entertainment. It is disgusting and deplorable and it sickens me to have to write about it. I will not discuss this further, so do not bother commenting about it.

Solo: A Star Wars Story - Ron Howard's version, anyway - is a perfectly serviceable Star Wars movie. It has all the humor and thrills that one expects out of this series, but the parts do not add up to the sum of a full movie. The Lord and Miller version will most likely never see the light of day and if that is the case, so be it. I would certainly hope that Lucasfilm learned from their mistakes and will now consciously work with filmmakers every step of the way so that miscommunication will be a thing of the past. It is essentially a film used for a theme park ride (ala "Star Tours") that got a theatrical release; not bad, but leaves you wanting something with more depth.

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR: All Good Things…

NOTE: As the directors have requested, “Thanos demands your silence.”

“Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses. And get this man a shield!”

- T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Avengers: Infinity War

Who would have ever guessed that a small publishing company called Timely would have led to several of the biggest box-office bonanzas of the 21st century? In their 10 years of existence, Marvel Studios has put out 19 feature films, 5 direct-to-DVD short films, 3 network television series, a few adjacent Netflix series and a revamped theme park attraction with loads more well on the way. The ambitious high-wire crossover nature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has kept fans coming back for more and more.

On the creative side of Marvel Studios, there have been a few ups and downs in terms of maintaining consistency. Actors like Terrence Howard and Edward Norton were replaced early on when it was deemed that they were not team players. Directors like Louis Leterrier, Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston have rarely been recognized for their contributions to the MCU and have not been a part of the 10th Anniversary celebrations for unknown reasons. Joss Whedon, who came aboard to take on Marvel’s The Avengers, was quickly made Marvel Studios’ golden boy. After being forced to help fix a few movies, start a brand-new TV show and finish a long-awaited sequel, it was clear he was exhausted and simply wanted to go home.

Enter the Russo Brothers. They were primarily known for their background in comedies like You, Me and Dupree and episodes of “Community”. Fans were more than a bit skeptical when they were brought on to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier. However, the brothers delivered a thrilling and engaging film that had great action and solid drama while still maintaining the levity the Marvel Studios films are known for. Naturally, they were brought back for Captain America: Civil War where they had a larger scope with even more characters to play with. They also introduced Black Panther and Spider-Man into the MCU. This too was a massive success for the duo. But producer and Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige had a final stage in mind.

Several of the lead actors’ contracts were coming to an end and newer actors coming in needed their own films to thrive in. With the writers of the Captain America trilogy, Feige plotted out two new Avengers films that would effectively end one half of the MCU and push the other half in a whole other direction. Deciding to film both stories back-to-back, the Russos were up to the task. Not only were they working with nearly every cast member from Civil War but also the space superstars the Guardians of the Galaxy (who had just come off two highly successful films). The films were such large-scale events that, for the first time ever in a Hollywood feature film, IMAX cameras were used to film the entirety of production. With the largest main cast ever assembled for a Marvel Studios film, two proven directors and a multi-million dollar production of two separate films both shot in IMAX, the possibilities were infinite…

After the destruction of Asgard, the refugee ship commanded by Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is intercepted by the forces of intergalactic conqueror Thanos (Josh Brolin). The Hulk, who had been traveling with Thor, is sent back to Earth to warn their heroes as Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). He crash-lands into the Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) who brings in Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). While Bruce’s story seems unbelievable at first, it is not long before Thanos’ forces have arrived at Earth and begin attacking Manhattan. Spider-Man (Tom Holland) joins the fray in protecting Doctor Strange’s Time Stone, but Strange himself is soon captured. Iron Man and Spider-Man follow their enemies’ ship into space. Meanwhile, Thor has landed in amongst the Guardians of the Galaxy, who take off after the remaining Infinity Stones. Back on Earth, the remaining heroes retreat to the homeland of Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Wakanda. They are there to save the life of mortally wounded Vision (Paul Bettany), whose essence is stored in the Mind Stone. Though they are separated by millions of miles of space, the Earth’s mightiest heroes are giving their all to stop a tyrant from ruling the universe. Can they save the day one last time or will their efforts be in vain?

Note: This shot is actually nowhere in the film whatsoever.

To begin with, this film has a breakneck pace but it is welcome because the movie is over two hours long. Audiences have had 10 years to prepare for this and if you are not ready, too bad. It launches you headlong into the adventure not taking any time to reintroduce any of the characters or retell any major events. If one were to ask me what movies to watch beforehand, I would recommend Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok as they are the vital backstory to understanding what goes on in the film. I must admit, I am not usually a fan of movies that run by this fast; but for a long and intense movie like this, the speed is stunning.

As mentioned above, the film boasts a massive cast from all parts of the MCU. One surprise of the film has a long-lost character returning: the Red Skull, last seen in Captain America: The First Avenger. However, this is not Hugo Weaving returning to play the role as he has definitely burned the bridge connecting him to Marvel Studios. Maybe he played the part as a favor to his Wolfman director Joe Johnston. The Red Skull here is played by an impressionist. Regardless, it is gratifying that this particular missing puzzle piece has not gone astray. It is explained that in the climax of First Avenger, Red Skull was beamed away to a distant planet and has lived out of a lifetime keeping watch over the Soul Stone.

The one thing I guarantee everyone will be discussing for a full year until the sequel comes out is the ending in which after Thanos teleports away from Earth, a large amount of the heroes begin disappearing into thin air. The movie ends with the bad guy winning. No hint at how the story will resolve itself. This is Empire Strikes Back territory, not Back to the Future Part II where it ends with a trailer for Part III. But maybe, just maybe… Back to the Future is a clue here. Bear with me: the characters literally fade out of existence in a similar way to how Marty McFly was nearly erased from existence in the first film. Set photos from the next Avengers film feature what appears to be a re-creation of the Battle of New York from the original Avengers film. The two Avengers films were announced as a two-part event, but this was subsequently changed before release. True, Part films have gone out of style since Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games used them to death. So could time travel play a part in getting these heroes back and stopping Thanos? I could conceivably be wrong. It is a comic book world. Anything can happen.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe can never be faulted for its ambitious nature and this is their biggest film since the original Avengers six years ago. In that span of time, other studios have tried and failed to launch their own cinematic universes and paid greatly for their folly. With this film, the House of Ideas has given audiences something they have not yet: a downer ending. But hope has not been extinguished quite yet. As the post-credit scene rolls to a close, it is revealed that Captain Marvel (Academy Award winner Brie Larson) herself is on the way. Marvel is literally coming to save… Marvel.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI - But Not Least

Note: Spoilers to maximum. Prepare to fire.

"Amazing. Everything you just said was... wrong. The Rebellion is reborn today. The war has just begun."

- Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Star Wars: The Last Jedi

In the aftermath of The Force Awakens, the world got Star Wars fever all over again. It was cool again to like Star Wars as opposed to having to hide it away in public for fear of Jar Jar jokes. This was naturally due to the fact that multinational conglomerate Disney now owned the franchise (and as of this writing pretty much everything else). They followed it up the coming year with Rogue One, a standalone film that proved the franchise was capable of going in different directions if just for one film. But the next film would be the real test. Would audiences come back for more? Had the new cast garnered enough goodwill for fans past and present? And most importantly: would Mark Hamill actually get to recite dialogue?

Enter Rian Johnson: a true maverick filmmaker. Starting from his first film, the Joseph Gordon-Levitt crime mystery Brick, Johnson established himself as a director that would go after storytelling with raw emotion. Following this up, Johnson would lighten his tone with the con-man comedy The Brothers Bloom, this time teaming with actors Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo. This jokey action movie would later lead to him directing one episode of "Terriers", a short-lived but cult favorite television series (maybe we should give a big-time franchise movie to the guy who directed the pilot episode?). Johnson went back to his darker roots with three episodes of the critically acclaimed series "Breaking Bad", with his final episode "Ozymandias" quickly scoring a perfect 10/10 on IMDb after its initial airing. In 2012, Johnson directed his biggest movie (until today), Looper - a massively mind-bending sci-fi/thriller starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as one hitman at two different ages. With all of these achievements, and all of them being all original material, what could one of the world's most popular film franchises ever have to offer to Rian Johnson?

In the aftermath of destroying the massive Starkiller Base, the Resistance quickly begins an evacuation with General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) in charge. As they are escaping, they quickly discover that they have very low fuel reserves and are hours away from destruction by the pursuing First Order led by General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson). Together, ex-Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega), X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and a young Rebel engineer named Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) launch a plan to find a code-breaker to help them break onto a First Order ship and disable it, so the Resistance can escape. Meanwhile, Rey (Daisy Ridley) has tracked down the missing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) so that not only can he assist the efforts of the Resistance but so she can be taught in the ways of the Force. However, the years have worn down the formerly optimistic farm boy and Luke has become quite cynical and believes that the Jedi should die with him. However, after seeing Rey's determination, he reluctantly agrees to train her. Rey soon finds herself troubled by conversations she has through the Force with her nemesis, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who wants nothing more than to turn her over to his Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and kill Skywalker - his former teacher - himself.

This was an exhilarating movie. The cast, most of which has returned from The Force Awakens, has never been better. Every character gets their time to shine, which is good considering there are a LOT of them. Finn & Rose, a new character we are introduced to, work well off each other as Finn is having to live up to the Resistance hero image that Rose associates him with. Poe and Leia have great back and forth dialogue, yet I cannot say I am happy with Laura Dern as Holdo. She gets introduced near the middle of the movie and she immediately takes a dislike to Poe, without any real motive. It gets hinted that she is a traitor to the Resistance but that is thrown out the window. Maybe she had more to do and more to endear audiences with in a longer version of the movie, but as it stands she does not offer much except for giving her life to help save the Resistance. 

Mark Hamill delivers a dynamite performance that gives laughs, cheers and even frights at times as Luke Skywalker. Naturally, after his 30 second performance at the end of The Force Awakens, many were confused and/or disappointed that Mark Hamill had relatively nothing to do. That is changed with The Last Jedi. Hamill is allowed to let loose with his performance, in very much the same way Harrison Ford did in the previous film. You get the sense that Hamill was tired of playing (and being identified as) the goody-two-shoes character that Luke was in the Original Trilogy. Here, he is giving broad drama where he feels much guilt for having failed Yoda and Obi-Wan at restarting the Jedi Order and for ruining the life of Ben Solo who became Kylo Ren. There is a series of flashbacks in the film, and while flashbacks are not centrally used in Star Wars, it shows both Luke and Kylo Ren's point-of-view of the night Kylo turned. In Kylo's version, Luke is terrifying with murder in his eyes. In Luke's version, he is "filled with shame" for having considered killing Ben with his lightsaber. We all make mistakes, even Jedi.

The big unspoken element of the film is that this is Carrie Fisher's final film. But to give the filmmakers credit, if this was to be her swan song, what a swan song it is. Leia plays an enormous part of the plot to the film and you can tell Fisher was enjoying every minute of it. She gets to literally slap around Poe Dameron in their first scene together and it is really funny. Without giving too much away, there is a segment in the film where Leia seemingly dies and I have to admit I was in disbelief. There was no way she was going to die in this movie if she had already died in real life; Carrie Fisher, tragically, lost her life but the character of Leia Organa is immortal. Naturally, she finds a way to survive and continues to lead the fight well into the end of the movie. The end credits dedicates the film to her.

Disney continues their hit-streak of bringing life back to Star Wars. They got Abrams to resuscitate it, had Edwards check its memory and now Johnson has checked its pulse. Weeks before its release, Disney and Lucasfilm announced that Johnson would be heading up his own standalone Star Wars trilogy after Episode IX. If this film is any indication, Johnson is not only well-suited but perfect for the job. Last Jedi is a thrilling, funny and riveting experience. There are quite a few nice surprises, jawdropping reveals and extreme excitement to be had. I highly encourage everybody to see it as quickly as possible. In IMAX, if possible. 

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY - A Previous Hope

NOTE: A long time ago, in a SPOILER far, far away...

“I'm one with the Force, and the Force is with me.”

- Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

In 2012, when it was announced that Disney had acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. and its main export, the Star Wars franchise, fans initially did not know what to make of it. Over the past decade, Star Wars under George Lucas – and his universally despised prequels and Special Editions – had basically become a pop culture punch-line. Lucas was starting to allow outright parodies of his work by fans like Seth MacFarlane and Seth Green in trilogies of “Family Guy” and “Robot Chicken” episodes; none of that adult-themed humor would ever be allowed through Disney. How would the Mouse House of all places be able to resuscitate a galaxy far, far away? It started by the appointment of longtime Steven Spielberg collaborator Kathleen Kennedy as the head of Lucasfilm. She devised a Story Group of authors, writers and other creatives to plan out the franchise going forward as opposed to waiting on the whims of a burned-out creative mind who genuinely hated the moviemaking process.

2015 brought the first fruit of their efforts, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams. It was a worldwide smash hit with critics and audiences, bringing back the love of Star Wars once again. The film successfully reintroduced fan favorite characters while launching new and intriguing characters to carry the franchise forward. But the previous three-year wait time between Star Wars films would not be enough for Disney. With their considerable resources, they would set out an ambitious release schedule: one Star Wars film a year for the foreseeable future. Every other year in which a Saga film would not be featured, Kennedy would set a date for what Lucasfilm would call Anthology films – films set in the Star Wars universe that did not have to obey the previously set chronology and would be based on events previously not seen or characters’ origins. The first film under this new banner would be called Rogue One.

A year beforehand, rising British director Gareth Edwards was adding the finishing touches to the biggest film he had ever directed at the time, an American reboot of Godzilla for Warner Bros. Pictures. It was then when he received a phone call from Kiri Hart, the leader of Kennedy’s Lucasfilm Story Group at Disney. It seemed his name had come up at the top of the list of potential directors for a standalone Star Wars film. After a meeting, it was decided that the perfect Star Wars film for Edwards’ sensibilities would be a war-themed film centered around the Rebel Alliance’s theft of the top-secret plans to the Death Star. This story had been developed by long-time Star Wars visual effects veteran, Academy Award winner and the man who gave the world Photoshop, John Knoll. Edwards was a die-hard Star Wars fan from a young age, even dragging his girlfriend to the then-abandoned Tunisian set of the Lars homestead on his 30th birthday so he could drink actual blue milk from the same table Luke Skywalker had. It killed him to not be able to tell anyone about his new project, even his mother. When the go-ahead was given to Edwards to tell anyone he wanted that he was doing a new Star Wars film, he gleefully had a guessing game with his mother over the phone. Clearly, this was a director after a geek's own heart.

Jyn Erso (Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones) grew up without a stable sense of family. Her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), was taken from her at an early age to go work for the Empire on the same day her mother was murdered. Years later, after her willfulness and bad attitude leaves her in an Imperial cell, she is broken out by resistance fighters Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and his mouthy droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk). They lead her to the Rebel Alliance and their leader, Mon Mothma. She is concerned about a new weapon the Empire is constructing to destroy any planet that stands in its way of galactic conquest. When asked why she should care, Jyn is stunned to learn that her father was the lead architect of what becomes known as the Death Star. Believing him to be a pawn of the Empire, she volunteers her services to help rescue him while obtaining the plans to the Death Star.

As many online have already pointed out, most of the movie does not reflect the footage the trailers advertised. The film notably went through reshoots months before its release headed by Tony Gilroy. Most feared Disney’s influence to lighten the movie to a childish degree, even allowing the characters to live at the end. In fact, the entire Internet had the story backwards. The original script was written with all the characters living at the end, because Edwards assumed Disney would not want them killed off. With Kennedy and Disney’s help, they agreed to go with Edwards’ preferred ending where Jyn and the Rogue One crew are all killed by the Death Star. As to the footage used in the trailers not seen in the film, it was deemed by Disney’s marketing that it would be useful to sell the film on without using the actual footage. Directors of films that go through immense post-production changes are often cagey in their responses to the press or simply disown the film outright. However, it seems Edwards had a great time working on the film and seems to be proud of it. He even joked that the demises of the heroes is, “…a great Disney tradition…. For every single character to die in all their movies.”

One of the major talking points of the film is the revelation of a supporting character played previously by an actor who has been dead for over two decades: Grand Moff Tarkin, performed in the image of Sir Peter Cushing. In Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Tarkin makes a brief walk-on appearance near the end of the film portrayed by another actor in prosthetic makeup. The character has also appeared in both “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels”. Here, however, it appears digital technology has improved enough to allow for Peter Cushing to make an appearance from the grave. I must admit, I was quite taken aback at how much of the movie he was in. I have long been an advocate of performance capture but this is de-aging on a dead actor – something rarely attempted before. Is it utterly perfect? No, but it does well. It is an improvement on the de-aging effect on '80s Jeff Bridges in TRON: Legacy, but not as convincing as '80s Michael Douglas at the beginning of Ant-Man. The only thing that bothered me most was the gray, translucent quality of Tarkin’s face. You could almost see his veins through the skin and it did not rub me quite the right way. Still, it is an evolving technology and I hope to see more experimentation with it in the years to come.

Rogue One, while a story we all know the ending to, is a fine film with a lot of good action and characters. They all get something to do in the third act and it is thrilling to watch good practical effects in action. However, I think I must confess that I like The Force Awakens more: it moves the story we knew forward into the future while respecting the past. This is a movie that does respect the past certainly (almost too much for me, with that Ponda Baba and Evazan cameo), but we all know where it is going. You can literally watch the end of Rogue One, replace the Blu-Ray with A New Hope, and just keep right on going. Nothing bad certainly, and I did thoroughly enjoy the film, but I am ready for The Last Jedi to keep the Star Wars train rolling.

RIP Carrie Fisher and Kenny Baker

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2017): Hermione Granger and the Reluctant Werewolf

NOTE: Be our guest, be our guest, put our SPOILERS to the test.

“If it's not Baroque, don't fix it.”

- Cosgworth (voice of David Ogden Stiers), Beauty and the Beast (1991)

There are not a lot of perfect movies out there, especially these days. But if there is a contender for such a title, Beauty and the Beast would be a welcome choice. I am, of course, referring to the 1991 Disney animated classic (you thought it would be Cocteau's?). The film came after Disney reinvented its animation studio following The Little Mermaid and caught the world by its collective heartstrings and refused to let go. To this day, it is the only traditionally-animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards (it lost to the Hannibal Lector film The Silence of the Lambs). From there, Disney continued to utilize the film's beloved characters in everything from direct-to-video spinoffs to theme park restaurants.

In 2010, Disney released Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland to massive box office success (chalked up to the then-reliable star power of Johnny Depp and the 3D ticket sales brought on after Avatar) and launched a new mission for the company: they would dive back into their own animated canon, remake them in live-action CG hybrids and profit off of parents reintroducing their children to timeless stories told by today's movie stars and directors. Remakes of Sleeping Beauty (soon after crafted into an Angelina Jolie vehicle titled Maleficent), Cinderella (directed by Thor's Kenneth Branagh) and Pete's Dragon (which surprisingly became a critical darling) would be greenlit. And if other Disney fans did not like them, they always had Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm to turn to. What could go wrong?

Belle (Emma Watson) is a beautiful young woman with an inventive mind and a spirit of adventure. Naturally, this makes her the topic of gossip in her little French village and the unwavering target of the affections of big game hunter Gaston (Luke Evans), who is vain and ill-tempered. Her doting and encouraging father Maurice (Kevin Kline) leaves on a quick trip to the market and winds up lost at the front of a massively imposing castle. When he does not return the next day, Belle sets off after him and finds him a prisoner of the castle's belligerent master, a large and hairy Beast (Dan Stevens in performance capture). Belle hesitantly agrees to take her father's place as his prisoner. Belle soon discovers the Beast is not the sole occupant of the castle; a large assortment of enchanted talking objects show her hospitality and kindness and gradually reveal they used to be human along with the Beast. What Belle does not know is that the Enchantress who cursed him and his servants did so because she saw he had no love in his heart; however, if he could love someone and have them love him in return, the spell would be broken. "For who could ever learn to love a Beast?"

The cast of the film had a lot to live up to despite their doppelgängers being hand drawn. Emma Watson delivers a fine performance as well as demonstrating keen musical chops. The movie simply would fall flat without her. Her compassion and grace is the most beautiful aspect about her character and livens up the proceedings. Dan Stevens is not an actor I am familiar with (I did recently see the pilot episode to his new FX series "Legion"), but his is probably the most difficult part in the film. Buried under a mass of CG fur, Stevens manages to work the performance capture technology to his advantage and maintains control of his facial expressions. Kevin Kline is not the spitting image of the original Maurice but his heart comes through with his scenes with Watson. He also is in the movie a lot more than I would have guessed and it is good to see Kline in such a mainstream movie again. Luke Evans and Josh Gad have surprisingly good camaraderie and work well off each other. I certainly would have preferred Gad to be dressed in the exact costume his animated counterpart wore but this is a minor nitpick. 

Where the movie really falls is in the voice cast comprising the castle's enchanted objects. It certainly is not for a lack of casting; Ewan McGregor (as Lumiere), Ian McKellen (as Cogsworth), Emma Thompson (as Mrs. Potts) and Stanley Tucci (as Cadenza, a character completely created for the film) are all vastly-talented actors who are pretty much miscast all across the board. McGregor has even said as much, saying his performance of "Be Our Guest" was fouled up by his attempted French accent which ended up sounding Spanish. In animated form, the original characters were all pleasant to look at and were clearly designed following in the footsteps of Disney's Nine Old Men. However, their realistic depiction here is just unnerving. How hard would have been to put Ewan McGregor's face in the wax of a candle? He is part of the candelabra in the final film and it just comes off as ugly. When the voice cast appears as themselves at the end of the film, it feels like their makeup was done by the team from that ghastly Nutcracker movie years ago; they look pretty horrid. 

The songs from the original (lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by master composer Alan Menken) had the world falling in love and credit goes to director Bill Condon for dissuading Disney from making a version of the movie without them. Anybody can make a movie based on the story of "Beauty and the Beast", but only Disney can make a movie with the song "Beauty and the Beast". The only song that Belle does not sing that I feel accurately stands tall next to the original is Luke Evans taking on "The Mob Song (Kill the Beast)". There are new songs in the film, but despite them coming from Menken, they are not nearly as memorable. They got it right the first time. The original Beauty and the Beast is my second favorite musical behind Mary Poppins (and the director of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is about to go mess that up too).

There is a certain phrase that goes, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." This story is nothing if not sincere, but this movie is nothing but a flattering imitation. Is it bad? No, not in the least. The animated Beauty and the Beast was and remains a perfect movie; lightning in a bottle with no live-action version necessary. However, if a movie like this has to exist, its sole benefit would be to point back to the superior version.

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 Pepé 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