2015 Year in review
I'll get it done eventually, am I right?
Movies
I saw 32 movies in 2015 that also came out in 2015. About the same amount as I saw last year. Well, let's get started.
Worst Movie of 2015
The contenders are: Jupiter Ascending, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and The Voices. Jupiter tries to be a daring space epic, but never has a single exciting moment. Kingsman is actually good and funny until a stupid, pointless, and misogynistic ending ruins all good faith the film had built up with me. The Voices is supposed to be funny...Do you like laughing at violence against women? If so, you'll love this.
Winner: The Voices. Look, I know why you did this Ryan Reynods. You were looking for something to bridge your romantic comedy past with your upcoming Deadpool role. So you go for a schizophrenic that stumbles into love and murder. Much more murder than love though. It's gross, the camera frequently lingers on blood, cat vomit, and feces. Also: Fully five minutes are given to dismembering a woman. Skip it.
The Best B Movie of 2015
The contenders are: What We do in the Shadows, Goosebumps, and Tomorrowland. Shadows is a hilarious mock-u-mentary about a group of vampires in New Zealand that uses both good and so-bad-it's-good special effects. Goosebumps is made for kids horror film that uses Jack Black as a grumpy R.L. Stine. Tomorrowland has a great heart, but fails in execution. It does however, have a great villain's monologue.
Winner: What We do in the Shadows. The mix of horror and humor won me over. It's also so quotable! "We're werewolves, not swear-wolves." ":Leave me alone to do my dark bidding [on eBay]."
Funniest Movie of 2015
The contenders are: Ant-Man, The Martian, and What We do in the Shadows. Ant-Man is a B-list superhero origin story. Best quote: "Baskin Robins always finds out." The Martian a surprisingly funny fight for survival. Best quote: "Mars will come to fear my botany powers." And see B Movie for Shadows.
Winner: What We do in the Shadows. Still funny! I only regret that I watched this on a plane next to two Japanese women that were trying to sleep. Ladies, I'm sorry if my laughter kept you up.
Best Animated Movie of 2015
The contenders are: Inside Out, Shaun the Sheep, When Marnie was there, and Peanuts. Inside Out has the best emotional intelligence of any movie I've seen in years. Hands down. Shaun is the best dialog-free movie I've ever seen. Marnie is the lastes Ghibli film. Peanuts is like a solid, but kinder Peanuts fan-fiction.
Winner: Inside Out. I fear that was a foregone conclusion.
Best Sci-fi Movie of 2015
The Contenders: Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, Ex Machina, and Star Wars: the Force Awakens. Fury Road is a dystopian action film with an amazing feminist message. The Martian features a stranded astronaut and his struggle to survive. It's 90% scietifically accurate. Ex Machina is a robot story. Force Awakens is the best Star Wars movie to come out in two decades.
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road. The cinamatagraphy, the story, the amazing women. These all contributed, but the major thing to me was that there are women that look like me. They are not a joke, they have a job in this world. While their lives obviously suck, so do most lives in this world. And in the end, they are still capable of great compassion.
Judge's Special Award: Star Wars: the Force Awakens. A wonderfull film. Go see it if you haven't already.
Best Monster Movie of 2015
The Contenders: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, What We do in the Shadows, It Follows, and Babadook. A Girl is a vampire story that is initially so slow paced I wanted to throttle the director. The ending makes up for everything though. Shadows is also a vampire story, but it's funny instead of creepy. It Follows has a sexually transmitted monster in it. Moving on. Babadook is very creepy story of a single mother coping with the death of her husband and the special needs of her son...while being haunted both internally and externally by monster of ink and teeth.
Winner: Babadook. The scariest movie of the year with the most unique monster deserves this award.
Best Cold War Movie of 2015
The Contenders: Child 44, and Bridge of Spies. Child 44 is a serial killer murder mystery set in soviet Russia, where one of the prevailing philosophies is "There is no murder in paradise." Everyone has there own motives and loyaties sift like icebergs. Bridge is the real-life story of an American lawyer defending and then trading a Russian spy for two American captivies during the Cold War.
Winner: Child 44. This is a more complicated, less heroic, and more interesting story.
Best Adaptation of 2015
The Contenders: The Martian, A Walk in the Woods, and Peanuts. Both The Martian and A Walk were based on books, while Peanuts is based on the beloved comic strip. Now a refreasher - an adaptation is a film that successfully keeps character and message intact from a non-film medium. We would also like to keep that story intact, but that's just a bonus.
Winner: The Martian. Incredibly faithful to original story, character, and message. Peanuts was, unfortunately, not faithful to message. Choosing to Charlie Brown a happy ending is not something the original creator would have selected. A Walk cuts the story short, changes the message and makes Katz far more noble than he actually is. Therefore only The Martian can be considered a successful adaptation.
Best Movie of 2015
The Contenders: Mr. Holmes, Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Mr. Holmes is tour de force by Ian McKellen playing an aging Sherlock Holmes with dementia. Fury Road is an amazing mix of practical effects, digital effects and feminism. Force Awakens defies the old addage that general audiances don't want major characters to be minorities or women and gives us an amazing adventure.
Winner: Tie! Three way. I can't choose. They're all sooo good! Is this a copout on my part? Yes, but which one of your children do you like best?
The year of 2015 was a great one for movies. There were more female-led movies that were good (see: Spy, Sisters, Inside Out, Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens). There was a slight increase in diversity (Star Wars especially, but I'd also like to give a nod to Ant-Man and The Martian...even though those were secondary characters). I hope 2016 will continue these trends.
Movies
I saw 32 movies in 2015 that also came out in 2015. About the same amount as I saw last year. Well, let's get started.
Worst Movie of 2015
The contenders are: Jupiter Ascending, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and The Voices. Jupiter tries to be a daring space epic, but never has a single exciting moment. Kingsman is actually good and funny until a stupid, pointless, and misogynistic ending ruins all good faith the film had built up with me. The Voices is supposed to be funny...Do you like laughing at violence against women? If so, you'll love this.
Winner: The Voices. Look, I know why you did this Ryan Reynods. You were looking for something to bridge your romantic comedy past with your upcoming Deadpool role. So you go for a schizophrenic that stumbles into love and murder. Much more murder than love though. It's gross, the camera frequently lingers on blood, cat vomit, and feces. Also: Fully five minutes are given to dismembering a woman. Skip it.
The Best B Movie of 2015
The contenders are: What We do in the Shadows, Goosebumps, and Tomorrowland. Shadows is a hilarious mock-u-mentary about a group of vampires in New Zealand that uses both good and so-bad-it's-good special effects. Goosebumps is made for kids horror film that uses Jack Black as a grumpy R.L. Stine. Tomorrowland has a great heart, but fails in execution. It does however, have a great villain's monologue.
Winner: What We do in the Shadows. The mix of horror and humor won me over. It's also so quotable! "We're werewolves, not swear-wolves." ":Leave me alone to do my dark bidding [on eBay]."
Funniest Movie of 2015
The contenders are: Ant-Man, The Martian, and What We do in the Shadows. Ant-Man is a B-list superhero origin story. Best quote: "Baskin Robins always finds out." The Martian a surprisingly funny fight for survival. Best quote: "Mars will come to fear my botany powers." And see B Movie for Shadows.
Winner: What We do in the Shadows. Still funny! I only regret that I watched this on a plane next to two Japanese women that were trying to sleep. Ladies, I'm sorry if my laughter kept you up.
Best Animated Movie of 2015
The contenders are: Inside Out, Shaun the Sheep, When Marnie was there, and Peanuts. Inside Out has the best emotional intelligence of any movie I've seen in years. Hands down. Shaun is the best dialog-free movie I've ever seen. Marnie is the lastes Ghibli film. Peanuts is like a solid, but kinder Peanuts fan-fiction.
Winner: Inside Out. I fear that was a foregone conclusion.
Best Sci-fi Movie of 2015
The Contenders: Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, Ex Machina, and Star Wars: the Force Awakens. Fury Road is a dystopian action film with an amazing feminist message. The Martian features a stranded astronaut and his struggle to survive. It's 90% scietifically accurate. Ex Machina is a robot story. Force Awakens is the best Star Wars movie to come out in two decades.
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road. The cinamatagraphy, the story, the amazing women. These all contributed, but the major thing to me was that there are women that look like me. They are not a joke, they have a job in this world. While their lives obviously suck, so do most lives in this world. And in the end, they are still capable of great compassion.
Judge's Special Award: Star Wars: the Force Awakens. A wonderfull film. Go see it if you haven't already.
Best Monster Movie of 2015
The Contenders: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, What We do in the Shadows, It Follows, and Babadook. A Girl is a vampire story that is initially so slow paced I wanted to throttle the director. The ending makes up for everything though. Shadows is also a vampire story, but it's funny instead of creepy. It Follows has a sexually transmitted monster in it. Moving on. Babadook is very creepy story of a single mother coping with the death of her husband and the special needs of her son...while being haunted both internally and externally by monster of ink and teeth.
Winner: Babadook. The scariest movie of the year with the most unique monster deserves this award.
Best Cold War Movie of 2015
The Contenders: Child 44, and Bridge of Spies. Child 44 is a serial killer murder mystery set in soviet Russia, where one of the prevailing philosophies is "There is no murder in paradise." Everyone has there own motives and loyaties sift like icebergs. Bridge is the real-life story of an American lawyer defending and then trading a Russian spy for two American captivies during the Cold War.
Winner: Child 44. This is a more complicated, less heroic, and more interesting story.
Best Adaptation of 2015
The Contenders: The Martian, A Walk in the Woods, and Peanuts. Both The Martian and A Walk were based on books, while Peanuts is based on the beloved comic strip. Now a refreasher - an adaptation is a film that successfully keeps character and message intact from a non-film medium. We would also like to keep that story intact, but that's just a bonus.
Winner: The Martian. Incredibly faithful to original story, character, and message. Peanuts was, unfortunately, not faithful to message. Choosing to Charlie Brown a happy ending is not something the original creator would have selected. A Walk cuts the story short, changes the message and makes Katz far more noble than he actually is. Therefore only The Martian can be considered a successful adaptation.
Best Movie of 2015
The Contenders: Mr. Holmes, Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Mr. Holmes is tour de force by Ian McKellen playing an aging Sherlock Holmes with dementia. Fury Road is an amazing mix of practical effects, digital effects and feminism. Force Awakens defies the old addage that general audiances don't want major characters to be minorities or women and gives us an amazing adventure.
Winner: Tie! Three way. I can't choose. They're all sooo good! Is this a copout on my part? Yes, but which one of your children do you like best?
The year of 2015 was a great one for movies. There were more female-led movies that were good (see: Spy, Sisters, Inside Out, Mad Max: Fury Road, Star Wars: The Force Awakens). There was a slight increase in diversity (Star Wars especially, but I'd also like to give a nod to Ant-Man and The Martian...even though those were secondary characters). I hope 2016 will continue these trends.