TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2015

The one constant of my blog (and it’s not timely entries) is that every year I visit the movies I paid to see at the movie theatre.  There were numerous movies in 2015 that I waited to see on VOD or DVD but the list below are the ones that got my butt to a seat in the theatre (usually with a large Slurpee and a pretzel too...boy that adds up).

SAW THAT - so let’s take a look at the 2015 Movies I saw (in order) at the Cineplex.  Some of these movies I saw multiple times as is noted in the parenthesis.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Furious 7

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2 IMAX)

Mad Max: Fury Road (5, 1 IMAX)

Poltergeist

Jurassic World (2 IMAX)

Ted 2

Ant-Man (IMAX)

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (1, 1 IMAX)

The Green Inferno

The Walk (IMAX)

The Martian

James Bond: Spectre (IMAX)

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Creed

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (IMAX)

The Hateful Eight (70mm Limited Road-show)

Total = 17 different movies

Total = 25 different showings

With only seventeen different movies in the running, choosing a Top 10 was a bit challenging.  Truly there are only sixteen movies since Poltergeist was more like forced duty since my nieces begged me to see it.  I’m not the market audience for Poltergeist as I don’t need a reboot of this series, and even with all that the movie lived down to my lowly expectations.  It was generic, bad, and instantly forgettable.

The only movie I had a lot of anticipation for was Mad Max: Fury Road and this one blew me away.  The first time I saw it I was heavily medicated due to an allergy situation and my brain had a struggle processing the pure assault I was under.  Repeated viewings made me appreciate this movie more and more and shockingly on my last viewing I dragged my wife to see it and even she had to admit being entertained.  “Witness!” is now a much enjoyed phrase around the house.  With a 97% approval rating and buzz about a possible Best Picture nomination for the Academy Awards, I couldn’t be happier.

That said let’s take a spoiler free look at my Top 10 favorites for this calendar year.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

This movie is a sheet assault on our senses.  If you haven’t seen it then do so instantly.  I am in sheer awe of the vision of George Miller and the world he created with a budget behind him.  Would the movie have been better with Mel Gibson as Mad Max...possibly?  I did like what Tom Hardy did with the limited role, but this franchise has always been about the world and Max drifting from one scenario to another.  This movie can, and should, be embraced by all moviegoers because of the pure levels of creativity and imagination on display.

2. Jurassic World

Wow, dinosaurs run amok and it was entertaining as hell!  When I heard that this movie was going to center around a fully functional dinosaur theme park and that Chris Pratt was going to train raptors, my initial thought was “This movie will suck!”  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  By definition Jurassic World is: Pure bubble gum entertainment!

 3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The haters are hating on this one and some people are so wrong that they’re resorting to the weakest of comparisons.  Is The Force Awakens a classic?  No.  Star Wars has produced two classics A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (thank you Gary Kurtz).  If we’re honest this series will never achieve that level of greatness, in fact it’s impossible.  However Return of the Jedi is decent, and somewhere between greatness and decent lies this new entry.  I was entertained throughout and I’m aware that the magic of 1977 and 1980 will never be recaptured...but this new entry has me curious to see what will follow...and I think Kylo Ren (not Rey) is the strongest original character delivered to this franchise in decades.

4. The Hateful Eight

Christmas morning I went to see this at the limited 70mm road-show engagement.  It was worth it!  I’m a Tarantino fan through-and-through!  Hateful Eight is purely a character-piece that essentially takes place in one setting.  It’d be a stellar play.  The dialogue was strong and the characters, and surprises, were handled perfectly.  When the bloodbath starts (and it does) I was legitimately shocked because what I thought was going to happen did not happen.  Go into this one spoiler free.

5. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Tom Cruise hanging outside of an airplane!  Yep, this is an exciting movie!  Cruise’s energy and enthusiasm are a marvel to behold and I hope he doesn’t seriously injure himself at some point in the hope of keeping audiences entertained.  There are some great action pieces in this movie and a thrilling break-in sequence.  I’ve never been unhappy with any entry in this franchise and can safely say, “I am a Mission Impossible fan!”

 6. Avengers: Age of Ultron

More Hawkeye!  We all win with Renner!  I loved the original Avengers and this movie is a decent sequel.  The biggest problem with this film is that it gives us more of the same but doesn’t strive to give us something different.  There’s a thrill to seeing this entire team working and interacting with each other but the climax felt like the finale of the first movie (replace alien army with robot army).  I was hoping for more but glad that the wheels didn’t even come close to falling off the wagon.

 7. The Walk

It’s a travesty that this movie was overlooked by audiences.  It was a great caper movie with an incredible third act and the IMAX experience had me up on that wire with the main character.  Televisions will never be able to capture the magic of what IMAX delivered but I’m sure everyone reading this missed this movie at the theatre so go see it immediately.

8. Creed

Can we all just agree that Sylvester Stallone deserves a Best Supporting Actor Award for his performance as Rocky Balboa?  This is a great movie.  I’m a Rocky fan and this film follows that blueprint perfectly while also giving us a strong bond between mentor (Rocky) and mentee (Adonis Creed).  The homage’s to the franchise are handled perfectly and there is a strong emotional level to this film that had me misty-eyed at several points.  Of all the entries in my Top 10 this year, I bet upon revisiting this movie its ranking will climb in the future.

9. James Bond: Spectre

I’m a James Bond fan.  I even like the weaker entries (A View to a Kill, Diamonds are Forever, and anything from Timothy Dalton).  Spectre was a solid entry.  It’s not as fast paced as Casino Royale or as exciting as Skyfall but there’s plenty of fun to be had and you can't go wrong with Christoph Waltz chewing up the scenery (heck I love that guy's work in those new Clash of Clans commercials), inspired casting!

 10. Kingsmen: The Secret Service

I know there are people who don’t like this movie.  It’s not good enough or bad enough to feel strongly either way (thanks Don, I borrowed that bit of perspective from you).  I went into this movie expecting nothing and, again, managed to be completely entertained from beginning to end.  There are occasional touches of Mark Millar’s sophomoric humor but for the most part this is a James Bond homage and it plays that role perfectly.

  

And the rest...

Furious 7...so we’re back to a year where a Fast & the Furious movie doesn’t make the Top 10.  I have a lot of love for this franchise and the male bonding that takes place between Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.  This movie was sad to me because of the tragic passing of Paul Walker.  That said, they managed to patch together an entertaining entry and they did his character justice.  My preference in the franchise though is still Parts 4 and 5 which work stellar as bookends.

Ant-Man...it was good but not quite enough to beat out Furious 7.  I enjoyed the fact that not every movie in the Marvel Universe needs to revolve around a plot that leaves the planet in peril.  Smaller hero, smaller scope, but its’ heart is in the right place.

The Martian...the book was better.  Not sure what I expected but overall the movie left me with an overall vibe of “average”.  It’ll probably be worth a revisit at some point.  For anyone interested in seeing this I’d recommend reading Andy Weir’s superior book instead.

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2...this franchise isn’t marketed for me but I’ve enjoyed each entry.  Catching Fire was easily the high point (which is hard for a sequel to do) but the darkness of this universe is something I appreciate.  The entire saga and the wrap-up were done well.

Ted 2...sequel comedies are usually the hardest sell.  I wasn’t shocked to see the general level of indifference audiences had.  I went to the movie hoping for a ninety minute escape and it succeeded on that level.  I also laughed enough to leave the theatre happy.  I’m not much of a Seth MacFarlane fan but both Ted movies are films that make me smile.

The Green Inferno...I'm a horror fan and an Eli Roth fan (I could listen to his interviews for hours on an endless loop because I am in awe of his rapid-fire love and respect for movies) but I'm not necessarily a fan of cannibal movies.  Needless to say, I did like this movie even though it had me grimacing.  The film's heart and ironic message are handled perfectly.  It'll definitely get a second viewing from me at some point...just not at dinner time.

Poltergeist...weak story and a pale comparison to the Tobe Hooper / Steven Spielberg original.  Some massive plot holes and idiotic character moments of implausibility.  Still, my nieces enjoyed it so I’m wise enough to know this movie was not made for people my age.

I’m hoping that 2016 delivers a wider range of movies that have me excited to get out to the theatre (especially the IMAX which is possibly the greatest addition to the movie going experience of all time).  I know Batman v. Superman is coming and my prediction is that it will be an overcrowded mess because I don’t think Warner Brothers understand how to build a franchise like Marvel did.  Captain America: Civil War looks super although it also looks like it might also be overpopulated with characters.  As for the rest of the upcoming movies...let’s wait and see...

For those interested in previous years Top 10 movies

Top 10 from 2014

Top 10 from 2013

Top 10 from 2011

Top 10 from 2010

Top 10 from 2009

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2013

2013 was an interesting year for movies.  I went to the movies 30 times this year (several repeat viewings).  Overall there weren’t tons of stellar movies, but there were many good-decent movies.  I thought compiling the list would be easier than it was until I had seven choices and then had six movies left for the final three spots.  The Top 4 choices also kept shuffling around over and over. 


 Below I’ll give a brief summary of my Top 10 favorite movies from this year and then recap some of the various other offerings I saw.  Reminder that my Top 10 is solely based on movies I saw at the theatre and I kept it to original movies only and not retro movies or repeat viewings from previous years (i.e. Jurassic Park 3D or Avengers)

Sorry Khan haters.  This is the best movie of 2013 and one of the strongest Trek films ever.

1. Star Trek Into Darkness – For me, this was the best movie of the year.  I loved the storyline which stayed faithful to changes that have taken place in the Star Trek universe timelines thanks to the events in the 2009 Star Trek reboot.  There’s two outstanding villains and at a key point in the movie when a villain reveal was made (on opening weekend) a startled audience member loudly said, “OH-MY-GOD!” which had my brother and I in tears.  The movie is frenetic in a good way and by the time things end you're glad to see Kirk in the captain's chair and the crew settling in for their five year mission.  I couldn't be happier with this franchise.  Boldy going on and on!  Best time I had at one movie all year.

"Giant robot, use your lasers!"

2. Pacific Rim – This was the movie I expected to me my #1 movie of the year.  It was a good movie but not as great as I had hoped.  I wanted an epic but instead was treated to a solid action movie.  Seeing it in IMAX 3D added quite a bit to the experience as well.  My wife (always a fan of giant monsters) needed to be dragged to the first showing but then willingly went back for a second viewing (something she rarely does at the theatre).  The movie delivers some excellent giant monsters vs. giant robots battles but then suffers by delivering far too much of Charlie Day’s annoying comic relief character.  I hope there’s a sequel that makes the needed improvements to epic level.

"More like Ass Kicked." - Big Daddy (Kick Ass)

3. Kick Ass 2 – Speaking of sequels that made improvements.  I loved Kick Ass 2!  This sequel amps things up nicely and develops the characters of Kick Ass and Hit Girl in believable ways all while presenting a stronger cadre of villains with a great deal of violence and humor spread throughout.  While I missed Nicholas Cage’s Adam West-style hero from the original, I did not miss the out of place rocket pack used in the original’s ending.  The climax of this movie is very fun and believable and makes me eager to see if a Kick Ass 3 will ever be seen.

4. Man of Steel – People seem to be all up in arms about the amount of damage done by the attacking Kryptonians in Man of Steel.  My reply – If Superman hadn’t been on Earth to stop them, and then the entire planet would be destroyed, so feel lucky that the damage was as small as it was.  The other whining point of people is that Superman does in fact kill someone in this movie.  Fine, if you go back and watch the ending to Superman 2 (which people seem to conveniently forget) you’ll see Superman crush General Zod’s hand before tossing him against an ice wall and watching him sink into the frigid arctic waters to his death.  In comparison, a neck snap isn’t all that bad.  Those points aside, this is a good (if not epic) origin story for Superman.  I loved all the flashbacks to growing up in Smallville and how his parents molded him into the hero he becomes.  The fights in the last hour may seem a bit long, but after the bore fest that was the previous movie Superman Returns, I think the producers were afraid to not deliver enough action.  I liked the movie and am excited to see if the DC Universe can successfully build off of it.

"You are my son." - Kevin Costner

5. The Wolf of Wall Street – This movie is taking some serious knocks from it’s over use of the F-word, to its 3 hour run time, to the fact that the unrepentant Wall Street thieves basically go unpunished.  Upon seeing the movie I felt similarly, however in researching some of the back-story I saw that in essence this is what happened in real life…they were not fittingly punished.  So what remains is a long movie of 80’s greed.  But make no mistake; there are some laugh out loud hilarious moments in this movie.  The Quaalude scene alone is worth the price of admission. Of all the Scorsese-DiCaprio collaborations, I think I enjoyed this one the most.

6. Riddick – Thank God this movie was made!  I love the character of Riddick.  I was a huge fan of Pitch Black but felt like the ending to Chronicles of Riddick left the character in an odd role that I did not accept at all.  This movie corrects that mistake in the first ten minutes and then gives us an entertaining sci-fi desolate world monster movie on top of it.  I had a fun time seeing this and was thrilled that even if they never make another Riddick movie, the mistakes of the second entry were rectified so I can actual enjoy the entire trilogy as it currently exists.

7. Fast & Furious 6 – Wow more Vin Diesel!  I looked back my list from 2011 and was stunned that Fast Five did not make the Top 10 for that year.  Big mistake on my part!  Fast Five is a better movie than F&F 6, but this one is still damn fun.  Very fast paced with some real stakes in play, and so much fun that I was even able to accept “The Jump” moment, and an ending that had me very pumped up for Part 7.  Sadly Paul Walker’s death in real-life may have shrouded the series for me, so this may be the final entry I watch since I enjoyed the brotherly bonding between Toretto and O’Connor the most in this series.



Let's toss some midgets!

8. Gravity – Gravity is the kind of movie that will lose a great deal on a TV screen and will eventually have people saying, “What was the big deal?”  To understand the big deal you had to experience this on an IMAX screen.  While the heavy on symbolism story of “rebirth” didn’t always impress me, the visuals did.  I’ve never seen an outer space movie like this one and it kept my eyes glued to the screen the entire time.

9. The Wolverine – I’m not a fan of the X-Men movies.  I loved X-Men First Class and hated all the rest.  I didn’t expect much from Wolverine but I had a hell of a lot of fun watching it.  The movie is quite serious with the out of place killing machine character trying to fit into Japanese societal drama.  When there is action, it is justly deserved.  The battle atop the bullet train was great (but not as good as Tom Cruise’ in the original Mission Impossible) and there’s also a neat scene where Wolverine has to perform self surgery on his heart.  The biggest stumbling point for this movie is in the climax which seems very routine and comic-booky considering the mostly adult drama we’d been presented with for the previous two hours.

10. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – This was the final movie I saw for the 2013 season.  I had not read the book so I went into the movie knowing nothing.  For the second film in a trilogy (quadrilogy) I felt they did a nice job of raising the stakes and building a larger scaled universe.  The game scenes were intense and did not feel repetitive from the first movie.  I’ll need to read the book and Mockingjay before I tackle the next movie in the fall of 2014.

And the rest of the movies I saw this year that missed out of Top 10 status…

Thank you for saving this series!

*Enter the Dragon (retro midnight movie) – I love going to these summer midnight movies in my area.  There’s always great crowds and it’s my only chance to see movies of my youth on the big screen.  This Bruce Lee classic was a hell of a fun time to watch in a crowded theatre.

*Escape from New York (retro midnight movie) – One of the seminal movies from my cable-watching youth.  Escape from New York stands alongside The Road Warrior and Excalibur as R-rated movies that I watched repeatedly growing up.  To finally have the chance to see this movie on the big screen…a smile was plastered across my face the entire time.  One of the all time sci-fi antihero best movies!

*Oz the Great and Powerful – I enjoyed this movie more than I expected.  Sam Raimi played fair as far as connecting this to the original Wizard of Oz; however Mila Kunis was badly miscast as the Wicked Witch and not frightening enough.

*G.I. Joe: Retaliation – I am not a G.I. Joe fan but my brother is.  He tolerates seeing the Fast and the Furious movies with me and this is the trade-off.  The martial arts moments with Snake Eyes were fun but I don’t feel there was much fan loyalty connecting this movie to the original one, and poor Channing Tatum.

*Evil Dead – I loved the pure violence on display in this movie.  It was nice to see very little CGI and mostly practical effects.  It was a tense gross out, but lacked any sense of fun or legitimate scares.  This was a missed opportunity for sparking a new franchise.

*Jurassic Park 3D – I just saw Jurassic Park a year ago at a midnight movie, and it’s playing pretty much 24-7 in our house because it is Mrs. Jumper’s favorite movie of all time.  So this year she dragged me back to see this in 3D on IMAX.  Still totally worth it!

I will miss you Paul Walker.

*Iron Man 3 – This was a nice improvement from Iron Man 2 (which I feel is the weakest of all the Marvel movies) but there were plenty of areas that could have been improved.  I’m in the minority of people who enjoyed The Mandarin twist, but all the action at the end felt like there was no real danger in play, mere spectacle.

*This is the End – There are many laugh out loud moments in this movie!  I love that each of the leads plays extreme caricatures of themselves amped up to ‘11’.  If My Top 10 list was Top 11…this would have the final spot.

*World War Z – I’m not a fan of Max Brooks highly praised book.  It was OK but not the game-changer that so many people praise when they’re not boring me to death with examples of George Romero’s “social commentary” in his zombie movies.  Zombies are what they are, the end.  This movie could have been a blast, but they missed the mark by focusing too much on one character (Brad Pitt) when they could have gone with an old school disaster flick style movie and a bunch of B-list actors in various roles.  I enjoyed the scenes in Jerusalem and on the plane, and found the ending dull and anti-climatic.

*Despicable Me 2 – My wife loves all the Pixar and animated movies.  I try to avoid them whenever possible.  The two Despicable Me movies are the easiest ones for me to sit through.  It was fun.

*The Conjuring – There’s an awesome creep factor to this movie.  The set-up is dynamite and it doesn’t resort to cheap jump moments.  The first 2/3 of the movie were A+ material but the ending felt a but over-inflated and “been there done that”.  I love the cast though and enjoyed reading about some of the real-life cases of The Warrens, so I hope they make a sequel.

*Machete Kills – I was a huge fan of the original Machete movie.  I felt Robert Rodriguez perfectly captured the grind house-action feel.  This one though goes way off into left field and turns everything into so much of a joke that you can’t really take anything seriously.  One of the bigger disappoints for me in 2013.

*Thor the Dark World – The original Thor movie was OK.  I’m not the biggest Thor fan but I did enjoy Loki.  What I didn’t like was Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings.  Sadly both of them return for the sequel, albeit in smaller roles.  Loki is given stronger dialogue and scenes and he dominates this movie to great effect.  I hope the third movie is simply scenes with Thor and Loki because when those two share screen time I am glued to every minute.  This movie was a nice improvement from the first Thor, but the Dark Elves were dull villains, so there’s still plenty of room to improve.

*Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – I’m not a huge fan of Will Ferrell’s original Anchorman movie.  It was OK.  I’m a bigger fan of his work in Step Brothers or Talladega Nights.  Comedy is a tricky genre though because what causes one person to laugh causes another person to grumble “that was stupid”.  There are some solid gut-busting moments in this movie.  They had me with the opening two minutes and I enjoyed the entire movie.  This was a nice step up from the original one.

Overall 2013 was a decent year.  While some movies left me disappointed, I didn’t thoroughly hate any of them.  My money was well spent and even though there are not too many offerings that will make their way into my permanent collection, it was an enjoyable time at the movies and based on early previews I don’t see as much in 2014 to make me think it will top 2013 for total offerings.

Chronologically my visits to movie theatres in 2013…

 

Oz the Great and Powerful

G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Evil Dead
Jurassic Park 3D
Iron Man 3
Star Trek Into Darkness
Enter the Dragon (retro midnight viewing)
Fast & Furious 6
This is the End
Man of Steel
World War Z
Despicable Me 2
Pacific Rim
Escape from New York (retro midnight viewing)
The Conjuring
The Wolverine
Kick Ass 2
Riddick
Gravity
Machete Kills
THOR MARATHON: Thor, Avengers, and Thor the Dark World
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
The Wolf of Wall Street
The Hunger Game: Catching Fire

See you at the movies in 2014 and remember to save me the aisle seat.