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2015 Movies

^ Good to see box-office-failures like 'Steve Jobs' and 'Chappie' do have other fans. Two fantastic movies that deserved better last year. Rating 'Hateful 8' over 'Mad Max' is high-praise indeed, I look forward to seeing it next week.
 
Spotlight

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Believe the hype. Seeing Ruffalo act so fidgety was a weird change of pace, and was almost distracting, but it worked. Grade A.



Straight Outta Compton

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I can't grade this movie as I missed the first thirty or so minutes, which sound like the best. I can observe, though, that while the movie makes a compelling case that the group gave voice to underrepresented and deep passions on pressing issues, it also (perhaps unintentionally) made a compelling case that these individuals had nothing of substance to say. During a press conference scene, smarmy white reporters chastise them for their lyrical content, and they reply that they're just reflecting their reality and exercising their free speech. Fair enough.

But have they got anything to say about it all, or are they just as happy reflecting their new reality of contract negotiations and celebrity beefs as they were the streets they came from? From the looks of it, no, and according to recent reports, Dre, who the movie portrays as the kindest and best of the group, now sells headphones made for about $18 at a tenfold markup. Is he not then a crook? I'm a rap ignoramus, but I heard bolder truths in the four minutes of Tupac's "Changes" than the two or so hours of the movie I caught.
 
Youth (La giovinezza)

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Grade: A-

IMO it’s one of the best movies of 2015. Paolo Sorrentino has created melancholic and funny movie at the same time, but also beautiful, entertaining and philosophical. Not to mention it’s a visual feast. Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel deliver a deeply nuanced performance around which the entire film revolves. Though some may find dialogs to be a bit pretentious, it’s definitely worth seeing.

Youth was released in the US on December 4 and is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2016. I think it will be released on DVD and Blu ray in Europe on March or something.

 
The Hateful Eight is an outstanding movie, a very finely crafted production by Tarantino. I'm not sure it's the best of 2015 because there's lots of 2015 movies I haven't seen yet, but I'd say in the top ten for sure. I saw it in luminous 70mm which was a treat. Most of Tarantino's movies come through a filter of irony and and dark comedy and postmodern meta but The Hateful Eight plays it more straightforward, more like a classic Western. But there's no Western like this one.

One of the best things was the creepiness of the movie, or this sense of eeriness that kept returning. Morricone's score helps with that, but mostly it's the screenplay and direction. You are never sure who's lying or if everyone's lying, so some of the killings seem like justice but then you're not sure, maybe they're evil brutality and you shouldn't be cheering for it. Tarantino plays the moral center of the movie like a football, moving up and down the field, changing position with each play.

I think with good fanediting this movie could go from outstanding to classic. I'd like to see a cutlist comparison of the 70mm cut to the standard cut but from Tarantino's interviews it sounds like he cut mostly landscape shots, which I thought were pretty and gave a respite to the chamber mystery. I wouldn't cut those so much, instead

the flashback to 'earlier this morning' was gratuitous and on the nose. Yeah yeah, we get these bad guys are very bad. We don't need to get introduced to the happy sparkly strong women to know the bad guys are very bad. We don't need to see even more grisly slayings that don't add to the plot. Either trim that flashback to the bare 3-4 minutes of essentials or cut it all out. It could disappear with no problem.

Also the final act got too drawn out, some trims could tighten it up nicely. And other small trims throughout the rest of the interior scenes could keep the suspense pitched at a higher level. And yes, there's too much gore, so I'd want to edit some of that and keep it at max intensity only a few times for harder impact.

Samuel Jackson probably should get an Oscar for best actor or at least a nomination. Kurt Russell delivered a towering performance too & all the main cast were memorable.
 
TM2YC said:
^ Good to see box-office-failures like 'Steve Jobs' and 'Chappie' do have other fans. Two fantastic movies that deserved better last year. Rating 'Hateful 8' over 'Mad Max' is high-praise indeed, I look forward to seeing it next week.
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I didn't see a ton of movies this year, but I really liked Chappie (more so than District 9). I still have to see Hateful 8, but I have no doubt that I will enjoy it much more than Mad Max.

EDIT: here is the short list that I saw starting with those I enjoyed most:

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2. Ex Machina
3. Chappie
4. Racing Extinction
5. Cobain - Montage of Heck
6. Jurassic World
7. Terminator Genisys (surprisingly not terrible)
8. Trainwreck (dammit Judd, learn to cut your f*kin movies)
9. Mad Max (aka Revenge of the Orange and Teal Splosions)
 
Due to my only local cinema being cr*p, I can't always see the movies I want to see (and when it's convenient). So in 2015, cinema-wise, I've only watched 19 movies (If you count 'Terminator: Genisys' as a movie)...

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
3. Mr. Holmes
4. Steve Jobs*
5. The Martian
6. Chappie*
7. Straight Outta Compton
8. Crimson Peak*
9. Bridge of Spies
10. The Man from U.N.C.L.E.*

11. John Wick
12. Selma
13. Kingsman: The Secret Service
14. Ant-Man
15. Jurassic World
16. Spectre
17. The Gunman*
18. Avengers: Age of Ultron
∞. Terminator: Genisys

(* Movies were all box-office failures despite being, in my opinion, fantastic films. They'll probably pickup fans on home-video). It was hard to pick between Mad Max and TFA for the top spot (I saw both 4-5 times at the cinema) but in the end Mad Max edges TFA out because it's like no other film I've ever seen, where as TFA was very, very good but familiar (In a good way).

2015 films that I missed at the cinema (Largely not by choice) but will be 100% checking out on DVD/Blu-Ray (List for future refrence ;-))...

Ex Machina
The Falling
Tomorrowland
Carol
Inside Out
Sicario
Macbeth
Southpaw
Amy
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
American Ultra
Black Mass
Suffragette
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
Krampus

There are a few "2015" films that haven't been released UK side yet (Or just came out this week) so I've still got them to look forward to...

The Hateful Eight
Creed
Trumbo
The Danish Girl
The Revenant
 
ThrowgnCpr said:
Terminator Genisys (surprisingly not terrible)
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I not only respectfully disagree (though I do love Alan Taylor's Thor: TDW), I think in coming years Genisys will join Super Mario Bros. and the AvP flicks in the annals of legendarily awful films. ;-)
 
So among all the movies you have listed, I just love "The Martian" , what a movie! The idea as well as the scientific execution of that idea make it watch worthy for sure.
 
The book is great. Well written, moves along at a smart pace, and is very real. Grounded in science without being a technical manual borefest. Very accessible, very clever, with a witty and likeable main character. Well worth a read.
 
The majority of the movies I see these days are at home so there's still a lot I need to see. This is what I've seen so far.


Ex Machina
Star Wars The Force Awakens
The Martian
Meru
The End of Tour
Salt of the Earth
Mad Max Fury Road
Trainwreck
Spy
Ant Man
Kingsman
The Man from UNCLE
Predestination
Jupiter Ascending
Tomorrowland
Avengers Ultron
Focus
Furious 7
True Story
 
Just finished watching Asif Kapadia's 'Amy' (Winehouse) documentary. So that's one more off the to-see-list.

It's even better than 'Senna' IMO but I wouldn't call it an "enjoyable" watch, "harrowing" would be more the word. Asif's trademark style is used, with no talking-heads. Just audio interviews mixed with real footage of what they are describing... or juxtaposed against it. Plus this time he brings in the music and onscreen lyrics to illustrate the story, so it's like Amy is singing her own lifestory. I'm not surprised Amy's father has denounced the film because he comes out of it soooo badly. Highly recommended.

In the first half it also celebrates that magnificent voice. It used part of this performance which I remember seeing when it aired, wow...

 
I watched Sicario last night. It has supplanted Star Wars as my number two movie of the year just behind Ex Machina.
 
In the Heart of the Sea

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5/10

Here goes Action/Adventure/Drama movie based on the real events that inspired “Moby-Dick” by Herman Melville. We follow the voyage of the Essex, a whaling ship that was destroyed by a Sperm Whale in the South Pacific.

It’s a typical Ron Howard’s movie: great visuals and score but lack of depth, clunky dialogs, hollywoodish approach and no real character development. Well, Howard is NOT a good director IMO. The story and subject matter is really interesting and could have been dealt with in a much better way. Apparently, Howard couldn’t decide whether to create a deep, heart-wrenching drama or a standard genre audience movie with PG-13 restrictions.

But I believe a good faneditor may find a gem in it and create a decent film as there were parts I liked.

 
Jesus Chr*st! 'Sicario' is an absolute masterpiece! Why did it take me this long to see it when everybody said it was this good? :-D It's shot right into my top-three 2015 movies for sure. I'm still feeling all tense from the 2-hour non-stop shredding of nerves.
 
TM2YC said:
Jesus Chr*st! 'Sicario' is an absolute masterpiece! Why did it take me this long to see it when everybody said it was this good? :-D It's shot right into my top-three 2015 movies for sure. I'm still feeling all tense from the 2-hour non-stop shredding of nerves.
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Ha! I concur. I've got it as my #2 behind, wait for it, Ex Machina. :p
 
Rather later than most, I caught up with Pixar's acclaimed 'Inside Out'.

I started off the movie feeling high amounts of digust and small amounts of anger and sadness. This was entirely due to me finding the relententless sickening optimism of the main character "Joy", massively annoying (See illustration below) and the oppressively syrupy music didn't help. She's basically a happiness nazi ;-). However it slowly became clear that this was mostly deliberate and part of her "arc", so my fears subsided and I found myself exponentially enjoying the film as it went on but it never fully recovered for me.

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I should probably give it another chance when I'm feeling less scroogey.
 
Seeing it through the eyes of my young daughters, I loved it.
 
TV's Frink said:
Seeing it through the eyes of my young daughters, I loved it.
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I suspect I'm currently in the possession of a "Wrong opinion" and that it will be corrected at a future time when I see it again and go "Oh yeah, it's great!".
 
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