Let's jump right in, shall we?
The Top 10 Best Movies of the Year
10. Mad Max: Fury RoadTo all who know me, know this isn't my type of movie. Sure I like action just fine, but something about it taking place entirely in the desert isn't appealing. (The whole movie is shot in a sickening orange filter.) But even I had to admit this was the best action movie of the year, with non-stop chases, intense fight scenes, and a surprising amount of badass female characters in a movie filled with this much testosterone. Indeed, the real star of the movie isn't Max at all, but Charlize Theron's Furiosa. (I never did entirely "buy" Tom Hardy in the lead role.) This reboot has indeed rebooted the old franchise with new blood; a sequel is already in the works.
9. The Walk
Not many people saw this movie, possibly because it might remind them of 9/11. Never fear, that event isn't even mentioned. This is about the stranger-than-fiction true story of Philippe Petit, the French street performer who travelled to New York City in the 70s, strung a tightrope between the unfinished World Trade Center twin towers, and walked across it as his ultimate street performance. That he survived the experience is astounding; the fact that he did it for absolutely no reason even more so. This is the kind of movie that had to be seen in a movie theater, ideally in 3D; because that climactic walk really does succeed in taking the viewer out onto the wire with him- and it looks down.
8. The Hateful Eight (duh)
Not the best Quentin Tarantino movie, but classic Tarantino all the same. His movies have always followed a basic formula: dialogue, characters, and blood. So for this movie, he boiled it down to just the basic ingredients: eight characters in a room, talking to each other, and it gets bloody. Mystery lovers will have a ball trying to guess who is the bad guy, and they probably won't be able to figure it out until the end. The greatest thing about this movie: it's almost three hours long, but never gets dull. Not for a single minute.
7. Bridge of Spies
The true story of an insurance lawyer hired to defend a Russian spy at the height of the Cold War, and later sent to negotiate a swap for an American spy pilot. This history lesson, under the direction of anyone else but Steven Spielberg, would be a snoozer. But Spielberg proves he's still the greatest in the business as he pushes the exact right buttons at the exact right moments. Tom Hanks is his equal, as the audience sees the injustice and fear through his eyes. The highlight of the film is any conversation between Hanks and Mark Rylance as the accused spy, who plays the condemned man with little more than a shrug.
6. Room
The synopsis alone is enough to send most casual moviegoers running: a young woman is held hostage in a tiny shed for years, raising her 5-year-old son conceived by her captor, and plotting her escape. What makes the film different from what you'd think is that it's told from the perspective of the little boy. His mother guards him from the bad man, and thus the audience is spared seeing the worst of the violence. Instead we see what life is like for him in those four walls, as they play, get educated, and talk about the outside world. Psychologists could have a field day studying the pair, but audiences simply breathe a sigh of relief as we realize that this horror movie is actually an uplifting and inspirational love story. An emotional roller coaster, yes, but inspirational is the predominant emotion.
5. Trainwreck
This year's Bridesmaids. The rising star this time is Amy Schumer, who effortlessly makes the transition from TV star to movie star as a bed-hopping journalist who accidentally falls in love with a decent guy and doesn't know how to deal with her emotions. Rude, brash, sexual, and endlessly quotable, this was by far the best comedy of the year and another benchmark of feminism in cinema.
4. The Revenant
The movie that will finally (finally!) win Leonardo DiCaprio his Oscar... lest a mob forms outside the ceremony. The bizarre true story of Hugh Glass, a fur trapper who's mauled by a bear and left for dead by his companion, who also killed his son. Instead of accepting his fate, he crawls out of his own grave and walks hundreds of miles, braving wolves and Indians, to get his revenge. After his Oscar wins for Birdman, director Alejandro G. Iñárritu could have done something very similar, but instead did a complete 180 and did something completely different. Shooting entirely on location using only natural light, but still utilizing long takes and tracking shots, the audience is placed right next to our characters. The film's beauty is stunning; its violence is jarring. Leo looks so damn cold you feel the need to wear a coat in the theater. Not only one of the best movies of the year, but truly a cinematic experience.
3. The Martian
One of the most thrillingly entertaining movies of the year. While the premise is simply Cast Away in space, it plays out more like a higher-stakes Apollo 13. Matt Damon plays a biologist astronaut left behind on Mars with no way of contacting Earth and a dwindling food supply. Ridley Scott's film cuts back and forth between Mars and Earth, as Damon solves the countless problems of living on an inhospitable planet and finding a way home, and the team at NASA tries desperately to rescue him before he starves to death. Oh, and did I mention how funny the film is? Damon's character uses humor to keep himself sane, and the constant laughs elevates the film to another level. The conclusion is never really in doubt, but watching it unfold is a rush of adrenaline, and pure movie magic.
2. Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens
As hollow as the prequel films felt, I was still hesitant about Star Wars sequels without the guidance of George Lucas. While other fans put on their costumes and cheered at the midnight premiere, I remained cautiously optimistic. I needn't have worried. J.J. Abrams and the Lucasfilm crew have given us an epic of pure nostalgia that manages to perfectly marry past with future. Yes, we can quibble about plot points, limited screen time for beloved characters, and about how truly evil the new villain is- but the entertainment value of the film can't be denied. Exciting, funny, and visually stunning, it demands repeat viewings, it elicits endless discussions and predictions, and made millions of people afraid of social media lest someone spoil THAT final twist. Oh, and quit making fun of Carrie Fisher. When you're her age, you won't be headlining a billion-dollar movie franchise.
Disappointed it's not in the first-place spot? Well, get over it. That honor was reserved for...
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1. Inside Out
Pixar's latest was truly a masterpiece, and this from the studio that cranks out a masterpiece every three or four years. The five core emotions of an 11-year-old girl are in turmoil when her parents move her across the country, and she's unable to come to grips with all these changes. More existential than any movie aimed at kids before (a comedy where the climax is our heroine breaking down and crying?!), and yet somehow it works- the film is funny, clever, and heartbreaking. We've known Pixar always puts things in their movies for adults, but we old folks were caught off guard by the film's message of loss of innocence, a message that goes over kids' heads. A beautiful film that's worth seeing at any age.
Honorable Mention
Avengers: Age of UltronBecause I love Marvel movies. No, this super-sequel isn't as good as the original, but you can't deny you had fun seeing the gang together again. An awesome new villain perfectly played by James Spader, a surprising romance between Black Widow and Hulk (!), and another tragic death (damn you, Joss Whedon! Why do you kill everyone we love?!) made this the best of the summer blockbusters. No, I wasn't a fan of Jurassic World...
The Top 5 Worst Movies of the Year
5. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2Even kids thought this was bad. You know, Kevin James is actually a talented and funny actor. Where was all of that in this crap-tastic sequel?
4. Fifty Shades of Grey
The erotic romance isn't really a genre found in Hollywood anymore...at least, outside of pornography. Adapting a best-selling erotic novel into a mainstream Hollywood movie was a bold experiment, and one that could have paid off. Unfortunately, the finished product was awkward and uncomfortable, replacing nudity with intimacy and love songs with actual sex scenes. In short, the film is anything but sexy. So naturally, a sequel is being made.
3. Aloha
A movie that sparked a race controversy: casting Emma Stone as an Asian is pretty much all anyone remembers about this movie. But it was bad even without that misguided choice. Cameron Crowe was the guy who gave the world Almost Famous - what happened?!
2. Get Hard
No one expected this comedy to be any good. A racist millionaire is heading to jail and requests training for how to survive among the tough inmates. But with Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart as its stars, it should have been good. Instead we just got a bunch of racist and homophobic jokes. Better luck next time, guys.
1. Fantastic 4
Anything but fantastic. When the film's director tweets how awful the film is the day before the movie opens, you know it's bad. Josh Trank is a talented filmmaker, having made Chronicle and selected to helm this reboot. His vision was strange, bold, and dark... and lacking any fun whatsoever. A talented young cast can't save the movie since it mostly takes place in underground corridors. No wonder no one saw it; even people who did see it couldn't put their finger on exactly what the movie was trying to be: a Dark Knight version of the comic book? An anti-superhero superhero movie? As far away from the earlier Fantastic 4 movies as they could get? At least they succeeded on that last point. The film was so bad the studio later backtracked and said the film wasn't in a shared universe with their X-Men films, so as not to taint that ongoing franchise. Smart move. Fans all over the world didn't want this movie to happen; if the studio had just listened to their fans for once, they could've saved a lot of trouble.
Dishonorable Mention
The Ridiculous 6Another movie that ignited a race controversy, as it was revealed that Native American actors walked off the set when they discovered racist jokes in the script. The movie went on as planned, and it's exactly the kind of turd everyone now expects from Adam Sandler movies. Bonus shame on it since Netflix let slip it was the biggest hit in the streaming service's history- who was watching this thing?!
What do you think? Did I leave off your favorite movie? Probably. Comment below and let me know how inadequate I am. Thanks!
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