My Top Ten Movies of 2015
I did catch up on The Martian, Creed and the Big Short, but there are still a number from 2015 to add on to the 2016 list. I did miss Fantastic Beasts, The Secret Life of Pets and Finding Dory but otherwise I think I hit all the popular ones.
I rank these on a basis of how much joy I received watching it and how much future watch-ability I think it has in store.
For example two of my favorite movies of recent years - Avengers and the Star Trek reboot, I can watch these anytime and quite often.
While things like Good Will Hunting, Interstellar, Inception - I think they are among the best movies but they are quite heavy to throw in casually.
Quick run down of some other films that came out in 2016 which I have witnessed.
Sausage Party -
The family behind us getting up to leave 2 minutes in was probably my highlight. I do enjoy Seth Rogen's tale of making this movie if you have not heard it and are interested.
Zoolander 2 -
Didn't live up to the original of course. Probably not as good as even Anchorman 2. Will Ferrell can make me laugh with little effort though and maybe this movie needed more of him.
Zootopia -
Cute movie, I've watched most of it twice so I'm counting it.
Batman the Killing Joke -
I hadn't read the comic before hand but they did it into an animated feature. It's a good story, dark, but I can see why dark knight fans enjoy it.
Sully -
Tom Hanks did a decent job. Aaron Eckhart seemed overcast a bit. It was an enjoyable story, I just didn't dig the editing - there was probably a better movie in there somewhere.
X-Men Apocalypse -
I love X-Men, but this was probably the most disappointing turnout since X-3. Apocalypse wasn't scary or threatening given how great of a villian he really was. Too much time was spent with Storm, Psylocke, and yes of course Wolverine. Quicksilver once again stole the show though I'm really disliking the shared universe concept we seem to be in when the future of the franchise depends on how well a movie does. When it fails like this, the movie fails even harder.
Tickled -
Kind of a messed up, but entertaining documentary about tickling. That's not really an opinion, but just wanted to share that this is a thing.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -
It delivered like it promised, though I still like Abraham Vampire Hunter more.
Independence Day: Resurgence -
Like the original this was not. I do love Jeff Goldblum in everything, but this movie was screaming figuratively and literally at the lack of Will Smith. The aliens were sweet though. I have no idea how Liam Hemsworth keeps getting acting roles.
Ghostbusters -
This is literally what no one wanted. Melissa McCarthy was dialed back thankfully. The presently modern effects were nice. What the heck was that plot though. Why was Neil Casey the antagonist? Was that literally the best they could come up with? The best jokes involved soup and how dumb Chris Hemsworth was.
Suicide Squad -
At least this one had Will Smith. I don't know if he did enough to save it. Lots of silly things and things that went flat. I personally liked the Joker, but he suffered from Wolverine syndrome in that he didn't fit in the movie and hurt the film overall. Though I did think Leto did a good enough job where they should give me at least another chance if not his own movie.
Warcraft -
Knowing a bit about the lore, I enjoyed it. I could definitely see how a casual audience member would not get it. Video game movies aren't always the best, but for other reasons than you would expect me to say - acting, story, directing. Even if all of those hit, it still might not work out. Gul'Dan was a badass.
The Magnificent Seven -
The original was very good. I really had my expectations high for the cast they gave us here. They did a decent job, but neither the fighting nor the plot gave me quite what I had hoped for.
Central Intelligence -
Really surprised me at how much I liked it. I should probably stop underestimating the Rock. Quite similar to how I felt after watching Rush Hour the first time.
Gods of Egypt -
Gerald Butler was pleasant, but I wanted more out of him. Special effects were running wild through-out the entirety. Story wasn't super original but it had some new things to say. It was probably better than Clash of the Titans in lots of ways.
Top 10 time.
10. Bad Santa 2
I didn't expect to like this much, but maybe I was in the proper mood for it. If you watched the first one and liked it, this was a pretty good sequel.
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
Speaking of sequels. I understand people's complaints with this incarnation of the Turtles(very Michael Bayey). But apart from the original TMNT movie, this one had me geeking out the most (at the Technodrome). Kang, Bebop and Rocksteady were welcomed with open arms. I would be all for another showing of this group though I doubt we are going to get it.
8. Star Trek Beyond
In many ways I liked it better than Into Darkness. I probably had my expectations way too high last time. I've only watched this one once so time will tell if it stands the test of time. But there were many good and different things with this one that the last didn't really deliver.
7. Dr. Strange
Everything that Benedict Cumberbatch does is amazing. So no surprise here that this was liked by me. Typical Marvel movie - humor, special effects, lame bad guys. I don't think it was much better or worse than Thor or Captain America's first showings.
6. Batman Vs. Superman
Probably the pick I would have to defend the most. I know there were lots of problems with it, but it might be a guilty pleasure. Man of Steel(the character) didn't do anything I loved here. Doomsday was a good villain but was taken care of too quickly. The actual BVS fight could have gone on another 10 minutes and I don't think anyone would have minded. Too much shoehorning in other DC characters. I think Jesse Eisenberg was fantastic - which I know people disagree with. Even a Ben Affleck Batman can make a movie watchable. I think the thing that made them stop fighting was pretty clever.
5. The Jungle Book
Watched it twice and the original for the first time. The monkeys are my favorite part of both. I did enjoy Bill Murray's Baloo quite a bit.
4. Arrival
This could have gone south pretty easily for me. Alien movies are tricky. Between ID4, Contact, District 9, Mars Attacks, War of the Worlds and plenty others - you better do something different or better than that. But to my surprise, it did.
3. Deadpool
Basically a comedy opposed to an actual superhero movie(even though he's a villain). Right from the very beginning, you just know you aren't watching a typical movie. Fairly by the numbers plot.
2. Star Wars Rogue 1
They could have crapped out 2 hours of a Jar Jar Binks adventure but thrown in a Darth Vader scene and I would have gone to see this. It adds quite a bit of lore to Star Wars and episode 4 in particular. K2S0 was the star of the show but our two main characters were both really good as well. The CGI Peter Cusing and Carrie Fisher were surprising inclusions, but I welcome both of those.
1. Captain America: Civil War
My expectations and excitement were high and I think it delivered. It went even further to show how bad Marvel's movie villains are but that might be my only complaint in a movie with Spider-Man fighting opposite Ant-Man. So many insect super heroes! Left me wanting even more.
I did catch up on The Martian, Creed and the Big Short, but there are still a number from 2015 to add on to the 2016 list. I did miss Fantastic Beasts, The Secret Life of Pets and Finding Dory but otherwise I think I hit all the popular ones.
I rank these on a basis of how much joy I received watching it and how much future watch-ability I think it has in store.
For example two of my favorite movies of recent years - Avengers and the Star Trek reboot, I can watch these anytime and quite often.
While things like Good Will Hunting, Interstellar, Inception - I think they are among the best movies but they are quite heavy to throw in casually.
Quick run down of some other films that came out in 2016 which I have witnessed.
Sausage Party -
The family behind us getting up to leave 2 minutes in was probably my highlight. I do enjoy Seth Rogen's tale of making this movie if you have not heard it and are interested.
Zoolander 2 -
Didn't live up to the original of course. Probably not as good as even Anchorman 2. Will Ferrell can make me laugh with little effort though and maybe this movie needed more of him.
Zootopia -
Cute movie, I've watched most of it twice so I'm counting it.
Batman the Killing Joke -
I hadn't read the comic before hand but they did it into an animated feature. It's a good story, dark, but I can see why dark knight fans enjoy it.
Sully -
Tom Hanks did a decent job. Aaron Eckhart seemed overcast a bit. It was an enjoyable story, I just didn't dig the editing - there was probably a better movie in there somewhere.
X-Men Apocalypse -
I love X-Men, but this was probably the most disappointing turnout since X-3. Apocalypse wasn't scary or threatening given how great of a villian he really was. Too much time was spent with Storm, Psylocke, and yes of course Wolverine. Quicksilver once again stole the show though I'm really disliking the shared universe concept we seem to be in when the future of the franchise depends on how well a movie does. When it fails like this, the movie fails even harder.
Tickled -
Kind of a messed up, but entertaining documentary about tickling. That's not really an opinion, but just wanted to share that this is a thing.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -
It delivered like it promised, though I still like Abraham Vampire Hunter more.
Independence Day: Resurgence -
Like the original this was not. I do love Jeff Goldblum in everything, but this movie was screaming figuratively and literally at the lack of Will Smith. The aliens were sweet though. I have no idea how Liam Hemsworth keeps getting acting roles.
Ghostbusters -
This is literally what no one wanted. Melissa McCarthy was dialed back thankfully. The presently modern effects were nice. What the heck was that plot though. Why was Neil Casey the antagonist? Was that literally the best they could come up with? The best jokes involved soup and how dumb Chris Hemsworth was.
Suicide Squad -
At least this one had Will Smith. I don't know if he did enough to save it. Lots of silly things and things that went flat. I personally liked the Joker, but he suffered from Wolverine syndrome in that he didn't fit in the movie and hurt the film overall. Though I did think Leto did a good enough job where they should give me at least another chance if not his own movie.
Warcraft -
Knowing a bit about the lore, I enjoyed it. I could definitely see how a casual audience member would not get it. Video game movies aren't always the best, but for other reasons than you would expect me to say - acting, story, directing. Even if all of those hit, it still might not work out. Gul'Dan was a badass.
The Magnificent Seven -
The original was very good. I really had my expectations high for the cast they gave us here. They did a decent job, but neither the fighting nor the plot gave me quite what I had hoped for.
Central Intelligence -
Really surprised me at how much I liked it. I should probably stop underestimating the Rock. Quite similar to how I felt after watching Rush Hour the first time.
Gods of Egypt -
Gerald Butler was pleasant, but I wanted more out of him. Special effects were running wild through-out the entirety. Story wasn't super original but it had some new things to say. It was probably better than Clash of the Titans in lots of ways.
Top 10 time.
10. Bad Santa 2
I didn't expect to like this much, but maybe I was in the proper mood for it. If you watched the first one and liked it, this was a pretty good sequel.
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
Speaking of sequels. I understand people's complaints with this incarnation of the Turtles(very Michael Bayey). But apart from the original TMNT movie, this one had me geeking out the most (at the Technodrome). Kang, Bebop and Rocksteady were welcomed with open arms. I would be all for another showing of this group though I doubt we are going to get it.
8. Star Trek Beyond
In many ways I liked it better than Into Darkness. I probably had my expectations way too high last time. I've only watched this one once so time will tell if it stands the test of time. But there were many good and different things with this one that the last didn't really deliver.
7. Dr. Strange
Everything that Benedict Cumberbatch does is amazing. So no surprise here that this was liked by me. Typical Marvel movie - humor, special effects, lame bad guys. I don't think it was much better or worse than Thor or Captain America's first showings.
6. Batman Vs. Superman
Probably the pick I would have to defend the most. I know there were lots of problems with it, but it might be a guilty pleasure. Man of Steel(the character) didn't do anything I loved here. Doomsday was a good villain but was taken care of too quickly. The actual BVS fight could have gone on another 10 minutes and I don't think anyone would have minded. Too much shoehorning in other DC characters. I think Jesse Eisenberg was fantastic - which I know people disagree with. Even a Ben Affleck Batman can make a movie watchable. I think the thing that made them stop fighting was pretty clever.
5. The Jungle Book
Watched it twice and the original for the first time. The monkeys are my favorite part of both. I did enjoy Bill Murray's Baloo quite a bit.
4. Arrival
This could have gone south pretty easily for me. Alien movies are tricky. Between ID4, Contact, District 9, Mars Attacks, War of the Worlds and plenty others - you better do something different or better than that. But to my surprise, it did.
3. Deadpool
Basically a comedy opposed to an actual superhero movie(even though he's a villain). Right from the very beginning, you just know you aren't watching a typical movie. Fairly by the numbers plot.
2. Star Wars Rogue 1
They could have crapped out 2 hours of a Jar Jar Binks adventure but thrown in a Darth Vader scene and I would have gone to see this. It adds quite a bit of lore to Star Wars and episode 4 in particular. K2S0 was the star of the show but our two main characters were both really good as well. The CGI Peter Cusing and Carrie Fisher were surprising inclusions, but I welcome both of those.
1. Captain America: Civil War
My expectations and excitement were high and I think it delivered. It went even further to show how bad Marvel's movie villains are but that might be my only complaint in a movie with Spider-Man fighting opposite Ant-Man. So many insect super heroes! Left me wanting even more.
Comments
Post a Comment