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defrogBecause you can’t possibly have enough “Best Of The Year” lists on the Internet.
STANDARD DISCLAIMER: If yr favorite movie of 2015 isn’t here, it’s likely because (1) I didn’t get a chance to see it, (2) it hasn’t been released in Hong Kong yet, or (3) I did see it but didn’t like it as much as you did. Also, if some of these seem kind of old, it’s because their release date was 2014 for yr country, but 2015 for Hong Kong. See?
TOP TEN DEF FILMS OF 2015
1. Inside Out
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4. Whiplash
5. Ex Machina
6. Selma
7. Chappie
8. Birdman
9. What We Do In The Shadows
10. Bridge Of Spies
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Ant-Man
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
SPECTRE
THE FRANCHISE REVIVAL FILM WE REALLY DIDN’T NEED
Jurassic World
THE FILM I LIKED THAT NO ONE ELSE DID
Chappie
THE FILM I DIDN’T LIKE THAT EVERYONE ELSE DID
Kingsman: The Secret Service
WORST FILM OF 2015
Terminator: Genesys
TOP TEN DEF FILMS OF 2015 (DIRECTOR’S CUT)
1. Inside Out
This is easily the most inventive and creative film Pixar has done in years, and the most layered and complex film they’ve done it their entire history. Directors Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen do a great job of distilling complex psychological concepts and distilling them into a simplified but clever story and a weird but recognizable metaphoric landscape. And sure, it’s a little heavy on the emo – the main characters are emotions, after all – but it’s never really forced or overdone, and it works thanks to a great voiceover cast that really sells the characters.
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
An argument could be made that we really didn’t need another Mad Max film, but if yr going to revive the series, this is the way to do it. Fury Road delivers just about everything you’d want in a new Mad Max film: insane car battles, insane post-apocalyptic tribes, and insane visual design, with a decent story engine driving it along. My only real complaint is the CGI thrown in for 3D purposes. But that’s a small quibble for a film where everything is deliberately over the top. Where else can you see an assault force led by a heavy-metal guitarist with a flamethrowing guitar?
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Plot holes abound, Abrams and the writers go a little overboard with the fan service, and the story unnecessarily borrows select plot elements from the original trilogy and relies an awful lot on coincidence as a plot lubricant. I loved it anyway – it’s a hell of a lot of fun, which you haven't really been able to say about a Star Wars film since 1983. I can safely say this is the fourth-best film in the series. Possibly even the third-best, depending on how you feel about Return Of The Jedi.
4. Whiplash
Jazz purists hated this film, but to me Whiplash isn’t supposed to be a jazz documentary – it’s about obsession with jazz, or with music in general. Both aspiring drummer Andrew Neyman and cruel teacher Fletcher are obsessed with musical genius in different ways, and it’s that obsession that pits them against each other. Fletcher is the R. Lee Ermey of jazz schools, only more so, but J.K. Simmons makes Fletcher so believable that it doesn’t matter that most jazz instructors don’t behave that way. This one does, and he’s terrifying. Most intense film of the year.
5. Ex Machina
Like other films Alex Garland has written, the third act falls a little short on logic, and some bits are predictable. On the other hand, he does avoid some of the more obvious tropes for this kind of film, and does a good job using the storyline to explore the philosophical issues and consequences of developing AI, and the differences between human and artificial intelligence. Even the inevitable sexbot trope serves more to raise the ethical issues involved instead of “Hey guys, sexbots!”
6. Chappie
Neil Blomkamp’s twisted batshit mishmash of Short Circuit, Robocop and gangsta rap videos set in near-future Johannesburg, with naïve robots, extreme office politics, and numbskulled gangbangers. The film does have its share of flaws – namely some plot holes in the form of bad security practices on the part of Tetravaal (the company that makes the robots) and advanced technology that gets more questionable as the film goes along. But it all more or less works within the parameters that Blomkamp sets for the film. And he manages to make Chappie a sympathetic character.
7. Birdman
Some may be tempted to write this off as self-indulgent Oscar Bait with actors acting a story about acting and the art of acting and how hard it is to be an actor, and isn’t it ironic that we’re satirizing actors, etc. Which would be accurate except that (1) the film never comes off as being ironic or self-absorbed, and (2) the performances overall are just too good to write off, especially for Michael Keaton, who takes the title role far beyond what you might expect from a guy who once played Batman.
8. Selma
This dramatization of the voting rights marches from Selma, AL to Montgomery in 1965 was controversial on multiple levels, not least because of current events regarding race relations in America and related political dithering. That aside, it tells the basic story well, and gives you a clear and powerful sense of the courage (or desperation) it took to organize and stand up against institutional racism, but without glossing over MLK’s shortcomings or his disagreements with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
9. What We Do In The Shadows
I’m not a big fan of mockumentaries, if only because it’s an overdone format. But this is rather well done. The improvised humor doesn’t always work for me, but there are a lot of genuinely funny scenes. And Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement have a lot of fun with the standard vampire tropes (lack of reflection, turning into bats, requiring to be invited into a building, etc) without really mocking the genre as a whole. In fact, it’s one of the better vampire films to come out in awhile.
10. Bridge Of Spies
A well-written and interesting slice of Cold War history that Steven Spielberg uses to mirror the modern paranoia and questions over due process that America is grappling with today in regards to the War On Terror. For the most part it works, even if Spielberg overplays his hand from time to time and relies on some occasional cheese (particularly the scene where Powers’ U2 plane is shot down). Don't let the fact that Tom Hanks is in it throw you off.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Ant-Man
It seems strange but true that some of the best Marvel films feature the least-known characters. Last year it was Guardians Of The Galaxy; this year it was Ant-Man. On the downside, it’s 100% predictable, and the family angles are cliché. But Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas are great, and it has the right tone for a superhero film.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
In which Guy Ritchie attempts to do with Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin what he did with Holmes and Watson – i.e. an action-packed period-piece buddy film with back-and-forth narrative jumps – and damn near succeeds. On the downside, it’s mostly an U.N.C.L.E. origin tale, but the real attraction isn’t the story so much as the way Ritchie tells it, and the interaction between Solo and Kuryakin. It’s good that they had fun with it, but maybe they should have had a little more fun.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
As franchise films go, MI has generally lived up to its premise, and it’s nice that this one openly acknowledges the fact that the IMF basically gets things done on improv and dumb luck. My biggest disappointment with it is that Tom Cruise is still the big star – I’d hoped the last film would be an excuse to let Jeremy Renner take the lead for awhile. That said, Cruise is still capable of pulling off an MI film, though I did find it amusing that every scene either features Ethan Hunt or other characters talking about Ethan Hunt.
SPECTRE
Daniel Craig’s last Bond film introduce the classic eponymous Bond foe reasonably well. The problem is that Casino Royale and Skyfall set the bar pretty high, and SPECTRE doesn’t quite clear it. Part of the problem is that sometimes the script lapses into the kinds of dumb OTT action scenes the reboot was supposed to be at least be smarter about. Also, it’s starting to feel like “Bond defies orders and goes rogue” is becoming a standard plot device for the reboot films. On the plus side, Craig is still good, as is Christoph Waltz as This Year’s Villain. Overall, it’s an above-average Bond film, but here’s hoping future Bond films spend more time messing with the formula rather than settling into one.
THE FRANCHISE REVIVAL FILM WE REALLY DIDN’T NEED
Jurassic World
Did anyone need a new Jurassic Park movie besides Universal Studios? Probably not. It’s silly dinosaur fun with a new raptor gimmick (Raptor Strike Force!) and very dumb science. Probably the best thing you can say about it is that it requires you to believe that either the first three films never happened or that everyone involved at InGen learned absolutely nothing from the events in those films.
THE FILM I LIKED THAT NO ONE ELSE DID
Chappie
See above for details. But seriously, critics panned the film and for the life of me I have no idea why.
THE FILM I DIDN’T LIKE THAT EVERYONE ELSE DID
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Not so much a tribute or even a spoof of the superspy genre as a middle-finger mockery of it. Or so it seemed to me. The storyline is as clichéd as it gets, and much of the rest of the film takes the cheesiest elements of the Bond films and jacks the volume up to 11 – especially the violence, which is at the level you’d expect from a script with Millar’s name on it (brutal and gratuitous) but more disturbing than entertaining. Which would be okay if the film was at least smarter, or more original, or less predictable. For the most part, it’s not really any of those. It’s not completely terrible, but I didn’t have a good time, either.
WORST FILM OF 2015
Terminator: Genesys
Did anyone need a new Terminator movie besides Paramount and Arnold Schwarzenegger? Probably not, and this film basically proves that. The idea of using the time-travel angle to create alternate realities of the first two films is great in theory, and even cute at first – until it stops making sense and you realize the writers were less interested in coming up with believable consequences of time travel and more in just using it as an excuse for a do-over of the original film. The result is basically a retread of the same ideas that tries to be different mostly by rearranging the pieces.
And that’s that for 2015.
Same time next year,
This is dF
STANDARD DISCLAIMER: If yr favorite movie of 2015 isn’t here, it’s likely because (1) I didn’t get a chance to see it, (2) it hasn’t been released in Hong Kong yet, or (3) I did see it but didn’t like it as much as you did. Also, if some of these seem kind of old, it’s because their release date was 2014 for yr country, but 2015 for Hong Kong. See?
TOP TEN DEF FILMS OF 2015
1. Inside Out
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4. Whiplash
5. Ex Machina
6. Selma
7. Chappie
8. Birdman
9. What We Do In The Shadows
10. Bridge Of Spies
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Ant-Man
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
SPECTRE
THE FRANCHISE REVIVAL FILM WE REALLY DIDN’T NEED
Jurassic World
THE FILM I LIKED THAT NO ONE ELSE DID
Chappie
THE FILM I DIDN’T LIKE THAT EVERYONE ELSE DID
Kingsman: The Secret Service
WORST FILM OF 2015
Terminator: Genesys
TOP TEN DEF FILMS OF 2015 (DIRECTOR’S CUT)
1. Inside Out
This is easily the most inventive and creative film Pixar has done in years, and the most layered and complex film they’ve done it their entire history. Directors Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen do a great job of distilling complex psychological concepts and distilling them into a simplified but clever story and a weird but recognizable metaphoric landscape. And sure, it’s a little heavy on the emo – the main characters are emotions, after all – but it’s never really forced or overdone, and it works thanks to a great voiceover cast that really sells the characters.
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
An argument could be made that we really didn’t need another Mad Max film, but if yr going to revive the series, this is the way to do it. Fury Road delivers just about everything you’d want in a new Mad Max film: insane car battles, insane post-apocalyptic tribes, and insane visual design, with a decent story engine driving it along. My only real complaint is the CGI thrown in for 3D purposes. But that’s a small quibble for a film where everything is deliberately over the top. Where else can you see an assault force led by a heavy-metal guitarist with a flamethrowing guitar?
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Plot holes abound, Abrams and the writers go a little overboard with the fan service, and the story unnecessarily borrows select plot elements from the original trilogy and relies an awful lot on coincidence as a plot lubricant. I loved it anyway – it’s a hell of a lot of fun, which you haven't really been able to say about a Star Wars film since 1983. I can safely say this is the fourth-best film in the series. Possibly even the third-best, depending on how you feel about Return Of The Jedi.
4. Whiplash
Jazz purists hated this film, but to me Whiplash isn’t supposed to be a jazz documentary – it’s about obsession with jazz, or with music in general. Both aspiring drummer Andrew Neyman and cruel teacher Fletcher are obsessed with musical genius in different ways, and it’s that obsession that pits them against each other. Fletcher is the R. Lee Ermey of jazz schools, only more so, but J.K. Simmons makes Fletcher so believable that it doesn’t matter that most jazz instructors don’t behave that way. This one does, and he’s terrifying. Most intense film of the year.
5. Ex Machina
Like other films Alex Garland has written, the third act falls a little short on logic, and some bits are predictable. On the other hand, he does avoid some of the more obvious tropes for this kind of film, and does a good job using the storyline to explore the philosophical issues and consequences of developing AI, and the differences between human and artificial intelligence. Even the inevitable sexbot trope serves more to raise the ethical issues involved instead of “Hey guys, sexbots!”
6. Chappie
Neil Blomkamp’s twisted batshit mishmash of Short Circuit, Robocop and gangsta rap videos set in near-future Johannesburg, with naïve robots, extreme office politics, and numbskulled gangbangers. The film does have its share of flaws – namely some plot holes in the form of bad security practices on the part of Tetravaal (the company that makes the robots) and advanced technology that gets more questionable as the film goes along. But it all more or less works within the parameters that Blomkamp sets for the film. And he manages to make Chappie a sympathetic character.
7. Birdman
Some may be tempted to write this off as self-indulgent Oscar Bait with actors acting a story about acting and the art of acting and how hard it is to be an actor, and isn’t it ironic that we’re satirizing actors, etc. Which would be accurate except that (1) the film never comes off as being ironic or self-absorbed, and (2) the performances overall are just too good to write off, especially for Michael Keaton, who takes the title role far beyond what you might expect from a guy who once played Batman.
8. Selma
This dramatization of the voting rights marches from Selma, AL to Montgomery in 1965 was controversial on multiple levels, not least because of current events regarding race relations in America and related political dithering. That aside, it tells the basic story well, and gives you a clear and powerful sense of the courage (or desperation) it took to organize and stand up against institutional racism, but without glossing over MLK’s shortcomings or his disagreements with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
9. What We Do In The Shadows
I’m not a big fan of mockumentaries, if only because it’s an overdone format. But this is rather well done. The improvised humor doesn’t always work for me, but there are a lot of genuinely funny scenes. And Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement have a lot of fun with the standard vampire tropes (lack of reflection, turning into bats, requiring to be invited into a building, etc) without really mocking the genre as a whole. In fact, it’s one of the better vampire films to come out in awhile.
10. Bridge Of Spies
A well-written and interesting slice of Cold War history that Steven Spielberg uses to mirror the modern paranoia and questions over due process that America is grappling with today in regards to the War On Terror. For the most part it works, even if Spielberg overplays his hand from time to time and relies on some occasional cheese (particularly the scene where Powers’ U2 plane is shot down). Don't let the fact that Tom Hanks is in it throw you off.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Ant-Man
It seems strange but true that some of the best Marvel films feature the least-known characters. Last year it was Guardians Of The Galaxy; this year it was Ant-Man. On the downside, it’s 100% predictable, and the family angles are cliché. But Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas are great, and it has the right tone for a superhero film.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
In which Guy Ritchie attempts to do with Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin what he did with Holmes and Watson – i.e. an action-packed period-piece buddy film with back-and-forth narrative jumps – and damn near succeeds. On the downside, it’s mostly an U.N.C.L.E. origin tale, but the real attraction isn’t the story so much as the way Ritchie tells it, and the interaction between Solo and Kuryakin. It’s good that they had fun with it, but maybe they should have had a little more fun.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
As franchise films go, MI has generally lived up to its premise, and it’s nice that this one openly acknowledges the fact that the IMF basically gets things done on improv and dumb luck. My biggest disappointment with it is that Tom Cruise is still the big star – I’d hoped the last film would be an excuse to let Jeremy Renner take the lead for awhile. That said, Cruise is still capable of pulling off an MI film, though I did find it amusing that every scene either features Ethan Hunt or other characters talking about Ethan Hunt.
SPECTRE
Daniel Craig’s last Bond film introduce the classic eponymous Bond foe reasonably well. The problem is that Casino Royale and Skyfall set the bar pretty high, and SPECTRE doesn’t quite clear it. Part of the problem is that sometimes the script lapses into the kinds of dumb OTT action scenes the reboot was supposed to be at least be smarter about. Also, it’s starting to feel like “Bond defies orders and goes rogue” is becoming a standard plot device for the reboot films. On the plus side, Craig is still good, as is Christoph Waltz as This Year’s Villain. Overall, it’s an above-average Bond film, but here’s hoping future Bond films spend more time messing with the formula rather than settling into one.
THE FRANCHISE REVIVAL FILM WE REALLY DIDN’T NEED
Jurassic World
Did anyone need a new Jurassic Park movie besides Universal Studios? Probably not. It’s silly dinosaur fun with a new raptor gimmick (Raptor Strike Force!) and very dumb science. Probably the best thing you can say about it is that it requires you to believe that either the first three films never happened or that everyone involved at InGen learned absolutely nothing from the events in those films.
THE FILM I LIKED THAT NO ONE ELSE DID
Chappie
See above for details. But seriously, critics panned the film and for the life of me I have no idea why.
THE FILM I DIDN’T LIKE THAT EVERYONE ELSE DID
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Not so much a tribute or even a spoof of the superspy genre as a middle-finger mockery of it. Or so it seemed to me. The storyline is as clichéd as it gets, and much of the rest of the film takes the cheesiest elements of the Bond films and jacks the volume up to 11 – especially the violence, which is at the level you’d expect from a script with Millar’s name on it (brutal and gratuitous) but more disturbing than entertaining. Which would be okay if the film was at least smarter, or more original, or less predictable. For the most part, it’s not really any of those. It’s not completely terrible, but I didn’t have a good time, either.
WORST FILM OF 2015
Terminator: Genesys
Did anyone need a new Terminator movie besides Paramount and Arnold Schwarzenegger? Probably not, and this film basically proves that. The idea of using the time-travel angle to create alternate realities of the first two films is great in theory, and even cute at first – until it stops making sense and you realize the writers were less interested in coming up with believable consequences of time travel and more in just using it as an excuse for a do-over of the original film. The result is basically a retread of the same ideas that tries to be different mostly by rearranging the pieces.
And that’s that for 2015.
Same time next year,
This is dF
