Why So Blu?

Gregg’s Top 10 (and worst 3) of 2015

This year I probably got to see the least amount of films I wanted to at the theater. Such is the case with a full schedule of work, school and an Irish dance show.  So what did the year bring us?  We got revisits from popular franchises like Mission Impossible and Avengers, though for only the second in the series, Avengers: Age of Ultron felt tired and rather boring. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise keeps chugging away putting out better spy films than the famed Bond series. As for the bottom feeders, although I did miss out on the often criticized Fantastic Four reboot, I do have plenty to talk about as far as the duds that hit cinemas this past year. Without further fluff and rambling dialogue, I give you my best and worst of 2015.

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The Worst of 2015

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#3 Crimson Peak – This film was billed as coming to us from the Godfather of Horror.  Really?  When I think of the Godfather of Horror, Guillermo del Toro is not the first person to come to mind (George Romero, anyone?).  That forced moniker showed why it shouldn’t apply to del Toro as this movie was flatter than an opened can of soda sitting out for a week.  There was one scary scene, and other than that, the only scary thing was that I had to pay actual money to see this mess of a film that defined boredom.  Great cast.  Terrible story.

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#2  Terminator: Genisys – This movie made an MSN list where the author compared the franchise to herpes…it just won’t go away.  After Terminator 2, it never returned to greatness.  An old Arnold just doesn’t come across as entertaining in film these days as Sylvester Stallone does.  Perhaps it’s the content each actor surrounds himself with.  Perhaps it’s an actor expiration date that has come and gone for Arnold.  Either way, Terminator: Genisys was a movie that floundered from its opening scene.  Hey, at least it was consistent; it under-achieved from start to finish.

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#1  Fifty Shades of Grey – Bad writing, poor acting and an over-reliance on sex sent this misguided disaster spiraling downward shortly after I hit ‘play’ on my remote.  Yes I read the first book, well half of it anyway, but its film counterpart just didn’t measure up.  How can the erotic be so boring?  Watch this movie and that exact question will be answered for you.  Arguably the biggest red marks against Fifty Shades is the bad acting and lack of chemistry between Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan.  These flaws lingered for what felt like fifty hours it sub-consciously took to watch this movie.  Unfortunately there are two more films in the series on their way.  The bright side is you have me to tell you to save your money and not blow it on them.  I know, right?  Thank God for this article.

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Now that I’ve educated all of you on what terrible movies look like, you can worry about thanking me later as we progress to what good movies look like.  I am going to say bias led me to believe that The Force Awakens was going to be my favorite film of the year…it didn’t happen!  While J.J. Abrams put together a successful production in the world of Star Wars lore, it fell short of my expectations with some of the gaping holes in the story.

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Honorable Mention

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The Water Diviner – Russell Crowe makes his directorial debut with this film that takes place shortly after the closure of The Great War (that’s WWI for the history-anemic).  Crowe’s character, Connor, makes the trek from his native Australia to Gallipoli to find the whereabouts of his three sons who fought in the war.  Crowe does well on both sides of the camera, though the ending is rather awkward.  Had that been improved, this could have ranked on the list.

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The Big Short – What’s scarier than all the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th films combined?  This movie.  Detailing the great collapse of the U.S. housing market, The Big Short features a very notable cast of Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt who portray investors with a keen eye, smart enough to see what was about to happen on the eve of the great mortgage collapse.  If you want one hell of a scare, watch this movie and be exposed to how purely evil big banks and disgusting big banks can be.  They are a putrid lot and this film brilliantly covers that.

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Top 10 of 2015

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#10  Ex Machina – I remember all the fanfare this title received as a graphic novel in the early 90’s.  Though it didn’t have as grand a reception at the cinema last year as the graphic novel did in comic book stores once upon a time, it certainly knocked my socks off.  While the film’s main stars Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson would be better known for Star Wars, the pair really showed off their acting chops in this sobering film of technology and companionship.

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#9  The Martian – It’s Castaway in space!  Well, it’s not the first movie to borrow a previously used concept and repackage it.  Still, none of that made this movie any less enjoyable.  Matt Damon excelled in his role of an astronaut left behind on Mars after a fierce red planet storm swept the man away, while his castmates proved more than proficient in their roles as well.  The cinematography was impressive and the writing was nothing short of engaging.

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#8  Black Mass – Without question here is the benchmark performance of Johnny Depp’s career.  The film covers Boston crime lord Whitey Bulger and a corrupted FBI agent in the 1970’s.  With Depp appearing as Bulger, we see the seasoned actor take on a very sinister persona with no regard for whoever gets in his way.  The level of creepiness that Depp brings to the screen here was jaw-dropping to say the least and the supporting cast of Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon and Liev Schreiber only reinforce an already solid movie.

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#7  Spotlight – It is widely known around the world of the sexual atrocities committed by numerous Catholic priests against children.  This film dramatically delivers the story of the Boston Globe reporters who uncovered these acts.  Starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schrieber and Stanley Tucci, Spotlight features an all-star cast who convey the humanistic elements of their characters while dealing with very real issues they are investigating.

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#6  No Escape – Aptly named as my attention was not going to find a way out from this movie.  Owen Wilson excelled in this serious role along with on-screen wife played by Lake Bell.  Throw in Pierce Brosnan for good measure and you’ve got yourself quite a film.  While it didn’t contain the top-to-bottom tension that Argo had, it proved to be quite suspenseful nonetheless.  Do yourself a favor and watch this one.  It didn’t get a whole lot of coverage, but Lionsgate struck gold with this fast-paced film.

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#5  Mad Max: Fury Road – Want to see how an action film should deliver?  Holy goodness, there is a whole lot to like about the reboot of the Mad Max franchise.  First and foremost, George Miller gets a whole lot of credit as he directed this masterpiece and contributed to the writing as well.  Next, Charlize Theron rocked it out in the role of Imperator Furiosa, overshadowing, at least in my opinion, the title character of Mad Max himself, Tom Hardy.  This movie has nearly zero let-up in it, with only a brief moment of dusk discussion amongst the supporting cast.  Before and after that, it’s a holy sh*t ride so make sure you bring your seatbelts to this one.

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#4  Creed – The Rocky films are some of my all-time favorites (save for Rocky V which was forgettable at best).  Rejuvinating the franchise with the story they did was not only an artistic move, it was a clever one.  Michael B. Jordan rocked it out as the son of Rocky’s late boxing buddy, Apollo Creed.  There are two movies I experienced at the cinema this year that earned applause from the audience.  Star Wars was one, Creed was the other.  Without a doubt one of the most pivotal scenes I witnessed on the big screen this year arrived in Adonis’ big fight at the end of the film when some of the original Rocky soundtrack kicked in.  Wow.  Instant adrenaline.

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#3  Bridge of Spies – Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks pair up once again, this time in the real life story of James Donovan, an American attorney tasked with the unlikely duty of negotiating with the Soviets to exchange a detained Russian spy for a downed American pilot.  The movie had this casual pace to it laced with intermittent tones of urgency that went hand in hand in this political drama.  In addition, what a story to tell.  I have not come across a history book revealing all the work that Donovan had accomplished.  Thankfully this movie got that done.

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#2  Straight Outta Compton – I’ll admit it right off the bat; I was never a huge fan of rap.  To this day I have only one rap song on my iPod and that’s from Notorious B.I.G.  All of that is irrelevant though if you just want to experience an awesome story of how a small group of guys took their experiences from the streets of Compton, California and turned them into some of the most pioneering moments in the music landscape.  The writing was great, the story attention-grabbing and the cast shot for the clouds and made it to the moon.  With the exception of Paul Giamatti, this cast was comprised of actors who were anything but household names.  They all rose to the occasion in telling the stories of their real life counterparts.

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And top honors go to…

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#1 Ant Man – Who would’ve thought?!  Take one of Marvel’s more obscure characters and give him his own movie?  I mean, get out of here.  Really.  Go.  This article is fake…isn’t it?  Of course not!  Remember how I saved you with my three worst films above?  I’m here to deliver the good with the bad and Ant Man is legit.  The movie is chock full of sarcasm, wit, action and colorful characters that were all easy to connect with.  Michael Douglas did well as Avengers precursor Hank Pym.  Corey Stall excelled as a villain we all love to hate.  Evangeline Lilly served as mentor and supreme hottie.  Michael Peña has the Midas touch in whatever he’s in and Paul Rudd was the absolute perfect casting for the role of Scott Lang/Ant Man.  Welcome to Marvel’s smallest bad ass.