Why So Blu?

The Movies That Got Away – How the Films We Missed Would’ve Changed Our Past Top 10’s

“There are only so many hours in the day.” That’s a statement we have all heard and probably even used ourselves. The same thing applies to movie watching and then some. There are only so many hours in a day and only so many movies we can get to in a year. Every year at least one person that sees my Top 10 list in January asks me, “Oh, so you’ve seen EVERY movie from last year?” No. Of course not.  That’s not realistic, but since I have a keyboard and an opinion, I’ll write about what I did see.  Still, that can leave a multitude of pictures out of a person’s viewing experience.  So what happens to those great films we missed?

Truth be told, there are many movies we spend our own dime to see.  When taking finances into account, some films just get sacrificed.  For instance, there is no way I am paying to see the latest Transformers movie.  If Michael Bay learns how to edit a film, keep it at two hours and add a compelling story, I’ll reconsider it.  Now, could Transformers: The Last Knight make my Top 10 this year?  It’s possible.  It’s also as probable as me becoming a successful opera singer.  Why waste the money?

Once we make it through the hectic holiday season in December, all of us Why So Blu staff tend to get in a mad rush to catch up on as many films from that year as possible.  Well, I do anyway.  Maybe my peers are more successful at time management than I am.  Usually in January or February we may find that open window of opportunity where we finally get to watch that movie we missed from last year…and it’s amazing…and then our hearts sink.  Why?  Because there’s that realization that the Top 10 list we just wrote and published is no longer accurate.  We’ve all been there, which brings us to this article, a chance at redemption!  The following WSB writers, including yours truly, have come up with one film from a specific year that would have altered the landscape of our ten beloved films from that year.

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Aaron’s Film: Son of Saul (2015)

Where it would’ve ranked: #3

Son of Saul won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, and if I had seen it before making my top ten list for 2015, it would have replaced Victoria. Both films take a unique perspective on a continual situation. Victoria was made from one long take, as we watched a crime drama unfold over the course of two and a half hours. Son of Saul is a wonderfully done drama concerning the plight of a man in Auschwitz.

While the Holocaust is always dark subject matter, director Laszlo Nemes does a fantastic job of narrowing the focus to the primary objective of the lead character Saul (Geza Rohrig). Saul spends the film embarking on various missions to help in his quest to provide a proper burial for a boy he takes for his son. It’s a terrific film from top to bottom and worthy of its Oscar win. It deserved placement on my top ten.

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Brandon’s Film: Krampus (2015)

Where it would’ve ranked: #9 or #10

Brian’s Film:  La La Land (2016)

Where it would’ve ranked: #3

My memory isn’t what it used to be anymore so when I was asked to think of a film that I A) loved and B) didn’t see within its respective release year I instantly thought of recent times.  Therefore, this was an easy exercise for me.  There are actually two films I saw in 2017, which were released in calendar year 2016 that would have greatly altered my Top 10 list (found here http://whysoblu.com/brian-whites-top-10-films-of-2016/) that year.  While the first film I allude to is Hidden Figures it would ultimately not have had made a great enough impact as the second flick I denied myself repeatedly of seeing in 2016, La La Land.  I blind bought it on 4K UHD via the recommendations of other such as Brandon Peters review here (http://whysoblu.com/la-la-land-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review/).

Within the first 5 minutes I wanted to turn the movie off.  I thought to myself I hate musicals like this.  I did not care for the dancing in the stars either, but other moments such as the “I Ran” pool party scene or the John Legend track “Start a Fire” completely mesmerized me not to mention the evolving love story that slowly cocooned and demanded my undivided attention.  I was also very much a fan of Emma Stone’s performance, which was something I never thought possible.  However, by the film’s ending sequence I was a complete devastated mess.  Not only did it made me recall some of my own heartbreaking life choices, but I was obliterated to the core and reluctantly pushed to the brink of tears over the movie’s unfavorable conclusion.  It was so heartbreaking and uplifting/fulfilling at the same time.  I couldn’t believe the near masterpiece I had just watched.  I denied my love for it at first, but I quickly watched La La Land over and over again as I recovered from hip surgery this past April.  Therefore, if I would have seen this in 2016 like the majority of Earth’s population, it would have definitely finished in my top 3 selections of 2016 right behind Nocturnal Animals and unfortunately pushing The Neon Demon off my Top 10 list.  It just goes to show you the choices we make in life all have consequences.  Choose wisely folks!

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Gregg’s Film:  The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Where it would’ve ranked: #1

I purposely passed on this film in 2013.  I know, I know.  Call me crazy.  The trailer looked like some frat boy preppy fest to me and I had enough of  guys exercising that mentality in high school.  Take note, Hollywood.  This is why trailers need to be awesome, because this movie certainly was (although a lot of this very much was a frat boy preppy fest but told so brilliantly).  I passed on this due to an unappealing preview, yet the film was an intricately woven, real life tale of deceit and greed.  The looming cat and mouse game between Jordan Belfort and the FBI was the icing on the cake in a three-hour film that seems to race by much quicker than the clock lets on.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill both provided Oscar-worthy performances in this Martin Scorsese-directed masterpiece.  Plus, the world outside of Australia suddenly became familiar with the talented and stunning Margot Robbie (thank you, Australia).  Throw in an appearance by Matthew McConaughey and a great supporting effort by Jon Bernthal and you’ve got an amazing cast that any film would be hard-pressed to duplicate.  So if we jump in my time machine and go back four years, we’ll see Thor: The Dark World fall off my 2013 Top 10 list as The Wolf of Wall Street bumps The Book Thief down one notch and takes the title of numero uno.

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Jason’s Film: Dredd (2012)

Where it would’ve ranked: #2

I must admit that my compulsive need to see as many films as I can both big and small leaves little to no room for missed opportunities and as such making a selection for this list was next to impossible (or I could not think of one!).  Though a mistake of different, but equally notable sorts on my part to do with a Top Ten list omission that is glowing involves the 2012 Karl Urban masterwork Dredd.  Having already seen a five-star film with a similar story premise earlier that year The Raid: Redemption (trapped inside a building with bad guys!) my originality meter was low watching Dredd and my review reflected a good but not great critical opinion.  The problem was that over the rest of that year (and many years that followed!), I become virtually obsessed with the film watching it over and over, spouting the surly speech of the no-nonsense lawman on a daily basis and becoming enraptured with the stylistic visuals and pulsating music score more and more with each viewing.

So while 2012 had a fair share of amazing cinematic outings that I proudly hand picked while at previous stomping ground Starpulse.com (like Colin Trevorrow’s early flick Safety Not Guaranteed, the sinfully fun Dust Up, Xavier Gens’ demonic The Divide, the hypnotic Beyond the Black Rainbow, Takashi Miike’s Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai and my number one pick the Swedish gem Sound of Noise which if you have not seen you should be ashamed!) in hindsight the delectable Dredd should have permeated that Top Ten list and firmly slid into spot #2.  Loud and proud I made a mistake – even the most meticulous movie man is entitled once in a while.