Why So Blu?

So concludes this year of movie adventures!  There have definitely been some surprising highs along with a few soul crushing lows, (cough) Fantastic 4 (cough).  But through it all, we have persevered to reach the truly great films of the past year that keep giving us a reason to leave our cozy homes in favor of the Multi-plex.

This year Marvel didn’t exactly knock it out of the park like they did last year with the likes of “Captain America: Winter Soldier” and “Guardians of the Galaxy”. This year we got “Age of Ultron” and “Ant Man”.  Both were decent enough.  But compared to what we’ve seen in the past, they didn’t quite meet the high standard that Marvel established for themselves.  “Ultron” had so many elements and characters that it was actually hard to follow what was happening on screen!  Ant Man had some ground breaking shrinking effects that we haven’t seen since “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”.  But it somewhat failed to endear you to the characters struggles.  Both Ant Man and Ultron seemed more like place holders to tide us over until the next phase of Marvel awesomeness. And with “Captain America: Civil War” and “Doctor Strange” coming next year, I’m sure they’ll live up to the hype.

10. Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F

I’m not sure if I can officially call myself an Otaku.  But I am DAMN sure a Dragon Ball Z fan!  This film was pretty much a throw back for all the 90’s fans who love these characters.  If you’re not familiar with their backstories you may miss some of the subtle nuances and jokes that are thrown in for the veteran fan boy and girl.  In this DBZ movie the producers decided to bring back one of their most beloved villains:  The evil FRIEZA!  For me the highlight of this film was when the lower powered Z fighters got the chance to show off their chops against Frieza’s army.  That’s definitely something we haven’t seen in a very long time.  We actually don’t get a whole lot of Goku and Vegita this time around.  Which was an interesting change of pace.  But this is definitely a must watch for any Anime of Dragon Ball fan.

9. Kingsman: The Secret Service

Going into this movie I wasn’t too familiar with the story.  I had heard a few rumblings about some awesome action and fight scenes. But other than that, I just went in hoping for an enjoyable action movie that featured younger folks with falling into the “snore-fest” that has become the “Y.A” phenomenon.  Oh man, I was pleasantly surprised at what unveiled before me!  Aside from there being a lack of diversity in the characters, I’d say that this totally worth checking out. Be warned there is a bit of the ol’ “Ultra Violence”.  But if you’ve got a strong stomach you’ll be just fine.  The best way I could describe this is if you gave James Bond to Quentin Tarantino with a dash of “Kick Ass”.

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Now even though this has the comedic heavy weights of Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, Bill Hader and Phyllis Smith (The Office), I still went into this film with the idea that at MOST it would provide some clever grown up jokes that would go over the kids’ heads.  But oh man was wrong!  The simple way to describe this movie is a story that follows the life of a little girl as she grows up between the ages of 1 and 12.  The story is told from the perspective of her inner feelings which are represented by living characters in her mind.  Now, that’s a pretty accurate description.  But what that doesn’t tell you is that you’re in for some serious Pixar style heart-wrenching moments.  Pixar is back with a VENGEANCE!  No more Cars nonsense.  We’re talking about honest to goodness real life emotions and struggles!  It’s hard to talk about how great this movie is without spoiling it.  There are KEY moments that will cause even the most hardened adults to reflect on how they live and deal with life.  The film doesn’t solely stick with the little girl.  It also gives you a perspective of how her parents deal with a developing human being at a critical point in ALL of their lives.  Most films that follow the life of a family unit usually depict the parents as humorless, no nonsense cliches whose sole purpose is to say, “You’re grounded!”.  But instead we’re shown a much more faceted idea of what it’s like to be a parent, and to really not know what the heck your doing.  BOTH of the parents have a genuine interest in their kid that is shown through playful and heartfelt moments that remind us that all a kid really needs to get by is a good imagination and the love of her parents.

So this movie has been a LONG time in the making.  Probably something like 10 years or so.  Being that there are so many iconic figures to depict in one 2 hour film, they needed to be sure that every player received the proper representation.  Having said that, they ONE HUNDRED PERCENT succeeded!  As soon as the opening music hits, courtesy of Dr Dre himself, you are hooked and it never let’s up!  Out of all of the music bio pics that I’ve seen over the years this has to be the first one where anyone can enjoy it regardless as to weather or not you like the music.  It’s just a great film.  Take Ray for example; Jaime Fox transforms himself into a picture perfect replica of the Genius Ray Charles.  But if you were to take Jaime’s performance OUT of that movie, it wouldn’t be NEARLY as memorable.  With Compton every element holds up on it’s own.  Aside from Paul Giamatti, the cast consists of relatively unknown actors.  But the break out performance without a doubt has to be Ice Cube’s son, O’Shea Jackson Jr.  I don’t know if this guy is a REAL rapper or not, but every time he hits the stage you feel like you’re RIGHT in the middle of the crowd!

In addition to following the rise of N.W.A, this film also depicts the racial prejudice, police brutality, and the L.A. riots that black youth experienced during the late 80’s and early 90’s.  It gives the audience a stark reminder that these events that took place over 30 years ago still occur today.  But it is through this frustration and degradation that the members of N.W.A find their voice and ultimately revolutionize popular music.  These young men, most in their early twenties, come under fire for their controversial lyrics and ideas, not only by the media but by the US Government as well, while they struggle to maintain solidarity and a sense identity.

Well, as Delmar from O’Brother Where Art Thou would say, “that’s all I got!”.  Feel free to chime in in the comments section if you think any of these pics are a bit off the mark or if you wholeheartedly agree!  Most of these flicks are available on Blu-ray and DVD on Amazon.com!  Next year is gonna be so friggin’ jam packed with nerdtastic movies I can hardly contain myself!!  Happy New Year!