And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the one post
that I guarantee you won’t see much of elsewhere on the internet; a post that
unabashedly celebrates the films that came out this past summer. Obviously, as
I’ve noted before, the common sentiment towards this year’s line of summer
releases has been that of disappointment. But to be honest I feel that this notion
has been a bit too exaggerated. I mean come on, this summer hasn’t been THAT
bad when it comes to the films that came out during it. It seems to me that a
lot of this has been due to the fact that there have been a few underperformers
at the box-office. Quality-wise, though, the films have been perfectly fine.
Though with that said, I guess expectations have been another thing that
contributed to this general consensus as well. After all, overt expectations
for films have almost always hurt them in the long run (Phantom Menace, anybody?). But anyway, with this poll, the goal was
to reflect upon this summer’s films in a positive manner, especially when
compared to pretty much everywhere else on the internet at this current time.
And now that the poll is closed, it’s time to list all the films that you, the
fans, voted for. Numbers wise, this was our biggest year yet with 58 votes
going to 20 different films. I’d like to thank all of you who voted as well as
those who shared my initial tweet that first announced the poll, which very
much helped spread the word about it. So now, without further ado, these are
the films that you, the fans, voted for as your favorite films from this past
summer.
9 FILMS EARNED 1 VOTE EACH
THE NICE GUYS
This is one that I’m kind of kicking myself over not having
any time to go see. The trailers were very appealing to me and it looked to be
a very fun buddy cop comedy. Fittingly enough, this was brought to us by one of
the most famous filmmakers of the buddy cop genre, Shane Black, writer of the
original Lethal Weapon and fresh off
of directing Marvel Studios’ 2013 billion-dollar grossing blockbuster, Iron Man 3. The Nice Guys, however, did not reach Iron Man 3 levels of success at the box-office, just barely making
its budget back. However, it was certainly one of the most well-received films
of the summer, receiving much praise for its writing and the chemistry of its
two leads. Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling star as an enforcer and private eye,
respectively, who team up to investigate into the supposed suicide of a famous
porn star. Their investigation even leads them into uncovering a potential
government conspiracy. Like I said, based solely on the trailers, it looked to
be a very fun ride with some great humor courtesy of Shane Black, who as a
writer has been well known for snappy dialogue (just look at Iron Man 3 or the scene in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang when Robert Downey
Jr.’s character accidentally shoots a witness because he miscalculated the
chance of the live round in his gun being fired). Highlights from the trailer
included a scene where Gosling’s character is talking to a woman whose husband
is apparently missing and yet in reality he’s been dead for some time as
Gosling notices his ashes up on the fireplace and a scene where Gosling and
Crowe are trying to get rid of a body and they just dump it over a fence right
into the middle of a wedding party. This film is now out on Blu-Ray and DVD so
based on what I’ve heard, you should check it out. I’m certainly going to see
it first chance I get.
ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Obviously
Disney’s live-action Alice films have
had their critics and it’s safe to say that these critics have been extremely
vocal in their dislike of the films. However, at the same time, these films
clearly have their fans as well. I’ve realized that this clearly must be one of
the reasons why 2010’s Alice in
Wonderland somehow managed to gross over a billion. And while this year’s
sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass,
hasn’t been as successful commercially, grossing just under $300 million, I’m
sure that most fans of the original probably liked this film just as much
amidst all of the negative reviews. And as someone who did like the first film,
I’m not afraid to admit that I liked this film too; in fact, I liked it more
than the first film. With that said, believe me when I say that this is by no
means a perfect film. Like its predecessor, the plot is rather ridiculous and
the film’s extensive use of CGI, with pretty much everything in Underland being
shot against a green-screen, can prove to be rather overwhelming at times. But
at the same time, the film is a perfectly harmless adventure through the crazy
world of Underland. And as excessive as they may be sometimes, the CGI is
excellent and the film has a really solid art style. In fact, one of the big
reasons why this one is superior to its predecessor is the fact that director
James Bobin (director of Disney’s last two Muppets
films) gives the film a much brighter color scheme and doesn’t pull any
punches that would make one question the film’s PG rating. It also helps that
Alice is a much stronger protagonist in this film, a confident heroine compared
to the girl who kept questioning herself in the previous film. In short, Alice Through the Looking Glass is
nowhere near as bad as some critics say it is. Again, it has its flaws and it
sure isn’t going to win over people who didn’t like the first film but it’s
still fairly entertaining.
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN
I think it’s safe to say that The Legend of Tarzan has been a solid crowd-pleaser for most
audiences. And I’m glad to hear that because I’ll admit that prior to its
release, I feared that it would be one of the big box-office bombs of the
summer. Thankfully it wasn’t (in a summer that ironically did have a few
underperformers), as its current worldwide gross is just under $360 million. So
at the very least, I’m glad to see that this hasn’t been a complete disaster
for director David Yates, who of course directed the last four Harry Potter films as well as the
upcoming spin-off Fantastic Beasts and
Where to Find Them. And while most critics were rather ‘meh’ on his first
2016 film, it’s actually a pretty darn entertaining new take on Edgar Rice
Burroughs’ classic character. The film as a whole is a fairly old-fashioned
action adventure flick right down to its simple chase plot and it seems like
the cast and crew had a fun time making it. The cast is solid from top to
bottom, from Alexander Skarsgard, a solid Tarzan, to Margot Robbie as Jane, who
manages to overcome the character’s usual status as a ‘damsel in distress’, and
Christoph Waltz, who’s solid in the role of the main villain Rom. But the big
standout of the bunch is Samuel L. Jackson as real-life historical figure
George Washington Williams. Jackson gets a lot of the best lines in the film
and has excellent camaraderie with Skarsgard. In short, The Legend of Tarzan is a simple adventure story but a very
enjoyable one and overall is a solid adaptation of the Tarzan character.
THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR
Clearly the Purge films
are continuing to be a solid success for Universal. While the first Purge, released in 2013, may have gotten generally negative
reviews from critics, it was a solid commercial hit on its small $3 million
budget. This resulted in a sequel the following year, The Purge: Anarchy, which many agreed was, at the very least, a superior
sequel. And now this year saw the release of the third Purge film, The Purge:
Election Year, which by the way is a very fitting title for its 2016
release. This new film sees Frank Grillo reprise his role from the last film as
‘Sergeant’ Leo Barnes, who now serves as the head of security for senator
Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell), who’s running for President on the platform
of finally getting rid of the annual Purge once and for all. However, this results
in her political opponents attempting to get rid of her during the next Purge.
I haven’t seen any of the Purge films
but from what I hear, while they may be rather silly and not all that
well-written at times (I’ve heard that this one in particular had some rather
questionable dialogue), at the very least they do contain some interesting
social commentary. And one of the key things about the sequels that allowed
them to be better-received than the first film is the fact that while the first
film was set primarily in a single home, the sequels have branched out into the
streets to showcase more of what goes on during the Purge. So now the question
is, what’s next for this franchise? Is there going to be another film? I know a
lot of people have been saying that they should do a prequel that explores the
early days of the Purge but who knows?
Fun Fact, this was
actually filmed in Woonsocket, pretty close to where I live. In fact, one night
while they were shooting, I was this close to potentially getting a glimpse of
it being filmed. However, they closed off the main street where they were
filming so no luck there.
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS
And now we go from one Universal hit to another. This time,
it’s from their primary animation studio, Illumination Entertainment. It’s safe
to say that Illumination has become one of the biggest animation studios today
up there with Pixar and Dreamworks, at least commercially. They’ve had big hits
with their Despicable Me films, with
the second film nearly breaking a billion worldwide and the spin-off, Minions, actually managing to reach that
mark. And as for their newest film, The
Secret Life of Pets, it’s been yet another big hit for the studio having
grossed over $720 million worldwide. And overall, reviews for it have been
pretty darn solid. I haven’t seen the film yet but the trailers for it were
pretty interesting, namely the teaser trailer which consisted of a bunch of
pets and what they really did when their owners left (e.g. listen to music, use
a mixer as a massaging device). The film primarily centered on a Jack Russell
terrier named Max (Louis C.K.) who starts to get jealous when his owner Katie
(Ellie Kemper) brings home a new dog, a mongrel named Duke (Eric Stonestreet).
The two end up out in the streets of New York where they have to deal with a
rabbit named Snowball (Kevin Hart) and his gang who are trying to get rid of
all humans for abandoning them. Again, I haven’t seen the film but it seems
like a pretty charming and fun animated flick. Plus, it probably also helps
that this film doesn’t follow Illumination’s usual method of relying heavily on
Minion-like characters. In short, it looks like this one proved to be a solid
non-Disney animated hit for families this summer and that’s always a good thing
in my book.
GHOSTBUSTERS: ANSWER THE CALL
(Note: In case you
were wondering, yes the ‘Answer the Call’ tagline from the marketing is now
part of the title)
Well we’ve all heard about this one now, that’s for sure.
From the moment it was first announced, this new installment of the Ghostbusters franchise was met with
extreme hostility from trolls on the internet. Why? Well aside from the fact
that it was a ‘reboot’ of sorts of the franchise, it was mainly due to the fact
that the film oh so dared to star women in the lead roles. Yes, you’re reading
that right folks, it’s 2016 and yet this film was met with extreme sexism from
angry fanboys who immediately wrote the film off without ever seeing it. Yeah…
it was pretty stupid and to be honest, once the angry fanboys started to get
really hostile to the point where they started to attack star Leslie Jones,
they truly cemented themselves as completely immature trolls. So anyway, what
of the film itself? It’s perfectly fine. It’s obviously not as good as the original
but of course that’s a tough act to follow. Aside from a few scenes that do
parallel moments from the original, this new film does manage to stand on its
own as a unique entry in the franchise. It certainly helps that the film stars
a talented quartet of actresses in the lead roles who have excellent
camaraderie with each other and do manage to make their characters a very
endearing team. Sure not all of the jokes hit but the hit-miss ratio is still
pretty solid and the visuals and action sequences are very much what you’d
probably expect from a new entry in the franchise. Bottom line, this film,
director Paul Feig, and his cast of talented actresses did not deserve all of
the s*** that they got online whatsoever from people who just couldn’t handle
the fact that this film was made. Seriously, you never saw that kind of
hostility directed towards any other remake/reboot ever. Bottom line, give Ghostbusters: Answer the Call a chance.
It won’t win over everyone but for god’s sake internet, grow up!
NINE LIVES
Oh I can hear the cinefiles now, “Really, this film got a
vote?”. And they’d be right; Nine Lives
did get a vote despite being perhaps the worst-reviewed film of the summer. But
from what I’ve heard from some of my friends who are either film critics or
work at a theater, the film has actually been doing rather well with its target
audience; younger viewers. So with that in mind, I can’t rag on this film that
much. So what is this film, then? Well, it stars Kevin Spacey as a workaholic
father who has distanced himself from his family, namely his daughter (Malina
Weissman) and his wife (Jennifer Garner). But that begins to change when he
finds himself within the body of a cat that he had bought from a pet shop that
was intended to be a birthday gift for his daughter. Yeah I’ll just be honest with
you folks… I had no interest in this film. To me it just looked like a film
that was straight out of the 90’s. And I have the feeling that most critics
felt the same way. This film currently sports an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes with the
hilarious consensus of “Not meow, not ever”. You do have to love it when Rotten
Tomatoes consensuses get that descriptive (just look at the film Left Behind from 2014). But like I said
before, from what I hear it seems as if younger audiences are liking it okay.
For the record, this isn’t intended to be an argument in favor of the film by
any means. But if the film’s target audience likes it, then who am I to judge?
WAR DOGS
With a very flashy poster that’s reminiscent of the 1983
classic Scarface, War Dogs certainly showed its teeth as a
biopic telling the story of Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz, a pair of arm
dealers who managed to land a $298 million government contract so that they
could supply weapons for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Jonah Hill and Miles
Teller star as Diveroli and Packouz, respectively, in the newest film from
director Todd Phillips, who directed the Hangover
trilogy, and based on ‘Arms and the Dudes’, an article written by Guy
Lawson and published in Rolling Stone.
For the record, though, apparently this film wasn’t exactly ‘historically
accurate’. Instead, certain events in the film were based on co-writer Stephen
Chin’s own experiences while in Iraq, most notably the scene in which Diveroli
and Packouz drive through Iraq in order to get their weapons to their clients.
Still, according to critics, the film was a pretty decent affair that certainly
had some solid social commentary on modern America and the war in
Iraq/Afghanistan. I haven’t seen the film but it did look rather interesting,
namely thanks to its premise. And overall, the film looked like the arms dealer
equivalent of The Wolf of Wall Street,
which is fitting seeing how both films star Jonah Hill. Miles Teller and Hill
seemed to have solid camaraderie and apparently, based on what I’ve heard, Hill
in particular really stands out. How it fares as a comedy, I’m not sure, but it
seemed to be a particularly interesting kind of film considering the talent
involved.
KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
In the world of animation, Laika has been keeping the art of
stop-motion animation alive through their films. And overall the films have
been doing really well critically to the point where all of them so far have
been nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. And based on its
impressive 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I think it’s safe to say that Laika’s
latest film, Kubo and the Two Strings,
will continue the studio’s Oscar nomination streak. Directed by Travis Knight,
President/CEO of Laika, the film tells the story of a young Japanese boy named
Kubo (Art Parkinson) who must find a magical suit of armor that had once been
worn by his father in order to defeat vengeful spirits. Joining him along the
way are a talking monkey (Charlize Theron) and a beetle-like samurai (Matthew
McConaughey). I haven’t seen the film yet (in fact I’ll admit that I haven’t
any of Laika’s films… yeah, yeah I know I should fix that) but based on the
trailers, suffice it to say this is a really gorgeous animated film. I’ve
always been a fan of stop-motion animated films, from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas to the
shorts and feature film that starred the classic duo of Wallace and Gromit and
this looked like another fantastic entry in the world of stop-motion animation.
And according to critics, not only is the animation superb but the story is
sophisticated and unafraid to go dark sometimes. Bottom line, this seems like a
Grade A animated film based around an absorbing adventure set in ancient Japan.
3 FILMS EARNED 2 VOTES
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT
OF THE SHADOWS
In RIMC’s inaugural end of summer poll back in 2014, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles landed a
vote despite the generally negative reception that it got from critics and the
fairly large amount of skepticism from fans over the various controversies
surrounding the Michael Bay-produced re-imagining of the franchise. But despite
that, it did manage to be a pretty sizable hit at the box-office resulting in
this year’s sequel, Out of the Shadows.
And as it turns out, it manages to outdo its predecessor by earning not one but
two votes. It certainly shows that, at the very least, while the film still
received generally negative reviews from critics, fan reception was a bit more
positive this time around. The primary reason for this is simple; this felt
much more like a TMNT film. Whereas
the first film was way too serious for a film centered around giant mutated
talking turtles, this film knows how silly it is and just rolls with it. Plus,
instead of focusing more on the human characters like in the first film, this
film focuses on who it should be focusing on; the Turtles. But even with that
said, the addition of fan favorites like Casey Jones (played enthusiastically
by ‘Green Arrow’ himself, Stephen Amell) and the duo of Bebop and Rocksteady
(played by Gary Anthony Williams and WWE’s Sheamus, respectively, who are certainly
major standouts) certainly help make this a much more fitting take on the
heroes in a half shell. And sure, at the end of the day this is still a fairly
mindless CGI-heavy action flick but at the very least, I have the feeling that TMNT fans will probably appreciate this
one a lot more than the first film. Will there be a third film? It’s uncertain
at the moment, namely due to the fact that this new film wasn’t as big of a hit
at the box-office compared to its predecessor. But hey, if they do make a third
film and it’s more like the second film, that’d certainly be a good thing.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
What do you get when you take the extremely charismatic
Dwayne Johnson and pair him with comedy superstar Kevin Hart in a film? You get
Central Intelligence, directed by
Rawson Marshall Thurber, director of 2004’s comedy hit Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and 2013’s surprise comedy hit We’re the Millers. The film sees Hart
star as an accountant who reunites with an old high school classmate of his
(Johnson), who he learns now works for the CIA. This then results in the two of
them teaming up in order to stop a terrorist plot. Even with the film’s silly
tagline which states that ‘Saving the World takes A Little Hart and A Big
Johnson’ (yes that’s the tagline), from what I’ve heard this was actually a
pretty solid comedy. According to most critics, the biggest selling point was
its lead duo of Johnson and Hart. As I said earlier, Dwayne Johnson is one of
the most charismatic actors in the business and has proven to be an excellent
comedic talent as well thanks to films like Pain
and Gain. And while I’ll admit that I’m not that big a fan of Kevin Hart,
he certainly has a sizable fan-base that has helped make him one of the biggest
names in comedy right now. Really the only negative thing that I’ve heard about
the film is that the writing doesn’t really match up quality-wise with its two
leads. Still, it looks like Central
Intelligence was definitely one of the most popular comedies of this past
summer.
THE BFG
The BFG had a star-studded
pedigree when it came to the talent involved. First off, it’s a Disney film.
Second, it’s based on the novel of the same name by legendary author Roald
Dahl. And finally, it’s directed by the one and only Steven Spielberg. And
combined, these forces come together to produce an incredibly charming family flick.
Spielberg very much succeeds in bringing the imaginative world of Dahl’s work
to life on the big-screen. It’s certainly an effects-heavy film but said
effects are excellent, especially when it comes to scale represented by the
main character Sophie being small compared to everything in Giant Country. But
at its core, the film very much wears its heart on its sleeve, especially
thanks to the lead duo of Sophie and the BFG. Newcomer Ruby Barnhill is
excellent as Sophie, showing much maturity for her age. And then there’s the
BFG, played by Mark Rylance, fresh off of his Oscar-winning turn in Spielberg’s
last film, Bridge of Spies. He’s once
again excellent here and the BFG proves to be as big and friendly as his
nickname suggests. Admittedly some parts of the plot are a little
underdeveloped (namely the villainous giants that oppose Sophie and the BFG)
and fans of Dahl might be disappointed that the film doesn’t really go to the
dark places that its source material did. Regardless, it’s an extremely
endearing adaptation of a classic story that’s as well-made of a film as you
can always expect from Steven Spielberg.
AND VICE VERSA (THIS SEEMS TO BE A PATTERN WITH THIS POLL), 2 FILMS
EARNED 3 VOTES
STAR TREK BEYOND
There was a lot of pressure on Star Trek Beyond to do a better job of appealing to long-time fans
of the franchise after 2013’s Star Trek
Into Darkness was met with heavy criticism from fans (a bit overblown if
you ask me but that’s another story). So with that said, did it succeed? Well,
I’m not really sure. Because while the plot is certainly very Trek-y, the film itself was basically
the same kind of fast-paced sci-fi action extravaganza as its two predecessors.
But of course, if you’ve following this blog for a while, you’ll know that this
doesn’t bother me in the slightest as a ‘Kelvin’ era super-fan. Yep… I
absolutely adored this film. To me it delivered on everything that I’ve loved
about these newer Trek films even
with a change in direction. Justin Lin proves to be an excellent successor to
J.J. Abrams and delivers yet another exciting and energetic sci-fi action flick
with great action sequences and visuals. But of course, at the heart of this
new Trek series is, as always, the
film’s excellent ensemble cast. They have excellent camaraderie together,
resulting in some great humorous moments (my favorite being when Spock is
pressured over the details surrounding the necklace he gave Uhura). The
returning cast is great once again but the same can be said for some of the
film’s new additions, namely Sofia Boutella as the badass warrior Jaylah and
Idris Elba as the film’s solid villain Krall. And like the previous two films,
there are some solid scenes of emotional depth. I can’t really say that the
emotional depth is as strong as it was in the previous two films but it’s still
there at just the right moments. Simply put, this is my favorite film from this
summer and is currently my favorite film of the year.
JASON BOURNE
From 2002 to 2007, Matt Damon starred as amnesiac assassin
Jason Bourne in the Bourne trilogy,
which was a huge hit with both critics and audiences. With the finale of the
trilogy, 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum,
providing a pretty darn conclusive finale to the story, it seemed as if Damon
and director Paul Greengrass were done with the franchise. There was an attempt
to continue the series via a spin-off in 2012, The Bourne Legacy, but that didn’t end up going anywhere. And then,
out of nowhere, Damon and Greengrass returned for another film in the franchise
and so we have Jason Bourne. And
while reviews for the film have been fairly mixed at best, it’s still a pretty
darn entertaining spy thriller. It brings back a lot of the series’ trademarks,
namely Greengrass’ handheld camera, fast editing style and as a result, it
features some excellent and tension-filled action sequences. The writing,
though, is a bit of a different story. Admittedly it seemed questionable to do
another Bourne film after Ultimatum’s ending basically tied up all
the series’ loose knots. And admittedly the stuff that this film adds to
Bourne’s backstory (namely the truth behind his father’s death, which was what
led him to volunteer for Treadstone) doesn’t really add much to the overall
lore. Plus, the film’s primary subplot revolving a conspiracy involving a tech
magnate doesn’t really matter that much in the long run. Still, with some great
action sequences and Damon once again doing a fantastic job in the role of
Bourne, Jason Bourne is a solidly
entertaining spy thriller. It may not reach the same heights as the original
trilogy but it’s still a fun time to be had.
3 FILMS EARNED 4 VOTES
MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES
So apparently from what I’ve heard, this film is actually
sort of based on a true story that occurred in 2013 in which a pair of brothers
put out an ad on Craigslist for dates to their sister’s wedding. It’s certainly
not your average ‘true story’ now, is it? Anyway, Adam DeVine and Zac Efron
star as the titular Mike and Dave Stangle, respectively, a pair of brothers who
tend to cause a lot of ruckus at their family gatherings. Because of this, they’re
told that they have to bring ‘respectable’ dates to their sister’s wedding in
Hawaii to keep them from getting into any trouble. Their solution? Put an ad out
on Craigslist, which goes viral to the point where they end up on The Wendy Williams Show. Their ad
ultimately ends up getting the attention of best friends/slacker party girls
Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (Anna Kendrick). But as Mike and Dave soon
find out, their dates turn out to be just as trouble-making as they are. This
is one that I’ll admit I wasn’t really that interested in. Despite a talented
cast led by DeVine, Efron, Plaza, and Kendrick, it kind of looked like a run of
the mill Wedding Crashers style
comedy to me. And according to most critics, that was basically it. Despite its
fairly unique concept (which, again, was actually a ‘true story’ that
apparently was even crazier than what happened in the film), the film’s humor
was rather weak despite the best efforts of its cast of leads, who at the very
least seemed to work off of each other very well. But seeing how this film was
one of the highest voted in this poll with four votes, at the very least it
looks like most audiences liked it okay.
SUICIDE SQUAD
The extremely negative reviews for it did not stop fans from
checking out what was probably the most anticipated film of the summer. With
its terrific marketing and unique premise of being a superhero film based
entirely around the villains, this seemed like it would be a big hit and at the
very least, it is from a commercial perspective. Critically, however, is
another story and I’m sure that there were probably quite a few people who were
rather disappointed by the film. As for me… I enjoyed it. I mean sure, it’s not
perfect and like the theatrical cut of Batman
v Superman, it seems as if this was another case of a DC film that had
received a questionable editing job, namely evident through the fact that
apparently there were a lot of scenes involving the Joker that were cut.
However, despite that as well as some underdeveloped parts of the plot (namely
the villains), Suicide Squad is still
a pretty darn fun and unique entry in the superhero genre. We really haven’t
seen a film like this before focused entirely on the villains and as a result,
it’s pretty interesting to see this film attempt to find the humanity in a
bunch of characters who are normally seen as villains to superheroes like
Batman and the Flash (and yes, I refer to those two specifically because they
made cameos in the film). And overall the film does succeed for the most part,
while also featuring an excellent cast highlighted by Will Smith’s solid turn
in the role of Deadshot and Margot Robbie’s, as anticipated, scene-stealing
turn as Harley Quinn. So simply put, like the theatrical cut of Batman v Superman, this film definitely
isn’t as bad as its low RT score suggests and I am genuinely eager to see
another film centered around the so-called ‘Worst Heroes Ever’.
SAUSAGE PARTY
Just like Deadpool made
quite a big splash earlier this year as an R-rated superhero film, Sausage Party has gotten quite a lot of
buzz as an R-rated animated film. Oh sure, on the surface it may seem like a
Disney film with its cartoonish designs and colorful animation. But believe me,
this ain’t no Disney film. It’s a hard R-rated animated film full of sex,
violence, pot, and a whole lot of food puns. Brought to us by the duo of Seth
Rogen and Evan Goldberg, this film’s humor is exactly what you’d expect from
their line of work. And overall, the film is quite the hilarious romp
throughout with an impressively solid gag-to-laugh ratio. Sure, at the end of
the day this is still a pretty darn silly film that admittedly relishes a bit
too much in its R rating at times. But at the same time, the film actually can
be rather smart at times, namely through its social commentary on religion and
the beliefs that spur from it. But of course, there’s no denying that this film
is completely crazy from beginning to end. Case in point, the film’s ending.
Again, I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it but those who have will know
exactly what I’m talking about and needless to say it has to be seen to be
believed. I got the chance to see this film at SXSW before it was even
finished. That meant plenty of scenes that weren’t fully animated yet. Because of
this, I decided not to do a review of it when I did my SXSW Recap post. But
once it came out for real last month, I finally got the chance to see it in its
finished form and overall I will say that I enjoyed it. It’ll be interesting to
see if this will result in more R-rated animated films down the road.
THIS YEAR’S ‘RUNNER-UP’, WITH SEVEN VOTES
FINDING DORY
It seems that when it comes to Finding Dory, the sequel to Pixar’s 2003 classic Finding Nemo, people were either A.)
Really excited for it because of the original film or B.) Really skeptical about
it due to Pixar’s track record with non-Toy
Story sequels. Thankfully, the latter’s fears were not realized as Finding Dory is another excellent
addition to Pixar’s prestigious filmography. Focusing on the first film’s
breakout character Dory, once again excellently voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, the
film wisely doesn’t copy the same plot of Finding
Nemo. Instead, it follows Dory on her journey to reunite with her parents,
who she got separated from many years ago. The end result is a film that very
much captures the same heart and emotional depth of its predecessor. And also
like its predecessor, it features some of Pixar’s absolute best animation to
date. Seriously, I’d argue that the Finding
films are some of their most beautifully animated through the ways in which
they bring the world of the ocean to life. As noted earlier, Ellen is once
again excellent as Dory, as is Albert Brooks who returns as Marlin. Newcomer
Hayden Rolence seamlessly replaces Alexander Gould as Nemo and the film has
plenty of great and lovable new characters, including the grumpy but
good-hearted octopus Hank (Ed O’Neill) and Dory’s old friend Destiny (Kaitlin
Olson). In short, Finding Dory is
proof that Pixar is capable of producing quality sequels to their films.
AND FINALLY, THIS YEAR THERE WERE TWO FILMS THAT LANDED THE MOST VOTES
WITH BOTH EARNING 9 EACH. ONE IS A FILM YOU’LL TOTALLY EXPECT AND THE OTHER ONE
MIGHT SURPRISE YOU. THEY ARE…
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
The superhero genre has been under increasingly high
pressure these past few years as a result of that damn fatigue argument that
somehow got started back in early 2015. Heck, I fear that this argument has
been causing a lot of trouble this year as there have only been two superhero
films that have received generally positive reviews. Well, at the very least,
one thing’s for certain; Marvel Studios ain’t going anywhere. They proved that
and then some with their 13th (yes, 13th) feature, Captain America: Civil War, which kicked
off Phase 3 of the MCU on the best note possible. While the film does take
inspiration, and its name, from the Civil
War storyline in the comics, it is not a direct adaptation, which was
probably for the best considering the polarizing reception of the comic.
Instead, the film bases its story within the lore of the MCU as well as
everything that’s happened so far in the franchise. As a result, the emotional
depth in this film is fantastic, resulting in epic and emotional character
moments for many of the characters, particularly Iron Man and Cap during the
film’s emotional gut-punch of a finale. And while the film’s massive ensemble
cast raised the question of why it was being called a Captain America film, Winter
Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo made it all work and delivered some
excellent action sequences along the way; arguably some of the best in the MCU
to date. Add in some excellent debuts from Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther
and Tom Holland as the MCU’s Spider-Man and you have a fantastic entry in the
MCU that once again asserts Marvel Studios’ status as the kings of the
superhero genre.
BAD MOMS
And now here’s the one that you probably didn’t expect to be
one of the highest-voted films in this year’s poll; Bad Moms. Starring a large ensemble cast and directed by Jon Lucas
and Scott Moore, the writers behind the original Hangover, the film follows a bunch of moms who decide that they’ve
had enough with being over-worked and underappreciated. This then leads to them
going out and having some fun for once in their lives. Mila Kunis, Kristen
Bell, and Kathryn Hahn star as the lead trio of moms who decide to be ‘bad
moms’ for once while Christina Applegate, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Annie Mumolo
star as the mothers who ‘oppose’ them as members of their kids’ school’s PTA. This
is another comedy that I’ll admit I wasn’t really interested in but even with
that said, I could tell that this film would probably be a big hit. I could
just tell that this would do well for various reasons, namely due to its cast
of talented actresses. And from the looks of it, they had a lot of fun making
this film with Kunis, Bell, and Hahn working off of each other incredibly well
based on the trailers. The premise also sounded really fun as well, even though
some critics felt that the film didn’t really do as much with it as it could’ve.
Regardless, this film was a solid commercial hit and did do pretty well with
critics. And based on the fact that it received the same number of votes as Captain America: Civil War, it clearly
was a hit with audiences.
And there you have
it; your picks for your favorite films from Summer 2016. Be sure to sound off
in the comments below if there was a film that you liked that wasn’t amongst
this selection of summer films.
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