Favorite Films of Summer 2016- As Voted by You!

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 13^th (yes, 13^th) 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. 

Ghostbusters (2016) review

Well… you’ve probably heard about this film quite a lot these past few months and suffice it to say, a lot of the discussions about it weren’t very positive to say the least. Somehow, for some reason, this was the one reboot in a current film landscape full of sequels, remakes, and reboots that people JUST couldn’t handle. And to me it’s rather strange that this film is getting as much flak as it is because Ghostbusters is one of the most famous franchises in pop culture history, mostly thanks to the 1984 titular comedy classic. Following the not-so-beloved (but seriously not as bad as many put it out to be) sequel in 1989, there were numerous attempts at doing a third Ghostbusters film. However, pretty much all of those plans ended up falling by the wayside, namely due to Bill Murray’s reluctance to return. And when franchise star Harold Ramis tragically passed away in February 2014, it seemed as if that would be it for the paranormal investigators on film. And then, just a few months later, that changed when it was announced that director Paul Feig would be directing a brand new Ghostbusters film. However, instead of being a continuation of the franchise, this new film would be a ‘reboot’ starring a cast of female leads… and to put it simply, quite a lot of people on the internet got really mad about this. How mad, you ask? Well, the first trailer for the film is the most disliked trailer on YouTube. There’s seriously no other film trailers on that site that have that many down-votes. And ultimately a lot of that backlash turned out be quite premature because the film is a genuinely solid crowd-pleaser. Is it perfect? No, not at all but it certainly isn’t as bad as a certain part of the internet claims it to be.

Sometime prior to the events of the film, scientists Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) published a book on paranormal activity claiming that ghosts are indeed real. However, the book fails to be a success and Gilbert decides to distance herself from it. However, when she is about to start teaching at Columbia University, she finds that, to her horror, Abby had republished the book without her permission. As a result, the two of them end up getting shunned from academia but after a legitimate encounter with a ghost, they decide to continue their research with the help of Abby’s new assistant, engineer Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). They set up their new ‘office’ on the top floor of a Chinese restaurant, recruit the dim-witted but extremely good-looking Kevin Beckman (Chris Hemsworth) as their receptionist, and also gain a new teammate in the form of Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), an MTA employee who recently had a run-in with a ghost as well. Together, they come to be known as the ‘Ghostbusters’ and attempt to prove themselves to the people of New York by documenting and capturing ghosts. As this is going on, they also investigate into the increasingly frequent appearances of ghosts all over the city, which unbeknownst to them is being caused by an occultist named Rowan (Neil Casey) hell-bent on bringing about the apocalypse.  

So I guess the big question that some of you might be asking is how does this film fare as a comedy. And to that I say that the film does have a solid amount of humor. Now I’m not saying that every single joke in the film worked and there is a considerably noticeable lull at the halfway point. Still, the hit-miss ratio is still pretty darn solid; I’d say about 70-30. But another question that fans have raised in regards to the film is over the fact that instead of being a continuation of the franchise, it is instead a reboot with new characters. Whether or not this was the best move is debatable but at the very least, I feel that it worked because the film does manage to stand on its own as a unique entry in the franchise… though with that said, there are a few scenes in this film that do very much parallel scenes from the original film (e.g. the first ghost encounter). Also, there are quite a few callbacks to the original, namely the appearances of certain characters, but they didn’t bother me too much. This also included the cameos made by the original film’s cast, which actually weren’t that distracting (if I had to pick a favorite, it’d be Dan Aykroyd’s cameo). From a technical perspective, this film is certainly very well-made in terms of its action and visuals. Obviously in terms of the visuals there is a lot more CG used for the ghosts this time around but it all still looks really good and the film carries a solid visual style throughout. I mean, in terms of both visuals and action sequences, I feel that this film very much delivers in terms of being a modern-era Ghostbusters film all while still maintaining the same light-hearted spirit of the original films.

But of course one of the key elements to any Ghostbusters film is the strong camaraderie amongst its leads. And in the case of this film, that very much is the case with the group of Yates, Gilbert, Holtzmann, and Tolan. Not only that, but the film also very much succeeds in terms of making them endearing and likable characters. Both McCarthy and Wiig are solid and to reiterate a point that I made in my review of Paul Feig’s last film, Spy, this film is another case of proof that McCarthy’s truly at her best working with Feig. Their two primary co-stars get plenty of scene-stealing moments as well. Kate McKinnon is most certainly the most eccentric of the group as Holtzmann. It may be a bit too much for some but she certainly steals the show in quite a few sequences. The same goes for Leslie Jones as Patty, though she actually doesn’t go as over-the-top as McKinnon sometimes does. But it ain’t just the ladies who get great material to work with in this film. Chris Hemsworth once again shows off his great comedic chops in the role of Kevin. Simply put, the film very much plays up the fact that his character isn’t very bright (e.g. the first time the phone rings while he’s on the job, he doesn’t answer it because he assumed the actual phone was the one in the office’s fish-tank) and it’s hilarious. Of the cast, the only major weak link is, unfortunately, the villain. Nothing against Neil Casey, who’s mostly been known for his work behind the scenes as a writer on shows like SNL and Inside Amy Schumer, but the character of Rowan is admittedly rather bland, mostly just coming off as weird.

Now before I get to the conclusion for this review, I do have to address all of the backlash surrounding this film. Simply put… a lot of this backlash was really frigging stupid. I mean, seriously, out of all of the reboots, remakes, and sequels that have come out over the years, this is the one film that fanboys just couldn’t accept. I mean by comparison you don’t see people get that worked up over remakes of films like Point Break or Ben-Hur now, do you? And as much as some have actually tried to deny it, a good chunk of said backlash towards the film legitimately has been due to the fact that the film oh so dares to star women in the lead roles. And let me tell you, in 2016 this kind of sexism is just frigging embarrassing. What the hell is so wrong with having women be Ghostbusters, a franchise that has very much been dominated by male leads for the entirety of its existence up to this point. In having women be in the lead roles this time around, this film will no doubt give young girls great new role models to look up to. Now for the record, I know that the backlash towards this film wasn’t all about the whole ‘women are Ghostbusters’ thing. When the trailers did come out, even those who weren’t trolling the film weren’t too positive on them and I’ll admit that they were far from being ‘great’ trailers. However, just because a film has a lackluster trailer doesn’t automatically mean that the film is going to be bad. Thankfully, reviews for this film have been positive for the most part. So that shut up the trolls, right? NOPE! They then just proceeded to accuse anyone who dared to give the film a positive review of being ‘paid’ to do so. Oi… talk about setting fandom back many years.   

So with all of that said, what do I, someone who is NOT paid by Sony, think about the new Ghostbusters? I like it, I like it a lot. Is it perfect? No! There are some issues, namely in terms of pacing, and obviously not all of the jokes hit. If I were to compare this to the original film, which for the record I’m NOT trying to do here at all, I would still give the edge to the original film. But obviously that’s just because the original is still very much a classic and a tough act to follow. And yet that fact shouldn’t be held against this new film that much. Because aside from some scenes that do go off of scenes from the original film, this new film does succeed in being its own thing and as a result, this franchise’s new cast of leads prove to be a very badass new group of Ghostbusters that are very much worthy of standing toe to toe with the franchise’s original leads. In short, this film is, at the very least, a very fun crowd-pleaser. Will it appeal to absolutely everyone? No. I mean it’s pretty clear at this point that any of the trolls who have been bashing this film since the beginning will hate it no matter what. But you know what? Forget about them! If you were one of those people who were genuinely excited for this film, then by all means go see it. Don’t let those trolls spoil your fun. Seriously, even if I ended up not liking the film, I would’ve still encouraged you folks to see it because at the very least, at this point it does deserve to be given a chance. Because Paul Feig and the talented and funny group of actresses leading this film did not deserve any of the crap that they got from misogynistic and entitled fanboys at all.

Rating: 3.5/5

(P.S. There’s been a lot of talk about the film’s post-credits scene and I’ll just be honest… it’s not really worth it to stay through the credits. In fact, without giving any of it away, I guarantee that it might even elicit a groan from long-time fans because it does pull one very big callback to the original film. Here’s hoping the potential sequel doesn’t try to re-do the specific storyline that this scene alludes to.)

Ghostbusters (2016): Why You Should Give it a Chance

(Disclaimer: Literally just a day after I started writing this, a second trailer for the new Ghostbusters film was released online. I’m only going to mention it here for now but the reaction that I have to the first trailer will basically apply to the new one as well.)

As a film critic, I strive to be as open-minded as possible when it comes to every new film that I see. Even if I feel that the film doesn’t look very good based on what I’ve seen from its trailers, TV spots, etc., I still give it the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best. Because if you ask me, it’s both fairly cynical and quite unfair to immediately write off a film before you even see it. Unless you have a time machine that allowed you to go forward in time to when a certain film is released, which I’m 100% certain no one actually has yet, there’s really no way in knowing that a film is going to be good or not solely based on trailers and the film’s marketing. And that’s exactly what has been going on with what has easily been one of the most controversial productions in recent memory; director Paul Feig’s upcoming reboot of Ghostbusters. In fact, this film has been so polarizing amongst internet folk that it recently become the most disliked film trailer in the history of YouTube; no other film trailer is even close to having that many dislikes. Damn! Clearly a lot of fanboys aren’t too happy with this female-led reboot of the iconic Ghostbusters franchise… and I’ll be perfectly frank in saying that all of this vitriol is rather embarrassing because all of these angry fanboys are prematurely judging a film without even seeing it just because it’s trying something with their beloved franchise that they don’t like. So today on Rhode Island Movie Corner, I’ll be addressing the two primary reasons as to why the new Ghostbusters film is attracting so much negative attention online. And with that in mind, hopefully this post will serve as some kind of encouragement for people to actually give the film a chance instead of just writing it off right off the bat, which is what the majority of the internet has been doing so far.

The Ghostbusters franchise obviously needs no introduction. It’s one of the most famous franchises in pop culture history. What started with the 1984 titular film written by the film’s stars, Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, ended up becoming a worldwide phenomenon, spawning a 1989 sequel, a hit TV series in the form of The Real Ghostbusters, and a wide array of merchandise ranging from toys to video games. As far as the films were concerned, over the years there were many attempts in doing a potential third Ghostbusters film. However, this planned sequel ended up facing numerous setbacks over the years, namely the fact that franchise star Bill Murray routinely expressed disinterest in returning. Ultimately, with the passing of Harold Ramis in February 2014, it seemed as if this Ghostbusters III wasn’t going to happen, especially after it was announced that Ivan Reitman would not return to direct the film. And then, in August of that year, things changed when it was announced that Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy) was going to direct a new Ghostbusters film that would star an all-female group of leads. Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones were then subsequently cast in the main roles for a film that will serve as a ‘reboot’ of the franchise; in other words, it seems as if the film will not be taking place in the same universe as the original films. So now the big question is this; Why is this new Ghostbusters film being subjected to some of the most vitriolic scrutiny that you’ll ever see, arguably even more so than some of the most hated films of all-time? Well, there have been two main reasons for this and the first is fairly obvious.

REASON 1: IT’S A REBOOT

Like any major reboot, this new Ghostbusters has been criticized by fans for one major reason; why reboot a film franchise when the original is so beloved (the first one, at least; the sequel, not so much)? Obviously this is a problem that a lot of people have whenever a franchise that they love gets some form of continuation but this has clearly been the one reboot, more so than any other, that a lot of people simply couldn’t tolerate whatsoever. But as for me, I’m not really part of that crowd. I guess you could say it’s due to the fact that I didn’t watch Ghostbusters until I was older. But you see, there is this stigma that the internet creates when it comes to sequels, reboots, and remakes in which fanboys claim that one ‘bad’ film ‘completely ruins a franchise’. In reality, though, that’s not really true because the previous beloved films in a series are still going to be there afterwards; it ain’t like they were destroyed in a fire or anything. If you didn’t like one entry in a franchise, just ignore that one and stick to the other films. Same goes for that argument of ‘[insert film here] destroyed my childhood’. No, your childhood wasn’t destroyed because of one film based off of a franchise you followed when you were a kid. So to put all of this into perspective, imagine this scenario. I’ve made it clear in the past that Back to the Future is my favorite film of all-time. A few months ago there was some talk about a potential continuation of the franchise which was quickly shot down by creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, who said that it’ll happen ‘over their dead bodies’. But if a Back to the Future remake/sequel/whatever does end up getting made some day, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to be all pissy about it and condemn the new film before I even see it. I will, at the very least, give it a chance because it at least deserves that. And so does this new Ghostbusters film.

But unfortunately there’s another big reason why this film has been getting a lot of backlash…

REASON 2: IT STARS WOMEN

Yep… as much as some have tried to deny it, which basically means that they’re only further proving it true, one of the major criticisms that fanboys have had with the new film is the fact that the film stars a group of women in the lead roles. Don’t believe me? Need I remind you of when Mad Max: Fury Road came out and there were a minority of fans who were angry at the film for having a feminist slant given the greater focus on characters like Furiosa and the Wives? Well the same thing is happening to the new Ghostbusters film… and this one isn’t even out yet. It really is pathetic that this is one of the main reasons why the film has been getting a lot of vitriol directed towards it. Despite all of the advancements over the years in regards to lead female roles in film, here’s one instance where the internet just can’t let that happen for one of its beloved franchises (Imagine how angry the internet would be if this happened to other male-centric franchises). That was even more evident when another Ghostbusters film was announced in March 2015 that was going to have a cast of male leads and be directed by the Russo brothers. While it looks as if this potential film isn’t going to happen due to the Russo brothers departing the production, I saw quite a few comments online from fanboys when it was still in development that said something along the lines of “I’m more interested in that than the female Ghostbusters film”. No joke. That’s seriously what some people were saying.

Now obviously there’s a bit more to this backlash than the two reasons I listed above. It also has something to do with how people have reacted to the first trailer. Now as far as the actual trailer for the film is concerned, I’m not saying that it was a particularly ‘great’ trailer but it’s far from being the worst thing either. It definitely isn’t worthy of all those damn dislikes, that’s for sure. Yeah there are a few scenes that are clearly being lifted from previous films but the visuals do look pretty darn good and I found that there were genuinely a few laugh-out-loud moments in the trailer, particularly at the end when Leslie Jones’ character continually smacks Melissa McCarthy’s character in order to get the ghost that has been possessing her out, even after said ghost has already been forced out (“THE POWER OF PATTY COMPELS YOU!”). I mean at the end of the day I’m fully aware that this could end up being a disaster. I’m not denying that. However, a good chunk of the backlash towards the film is quite pathetic; not the part about it being a reboot, because that was inevitable no matter how well the first trailer was received, but the part about the film starring women in the lead roles. Seriously internet, it’s 2016… grow the hell up, will ya? What’s so wrong about a bunch of women being Ghostbusters, a franchise that has been fairly male-centric for pretty much the entire duration of its existence? I for one am excited to see how this new film is going to turn out. It certainly has a good cast and crew attached to it and at the very least it has the support of Ivan Reitman and the original film’s cast, many of whom are making cameos in the film. And yes, they even managed to win over Bill Murray as well, which I think is at least a good sign. You can rest assured that I will be seeing this film when it comes out. In fact, I might even end up seeing it twice if only to support it in light of all of the unfair hate that it has been getting.    

Top 20 Most Anticipated Films of 2016: PART 1 (#20-11)

As we near the end of 2015, many of us are doing two things; A.) Getting ready for the debut of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ and B.) Beginning to look ahead to next year, 2016, and the many films that will be hitting theaters over the course of those 365 days. Like any year, there are quite a variety of new films that will be coming out in 2016. Of course you’ll have your superhero films (and for the record, no this list won’t be dominated by those films despite what my obvious love for the genre may suggest) but you also have some interesting new continuations of classic franchises, including ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Harry Potter’. So today, I’ll be presenting you my Top 10 most anticipated films of 2016… actually strike that, that’s not enough. For you see folks, I actually have a much bigger list than that. How about a Top 20 list of my most anticipated films of 2016? Yes I actually did manage to find at least 20 different films that I’m looking forward to seeing next year. So you know what that means? That means this will be a two-part post. So today, I’ll be presenting you films #20-11. In other words, consider these next ten films to be the ‘Honorable Mentions’ to my Top 10, which will be posted tomorrow.

20. RATCHET AND CLANK (April 29)

Starting off these big Top 20 list is… a video-game based film? Yes as many of us know, the genre of video-game based films has never really produced anything great since it infamously got underway in 1993 with the ‘Super Mario Bros’ film. There actually have been some rather decent efforts from this genre over the years, like ‘Mortal Kombat’ and ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’, but for the most part these films end up being pretty darn terrible, from the infamous follow-up to ‘Mortal Kombat’, ‘Annihilation’, to the many, many stinkers from Uwe Boll. 2016, however, could potentially be a redemptive year for the genre as there are quite a few upcoming video-game based films that could end up being rather good. While most of the attention will be going to films like Duncan Jones’ ‘Warcraft’ (which is not on the list only because I’m not too familiar with the franchise, though I do plan on seeing it) and another film that will be appear later on in this list, there is another film that will come out before either of those films; ‘Ratchet and Clank’. This animated film will be based off of the hit sci-fi action platformer series of the same name by Insomniac Games. The film is being produced by Rainmaker Entertainment, the company responsible for the first ever CGI animated series, ‘ReBoot’, who will also be making a film based on the ‘Sly Cooper’ series that may or may not come out in 2016 as well. I’ll admit I haven’t played a lot of the ‘Ratchet and Clank’ games aside from the first one but the trailer makes the film look like a rather fun family-friendly sci-fi adventure.

19. ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (May 27)

Here’s another potentially controversial entry, namely because it’s a sequel to a rather unpopular film that somehow managed to gross $1 billion when it was released back in March 2010. I’ll admit that I’m still amazed as to how Tim Burton’s 2010 ‘sequel’ to ‘Alice in Wonderland’ managed to join the billion dollar club despite attracting a generally mixed reaction from both critics and audiences. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the film and I recall that I somewhat liked it though ultimately I ended up liking future Disney big-budget fantasy films like ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ and ‘Cinderella’ more. But even with that in mind, I’m willing to give it a re-watch because I’m genuinely interested in the sequel that will be coming out next year. I’m interested in seeing how the filmmakers will be expanding the world of Wonderland (ah-hem, sorry Underland my mistake), particularly through the introduction of Time, both figuratively and literally as the main villain (Sasha Baron Cohen). Ultimately though the key reason why I’m optimistic about this film is because it’s actually being done by a different director this time. While Tim Burton is still attached as a producer, this new ‘Alice’ film will be directed by James Bobin. And while Burton’s recent films have been getting a lot of flak from film fans, Bobin’s recent track record is much more appealing given his work on the last two ‘Muppets’ films. I mean at the end of the day this may just turn out the same way as its predecessor but who knows?

18. BOURNE 5 (July 29)

From 2002 to 2007, Matt Damon kept audiences on the edge of their seats as the amnesiac former CIA operative Jason Bourne. The Bourne trilogy was a solid hit for Universal and each of the three films were highly entertaining and engrossing fast-paced spy thrillers highlighted by a terrific lead performance by Damon. Contrary to popular opinion, my favorite film of the trilogy was actually the first film, 2002’s ‘The Bourne Identity’, directed by Doug Liman. The two sequels by Paul Greengrass, 2004’s ‘The Bourne Supremacy’ and 2007’s ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’, were really good as well (heck I’d even argue that ‘Ultimatum’ is the best of the series) but I wasn’t too big on Greengrass’ shaky cam style that was used during the action sequences. The series then continued under a new direction in 2012 with a ‘spin-off’, ‘The Bourne Legacy’, which focused on a new character, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), but took place in the same timeline as the Damon trilogy. Ultimately though, ‘Legacy’ didn’t fare as well as the previous trilogy both critically and commercially and I’ll admit that I too was rather ‘meh’ on it. But 2016 could mark a return to form for the series in the form of a fifth Bourne film. Why? Because it marks the return of both Damon and Greengrass to the franchise after it seemed like they were done after ‘Ultimatum’. It’s unclear at this moment if this film will be based off of one of the ‘Bourne’ novels by Robert Ludlum but it will definitely be interesting to see these two return to their iconic franchise.

17. BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (March 25)

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that I’ve been rather critical about this follow-up to 2013’s ‘Man of Steel’, a film that I’ll admit I’ve become more critical towards as well recently due to its rather unwarranted dour tone. My reasons for this have ranged from the film being set to introduce numerous new characters at once like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and the new Batman to the alleged ‘no joke’ mandate by Warner Bros that is apparently supposed to differentiate the developing DC ‘Extended Universe’ from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now let me make something very clear… I’m not against darker superhero stories. I’m a huge fan of both Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy and Marvel’s second and much more successful take on ‘Daredevil’ with the Netflix series. What I am against are darker superhero stories for characters that aren’t like that at all. One of the prime examples of this was, as noted earlier, ‘Man of Steel’. While I do commend the filmmakers for crafting a genuinely new take on the character of Superman, the film’s very dour tone and atmosphere really goes against the hopeful and heroic nature of the character. If you want to see what a more fitting modern take on Superman should’ve been like, go check out the new show ‘Supergirl’… it’s far superior. But as for the films, it seems like DC is trying to do a much more serious take on their heroes and quite frankly I don’t see why this is a good idea.

And of course there’s also the fact that this film will be introducing several new main characters to the series… even though this film was originally meant to be a sequel to ‘Man of Steel’. And don’t try and tell me that they weren’t actually going to do another solo ‘Superman’ film. I distinctly remember Zack Snyder once said something about doing another ‘Superman’ film first before getting into anything ‘Justice League’ related. And yet here we are now and ‘Batman v. Superman’ is looking more and more like a ‘Justice League’ film. So yeah, suffice it to say I’ve been rather concerned about this film and the first trailer didn’t do much to change my mind. But then came the Comic-Con trailer and I’ll admit… I was much more positive towards it. I finally got a real sense of the epic scale of the story and I’m glad that the filmmakers are addressing some of the more controversial points of ‘Man of Steel’, namely all of the ‘collateral damage’ that Superman caused during his fight with Zod in Metropolis. With that said, though, the things that make me very hesitant about this film are still around. To be clear, despite my obvious adoration/preference for Marvel, I don’t want this film and the DC Cinematic Universe to fail. I do want to see a ‘Justice League’ film but I’m just worried DC is rushing things just so that they can catch up with Marvel, who at this point has already gotten out two ‘Avengers’ films. I’m hoping for the best, folks.

16. SUICIDE SQUAD (August 5)

Though if we’re talking DC’s 2016 slate, the more interesting of the two would have to be their August release, ‘Suicide Squad’. The big reason for this being that this is slated to be the first major comic book film to focus on a group of villains. Admittedly that does put some pressure on this film because it has to make us like a group of bad guys but it does look like this film is shaping up to be a very insane entry in the superhero genre that, given director David Ayer’s previous work, seems like it’s going to be a more mature R-rated comic book film. Granted, we don’t have much to go off of yet other than a trailer that was released publicly just because it got leaked online during Comic-Con weekend but this film definitely has a lot more edge to it compared to other films of the genre. As for the film’s big ensemble cast, I think it’s safe to say that the two biggest selling points are the live-action debuts of Harley Quinn and the new Joker and I also think that we can all agree that Margot Robbie is perfectly cast as Harley and will no doubt be the film’s biggest scene-stealer. As for the Joker, Jared Leto will be the first to follow in the footsteps of Heath Ledger’s critically acclaimed take on the character. His new look has attracted quite a bit of controversy amongst comic book fans but it does look like Leto is genuinely going to embrace the psychotic side of the character, even more so than Ledger did in ‘The Dark Knight’. So while I’m still very much a Marvel fan, I’m definitely interested in seeing how this particular comic book film turns out.

15. MOANA (November 23)

Just like how Pixar had two releases this year, Disney Animation’s got a double feature of new films slated to come out in 2016. The first of these films you’ll see in part 2 of this post as part of my Top 10 while the second film, slated for release in November, takes the Number 15 spot on this list; Moana. Directed by the duo of Ron Clements and John Musker, who have produced numerous hits for the studio including Renaissance era favorites ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Aladdin’ and, more recently, ‘The Princess and the Frog’, ‘Moana’, the first computer animated film the duo have made, looks like it’s bound to be another big hit for Disney Animation in their second Renaissance era with its unique South Pacific based story and imagery. Plus it’s got the Rock himself, Dwayne Johnson, voicing one of the main characters; an actual demi-god. As I just stated earlier, Disney Animation has been on a great run in recent years thanks to films like ‘Frozen’, ‘Wreck-it Ralph’, ‘Tangled’, and ‘Big Hero 6’ so I think it’s safe to say that we can expect a pair of quality animated films next year from the House of Mouse.

14. ASSASSIN’S CREED (December 21)

And now we come to the previously mentioned big-name video-game based film that could potentially break the curse of the genre; ‘Assassin’s Creed’. As noted earlier, ‘Warcraft’ is technically going to be the first big test of this genre in 2016 but because I’ve never played that game, I’m more interested in the film adaptation of Ubisoft’s ‘Assassin’s Creed’ franchise. I’ve been playing quite a few of the games recently (the Xbox 360 era games to be exact) and have become a fan of the franchise so I’m interested in seeing how this new film turns out, which will wisely decide to take on a new story that is still set in the world of the games. The biggest selling point of the film is easily the casting of Michael Fassbender in the lead role. Fassbender, along with co-star Marion Cotillard, reunite with director Justin Kurzel, after the trio had worked together on this year’s critically acclaimed take on ‘Macbeth’. So with those credentials, along with the addition of other great actors like Jeremy Irons and Brendan Gleeson to the cast, it looks like this film could be a really awesome end-of-the-year release (it is slated to be released on December 21^st, 2016) and one of the first ‘great’ video-game based films.

13. GHOSTBUSTERS (July 15)

You ever have the feeling of wanting a film to succeed just to shut up all of the cynics who bashed it for whatever reason? This is definitely one of those films. Pretty much since it was first announced, this new take on the ‘Ghostbusters’ franchise has been subject to much scrutiny on the internet. And unfortunately, it has primarily stemmed from the fact that the film will be focusing on a female-led group of Ghostbusters. So yes, one of the main reasons why I am looking forward to this film is that I hope it will shut all of the sexist haters up. But at the same time, I genuinely think that this could be really good. It’s being directed by Paul Feig, who has a really solid track record in recent years with films like ‘Bridesmaids’ and this year’s ‘Spy’. Both films also showcase that he and star Melissa McCarthy are definitely at their best when working together. McCarthy stars alongside another Feig veteran, Kristen Wiig, as well as current SNL stars Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones and the film will feature cameos from Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Sigourney Weaver so at the very least this feels like it will be very much connected to the ‘Ghostbusters’ franchise. Again, at the end of the day, I’m rooting for this film to succeed just so that it will prove its biggest critics wrong.

12. FINDING DORY (June 17)

If you ask me, it isn’t a complete year of film without a Pixar release (see 2014 for proof of that) and this year, their new film will be a sequel to 2003’s ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘Finding Dory’… calm down sequel haters, they got that Day of the Dead film coming in 2017... Relax! Director Andrew Stanton returns for this new film along with Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, and a few other characters from the first film. Thankfully this new film isn’t looking like a simple ‘rehash’ of the first film as I initially feared. Instead it sees Dory heading out on a journey to reunite with her parents. New additions to the cast include Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory’s parents and ‘Modern Family’ stars Ty Burrell and Ed O’Neill. Though of course, I think most of us can agree that the real star of the show is Ellen. She was the most memorable part about ‘Finding Nemo’ and I’m confident that her very lovable personality will once again carry this film. As I pointed out earlier, obviously there are quite a lot of people who aren’t too happy with Pixar’s decision to do sequels to some of their original films, namely after ‘Cars 2’ became the first Pixar film to attract a generally negative response from both critics and fans of Pixar. But this is one Pixar fan who feels that Pixar had never really lost their way; they’ve only had a few misfires. And unless proven wrong, I believe that this will be a solid follow-up to one of Pixar’s most classic films.

11. 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI (January 15)

Ok now this is one that I’m pretty certain hardcore cinephiles are going to grill me for because A.) It’s a January release and B.) It’s a Michael Bay film. In the eyes of those cinephiles, neither have produced anything great. But if you’ve been following me for a while you know that I’m an unapologetic fan of most of Bay’s work (save for ‘Bad Boys II’, the one that ironically people actually do like), even some of the more derided ones like the ‘Transformers’ sequels and ‘Pearl Harbor’. Obviously the latter film might make some people hesitant about him taking on another true story, in this case the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, but this time around the film was written by the writer of ‘Prince of Thieves’, which spawned Ben Affleck’s film ‘The Town’. Even as a fan of ‘Pearl Harbor’, I agree that the big issue with that film was the decision to focus on a group of fictional characters and their romance instead of the people who were actually involved in the event. This time around, however, it looks like they are focusing on the real people who were there. Plus, the cast is led by John Krasinski in a very much against-type role and standout character actor James Badge Dale. This could be the 2016 equivalent of ‘American Sniper’, another film that was released nationwide in January… or it could be another dumb and loud Michael Bay film. But at the very least, I’m confident that it’ll least be entertaining. I can always expect that from the master of Bayhem.

CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR PART 2 OF THIS TOP 20 LIST OF MY MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2016 IN WHICH I’LL BE LISTING MY TOP 10.

Ghostbusters (1984, 1989): 30th Anniversary Retrospective

There have been quite a few film franchises that have become iconic parts of pop culture history like ‘Star Wars’, ‘Batman’, and ‘Harry Potter’. And easily one of the most famous franchises of all time has to be ‘Ghostbusters’, which got its start in 1984 with the film of the same name. Directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, who both starred in the film along with Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, and Ernie Hudson, the film, centered on a trio of parapsychologists who set up a ghost-catching business after being dismissed from their university, became a major critical and commercial success when it was released. It has since spawned a huge multimedia franchise that includes a 1989 sequel, two animated series (1986’s ‘The Real Ghostbusters’ and 1997’s ‘Extreme Ghostbusters’, the latter of which was a spin-off of the first show), and much more. A third film has been in and out of development for the past few years now but with the recent passing of Harold Ramis along with reports that Bill Murray isn’t that interested in returning, it doesn’t really look like we’ll ever get an ‘official sequel’. So because of that, recent reports say that director Paul Feig (‘Bridesmaids’, ‘The Heat’) will instead be helming a ‘reboot’ of the series with a female-led cast. It’ll be interesting to see how that turns out if it does get made but for now, in honor of the first film’s 30^th anniversary, it’s time to look back upon the two ‘Ghostbusters’ films and for the record, just those two films. This post will not include reviews of the two animated series, simply because I didn’t watch either of them as a kid. So now with that out of the way, here are my reviews of ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Ghostbusters 2’.

GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)

Really, what more can be said about the first ‘Ghostbusters’ film? It’s an undeniable comedic classic; a film that blends its comedy with a wide array of zany visuals and it is done to great results. It’s highly quotable with great lines like ‘Dogs and Cats living together, Mass Hysteria!’ or ‘That’s a Big Twinkie’ and of course there’s much more. This is one of those comedies that isn’t afraid to get a little ‘mature’ at times when it comes to its humor. Case in point, Bill Murray. While Aykroyd and Ramis’ dialogue mostly consists of them spewing science jargon and, as Star Trek fans like to put it, ‘techno-babble’, a lot of Murray’s dialogue is more than likely going to fly over the heads of young viewers. But when you’re older, you’re going to understand it a lot more. This film came out a month before the PG-13 rating was introduced by the MPAA, and while it isn’t as ‘violent’ or ‘disturbing’ as something like ‘Temple of Doom’ or ‘Poltergeist’, this film is still a prime example of how back then filmmakers could get away with a lot more stuff in PG films than they do nowadays. I mean when you really think about it, this is a very bizarre premise but this film joyfully goes with it resulting in a highly entertaining film with a great cast, excellent writing, and fun visuals. Simply put, when there’s something strange in your neighborhood, you know who to call.

Rating: 5/5!

GHOSTBUSTERS 2 (1989)

Like with pretty much almost every sequel that has ever come out, ‘Ghostbusters 2’ is generally considered by many to be ‘inferior’ to the first film and while I do agree that it isn’t as good as the first film, keep in mind how great of a film this one is supposed to follow up on; talk about an incredibly tough act to follow. So with that said, why is this one not as good as its predecessor? According to the Rotten Tomatoes consensus, it is because it ‘lacks the charm, wit, and energy’ that the first film had. However, I don’t entirely agree with that statement. Because while I can sort of see what they’re getting at, I don’t think that the film is entirely devoid of those aforementioned qualities… far from it, in fact. The cast still has phenomenal camaraderie, there are still plenty of lines that are highly quotable (‘Sometimes, s*** happens, someone has to deal with it, and who you gonna call?’), and there are still some pretty fun visuals, like during the finale when the Ghostbusters travel through the city of New York while piloting the Statue of Liberty. It’s true that maybe the film doesn’t have the exact same amount of charm, wit, and energy as its predecessor had but still, it’s not like it’s not there. It still very much feels like a ‘Ghostbusters’ film through and through.

Really, the main problem with the film is something that occurs with a lot of sequels; it rehashes a lot of the same beats from the first film in terms of its plot like how the Ghostbusters at one point have to visit the mayor when they get into trouble with the law or how they start off having to work to become popular again with the citizens in New York as this film takes place five years after the events of the first film as their popularity has started to dwindle. I do kind of like the idea of the Ghostbusters having to get back into the swing of things having been out of the business for a while but overall there’s not much in this film that is different from the first film save for it having different plot-points, like the River of Slime, the main villain Vigo, and for introducing Dana Barrett’s baby as a plot-point. Regardless of this, I still think that ‘Ghostbusters II’ is actually a pretty underrated sequel. Sure, it’s still not as good as the original, mainly because it copies a lot from that film. Still, I disagree with the notion that it is completely devoid of the ‘charm, wit, and energy’ that made the first film so great because it’s still here, just maybe not as much as in the first film. However, I do feel that this film deserves a second chance because it still a very entertaining film even if it doesn’t fully live up to the status of its predecessor.

Rating: 3.5/5

Before I end this post, if you ever have the chance, I recommend you check out the location tour video, ‘Follow that Marshmallow: A Ghostbusters Tour’ produced by James Rolfe AKA The Angry Video Game Nerd. It’s a really nice location video showcasing a lot of the locations in New York that were featured in both movies and it’s pretty cool to see that the filmmakers made a real effort to be as geographically correct as possible. What I mean is that a lot of the locations in the film aren’t too far apart from one another meaning that the routes that the characters take in the film are accurate to the real-life layout of New York. I’ll provide the link to the video below for your viewing pleasure.

(http://cinemassacre.com/2010/04/26/follow-that-marshmallow-a-ghostbusters-tour/)