2015 Midyear Recap

Well we’re halfway through the year of 2015 and overall I must say that this is shaping up to be one of the absolute best years ever in terms of the films that have come out so far this year. Sure there have obviously been quite a few stinkers, as there are every year, but overall I’d say that so far the good has definitely outweighed the bad. In just half a year, we’ve seen three films deservedly join the billion dollar club; ‘Furious 7’, ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’, and ‘Jurassic World’. Compare that to last year when only one film, ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’, reached that milestone. And while I’ve seen some people say that the Summer Movie Season has been rather disappointing so far, I’d argue that it’s the other way around. This has been one of the better summers of recent memory with a wide variety of great films for audiences to enjoy. Again, that’s better than what we got last year when there was actually a rather lacking amount of family-friendly films. So now it’s time for my annual Midyear Recap where I look back upon every film that I’ve seen so far this year. And for the record, that doesn’t count films that were technically from 2014 but weren’t released until 2015 like ‘Selma’ or ‘American Sniper’. Finally, I just want to note that, aside from my Top 5, I’m not ranking any of these films. Instead I’m just dividing them up into five main categories based on their overall quality. So now, here’s what the 2015 year in film has been like for me so far, from the absolute worst to my current Top 5 favorite films of the year.

WORST OF THE YEAR SO FAR:

50 SHADES OF GREY

Well are you really surprised at this one being my current #1 worst? I mean, who was seriously expecting anything good from this ‘Twilight’ fan-fiction? And really, ‘50 Shades of Grey’ ends up being even worse because as bad as ‘Twilight’ was, there was at least some kind of cool monster-related action from time to time to hold over the non-fans. All this film has is… a whole lot of talking and a bunch of sex scenes. And on that note, for a film based off of a book that became highly controversial for its sex-related content, it is such a toned-down affair and the sex scenes are so flat and dull that the film doesn’t really have any sexual edge. And of course, being a ‘Twilight’ fan-fic, the writing is laughably bad with hilariously awful dialogue and we constantly have put up with the frustrating indecisiveness of the main characters. To her credit, lead actress Dakota Johnson at least tries here and at the end of the day is one of the few bright spots of the film. But as for Jamie Dorman, he isn’t so lucky in the role of, to put it simply, a sociopath. Seriously, what is it about characters like Christian Grey and Edward Cullen that a whole lot of women are attracted to? I don’t know and quite frankly I don’t want to know. ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is just as bad as you think. At the end of the day, though, it didn’t really piss me off like some of my most hated films of all time like ‘Sucker Punch’ and ‘A Haunted House 2’. Though to be clear, that’s really not saying much.  

  

OTHER STINKERS:

JUPITER ASCENDING

It’s really sad how poorly the Wachowski siblings, the duo behind the groundbreaking ‘Matrix’ trilogy, have fared in recent years in terms of their filmography. Every film that they’ve done since ‘Matrix Revolutions’ has flopped at the box office and that trend continued with ‘Jupiter Ascending’, their first original film since ‘The Matrix’. But while ‘Jupiter Ascending’ has some truly beautiful visuals, the story is a really, really huge mess. As many have already pointed out, the film is mostly just discussions and there’s not as much action compared to other sci-fi films. In my original review, I referred to it as the 2015 equivalent of ‘Attack of the Clones’ and that’s a pretty darn good analogy because that’s pretty much exactly what it is. The main character of Jupiter is a completely useless protagonist who ends up being nothing more than a damsel in distress, despite Mila Kunis’ best efforts with the limited material that she has to work with. Channing Tatum and Sean Bean, the latter of whom doesn’t die for once in a film, fare a little better as the two soldiers who protect her. And then you have Eddie Redmayne as the main villain, who thankfully won an Academy Award this year for his turn in ‘The Theory of Everything’, which will hopefully for the most part offset his potentially Razzie-award winning performance here, where he whispers most of his lines sounding like Voldemort and then randomly yells at certain points. Simply put, ‘Jupiter Ascending’ is a mess; a beautiful-looking mess but a mess nonetheless (and yes, that just rhymed).

UNFRIENDED

Looking back upon ‘Unfriended’, I realize that I admire it more for its execution than as a horror film. The whole film is shot to look like it all takes place on the main character’s computer screen with the main characters interacting through Skype. Execution-wise the film definitely captures the overall feel of being online pretty well, even down to the Skype lag. But as a horror film, it really doesn’t do much that would be considered ‘scary’. All of the main characters are cardboard stereotypes, which in the case of this story is more evident by the fact that they are all basically horrible people who had a hand in the bullying that led to the suicide of one of their classmates. So that would mean that we would root for the killer, right? Well sure, but even then we never really learn who this ‘killer’ is, even though we presume it’s the ‘spirit’ of their dead classmate. There’s some rather enjoyable moments where the ‘killer’ messes with the victims but we never once get a concrete answer as to what’s causing all of this. So overall, as someone who’s not a fan of the horror genre, ‘Unfriended’ is sort of the 2015 equivalent of last year’s ‘Oculus’. Though at the end of the day, if I haven’t already stated this before, I’m willing to give ‘Oculus’ another shot in the future. ‘Unfriended’, on the other hand… not so much.

MEH-FLIX

Basically these are the films that I didn’t necessarily hate but at the same time I wasn’t ‘too big’ on them either. In other words, these are basically the films that I thought were ‘okay’.

PROJECT ALMANAC

Not being a huge fan of ‘found-footage films’ save for 2012’s ‘Chronicle’, mainly because most of them are horror films, I actually was looking forward to ‘Project Almanac’, which instead opted for a time-travel story. It was the first ‘2015’ film that I saw this year and for the most part, I enjoyed it. With that said though, this film is by no means a ‘ground-breaking’ entry in the time-travel genre. And if you start to analyze the film’s story, I have the feeling that you’re bound to find numerous plot-holes. But at the end of the day, I did still enjoy the film quite a bit because it wasn’t trying to be something it’s not. It was just a fun little teen-centered time-travel film with a cast of leads that had excellent camaraderie with one another. Overall, ‘Project Almanac’ is, at the very least, a decently entertaining ‘popcorn’ flick. Just keep that in mind when you’re watching it because, as noted earlier, this has nothing on films like ‘Back to the Future’.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER

As someone who grew up with the ‘SpongeBob’ franchise, I was hoping that the new film would at least improve upon some of the show’s recent shortcomings (e.g. the post-‘first film’ era). And for the most part, this film does succeed in doing just that. With that said, though, occasionally there are instances where it does do some of the things that have made the show mediocre in recent years, mostly by way of shockingly heartless actions of some of the main characters. And overall the film’s story is fairly scatter-brained. The whole concept of SpongeBob and the gang going up to the surface and becoming superheroes, which was the primary selling point of the advertising, doesn’t occur until the finale. While that does mean that the film maintains the show’s classic 2-D style for most of the run-time, which is a nice little alternative to the computer-animated films of today, if you watched the trailers for the film, you’ve pretty much already watched all of the ‘superhero’-related sequences. And while it’s clear that Antonio Banderas is at least having fun in the role of the main villain Burger-Beard, at the end of the day he’s not really that much of a threat. So in short, I don’t ‘hate’ the new ‘SpongeBob’ film and I think that at the very least it’s definitely better than anything we’ve seen from the show since 2004. But at the end of the day, I’d recommend you stick with the first ‘SpongeBob’ film, which is by far the better film… so good that it surprisingly led to what is currently my most popular review of all time with over 500 views in about just four months.

WORTHWHILES

Now we’re finally starting to get into the good stuff…

CHAPPIE

Contrary to the critical reception of the film, I surprisingly actually enjoyed director Neill Blomkamp’s third feature film, ‘Chappie’. I actually liked it more the first time around than I did with his last film ‘Elysium’. Sharlto Copley shines in the role of Chappie, a robot who’s basically like Johnny 5 from ‘Short Circuit’ if Johnny 5 was raised by the wrong people and became a gangsta. Action sequences are solid and the motion-capture visual work for the character of Chappie is pretty darn solid as well. With that said, though, Chappie is basically the only major character in the film who gets any major character development. Everyone else, especially the ‘villains’ played by Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver, both of whom are generally wasted here, isn’t as lucky. And to be honest, there’s not really any major ‘likable’ characters in this film. Then you have the South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord, who play the roles of Chappie’s surrogate parents. I don’t think they’re ‘terrible’ here, as Yolandi Visser at the very least makes up for it with her character’s motherly attitude towards Chappie. Ninja, on the other hand, is a bit of an asshole. Admittedly my positive thoughts on this film are definitely subject to change upon re-watch, but I actually kind of liked ‘Chappie’ and I do hope that this and the generally polarizing reaction towards ‘Elysium’ doesn’t turn Blomkamp into a ‘one-hit wonder’ in the eyes of the film industry.

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Oh boy… I realize that I’m going to get some major flack for this from quite a lot of film films but please hear me out on this first. ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ has pretty much been the most critically acclaimed film of the year so far, not just in regards to this year’s summer movie season. But as for me… I never bought into the hype and I hate to say it… but I feel that the film itself is a tad bit overrated. It may just be because I never saw any of the other ‘Mad Max’ films before but I just didn’t get why this film was being treated by most film fans as the equivalent of the second coming of Christ. Now let me be clear, I don’t hate the film. The action sequences, which were pre-dominantly done practically and not just done with CGI, were impressive. That and the film is pure eye candy which is mainly due to its production design. Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult both shine in the roles of Furiosa and Nux… and that’s about as positive as I can be towards this film because at the end of the day, it’s really just one big chase scene and nothing else, with little to no character development for any character that is not Furiosa or Nux. Also, for a film called ‘Mad Max’, Tom Hardy is severely underused in the title role. He’s just dragged into the whole situation, one which he had nothing to do with in the first place. At the end of the day, Furiosa is the main character whereas Max is kind of irrelevant to the overall story.

Again, let me be clear: I don’t hate this film. I recognize its biggest strengths, namely the action sequences and Charlize Theron’s stand-out performance in what is clearly the lead role of the entire film. This is by no means a ‘bad’ film; far from it, in fact. It’s just that I’m not a part of the ‘bandwagon’ that is constantly showering this film with praise 24/7. Maybe it’s just that I went into this film rather unprepared, having not seen any ‘Mad Max’ films prior to this. But according to a lot of people online, you don’t have to have seen any of the previous films. At the end of the day, though, this film just didn’t blow me away as it did for, let’s be honest, the majority of film fans on the internet. I’m sorry if I pissed off anyone who is a big fan of the film as that wasn’t my intention. It’s just that I just don’t see why this is the absolute ‘best film of the year’ or ‘best film of the summer’ for that matter. If it is your favorite film of the year so far, then the more power to you. Just remember that film is subjective and not everyone is going to love the same thing… okay, in this case, almost everyone loves ‘Mad Max’. But as for me, this is not a film that I’ll be going ‘to Valhalla’ over.   

TED 2

Everyone’s favorite ‘Thunder Buddies’ return for what is surprisingly a pretty solid comedy sequel. I say ‘surprisingly’ because as we all know, most comedy sequels do not live up to the original film and the first ‘Ted’ was definitely a fairly tough act to follow. But ‘Ted 2’ actually does manage to be almost as funny as the first ‘Ted’ and ultimately that is due to the great comedy duo of John and Ted. Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane’s camaraderie shines just as much as it did in the first film and it’s just fun to see these two, one of whom is a talking teddy bear, go on all sorts of misadventures. Like its predecessor and MacFarlane’s famous show ‘Family Guy’, obviously ‘Ted 2’ is not for everyone. If you’re not a fan of MacFarlane’s style of humor (e.g. hard-hitting, crude, potentially offensive for certain people), then you’d be much better off with a different film. But as someone who did like the first ‘Ted’ and was a fan of the first few seasons of ‘Family Guy’, I had a really fun time watching ‘Ted 2’ and following along with these two knuckleheads on their quest to prove that Ted is as much of a person as everyone else. Does it have some of the problems of last year’s misfire ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’? Yes, namely some ‘dead air’ moments and for being a bit too overlong. But thanks to the duo of John and Ted, ‘Ted 2’ actually manages to be much more consistent with its humor hence why it’s ultimately one of the better comedy sequels to have come out over the years.

SPY

Director Paul Feig and star Melissa McCarthy went into this with a bit of a chip on both of their shoulders as both have been receiving a lot of negative attention for some of their recent career moves, namely an upcoming female-led ‘Ghostbusters’ film that the two of them are working on. But if this film proves anything, it’s that this new ‘Ghostbusters’ couldn’t be in better hands. Definitely the funniest comedy so far this summer, ‘Spy’ surprisingly also works fairly well as a spy film, namely through its actually pretty well shot action sequences. I’d seriously would love to see Paul Feig do a Bond film in the future based on his work on this film alone. Anyway, McCarthy definitely shines in the lead role with her charm and likability, and the character is also a really solid female lead that defies all expectations to become a pretty badass spy. The film also benefits from some other standouts in the cast, including Jason Statham as a fellow FBI agent who constantly talks about how awesome he is, Rose Byrne as one of the main villains who once again shows that she’s at her best in comedic roles, and Miranda Hart in a breakout turn as the best friend of McCarthy’s character. The film takes a little bit to get going in terms of its humor but once it does, it’s definitely one of the best comedies so far this year and shows that Feig and McCarthy are at their best when working together.

FURIOUS 7

I’ll admit it… I cried at the end of ‘Furious 7’, the final film for one of the series’ mainstays, the late Paul Walker. The tribute to Walker at the end is well-done and preserves the legacy of the actor’s involvement with the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise. As for the film itself, ‘Furious 7’ continues the franchise’s surprising resurgence even now at seven films in, a point where most film franchises would face an incredibly severe drop in quality. Justin Lin did not direct this entry and while he did a better job as far as the action is concerned, newcomer James Wan does a solid-enough job in his place. Sure the plot is jumbled as hell and the main villain (played by Jason Statham) is a bit underused (his frequent appearances actually make the MacGuffin of the film irrelevant), but at this point who goes into a ‘Fast and Furious’ film expecting Oscar-worthy writing? This film delivers exactly what you’d expect from the series; insane stunts that defy all physics and logic and the strong camaraderie of the series’ ensemble cast. It’ll be interesting to see how this series will continue in the wake of Paul Walker’s death but at the moment, ‘Furious 7’ continues the series’ solid post-2011 run, something that I’m for certain that no one expected from a franchise that was originally just about street racing.

ENTOURAGE

I think it’s safe to say that ‘Entourage’ was one of HBO’s biggest shows during its run in the 2000s. But when the film was coming out, I found that there was a lot of surprisingly heavy vitriol against it by a lot of people on the internet. Maybe it’s because it, like the series, can be a little misogynistic at times through the fact that it mainly revolves around a group of guys and most of the women in the film are mostly ‘sex objects’. But despite that, I’m just going to say it… I had a blast watching this film, hell more so than ‘Mad Max’ (yeah, I said it). This was a film that I was actually really looking forward to when the first trailer came out, so much so that when I got a free 1-month subscription for the new HBO streaming service HBO Now, I binge-watched about 2 and a quarter seasons of the show in preparation for the film. And while that does mean that I haven’t watched the entire show, that doesn’t mean that the film is completely inaccessible to general newcomers of the series. Still, I would recommend at least watching a few episodes first before seeing the film just so that you can be familiar with the world and the characters. All in all, ‘Entourage’ was a really fun, and pretty funny, film that is meant to be seen with a crowd and, more importantly, your own ‘Entourage’.

JURASSIC WORLD

‘Jurassic World’ is by no means the smartest sci-fi film ever written. But really, what do you expect from a series that is all about scientists recreating dinosaurs through animal DNA? ‘Jurassic World’ is just a super fun and entertaining summer blockbuster and those are exactly the kind of films that I love to watch. It may not be the absolute best film of the year but it does its job in delivering exactly what we want; awesome dinosaur-related action with quite frankly some of the most epic deaths in franchise history. ‘Jurassic World’ also succeeds through its subtle homages to the original ‘Jurassic Park’, and while it may not be ‘as good’ as the original film, it at least manages to recapture a good enough amount of the awe and wonder of that film and repackage it for a new generation. Like with every entry in the series, yes even the first in some cases, there are quite a few underdeveloped characters, including a so-called ‘human’ villain played by Vincent D’Onofrio that doesn’t actually do anything ‘villainous’, which is a bit disappointing given D’Onofrio’s recent turn as Wilson Fisk in ‘Daredevil’. But despite that, the four main leads are pretty darn solid. That includes Chris Pratt, who once again proves himself to be one of the best new leading men in Hollywood, Bryce Dallas Howard, whose character ends up being a pretty badass female lead despite her initial seemingly stiff demeanor and the strange backlash towards the decision to have her wear heels the whole time (one of the most trivial film complaints of all time, which given the internet is saying something), and Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson as a pair of brothers who end up in the midst of all of the chaos. I’m happy to see that this film is doing so well at the box office, more so than anyone expected. This truly is an ‘event’ movie in the veins of films like ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Harry Potter’.

TOP 5

5. KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE

Starting with ‘Casino Royale’, the James Bond franchise has moved away from its more campy and over-the-top past installments. Director Matthew Vaughn’s ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ is basically the modern-day old-school Bond film with its incredibly over-the-top and insane action sequences and its self-aware tone. And the end result is one of the slickest action films of the year, with stand-out sequences including the all-out brawl in a church and one of the most epic explosion sequences of all-time. Sure the violence get a bit brutal at times and the final shot of the film, though I do understand the homage Vaughn went for, goes just a bit too far but overall the film still succeeds in capturing the feel of the old-school Bond films of the pre-‘Casino Royale’ era pretty damn well. And to top it all off, the film has a dynamite ensemble cast with the biggest standouts being Colin Firth, in his first major leading role in an action film, and Taron Egerton, one of 2015’s biggest newcomers who manages to hold his own against not just Firth but other acting heavyweights like Michael Caine and Samuel L. Jackson. ‘Kingsman’ is just straight-up fun, once again showcasing Vaughn’s talents as a director, hence why he’s easily one of the best directors working today.

4. THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Marvel Studios’ fantastic run with the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues with the second ‘Avengers’ film, ‘Age of Ultron’. Now is it as good as the first film? Well, to be honest, not really but I don’t hold that against the film. Instead, ‘Age of Ultron’ succeeds at being another truly epic superhero flick from Marvel Studios featuring Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The stakes may be higher than they were in the first ‘Avengers’ but director Joss Whedon still gives the film the same style of humor and fun that the entire MCU has been known for, which is why I heavily prefer Marvel films over the ‘way too f***ing dark’ DC films. Ultron, played by the badass James Spader, is another excellent MCU villain, primarily due to the fact that he’s actually a much funnier villain than I think we all were expecting. The new additions to the cast (Scarlet Witch, the second major on-screen iteration of Quicksilver in two years, and of course Vision) are great and, yes, I liked the whole ‘Black Widow-Hulk’ romance that has been a major source of controversy amongst feminists to the point where many people online even sent Whedon death threats (sigh). Now I’ve seen many people say that the film is a bit overcrowded given all of the characters that are in it. And while it’s true that there are quite a lot of characters in this film to keep track of, I don’t think it’s as big of an issue as people say because A.) like the first ‘Avengers’, Whedon manages to balance out these roles pretty well and B.) as we all know, the MCU has already established many of these characters, which is a much smarter move than just cramming them all into one film without previously introducing them first in other films (I’m looking at you, ‘Batman v. Superman’). So in short, while I can’t say that ‘Age of Ultron’ is the absolutely ‘best’ installment of the MCU, it’s still a top-tier entry in this great franchise.

3. INSIDE OUT

As I stated in my original review for this film, I’m not one of those people who feel that Pixar went downhill after ‘Toy Story 3’. Sure, their next three films were nowhere near their best work but they had their own unique good qualities to them that at least made them enjoyable for kids (though I’d argue ‘Monsters University’ is actually quite underrated). But of course, when it comes to Pixar, many expect their films to appeal to both kids and adults, in the case of the latter due to their strong writing and great characters. And that is why ‘Inside Out’ is the best Pixar film since ‘Toy Story 3’. Of course like with any Pixar film, the animation is superb and it produces lots of colorful and imaginative imagery. The film’s voice cast is perfect and there’s definitely a lot of funny moments/dialogue throughout. But the film also succeeds with its execution of its creative premise, effectively capturing life experiences that all of us can relate to in some way, like moving to a new city and being the new kid at school. And let me tell you, if you don’t get teary-eyed at least once during this film, then there may be something wrong with you. ‘Inside Out’ is easily not only the best animated film of the year so far, but also one of the best films so far this year period. After some arguable missteps, Pixar finally delivers another home run to go alongside their many other animated classics.

2. TOMORROWLAND

Nothing saddens me more this year than the fact that this film has been a serious under-performer at the box office, having just recently only making its budget back. It probably has something to do with the fact that critics weren’t as kind towards it either. But this is one case where I seriously disagree with the critical reception for a film. Under the excellent direction of Brad Bird, ‘Tomorrowland’ is a bold, imaginative, and most of all inspiring original story that above all else promotes the one thing that I feel that has been severely lacking in today’s society; hope. This film is for those who ‘dare to dream’, who ‘never give up’. And it does this all without being preachy. Sure, some critics have accused the film of being just that, preachy, but if you ask me that just makes the message even stronger by showcasing how cynical our society has gotten in the last few years. Now the big point of controversy about this film is in regards to this ending and, without giving anything major away, while I’m not saying that it is a ‘great’ ending, at the same time I really don’t see why it’s ‘as bad’ as some people are putting it out to be. With amazing visuals (made even more impressive on IMAX screens), a terrific cast highlighted by Britt Robertson and Raffey Cassidy as two of the absolute best on-screen heroines of the year (even better than everyone's favorite's, Furiosa), and above all else a good old-fashioned sense of fun and adventure, ‘Tomorrowland’ seriously deserves much greater attention than what it’s currently getting. Hopefully it ends up the same way as Bird’s first film, ‘The Iron Giant’, in that it ends up getting the acclaim it deserves down the road despite its less-than-stellar debut.  

1. CINDERELLA

Yes folks, my Top 4 films of the year so far were all released by Disney (that includes ‘Age of Ultron’ due to Disney owning Marvel). And I don’t care if that makes me look like a big Disney fan boy. Disney’s just been having a phenomenal year… well, considering the box-office performance of ‘Tomorrowland’, I say that more in regards to the quality of their films to be precise. And right now, my favorite film of 2015 so far is Kenneth Branagh’s new take on the classic story of ‘Cinderella’, previously brought to the big screen by Disney in 1950. This is one of the most beautiful films that I’ve seen in my entire life, both inside and out. The film’s visual look and production/costume design are superb and will hopefully attract some awards attention later this year. But the film, like ‘Tomorrowland’, also succeeds because of its heart and strong messages, which in this case are to ‘have courage and be kind’ and that true beauty is on the inside. Just like how ‘Tomorrowland’s message rings true about today’s society, the messages in ‘Cinderella’ are damn good life lessons to live by in the cynical world that we live in today.

And despite what some feminists on the internet may claim (which, if you haven’t already noticed from some of the things I pointed out earlier in this post, is becoming quite a running trend this year given the backlash towards other films like ‘Age of Ultron’ and ‘Jurassic World’), this version of Cinderella (portrayed perfectly by Lily James) is a phenomenal female lead. Her courage, her control over her own destiny, and her sweet persona shine through against the arguments that she’s just a ‘passive’ protagonist who just gets rescued at the end by the Prince. And on that note, the other great thing about this film is that while it may primarily be a re-telling of the original Disney animated film, it does just enough to feel different while also improving on many of the now dated elements of that film. Whereas I was incredibly saddened by the box-office failure and middling critical reception of ‘Tomorrowland’, I was so happy to see this film do well with both critics and audiences. This new ‘Cinderella’ truly is one of the best films that I’ve seen in quite a long time and while I’ve seen quite a few cynics complain about Disney’s upcoming lineup of live-action adaptations of their classic animated films, this film, if anything, proves that they can be good.

So that’s what 2015 has been like for me so far. We still got plenty more films on the way so stay tuned to see if any of these current Top 5 films will end up in my end-of-the-year Top 12 list.