Welcome back to Rhode
Island Movie Corner’s end-of-the-year countdown of my Top 12 favorite films
from 2015. This is Part 3 of 4 and we are now halfway through this year’s list.
Today I’ll be listing Films #6-4 and I must say that starting with today’s
post, we are really starting to get into my absolute favorite films from this
past year. If you’ve missed Parts 1 and 2 of this list, links to those posts
will be provided below. But for now it’s time to get back to the list…
At #6, we have the
first of two films on this list that sadly underperformed at the box-office
this past year despite having positive/optimistic themes and stories about
following one’s dreams, which I feel are becoming more and more important in
regards to combating the increasingly cynical nature of society these days.
This film in particular tells the tale of one of the most amazing feats in
human history.
6. THE WALK
I have two primary theories as to why this film didn’t
attract much attention when it was released back in October. The first reason
was that there were a few incidents where the titular ‘Walk’ sequence was such
a jaw-dropping sequence, primarily due to director Robert Zemeckis’ decision to
shoot the sequence from the top of the high-wire instead of below it (in other
words, the usual ‘audience view’ of a high-wire performance), that it actually
caused some people to vomit at the film’s New York premiere. With that said,
yes the ‘Walk’ can be a very hard sequence to watch for those prone to altitude
sickness. But that shouldn’t take away from the fact that this sequence truly
is an exhilarating cinematic moment. As noted earlier, the fact that Zemeckis
did shoot from the perspective of the high-wire artist gives audiences a
different perspective of the performance that is rarely ever seen. I did see
the film in its intended format, IMAX 3-D, and it was truly one of the greatest
sequences that I’ve ever seen on the big IMAX screen. But perhaps another
reason why this film may not have done so well at the B.O. is because it was
primarily set around the World Trade Center and obviously we are now living in
the world that is post-9/11. But like how I said that I hope that the sickness
incidents wouldn’t take away from the cinematic merits of the ‘Walk’ itself, I
hope that the post 9/11 stigma doesn’t keep people from watching this truly beautiful
film. Because it’s not a Twin Towers story that ends in tragedy. Instead, it’s
one that pays tribute to these iconic buildings by recalling a fantastic moment
of humanity of which it was directly involved around.
This is the story of French high-wire walker Philippe
Petit’s famous high-wire walk between the Towers on August 7th, 1974. This was
right around the time that the Towers were nearing completion and one of the
reasons why this was such a big deal was because, at first, the people of New
York weren’t too big on the Towers. Many felt that they were ‘ugly’ and
‘utilitarian’ in design. It wasn’t until Petit’s legendary moment when the
Towers finally became a beloved icon of the city. At the same time, the film
really has a great message that encourages viewers to follow their dreams no
matter what life may throw at them. I mean sure, Petit and his team had to do a
few illegal things in order to accomplish this but Petit’s spirit is on full
display throughout the entire film. And given that the majority of the film
revolves around the set-up of the walk, it’s pretty fun to see Phillipe and his
team enact his plan and the film benefits from an excellent ensemble cast
highlighted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s terrific turn as Petit. In short, ‘The
Walk’ is a very fun old-fashioned adventure that serves as a touching tribute
to the Twin Towers, especially as a result of the film’s extremely poignant
ending. After he completes the Walk, Petit (who’s been narrating the entire
film) reflects that the building manager gave him a free pass to the
observation deck and, with a solemn look, notes that the ‘expiration date’ was
changed to ‘forever’. He leaves the frame, the camera pans over to the Towers,
and the film fades out on them. 9/11 is never mentioned once but we all get why
the smile fades from Petit’s face at the end. It’s a subtle yet extremely
powerful and dignified way to pay tribute to the Towers and the victims of
9/11. Combined with all of the things I talked about before, ‘The Walk’ ended
up being one of my favorite cinematic experiences of the year; one that
hopefully many others will experience in the years to come.
A classic group of
friends came back in a big way this year and despite the initial skepticism
over their jump to computer animation, their new film was one of the most
heartwarming films of the year, hence why it takes the #5 spot on this list.
5. THE PEANUTS MOVIE
Who doesn’t love ‘The Peanuts’? They’re one of the most
famous franchises in the history of pop culture. Of course it all started with
Charles Schulz’s iconic comic book series which ran for nearly 50 years with
18,000 comic strips being produced over that span. And then the franchise
became an even greater cornerstone in the lives of audiences both young and old
once Schultz and the duo of Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson started to produce
numerous TV specials starring Charlie Brown and his friends. These specials,
many of which were based around major holidays, became a staple of the TV
landscape with nearly 50 produced over the course of six decades. And this
year, a year that commemorated the 65th anniversary of the comic
strip and the 50th anniversary of the first Peanuts special, ‘A
Charlie Brown Christmas’, the Peanuts gang made their grand return to the
big-screen, after a series of films that were produced during the
Schulz-Melendez-Mendelson era, in Blue Sky Studios’ newest film, ‘The Peanuts
Movie’. With no disrespect towards the previous four Charlie Brown films, this
new film was easily the biggest Peanuts film to date, primarily due to who was
involved in its production. Not only was it being produced by a major animation
company like Blue Sky, but it was also produced by major comedic director Paul
Feig and had a screenplay written by Schulz’s son Craig and his son Bryan.
However, there was some trepidation towards this film amongst film fans, namely
due to the fact that the film would bring the characters into the world of 3-D
computer animation even though they’ve always been traditionally animated in
the past.
However, all of that skepticism was proven wrong once the
film came out. And that is because this film is very much a heartfelt tribute
to this classic franchise. It’s clear that the filmmakers spent a lot of time
not only perfecting the animation (which I’ll get to momentarily) but also
keeping the characters and world in its original old-school setting. In other
words, this wasn’t a case where the characters were modernized for today’s
audiences as is the case with some other old-school franchises. This is a film
where the characters are still using landlines and typewriters, two things that
you definitely don’t see much of nowadays. And as for the animation, it’s some
of the best animation that I’ve seen this year. The characters may be in 3-D
now but the overall style actually does manage to give the film the 2-D-esque
look that has always defined the series since the beginning. The best way I can
describe it is that it’s sort of like 2.5-D, where the characters are in a 3-D
world but are almost always shown from a 2-D perspective (other examples of
this include the ‘New Super Mario Bros.’ games). There are even a few instances
where the film utilizes a bit of 2-D animation, like when the characters’ eyes
turn into big cartoony eyeballs or when a character is daydreaming and the
thought bubble shows some of the classic hand-drawn animation. The final result
is simply one of the most unique animation styles to come out of an animated
film in recent years.
But the animation is only the icing on the cake in terms of
what makes this film so great. There has been some criticism towards the film
for its story not really being that ‘groundbreaking’ and being more of a simple
story. But even if that were true, which I guess you can say that it sort of is
given the fact that it’s mainly about Charlie Brown trying to woo the
Little-Red-Haired Girl, I didn’t mind that at all because this film’s strong
messages really shined through its simplistic plot. Of course we all know that
Charlie Brown has always been the lovable loser who always has bad luck no
matter what he tries. But the thing that makes ‘Chuck’ such an endearing
character is that he never gives up and it is his kindness that always leaves
the most lasting impression on others. And that is very much the case in this
film in how he’s able to really attract the attention of the Little Red-Haired
Girl. At first he tries to impress her by participating in the school talent
show but when his sister Sally’s act starts to bomb, he selflessly gives up his
own time in order to help her out. Then it seems like he finally succeeds for
once in his life when he learns that he got the highest score on the
standardized tests, which results in his friends and classmates treating him
like a big celebrity. But then, at a big award ceremony for him, he realizes
that Peppermint Patty actually had the highest score and willingly sacrifices
his popularity in order to maintain his integrity. Finally, he and the Little
Red-Haired Girl are partnered up for a book report but when she is forced to
take a week off from school due to a personal matter, he does the entire book
report for them on ‘War and Peace’, a nod to when he had to read the book for
school in ‘Happy New Year Charlie Brown!’
(P.S. I’ve always
wondered why Charlie Brown was forced to read that gigantic book despite the
fact that he’s clearly too young to read it.)
These noble acts are what truly gets him noticed by the
Little Red-Haired Girl at the end of the film. I have to admit that I was
hoping that this film would allow Charlie Brown to succeed for once in his life
and it did, and I can tell you that there was quite a huge smile on my face
during the finale when the Little Red-Haired Girl chooses Charlie Brown to be
her pen-pal over the summer and she tells him that she admires his honesty,
selflessness, courage, and kindness right before she leaves for Summer Camp. In
fact, that perfectly correlates to what I feel about the film overall. It’s one
of the most heartwarming films that I’ve seen in a long time and will probably
leave you grinning from ear to ear by the end. Because not only is the story
sweet and the messages strong, but the film is also clearly a labor of love
from all involved. This isn’t a case of a popular franchise getting ruined by
people who don’t care about it whatsoever. The filmmakers really made an effort
to get everything perfect from the animation to the characters themselves, with
the film’s young cast of general newcomers (save for ‘Dog with a Blog’ star
Francesca Capaldi as both the Little Red-Haired Girl and Frieda) perfectly
capturing the personalities of these beloved characters. This is easily Blue
Sky’s best film to date and a film that Charles Schulz would have been
extremely proud of.
I’ve never been in
the camp who felt that Pixar went downhill after ‘Toy Story 3’. But thankfully
the studio managed to redeem themselves in the eyes of those people with this,
my #4 favorite film of the year.
4. INSIDE OUT
At this point in Pixar’s prestigious run, I’d argue that
Pete Docter is the studio’s best director. Having been involved with Pixar
pretty much since the beginning, he’s been responsible for some of their
absolute best films. His first directorial effort with Pixar was 2001’s
‘Monsters Inc.’, a film that I realized was one of my absolute all-time
favorite Pixar films in the months leading up to its prequel, ‘Monsters
University’, which Docter did not direct, for the record, but was still pretty
darn good. Then in 2009, he directed ‘Up’, the studio’s first film to be
nominated for Best Picture as well as Best Animated Feature at that year’s
Oscars and one that I can assure you is most certainly in many Pixar fans’ Top
5. And this year it seems like Docter has delivered another one of Pixar’s best
efforts to date in the form of ‘Inside Out’, a film which focuses on the
personified emotions that control the mind of their human ‘avatar’. In the case
of this film, we follow the emotions of a young girl named Riley who is forced
to move from her hometown of Minnesota to San Francisco when her dad gets a new
job. As if that couldn’t be bad enough for her already, her main emotion Joy
ends up getting sucked out of the headquarters where she and the other emotions
control Riley’s actions as a result of fellow emotion Sadness, who gets sucked
out of HQ as well, trying to be more involved with Riley’s life, resulting in
Riley becoming emotionally distant towards everyone around her. The journey
that they and the other emotions go on in this film is one that is both beautifully
animated and arguably features the studio’s most mature storytelling to date.
The animation is definitely one of Pixar’s best efforts to
date. It produces what are arguably the studio’s most cartoonish visuals but
that is in no way a bad thing because the imagery in this film is incredibly
colorful and imaginative, especially within Riley’s mind. My favorite parts of
the film were when Joy, Sadness, and their new friend, Riley’s former imaginary
friend Bing Bong, who by the way is easily the film’s standout character,
travel through the various parts of Riley’s mind. These areas include her ‘Abstract
Thought’, an area where their bodies get changed into different shapes from
non-objective fragments to 2-D drawings and run the risk of being forgotten
about forever, and her Imagination, represented in this film as a theme
park-like area complete with a forest full of French fries, an area full of
trophies where everyone wins an award (even Sadness, who comically only gets a
Participation Award), and even an Imaginary Boyfriend Generator that produces a
whole bunch of imaginary punk rocker-esque boyfriends from Canada who
constantly exclaim that they ‘would die for Riley’. These imaginative visuals
also contribute to one of the other great things about the film; its great
humor. There’s the annoyingly catchy ‘Triple-Dent Gum’ commercial jingle, the
classic scene from the trailer in which Riley and her dad get into an argument
instigated by their emotions (another great thing about the film is that we get
to see the emotions of other characters and not just Riley’s), and the ending
in which we see the emotions of various side characters, including a potential
future love interest for Riley whose emotions lose it when he is approached by
a girl, an angry bus driver who has nothing but Anger emotions, and Riley’s
teacher whose emotions are just waiting for summer vacation. We even get to see
the emotions of a dog and a cat.
But ‘Inside Out’ is more than just a funny animated film
about a bunch of emotions. It may be an ironic statement to make seeing how
this film is about emotions, but the film truly has a terrific emotional depth
to it. The filmmakers are tackling the idea of our emotions in a creative way
and cover events that many of us have experienced at one point in our lives,
like moving to a new town and having to go to a new school. There’s also a nice
arc for the characters of Joy and Sadness. As the film begins, Joy narrates
that she’s unsure about Sadness’s importance in Riley’s life and constantly
works to keep her away from the emotions’ control console but Sadness ends up
making a mess of things anyway which leads to the two of them getting sucked
out of Headquarters. But despite all of this, the film never paints Sadness in
a negative light as Joy learns that Sadness’s true purpose is to alert others
when Riley is sad so that they can come and comfort, making a sad memory a
happy one in the end and showing that it’s okay to be sad sometimes. And yes,
you will get extremely emotional during a few particularly sad scenes in this
film. These moments include a scene where Joy and Bing Bong get trapped in the
‘Memory Dump’, where memories are disposed of and forgotten, and the always
happy Joy finally starts to break down in tears and a moment just a while later
when Bing Bong sacrifices himself to help Joy get out of the Memory Dump and
fades away from Riley’s memory forever (“Take her to the moon for me, okay?”).
Like I said before, I am not one of those people on the
internet who feel that Pixar started to ‘suck’ following ‘Toy Story 3’. I’ve
already gone over my thoughts on the post-2010 Pixar films and while I never
want to repeat myself too much in these posts, I have to reiterate the argument
that I made earlier in this list with ‘The Good Dinosaur’. There is nothing
wrong with Pixar making a film that’s not a 15/10 masterpiece. But of course because
Pixar is held to such a high standard, their ‘failures’ are treated by the
internet as if they were a crime against humanity and a betrayal from the
studio. How dare they not make an absolute masterpiece? FOR SHAME!! So for
those who are always expecting that ‘15/10 masterpiece’ from them (to which I
argue that you should really cool it on those expectations because you’re the
ones responsible for creating the anti-post-2010 Pixar attitude… just saying),
‘Inside Out’ is that film. It has it all; great animation, lovable characters,
and a screenplay that handles the concept of emotions with maturity and grace.
Pete Docter may have only three directorial efforts to his name right now but it’s
quite an accomplishment to have all three of those films be animated
masterpieces. First there was ‘Monsters Inc.’, then there was ‘Up’, and now
there’s ‘Inside Out’. Some will say that with this film ‘Pixar is back’… and
some of those people will then probably retract that statement when they do a
negative review of ‘The Good Dinosaur’ that negatively compares it to this film
and claim that ‘Pixar is Dead!’. But if you ask me, Pixar never left.
And that’s the end of
Part 3 of my Top 12 Favorite Films of 2015 list. Check back tomorrow for the
finale in which I’ll be listing my Top 3 favorite films from this past year.
