Inside Out - 10/10 Mad Max: Fury Road - 10/10 (These first two I consider to be the best of 2015 in my opinion, in that order) The Force Awakens - 9/10 Schindler's List (I saw this only recently. I know I'm late, don't judge me) - 9.5/10 Tomorrowland- 6.5/10 (misunderstood but still not that great)
[thumb]https://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_960w/Boston/2011-2020/2015/08/27/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/spotlight-S_06902-PhotoCredit-KerryHayes-Distributor-OpenRoadFilms_rgb.jpg[/thumb] Spotlight (2015) - 5/5 This is one of the best procedural dramas I have seen in a while. The subject of the film lends itself to a lot of suspense and shock and the director does not miss any opportunity to capitalize on that. They did not make any effort to Hollywood-ize the story and make it all sensational with big music and flashy editing. Everything is very stripped back and subdued. The subject matter is what takes center stage and that's enough to supply all the tension and intrigue. I also loved the minimalistic score. It was a bit difficult to follow along with all the character names but I soon got hang of it. For a film dealing with such an intricate subject I thought it did a fairly great job at keeping things streamlined and simple.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - 10/10 My first time viewing this one. Though a Family Guy episode spoiled for me how this film wraps up, it didn't hinder my experience in any way. I can't think of a film that has moved me this deepely in quite some time, possibly ever. This movie deserves all of the praise it gets, and more. There's nothing I can really say that hasn't been said before. Fucking incredible man.
I've seen The Force Awakens too much. Four times because I went with different people each time because they wanted to see it so I tagged along each time.
[thumb]http://dvd.nl/media/uploads/hateful_eight/scrn4.png[/thumb] The Hateful Eight (2016) - 8/10 Clue: The Movie. Went in without any expectations, and was even preparing myself to dislike the movie. But I liked it quite a lot. It's a slow burn and take its sweet time to get going, but once it find its groove, it becomes an enjoyable ride. The story's fairly simple, which I can appreciate. I didn't feel that invested in the characters but found myself liking most of them by the end of the movie. It's almost unfair to compare it to Django, but I will say that I found Django to be more entertaining. However, there's still enough to enjoy and several memorable moments. And the music is great. It's definitely not Tarantino's best, but worth the watch nonetheless.
The Revenant - 9/10 It's like The Martian but turned up to 11, set in the past and significantly less cheery. Also, lots of blood. Loooooots of blood. Highly recommended.
Watched Hunger by Steve McQueen, which was stunning. I know it's not a new movie but I loved it. Never knew how amazing of an actor Michael Fassbender is. Should've known. 9/10
GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS Assassination- 1000000000000/10 This is a South Korean film. No English. Don't let that scare you if you've never seen Korean cinema in action. I love Korean movies. From 'Oldboy' to 'The Man From Nowhere' to 'I Saw The Devil'... I've seen my fair share of South Korean/Asian films over the past few years and let me tell you: Assassination is my favorite out of the whole bunch. It's undoubtedly up towards the top of my all time movie list. It's up there with Gladiator, Inception, Saving Private Ryan, and Die Hard. It's such a superbly directed, acted, and shot movie. I could go on and on about how you should watch this movie, but I'm not going to because ultimately this is the LPA and I could care less about what people on the internet do. Just trust me. You should watch it. My face is still melted.
Deadpool - 8/10 Dont know when i was just entertained in the cinema last time The jokes, the action fit perfect. So dumb And also the few more serious moments fit perfectly. Cant wait for part 2
[thumb]https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/ty0neic0o4jqee5oms8e.jpg[/thumb] Deadpool (2016) - 3/5 I haven't laughed this much watching a superhero movie ever before. Shit was hilarious. I do have a few gripes though. The villain and the overall story was very underwhelming and some of the CGI was crap.
The Witch - 4/10. Do not see this. The ratings tricked me into seeing this and there are no redeeming qualities. It wasn't even really a horror movie which was the only reason I went. I should have just fucking went to Deadpool.
Room (2015) – Pretty faithful to the book and very well done. I did feel that there were some acting problems at times (most notably the scene when Old Nick comes in to find Joy next to "dead" Jack. This was much more effective in the book where his panic and surprise were far more evident. As well as the fight between Joy and her mom... that sequence for whatever reason felt really off all around.), but overall this is quite a strong adaptation with great lead performances. My sister should watch this soon so I'll be glad to get an opinion from someone who hadn't read the book prior. All in all, yes, I like the book better, but the film did all the important things right and I am satisfied. Best scene: the reunion of Jack and Joy after the escape. It gave me solid goosebumps for at least ten seconds, as well as some tears. Right in the feels, man. 8/10
Kung Fu Panda 3- 7.5/10 I was really charmed by this movie. I did not really have high hopes for this movie so maybe that's why it really surprised me. I think it had a lot of heart. Even as just a voice Bryan Cranston still manages to perform exceptionally. The father-son relationship was really good.
Haven't been preening to see this one too much, but I have heard great things about it. Great to see another lover of Asian cinema in here. 'The Man From Nowhere' is definitely one of my all-time favs out of South Korea.
[thumb]http://www.geekster.be/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/xhgwhvndwk1a_full.jpg[/thumb] Batman V Superman (2016) - 5,5/10 I left the theatres having enjoyed a movie that I knew was extremely sloppy... kind of a weird feeling. There's tons of things to like in this movie and some genuinely nice surprises here and there. Batman? Mostly great! Batman in this movie is the closest he's ever been to his comic book version. Wonder Woman? Has me intrigued! DC universe set-up? Quite interesting! Superman? Good, for the most part. But for each thing that I felt was great, there were several things that were either sloppy, half-assed or just straight up bad and/or unnecessary. The frustrating part about all this is that there was potential here. Somewhere there's a great movie here, but I feel that it got lost in the editing room by either adding unnecessary plotpoints, or cutting scenes that were necessary for context. If the script went through a couple more drafts, if the way the story's told was handled differently (by someone more qualified to tell said story - more on that later), ... things would've probably been much better as well. They even decided to make some bold choices here, but also half-assed most of them. They could've made a very different comic book movie, which I feel they tried to, but then backed out for whatever reason. The ambition's there, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I'm not gonna put the full blame on Zack Snyder, but let's face it: the man doesn't know how tell stories in a consistent and coherent way. This movie shows once again that he's unable to do so. And with a story this dense, you can't expect a guy like Zack Snyder to deliver a coherent story. Weird editing choices are spread throughout the movie, making the pacing go all over the place. Characters go from place x to place y in a matter of a second and there's no explanation why. Snyder cuts from scene x to scene y without having a proper reason to do so. The movie constantly cuts to black, as if the movie is just a bunch of trailers stitched together. There's specific dialogue and overall story elements here where I feel like a different director would've been able to pick them out and would've told the writers to do rewrites. The list goes on and on. Snyder can put great fight scenes on screen, which he did with BvS. He makes things look really pretty and impressive, which he did, but the way he handled the story doesn't get me excited for the Justice League movies at all, where even more characters are going to join the fray. I cannot imagine going blind into the theatres to see this movie and understanding any of it, let alone a Justice League movie done by the same guy. And still, after all is said and done: I enjoyed the movie. And I kind of don't know why.
The Room Recommended by Tony (minuteforce) The only way I can describe this film is that it's as if a director decided to combine the scripts of Mulholland Drive and Eyes Wide Shut and then turn it into a pornographic parody. 3/10 Mad Max Fury Road One of my favorite films of the past 5 years. Stunning performances from Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy. I really love seeing powerful female leads in films. Effects were really great - I can't believe that most of it was practical. Cinematography was astonishing. Creating an emotional story that is literally on the move for most of the film is an extremely tedious and delicate ambition. It was pulled off though. I can't say enough good things about this film. One of the best ones I've ever seen. 10/10 Star Wars: the Force Awakens The second best Star Wars film after the Empire Strikes Back. The Force Awakens has the best cast of the entire saga so far. All the new actors & actresses were really exceptional. The best actor in the film was John Boyega, with Adam Driver being a close second. Playing the character and carrying the type of story Finn has is difficult and Boyega handled it impressively. The story was not that exciting but it was still an enjoyable film. Effects were impressive of course, especially the CGI characters Maz and Snoke. I'm grateful that Star Wars has a clean slate to start with again, and JJ Abrams set up the trilogy gracefully for the next two films. In a weird way, it's hard for me to judge this film on it's own, since I think of all three films as one single story. But I think it's a great, fun action film. Looking forward to discovering more about Rey and Finn in Episode VIII. 8/10