2015 In Film

[NSL]

Having 5 kids, I am incredibly behind the times. This week was the first opportunity I've had to see Jurassic World, Minions, and Inside Out. Jurassic World was a great movie, and I think it deserves to rank high on the earnings chart, but I'm not seeing what exactly makes it the ZOMG#1MOVIEOFALLTIME...Am I missing something? Great movie, maybe even one of the 2-3 best of the year, but I don't know about all the records it set.

Minions was solid, if you had no expectations, and I didn't. It's all fluff, and the series is instant gold, and it nailed all its marks. The kids loved it, I loved it, I laughed a ton...It was incredibly short though. I can't be bothered to do the math, but I'd say it may have earned more per minute than any film on that list.

Inside Out was outstanding. It's such a simple movie, but its not. Interestingly enough, a film about emotions, got pretty fucking emotional. It triggered laughs when it needed, tears when it had to, and was easy enough to follow for the kids. I definitely think this will end up being a Toy Story-like franchise.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The final figures for 2015 (during 2015 that is) were these as the top ten....


1. Jurassic World
$1,668,984,926

2. Furious 7
$1,515,047,671

3. Avengers: Age of Ultron
$1,405,035,767

4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
$1,293,134,583

5. Minions
$1,157,275,017

6. Inside Out
$856,130,132

7. Spectre
$850,604,955

8. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
$682,330,139

9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
$619,444,461

10. The Martian
$594,161,725


Surprised that Star Wars hasn't made it to #1 yet. This doesn't mean Jurassic World has won. Figures will keep coming in until each film stops being shown. As I've stated before this is still something to keep an eye on in early 2016.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2- 5/10

Yep. Catching Fire is still the best film in the series, and it's clear The Hunger Games really peaked as a film series after this one. Mockingjay- Part 2 doesn't have the full enormity of a grand finale for the series, and you can make the argument for Part 1 as the better Mockingjay film.

A handful of tense moments, but the action sequence with the mutts in the sewers is the only action sequence in the movie that's worth mentioning. Solid performances from Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and the rest of the supporting cast, but we're four films into the series, and the chemistry is still nonexistent, so it's kind of hard to buy into the forced "moments" between Peeta and Katniss.

To give an update on The Force Awakens box office watch, going by various reports and predictions The Force Awakens could break Avatar's US box office record tomorrow. With three strong consecutive weeks in the #1 spot in the week to week charts, most of the "if" talk about Star Wars' box office run and breaking records is gone, and nothing in January will truly give Star Wars any real competition until Kung Fu Panda 3 hits theaters at the end of the month.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The top ten highest grossing films of 2015 are....


1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
$1,733,411,043

2. Jurassic World
$1,668,984,926

3. Furious 7
$1,515,047,671

4. Avengers: Age of Ultron
$1,405,035,767

5. Minions
$1,157,275,017

6. Spectre
$872,101,529

7. Inside Out
$856,130,132

8. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
$682,330,139

9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
$639,820,222

10. The Martian
$595,745,321


Well, it made it. Star Wars is the highest grossing film of 2015 and there was little doubt of it accomplishing that, just took a little longer than expected. It is still being shown so the only remaining question for 2015's films is how much will Star Wars ultimately make in the end. Will it beat Avatar's record? Doesn't look like it at this point, but it may take #2 from Titanic on the all time listing. Spectre also climbed up a spot to #6 of the year.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Carol-6/10

One good genuine surprise, and Carol is definitely one of the romance dramas, where the performances are the driving forces behind a flat and basic screenplay. Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett deliver good performances and they share believable chemistry, but there's a stretch in the film, where the story is sort of stuck in a holding pattern during the build up to the one moment, when Mara and Blacnhett finally give into their temptations and feelings for each other.

Carol is an earnest romance drama, and it's not a terrible movie, but Carol strikes me as the type of disposable awards season film that'll quickly be forgotten about after the nominations are announced and after the show itself takes place, and all the hype dies down. If we're talking about nominations, Blanchett is good, but using her recent-ish films as a measuring stick, I can't go as far as Blue Jasmine levels of excellence.

Joy-6/10

Probably should go with a lower score, but I have a soft spot for films about the unlikely underdog chasing their dreams, fighting, scrapping, and pushing forward with a fearless "never say die" attitude, when the odds are stacked against them.

With all that said, Joy is still a disappointment, when you consider the cast and the source material. David O. Russell taking a non-conventional and stylized approach to making a biopic has its moments, but the end result is a so-so film that wastes a lot of potential. The only true highlights I can think of are De Niro's drunken speech at the wedding reception, and Lawrence giving her half sister a stern warning about interfering in her business without her permission. And I'll throw in the horrified and depressed look on Lawrence's face, when she stands in a frozen silence to listen to a bunch of "you're basically a worthless piece of shit" insults from De Niro's girlfriend and the rest of the family.

Jennifer Lawrence is overhyped and overrated as an actress, but she delivers a good performance. And I'll be shocked if she doesn't receive an Oscar nomination for this, because.......she's Jennifer Lawrence.

It is still being shown so the only remaining question for 2015's films is how much will Star Wars ultimately make in the end. Will it beat Avatar's record?

Hard to tell, because you have to believe Ride Along 2 and Michael Bay's 13 Hours film will put a noticeable dent in TFA weekend haul. That, and Kung Fu Panda 3 hits theaters in a few weeks, and after that you have Deadpool and Hail, Caesar, so we're reaching a "slowing down" point, with TFA running into a few films that are more than capable of providing some competition for the #1 spot in the week to week charts.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Here are the latest numbers for the highest grossing films of 2015....


1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
$1,869,544,841

2. Jurassic World
$1,668,984,926

3. Furious 7
$1,515,047,671

4. Avengers: Age of Ultron
$1,405,035,767

5. Minions
$1,157,275,017

6. Spectre
$875,724,613

7. Inside Out
$856,130,132

8. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
$682,330,139

9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
$647,674,007

10. The Martian
$597,353,138


Star Wars' numbers continue growing. The film has been out for a month now and is still drawing large crowds to go watch it. I'm a bit late to the party on this one in that I finally went and saw it last night. I had intended to earlier but plans kept having to change. Awesome movie and without getting into any specific details since there may be some who still have not seen it yet, I definitely recommend it. It exceeded every expectation I had for it. The thing of it is.... despite viewing it one month after its initial release, it still sold out the entire theater. That's saying a lot. Taking the #2 spot away from Titanic on the all-time listing is very possible for the new Star Wars film.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Here are the latest numbers for the highest grossing films of the year in 2015....


1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
$1,939,989,346

2. Jurassic World
$1,668,984,926

3. Furious 7
$1,515,047,671

4. Avengers: Age of Ultron
$1,405,035,767

5. Minions
$1,157,275,017

6. Spectre
$877,470,327

7. Inside Out
$856,130,132

8. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
$682,330,139

9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
$650,129,478

10. The Martian
$598,178,512


Star Wars is getting closer to taking the #2 spot away from Titanic on the all-time listing. Spectre and Inside Out are both also still being shown. I doubt the latter two will make it past Minions on the year's top listing though.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

The Hateful Eight-9/10


Bravo, Mr. Tarantino.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but If we’re talking about Tarantino’s Westerns (I know it’s only two films, but still), I’ll take The Hateful Eight over Django Unchained, easily. An intriguing and thought-provoking whodunit Western mystery with a good amount of surprising twists and turns, and a string of entertaining performances from Jackson, Russell, Dern, Goggins, and others.

Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Daisy Domergue? Eh, she’s a detestable character (I guess you could say it‘s a moot point to highlight Domergue‘s status as a scoundrel, because The Hateful Eight and other characters in the movie have their dirty secrets or they're scummy human beings for one reason or another), and Leigh did a good job, but if we’re comparing Domergue to the likes of Hans Landa or Calvin Candie, I can’t put her in the upper echelon with the rest of Tarantino’s villains/antagonists. She’s definitely low on the totem pole, so that’s somewhere slightly below or above O-Ren Ishii.

Spoiler

Oh, and one more thing.

Fingers crossed for more collaborations between Tarantino and Channing Tatum in the future. Tarantino has a knack for picking the right actors and actresses for his characters, and I understand the reasons for Tatum’s limited appearance and screen time, but there’s more potential for a bigger role somewhere down the line.

The Big Short-8/10


A good film with some fun cameos, and I don’t have any real complaints about the movie, but I have a hard time buying into Christian Bale’s Oscar nomination now. I’m not trying to take anything away from Bale, because he’s an incredible actor, but he’s upstaged by Steve Carell here. Carell delivers the better performance, and now I’m convinced Bale being the bigger name over Carell is the only reason why he received the nomination from The Academy.


The Danish Girl-4/10


Oh boy. For starters, Eddie Redmayne’s performance is not Oscar worthy. Alicia Vikander is amazing (a well deserved Oscar nomination, and I hope she wins), and she shares believable chemistry with Redmayne, but The Danish Girl is contrived and dull. Overall, The Danish Girl is just an Oscar bait film masquerading as a biographical drama with social commentary about the plight of transsexuals fighting for equality and acceptance.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (in 3D!)- 7/10

I’ll admit the sight of Han and Leia reuniting was more than enough to put a smile on my face, but The Force Awakens relies on nostalgia too much. If we’re talking about a nostalgia overload, it’s everything from the big returns to the set pieces, and the references and the winks to the original trilogy. I’m not trying to complain, because I enjoyed the movie, but at certain points in the film, I had a feeling The Force Awakens was more concerned with paying homage to the original trilogy.

Also, you have to believe overexaggerating the “nothing can be as bad as the prequels” stigma is playing a big part in boosting TFA’s reputation. I know a lot of fans despise the prequels and Hayden Christensen, but each film has one or more memorable moments, with The Phantom Menace possibly giving us the best lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Darth Maul, the moment when Anakin decides to literally turn his back on Obi-Wan in Revenge Of The Sith, and as much as I hate Attack Of The Clones, I can’t forget about the genuine shocker/surprise with Yoda pulling out his lightsaber (I’ll never forget that thunderous ovation in the theater) to fight Dooku/Tyranus.

Spoiler

The decision to remove Kylo Ren’s helmet and actually show Adam Driver’s face more than once was a real head-scratcher for me. One minute he’s this mysterious and cold-blooded villain, but actually seeing Driver’s clean cut and innocent face/look really killed Kylo Ren’s mystique for me.

The final lightsaber duel is underwhelming, but I’ll give credit where credit is due for TFA introducing two new strong, brave, and likeable characters. Daisy Ridley is fantastic. There’s so much potential for Rey as a heroine, and John Boyega did a good job as Finn.

Room-7/10

Eh, I’ll have to put this one on the list of disposable awards season films with no real staying power, and barring a win from Brie Larson, I’m sure Room will fade away as an afterthought soon enough after the show is over. Room is kind of boring, tedious, and a bit contrived at times. But Brie Larson delivers a top notch performance (a well deserved nomination), the believable mother-daughter relationship and the chemistry between Larson and Jacob Tremblay is the driving force behind Room, and a few bonus points for Joan Allen.

Concussion-3/10

If we’re ranking all of Will Smith’s performances throughout his career from top to bottom, Will Smith’s performance in Concussion is not worthy of a top five (I have a soft spot for Enemy Of The State) spot. I‘m not trying to trash Smith‘s Dr. Omalu (although, I have to admit, it took a while for me to get used to the accent), because Smith's performance is on a short list of highlights here, but his performance is not enough to save this one.

Overall, it’s a bland and dull docudrama. Everything feels so forced, and Concussion constantly falls flat during all the big, earth-shattering moments (i.e. the series of events leading up to and everything that happens, when Dr. Omalu finally crosses paths with the NFL) during Omalu’s quest to expose the truth. It’s a misfire, and it’s a real shame, because they completely wasted a talented cast here.