Well
it's that time again, another year done, another year of movies to
watch is over, but now comes the hard part, finding which of this
years movies made my Top 10 of the year list.
Every year I countdown
my favourite films of the year, and every year I don't include
december, this mainly due to it obviously being the Christmas month
and im usually insanely busy and i'm unable to get to the cinema,
this year will especially suck as I can't include the new STAR WARS
film, so I run my countdowns from Dec to November. As I am based in
the UK, all the films on the list are films that were released in the
UK this year, some may have been releases state side last year but im
going by UK release dates...
This
year has been an especially difficult year to work out my faves
because for me, it's been a very shit year, there are some standouts
but lets be honest, 2015 has been a pretty fucking terrible year for
movies, with the exception of a small majority. So here it is folks,
my Top 10 Films of 2015 (and the worst)...
WHIPLASH
Whiplash
is an odd film to find on Cine-apocalypse, the reason is that while
it's a highly regarded, critically acclaimed drama, it also plays,
oddly, by genre rules. It's an action movie of a different kind, it
has a villain and a hero, it has training montages and the battles,
yet it's all about drumming. Whiplash also has a tremendous pace to
it, like a constant drum beat. With a great central performance by
Miles Teller (Divergent, Fantastic Four) and an incredible, oscar
winning performance by JK Simmons (Spider-man, OZ), Whiplash will
have you gripped from the moment Simmons asks Teller if he was
dragging. It's a fantastic film and one which I think quite a few
people may have forgotten about, that's why it's my number 10.
COHERENCE
This
low-budget, science fiction film succeeds above most so-called
sci-fi films because it feels more real and thought out. Taking in
multiple dimensions and time travel, Coherence plays the audience
like pawns in it's own game of head fuckery. Indie sci-fi is where
it's at at the moment, for all your Interstellar s there's a
Coherence, a Man From Earth, a Another Earth etc, if you're looking
for well written, acted and conceived science fiction, you won't go
wrong with this film.
Featuring
a cast of relatively unknowns with the exception of Xander off of
Buffy, The entire cast put in really solid performances throughout.
It's the kind of sci-fi film that'll have you guessing and
contemplating long after the film is over. It's well worth your time.
WYRMWOOD
The
Aussies do it again, a zombie flick with the kind of dead pan wit
you'd expect to find in a film like Muriel's Wedding or Strictly
Ballroom. Now im not comparing Wyrmwood to those films, only the
comedic side of the film, what Wyrmwood actually is is an inventive,
fresh take on the zombie outbreak genre. Mostly shot in the woods and
seemingly on a tiny budget, the restricted budget allows for some
inventing camera movements that sets the film apart from most in this
genre. Inventively gory, laugh out loud funny with an added
supernatural element, Wyrmwood is not only a great film in a sea of
mediocre zombie flicks, it's also a ton of bloody fun.
JURASSIC
WORLD
Ok I
have a confession to make, I had zero interest in JW when the
trailers landed, it seemed like an over bloated CG crapfest, never
judge a book by it's cover, Jurassic World was an absolute blast from
start to finish. If you watch JW as a sequel only to Spielberg's
incredible 1993 movie, you will have a great time. Yes it does have
some issue but only minor ones, what it does have going for it is
it's sense of nostalgia, I sat there in the cinema watching the film
and feeling like I was watching a movie from the early 90s, the way
it was shot, no headache inducing editing, the script and Michael
Giaccinno's update of John Williams' orchestral score made me feel
like a 10 year old again, seeing JP for the first time on my
birthday. The cast seemed to be having fun, Chris Pratt was good as
the hero, Bryce Dallas Howard was good, everyone played their parts
well. Just a great big budget family friendly movie.
CHAPPIE
For
some reason, Chappie wasn't the crowd pleaser it was expected to be.
I don't really get that, it does have the same look and style as his
previous films, District 9 and Elysium and does seem like the
lovechild of Robocop and Short Circuit but that's cool, those films
are awesome. Why did I love Chappie?... This one's simple, it was
really fucking good. It had a good story, some great action scenes,
was very funny in parts, Sharlto Copely's mo-cap performance of
Chappie could almost bring a tear to your eye and Die Antwoord
fucking ruled in it. Throw in endless anime references and you have
the makings of a pretty damn badass sci-fi action flick. I don't know
what people were expecting. For me Chappie was an absolute blast from
start to finish and ticked every box. I loved it.
KINGSMAN:
THE SECRET SERVICE
I
don't like Colin Firth, never have never will, but there's no denying
he's a lot of fun in Matthew Vaughn's comic book adaptation about a
group of super spies. Kingsman is a violent, foul mouthed ass kicking
action flick, made in the same mould as Vaughn's Kick Ass, which as
we all know was also a comic book adaptation, both of which were
written by Mark Millar with screenplays by Jane Goldman. Kind of like
the anti-James Bond, but taking cues from the bond franchises such as
a villain lair being built into a mountain, insane world domination
plans, a sidekick like Jaws, Odd Job etc and a great main theme.
Kingsman is just a great action packed, funny action flick and worth
watching just for the mind blowing finale.
TURBO
KID
Turbo
Kid is the kind of film that shouldn't really exist in 2015, a film
so full of love for another decade that seem out of place in a time
where comic book heroes battle for control and safety of the world or
giant transforming robots destroy multiple cities, but for all it's
lack of CGI set pieces and sexy heroes and heroines, Turbo Kid has
more heart, more love and way way more inventive ways of showing us
than those studio flicks. Turbo Kid is a full on love letter to the
1980s, from the music, the post apocalypse style clothing, the old
school BMX, etc, It all works on a level that no other film ive seen
this year does. At it's heart it's a essentially a love story but
wrapped up in a Superhero post apocalypse movie. It's a total blast
and fans of 80s movies will get a kick out of the little references
filtered throughout, plus the bad guy is played by Michael Ironside.
It's really Rad.
BONE
TOMAHAWK
Bone
Tomahawk is a strange film to categorise, is it a western or a horror
film? Well it's both, a brutal, violent look at cowboys and
cannibals. There's a lot more to it than that but i'll let you check
it out but what I will say is THIS IS A BRILLIANT FILM. Considering
the cast, you'd expect BT to have had a much wider release instead of
debuting on VOD, it was a critical success on the festival circuit
but it barely made a dent on screens in the US. For a film starring
Kurt Russell, Richard Jenkins, Patrick Wilson and Matthew Fox, it
should have reached a much much bigger audience. Sporting one of the
greatest moustaches ever committed to screen, Kurt Russell leads the
hunt for the wife of a local doctor who has been kidnapped by a tribe
of Native Cannibals. The film is a little long at 132minutes but
stick with it. Shot on a budget of only $1.8Million, the lack of
money does show, the cinematography, while pretty good, could have
benefited from a larger budget and more experienced DOP whose only
other film of merit is BIG ASS SPIDER. But the Cinematography does
work at points, it lends a gritty realism to certain scenes. But the
reason it's a brilliant film is due to the realistic script and the
knock out performances by all involved. Russell is stellar in the
lead and reminds us of how cool he is, Richard Jenkins again scores a
fantastic role as the doddery back deputy, Patrick Wilson, an actor I
always thought was underrated is on good form here but the biggest
surprise is Matthew Fox who gives the best performance of his movie
career. Im not counting Lost in that as he was fantastic as Jack.
Seriously folks, Bone Tomahawk is a stunning western come horror and
you should seek it out ASAP.
JOHN
WICK
Keanu
Reeves returns to killing people as bad ass former assassin, John
wick. What happens when you give stunt co-ordinators and second unit
directors some money and carte blanche? You get John Wick, the most
bad ass Hong Kong style action film since John Woo gaves us Face/Off,
Reeves is basically a fucking Gun Ninja, shooting bad guys in the
face. It's a sight to behold, no frenetic editing just good old
fashioned action film movie making. Seriously people, John Wick has
some of the best hand to hand/Gun fu set pieces since the first
Matrix movie. Reeves is a complete badass, he even manages to act
well too. I may sound like im joking but John Wick is a brilliant
action film, the stunt work is some of the best ever committed to
film and with the sequel filming right now, i'd be happy if we got
another Wick Film every year.
I
wish that someone would take a chance on a director like Isaac
Florentine, give him some money and a decent script and see what he
can do because we know he's capable so if stunt co-ordinators can
give us this the sky's the limit. John Wick is fucking awesome and my
number 2...
MAD
MAX: FURY ROAD
Obviously
Mad Max: Fury Road was going to be number 1, I raved about in my
initial review, I raved about to everyone I know, I have listened to
the excellent sound track multiple times and I even made my
girlfriend sit through the previous 3 before watching MM:FR so she
could pick up on the references, ive seen it three times now and it
always looks more spectacular. It's a sad statement on Hollywood that
the mad who basically invented the action pure action genre 33 years
ago came back and showed the so called current crop of action
directors how to do it properly. A 70 year old man just kicked your
ass Bay, take fucking notice. Taking over the role of Max from Mel
Gibson is Tom Hardy and you know what, it really really worked. But
Max isn't the focal point of the film, Charlize Theron's character,
Furiosa is, this pissed a lot of people off as people assumed it had
a feminist agenda, I don't see it like that at all, I see it as this,
it's the apocalypse, woman need to be fucking badasses too to survive
and furiosa's tale was a good tale, Max was still an integral part of
the story bur Theron totally nailed her role, she gave us a strong
badass female action hero along the lines of Sarah Connor (T2
version) and Ripley, we need more strong females in action and im not
talking about Rhonda Rousey or Gina Carrano, proper actresses, Emily
Blunt proved this also with her role in Edge Of Tomorrow, a lot of
women love action films, my girlfriend can quote Hard Target, so why
can't the male dominated genre have some bad ass chicks kicking ass
for once? But enough with the gender politics, this movie is balls
out vehicular car-nage at it's most insane. How the actual fuck
George Miller and stunt co-ordinator Guy Norris came up with those
insane stunts is mind boggling. The film also looks stunning, the
Namibian desert is brought to vivid life by DOP John Seale, blue
skies, orange desert, it just looks stunning. The whole film works on
a level we've not seen since MM2 back in 82 and brings new life to
the over saturated action genre. For that alone, Fury Road deserves a
number 1 spot, it really is the best film of the year.
HONOURABLE
MENTIONS
COOTIES
The
long awaited horror comedy from Saw writer Leigh Whannel starring
Frodo. Lots of gory fun with zombie school kids.
COP
CAR
Two
kids steal a seemingly abandoned cop car but it actually belongs to
corrupt town sheriff Kevin Bacon. A tense game of cat and mouse plays
out after the kids discover something in the trunk that Kev wants
back.
FINAL
GIRLS
A
meta horror comedy about a group of friend sucked into a slasher
movie. PG13 horror shouldn't work but it's a lot of fun and has some
very funny moments and some fantastic cinematography.
400
DAYS
A
low budget sci-fi flick produced by Syfy Channel about a group of
astronauts who take part in an experiment to see the effects of long
distance space travel that may or may be real.
…..AND
FINALLY THE WORST FILM(S) OF 2015
TAKEN
3
No-one
is actually taken and Neeson looks like he's “too old for this
shit”. A very very poor film and one that really has no right to
even exist as it's toned down, badly written cliched and quite dull.
THE
TRANSPORTER: REFUELLED
The
Transporter without Stathem? Eh? What? Eh? Fuck off.
HITMAN:
AGENT 47
Second
stab at a hitman game movie featuring a man who looks like a ten year
old boy, still not nailed it, just give up.
THE
GREEN INFERNO
Eli
Roth's cannibal film is more a rip off than homage to Cannibal
Holocaust, takes too long to get going, is shot really amateurish and
just seems out of place in the horror market at the moment.
There
we have it folks, CA's 2015 top ten of the year. I felt bad this year
as it's the first countdown ive done where a Fast and Furious movie
didn't make the cut, Liam Neeson didn't work hard enough with Run All
Night to make me care even though it's a decent enough flick and some
of this years horror flicks barely scraped by, some were good
(Deathgasm) some were mediocre (Tales Of Halloween). I think ive
nailed my ten favourite film but we must remember that this is a list
of my personal favourite films of the year.
Thanks
for reading and i'll see you next year for another round up....
No comments:
Post a Comment