From best to worst, this is how we will be defining the 2015 films:
Buy Full Price
Buy It At Buy-Backs
Red-Box This
Don't Even Let Someone Pay You To Watch It
Now, here are some honorable mentions that I did not have on my list going into last year, but are pretty well known. Are they definitely worth your time, or should you skip them? Here's my 2 cents!
Ex Machina-Buy Full Price
Mad Max: Fury Road-Buy Full Price
Shaun the Sheep Movie-Buy It Full Price
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation-Buy It At Buy-Backs
Hateful Eight-Buy It At Buy-Backs
Furious 7-Red-Box This
Black Mass-Red-Box This
Ok, now here's my most anticipated list from 2015: revisited.
The Hipster Category (Ones You Didn't Know Were Coming)
Chappie (March 6)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 31%
This movie may be my biggest regret on this list for a few different reasons. First off, no matter how much I tried to defend the film, the best parts were in the trailer. The robot was adorable and fun, but nothing else really was. Second, the side characters were annoying, Hugh Jackman was wasted, and it was just overall a big mess. But the biggest reason I regret this? Because when I wrote the piece last year, I had another film in this slot. It was a little movie called "Ex Machina". You read that right. I subbed piece of poop "Chappie" in for the film that's nominated for best original screenplay and best visual effects Oscars, and should arguably been nominated for best supporting actress and best picture.
Chappie is a definitive and unabashedly "Don't Even Let Someone Pay You To Watch It".
True Story (April 10)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 44%
"This could be one of the better films of the year!"-Raymond Morris, February 2015
That guy was actually right for once. I Red-Boxed this limited release indy a couple of months ago, and it was well worth the $1.99 I payed for it. Don't let James Franco fool you with his "This Is The End" and "The Interview" roles; when he puts his mind to it, he is one of the better actors working in Hollywood today. His role as a manipulative convicted murderer that preys on the vulnerable Jonah Hill is nothing short of chilling and brilliant. While Felicity Jones's role is subdued and not-noticeable, she did well. Jonah Hill was also very solid in another dramatic role for his bright career. The story and direction and slow and methodical, but in a way that keeps you very interested and guessing all the way until the end.
True Story is a "Buy It At Buy-Backs". I'm serious. True story.
Southpaw (July 31)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 60%
When this movie came out, a lot of the buzz surrounding it was not about the quality of the film, but the fact that the trailer ruined the film. That fact, along with the generic "meh" feeling of the film after it came out lowered my expectations a bit. Perhaps that lowered expectation helped out in my viewing experience. From a technical standpoint, there are beautiful shots, great performances from Jake Gyllenhaal (who, fun fact, is playing a role originally intended to be played by Eminem in the film) and breakout star Oona Laurence (who plays his daughter), a solid story, plus (being a youth pastor) I found the plot line with Forest Whitacker's character was really cool. There are clichéd elements, but that's tough to avoid in any sport's film.
What left the biggest impression on me in this film was the ridiculously depressing first hour/hour and a half of this two hour film. Just when you think it cannot get any worse for Billy Hope (Gyllenhaal), it does. There's no over-acting here, which really helps make this film good. Also, the big plot device early in the movie had me tearing up a mere 20 minutes in.
The action is crisp and engaging. The ending, although somewhat predictable, was one of the best fights I have seen. Part of me wishes there was more fighting in the film, but looking at is from a full-story perspective, they got just the right amount in it. In a year where "Creed" would not have been out, this would have gotten more buzz.
Southpaw is a knock-out in the "Buy It At Buy-Backs" category, although if you are a sucker for sport's films with adult language, this one is a "Buy Full Price".
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (August 14)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 67%
This movie took my money, and I was ok with it. I went and saw this bad boy in theaters, even after what I would consider a "weaker than Gumby at the gym" marketing campaign.
This film suffered in the respect that it could not figure out who it's audience was. Are you going for the people who watched the '60s spy show? Are you trying to introduce this to a new 18-34 demographic? From the commercials, you could not really tell, and that showed in the box office returns.
Despite all of this, the film was a fun, action packed, lighthearted summer popcorn flick. Guy Ritchie has his fingerprints all over this film, which is definitely to it's benefit. The same time machine he used to transport us back to watch "Sherlock Holmes" was used again to take us back to the 1960s world of suave spies, femme fatales, and fancy cars. The dialogue was witty the action was fun, and the music was...AHH...fantastic. The music is something I will always commend Guy Ritchie for in his films. He is a master at grabbing the essence of the time period and putting a modern twist on it, and it is no different here.
For me, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. garners a "Buy It At Buy-Backs", just missing the top tier.
The Stuff Of Legends (Or, What We've All Known About)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 74%
I am going to be honest here, I was not THAT excited to watch this movie. The reason it was on my list was because I felt as though I may be lynched if it were excluded. That being said, it lived up to my lack of anticipation.
This movie is one of the bigger disappointments of the year. I will hand it to the Marvel fan-boys out there: Ultron in the trailers looked mighty menacing. The problem is similar to Chappie in that the robot's best parts were all in the trailer. Instead of menacing, we got a sarcastic child in robot form. He reminded me less of a menacing villain and more of a 5th grade bully who thinks he's the funniest kid in class. Marvel has a tough time developing villains, and it simply continued here. And without a good villain, how good can a super hero film be?
Also, lets take a moment and point out how afraid this movie was to take itself seriously. There's a difference between having clever meta dialogue that points out what we in the audience are thinking and then beating us over the head with it. The first is fun, the second is fear to be serious. That's another thing I have begun to notice with the MCU (and was repeated in Ant-Man).
Also also, how Marvel essentially pulls a "Look at us, we aren't Man of Steel. LOOK, WE'LL SPEND 30 MINUTES SHOWING HOW EVERYONE IN THE CITY ESCAPES ON THE HELLICARRIER!" scene.
However, I will say that one of the coolest scenes was when Vision took Thor's hammer. Not only was it very humorous, but it was also brilliant exposition without words. You could spend 15 minutes having a discussion with him to see if he's a good guy, or you can have him prove his worthiness by picking up a hammer. Well done, Joss. Well done.
That is not enough to save this movie, though. I give Age of Ultron a lower tier "Buy It At Buy-Backs", almost "Red-Box This".
Jurassic World (Jun 12)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 71%
"I'm throwing this into guilty pleasure territory. It'll be fun. Who doesn't want to see Star Lord (Chris Pratt) play with pet velociraptors?"
Yep, that's basically what this is, with a little bit of "nostalgia steroids" injected here and there. Look, I won't sit here and tell you that this is a bad movie. I won't sit here and say it's a great movie either. I will tell you that it's fun, it's crazy, and it's very enjoyable, both if you have an emotional connection to the original or if you do not. This wasn't the only "take the plot from the original and just rename the main characters to make it new" film of the year, but my goodness it was fun.
If you have an emotional connection to the original, this is a definite "Buy At Full Price", but if you don't, it's still a solid "Buy It At Buy-Backs".
Minions (July 10)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 55%
I would be lying if I said that this is a masterpiece. I would be lying if I told you that I do not regret putting this on my most anticipated list. But, I would also be lying if I said this movie was garbage. It's anything but!
Sure, the best parts of the first third of the movie are in the previews. Yeah, the jokes become very repetitive at times (YES, PEOPLE IN ENGLAND DRINK TEA, WE GET IT!). The thing is though, the movie is clever, it is fun, and the minions continue to be adorable. Do we need another one? Heavens no, but this one was ok. What was missing here was a truly solid story to push it through.
Minions gets a "Buy It At Buy-Backs" ranking, which is good considering I was expecting to give it a "Red-Box This" rank going into the movie.
Mockingjay Part 2 (November 25)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 70%
I was ready to finish this series off with a bang. I was prepared to forget the dullness of Part 1 and embrace the action packed Part 2. 30 minutes into the movie I was still waiting. This was a definite victim of fluff. There was probably enough here to make an epic 2 hour 30 minute conclusion to the series, but they instead broke it up into two separate films, stuffing as much as they could think of to make enough content for two films. The result, however, was a boring Part 1 and a pretty annoying Part 2. This was not by any means the most disappointing of the year, but my goodness it got close.
J-Law had moved on from the series and you could tell. However, I do not know if that was because she was acting dull or if the screenplay was that way. I would not be surprised by either option. However, I was surprised by that ending. Yet another reason to wait until after the movie to read the book. That ending and the 20 minutes of action throughout the movie are not enough to save this, however.
Mockingjay Part 2 gets a weak "Red-Box This".
Star Wars: the Force Awakens (December 18)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%
Coming into this movie, I remember thinking to myself "man, they've done a great job at not telling much about the movie and getting you to see it based purely off of nostalgia." Little did I know that nostalgia IS the movie.
Overall this is a very fun exciting movie. It is very much a better made "Jurassic World". What do I mean by that? Basically, if you take the original film in the series's plot and rename everything, you can pass it off as "an original that pays homage to the past films". However, where Jurassic World does it subtly, Star Wars: The Force Awakens does it blatantly (well, at the end).
For 2/3 of the film, they do a great job of setting up stuff in their own world that is in the spirit of the originals. The final third strips away the subtlety and basically plagiarizes "A New Hope". Fly through a trench, shoot the
Also, Finn was a missed opportunity. Where we could have explored a whole new element to the franchise (a storm trooper on the run? That's awesome), we get to see him turn into comedic relief. To me, it felt more like I was watching Keenen or Kel play Star Wars on All-That than I was an actually character interacting with Han Solo.
Rey was awesome, however, and I cannot wait to see her journey throughout the series. Kylo Ren has the potential to be one of the coolest and deepest villains we have every seen in this series too. The curious thing to see now will be if Disney will continue to play it safe with simply remaking the original films, or if they will consider their fan-service debt paid and move on to truly fresh and new film ideas with episodes 8 and 9.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, being 2/3 fun and 1/3 remake gets an upper-tier "Buy It At Buy-Backs" from me. And no, I do NOT have a bad feeling about this rating. Thank you.
The Peanuts Movie (November 6)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 86%
This was my most anticipated for 2015. There was only one other time in my life where I felt THIS excited going into a theater, and that was for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We all know how that movie went over. So, did the Peanuts Movie live up to my rather lofty expectations, or was I left in an emotionally unstable state after watching a series almost ruined?
Quite simply, this film did not meet my expectations.
IT DEMOLISHED THEM AS IT WENT TO A CRAZY NEW AWESOME LEVEL.
This film was perfect, quite simply. The characters were just as I remembered them. The new animation was awesome to see and still left me feeling right at home. The story was cute and felt ripped from the comic itself. Being the oldest person in the theater that was not with a child, I figured that the reason I loved this was the nostalgia. However, about half-way through the film, a little kid that was maybe 6 or 7 blurted out "HAHAHAHA, Snoopy!"
That simple phrase proved to me that this film not only pleased nostalgic twenty somethings, but also was successful in reaching new fans. I was hoping it could break in and get a Best Animated Film nomination at the Oscars, but alas it did not. But just because Charlie Brown never kicked the football doesn't mean he stopped trying! And just because it did not get a nomination does not mean we won't see new Peanuts movies. I am looking forward to the next one! If there is not a new one made, I will be happy we got this one.
The Peanuts Movie gets a "Buy It Full Price" rating from me, no questions asked. No "oh good griefs" needed. Save your nickel, because if you do buy it full price you won't need that psychiatric help.
So what do you think of the assessments from last year? What was your favorite film from 2015? Stay tuned for my most anticipated list for 2016, which will feature some surprises!
-Raymond Morris
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