AndyLL's "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue" Top Ten of 2015

[AndyLL]

Well... this one will likely be different.

 

These days my movie viewing habits are much different the when I was young.  

 

These days going to the movies is a family event.  The theater we like is 45 minutes away.  So going to a movie is both time consuming and expensive.

 

This causes us to see movies we know we are likely to all  enjoy and not take chances.  So blockbusters... a lot of blockbusters and Disney movies.

 

I try to fill in the gaps with Redbox but its challenging to find the time.  

 

Maybe this year I'll bite the bullet and pay for a movie channel or 2 so I can see the movies at my convenience. 

 

Here is a list of the movies I've seen this year:

 

Spoiler

Fantastic 4
Pixels
Minions
Age Of Ultron
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Inside-Out
San Andreas
The Good Dinosaur
Hobbit 3
Jupitar Ascending
Ex Machinea
Terminator Genisys
Ant Man
Kingsman
Max Max
Paddington
The Peanuts Movie
Tomorrowland
Furious 7
Mocking Jay 2
Spectre
The Martian
Strange Magic
The Divergent Series: Insurgent
Jurassic World
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Pan
Goosebumps
Star Wars The Force Awakens
 

 

 

 

 

[AndyLL]

Of course we must start a 'best of' list with the worst movie of the year.  

 

Since we generally pick 'safe' movies to go see there should not be any truly bad movies I see but 2015 was different.

 

We saw The Hobbit 3 in January.  The only reason we saw it was because we had seen the other 2 and felt we had to complete the trilogy.  My son begged off... said he had homework or needed to clean the toilets or something.

 

Long and boring... that's 9 hours I won't get back.  Usually I still enjoy a bad action movie but the CGI in the Hobbit bothered me for some reason.

 

But the Hobbit wasn't the worst...

 

We know Fantastic Four was going to be an issue.  The initial trailer made it look interesting but the more I heard about it the worst it seemed.  

 

However my son refused to believe it would be that bad so I did my fatherly duty and took him.  

 

Yeah... it was bad.

 

Should have been the worst movie I saw in 2015 however there was a late entry.

 

I'm off work for a week in December... late at night... I seemed to have a free preview of the movie channels... so I watch

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Hey... it was George Lucas... the creator of my favorite movie franchise.  How bad could it be?

 

It was bad... very very bad.

 

I tried drinking... didn't help.

 

I tried browsing the forums to ease the pain... they decided to crash at that time.

 

I drank some more.

 

Fortunately... I fell asleep in self defense.

 

I woke up with and watched the last 15 minutes.  Didn't know what was going on but I'm not sure that mattered.

 

This had to be a pity release for George.

 

It was bad.  I should have watched Mortdecai instead.

 

 

[AndyLL]

Every year there is always a 'disappointing' film.  This doesn't mean the film was bad... just that it could have been so much better.

Tron Legacy feel into that category.  A fantastic world... fantastic soundtrack... fantastic mood.  Had this:

 

But it also had a convoluted story and poor dialog.

It is too bad because I would have loved to spend more time in this world.

 

2015's disappointing movie is:

 

Spoiler

 

 

Tomorrowland could have been a great movie.  It had a great premise.  They created the idea of a great world.  It just feel short of completely following through.

 

 

[AndyLL]

Honorable mention #1

Spoiler

 

 

I have spent the last 40 years in Computer Science and A.I. has always fascinated me.

 

'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' is my favorite Heinlein book and I adore Asimov's Robot's world.

 

Ex Machina is not a fun movie.  The 1st half made me cringe at times in how Bateman treated Caleb.  I've been in that type of uncomfortable situation with executives before where I wasn't sure how I was supposed to act or what was expected of me.

 

I enjoyed going through the movie trying to figure out exactly who was being tested and how.

 

What kept this from being a great film and kept it out of my top 10 was  the sex aspect of the movie... especially at the end.

 

I can buy that Caleb was sexually attracted to Ava.  I can buy... but a little less... that Bateman who was doing amazing  things with humanoid A.I. only created extremely attractive androids and sexually took advantage of them.

 

I can buy that Ava understood the male psyche enough to use her sexuality to convince Caleb to help her.

 

However... as much as I like nudity... it was  gratuitous at the end which distracted from the point that I think was trying to be made.

 

  

[AndyLL]

Honorable mention #2

Spoiler

 

I know... I know.

 

Some people always hate Adam Sandler.  I only occasionally find him funny.

 

However I found this film hilarious... starting with the thought that the President's childhood friend is a member of the Geek Squad and they occasionally hang out together.  When I every meet up with my old High School buddies no matter what we are doing in life today we always revert back to the dorks we were back then.

 

Obviously one of the reasons I love this film is that I spent more time then I should have in high school and collage playing the games depicted in the movie.

 

To a certain degree I agree with Brenner's comparison to video games back then to how they are today.  Cheat codes, unlimited lifes, paying to gain an advantage.

 

Back in my day when I walked to school uphill both ways I stuck a quarter into a machine and hoped I played well enough to gain more lives.

 

BTW... I kicked ass at Star Gate and missed my Calc class more than once because I was doing so well.

 

When I 1st thought about doing a list I thought this would be in the top 10.  When I actually sat down and did the list it didn't make it.

 

However... in reviewing my list I guarantee that I will re-watch this movie more than half the movies in my top 10.

 

Everyone has those movies that you just watch that makes you feel good.

 

 

 

[AndyLL]

Top 10 begins tomorrow.

 

While you are waiting.... go make your derby picks.  About 24 hours to go.

 

http://derby.boxofficetheory.com/Predictions.aspx

 

[AndyLL]

 

 

 

My #10 movie of 2105 is….

 

Spoiler

 

 

This was a film I had no interest in seeing but the trailer hooked me.

 

 

I love Vaughn and I absolutely loved Colin Firth.  I wish they hadn’t killed him off because a sequel without him in it would not be as interesting.  I would enjoy a prequel that explored the founding of The Kingsmen.

The Kingsmen is obviously a sarcastic parody of Bond and other spy movies.  Where Austin Powers was over the top humor this was over the top violence. 

I love how some people complained that this was sexist.  The Kingmen was making fun of the sexist stereotypes in the Bond movies.

 

This movie was a nice surprise early in the year.

 

[AndyLL]

Moving on to #9…

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Another movie that I wasn’t overly excited about.  I am a Marvel fan but not a comic book reader/fan.   I thought the premise was stupid when I 1^st heard about it.  I thought Marvel was just throwing minor characters at the wall and hoping something would stick.  The IMAX extended preview was telling me that Disney thought they had a stinker on their hands and was trying to use marketing to save the movie.

 

However I was surprised on how much I enjoyed the movie.  I thought Paul Rudd was fantastic.  Pena and friends humor was a bit over the top but I felt it worked well with Rudd’s more quieter, stoic humor.

I was less thrilled with the other characters but not enough to overly bother me.

I felt the story and the feel of the movie was not typical of the CBMs we’ve been getting.  I have a friend that rarely goes to the movies and hates all CBM who I convinced to go see this.  He loved it.  This is a guy that hated avengers, GotG and Nolan’s batman series and hasn’t see any of the other recent CBM.

Ant-Man proved to me that Marvel is in good hands with Disney and I will no longer pre-judge the movies they put out.

[CJohn]

Ant-Man  

[Avatree]

STRANGE MAGIC is one of the best films of the year.

[Ezen Baklattan]

Won't make a list until Anomalisa is seen.

[Ethan Hunt]

Oh dear....

 

 

Well I guess the list can only get better from here

[AndyLL]

19 minutes ago, Ethan Hunt said:

Oh dear....

 

 

Well I guess the list can only get better from here

 

 

[AndyLL]

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

459 million DOM, 1.4 billion WW, #7 all time (for now)… and it’s a flop?

Only on the BOT.

A longtime manager of mine used to always preach to us minions… under promise and over deliver.

AOU of course experienced the opposite.

To even come close to meeting expectations it had to be better than The Avengers and it wasn’t.

When I left my 1^st viewing of Avengers my first thought was… “I wonder if I have time to see it again”

When I left my 1^st viewing of AOU my thought was… “What the hell was that?”

The pace was too uneven… frenetic action with periods of insomnia curing scenes.  The time spent at the house in the woods almost killed the movie.  Hawkguy is not ‘glue’ that holds the avengers together.  I could have done without the beastly love between the black widow and the hulk.

I get they are trying to humanize the avengers… show their versatilities but I’m sure there are better ways.

The ending was stupid.  Come on… can’t a mega villain come up with a better way to destroy earth than to left up and drop a chunk of it.

And let’s be real…   when all of humanity is facing extinction I’m not sure the super heroes should be worrying about saving the 20,000 or so Salovkialithums.  I hope this wasn’t the case but I felt it was a shot directed at MOS.

An awful lot of bitching for a movie I have top 10…. Now the good parts.

It got better every time I saw it.

I loved Ultron.  Best Marvel villain yet.

I think to team is fantastic together.  The dynamics between Captain and Stark and Stark and Banner are great.

Scarlet Witch is a wonderful addition to the team.

The story itself was great. 

I rank AOU right around Winter Soldier.

 

 

[75Live]

I thought you said it was getting better

 

 

[The Panda]

Put Inside Out, Mad Max, and Star Wars as your top 3 and the list will be redeemed.

[AndyLL]

21 minutes ago, The Panda said:

Put Inside Out, Mad Max, and Star Wars as your top 3 and the list will be redeemed.

 

 

[CJohn]

48 minutes ago, AndyLL said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 

 

459 million DOM, 1.4 billion WW, #7 all time (for now)… and it’s a flop?

 

 

Only on the BOT.

 

 

A longtime manager of mine used to always preach to us minions… under promise and over deliver.

 

 

AOU of course experienced the opposite.

 

 

To even come close to meeting expectations it had to be better than The Avengers and it wasn’t.

 

 

When I left my 1^st viewing of Avengers my first thought was… “I wonder if I have time to see it again”

 

 

When I left my 1^st viewing of AOU my thought was… “What the hell was that?”

 

 

The pace was too uneven… frenetic action with periods of insomnia curing scenes.  The time spent at the house in the woods almost killed the movie.  Hawkguy is not ‘glue’ that holds the avengers together.  I could have done without the beastly love between the black widow and the hulk.

 

 

I get they are trying to humanize the avengers… show their versatilities but I’m sure there are better ways.

 

 

The ending was stupid.  Come on… can’t a mega villain come up with a better way to destroy earth than to left up and drop a chunk of it.

 

 

And let’s be real…   when all of humanity is facing extinction I’m not sure the super heroes should be worrying about saving the 20,000 or so Salovkialithums.  I hope this wasn’t the case but I felt it was a shot directed at MOS.

 

 

An awful lot of bitching for a movie I have top 10…. Now the good parts.

 

 

It got better every time I saw it.

 

 

I loved Ultron.  Best Marvel villain yet.

 

 

I think to team is fantastic together.  The dynamics between Captain and Stark and Stark and Banner are great.

 

 

Scarlet Witch is a wonderful addition to the team.

 

 

The story itself was great. 

 

 

I rank AOU right around Winter Soldier.

 

 

 

 

Wat? The list actually got worse

[AndyLL]

4 minutes ago, CJohn said:

Wat? The list actually got worse

 

Trust me... SteelBook worthy movies ahead....

[AndyLL]

Just now, AndyLL said:

 

Trust me... SteelBook worthy movies ahead....