Pwaters' 2015 Movie Superlatives!

Before I bestow upon you all my Top Ten of the year, I've made it a tradition around this time of year to unload my superlatives. In the movie-watching yearbook of 2015, it was particularly difficult to pick some of these, as it happened to be a wonderful year for film. In general. I mean, we did have to suffer through a lot of crap, but overall it was good. And here I am to sift through the bullshit for you. Enjoy!

BEST ACTOR - Matt Damon, The Martian

A successful adaptation of The Martian almost entirely depends on who you cast in the lead, because the piece is pretty much a one-man-show. Matt Damon, playing botanist Mark Watney, trapped on Mars, brings the character to life not simply by making the character a depressed sad sack, as you might imagine a man alone on a planet would be, but by infusing him with a refreshing dose of personality and humor (enough so that the Hollywood Foreign Press nominated the film for Best Comedy at the Golden Globes). Like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, whenever an actor can carry a film almost entirely by themselves, it's impressive, and few can do so in as entertaining and likable a way as Matt Damon.

The Hateful Eight, Concussion, The Big Short, Joy Reviews

The Hateful Eight
Dir. Quentin Tarantino
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Before I get into the film, I just want to clear up its unique theatrical release. The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino's eighth feature, appropriately enough) is being released everywhere at the end of the month in regular ol' digital projection at all the chain multiplexes. At select venues, however, there is a special "roadshow" version, projected in 70mm film (not digital), complete with an overture, intermission, program booklet, and 20 minutes of extra footage. I was lucky enough to catch the roadshow version, so that may or may not have affected my ultimate opinion on the film.

The Hateful Eight is Tarantino's first Western proper (Django Unchained was more of a "Southern"), and is by far his most restrained picture. Playing out like an ultra-violent version of the game Clue, the film primarily takes place in Minnie's Haberdashery, an isolated mountainside stagecoach lodge. It's post-Civil War Wyoming and racial tensions are high. John "The Hangman" Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive prisoner Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh), on their way to the town of Red Rock, are joined in their travels by another bounty hunter (Samuel L. Jackson) and a man who claims to be Red Rock's sheriff (Walton Goggins). Due to an oncoming blizzard, they all take shelter at Minnie's, where they meet the other half of the "eight": a posh british hangman (Tim Roth), a mysterious gunslinger (Michael Madsen), a Mexican running the haberdashery in Minnie's absence (Demián Bechir), and a quiet old war general (Bruce Dern). But, like the aforementioned Parkers Brothers game, not everyone is who they say they are, and as tensions slowly rise, you can safely guess that it doesn't go down without some bloodshed.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Brooklyn, The Danish Girl, Hitchcock/Truffaut Reviews

Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Dir. J.J. Abrams
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SPOILER WARNING: Usually I make an effort to keep my reviews spoiler-free, but considering everyone and their mother saw this film, I've decided to write this review only for people who have seen The Force Awakens. If you have not, you've been warned - I will be going over major plot points!

I sense a disturbance in the Force... I'm just going to say right off the bat, before you start reading and getting upset: I didn't much care for The Force Awakens. I'm most likely in the minority here, as everyone seems to be lapping it up. But, as a movie reviewer, I must express my own opinion, and not just cater to my audience, only writing what they want to hear. Kind of like J.J. Abrams. The Force Awakens - for better or worse - is exactly what I thought a J.J. Abrams Star Wars would look like: Non-stop, slickly-produced but not memorable action, an overload of nostalgic references and fan-service moments, and an overall experience that is left intentionally hollow with the promise of sequels to fulfill any holes in the plot. The Force Awakens, unlike a similar space franchise picture Guardians of the Galaxy, feels like a product to me.

Krampus, Trumbo, Macbeth, Victor Frankenstein

Krampus
Dir. Michael Dougherty
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When today's kids are "naughty" before Christmas, all they're afraid of is getting coal in their stocking instead of a Nintendo 3DS. But in some European countries, children are afraid that a horned demon will visit their home and punish them accordingly. Krampus is an old folkloric beast from Austria that is sort of Santa's evil twin, and surprisingly, it's taken this long for a movie to exploit this concept. Taking a cue from other holiday horror movies like Gremlins, Michael Dougherty (Trick r Treat) has crafted a tongue-in-cheek, Tales from the Crypt-like story set around a family under siege by Krampus and his evil minions, in the form of demonic toys. The movie is surprisingly well made; the creatures are legitimately terrifying (using mostly practical special effects, hallelujah), the sound design is creepy, and its comedy/horror tone is pretty spot on. However, when it came to the story of the family, and the cliched ending, Krampus was a bit disappointing. It's a fun, alternative Christmas movie if you're sick of seeing It's a Wonderful Life for the umpteenth time, but it doesn't have the same staying power as Gremlins for sure.

Mockingjay Part 2, The Good Dinosaur, Creed, The 33 Reviews

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2
Dir. Francis Lawrence
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You'd think, with Lionsgate having split the final Hunger Games book into two films, that this final chapter would be a non-stop action thrill ride. You'd think. Unfortunately, Mockingjay Part 2 features almost just as much sitting around and doing nothing as Part 1, only with far less interesting tension brewing under the surface. While the entire cast is great (it's refreshing to see the female characters given most of the spotlight over their male counterparts), the set and costume design are top notch, and director Francis Lawrence definitely knows how to stage a CGI-filled action scene to make it feel grounded and real, I just can't get past the laboriously slow pacing of the film and the somewhat confused, contradictory plot.

The Night Before, Spotlight, Room, Victoria Reviews

The Night Before
Dir. Jonathan Levine
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Who better to hit off the Christmas season than Seth Rogen and his writing/producing partner Evan Goldberg - a couple of Jewish stoners? Though Rogen didn't have a hand in writing or directing this time, The Night Before marks a reunion for 50/50 stars Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and director Jonathan Levine, and it still has that distinctive "Rogen" stamp on it. The story is like Superbad with sleigh bells; buddies Isaac (Rogen), Chris (Anthony Mackie), and Ethan (Levitt) go out every Christmas Eve for a night of drunken karaoke and misadventures on the anniversary of the death of Ethan's parents. But this year, now in their 30's, they want to make it their last hurrah, and they're going to go out with a bang at the mysterious annual Nutcracker Ball. The Night Before is more or less a series of semi-linked sketches with this overarching theme of maturing into adulthood and making the effort to hold onto friendships as one gets older. Rogen has returned to this coming-of-age theme again and again in his films, often times with much funnier results (Neighbors, This is the End, etc), but The Night Before should still satisfy his fans, such as myself, looking for cheap dick jokes and potty humor.

Spectre, The Peanuts Movie, Experimenter Reviews

Spectre
Dir. Sam Mendes
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Warning: This review contains some character-related spoilers - ye be warned!

Since the series was "rebooted" in 2006 with Casino Royale, James Bond has perpetually gotten more and more serious. Gone are the days of the campy, fun Bond of yesteryear; I'm pretty sure Daniel Craig is the most joyless version of the character yet, as all of his films seem to ask the question: why is Bond still relevant? Spectre is Sam Mendes' follow-up to Skyfall, which is undoubtedly one of the best-looking Bond films and among the best in the series overall. But it too at times fell victim to the "I'm still here!" idea of James Bond trying to keep up in a world dominated by cyber attacks and anonymous hackers; a quick fistfight or a car chase seems irrelevant when the worst baddies can control the world behind a keyboard. But whereas Skyfall managed to weave in an intriguing relationship between Bond and M (Judi Dench) and presented a chilling villain in Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), Spectre pretty much lacks any human-feeling qualities, and its villain(s) are terribly disappointing. Add to that an infuriatingly overused plot of a mysterious crime ring that controls everything (we literally just saw this in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation), a few slick, yet uninteresting action setpieces, and a really drawn out run time, Spectre is a pretty big disappointment.