My Top 50 of 2015: 50 - 41

It's getting to the end of the year, and that means it's time to reflect on the year that was 2015. Usually I do a Top Ten list but because I've seen more films this year than most others, I thought I'd try and challenge myself to rank my Top Fifty Films instead!

Now as a warning, I won't be able to put films such as Star Wars Episode VII into my Top Fifty, as I have calculated this from the films I have seen prior to December.  But I'm going to review those as soon as January arrives!  

Also whilst I have seen an amount of films that stands as a personal record, I still haven't managed to see every film, so if a personal favourite is not in the list, feel free to let me know in the comments below and I'll definitely make an effort to see it!

But anyway, let's cut the bull and get to the list!  Starting at No. 50...

50. The Overnight

Plot

A couple meet some new neighbours and attend a dinner party at their house, but then things start getting weird...

Starring

Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation), Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black), Jason Schwartzman (The Darjeeling Limited)

Verdict

A subtle comedy where the less you know about the plot, the better. 

An interesting take on how diverse and complicated relationships can be. Full of awkward cringe moments but a surprising amount of heart, featuring a great cast as well.

49. Monsters: Dark Continent

Plot

Set ten years after Monsters, the alien life-forms have begun to wreak havoc in the Middle East. American soldiers have to battle an insurgency from locals as well as the extraterrestrials.

Starring

Johnny Harris (Snow White And The Huntsman), Sam Keeley (Burnt), Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones)

Verdict

Nowhere near as good as Monsters but better than I had feared it would be. 

A heart-breaking tale of soldiers fighting a war they don't want to be in, having to fight battles on the outside and inside. 

A handful of tense scenes plus some of the poignancy that made me love the first Monsters so much.

48. Absolutely Anything

Plot

A British high school teacher gets granted the ability to make anything happen with a flick of his wrist. But should he use it for good or for evil? The fate of the world depends on it.

Starring

Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), the late Robin Williams (all my favourite childhood films)

Verdict

Essentially a British version of Bruce Almighty, and written by the Monty Python team, I did expect this to be the funniest film of the year. 

Whilst it isn't that (just wait a few weeks to find out what is!) the film is still packed full of irreverent British wit and humour, definitely enough to pass The Six Laughs Test. 

I just wish Robin Williams' final film would have been a bonafide classic.

47. Spy

Plot

A glorified secretary for the CIA goes undercover after the Secret Agent she's helping disappears. Hijinx ensue.

Starring

Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), Jason Statham (The Transporter), Rose Byrne (Bad Neighbours)

Verdict

McCarthy is back to doing what she does best; be large and fall over a lot. 

But in between the pratfalls, there are some half-decent jokes and a fantastic performance by Jason Statham. His character truly pokes fun at the genre as well as his history with it, and you can tell he's loving every second of it. 

The film is pretty standard fare, but worth it for Statham and McCarthy.

46. Spooks: The Greater Good

Plot

Based on the BBC drama, disgraced MI5 Intelligence Chief Harry Pearce must track down an escaped terrorist leader before he can launch an attack on London.

Starring

Peter Firth ([spooks]), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Tuppence Middleton (Sense8)

Verdict

My first interaction with [spooks], which had been described to me as 'a British 24' and I can see where they are coming from. 

An exciting plot full of twists and turns, but very televisual as it didn't seem to embrace the new medium well. 

One for fans of the show.

45. Chappie

Plot

A South-African software developer manages to create a self-aware robot, Chappie. Initially childlike and innocent, the world begins to corrupt Chappie into using his robotic abilities for evil. 

You seen Short Circuit? Yeah, that.

Starring

Sharlto Copley (District 9), Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine)

Verdict

Neill Blomkamp seems stuck in this repetitive cycle of trying to capture the magic of District 9; the brilliant mix of emotion as well as spectacle. With loads of guns and explosions thrown in. 

Similar to Elysium, it is a fair attempt but one that falls down in it's structure and character development.

An entertaining watch, but not a mind-blower.

44. Legend

Plot

Recounting London under the rule of the notorious gangsters the Kray twins, Reggie and Ronnie. American mobsters want to muscle in on London, making it the Las Vegas of Europe. Reggie has to make sure that doesn't happen, all whilst keeping Ronnie, his psychotic brother, in check.

Starring

Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road), Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Emily Browning (SuckerPunch)

Verdict

The only reason this film is so high on my list is Mr Thomas Hardy. 

His dual performance is mesmerising throughout the running time, managing to make both twins similar and yet complete opposites. It's a shame that the rest of the film doesn't match in quality. 

The direction is quite mundane, the rest of the cast are pretty standard and ordinary, and the less said about Emily Browning's corny and irritating voice-over, the better.

43. The Moomins on the Riviera

Plot

The film adaptation of the Finnish cartoon centred around a family of talking hippopotami, as they go on holiday to the Riviera.

Starring Featuring the voices of...

Russell Tovey (Him & Her), Nathaniel Parker (Inspector Lynley Mysteries), Tracy Ann Oberman (Eastenders)

Verdict

A charming little animation that I watched mainly due to nostalgia of watching the television series as a child. And I can see why I liked it as a child. 

Very lovely artistic design, the animation is beautiful and the writers don't try to bombard many complicated ideas onto the audience. As an adult though, whilst it was still charming, I nearly nodded off! 

It's a nice change to watch a film that doesn't require such an in-depth story, but it kinda suffered because of it.

42. The Voices

Plot

A lonely but cheerful factory worker speaks to his pets, who constantly try to convince him to kill his co-workers.

Starring

Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern), Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect), Gemma Arterton (Clash of the Titans)

Verdict

I can't usually stand Ryan Reynolds. I personally like only one film he's been in so far; Just Friends (which is hilarious). However, here he plays against type, as well as providing the voices for the murderous cat and comforting dog. 

The film toys with the idea of seeing things from inside a damaged mind and it surprisingly works well.  However it falls down towards the conclusion of the film, but it isn't as bad as a lot of people are saying. 

Plus Anna Kendrick and Gemma Arterton are brilliantly cast, and beautiful to boot!

41. Kill Your Friends

Plot

The music industry is a cut-throat business, more-so than you might think. An up-and-coming A&R man won't let his colleagues stand in his way of reaching the top.

Starring

Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road), James Corden (Gavin and Stacey), Edward Hogg (The Bunny and the Bull)

Verdict

Everyone has been comparing this to the magnificent American Psycho, and whilst this British version (English Nutter?) is quite similar in it's approach (narcissistic narrator, giving behind-the-scenes look at a lucrative industry, and killing co-workers due to petty squabbles) it doesn't come close to it. 

An entertaining watch, with some witty one-liners and a decent performance from Nicholas Hoult, providing more weight to his future as a possible leading man in bigger films.

And that's the first ten down!  Come back this time next week for the next instalment in my 

Top Fifty Films of 2015

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed what you read, 

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Spectre

Skyfallen From Grace

INTRODUCTION

You know what was fantastic about Skyfall?  It didn’t feel like a Bond film.  It was just a fantastically-shot, incredibly-acted, interesting, equally mature and silly spy film.

It didn’t rely on misogyny, fast cars and one-liners to appeal to audiences.  It was an enthralling, intriguing and exciting story of betrayal, honour and retribution, focussed on three very credible actors (Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Javier Bardem) and all thanks to one fantastic director (Sam Mendes).

Despite the fact that owning GoldenEye64 was the pinnacle of coolness growing up in North West England, the Bond films never really enthralled me as I felt they took themselves way too seriously and I couldn't really differentiate between them all.  However I saw the start of the Daniel Craig-era as the perfect time to try again.

Casino Royale grabbed my attention, Quantum of Solace nearly lost it, but Skyfall was easily one of my favourite films of 2012.  It felt like the Bond franchise had grown up.  It was ready to present itself as this new gritty entity, not reliant on campy megalomaniacal villains, silly throw-away gadgets and an overall outdated attitude.

Three years pass and here comes Bond 24, otherwise known as Spectre.  The same cast as Skyfall, the same crew as Skyfall, the same director as Skyfall.  What could go wrong?  Sigh.

PLOT

Spectre takes place in the fallout of Skyfall.  Bond is taking orders from the new M (Ralph Fiennes), trying to uncover the shady operations of the titular 'Spectre' organisation, whilst still saving damsels-in-distress, taking down world-dominating bad guys and… Wait a minute…  I thought we were past this?  I thought Skyfall showed audiences that a Bond film didn’t have to rely so much on the typical 'Bond formula' to be entertaining?

“Nope!  Instead we’re going to revert back to the old method!  Now give us your money!”

ANALYSIS

If the 'Blonde Bond' films have proven anything, it’s that inserting respectable and talented actors into these ridiculous films still achieves impressive performances.  

Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Javier Bardem; all of them credible actors who gave memorable performances.  

So when I heard that Monica Bellucci, Léa Seydoux and mainly Christoph (freaking) Waltz were going to be in Spectre, my expectations rose very high!  But they are given nothing to work with! 

The script is poor, the plot twists are tired ideas that can be seen in other films and the actors are so annoyingly wasted in their roles, especially Monica Bellucci!  At least Seydoux stars in most of the film, and Waltz gets the early creepy and seemingly-omnipotent scenes under his belt before they ruin him, but the incredibly talented and beautiful Bellucci is hardly in the damn film!  

Two scenes and that’s her lot!  She’s just used by Bond for get important information (but not before he beds her first, hours after her husband’s funeral!... The husband that Bond killed by the way!)

The fantastic and versatile Léa Seydoux is unfortunately shelved and used as window-dressing.  Not to be glib but her iconic Spectre moment is walking down the middle of a train’s dinner carriage in a silver dress.  All before falling madly in love with the man who hasn't given her any reason to do so.  It’s just so flimsy.

And that leads me to the man of the hour, Christoph Waltz, the man who we all expect to be Hans Landa, but hasn’t met that standard since he broke onto the scene in Inglorious Basterds and stole our hearts.  Similar to Landa, Waltz’s villainous Franz Oberhauser successfully captivates the audience and appears very much in control of events early on, but just falls flat when it comes to providing genuine menace and a worthy adversary to the world’s number one spy.

That goes double for Dave Bautista’s Mr. Hinx.  Fresh off his amazing portrayal as Drax The Destroyer in Marvel’s off-beat gem Guardians Of The Galaxy, and being a huge WWE fan myself, I was eagerly anticipating Hinx kicking Bond’s ass all over Spectre.  

His size and surprisingly comedic timing, twinned with Hinx’s apparently-signature silver-spiked thumbnails made me excited for the possibility of Hinx going down in Bond-lore as an iconic henchman similar to Jaws or Oddjob.  

However he is given so little to do, it perfectly sums up the problems I had with the film.  There is so much potential in its components and the result is so much more disappointing because of it.

Returning to Waltz’s Oberhauser, his motive is so flimsy and stupid that it just lost all credibility for me.  His methods of torture were ineffective and pointless, his main goal is a petty and immature one; certainly one that doesn’t effectively explain the events of the three previous films and he just doesn't come across like much of an obstacle for Bond to overcome.

Oberhauser confidently explains that he is ‘the author to all [Bond’s] pain’, but it never explains this or goes into detail, and seemingly never will.  There are mentions to the plotpoints of Casino Royale and Skyfall (making sure not to mention the rather mediocre Question of Sport ... Quantum of Solace) but only as pointless nods to the audience.  I’d expect much more detail explaining just a small fraction of his actions when it is apparently Bond’s Big Bad we’re talking about.

COMPARISON

Such failure just shows how Spectre falls short in nearly every area Skyfall flourished.  It disregards all the hard work and effort spent by its previous instalments trying to present the Blonde Bond era as a gritty, realistic and Jason Bourne-like modern spy epic.  I hate to use an example from another franchise, but it felt like The Dark Knight Rises after the brilliance that was The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight struck a certain chord due to the film’s message that sometimes an honourable lie is better than the disappointing truth, when it’s all for ‘the greater good’.  An interesting concept for a blockbuster comic-book adaptation to champion.

However during Bane’s takeover of Gotham in The Dark Knight Rises, he reveals the disappointing truth of Harvey Dent's downfall, causing outrage from the public who are not interested in why they were lied to and all the benefits gained from it.  And then they just move on to trying to defuse a nuclear bomb.  That’s it.  That’s all that’s mentioned of it.

All the good that The Dark Knight did to discuss moral ambiguity and question what is allowed for the sake of the greater good.  Nope, not for The Dark Knight Rises.  Now it’s just “Don’t tell lies! Never ever!” and the poignancy of the ethical quandary just disappears.

Whilst The Dark Knight managed to use a vigilante billionaire and a sociopathic clown to discuss questionable morality and the fairness of chaos, The Dark Knight Rises resorted unnecessary comic-book tropes like a masked maniac holding a city to ransom with a nuclear device.  Not really that ground-breaking or memorable.

WRAP IT UP

That’s how it felt watching Spectre.  Everything that Skyfall did well, Spectre threw it away.  The goodwill a non-fan like me earned, gone in a 120-minute-long instant.  I was left with a very bad taste in my mouth and felt like all my preconceptions about Bond from my youth had returned.

I understand why fans of Bond may adore Spectre and see it as a return to form, but in my opinion, Bond didn’t need to return to anything, it was doing great as it was.  However now with Spectre tying up all it's loose ends, here's hoping that this will be Daniel Craig’s final Bond film, as I feel the franchise needs to be shaken.  Not stirred.

Rating - 3/10

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

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Remembering Sammy Jankis

Today I learnt news that confused and annoyed me more than anything to come out of the Hollywood in the past few years;  AMBI Pictures, a small Italian-based company that seems to have sprung up from nowhere, have announced today that they plan on remaking a film that I hold quite close to my heart, and one I consider to be one of the greatest ever made:

Christopher Nolan's amnesiac-thriller, Memento.

Thought by many to be one of the greatest films made of all-time, let alone of the last 15 years, Memento stars Guy Pearce as Leonard, a man with no short-term memory who is trying to avenge the death of his wife, killed on the same night he suffered his brain injury.

The film is told in reverse order, starting with the end and working backwards as we piece together how Leonard lives his life and deals with his 'condition' since 'The Incident'. As every new memory fades, Leonard has to trust the tattoos that he gets upon his body, including unshakeable clues he has discovered to the identity of his wife's murderer, "John G".  

We see how Leonard interacts with people such as the mysterious friend Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and the seemingly-helpful Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), both of whom appear to be manipulating Leonard for their own reasons and how he copes with never being able to grieve for his wife as he cannot feel the passing of time.

I love this film so much.  Truly, it is one of my personal favourites and I have yet to tire of watching it; the mark of a fantastic film.  Every time it is like it is a brand new story.  I can't help but get sucked into Guy Pearce's unmistakeable charisma and his pitifully lonely situation.  The character of Leonard is so intriguing and unique that he feels like a real person, and one with which I deeply sympathise.

Twin that with understandably superb direction and script from Christopher Nolan, the idea of which came from a short story from his brother Jonathan (who would go on to write the scripts for Interstellar, The Prestige and The Dark Knight), and a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack from David Julyan, it is such a complete masterpiece from beginning to end (or end to beginning) that I truly wish more people would watch it.

Now that I got all that love out of my system, I understand that some films get remade and I know why that it is sometimes a positive thing.  

Sometimes films with wasted potential get a second chance at being awesome again, other directors may want their own personal stab at it, or maybe the film needs retelling to an new generation.  Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, John Carpenter's The Thing, and the Coen Brothers' True Grit are all fantastic examples of when a remake has improved on the original and I'm the first to admit that.

However, through the years there are too many examples of failed remakes to even mention!  The ones that personally hurt me however were Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, Tim Burton's twisted version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Spike Lee's pointless American remake of Oldboy.  All of them unnecessary re-tellings of already-fantastic films.

In my opinion, these three films accurately represent the greedy and unnecessary way Hollywood prey upon nostalgia and treasured icons from our past.

Speaking of which, Andrea Iervoline, an anchor investor in AMBI Pictures, which purchased the remake rights to Memento back in September when they acquired the Exclusive Media Group's film library, has been quoted as saying...

"Memento has been consistently ranked as one of the best films of its decade.  People who've seen 'Memento' 10 times still feel they need to see it one more time.  This is a quality that we feel really supports and justifies a remake."

No, this simply shows how much people love Christopher Nolan's version. You are clearly stating that you know how well-received and well-loved this film is, and yet you are willing to pointlessly remake it, just so you make headlines.

Let's think about this logically...

Are you going to hire a director that is equally as ground-breaking and such a dedicated student of the industry as Christopher Nolan?

Unlikely.

Are you going to get some composer to score the film better than David Julyan, whose simplistic, mournful and heartbreaking hymns (of which I'm listening to as I write this) surround the film in an ethereal and melancholic aura?  

Very doubtful.

Are you going to just cast some no-name, big, buff, bland actor rather than the wirey every-man that Leonard is supposed to be?  

More than likely.  Step forward Kellan Lutz, Sam Worthington, Jai....fucking....Courtenay.

Honest to God, the results for AMBI Pictures on Google Images

Let's be honest AMBI.  You're trying to make a name for yourself because all the films you are making currently producing will fail to make back their budgets, despite the impressive casts you have assembled and you don't care which pieces of art you step on to do it.

Don't shit on my memories and thank me for the privilege.  Don't act like you're doing this for all the Memento fans out there, because we would rather be forced into an insulin-induced coma than watch your version than the one we know and love.

Until next time folks, thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed what you read, 

'Like' me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Dunn-Reviews 

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