2015
I sat down to watch independent, experimental film How the Sky Will Melt by Matthew Wade the other night with my fiance. Other than bragging about my fiance, I’m including him in the article because he is so very not like me. His favourite movies are comedies, he laughs at fart jokes, and I’m not sure he’s ever seen a David Lynch movie.
Rejoice, all, for love and magic have been made real again and no longer confined to shallow movies that preach the wrong topics filled with two dimensional protagonists that do nothing but fulfill ageless and traditional characterizations. Cinderella manages to be the most refreshing new Disney movie out, by paradoxically undergoing the least transformation. Directed by Kenneth Branagh with the utilization of his perfectly suitable Shakespearean mastery, and supported by a cast of actors and actresses that look like they came straight out of the storybook, Cinderella is a delightful reiteration of the classic story that we’ve all grown to know.
I had read Veronica Roth’s Divergent before the adaptation sauntered onto cinema screens, heralded as the next The Hunger Games, and what I discovered was that I preferred the film to the book. There was more action on show, and I felt that the film fixed many of the things I found problematic with the book’s narrative. So when I discovered that the book of Insurgent didn’t impress, I decided to bypass it and wait for the film.
I have to admit, I was a little excited to see that a sequel had been made to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I had liked it and was curious as to what had happened to the characters. But what is more, I went to see the first film with my grandmother and I knew how much she and her friends liked it.
Unfinished Business was something of a surprise to hear about, but the combination of Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson and Dave Franco was enough to convince me that it might be worth a shot. Coming across as a clichéd but entertaining story of down on their luck business men on a European jaunt, I expected some impressive improvisational comedy from Vaughn, some gravitas from Wilkinson, and maybe something worthy of note from Dave Franco (who was great in Now You See Me). But, as we all know, expectations are a dangerous thing.
An animated film that is targeted towards young children should be colorful, with lots of movement and hopefully an outlandish character or two. Most importantly, though, it must have heart. It should tackle themes that are important to kids, and provide lessons that they can take away from the cinema and begin to apply to real life, not just in the way that they behave but also in the way that they understand the world around them.
Neil Blomkamp is still a relatively new director in the game, though he has now done three movies. His first, District 9, is an intensely original feature, focusing on the subject of extraterrestrials who have come to Earth and suffer to live alongside the community of South Africa. It is at once both entertaining and politically charged, and was so well-received upon its release that it was even nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, a very rare accomplishment for a sci-fi.
“Excuse me,” I hear you say, “I know exactly which films I need to see in 2015.” You’ve no doubt been bombarded with teasers and trailers by now, and you wait with baited breath for… which franchise is it?
One of the worst clichés that appears in an alarmingly large number of movies is the “two kinds of people in this world” speech. In Focus, Will Smith’s suave con artist Nicky Spurgeon tells his protégé/part-time lover Jess Barrett (Margot Robbie) his version of the done-to-death cliché: there are two types of people, hammers and nails.
Fifty Shades Of Grey, it’s not often that so few words can spark so great a societal reaction. And to be honest, it is because of this very reason that I went to watch this film. I didn’t read the books, I didn’t care to.
Let’s say Star Wars meets The Matrix. What comes to mind? An all-out intergalactic battle?
Although many are still reeling from the aftershocks of the Sony hacking scandal, the growth of the cybercrime era had actually reached red alert long before the North Koreans. It is quite frightening to imagine how a person could be as deadly as a nuclear weapon with just one click of a keyboard, and it remains a problem unresolved by international governments. As always, Hollywood’s part on this is to jump on the bandwagon, establishing a new genre of its own with collective bits of movie magic in order to turn in easy money for film studios.
Anyone can get excited about the upcoming blockbusters, but compiled here is a list of the lesser-praised – but just as awesome – films that are due to grace the theaters in 2015. I know I’m looking forward to hearing and seeing more about these films, many of which may knock our socks off. 10.