Sicario is a movie built upon uncertainty: uncertainty about loyalties, motives, and purposes in our nation’s never-ending drug war, uncertainty that’s always one step away from descending into full-blown chaos. As is made clear throughout, right and wrong and black and white are all incredibly difficult to distinguish here, and any attempt to change the status quo–deep-seated corruption–will likely be met with deaf ears and lots of bullets.
The Gift is a taut psychological thriller, a surprisingly effective film that transforms a generic thriller template into a compelling web of characters and mind games. It uses conventional shots of shadowy corners and long hallways and dark rooms in order to set the mood, and then it plays on our expectations by slowly unraveling itself through its characters, not its plot. Yes, there are jump scares and plot twists throughout the movie, but the reason they have an impact is because the characters are well-written and well-acted. The first half of “psychological thriller” is more important to Edgerton here, and as a result, the second half is given a boost.
By the time the fifth film in a franchise rolls around, we expect to be at a point where staleness takes over, where the same action beats are repeated ad nauseam. With Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, however, there’s a freshness to be found amongst the proceedings, and even though the movie is far from setting a new standard for action movies, it’s still a lively and enjoyable ride through the world of Ethan Hunt and the IMF. It recognizes the inevitable exhaustion that results after constant missions–and films–and it crafts a new adventure out of the crumbling remains of the IMF, throwing us into several impressive action sequences and proving that Tom Cruise is still perfect for this role.
Me and Earl is fun and charming, but it also has the ability to pack an emotional wallop. It’s a story filled with digressions, striking production choices, and hilarious movie parodies, and it takes you through the confusing times of adolescence as its characters come face to face with loss. For the most part, it’s funny and moving without feeling exploitative, and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable film that finds a nice balance between the comedic and dramatic.
Jurassic World loses much of the terror and wonder of the original in favor of fun, summer blockbuster entertainment, and while that type of movie is by no means inherently bad, it doesn’t make for a particularly interesting installment to the franchise brought to life by Steven Spielberg 20 years ago. You can replace the dinosaurs with generic action movie villains and the humans with puppets, and nothing changes except for the fact that it might actually be a funnier movie this way. Well, maybe not. Dinosaurs eating puppets would be hilarious.
“Oh, what a day. What a lovely day!”
Mad Max: Fury Road drives us through a post-Happy Feet, post-apocalyptic wasteland, one populated with the absurd sights and sounds from the mind of director George Miller, yet still grounded in dynamics relevant in today’s world. It’s a movie that features exquisitely crafted action sequences that don’t just serve a purpose of action for action’s sake; rather, those sequences are avenues for world-building, character-building, and story-building, and this is a movie that immerses its audience without the use of any mind-numbing exposition. There’s a difference between an engaging culture/world and an over-reliance on plot, and the film has the former down pat and avoids the latter.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is growing at an unprecedented rate, and as a result, its movies are reaching for the edges of that universe, constantly preoccupied with what’s up next in this ever-expanding story. Avengers: Age of Ultron plays like a hastily put together scrapbook of *cool Avenger moments* and “Oh, yeah, he existed in my life!” snapshots, and as it eagerly points us toward the next several movies, it threatens to collapse under its own dullness.
There’s a well-tested formula that seems to drive these Fast and the Furious movies: throw in way too many one-liners, have Vin Diesel drone his way through a bunch of lines about family, and be as ridiculously over-the-top as possible. It somehow works. Nevertheless, there are diminishing returns to be seen in the series now, and even though Furious 7 constantly attempts to one-up its predecessors–and has quite a bit of fun doing so–it never quite reaches the heights of Fast Five.
When David Simon announced his movie follow-up to The Wire and Treme, I was a bit skeptical about it until he also brought on David Fincher. It has been scientifically proven, after all, that multiple Davids working on a project together guarantees that more than one David will be working on the project. And so, this film came together quicker than you can say “Why is Meryl Streep nominated again?”, and it was released to quite a bit of buzz at the Sundance Film Festival.
Honorable mentions: John Wick, Calvary, A Most Violent Year, Locke, Selma, A Most Wanted Man, 22 Jump Street, Foxcatcher, Wild, Big Eyes, Still Alice, Mr. Turner
Haven’t seen: Ida, Citizenfour, The Raid 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Chef, The One I Love, Coherence, Top Five, Dear White People, Life Itself
20. Edge of Tomorrow
19. The Lego Movie
Polar Bears Watch TV 