Heavy Future: 2015

Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts

Monday, February 29, 2016

Oscars 2016

Couldn't watch Oscars 2016 live before, finally caught up to it now. Still have to catch up to many of the Oscar movies.

Glad to see that Brie Larson won. Leonardo DiCaprio finally got the Oscar and he gave a great speech.

I was most surprised with Ex Machina winning Best Visual Effects, thought Star Wars would get it. But in retrospective Ex Machina likely seemed more deserving, as it brought in more convincing flawless realism through visual effects.

Chris Rock was funny and insightful as always, he also addressed the controversies head on. But my most entertaining moment of Oscars 2016 was when Louis C.K. introduced the Documentary Short Subject category, he was so freaking hilarious.

And it was good to hear Back to the Future's Power of Love instrumental music playing just before the Costume Design category.

Though it didn't win Best Picture, I was very happy to see Mad Max: Fury Road winning many of the other creative and technical awards.

Friday, January 01, 2016

My Top Favourite Movies of 2015

I saw 45 movies of 2015 and 13 of them were in the theater. My list of movies seen in 2015 is largely incomplete as I have yet to see The Hateful Eight, The Revenant, Bridge of Spies, Spotlight, Creed and several others which I missed out on.

Mad Max: Fury Road is my #1 favourite movie of 2015. The movie exceeded my expectations. The plot is simple and straightforward, but the characters are memorable while the action has set a new benchmark for modern day filmmaking along with its exceptional practical effects and stunts. Also I love the soundtrack by Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL), especially the track Brothers In Arms (Bikers chase sequence at canyon). The music kinda makes me want to go and exercise. (And I don't really exercise anymore).

My top favourite movies of this year are as follows.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Inside Out
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
4. Ant-Man
5. The Martian

Honorable Mention (release date order): Kingsman: The Secret Service, Ex Machina, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mistress America, Sicario, Victoria, The Peanuts Movie.

Here is another great mash-up video featuring scenes from 2015 movies by YouTube user Sleepy Skunk.

And here is a nice quote by Guillermo del Toro about favourite movies.

As a refresher here are 60 movies from 2015 in release date order. And I am giving away some Blu-rays for RPF members for listing their favourite movies of 2015. Click here for details.

Jupiter Ascending
Kingsman: The Secret Service
What We Do in the Shadows
Chappie
It Follows
Furious 7
Ex Machina
Clouds of Sils Maria
The Age of Adaline
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Mad Max: Fury Road
Tomorrowland
Jurassic World
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Inside Out
Terminator Genisys
Magic Mike XXL
Amy
Tangerine
Ant-Man
Southpaw
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Fantastic Four
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Straight Outta Compton
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Mistress America
The Visit
Goodnight Mommy
Everest
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Black Mass
Sicario
The Martian
The Walk
Pan
Victoria
Crimson Peak
Bridge of Spies
Jaws 19
Room
Steve Jobs
Spectre
The Peanuts Movie
Spotlight
Brooklyn
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
Legend
Carol
The Good Dinosaur
Creed
The Danish Girl
Krampus
Macbeth
In the Heart of the Sea
The Big Short
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Son of Saul
Joy
The Hateful Eight
The Revenant

Friday, December 25, 2015

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens release was delayed in India for a week, so I went offline pretty much completely to avoid spoilers after its worldwide premiere last week.

It's getting released here on Dec 25 Friday but they had a early Thursday night screening. And having a packed enthusiastic fan crowd just made the movie experience even better.

The movie has its problems especially with some of the story elements being a retread of the original trilogy, but the characters really hold up the movie for me.

Though it may not be the contender for my most favourite movie of the year, I enjoyed it very much and I'm hoping to watch it again next week.

The movie was fun, exciting and emotional. Couple of great goosebumps inducing moments. I was happy to see the familiar characters but even more glad to see the new characters blending so well in the existing mythology. The new characters are compelling and I am really looking forward to seeing their further adventures and to explore their backstories.

JJ Abrams was under so much pressure with this enormous task of delivering a sequel that would be embraced by the majority of Star Wars fans. And though the movie will always have its share of fans who were genuinely disappointed with the movie, I feel most would agree that he did a good job with it.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Jurassic World

The self awareness in Jurassic World has characters questioning the park's existence and corporate direction thus mirroring some of the doubts of the audience in regards to this franchise.

I liked the early pacing of the movie with its gradual build up, as it then kicks into gear and it stays that way for a while. And though I liked hearing John Williams' Jurassic Park theme music through the course of the film, I wasn't too pleased when they introduced it early on without it being part of a momentous occasion; even though I know I can't expect them to replicate the revealing awe moment like in the first film.

The characters aren't really all memorable and some of their actions and motives seems dubious, but they didn't make me cringe and Chris Pratt is a delight to watch even though he toned down his usual charm for most parts.

The movie was overall fun, delivered plenty of good dino action with some genuine scary moments along with few surprises. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing another sequel exploring the fallout from this movie.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Marvel's Daredevil Series on Netflix

After watching 13 hours of good entertainment like Daredevil, I now want to see more of the other Marvel comic characters get similar series treatment, allowing for richer story arcs and more fleshed out characters. It would definitely work for Spider-Man and his vast number of supporting characters, who will end up with only brief appearances in the movies.

Daredevil series is bloody and violent, perhaps little more than I expected and I am glad they went with that approach. And in the midst of all the grittiness, the show still manages to instill some humor from time to time. Besides the reference to Iron Man and Thor I was glad to see my favourite Avenger being given a shout out as well. The opening credits is cool and elegant, also liked the soundtrack including the different tracks played during the ending credits of each episode.

Jack Murdock had a short early appearance, but still managed to make a strong impact, almost making me want to see more scenes of him and Young Matt. Considering how much of pivotal role the character Karen plays later in the comics, it was good to see her being prominent through this series. But I kept wanting to see more scenes of Claire, also I liked her chemistry with Matt. Foggy is a delight to watch, especially when he is bouncing words with Matt. Since they are only a start up law firm, we got only one instance of Matt being a lawyer in the courtroom, I want to see some more of that.

The series has so many great action moments but the hallway fight in the end of episode 2 was fantastic and is one of my favourites. The way they shot and edited that scene made it seems quite seamless. By the time episode 6 rolls out, the levels of escalation in the story almost feels like a season finale. There is plenty of action after that, but the series comparatively slows down allowing for more drama and character conflicts. The action and pacing does pick up eventually.

Fisk is a villain who like many villains doesn't believe that he is actually a villain. He continues to justify his actions for building a better tomorrow. Maybe he will really embrace his true nature when he takes on the mantle of Kingpin.

As for the costume, the black version really worked well and was able to even highlight Matt's strong muscles and upper body without any additional padding, or at least it appeared that way. As for the red costume I wish they went with a darker shade of maroon instead of the black parts. But I think we will definitely see a better costume upgrade in season 2.

Monday, January 05, 2015

My 31 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is my most anticipated film of 2015, followed by Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, Tomorrowland, Chappie and The Martian.

My 31 most anticipated movies of 2015 are listed below in release date order. You can find a bigger list of movies releasing in 2015 on the RPF here.

And though I didn't plan it that way, nearly half the movies in my list are not based on existing franchises.

Also out of the franchise movies, eight of them are from Disney.

Click on the release dates to view the trailers/info clips.

BTTF related: Robert Zemeckis's The Walk gets released on October 2, 2015 in IMAX and 3D. On October 16 (Friday, 5 days before Marty's arrival) theatres will start playing Steven Spielberg's St. James Place (working title), which is a cold war spy thriller based on the 1960 U-2 incident.

1. Jupiter Ascending