TL;DR – It is a film that treads over very familiar ground, the ‘fish out of water’ scenario, however, it has a sense of humour and identity that elevates it above many of its contemporaries.
Score – 3 out of 5 stars
Review –
This is an interesting little film, I didn’t really know anything about it going in and had not seen a single trailer, so I was intrigued to see how it would end up. Three Wise Cousins tells the story of Adam (Neil Amituanai) who lives in suburban Auckland with his parents and is doing pretty much nothing other than playing his PlayStation and sleep. One day he stumbles across the woman of his dreams Mary (Gloria Ofa Blake) and overhears that she is only interested in island boys. So Adam decides to drop everything and visit his cousins Tavita (Fesuiai Viliamu) and Mose (Vito Vito) in Samoa to learn how to be an island boy so he can impress Mary. Of course, once Adam gets there he finds out it is more than he bargained on as Mose and Tavita play a kind of good cop, bad cop, to get Adam to … well then that is the crux of the film so I won’t spoil it here.
TL;DR – It’s not the worse film I have ever seen, but it’s not that great, the last third is even pretty good, it is unfortunate that you have to sit through the rest of the film to get to it.
Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
So at the start of this film, you are reminded that the first Zoolander came out in 2001, wow, it has been a long time between sequels. So the question is, was it worth the wait? did we need a sequel to a reasonably good comedy from 2001?, will the fact that they killed of Justin Beiber in the first 5 minutes of the film absolve it of all wrongs? well not really. With that being said it’s not the worse film I have ever seen, it is just, well, to be honest, a bit of a disappointment.
TL;DR – Is it as good as its marketing campaign, no, that was pure genius, but it is still pretty darn good and a fun film to watch, though so so so so so not for kids.
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
P.S. yes there is something after the credits
Review –
This is a really interesting film for a number of reasons, firstly most (if not all) comic book movies stick hard and fast to the American PG-13 rating, it’s safe and opens it up to a wider audience, instead, Deadpool went for its American R rating with gusto. It’s also a film that has to fit in the X-Men universe, but then it also has to stay true to the source which has a unique style that destroys the 4th wall at times. It has Ryan Reynolds as its lead, and unfortunately he doesn’t have many more chances left to be a headliner (after The Green Lantern, which to be fair was not his fault), it is also a film that has been in development hell since the early 2000s, taking a ‘leaked’ proof of concept trailer for people to greenlight the film. So here we are after a simply brilliant advertising campaign, what kind of film do we have? A pretty good one, but also a very adult film, I mean a very adult film, like seriously the whole 9 yards, like how did they get away with that, adult film.
TL;DR – What an awful steaming pile of effluent this move was, at best it is lazy, at worse it is deeply problematic, don’t waste your money on this.
Score – 1 out of 5 stars
Review –
Dirty Grandpa is a film about a recent widower taking his grandson on a trip to Daytona Beach, there is more to the story, but I could not be bothered to explain it.
TL;DR – This is a real life story that needed to be told, of scumbags who hurt children and them covered it up, I just wish it had been done a bit better.
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
Spotlight is the real life story of the Spotlight team of The Boston Globe. This is a team of investigative journalists who pick their own stories to investigate, sometimes spending years researching their cases. In early 2001 after some prompting, they start looking into the Catholic Church in the Boston area and how they handled sexual abuse cases. Here they discover that it is not just a couple of bad apples and that it is a much bigger problem, one the Church knew about and one they covered up.
20) Good Game – In today’s age there are very few shows that have the ability get me to watch each week, but Good Game is one of them. It is a simple premise, review the new game releases and give it a score, but it is more than that. Part of it is that it is clear that everyone who works on the show has a clear passion for what they do and you can tell, part of it is the repour between the hosts, and part of it is that joy you get to see some really good Australian TV, a rarity these days. While the tone of the shoe can be very light, they are also not afraid to deal with more serious issues, the standout for me being the recent special on war and games. It has also been good to see it expand into the digital space, which has given the show a little bit more flexibility than it has had before. It is an enjoyable part of my week, and as saved me from wasting my money on several occasions, so thanks for that
19) Chuck – Another of the little shows that could, to the point that there was a campaign to keep it going for three straight years, and it was worth it because Chuck is a little gem of a show. Chuck played by the excellent Zachary Levi, was a member of the nerd heard until he got The Intersect, a government super computer downloaded into his brain. This sounds like a really cheesy concept, and it is, but through some excellent casting and real care, it moves away from being cheesy to being endearing. Chuck is desperate to keep his spy life and his work life separate, but of course they keep colliding, and one by one his friends and family become a part of his spy gang. The show was great because it was a nerdy show that actually understood the references it was talking about, it had a great supporting cast, and a compelling narrative. In the end I have to thank Subway because people convinced them to sponsor the show, and there is no way it would have survived so long without it. This is a fun little romp and also one of those shows that gets mentioned every time someone Kickstarts something or Netflix brings a show back from the dead, so who knows one day we may get to see more of it, I surely hope so.
18) Doctor Who – Look at this point I don’t think I need to explain what Doctor Who is, – Time Lord, Companion, Flying Police Box, Time Travel, Fez, Running, Wibbily Wobbly Timey Wimey, Exterminate – , I think more so at this point I may have to explain why it is only 18th on my list. The reason it is so far down my list is not because I have not loved it, in fact if I didn’t it wouldn’t be here if I didn’t, it is so far down the list because I think I have stopped watching it. I will always have fond memories of Doctor Who, that time they were running, and that other time they were running, oh and that time that they were running. Ok seriously, The moment the 10th lost Rose into another dimension, and when 11 lost Rory and Amy, every time 10 said “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”, The sound of the drums, “I’m still not a Ginger”, Bad Wolf, “Don’t Blink”, Devils run when a good man goes to war, and “I don’t want to go”. Doctor Who will always have a special place in my heart, and indeed I may even come back to it someday, but for the moment I think it is time to see new people, it’s not you it’s me … well maybe if I am being perfectly honest it might be you.
17) Sherlock – Sherlock is here not just because it is one of the best adaptations of a literary work I have ever seen, but also because it is one of the best example of updating an old literary text to the modern era I have seen since 10 things I Hate About You. This is a show that takes the time to get the little details right, to the point that it is littered with little references to the original novels. As well as this, it has the ability to make you go wow when you find out the answer and realise the clues were there from the start if you were paying attention. Of course the core of this show is the character and Sherlock got its casting right, from the titular character itself, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock, to Martin Freeman’s John Watson, Andrew Watson’s Moriarty and Amanda Abbington’s Mary Morstan. It is a lot of fun, but also has a very serious tone, and there is a constant undercurrent that Sherlock is on the tipping point of going over the edge. It also has a really interesting design, it was the show that finally got how to display a text message without having to cut to a mobile phone screen for a painfully long time. I am really interested to see where it will go next and if it will continue to keep its high standard but for now I can’t wait.
16) Fringe – Here we are again, a little show that could (I said this would be a running theme), the show that blended crazy science experiments, law and order, alternative universes, an episodic procedural, a wide serial story, and of course whatever the hell John Nobel was doing. Fringe told the story of Agent Olivia Dunham played by Anna Torv who starts a FBI task force to investigate scientific experiments that are leaping faster than the government can regulate bringing along the mentally unstable Dr Walter Bishop played by John Nobel and his son Peter played by Joshua Jackson, that they are kind of blackmailing to be there. It starts off with a very simple monster-of-the-week style procedural but then you start to notice things, wait is that the same bald guy in the suit in every episode, wait Peter’s and Walter’s stories are not lining up there, who is this Walter Bell?, and then it culminated in one of the best shock reveals that has ever happened in TV. From this point onwards it morphs from this episodic format to a really interesting serial, expanding across time and space. This is also another show that took care with the small details, the titles would change depending of what time the episode was set, whenever they visited a new location the name would be emblazoned in these big block letters that would also reflect the environment, the hidden cameos and the glyphs before an add break. Fringe was another of those shows that you never knew if this season would be the last, and it was great that they were able to tie the series up even if it was a truncated final series.
TL;DR – A beautiful film in a certain respect, filled with Tarantino’s trademark gore but not a whole lot of anything else
Score – 2 out of 5 stars
Review –
So two of the three films I have seen this year have been set in the snowy reaches of frontier America, both contain people battling against the elements and a lot of blood, violence and unsettling themes. However, while I walked out of The Revenant feeling that I had witnessed something truly remarkable, when I walked out of The Hateful Eight I felt, “well, yer, that was a thing”.
TL;DR – A simple paint by numbers comedy, funny but ultimately a bit disappointing
Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
I went and watched Sisters right afterThe Revenant, as a way to decompress after that spectacle of filmmaking. Given that both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are incredible comedians separately and together they are amazing I had really high expectations for Sisters. So was it funny, well in places yes it was, but it was also comedy paint by numbers, where you can chart the course of the film after about 20 minutes in.
TL;DR – Bleak but Beautiful, Though provoking but brutal, Heart-wrenching but uplifting, One of the most visually stunning films I have ever seen but one I don’t think I ever want to watch again
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
Wow, the first movie for the year and boy is this an amazing work of art, this is a movie that is at times hauntingly beautiful and at other times horrifically brutal, this is not a film to take your children to, there are vivid violence and some very disturbing scenes. The Revenant is fictional retelling of the real life story of Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) who was left for dead after being mauled by a grizzly bear and has to try and survive in the barren frozen wastelands of (the now) The United States of America fighting his own body, the elements, and the indigenous population.
This was a great year for cinema but as always there are a number of really bad films that get dumped out there, some of which even make money. So what were my 5 worse films of 2015 and how many times does Adam Sandler appear, let’s find out.
TL;DR Movie Reviews and Analysis 