As we welcome in the New Year, it’s time for what I am now
deciding is an annual tradition around these parts: Lists! To kick off this set
of lists, we’re going to take a look at just how much of a special friggin’
snowflake I am and see the top 11 films that I didn’t see eye-to-eye with most
critics on from 2015. I didn’t really think that I’d end up with enough to
create another list after
last time, but turns out that I was wrong.
Once again, same rules from last year apply: I am not going
to include any films that have divided critics already; I’m just sticking with
those that have a strong leaning one way or the other. Also, so that I don’t
end up repeating myself, I’m also going to refrain from including any films
that will end up in either my Best or Worst of the year. Now that we have that
out of the way, let’s get stuck into my Top 11 Critical Disagreements of 2015.
Now, this one I’ve placed right at the bottom of the list
because, quite frankly, I get why this is hated as much as it is. It’s an
extremely stupid threequel to an extremely stupid series that was borne from an
extremely stupid mind. That said, my philosophy when it comes to film is that
enjoyment, regardless of how it is derived, is always relevant: If I got a kick
out of this film because of how ridiculous it was and how over-the-top Bill
Boss was to watch, that’s still more than I got out of some other films I’ve
seen this year. I totally get the hate for it; I just don’t echo it.
Honestly, this film was way too uneven for me to get into.
It’s well acted in places, particularly from Paul Dano, and the sound design is
outstanding, but the wonky storytelling and weak characterisation for the
supporting cast kept this film from being as great as it had such potential to
be. I am a little confused as to how the film got received
this well, and has already made a number of year-end Best of lists,
but then again, the film has enough merit to it to make that understandable.
I have no real love for Adam Sandler: His standards of
quality have drastically dropped since the days of Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison
and he since been content to make what are essentially filmed vacations with
little to no artistic merit to them. That said, the consistent hate-binging the
rest of the world is doing about him is getting
really tired by now. This year in particular, as all three of these
films have, in rapid succession, been called the worst that Sandler has ever
been involved in. While I freely admit that these films most definitely have
their problems, I’ve seen That’s My Boy; by no means, are these the worst of
his filmography. Hell, I wouldn’t even call The Cobbler that bad a film to
begin with; if anything, both that and Pixels show at least some levels of
improvement over what came before it. Not all that promising, but more than
enough to leave this dead horse where it lies already so we can move on to
other films and creators that legitimately deserve it.
Speaking of films that get more hate than they deserve, I
understand that the world has gotten tired of Liam Neeson’s action shtick;
hell,
I’m more than sick of it at
this rate. However, with that said, the numerous Worst Of The Year lists that
this has already landed on is frankly ridiculous. Maybe it’s because I make
more of an effort to see everything that comes out, and as such have actively
seen that there’s far worse out there, but this is the kind of film that should
generate apathy at worst. I’d honestly put
Taken 2 or even last year’s
A Walk Among The Tombstones far lower than this film in terms of his recent output.
Now for a film that legitimately deserves scorn to be thrown
at it. Even for a series that is as hit-and-miss as Jurassic Park, this is just
shameful in how lazy it is. The plot, the acting, the writing, the effects
work; it all smacks of a cheap cash-in that managed to benefit from the
nostalgia hype machine to become the
third-highest
grossing film of all goddamn time! I know that childhood memories have
dictated a lot of what has been screened this year; just look at the circus
surrounding Star Wars. But even then, word-of-mouth logically should’ve put
this film in the ground
long before
it reached its current box office bracket.
This is a long string of flack that the Transporter series
has garnered that it legitimately doesn’t deserve. Even with the absence of
British bad-ass Jason Statham this time round, the film’s approach to its fight
scenes alone should’ve gotten it at least some recognition as a change of pace
from the CGI explosion-heavy fare coming from everywhere else. I guess this
franchise’s place as a cult-only classic is secured by this point. Shame.
This one just confuses me on what exactly I saw that others
didn’t. Yeah, the plot is pretty standard 80’s action fare, but since when has
that been so bad a sin that it stopped other films from getting some level of
praise? Sean Penn is
not miscast, or
at least any more so than Liam Neeson was in the original Taken and look at how
well that turned out, and does a great job at portraying his character. Maybe
it’s because everyone was too fixated on wanting to see an action film and
weren’t willing to allow anything else to sink in in the process; I don’t know.
All I know is that I think this film got a bad rap that it didn’t really merit.
"Woody Allen apologists?" I sincerely hope that that is
referring to possible writing tropes that get repeated in this film and not his
real-world attitudes, because otherwise that is a particularly dickish way to
put it. Admittedly, I have only recently gotten into Woody Allen’s oeuvre with
Blue Jasmine-onwards and I do plan on getting through that slab of releases one
of these days, but until then I just see a well-written script with a lot of
thought behind it, being delivered by very capable actors.
There is something seriously messed up about the Australian
critical landscape. Like, almost to a self-destructive degree. These two films
aren’t on here because my opinions on them are in any way similar; far bloody
from it. Instead, they are here to represent just how broken the consensus is
when it comes to this country’s very sparse product. Manny Lewis got hideously
mismarketed as a feel-good comedy, rather than the relatively sombre character
dramedy that it really was. Yeah, the rom-com elements muddled it a bit, but it
still had a lot in its script that worked. Compare this to The Dressmaker, a
complete mess of a film that is being praised like few other local films have
been of late; it’s like The Water Diviner all over again. Until we collectively
get out shit together, I won’t rest because this mindset can only end up doing
harm in the long run.
I’m convinced that I just watched a completely different
film than everyone else; I simply cannot understand how a film with
this much going for it made it onto so
many Worst Of The Year lists (
Exhibit A).
The comedy was a bit weak, admittedly, but does that completely negate
everything else about it that worked? The excellent acting? The chemistry
between Eisenberg and Stewart? The nice sense of scope that didn’t make the
events feel too overblown? The visceral action scenes? The stunning
cinematography? The fantastic handling of montages? This is why I made it a
point of singling out Kristen Stewart in every film of her’s that I’ve
reviewed: Because people are
still
unwilling to give her a chance after everything that happened with Twilight.
This film might seem a bit high up on my list, considering
everything else that came before it. Sure, I certainly didn’t like it, but it
still didn’t even register enough with me for the most part for me to muster up
any real loathing for it. However, what pushes this right to the No. 1 spot is
this little number.
Every year, this argument gets brought up in some fashion: A film
written/directed/predominantly starring women is released to some bad reviews,
and someone says that they aren’t surprised that the mostly-male critical scene
hates a “chick flick”. It is because of statements such as this that I cannot
for the life of me side with the modern-day feminist movement: It’s just the
exact same sexist bullshit, just with the labels swapped around. Whenever
someone says that a film is shit, it isn’t because it doesn’t appeal to
Neanderthal testosterone-filled junk brains or sensitive estrogen-filled
emotional minds; it’s because the film is shit, plain and simple. Hell, even
when
I’ve brought up how some films
were probably not made with my gender in mind, I still find the time to
upvote/downvote elements of the production that worked or didn’t work
respectively. I give a very hearty, and very direct, fuck you to Clem Bastow
and every sexist piece of trash like her for continuing this farcical line of
argument.
*several deep breathes*
Man, that got heated at the end there. Well, looks like our
trip into all things hateful isn’t quite over yet. Join me next time for the worst films of 2015.
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