The Sarkeesian Effect: Inside The World Of Social Justice Warriors (2015) - Movie Review

At the start of my catch-up this year, I promised what would be the single worst film I could ever cover on this blog. Quite frankly, I can think of few things that are dumber than discussions surrounding one Anita Sarkeesian. I’ve voiced my own issues with her in the past, equating her to a rock band that wants to push hardcore political discourse but are completely inept when it comes to writing actual music. Just so we can be clear on this point, and I don’t get morons trying to twist my words, I’ll state my full opinion on her here and now. Sarkeesian’s main goal, that being opening the lid on certain sexist tropes and attitudes prevalent in video games, is commendable in and of itself and I applaud the fact that the discussion was being made at all.

However, between her rather unethical practices when it came to the content of the videos themselves, up to and including stealing footage from other YouTubers without due credit, and the frankly sexist crap she would frequently tweet, I don’t think shewas the right person to make this discussion the hot button issue it was. So, when I found out about this little-seen documentary about the Sarkessian phenomenon and the tidal wave of hatred that would soon follow, I figure this would be worth a gander as a means to discuss a different brand of critic than I’m used to discussing on here. With that said, ignoring the production woes this thing went through that could probably make up a whole other article’s worth of analysis, how does this film turn out?

Atop The Fourth Wall: The Movie (2015) - Movie Review

I’ve brought up the notion of sheer objectivity in film criticism before, and how for various reasons I just can’t apply myself to that school of thought, but this is one of those occasions where I kind of have to address something in the interest of objectivity. I am something of a regular producer for a large number of the shows that I have covered over the last month, which thanks to services like Patreon has been made a lot easier for laymen such as myself. Now, while there could have been arguments made about bias considering these are people I am actively putting money towards on a semi-regular basis, the fact that I’ve been mostly sticking to lists of their best work should already show that I have a rather biased approach to these shows already. This is something a bit different, as I along with a slew of other people contributed directly to the production’s Indiegogo campaign, meaning that my name (my birth name, at least) is attached to this feature-length production. Maybe if I saw any revenue as a result of my involvement with the thing, this would actually factor into things, but… yeah, this is pretty much just me admitting to being involved somewhat with the thing in keeping with how generally open I am about whatever stance I may already be in when going into a film. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get started with this thing already.

Top 20 Best Films Of 2015

Well, after spending the last few posts wallowing in my own misery, time to shake off that bad mojo for good as I look at the Top 20 best films that I had the pleasure to see last year. While, in comparison, it wasn’t as good as 2014 as a whole, it still produced some truly amazing works of cinema that deserve to be watched and re-watched. I know that I mentioned a disdain for honourable mentions before, but then again, I’ve used honourable mentions myself in last year’s lists so hypocrisy shouldn’t be anything new. That said, I still want to give a special shout-out to Hitman: Agent 47, the Best Worst Film of the year. This is the film that was just so awful that it actually reached entertainment from the other end, thanks to its terrible acting, writing and special effects. Now for the official, legitimately good picks of the litter.

Top 20 Worst Films Of 2015

Time to air out the last of the dirty laundry as I delve into the Top 20 worst features I had to sit through last year. Why Top 20? Because how many Top 10 film lists have you seen with 10 'honourable mentions'? Might as well cut out the middle man if I’m going to do that. Just like last year, this list is comprised solely of theatrical releases: If it was released during the year through DVD, NetFlix or elsewhere on the Web, it doesn’t get counted. This is just reserved for the celluloid trash that the studios, in their infinite wisdom, decided was worthy of getting a proper release. These are my picks for the 20 worst films of 2015.

Top 11 Critical Disagreements Of 2015

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.

Holding The Man (2015) - Movie Review

 

On June 26^th of this year, a legal decision shook the majority of the Western world when it was decided that same-sex marriage would be made legally recognized for the entirety of the United States. In the ensuing months, the debate for similar legislation here in Australia has constantly being brought up and shot back down again with equal vigour. It would eventually reach the point where, even without having officially solved anything, the matter would fall away from the public eye like so many other “important” issues of the past. Given how much of an impact this had on how the rest of the year would shape up, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up as we come to a close on what was a particularly interesting and eventful year. As such, we come to the last film in my list of releases that slipped by me the first time through. This is Holding The Man.

The Good Dinosaur (2015) - Movie Review

Since we’re at the point where Disney has such a monopoly on the world’s entertainment, making a statement like “They’re having a good year” would be rather redundant. It’d be like saying General Electric has made a profit; it sets off ‘no shit’ alarms pretty quickly. That said, even for a company as prolific as Disney, this has been an amazing year for them: The continuing success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Inside Out, the latest iteration of Cinderella and let’s not forget the hype singularity that is The Force Awakens. And even outside of their commercial write-ups, their average for quality has been far better than previous years; hell, my top two films of the year are both Disney properties. So, considering all that, I can think of no better way to close out the year than with a look at another release from the House of the Mouse. So, for the first part of the finale of my insane month of reviews, let’s take a look at Pixar’s second release for the year: This is The Good Dinosaur.

Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) - Movie Review

Flash-forward two years after our last review. James Wan is becoming a force to reckoned with in Hollywood thanks to Fast & Furious 7 and writer Leigh Whannell is gaining some speed on his own thanks to his work on Cooties and The Mule. A new instalment of the Insidious series is in the works with Whannell set to return as writer and in his supporting role. However, he is now also going to be directing, with this being his debut. With several returning faces from previous instalments, and new cinematographer (Brian Pearson) and editor (Timothy Alverson) being brought on board, Whannell might just have the tools he needs to pull this off. Given how the last cinematographer would go on to try and demolish the Conjuring legacy with Annabelle, replacing him means that we're already off to a good start Only one way to find out.

Beasts Of No Nation (2015) - Movie Review

Well, after our last encounter with straight-to-NetFlix films, I can safely say that I am rather sceptical about this. Then again, that’s like if the first movie I ever saw at the cinema was bad and I immediately thought every film shown there was bad. Of course, given my record for pessimism in my reviews, that might actually be the case for all I know. Anyway, tangent, we have a film about African child soldiers to deal with. Grab a stiff drink, ‘cause I think we’re all gonna need it.

Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015) - Movie Review

Suffragette (2015) - Movie Review

The Ridiculous Six (2015) - Movie Review

I hate Rotten Tomatoes. Despite how it’s widely considered to be a good barometer for how good/bad a film is, it’s surprisingly broken if you actually look at the scores. Some of the reviews that are listed as Fresh or Rotten, if you actually look at even the blurbs on the site itself, are extremely arbitrary, the actual overall score is tucked away underneath the big percentage rate, and said percentage only amounts to how many people liked a film vs. disliked a film. Not how much, just whichever way their opinion falls. For a site that’s meant to help show an overall opinion, being misleading is probably the worst thing you can do. However, with that said, they are especially good in one certain area: The 0%; the films that absolutely no-one defended. Given how this illustrious list includes films like C Me Dance, Fred: The Movie, A Thousand Words and Keith Lemon: The Film, easily some of the worst films I’ve ever seen, that integer still carries a lot of weight. So, what does that say when today’s subject is only one of the three released by Happy Madison Productions to have received a 0%? I mean, that’s means that this is even worse than The Master Of Disguise, That’s My Boy and Paul Blart: Mall Cop, among so many others? Is this truly that bad? Time to, reluctantly, find out.

Daddy's Home (2015) - Movie Review

 

The Death Of "Superman Lives": What Happened? (2015) - Movie Review

Every year, thousands of films go into production all over the world. Some get global releases, others are more local, some go straight-to-DVD, others to online outlets, and some just don’t get released at all or, at the very least, get delayed countless times from being released. But then there are times when, for one reason or another, production just stops dead. All that work done by the numerous cast and crew members to realizing an artistic vision, all those man hours that goes into the concepts and attempts to actualize them, all that potential for could very well be a masterpiece; just gone to pot. There are a lot of stories like this, particularly in the realm of superhero movies: The third Joel Schumacher-helmed Batman film with Courtney Love as Harley Quinn; the Green Lantern film starring Jack Black in the lead role; all those Spider-Man spin-offs and sequels Sony had planned before Amazing Spider-Man 2 turned off the entire world. However, far more than any other, there is one story that has captured the minds of a lot of film and comic book geeks: A collaboration between the poster child for modern-day Goths, the biggest comic geek-turned-filmmaker and an actor known for his legendary scenery-chewing.

Joy (2015) - Movie Review

 

David O. Russell might be one of the most emotionally intuitive filmmakers working today, if not ever. Every film he’s been attached to explores some inner working of the human psyche to (usually) great effect: Sex (Spanking The Monkey), personal identity (Flirting With Disaster), greed (Three Kings), comfort through the metaphysical (I Heart Huckabees), pride (The Fighter), depression (Silver Linings Playbook), deception (American Hustle) and… okay, I haven’t quite figured out where Accidental Love fits into this overall picture.

 

Nevertheless, the man is a phenomenally good writer and director, especially in recent years. After the largely confusing mess of Huckabees, which people seemed to love or hate for the same reason (that it made no sense), O. Russell went through a definite change in his tactics. His slapstick style of direction became more introspective, resulting in a trio of films that were not only good but were legitimately some of the best films of their respective years, if not the entire decade. So, given how much I clearly adore the man’s work, I look forward to today’s subject hoping that Accidental Love wasn’t some kind of ill omen. Even for filmmakers I like, I can’t help being cynical.

X+Y (A Brilliant Young Mind) (2015) - Movie Review

When a person is discovered to have what is considered above-average intelligence, there is a certain expectation that they will fulfill their potential. Now, to a degree, this is understandable: Knowing how many truly stupid people exist in the world, it really would be a shame if someone with genuine intellect would just let it go to waste. But then, there’s the side effects that that kind of expectation can have on the person in question. I remember my last day of Year 10 excruciatingly well, as probably one of the best and one of the worst of my entire school career. Somehow, and I still don’t know how, I managed to top the class in my English School Certificate. The next year, I was “heavily advised” to go into the Advanced class, despite my best wishes. This would end up culminating in my HSC two years later, which officially broke me because not only was it clearly beyond my abilities, but that I was expected to pass it by my teachers. Sure, hindsight is a miracle worker and let me understand that all that work really doesn’t mean jack shit later on in life, but in a vacuum it is a horrific experience. Keep that idea of the supposed responsibility to one’s own intelligence as we get into today’s subject.

Nightmare On Elmo's Street (2015) - Movie Review

What is it about puppets that fascinates us so much? I mean, the outreach of Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop is staggering, between the Muppets, Sesame Street and their other miscellaneous works. Maybe it’s as an extension of our reaction to ventriloquist dummies and how a decent performer can convince an audience that the object made of felt with a hand shoved up its rear, or maybe it’s because we are willing to accept some aspects of the Uncanny Valley which some of the better puppets can reach; either way, it has served as a source of comedy for a long time now. Of course, being the age that we live in, they have also been used to further the tradition of taking all that is child-friendly and twisting them until the heads of their souls drop off. Whether it’s the transgressive humour of Meet The Feebles, the bitingly relatable musical Avenue Q or the numerous YouTube accounts that have made use of how relatively cheap it can be to make puppets, the more adult audiences have been able to enjoy this phena-mahna (da-doo-da-doodoo) as well. Time for our first dive into the realm of all things fuzzy on this blog, as we take another look at the filmography of Bill Zebub and, at least in my case, hope for something a bit better than last time.

Escobar: Paradise Lost (2015) - Movie Review

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, which around here is going to involve keeping a promise I made about a year ago. Back when I reviewed Mockingjay Part 1, I brought today’s film and how I wanted to check it out based on the strength of Josh Hutcherson’s performance. Well, as I inch closer to the end of my December double feature fest, I figure now is as good a time as any to give it a try. This is Escobar: Paradise Lost.

Loving A Vegetable (2015) - Movie Review

No-one will ever be able to predict how much I’ve wanted to talk about the director of today’s film on this blog, because this is truly one of those oddities that you can only stumble across by sheer accident: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world of Bill Zebub. For this one, I once again have friend of the blog Diamanda Hagan to thank, as she reviewed not one but three of the man’s films: Forgive Me For Raping You, Zombiechrist and Dolla Morte, the last review of which looked so insane that I just had to find out for myself and wound up purchasing the film on DVD.

Cut to a few months ago, and my mother texting me if I had heard about the film ‘Antfarm Dickhole’, no doubt the most infamous of his filmography. I then ran straight into her room, clutching my copy of Dolla Morte and proceeded to educate her a bit more on the subject. After trying (and failing) to convince her to watch it with me, I went to the mighty Google and found out that he had two new films out this year. As if I needed a better excuse to check out more from Zebub. Let’s get started with today’s subject: This is Loving A Vegetable… which, in terms of film names, is about as innocuous as Lucio Fulci’s Don’t Torture A Duckling. I can only hope that it doesn’t involve mating with produce.

Dilwale (2015) - Movie Review

I’m kind of surprised and, honestly, kind of disappointed that it’s taken me this long into the year to talk about another Bollywood movie. Given how we had not one but three arrive at my local last year, I honestly thought that we’d get more coming in this year. However, probably as a result of the release drought in response to no-one wanting to directly to compete with Star Wars, as well as the mass releases on Christmas Day, this is one of the few new releases that have come in in the last few weeks. Well, even given my admittedly limited exposure to Indian cinema, I reckon I’ve taken a look at a semi-decent sample: There was Kick, which started out shaky but ended up pretty good, there was Happy New Year, which was alright but a bit forgettable, and then there was PK, which was legitimately surprising in the best way possible. Time to see how today’s film measures up to the minor experience I’ve had previously.