2016 Movie and Score Awards

2016 was not the best year for movies.  In fact, I would say it’s probably the worst in awhile.  Most of the summer blockbusters were pretty disappointing.  I think I saw nearly every movie from the year I want to see, so it's time to give out some fake awards.  But first, some thoughts on this year's movies.

Let’s start with superhero movies.  Those are the biggest things going now.  There were a couple of good ones, and a couple of stinkers.  The best, for my money, was Captain America: Civil War.  This is not because of the airport scene alone, though that was probably the best scene of the year, but overall it was a solid addition to the MCU.  The second best was probably Doctor Strange, which was a little more fun than I expected.  Visually it was astounding.  The cape stole the show.  Then there’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the most polarizing movie of the year.  I would say it was not perfect, for sure, but it was a heck of a lot better than many people will say.  Ben Affleck was the best live action Batman I’ve seen, Wonder Woman was awesome, Superman was fine.  And, while people make fun of the “Martha” moment, I could not believe I had never thought of that connection before.  I was actually shocked!  Deadpool, which so many people loved, I thought was way overblown.  Suicide Squad was probably the most disappointing movie of the year.  Margot Robbie and Will Smith were excellent, but the rest of the cast was merely good to terrible.  The dancing witch is one of the worst villains I’ve ever seen.  Finally, X-Men: Apocalypse proved that the X-Men trilogies have no idea how to do a finale.  A truly terrible movie.

Science fiction had another solid year.  10 Cloverfield Lane was the most suspenseful movie of the year.  Rogue One and Star Trek Beyond were both excellent additions to their franchises.  In fact, I would argue that Beyond is the best of the new Star Trek so far.  Passengers, as I recently wrote, was disappointing though still well made.  Arrival is a beautiful movie with some interesting ideas that will leave the viewer thinking about them for awhile, and of course wondering what they just saw.  The only terrible science fiction movie was Independence Day: Resurgence, and boy was that one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.

Let’s talk about the overhyped movies, because there were a few.  I already mentioned Deadpool.  Another majorly overhyped movie was Zootopia, which I thought was merely a decent animated movie.  I thought it was more annoying than great, and really the spoiled the best scene (DMV) in the trailer.

Speaking of family movies, I really liked Fanatastic Beasts.  Sure, it’s not Harry Potter, but it was still quite good.  Finding Dory was a very good return to form for Pixar.  Sure, it’s not as good as the original, but the octopus was a great addition.  The Jungle Book verges on the overhyped.  It was good, but not great as many people made it sound.  I thought it was a bit disjointed.

Then we have the disappointing movies, which is the largest amount of movies this year.  I already mentioned Suicide Squad, Passengers, and X-Men (plus I guess Independence Day).  The other most disappointing movie of the year was Jason Bourne.  That trailer had me really excited for one of my favorite franchises.  It wasn’t a bad movie, per se, and it had some great action scenes as you would expect from a Bourne movie.  The biggest problem was, as many people have said, it was exactly what you expected.  There were no surprises, it was paint-by-number, it only muddled the storyline unnecessarily.  Another disappointing movie, for me, was Hail, Caesar!  Now I’m not a big Coen Brothers fan, though I really like a few of their movies.  I thought this movie was a can’t-miss, but it ended up being boring and just bad.  And then there was The Girl on the Train.  I read the book because I knew the movie was coming out.  I didn't particularly like the book, but it was quite suspenseful.  With Emily Blunt I figured the movie would be good, despite the negative reviews.  Well, the reviews were right.  The movie was a mess and had none of the suspense of the book.  What a huge swing and a miss.

There’s also a few movies that were just kind of there.  This would include things like Criminal, Hush (which was pretty dumb), Money Monster, Risen (interesting concept not done well), and Now You See Me 2 (did we really need a sequel?).

There was also one very underrated and underwatched movie.  I remember seeing the trailers for The Nice Guys and thinking it looked interesting but not something I'd run out to see.  So I didn't.  And neither did anyone else.  I finally saw it streaming much later, and I thought it was really funny.  Certainly it's not as good as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, also from Shane Black, but if you liked that you will like The Nice Guys.  And it actually made me like Ryan Gosling, which I thought was impossible.

One other movie I have not mentioned so far, because I’m still not really sure what to make of it.  Silence.  I really wanted to love this movie.  I did like it…up to a certain point.  (Spoiler)  The martyrdom and the torture of the faithful was powerful, as was the psychological battle of Padre Rodriguez.  But the movie made a huge turn, for the worse, when he hears Jesus’ voice (as someone else said, how dare they put words in the Lord’s mouth?) and then completely destroys itself when he apostasies.  It almost make apostasy seem ok, which is not ok at all.  So while it was a beautiful movie with good acting, I left angry.

What’s left?  The best movie of the year: 13 Hours.  It was the first movie of the year that I saw, and it set a high standard.  It was not perfect, but all around it was the best.  It was very emotional (I left the movie very angry, but for the right reason).  It was shot very well.  The acting was good.  As a friend said, it was like a new Black Hawk Down.  And I finally saw Hacksaw Ridge.  Maybe it was hyped too much for me, but while I thought it was a good movie, it felt incomplete in some way.  I am happy to see Mel Gibson back making epic movies since, no matter what you think of him personally, he is one of the best directors for telling an epic story.

Best Superhero Movie: Captain America: Civil War

Best Action Movie: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Best Comedy: Finding Dory

Best Family Movie: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Best Suspense: 10 Cloverfield Lane

Best Science Fiction: Arrival

Best Drama: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Best Movie: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Worst Superhero Movie: X-Men: Apocalypse

Worst Action Movie: Criminal

Worst Comedy: Hail, Caesar!

Worst Family Movie: Risen

Worst Suspense: Hush

Worst Science Fiction: Independence Day: Resurgence

Worst Drama: Money Monster

Worst Movie: Independence Day: Resurgence

5 Favorite Movies:

Rogue One

Captain America: Civil War

Fantastic Beasts

Star Trek Beyond

10 Cloverfield Lane

5 Best Movies:

13 Hours

Captain America

Hacksaw Ridge

Rogue One

Arrival

Best Actor: Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)

            Honorable mentions: Andrew Garfield (Silence), Chris Pratt (Passengers), Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling (The Nice Guys)

Best Actress:  Amy Adams (Arrival)

            Honorable mentions: Jennifer Lawrence (Passengers), Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train)

Best Supporting Actor:  John Goodman (10 Cloverfield Lane)

            Honorable mentions:  Daniel Bruhl (Captain America), Ben Affleck (Batman v Superman), Adam Driver (Silence), Will Smith (Suicide Squad)

Best Supporting Actress: Angourie Rice (The Nice Guys)

            Honorable mentions: Alison Sudol (Fantastic Beasts), Rebecca Ferguson (The Girl on the Train)

Now, let's talk about my favorite part of the movies, the music.  I hate to say that they have been on the decline recently, but so many of them are just white noise any more there's nothing really to distinguish them.  So, very few stood out for me this year.  I'm just going to name those that are worth mentioning, in no particular order:

Arrival (Johann Johannsson) - the best music in this movie isn't even the score, it's a track by Max Richter at the beginning and end

Batman v Superman (Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL) - another lackluster Hans Zimmer effort, with the exception of the fantastic Wonder Woman theme

Captain America: Civil War (Henry Jackman) - yet another mediocre Marvel score

Doctor Strange (Michael Giacchino) - finally a Marvel score that stood out, with some really interesting Eastern/70s sounds

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (James Newton Howard) - this would be solidly middle of the pack Harry Potter music

Finding Dory (Thomas Newman) - a solid follow up to Finding Nemo

The Girl on the Train (Danny Elfman) - Elfman in his most forgettable

Hacksaw Ridge (Rupert Gregson-Williams) - the music is fine

Independence Day: Resurgence (Harald Kloser & Thomas Wander) - like the movie, the music pales in comparison with the fantastic original

Jason Bourne (John Powell & David Buckley) - while it's hard to go wrong with Powell's Bourne music, there's nothing really that interesting here

The Jungle Book (John Debney) - uses the original Disney music well

The Legend of Tarzan (Rupert Gregson-Williams) - I listened to it, can't say I remember it

The Magnificent Seven (James Horner & Simon Franglen) - the last music the iconic Horner wrote, it's great to hear the original theme spliced in

The Nice Guys (David Buckley & John Ottman) - some decent 70s sound, but like most Ottman there's not much to remember it

Passengers (Thomas Newman) - I've listened to this more than any other this year, and it's so good it makes me want to see the movie again

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Michael Giacchino) - I wrote about this more before, but again I'll say he did very well in the short time he had

Star Trek Beyond (Michael Giacchino) - another good addition to the franchise

Suicide Squad (Steven Price) - there are moments that are good

X-Men: Apocalypse (John Ottman) - see: Ottman comment on The Nice Guys

10 Cloverfield Lane (Bear McCreary) - does a great job of building the suspense

13 Hours (Lorne Balfe) - like the movie, reminiscent of Black Hawk Down

Best Score:  Passengers (Thomas Newman)

Best Drama Score: Passengers (Thomas Newman)

Best Animated Score:  Finding Dory (Thomas Newman)

Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Score: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Michael Giacchino)

Best Action/Adventure Score:  Captain America: Civil War (Henry Jackman)

Best Horror Score: 10 Cloverfield Lane (Bear McCreary)

Best Genre Score:  The Nice Guys (David Buckley & John Ottman)

Best Composition:  Michelle (from 10 Cloverfield Lane, Bear McCreary)

Best Theme: Is She With You? (from Batman v Superman, Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL)

Best Love Theme:  Spacewalk (from Passengers, Thomas Newman)

Best Action Sequence:  The Tunnel (from Captain America, Henry Jackman)

Best Use of Classical/Source Music:  On the Nature of Daylight (Max Richter, in Arrival)

Composer of the Year:  Michael Giacchino

Passengers: Movie Review

It’s been a long time, between a hectic end of semester and Christmas break at home (where I never get anything done, even when all I set for myself was to learn the Latin Mass parts for the server) I just haven’t had time to write anything.  So I’m back, at least for now.

I finally got to see Passengers.  This was a movie I was very much looking forward to, even despite the poor reviews.  I was hooked from the trailers: a relatively new concept for science fiction (though similar to a story I had thought about for the past decade or so), two of my favorite actors, and sleek-looking trailers.  I wanted the movie to be good, though tempered after the aforementioned reviews.

To put it simple, I thought it was…not bad.  Let me start with some of the positives.  (Spoilers follow)

As would be expected, the acting was quite good.  Chris Pratt has proven to be able to do just about anything.  He was believable as a man stuck by himself in his desperation.  Jennifer Lawrence was also quite good, though somewhat going through the motions.  In other words, she was more Hunger Games and less Silver Linings Playbook.  That being said, I bought their relationship.

It was also a very good looking movie.  The special effects were very good, especially the water bubble when they lose gravity and the star as they fly by.  I also really liked the look of the ship, it was pretty different from what we’re used to.

As would be expected, Thomas Newman brings the goods, though as at least one review stated it was mixed a little loud at times.  We’re moving into the good-bad parts of the movie.

The tempo was a little off.  This is something that I will get into more after the review, but there were aspects that I would really have liked them to deal with more.  For instance, there is a huge ethical dilemma in the movie. Chris Pratt is so isolated he nearly kills himself.  I can buy that.  He stumbles upon a girl who attracts him, and he “falls in love” with her.  All good.  Then you have the huge ethical dilemma: go crazy by himself or doom someone else to die by waking them up?  They deal with it a little, but not nearly as much as it needed to be.  That being said, I thought Pratt did a great job of expressing the inner turmoil, especially after she wakes up, until she finally says “thank you.”

There are always the problems of convenience.  It’s a good thing he’s a mechanical engineer, so he can fix things.  It’s a good thing the one crew member wakes up so he can help them just when they need it.  Again, I know in each movie there will be conveniences, this just got to me a little bit.

There’s also the bad science.  Hearing the space collisions at the beginning of the movie, especially after Gravity did it so well a few years ago, was a bit disappointing.  Then there’s the whole “death and resurrection” of Pratt at the end.  The science was overall a little too Hollywood.

There’s also the stakes.  You don’t every really feel worried about them.  The trailers told you pretty much everything that’s going to happen, so no surprises.  It’s all a bit paint-by-numbers, which is disappointing especially after we’ve seen a slate of good science fiction movies in recent years with similar themes (Moon, Gravity, Interstellar, etc).  I just expected more.

So, in the end I think it’s good, but had the potential to be so much more.  There’s nothing really “bad” about it, but it also doesn’t really stand out.  I’d give it a 7 out of 10.

Now, as I was driving from the theatre thinking about it, I think I figured out how it could have been much better.  In effect, there was too much story for a two hour movie.  It really should have been a television event, like an 8-10 episode series like Stranger Things or something.  Here’s how I would envision it:

The pilot sets up the whole story.  It’s basically the first half of the first act of the movie.  The Avalon is travelling in space, something happens, and Pratt wakes up.  The rest of the episode is him trying to figure out what went wrong.  It ends with the bartender telling him to live a little.

The second episode is him living a little.  It gives you (and him) time to explore the place.  But it also shows how tedious it all is, how even in the fun he feels the isolation.  End with his spacewalk and near suicide.

The third episode introduces Aurora.  One day she’s just all of a sudden there as Pratt is walking around the station (the original screenplay had the reveal of him waking her up in the final act-which would have been much better).  He is cautiously happy to have a companion, while she is going through all of the problems he had in the first couple of episodes.  He helps her realize more quickly that they’re in it together.

The fourth episode is the relationship episode.  They fall in love with each other and everything is great.  It ends with some kind of problem on the ship.

The fifth episode is them working together to temporarily fix whatever is wrong, but realize it’s just a patch.  This episode ends with the big reveal that he woke her up.  Just when things seem bright, they get darker and darker.

The sixth episode is their estrangement.  It really gives time to explore both sides of the moral dilemma.  Why did he do it?  How does she respond?  This is probably the most interesting episode.

The seventh episode introduces the crew member.  He’s not going to be just a convenience; he’s going to stick around a little while.  A third wheel, making their relationship even more strained.  Meanwhile the ship is in it bad.  Things are failing all over.  Basically this is the first half of the final act of the movie.

The eighth episode resolves the problem.  They have to work together, maybe the crew member dies in the accident (not because of health problems, something dramatic), and Aurora realizes she cannot go it alone.  The thing is, she needs him more out of human necessity, not the new found love as in the movie.  They fix the ship, but there is still tension.  They should not be in love with each other in the end, but more stuck in this thing together.  That’s more realistic.  End on a semi-happy survival note.

Then it could be really interesting to see more of what happens.  I would love another season or more, but I think it would be cool if future seasons were a mix between the two on the ship and the future on Homestead II.  Someone is reading her story (so their timeline is flashbacks) as they are settling the new world.  That would really expand the whole story and make it more compelling.  Anyways, I know this isn’t going to happen, but I still think it would be interesting.

I think that’s enough on Passengers for now.  Next I need to see Rogue One again so I can properly rank the Star Wars movies as they currently stand.