Wednesday 31 December 2014

The Whovian Avenger's Best of 2014: Part One

2014 has been, to quote Peter Quill, "something good, something bad, a bit of both". There has been a great bunch of films which will become timeless classics, and others which will - or should - be forgotten as quickly as they turned up. This year, I was lucky enough to watch a larger array of films than previously released between January and December in the UK (so Oscar-nominated films will be included), and as such a new method of expressing the best of the year is needed instead of a standard list. So here is The Whovian Avenger's Best of 2014
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Best First Viewing of 2014
Starting off this celebratory ceremony with films not released in 2014, there was ample time to watch other films than just those released this year. Whether it was a film narrowly missed out in 2013, a cult classic not seen before or just a film I was interested in seeing, here are the nominees for Best First Viewing of 2014.
  • About Time (2013)
  • Captain Phillips (2013)
  • Frozen (2013)
  • Ghostbusters (1984)
  • Jurassic Park (1993)
  • My Week With Marilyn (2011)
  • Paranorman (2012)
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
  • The World's End (2013)

WINNER: The Perks of Being a Wallflower - It's no secret that I have an issue with young adult novel adaptations, so approaching this film was one of precaution. But instead it became a film that, if I was ranking any film seen over the year, this would be in the top spot. It features strong performances, an interesting story and memorable characters, and has little-to-no flaws.

Best Revisitation of 2014
Again, not released in 2014, and this time not a new viewing, this year has also left room for rewatching some films which I haven't watched in some time. It may have been for review purposes or for casual viewing, but to be eligible it can't have been featured in any previous yearly countdown but can have been written about more than a year before is rewatch. Here are the nominees for Best Revisitation of 2014.


WINNER: Scott Pilgrim VS The World - A good comedy makes you laugh on the first viewing. A great comedy can repeatedly make you laugh throughout. An excellent comedy can make you laugh on multiple viewings. Scott Pilgrim is a comedy done right.


Best Trailer (2014) 
Trailers have a big job in selling the final product, and when a trailer is released close to the film's release it needs to do its best to sell the film. 2014 has had a good year for trailers, but here are the best of the bunch. 
WINNER: Boyhood - I had no idea this film existed prior to the release of the trailer. This trailer not only sold me on the film, but also got me incredibly excited to see the 12 year journey for myself. 


Best Trailer (2015) 
Trailers don't just sell films released the same year, they also have to hype up films coming out the following year, no matter how big the time difference between trailer and actual release. The nominees are: 
WINNER: Avengers: Age of Ultron - For a film as highly anticipated as this, the trailer really needs to hit the right mark, and Marvel has done so with this first trailer for its upcoming sequel. It's bold, bombastic, and absolutely riveting - just what the sequel needs to be. 

Most Anticipated Film of 2015 
2015 is going to be a big year for film, as just about every anticipated film scheduled is released next year. Whether it's the end of the Hunger Games franchise, the revival of Star Wars or anything in between, it's probable that everyone will watch at least one film next year. 
WINNER: Avengers: Age of Ultron - Let's be swift here. The first Avengers topped my 2012 list and Marvel has been on a roll since. Add an appealing trailer, and it is incredibly hyped. I'm ready to buy my ticket already. 

Most Underrated Film of 2014 
Some films in 2014 have unfortunately received not enough praise by critics and audiences. Some have garnered praise later on in their run, such as underperformer Edge of Tomorrow, but these films have not had enough attention by general audiences or critics. 
WINNER: Belle - A lot of the films I nominated have started to gain attention now the end of year lists are coming out. Films like Frank and Chef, whilst not earning much financially or gaining a lot of audience attention, are gaining more and more praise whilst Begin Again and The Book of Life will likely earn Oscar nominations for its songs and animation, but Belle is perhaps the film with too little attention and the greatest details to offer. Despite looking disinteresting in its promotional material, Belle is a delightful little film that is far more than just another costumed period piece. 

Most Overrated Film of 2014 
Alongside the little-known comes the all-too-known, as some films do either stupidly well or well stupidly. But those which do really well are questionably good, as sometimes even the highest-grossing films can be terrible (such as Transformers: Age of Extinction - which I avoided this year). 
WINNER - The Inbetweeners 2 - Some of the films nominated were rightfully successful with at least some redeeming factors, others had very little to like. The Inbetweeners 2 had no redeeming factors. It's never funny, it's never enticing, and it was so stupidly successful in the UK that - if it wasn't already stated - a sequel would have been agiven. The first movie was bad, but this was abysmal. 

Most Disappointing Film of 2014 
Trailers can often be misleading. They can look incredibly good and end up bad or look incredibly bad and end up great. This is the former.  

WINNER: The Giver - The trailers did look surprisingly appealing, with the whole idea behind it at least being slightly interesting, much like how I approached The Hunger Games in early 2013. But when I finally got round to watching it, it was incredibly dull, stupidly long and questionably silly. It had the capacity to be good, but ended up being a poor show. 

Most Emotional Moment of 2014 
Films are best when they can affect you emotionally; when they can make you react to an element of the film. They don't always work, but when they do they do it really well. These are those really well done emotional moments. 
WINNER: Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Despite first watching the film in April, this scene still hits me with each and every viewing. It's a short moment in the early area of the film, but it has such an effect that warrants a win here.
 
Funniest Moment of 2014 
Comedy is an element which has to be done really well to even crack a smile from me. I've complained about modern comedy films aplenty as so few of them manage to earn a single smirk. But for these nominations, they've done really well. 
WINNER: Paddington - As running gags go, this was perhaps the most consistently hilarious gag that a film that could quite easily have been terrible could do.  Whilst the other nominations did humour successfully, they didn't hold up on repeat viewings as much as the repeat appearances throughout Paddington. 

Best Film Moment of 2014 
As for overall best moments, these can vary from a suspenseful moment to a scene of pure awesomeness. Whilst not "everything is awesome" with every film, no matter the quality of the overall product it can feature a great moment. Such as these...
WINNER: Interstellar - In a film which has divided audiences, this is the scene that has enticed everyone, and with good reason, as it's an incredibly tense moment with a perfect blend of silence and loudness. Add the great use of props instead of CGI for the exterior shots and Hans Zimmer's score, it is the highlight of the year in terms of singular moments. 
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Tuesday 30 December 2014

Trailer Talk: End of Year Catch-Up

What with birthdays, assignments and Christmas galore, this poor little feature has been left behind to make way for personal events and other projects/reviews. So with the end of the year hours away, let's catch up with the December trailer releases, starting with...

Terminator: Genisys
There is a lot going on this sequel/reboot, as it attempts to keep to the original timeline of the quadrilogy whilst rejuvenating the franchise for a new audience, and as such will of course upset its core fans. Add to some...interesting choices in casting - I'm happy with Jason Clarke following his role in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes but against a lead role for Jai Courtney - and there is clear reasons for worry. But this trailer, highlighting both the new and old aspects of the film, does show there is some care being given to the series, thanks to director Alan Taylor being a strong choice to follow the footsteps of James Cameron, Jonathan Mostow and, to a lesser extent, Joseph McGinty Nichol. There is still much to worry about, but this trailer eases the pain.

Little Boy
ARGH! Religious demographic pandering! Terrible child acting! Kevin James! Avoid!

The Walk
Whilst I'm sure this tease looks great in 3D, a 2D showing of this makes you focus less on the spectacle it tries to bring out and more on the somewhat ghostly appearance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Phillippe Petit. But once you get past the pure-white face of the film, you do get what is quite simply a very vague teaser, only allowing public understanding when researched or explained in the description. What with a 2004 documentary also focusing on Petit's travel between the Two Towers - Man on Wire - also remaining in the public eye, it may be a hard film to gain love, despite Robert Zemeckis directing.

San Andreas
Say hello to 2015's Into the Storm, with a flashier but still untrustworthy-financially cast and earthquakes instead of tornadoes. Is this the return of the natural disaster genre? God I hope not.

Still Alice
This very well may be Julianne Moore's most important role to date, as she looks phenomenal in it. The topic is one not often discussed in film (the only other use that comes to mind is in Rise of the Planet of the Apes), and the way it's portrayed and written here is very strong. If I remember to, I may try looking for this film come March/April time.

Inside Out
Hello Pixar my old friend! This longer look at the incoming return of the animation studio gives a bit more of an insight as to how emotions work within this universe, with hilarious and visually pleasing results. The variety of the emotions does both intrigue and humour the audience whilst giving a nice little tease into this magical world of the mind. Arguably not as strong as the first trailer, but still a delight.

Mad Max: Fury Road
I prefer the first trailer from Comic Con. There, I said it. It was incredible visually and showed the world that the film was going to be big. That's not to say this trailer doesn't, but the editing is a bit too choppy by comparison, and there isn't as much intrigue as before. Sure, it still looks bold and bombastic, but not as much.

Hot Tub Time Machine 2
The only person I trust here is Adam Scott, and that's only for his television work. I'm doubt this film will be any good.

Kingsman: The Secret Service
You don't need to hear me sing praises to this film again, you already know it's looks good. This trailer doesn't change my opinion one bit.

Insurgent
Have I mentioned how much I dislike this franchise? This looks like a predictable bland second instalment which either jumps too far from its roots or not far enough from Divergent's quality. Bleurgh.

Get Hard
Remember what I was saying about Hot Tub Time Machine 2? Well, minus Adam Scott, and it's just like that. Sadly it'll probably do really well financially thanks to the popularity of both Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart.

Kill Me Three Times
I like Simon Pegg, so this film did grab my attention. But this trailer, aside from one or two gags, doesn't really stand out against all other black comedies of the same genre. It's a bit basic despite some of the talent involved and seemingly moving the action to Australia (I think). A possible pass.

True Story
Comedians moving to drama can often work. But two big name comedic hits in one dark drama may not resonate well with audiences when they see the posters for True Story. The trailer does come cross as a simplistic tale of distrust and manipulation, but whether it'll be any good fails to be shown here.

In the Heart of the Sea
It's a pity this newer trailer for Ron Howard;s next feature looks a bit more generic, as the first tease was so grand and spectacular that it could easily garner a ticket bought (going by comments made by viewers before my screening of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies). Here it's all more basic, more simple, more meh. It still has some extravagant shots, but not as much as before.

Focus
With this and the first trailer, I'm now confused by the film's plot. What is going on? Is Margot Robbie a apprentice of Will Smith's or an enemy? Thank god a Suicide Squad trailer hasn't come out too because then I'd be more confused than ever!

Entourage
I haven't seen the TV series of the same name, so the beginning of the trailer did confuse me majorly. Once it turned out to be a film by the main characters, I started to dig it more, until it turned into a conventional "we need to save our jobs before it's too late!" story, alienating this viewer as I have no bond towards these characters. It was a turn off for me, and may be for others.

The DUFF
Still looks like a generic teen comedy with predictable plotlines and 'twists'. What a way to end the year!
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