AUTHORS' NOTES:
Weatherman: I should probably start off by saying my pool of movies this year is limited to just five, two of which really came out last year but that I only saw this year. They are: Gone Girl, Chef, Frozen, Gravity and Pitch Perfect 2. The range for this installment is Feb. 17, 2014-June 2, 2015. I’m not the movie buff that Per is but I still enjoy putting these awards together, so henceforth the show must go on despite my lack of movie-watching and, I suppose, social life in general. That said, I probably watch more time watching good, quality TV shows so those will be included here.
Director: So far, the best film of 2015 is Mad Max: Fury Road. Trailer here. Most of what you see is not CGI, it is the real deal. Those cars? Those explosions? The flame-thrower guitar guy on the truck? Fuck CGI. Those are real. See this film as soon as possible. See it on a big screen with surround sound and get your ass kicked.
BEST FILM
Weatherman: Gone Girl - The best movie I saw in a theater this year. Saw it during Christmas break at home and it was a heart-thumper, mystery type flick. The murder of Doogie Howser was a bit much for this boy’s liking, but overall the movie had me twisting and turning emotionally and thinking about it afterward.
Director: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - It has a few rough spots, but overall this film was fun and entrancing. I could watch the ape society just do their thing for an entire film. Watching the apes start to create a civilization, and knowing that they will never really progress very far (based on the glimpse of the future provided by Charleton Heston), makes me excited to see what the filmmakers come up with in the next installment. [Editor’s note: runner up – Whiplash]
WORST FILM
Weatherman: Again, a small pool for me to pick from, but of the four, Chef was the worst, although it wasn’t that bad. For those that haven’t seen it, it stars Jon Favreau as a restaurant chef that quits his job and starts crisscrossing the country with his son in a food truck. He cooks. The kid handles the social media and hilarity ensues.
Director: Interstellar - Loved the spaceships and the effects and the space porn, but the plot just made no sense when I started to really break it down. And it was all over the place tonally and plot-wise. We’re having fun in space? Now let’s go back to a corn farm. Let’s meet an astronaut sent on a mission of exploration and survival alone. Now watch him screw up the docking procedure. Our heroes fail? Hand them a Tesseract.
BEST ACTOR
Weatherman: Olaf in Frozen - He’s not a real person, but whoever put together the little snowman character from Frozen was spot-on. Josh Gad does the voice-work. [Editor’s note: I hate Olaf with a passion. I don't think that was supposed to happen]
Director: J.K. Simmons as "Mr. Fletcher" in Whiplash - You will hate him. That is supposed to happen.
WORST ACTOR
Weatherman: John Leguizamo as "Martin" in Chef - He wasn’t even that bad, but his whole Hispanic shtick sometimes gets to me. Which could be racist. Looked it up and he’s Colombian-American. Director: Chris Hemsworth as "Thor" in The Avengers I & II – He’s got the looks, he’s got the brawn, he’s not really a bad actor, but neither does he bring anything exciting to the role of Thor.
BEST ACTRESS
Weatherman: Rosamun Pike as "Amy Dunne" in Gone Girl - Wouldn’t want to marry her character, but the actress didn’t a fantastic job.
Director: Emma Stone in Amazing Spiderman II & Birdman – I don’t know, I have a thing for her.
WORST ACTRESS
Weatherman: I was once told if you don’t have something good to say about somebody, don’t say it at all. That may be true, but truer here is that I really thought Anna Kendrick could have been better in Pitch Perfect 2. Sandra Bullock is usually a shoe-in but I liked her in Gravity.
Director: Scarlett Johansson as "Black Widow" in The Avengers II – I have a love/hate relationship with ScarJo. I just don’t believe she’s an ass-kicking soviet super-spy.
MOST OVERRATED
Weatherman: Gravity - — I know, I know, you were expecting me to say Frozen, right? Nope. I think Frozen was rated just properly, perhaps even underrated (spoiler alert) but all the crazies that love it so much. Gravity not so much. It was very good, but didn’t quite live up to the hype I saw people spewing on Facebook when it debuted.
Director: The Expendables 3 - Number 1 was just fun, number 2 was just silly, but number 3 somehow ended up just boring me. So much pointless action.
MOST UNDERRATED
Weatherman: Frozen - I knew everyone said it was good, but when I finally watched it, I was amazed by how the whole thing came together for an animated movie. It’s the first one I’ve seen in a while. They’ve come a long way since Toy Story. The characters in Frozen felt like real people that you could connect with it and it was a good story. Touching, I know.
Director: The Lego Movie - This film was straight up insane, like what might happen if you snuck some drugs into your nephew’s juice. And it was kind of subversive actually. It seemed to critique Lego’s obsession with licensing Hollywood movies instead of coming up with their own creations like in the good ol’ days.
BEST COMEDY
Weatherman: For the second installment in a row, I almost didn’t have a pick for this category. I must have to laugh more. I’ll go with Pitch Perfect 2, since I recently saw it to help fill out my pool of candidate movies.
Director: Grand Budapest Hotel – Sometimes Wes Anderson can be too precious for his own good, but this film might be his best yet. Fun characters, silly shenanigans, and surprisingly poignant moments. And don’t forget about the all-star cast.
BEST ACTION
Weatherman: Gone Girl - Also a mystery/thriller. See above.
Director: John Wick - Don’t call it a comeback, but Keanu’s found his perfect character. A classic revenge action film in which a reformed hitman comes out of retirement to headshot those who’ve wronged him.
BEST TV
Weatherman: his is my wheelhouse. First up, the three-episode stretch in the middle of this season of Homeland. Whew, had me on the edge of the bed! Next up, Downton Abbey. It’s labeled as a primetime soap opera on PBS on Sunday nights, but don’t let that dissuade you. Set back in the day in England at an abbey house, the show follows the ups and downs of family life during the time. A good show to watch with your lady friends. Thirdly, I’ve got the interview-show style with Feherty on Golf Channel. David Feherty is an entertaining personality who interviews some great subjects. Some are professional golfers. Others are celebrities with some interest in golf. It’s good stuff. As an aside, check out YouTube.com/LacrosseMag for TV-like things that I’ve helped produce this year.
Director: Not exactly “TV” anymore since Amazon and Netflix and others have jumped in the episodic series bandwagon. Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle is a fun show based on a memoir about the shenanigans that happen behind the scenes at the NY Symphony Orchestra. Yahoo online recently brought back the funniest show on
WORST TV
Weatherman: Everything on E! and Bravo. [Editor’s query: You watch E! and Bravo?]
Director: I only seek out TV shows I know I'll like, so I haven’t seen anything I don’t like, but I will say that The Walking Dead is beginning to get a bit tiresome.
WEATHERMAN'S GRAB BAG AWARDS
Show that I wish continued but ended
The Newsroom on HBO — Guess there wasn’t enough interest in this behind-the-scenes journalism show. Either that or Aaron Sorkin didn’t feel like writing it anymore.
Show that just keeps on humming
PTI on ESPN — Tony and Mike are at like 13 years now, and not missing a beat.
More Sports
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel remains great. The last episode featured a blind kayaker.
DIRECTOR'S GRAB BAG AWARDS
Most Disappointing
Amazing Spiderman 2 - I think Andrew Garfield is the perfect Spiderman, Emma Stone is the perfect Gwen Stacy, and whomever they were going to pick would have been the perfect Mary Jane. BUT the films themselves had some issues. The first one was a fun setup for Spiderman’s next adventures, but unfortunately number 2 botched it with too many villains and not enough personal stakes. The studio themselves hated it so much that they’re rebooting Spiderman (again).
Most Nonsensical
Inherent Vice - I expected that a Thomas Pynchion novel translated to film by Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There will be Blood) would be dense. But My God I still have no idea what was going on in this drug addled California detective tale. But despite this, I’m still convinced Joaquin Phoenix might be the greatest actor of our generation.
Underwhelming Sequel to a Great Film
The Raid 2 - The sequel to my Best Action Film of 2012/2013 had a few great fight scenes like the original, but where the original was lean and mean, basically some police officers trying to escape a drug ring controlled slum building, the sequel is bloated with characters and plot and none of the charm. I just want to see me some martial arts action! Is that too much to ask?
1 comment:
I did see Birdman. I thought it was good but the ending was predictable and kind of boring compared to everything that came before it. So I didn't think it deserved any awards.
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