My 2015 in Movies #2

As the first cinematographic post of the second half of this year, I bring you my annual movie review spree. I am a bit taken aback by the amount of films I’ve already seen. It’s only been six months and I’ve already seen 40 films. I never expected to get to this number so soon but truth be told, once you organise you week’s schedule to the utmost detail, it really is possible to do a lot with your free time. Also, after dinner I’m usually already super tired to be able to work and do something productive, so I might as well take advantage of this time to do something else, more entertaining so to speak. Half of those films were probably watched during our monthly movie nights, which is something that I will really miss when this adventure in the Netherlands is over. May was actually a very good month because I went to the cinema three times. Another thing that I’m not really used to because that’s probably the amount of times I’ve been to the cinema in each year for like the past four or five years. However, going to the cinema in the Netherlands isn’t that funny for my pockets because a ticket costs 9€. I hope you like these 20 suggestions. You can see the previous 20 film reviews from this year here.

Bridesmaids – even though this is a romantic comedy, I really enjoyed watching it. It is absolutely funny and really good. Honestly, I never expected to like this film as much as I did. And incredibly enough, I really didn’t mind the fact that this film is so cheesy.

Life Partners – I feel tempted to say that this film is cheesy, but in general it is not at all. I gotta say that this film is surprisingly cute and adorable. I did not expect liking this film so much as I did; it’s a really good film. I recommend it.

Song One – for a romantic comedy it isn’t that cheesy at all, which is something that I really appreciated. Despite all the drama that it obviously has, it really is a light film. The soundtrack of this film is absolutely amazing and lovely. I really liked it. Nevertheless, I think the film leaves some loose ends.

Warm Bodies – this is a really funny film. It is listed as a horror film, however I cannot see where it is – just because a film has zombies in it, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a horror film. This is more of a comedy film than anything else. And in the end it is quite predictable. The best thing that this film has is its soundtrack.

Tarzan – the list of classic Disney films that I remember watching as a kid is very limited. I’m pretty sure I watched most of them. The problem is that I can’t remember doing so. I don’t think this was the first time I saw “Tarzan” but probably it was. Well either way, this is a really good film and those tiny gorillas are the most adorable things in the world. This film has also an amazing soundtrack.

Laggies – I don’t know what has happened to me because I’ve been watching too many romantic comedies lately. But the weirdest part is that they haven’t really disappointed me, so I’ve been hello lucky with my choices so far. This is a really good film with quite a lot of funny parts in between. It’s cheesy until a certain point but not too much, which is great. I really liked this film.

Angels & Demons – you guys have no idea of how much I love this film. I love it so much that this must be the 100th time I’m seeing it. And I am not joking or exaggerating, not at all. This has been my perfect background noise when I’m doing work. When I was in high school this addiction got to the point where I could reproduce the entire first 15 minutes of the dialogue. And I can still do much of it now. Either way, this is a well done film; one of the best in its genre, at least for me. All actors made magnificent performances, especially Ewan McGregor and I’m not biased at all towards him (yes I am, who am I kidding?). One of the strengths of this film is without a doubt its soundtrack; it is perfect.

The Amazing Spider-Man – it is inevitable to make comparisons with the first films made about spider-man, so that’s kinda what I’m gonna do with this tiny review. I would like to say that both stories are almost the same but I think they are just similar. And honestly I prefer this remake. I think it is way better than the first attempt. And I also prefer these actors, by what I mean Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone (even though I always loved seeing Kristen Dunst as Gwen Stacy). After watching this remake, the first films are so boring. This one is really really good and funny, which is something that I appreciate. And from what I’ve been told this spider-man is more faithful to the its original comic version, where he is sarcastic and funny. I think Andrew Garfield made a very good performance.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – such an amazing film (if we ignore some details of its plot, that couldn’t be change even if we wanted because that’s how the story is), with such amazing performances. I am really happy with the casting for these two films because the actors were perfect for their characters. This was a job better done than the first films. Apart from what I said about the main actors in the above review, Dane Dehaan was better than James Franco, we gotta admit that. I’m just a bit sad that this franchise was cancelled because I’d like to see Andrew Garfield as spider-man in more films but I’m quite curious now about the prospects of a new reboot.

Big Eyes – this is such a good film. The action is a bit slow at the beginning but it soon catches up and turns out to be an amazing film. I loved Amy Adams performance; she is amazing and a very good actress. And Christoph Waltz was brilliant as always. I love his work more and more by every film I watch with him in it. Also, Tim Burton did an awesome job with this film. The woman who did these paintings (I mean the real person in whose work this film was inspired in) is an absolute artist. There aren’t that many paintings of her on the Internet (most of them are the ones created for this film) but the ones we can see are just beautiful. I wish I had one of them. Finally, this film’s soundtrack is also very good.

The Inbetweeners 2 – once more I didn’t see the first instalment of these films but honestly it doesn’t really matter. You can watch the second film without ever having watched the first one. This is a very funny film and it’s guaranteed that you will spend the entire duration of it laughing like crazy.

Madeline – another film for kids but that it’s totally worth even if we’re not in our childhood years. It’s sweet and funny and entertaining, which is all we need at those ages.

Skyfall – I’ve been a fan of 007 since I can remember, so there was no way on earth I wouldn’t see this film. This was actually my third time watching this film and it is without a doubt one of the best they’ve ever made. I’m an avid fan of action films and this is definitely an amazing film within that genre. You don’t need to see all these films in a row to understand its plot (even though there’s still an obvious connection between them), so of you just wanna see a 007 film, I highly recommend this one.

Avengers: Age of Ultron – another amazing film done by Marvel studios. They have actually been doing a pretty amazing job with this franchise. For those of you who like this genre of films, you won’t be disappointed. There’s plenty of action in it and lots of destruction too, and miracle as it was New York was spared this time. Awesome performances by the whole cast once more. Loved the new additions to the Avengers family. In my opinion, the best part of this film was the fact that they gave us some background history of a couple of the characters. I think this is always a nice touch to have in these kind of films. I honestly left the cinema wanting to see the film again. I saw it in 3D and while it does look awesome, I’d still prefer the normal version. 3D is perfect for action scenes where there’s stuff flying around, but for the rest of the scenes, it just makes them a tiny bit blurry.

Son of a Gun – any film with Ewan McGregor in it is already a good film to watch but this one is certainly worth your time; well at least for those of you who like this genre. The plot is nothing extraordinary but I really liked it. It definitely has a good plot twist and an even better ending. It turned out to be way better than I expected. Also, this film has a really good soundtrack. Absolutely nothing to do with the film quality or anything but there was a serious brilliant choice of accents for this cast. It really is one of the best details of this film.

Unbroken – this film is really really good. It is way better than I was expecting, and Jack O’Connell did an amazing job with his character. It’s inevitable not to draw a plot around the whole battle between the good and bad side of a war, but even so, I think this film did a reasonably good job portraying something more impartial. What it does make us realise is that we are a horrible species, especially to ourselves. Something that I really liked about this film was the attention paid to some details. The characterisation of the characters is something extraordinary; well done really. In the end, it’s a shame that I am only watching this at home. This would have been a perfect film to see in the cinema.

Ex Machina – the first time I heard of this film I thought it would be something in the same genre as the “Exterminator” and that didn’t sound appealing at all to me. But then I read its summary and it sounded really interesting. I’m glad to say that the film exceeded my expectations. Really good performances from the whole cast and an amazing plot. I think one of the best parts about this film is that it introduces some important questions currently featured in AI debates. The only really negative aspect about this film is that it is sometimes quite slow, but other than that I really recommend it to you guys, if you haven’t watched it yet.

Guardians of the Galaxy – apart from all the X-Men films (that I still wanna watch), this was the only Marvel film missing from my watched list. Seriously, I should have seen it a long time ago because it was really amazing. One of the funniest films I’ve seen in a while; better than some comedies to be honest (even though that’s not his genre at all). This funny element has to be one of the best features of Marvel. Apart from very good performances by all the actors, what really stands out it’s the amazing soundtrack that this film had. Also, Groot is the most precious thing I’ve ever seen and he should be protected at all costs, and I kinda want a tinny Groot just for myself.

Rush – I’ve been wanting to see this film for so long and I’m glad I finally decided to watch it. This is a freaking amazing film. Seriously, go watch it of you haven’t done so. I know the story is real and all of that, which doesn’t make this something extraordinary because all of it actually happened, but that was a hell of an awesome plot. I think I loved every aspect of this film, from the soundtrack to every detail about and around the cars, including the amazing performances from Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl. Amazing amazing film and an even better story.

Pitch Perfect 2 – this film was hilarious, absolutely hilarious. I basically laughed throughout the whole film. I don’t know if it better than the first film but it is definitely as entertaining as the first one. This version is really cheesy but they did it in such a way that it is actually enjoyable. I really recommend this film.

Have you seen any of these films? What did you think about it?