Evan Griffin’s Top 5:
5. The Nice Guys
While the pacing may be a bit more slow and concise compared to Shane Black’s other punchy, snarky films, The Nice Guys is a 1970’s pulp mystery novel as told by a couple of useless private investigators. The beats of the storytelling can be easily compared to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but the chemistry between Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling drive the film along, albeit half the gags in the film were Gosling screaming like a little girl. Despite this, The Nice Guys is easily one of the smarter of the ‘buddy cop’ movies that will be found in 2016.
4. Popstar Never Stop Never Stopping
Man, this movie is stupid, and there is no way I’d ever apologize for liking that it’s as stupid as it is. The songs are as good as the best Lonely Island Digital Shorts made for SNL, the music and comedy celebrity cameos are perfect and Samberg is as enjoyably annoying as ever. It’s This Is Spinal Tap for a millenial generation, and while it may not be as dry and witty, it has equally good commentary on the state of the music industry and hilarious songs that demonstrate the knowledge of how to write music.
Read Evan’s full review.
3. Captain America Civil War
Despite the massive and silly action set piece in its second act, this is Marvel Studio’s most mature film yet. While it runs long at 2 and a half hours, the Russo brothers directed this film with an impressive fluidity, even while cramming in a cast bigger than any Avengers movie yet, as well as introducing Black Panther, and reintroducing Spider-Man into the connected marvel-verse. Natural dialogue and actions spell out each character’s motivations and intentions as each fall on either sides of a political movement that could ruin what The Avengers stands for. Even a larger than life character like Tony Stark is made to seem more vulnerable here than we’ve seen him in every film so far. And while it can be argued that, yet again, Cap has a third movie where the sole focus is saving his friend, I found that the finale of this movie brings a pay off for that consistent theme in seeing Steve and Bucky being friends again for the first time since we were introduced to them in The First Avenger in 2011.
2. Deadpool
Blah Blah Blah, meta jokes and subverting the genre, blah blah blah commoners have superhero fatigue. The important thing about Deadpool as a movie is that the character, despite being a butt-ugly cretan, is likable. Audiences enjoy the company of Deadpool like he’s the friend that points out all the terrible things on our conscience that we would never say out loud. Maybe he’s crass, maybe sick in the head, but his intentions are respectable and good, albeit selfish. As long Ryan Reynolds keeps this character consistently funny and not borderline evil, people will continue to root for him the way they rooted for Walter ‘Heisenberg’ White.
Read Evan’s full review
1. 10 Cloverfield Lane
Maybe I’m just a fan of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, maybe I’m just more forgiving of J.J. Abrams’ concepts than others, maybe I’m more surprised to see John Goodman as a genuinely creepy character as I grew up with him as a very jovial, earnest character actor. The original Cloverfield was a cool concept for teenager to go see and pick things apart from, and appreciate cool creature design, but in a world of cinema post-Paranormal Activity, TJ-Miller’s Found Footage doesn’t hold up all too well. 10 Cloverfield Lane, however, is a mature mystery novel with only the slightest hints of science fiction. By trapping these characters in a bunker together, it becomes a movie for character acting, and survival and suspense storytelling. Goodman’s performance is flawless here, and will never falter in my opinion that he deserves an Oscar nomination until the year ends.
Advertisement
