Ant-Man -
One of the funniest Marvel movies to date, and certainly ripe with inventive, well-thought-out action sequences. So, for an action-comedy, surely this film deserves a higher rating, right? Well.. not really; both the romance and the family subplot are tonally jarring, and there is an abundance of lazy caricatures and cliches swarming around the chassis of the film - the now-tedious wooden villain being a key example. I think the sub-atomic scene sums up the film - incredibly brave and bold and wonderful to look up, but its resolution attempts near-successfully to diminish the experience.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation -
A hugely enjoyable spy caper with bombastic set-pieces and a reliably intense Tom Cruise performance, Rogue Nation manages to improve upon the series once more, with a fantastic hour and a half of popcorn fun, and only a dragging latter half hour of exciting but sporadically tedious resolution.
It Follows -
Stylistically up my street, It Follows is an incredibly entertaining horror that focuses on concept over jump scares to haunt you. It's cleverly shot, superbly scored and well-acted by everyone involved. Some 70/80s tropes are unavoidable, but I suspect that with It Follows' style, they weren't meant to be avoided in the first place.
Mortdecai -
A harmless 106 minutes of faux-British mystery. Inoffensive and not necessarily excruciating to sit through, there's nothing interesting about the film and the plot is both forgettable and lifeless. The pacing is all wrong, but Depp's performance is hardly, as some critics have suggested, the worst part of the movie.
Dude Bro Party Massacre III -
Made by the same guys behind 5-second-films, 'Dude Bro..' targets my demographic perfectly. It's nonsensical fun, rooted by charmingly terrible performances and a well-actioned sense of humour. It's one of the year's funniest films, made all the more impressive by a severely limited budget.
Shaun the Sheep Movie -
Light, charming Aardman fun with some terrific sight gags and superb referential comedy. This animation company can do no wrong, though this is certainly their weakest entry.
Fantastic Four -
Directed not by Josh Trank but by Fox Studios, Fantastic Four contains some truly terrific sci-fi horror elements and a solid first act, but these moments are sparse, amid terrible plot points, and the fact that the film seemingly forgets that it's meant to have a third act.
A Most Violent Year -
Brooding, atmospheric and excellently-paced, A Most Violent Year features two captivating performances from Isaac and Chastain; such a shame, then, that I wasn't invested in the plot.
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water -
Surprisingly hilarious, this sequel recalls the Spongebob of old in its 2D animation segments, with terrific time travel scenes and its infamous zany, self-referential humour. It expectedly takes a dip when Sponge is indeed Out of Water, but the 3D segment only takes up a 1/3 of the runtime, and the animation beforehand had been excellent.
The Gift -
Expertly crafted, The Gift has small ambition but anything but a small impact. Unsettling and engrossing in equal measures, the damp squib of an ending is made up for with some magnificent performances and a tightly-paced and structured plot.
The Man From UNCLE -
The best spy flick of the year hands down (though I'll have to wait until Spectre to see if it can keep the title), Guy Ritchie's UNCLE is the best kind of popcorn flick; its set pieces are glorious to behold, its soundtrack relentlessly brings a smile to my face, its humour is Ritchie at his finest, the tonal shifts are both seamless and daring, and Arnie Hammer gives one heck of a performance.
Paper Towns -
Honestly, Paper Towns felt like one half of a movie to me. It was harmlessly enjoyable and endearingly acted, and then it ended. A movie that I'm bound to forget by the end of the year.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl -
Alas, only a cliched plot keeps Me and Earl and the Dying Girl from receiving a full 5 stars. The cinematography is inventive and twee without feeling like its put in place for the sake of carrying an identity. The script is sublime, carrying weight and melancholy (and bundles of humour) that allow it to surpass other films of similar plotlines. Olivia Cooke and Thomas Mann's chemistry is the final piece of the jigsaw to create one of the best young-adult films I've seen.
