The Loved Ones

 

Does its very best to not be 'just another torture movie' by deploying heavy emotional back story for every character no matter how minor, a smart counterpoint sub-plot and a Jack Ketchum level of derangement in the final act.

Despite all this it will probably be best remembered for a bit with an electric drill.

I Am Chris Farley

 

Determined to be celebratory rather than muck-rake so we get lots of early SNL footage before the last quarter of his life gets seriously glossed over. Did laugh myself to tears at Farley falling through a table though.

 

Spring

 

I was going to be clever and simply say 'Linklater + Lovecraft' but then I realised the poster already says that, so i'll go with 'Accomplished slacker romance with tentacles' instead.

 

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

 

Tiny Tom Cruise manically rushing from one death defying scrape to the next whilst the rest of the film bravely tries to keep up.

 

Inside Out

 

Pixar prove their mastery of the form by anthropomorphising emotional states in order to describe the existential crisis of a pre-teen girl leaving her childhood behind. Primary coloured, funny, touching and deeply profound all at the same time.

 

The Island

 

Gives away its mysteries a bit too soon, probably because Michael Bay is in a hurry to get to where he can just throw stuff at cars and make Scarlett Johansson pout a lot.

 

Society

 

I'm pleased to report that this has weathered it's age extremely well, its still the glorious trash that it was twenty odd years ago. King.

Simon Killer

 

Drab character study of a parasitic wanker.

 

Ant-Man

 

Marvel's most basic formula for hero creation flourishes due to a strong character driven script and a clever inversion of Marvel's sense of scale that ends in superb cosmic weirdness.

 

The Death Of "Superman Lives": What Happened?

 

An insight into the insanity that is the brain of a movie producer. They really are fucking mental.

 

Escape Plan

 

Deeply average excuse to put Stallone and Schwarzenegger together despite the fact that they're both far too old for this shit.

 

Terminator: Genisys

 

Just makes the contrast between films of yesteryear and the inconsistent, idiotic bullshit of today even more stark.

 

Divergent

 

Another piece of teen fiction that sets up a convoluted restrictive society so it can be brought crashing down through a combination of independent thought, selflessness and running about whooping like a moron.

 

Giallo

Argento succeeds in emulating the shoddy editing, stilted dialogue and nonsensical plotting of classic Giallo whilst also giving things a modern edge by using digital photography to make it all look flat and stupid.

Meanwhile Adrien Brody gives proceedings an edge of hilarity by radiating a clear, intense disdain for everything going on around him. Here's my favourite as Brody responds to a particularly woeful edit;

 

 

 

We Are The Night [Wir sind die Nacht]

 

A German update of old fashioned lesbian vampires, swamped in flashy, modern consumption.