History will probably not remember this because he missed earning an Academy Award nomination for his first performance, and he may miss out on this one as well. Still, the physical transformation from Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as sickly, twisted reporter Lou Bloom in 2014’s fantastically crafted Nightcrawler to the lean, mean, fighting machine Billy Hope in 2015’s Southpaw is remarkable. As people watch either or both of these movies in the future, they will likely forget that he filmed them back-to-back. But aside from how he changed the physical look of his body for each role, his acting in these films might be two of the best of his career, and they continue to hit all the right buttons, save for The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I’ll start with Southpaw: the less you know, the better off I think you will be. If you haven’t seen it, I will list my overall score here. I suggest not reading any further until after you’ve seen the movie, or if the surprise factor isn’t something you are interested in. I’ll let you know when I add spoilers to this review. I would give Southpaw an overall score of 87.5/100.
Category Archives: 2015
Terminator Genisys (2015)
I wanted to like Terminator Genisys. I did. I know it got slammed by the critics (26% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), but I am a fan of the franchise. I even watched Terminator Salvation (a movie that Christian Bale should never have wasted his time with) a few days prior in anticipation of this movie. I knew all about the movie’s problems. I knew that fans of the franchise would, at the very least, be disappointed. I knew that many of the die-hards were upset with this movie. I had heard that it was confusing and difficult to follow. I knew that the trailer gave away the movie’s major twist. Yet I was willing to forget all of these things and held out hope that this movie could be more. I mean, this was the Terminator franchise. It couldn’t be worse than Predators, Live Free or Die Hard, or Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, could it? Those three movies were packed full of junk (especially Indiana Jones) and should never have been made.
Jurassic World (2015)
It’s been 12 years since we last saw the Tyrannosaurus Rex tearing up the supposedly revamped dinosaur park in Jurassic Park III. While much better than the 50% rating it earned on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie signaled the end of the franchise. Gone were Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum. There was talk over the last decade to reinvigorate the series, but nothing ever materialized. Then came the decision to call this Jurassic World rather than Jurassic Park IV and add all-new players to the game.
Had this movie been released in 2005 (to continue the pattern of every three years), this movie would have stunk. Even with its 2015 release date, it still could have stunk. But it didn’t stink. It wasn’t the original (93% on Rotten Tomatoes and $350 million domestically + another $50 million on re-release in 2013, not to mention the millions it earned overseas and through rentals). However, it was still very, very good. If this were the first movie with “Jurassic” in the title, it would have earned a higher rating than its respectable 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. With over $200 million drawn on opening weekend, it’s likely to smash any of its predecessors at the box office (by contrast, Jurassic Park earned just $50 million in its first weekend). Regardless, if the movie received a rating of over 65% fresh, it would probably do very well at the ticket office. I didn’t think it would do this well. But it deserves its positive reviews and its revenue. It was a very entertaining movie, and I recommend seeing it on the big screen.
Ex Machina (2015)
Sometimes, when you see a movie that you know nothing about, you are treated with an unknown little treat – a film that will stick with you forever. Ex Machina is the movie this year. My comparison here is to the Brad Pitt/Morgan Freeman gem Seven. It was a movie I knew nothing about. I had only heard that it was a movie I must see through word of mouth. Seven probably has a place in my all-time top 25 forever. That’s how good it was. But a lot of this initially high rating was because of how in awe I was when I saw it in such a small, rickety stage theater converted into a movie theater in Lexington, VA, in the fall of 1997. Now, Ex Machina is not in the class of Seven. But like Seven, it is a gripping, carefully scripted movie that will stay with you long after you watch it. Ex Machina will challenge for best movie of the first half of 2015.
The Harvest (2015)
It’s never really a good thing when your movie is released on Video on Demand the same day it opens in the theater. This is slowly changing and becoming more widely accepted because it helps some independent movies earn more money. However, it still means that, regardless of how good a movie is (in any category), it is not eligible for an Academy Award nomination. So if it is a movie you think will be great, you wouldn’t make it available on OnDemand until after it leaves theaters. With that said, all those involved with this movie (regardless of whether you loved it or hated it) knew that it would never be in contention for an Oscar award. The Harvest is a movie I would not have seen in theaters, and had it not been on OnDemand at the same time as its theatrical release, I would have missed it altogether. Their release plan was good. The film, on the other hand, was meh.