Surprises
5. Frozen
I have nothing against Disney, hell I think they're pretty awesome, but this movie was entirely different from what I thought. The trailers and ads were completely off, making it seem like a film specifically about a talking snowman and slapstick humour. The actual film uses the snowman as a side character who shows up at what's essentially halfway through, he's not the cause or main character.
4. Warm Bodies
The only reason this is on here was because it wasn't a new Twilight. I went into this film expecting yet another stupid teen drama with fantasy elements, but instead got a film that not only had a great sense of humour, but actual good writing and decent acting.
3. The Kings of Summer
Unlike other films I would classify as a surprise, I didn't go into this film expected a bad or mediocre film. I knew based on the trailer that this movie would be funny, It'd have a bunch of cool coming of age movie elements, all that good stuff. But I didn't expect this movie to have emotional depth, especially on this level. I'm not even kidding, this film is like Stand by me for this generation.
2. The Place Beyond the Pines
Again, I didn't think this movie was going to be bad, but I thought it would just be another "Ryan Gosling stares into the camera deeply and says nothing" movie. In reality, Ryan Gosling's role in the film isn't actually that primary. This is a dark crime drama, with lots of characters and lots of stories.
1. Evil Dead
The main reason I've put this film as #1 is because most thought it would be another dumb remake. And for a good reason, most remakes are just dumb remakes. Most of the time remakes are dull and bland, never having the qualities of the original, yet you can tell the director is trying way too hard to make this film like the original. This remake is different though, getting the best of both worlds. By making a film that sticks to the roots of the original while also bringing some creativity to the table, Fede Alvarez made what I think is the template by which all future remakes should be made.
Disappointments
5. Man of Steel
A film hyped up this much, with such a big iconic character, and a good director, how could it go wrong? I don't know how, but Man of Steel was kind of a mess. Sure, it had things I liked about it, but it also became way too much by the end. Most people were pretty divided about this film, fans and casual movie-goers alike, but my only thought on the film? Meh.
4. Only God Forgives
Just like Place Beyond the Pines, I thought (and was right) in thinking this would just be another Drive-ish movie. But how do you screw even that up so much? This film was a hot mess, with even more pretentious-ness than Drive, and even less lines from Ryan Gosling. In fact, unlike Drive where it made sense he barely said anything, due to him being autistic to some degree, it just doesn't work here. It seems less like he's acting and more like he's... bored.
3. Out of the Furnace
This film is really less on here due to quality, more because of pace. All the actors did a pretty good job, and as a film it was good, but it was just so boring and repetitive. The trailers made this seem like a dark thriller, but it's more a drama about "shit happens". It reminded me of how I felt watching J. Edgar, where I thought "I know I'm supposed to be interested but... I'm not".
2. World War Z
Now the thing is, this isn't a bad film. In retrospect, this film is a cool zombie film, and as a zombie film it really works. So you may be asking yourself "So why is it here?". In case you don't know, this movie is based on a book of the same name - a book I was and still am a huge fan of. And this film is a terrible adaptation. Unlike other fans of books who get mad when a certain scene or character isn't in the film, this film doesn't share any characteristic of the book. And I wouldn't be as disappointed about this if the production company that made this movie didn't own the rights, making a situation where nobody else can adapt it right.
1. White House Down
If you know me in real life (or at least saw me talk about this film in my film studies class) you know I wasn't a fan, to say the least. From the trailers, I knew this movie was going to be bad. I was going to watch a fun action movie. How do you actually manage to screw up the idea of a mindless action movie? This film manages to mess up on so many accounts, for one it is so goddamn boring. It takes 45 minutes for the action to start, and when the action does happen (in between really long poorly written dramatic scenes), it's the cheesiest action in the world.
So that's the list, sorry I haven't posted anything new in a while, that's just the nature of January movies.
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