Top 10 SFF Films of 2015

Films that will not make this list:

Jupiter Ascending

$176,000,000. That’s how much was spent on Jupiter Ascending‘s production. Inevitably then, that’s how much everyone wishes was kept in the pockets of the studio who produced Jupiter Ascending. It was pretty, the action-y scenes – where you could forget about the storyline – were fun to watch, but the whole film was a complete disaster… probably the biggest since John Carter – which tried the same ‘hopefully if we dazzle the audience with pretty stuff they won’t notice the lack of plot, the holes in the thin plot that there actually is and illogical script we’ve given the actors’.

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

The first film was pretty good. It was Battle Royale with decent acting, a decent script, good effects and a storyline you could get behind. The second film was more of the same – it didn’t really make such sense that you’d be sent back to the games with a partner – it felt a little bit too similar to the first – but it was a passable movie and even worked to set up the finale… then we ran into issues. The third movie focused more on the emotional and psychological side of the Mockingjay’s journey, as opposed to the physical one. I don’t think many people will argue that stretching this side of things out over two films (Mockingjay Part 1 & Part 2) was a greedy move by the studio and one that completely ruined the pacing of the films. Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2 had about as much boring, uneventful and unnecessary content as it did meaningful and exciting. If they’d stuck with just three films they could have solidified the franchise’s legacy. As it stands though I think we will all be glad it’s over and done with.

Honourable Mention:

Fantastic Four

Nowhere near as bad as we are told it was by critics. Everyone expected Fantastic Four to fail and although it won’t go down as the best Marvel movie ever, it was fun enough. I think Doctor Doom was a pretty good villain (I’ve always had a soft spot for him – bought the Funko Pop toy and everything) – his presence was pretty terrifying and the effects surrounding him were on point. I think the thing people will find disappointing about this movie is that it really is so throwaway, there isn’t much character growth beyond your usual tropes, ‘self absorbed guy becomes team player guy’, for example. But, again, nice visuals, dark storyline that fits modern trends, fairly fluent amount of action and decent casting.

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials

If you’ve not seen the first Maze Runner film, I’d certainly recommend checking it out. Like the first Hunger Games movie, it’s full of action and features a wide variety of young characters that you quickly come to care about. The second movie asks a lot of viewers – basically a PG zombie-survival movie with the characters making appallingly stupid mistakes and generally just ploughing forward illogically. It has got decent effects, there is plenty of action (silly as it is) and the need to know whether the characters survive will get you through it far less painfully than The Hunger Games…

Turbo Kid

I don’t think it was a coincidence that Turbo Kid came out the same year as Mad Max… Turbo kid is most easily described as a mixture between that movie and Kick Ass – as if made by someone who REALLY loved the 80s. There is violence – oh so much violence, but the film really relies on your ability to laugh at the over-the-top nature of the thing and its nostalgic to appeal to the geek within. In fact, the movie’s only real let down is its length (too long) and the bits that aren’t over-the-top crazy insane… it would have made a superb hour-long special on television, it’s a little long at 95 minutes.

Our Top 10 of 2015:

10: Terminator: Genisys

The last few Terminator films had been preparing me for something really, really terrible… I even wondered whether they were heading down the straight to DVD route. Then, Terminator: Genisys trailers dropped, Arnie was revealed as being back and the movie ended up being pretty fun. It seemed like the franchise returned to its roots, but at the same time added a modern modern feeling and complicated plot. The visuals and action were there too – nothing too special, but sufficient. I’m not sure I fancy another one, but in a year where the SFF entries were pretty light it was most welcome.

9. Monster Hunt

Family movie Monster Hunt out performed both Minions and Inside Out domestically (both movies I REALLY enjoyed by the way, but I can’t quite label as SFF for the purpose of this list). That’s quite an amazing achievement and is apparently the first time a movie from outside the US has taken in more revenue than every single Hollywood release (do note, however, there were a number of factors such as currency fluctuations and international movie blackout at play). For those unfamiliar, Monster Hunt is a live action/CGI hybrid. In a world based on medieval-China, a human man gives birth to an incredibly cute baby monster (Huba). The child of a monster/human is not at all popular in a world where humans and monsters generally don’t see eye-to-eye. So baby Huba must be protected from the monster-hating humans and various monsters that want to capture him. It’s a lot of fun and although you will need to watch it subtitled it’ll pay you to check it out.

8. Jurassic world

There were memorable moments in Jurassic World, such as an unarmed Chris Pratt trying to calm dangerous raptors. There was a half-decent plot, although it was fairly generic and trope-filled. Killer Dinosaurs were pretty much everywhere… The lead did a really great job at keeping things light. And yet… something was missing. Perhaps it was an actor who could match Chris’s presence or a failure by the script writers to really take any of the characters anywhere. The result is that it’s hard to say more about Jurassic World than ‘meh’ and hope they do a better job with the confirmed sequel.

7. Chappie

Chappie is a movie that would probably have been ranked a bit higher if another title higher on our list hadn’t approached the same topics (the rights of an AI and what it means to be human) in a far superior manner. However, Chappie, as it stands, is a really fun and enjoyable movie that forces you to confront issues that are inescapable for the human race, but never rams them down your throat. It’s a heck of a movie that has you tearing up at the injustice of Chappie’s treatment one minute, laughing at his limitations and silliness the next, then holding on white-knuckled to the arms of your chair as Hugh Jackman blows stuff up with a huge mech a few minutes after that.

6. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Another movie that could probably be ranked a little higher. However, after the mind-blowing experience of the first Avengers movie, this didn’t really bring much new to the table. I, personally, felt that Ultron wasn’t quite as dangerous and/or as volatile as he has been in the comic books and that hurt the movie… maybe, too, it is time for new characters to begin stepping in (as we know is soon to be the case with the Civil War storyline). All that said, Avengers 2 still offered a fantastic movie-going experience. There was that familiar humour, there were incredible visuals, there were heroes and villains with near-perfect chemistry and it’s just amazing to think where superhero movies are now versus 15 years ago.

5. Mad Max Fury Road

If you like action, you like weirdness, you like cars, you like Tom hardy: this could well be your number one movie of the year. Imagine if The Fast and The Furious was thrown into some kind of Dystopian world and all the main characters went a bit mental – well, now you aren’t too far off. There were viewers (such as myself) who were so weirded out by all that they were seeing that they couldn’t quite find a way into this movie to the same degree as so many others did. For those who slid straight into the passenger seat and shout about the unique, crazed thrill-ride that this provided, I’ve put it in my top 5 – I respect that it provided something modern cinema has been missing.

4. Ant Man

I keep reading that ‘this will be the movie Marvel drop the ball’. It was said about Guardians of the Galaxy and it was said for Ant Man. It just wasn’t the case though… arguably the two lighter entries into the Marvel Universe have been their most enjoyable. Regardless of where you order them, it would appear that Marvel has found the magic formula for making action hero movies and they’ve been able to use it, with just very small changes, over and over again. What made Ant Man brilliant was that it was, definitely, much lighter than the other Marvel entries and yet never stopped being clever or unable to maintain its breakneck pace.

3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The return to the world of Star Wars was a success in my eyes. I think we all had our niggles: I wasn’t 100% sold on the casting, some felt certain lines were awkward, others felt cheated by a rehashing of an already used plot – but it was ten times better than the prequel movies and promises great things to come. If you like action, laughs, innocent cheesiness, breathtaking visuals, loveable characters – this is a movie that will make you smile. Most importantly it felt like Star Wars and it has been so, so long since anyone has been able to say that about a movie… bring on the next!

2. The Martian

The Martian should be an incredible boring, familiar movie… a guy stuck on a planet with no-one around and nothing much to do. The movie never allows this to be the case though, it manages to remain consistently engaging through it’s star likeable Matt Damon who ensures we are thoroughly amused and cheering on his survival attempt. The means he stays alive and maintains hope is made fascinating and I think geeks everywhere knew they were going to love this film when we heard the line: “I’m going to have to science the s— out of this.”

1. Ex Machina

This might not have had the same kind of budget as many of the other films on our list, but it didn’t need it. The important part of this film was getting the android perfect: she/it needed to look and feel human enough and yet machine enough. The director nailed it. Ava reached viewers through the claustrophobic interview sessions in the same way she reached our protagonist. She forced us to ask questions about whether we should be playing God – ever, what rights a sentient machine should have and oh so much more besides through multiple lenses. It was a film that was both emotionally and intellectually demanding, it’s one that should be watched alone and reflected on for years to come.