Films of 2016 - Part One

No 10-4

In reverse order, here are the films I most enjoyed in 2016. The term enjoyed is key here, in that some of these are Oscar contenders yes but some are simply good movies even if they may not raise the highest of highbrows. Please note that of course, I'm no Mark Kermode and I have not seen every film that came out this year. Feel free to ask if I have seen this and that and I'll say if I did and why I didn't include it on the list but there will be great films not here just because I didn't get to see them. 

Shall we begin?

STOP THE PRESSES!

Due to a late entry, the following film has been bumped from No.10 to the honourable mentions.

Bonus Honourable Mention.

Arrival

I'll make it clear from the get go, I LOVE this director. His last two films have comfortably made my list (Prisoners and Sicario) and this narrowly missed the list by mere minutes. Mysterious UFO's appear on random points of the globe and the army ask a decorated language expert (Amy Adams) to further their communications with the unknown life forms to ascertain their intentions. It's mature, doesn't talk down to its audience and for a science fiction film, doesn't rely too much on special effects to tell the story. In fact they could have painted a Pringle black and zoomed in real close and we'd still say it was good. The ending to the film is poignant, raw and leaves you with a question you may find asking yourself and whether you'd do the same as the characters would. 

In a nutshell...

Close Encounters meets Interstellar in a Pringle. 

10. 

Eddie the Eagle

"What!?" "I did not click your link for this drivel" 

Hold your horses. If you don't see Eddie the Eagle, you're likely to miss out on one of the cornerstones of cinema, the ability to sit back and enjoy. This won't win an Oscar, maybe perhaps not even a BAFTA. But it has more heart than most. For those not in the know, it's a true story about Britain's most famous ski jumper Eddie Edwards who tried to compete at the Winter Olympics and who became a bit of a laughing stock but won people over with his determination. 

The easiest but also truest comparison would be 'Cool Runnings' and this also uses the spine of a true story and injects comedic and drama into the scenes inbetween and there is no doubt there is some creative license given to the side plot but I'm sure Kate and Leo weren't really being shot at by Billy Zane as they bombed it around the Titanic but we lapped that up. It's true life tale even takes place at the exact same Olympic games as the Jamaican bobsleigh teams efforts. 

The role of Eddie and the main reason this has survived the top 10 is down to Taron Egerton who last made this list in last years 'Kingsman: The Secret Service.' His charm is undeniable, his ability to win us over no matter who he's playing is unquestionable. He makes you believe that he is who he's playing and it's not the role you'd expect someone coming off the back of kingsman to take as it's not glamourising enough to make studio bosses knock at the door. 

There are always curveballs on my list but it's not because I try to be surprising (although it's a bonus), it's because you can boil a movie down to one simple question...Did I enjoy it? And the answer to this was a resounding yes.

In a nutshell...

Cool Runnings with less Candy.

9.

Eye in the Sky

Drones. We all love a drone. Maybe 99% have never owned one but they can be used for a great manner of fun things that we sometimes see on Facebook. They also have the ability to change lives. Every week there's a news story about a near miss with an airline and one day it will happen, but this real time drone drama is based in it's more primary environment, warfare.

This is as solid a thriller as you'll see this year. It's not full to the brim of side plots, pointless monologues and chuffa. It gives us the target objective and then spins around the moral justifications of who we're spying on and what to do next. A known terrorist is hiding in a newly identified location and the film focuses on what action to take and how much collateral damage the government is willing to accept. To say that a bombing strike may kill some civilians may be easy to accept to some, but to see them actually go about their day before your decision changes or possibly ends their life and you second guess your choices. The other more common question of "kill one to save a thousand" also comes into play.

There's some weighty cast included also. Helen Mirren as the trigger happy Sergeant, Aaron Paul as the pilot with a conscience, Barkhad Abdi (last professing himself "the captain now" in front of Tom Hanks) as the undercover operative and in his last on screen role, Alan Rickman as the behind a desk General taking heat from mostly inept government officials who only see media angles and spin.

Eye in the Sky is essentially a thriller but unlike most, a good one, methodically made and with clear tension and realism. Order from Amazon and it may even deliver it by drone, oh the irony.

In a nutshell... A season of Homeland in 100 minutes.

8.

Swiss Army Man

Known in some circles as "the fart movie" or "that one where Daniel Radcliffe is dead in it" those two summaries aren't too far off the mark but Swiss Army Man is so much more.

Paul Dano plays a man about to end his life, seemingly alone on an island when a dead body (Daniel Radcliffe) washes up on the shore, the soaking corpse still releasing gas from its rotting corpse. To explain further would be a spoiler in my opinion except to say that the two castaways set out on an epic adventure to find their way home. The film is most definitely a two handed, almost in theatre form, by Dano and Radcliffe with Dano giving his usual excellent performance but Radcliffe handling the tougher of the two roles, restricted by movement and emotion, he still manages to 'act' and still manages to zig zag his choice of acting jobs so that no one could guess what role he'll go for next. To enjoy this film, it helps to enjoy indie film and the quirks that come with it as well as an element of disbelief. The filmmakers said about Swiss Army Man that "the first fart will make you laugh and the last will make you cry." I'd say that's fairly accurate.

In a nutshell... Where the Wild Things Are meets Castaway but on a budget.

7. 

Deadpool 

Quite often we hear of the comic book movie that turns the genre on its head (Guardians of the Galaxy, Watchmen, Scott Pilgrim) and this is the latest example to do so but to do so in such style and to dominate pop culture for a whole year is a feat in itself. 

The biggest R rated film...ever!

It did so by sticking to the source material, perfectly casting its lead role and marketing strokes of genius. But to do so, they had to reinvent the past and that past was messy. Ryan Reynolds had already played a mongy version of Deadpool already and this new iteration would technically exist in the same universe. How do they explain that away? By making fun of it, breaking the fourth wall and laughing at itself and it's predicament, the studio were so scared of Deadpool that they didn't support it with known X-Men characters so Deadpool made fun of that too. Above all else, Deadpool is hilariously funny even though the plot and in my view, the action is sub par. The best adaptations don't shy away from risky decisions and this was the risk of 2016 that paid off.

6. 

Captain America: Civil War

Rated above Deadpool!? Some will agree, some will disagree. Boil it down though and it's fairly easy, the action in Deadpool was low in quantity and in quality whereas with Civil War, the kitchen sink warehouse was bought and thrown at this film. Not only that, we have seen these characters on their various journeys for years now and it finally gives us some real meaty conflict amongst heroes. The villain merely sets up a few moral roadblocks and lets internal bickering ensue. The Captain America brand is becoming the most intelligent strand of Marvel and so much so, that the directors have been handed the reins from our Lord and Saviour, Joss Whedon, to helm the next two Avengers films (Infinity). 

If dividing a team of superheroes wasn't a challenge enough, the movie also uses it as a backdoor introduction to yet another interpretation of Spider-Man in the form of young British actor Tom Holland. The love we had for Andrew Garfield's turn as Peter Parker seemed to wane quite quickly although I don't think it was necessarily his fault but more of a case that we didn't even have time to mourn for Tobey Maguire (he never got to be Amazing!) but now we know the score and that studios can't keep their hands off making more money. This new Spidey is GREAT! Innocent, amateurish and helped along by Tony Stark to realise his potential, Spider-Man enters the landscape at just the right time when things are starting to seem quite dark and fruitless for the Avengers. 

In the end, the film throws you the same question that has divided its heroes. Do heroes need to be let loose to save the world or does there need to be accountability and consequence if things don't turn out the way we hope? Pretty deep stuff for a movie about people dressing up and punching each other. 

In a nutshell... The film Batman V Superman wished it was.

5.

Rogue One : A Star Wars Story

Also known as the film that made me stay up late to rewrite my list and push Arrival off the top 10.

The reviews led me to believe that this may happen but seeing as I'm no Star Wars fan, I wasn't convinced it would matter. But it did. I'm sure a Star Wars geek would rock out to this but as a fairly unbiased individual, this was a great entertaining film. I'd even go as far to say that I'm NOT a Star Wars fan but this is my favourite of the lot. You could go in having never seen one but you should catch up on the original trilogy to immerse fully. 

I won't bother to recap the plot as much as to say that rather than follow on from the god awful prequels it's more of a prologue to A New Hope. It has plenty for a geek to comb details and cameos from but why have I put it on the list?

It's a great action film. It's mostly bleak but had some real laugh out loud moments. It's not cheesy, it's not for kids, the last act isn't too far away from a war film. 

Cast wise, everyone does a solid job but no one stood out from the crowd aside from a cheeky truthful robot and some distracting motion capture from one particular character. (You'll know when you see it). 

I'm as surprised as anyone that this is no.5 and i may still be screen-drunk having just seen it 30 minutes ago but it was a real surprise, a solid film that (fingers crossed) will stand out in the Galaxy for years to come. 

In a nutshell - 

Star Wars without the politics.

4.

Room

So many films this year have been about surviving within the outdoors and nature itself (see Captain Fantastic, Swiss Army Man amongst others) but some survival stories come from the smallest of places and shine brightest of all. The penultimate adaptation on the list concerns the kind of story we witness more often on the nightly news than a mainstream film. Human beings being held captive in ordinary neighbourhoods for extraordinary amounts of time. This sounds like the most depressing plot for a film ever but it's on the list for being uplifting in its despair. A mother and child make the best of it whilst being locked in a small dark room and in that room they make a life whilst the mother shields the child from the worst of the truth. The second half of the film is almost a film in itself and I would not want to spoil it for anyone but of course it boils down to "do they get out the room or not?" The performance of the mother (Brie Larson) is testament as to why she received so much award acclaim back in the spring but the talent of the child is out of this world. How a young boy (Jacob Tremblay) can come up with a catalogue of emotions at such an early age is astounding and heartbreaking. It's not in the top three simply because I would have preferred the act structure to be different (sorry for being so cryptic) rather than what it became but it's a minor quibble. I recently spent 40minutes on a packed train home with a colleague and we found it quite claustrophobic. After seeing Room, I'd gladly spend an eternity on that train rather than go through what those characters had to go though. 

In a nutshell - Finally, Oscars glory not for a real life figure's stammer or disability but for powerful performances and a love of life no matter where that life is spent.

Next week - The Final Three.

Films of 2016 - Honourable Mentions

Aka the ones that nearly made the list!

Plus a special honourable mention at the bottom.

(In no particular order)

Sing Street



A coming of age comedy set against 1980'a Dublin. Starting a band seems daunting to me especially seeing as I only enjoy the musical stylings of Bros, Daphne and Celeste and Natasha Bedingfield. This film tackles love, loss, fitting in, broken homes, unfollowed dreams and over aggressive priests. Think 'The Commitments' but in Sixth Form and you're not far off the mark. It's been scientifically proven that nearly everything sounds funnier in irosh and that stereotype isn't harmed in 'Sing Street.' It had me howling at times, nearly crying in others. The maker of the film has form in the musical genre having already produced indie hits 'Once' and 'Begin Again' of which I've seen neither but would gladly give a chance after seeing this.

Hell or High Water



The films main selling point is that it is 'from the writer who brought you Sicario' which is a pretty strong selling point. It squeezed on my top 10 last year and for good reason. 'Hell' keeps the setting firmly planted in the sandy confines of the south but stays clear of Mexico and uses most of its time robbing banks. It is a heist movie, it's a buddy movie, it's a cop movie, it's a road movie. It's also the best movie that Chris Pine has done since the Star Trek reboot. He feels more actor than movie star here but he has serious acting competition around him in Ben Foster, who throws himself in everything he does and also from Jeff Bridges who could play drunk sleepy sheriff in his sleep and still put in a shift but this is a hell of a shift. There's a very strong theme playing in the background of the after effects of the financial crisis which is still being felt and that theme isn't subtle, it's jammed down your throat. It's a minor quibble but enough to mark it down for me.


10 Cloverfield Lane





Admittedly there's an element of praise simply based around the production of this film. The script was originally entitled 'The Cellar' and filming was made on this prentence until a plan was hatched to alter the film so that it existed in the same universe as the 2008 original 'Cloverfield.' The film was only revealed to exist 2 months before release with a new name and a tweaked story, partially written by Fanian Chazelle of Whiplash fame. But back to the film itself and yet another example of how tense you can make a gripping tense film on a tight budget with a small sandbox setting, namely a fallout shelter. John Goodman gives, in my view, one of the performances of the year but also the kind that critics would never acknowledge. It's a tight thriller that you shouldn't discriminate against simply because you didn't like 'Cloverfield', it's less of a sequel and more of a distant second cousin. The kind of cousin you can fancy without feeling weird.


Spotlight





A slow burning realistic view of journalism surrounding true life historic sex abuse. Quite topical at the moment and hardly a fun way of spending two hours. Spotlight is unflinching in its look at the abuse given by members of the Catholic Church and the religious authorities that kept it under wraps. Snowden may be the more universally recognised news story of recent years to get a film this year but the lesser known Spotlight investigation team unearthed a cover up that scarred families for life rather than privacy liberties. The cast brought together is impressive although there are times where it feels like they decided to shoot all the "oscar clip" scenes in one day and everyone is shouting and emoting so OTT just so that they can watch their own work at the awards and look modest when their peers applaud them. You won't be on the edge of your seat with this film but you won't be dozing off on it either.

Anomalisa




The last film I saw this year (barring Rogue One which I can't hold the list for). Back in 1999, Charlie Kauffman wrote a film like no other. It was 'Being John Malkovich' and the highest accolade I can give that film is that I chose it as my first choice when I subscribed to that shit rip off Britannica mail order service where you pay for 6 dvds a year on contract until 2046. If you looked up the word original in the dictionary, you'd see Being John Malkovich, probably alongside the definition of original. Anomalisa is also unique but the plot isn't too hard to wrap your head around. Guy bored of life, meets girl, falls in love, conflict, resolution. But there are some production techniques that take getting used to. Firstly it's Stop motion animation, which for a drama is quite offputting but works a lot better than it should do. The quality of the animation is both amazing yet purposely given an edge, 'PST notably the character faces all contain a form of hinge. The second unique aspect is the cast which is pivotal to the story and in itself the title. Aside from the two leads, ALL other roles are played by one actor (Tom Norman-google him and you'll recognise him) and these roles include male, female, children, everyone. Why they went in this direction would be a kind of spoiler but there is sense to it. All this adds up to a monumental feat of production and making us care about essentially computerised puppets. We normally reserve our CGI tears for Jessie's song and the first 5 minutes in 'Up' but this may stir some emotions you never knew you had.

Bonus Award for WTF-Ness

The Greasy Strangler

There are films you see which make you say "wow I've never seen a film like that before." The Matrix, Toy Story, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. But NEVER have I seen a film like The Greasy Strangler. It is the epitome of bad taste, the peak of vulgar imagery I will never unsee. But it's not the first film to show a flaccid penis and an exploding head, it's just how it presents it to the audience. The acting is either drop dead atrocious or spellbindingly brilliant. I can't say that this is a good film but of everything I will write about this month, if you want to see something original, SEE THE GREASY STRANGLER!!!!!!!

Films of 2016 - Worst of 2016

The worst of 2016

As ever I compile an annual yearly list of what I saw cinematically and some seem to find my opinion interesting/funny/curious/irritating/ (delete as appropriate). 

So to set us off in the traditional manner are my WORST movies of 2016. These should not be viewed at any kind of entertainment venue and should only be seen as some kind of seminar entitled 'Shit Movies Make You Lol.'

In no particular order...

THE MECHANIC : RESURRECTION

Most of us can appreciate the beauty of Jason Statham and the physical honesty he brings whereas others (see Vin Diesel) have to depend on crafty editing and cgi to get them faux respect. But times have been hard on The Stath since The Expendables got their free bus passes and historians may see this film as the fall from grace into soon to be Direct to DVD sequels to Parker, Crank and other middling efforts.

Jessica Alba, who stars as his 'piece of ass' is an empty vessel only there to give him purpose and although she's never been Meryl Streep, the makers could of given her character more bite. The Euro-villain is lightweight, hiding behind the stereotypical more sturdy head henchman and the set pieces are not even worth keeping your eyes open for. 

ZOOLANDER 2

A sequel to a film which barely broke even. Luckily they struck while the iron was hot and rushed out a sequel as fast as they noticed the cult following it found on home viewing. That should have been the end of the story but the 'rushed sequel' never happened, only a rushed botch job FIFTEEN YEARS LATER!? How can you mess up a sequel that you've had 15 years to polish? I'm shit at polishing but if I did it for 15 years, whatever bollocks I was polishing would be boss! Anyway, Zoolander imo never made me laugh hysterically but just a decent chuckle and a smile every 10 minutes or so. This time around they seem to have found every irritating model/popstar around and asked for a cameo. Last time, David Bowie, this time, Justin Bieber. It's not funny, its boring, it's complicated which is hard for a film about dumb models and the little respect I had for Ben Stiller following 'Walter Mitty' evaporated before my very eyes. 

Criminal

Things are looking good, Ryan Reynolds is in it. Tommy Lee Jones, Gal Gadot, Gary Oldman, Kevin Costn....oh.

Kevin Costner entered the 'Geriaction' phase of his career last year with Three Days to Kill and it wasn't too bad, Criminal is bad. Mind swapping set against a London backdrop where an overturned police car is our level of jaw dropping spectacle. The plot goes so far up it's own arse, it just boils down to Costner growling and punching anyone he meets. 

The only criminal is the writer who gave an amazing cast nothing important to do or say.

Marauders

If you haven't heard of this, I wouldn't be surprised. It stars yet another Geriaction star in Bruce Willis. Centered around some bank heists, the suspicion is focused on the Bank's owner, Mr Beardy Willis who decides to say his lines as slowly and quietly as possible as if he has a bad hangover. Willis doesn't get a white vest on or even drive a car into a helicopter, he just stands around waiting for someone to get him some pudding.

BORING!!!!!

Independence Day : Resurgence 

The second film on the list who should have brought out a sequel straight away. The first film was solid if not cheesy as balls and they had created a star in Will Smith. So what do they do? Wait too long until Willie becomes Big Willie (oooohh) and becomes too big to fit through the door of the studio. So they go ahead with a sequel, explaining his character away in 30 secs and basically do the same film again but with a MASSIVE alien ship. We still have cocky fighter pilots, still have stupid politicians and still have crazy old fools, they all just switched roles. 

Films of 2015 - The Final Three

Here we go...

My top 3 films of the year. No.3 and No.2 are pretty interchangeable but No.1 was a clear winner by miles.

Previous winners of this accolade include...

2014 - Wolf of Wall Street

2013 - Silver Linings Playbook

Lets put all 8 of you out of your misery.

No.3

A Most Violent Year

I had this downloaded for about 3 months and kept putting it off but once I pressed play, I was captivated. It's unlike most crime films I've seen because of the main character played by Oscar Isaac. I've never seen such a moral and foolhardy portrayal like it. The premise of the film is quite simple...Isaacs plays an owner of a gas company in New York City. His company gets pushed around by the larger corporations but a deal poised to put him ahead of the rest starts to get too dangerous for his rather honest principles. Bored yet? I don't blame you. But honest to god believe me, it's a revelation. It's likely to be pushed aside for awards given its release early this year, but Oscar Isaacs, recently seen flying around in Star Wars should get a nomination or two. As with Sicario, the cinematography is immense along with the score. The director made my top 10 last year with All is Lost and the main plot strand of a man trying to overcome the odds set against him to survive is repeated albeit in a city sprawl rather than a deserted ocean.

2. 

Inside Out

Probably the film that nearly everyone has seen this year. I haven't met anyone who didn't like it and why should they, it's a masterpiece like many, many other Pixar efforts in the past. Funnily enough, I wasn't sold on the idea when I heard the premise, saw the poster or even when I watched the trailer. I don't feel that I need to explain the film as you have all seen it. Any film that can successfully build a entire landscape like I.O did with the inside of a young girls brain and what's weird is that as proposterous as it looks, I want it to be real and how I actually think. All the fads I give myself, I can imagine a team building my infatuation as I speak only to see it go dark and topple when I find my new fad. It did so well because of the simplicity of the idea and the fact that every single person on the planet can relate to the emotions on show and the memories we hold inside. It's not just a good film or a great one, it's important.

1.

Surely you know by now...

Whiplash

Absolutely no question!

The fact that my last three films of the year came out in January should have quashed any doubt.

Originally a short film that was adapted into the long form we now know. Winner of three Oscars. Winner of my acclaimed film of the year.

A young man's struggle to reach his potential spurred/hindered by a unique and tempestuous music teacher.

I saw this back in January whilst I waited to meet a friend before seeing Birdman and on a different day, maybe Birdman would have resonated with me more than it did. The reason it didn't was because I'd just left Whiplash. This has no car chases or gun fights, births, deaths or marriages. Just raw emotion and determination coupled with a dose of mano a mano action that you'd normally see in a fight but instead set in a class room.

The two players in this drama are Miles Teller (student) and JK Simmons (Teacher). The former, a John Cusack esque actor who has since seen his star power dim quickly with the terrible Fantastic Four, the latter is a character actor most known for the editor of the Daily Bugle in the Tobey Maguire Spidernan flicks. Simmons was also involved in the short film version of Whiplash but the feature length won him every supporting actor nomination going which culminated in the Oscar in March. It's well deserved and his performance is both electric and terrifying.

It's not perfect by any means. There are a couple of typical Hollywood beats which are completely unnecessary given the strength of the core story but they are minor quibbles.

Even without the last 15 minutes, Whiplash would make my list but during the final scene I don't think I exhaled. It's the kind of ending that some people (myself included) would appreciate but would enfuriates others (my missus) and anything that annoys my wife just makes it even better.

Plus it has a fuck load of drums!

Adam Yates 

Films of 2015 Part One!

So here is MY opinion of what were the best films released in 2015. 

First it's worth to know a couple of things. Bear in mind that I work full time with a wife and child. I'm also not a film critic hence I have not seen every film released this year. That means films such as Steve Jobs, Black Mass and even Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 have not had a chance to inflict praise as I haven't seen them yet and maybe never will as I will prioritise 2016 movies over older ones.

Some who read my last post will already know that Mad Max Fury Road just missed out on the top 10, while I'm as surprised as anyone, I simply found the following 10 films more entertaining and/or more captivating, emotional, funny or tense. MMFR is a great film and I've watched it three times to be safe but it remains out of the running. Sorry to my brother from another mother.

Anyway here we go...

No.10

Sicario

Emily Blunt is a solid performer in anything that she does but nothing can be doubted about that fact after seeing Sicario. A character strong willed but ultimately emotionally charged and vulnerable, smart yet stubborn, sassy but also naive. From the director of 2013's brilliant kidnapping drama Prisoners, this could be seen as a natural sequel to Steven Soderburgh's Traffic. The drug trade is as vibrant as ever and as the cartels think of new ways to get the product out to the masses, governments can only slow down the process. The one thing that sets this apart from being a solid 3* film is the cinematography. It is sublime, the best looking film of the year by far! It's almost another character in the movie. Sicario's not perfect, the ending in my opinion makes sure of that, but just like with the real life drug war, an ending is nowhere in sight.

See also : Traffic (2000).

No.9

Unfriended

All the following films have a certain calibre and known talent behind them meaning that they had more of a chance to be on this list. Unfriended is not one of those films, it was a complete and utter surprise to me that this made the ten but when I paired it up to the runners up, this won each time. But why?

A cyber thriller told through the constant gaze of a Apple Mac and its various pieces of software (Facebook, Skype etc) we find ourselves in the middle of a online group chat featuring a group of high school friends. Except that a recently deceased classmate is taunting them from beyond the grave. Or could it just be an elaborate prank? High concepts flicks can be disasters (Nick of Time, Pixels) but history shows they can provide a level of entertainment that can supersede any other genre if executed properly (Panic Room, Phone Booth). I watched this on my iPad on my daily commute to work (along with two others on this list) and I couldn't wait until my lunch so I could finish the film off. A hidden gem if ever there was one.

See also: Project Almanac, Catfish.

No.8

It Follows

Actress Maika Monro made the list last year with 2014's The Guest and she charts once more here with a sexually charged horror film if ever there was one. The concept is simple, A supernatural entity is following people with the sole purpose to kill them. The only way to stop it? Have sex with someone to pass the curse onto them. Who doesn't wanna watch that!? To make things more tense, the entity in question simply walks towards you, they don't hide, they don't stop, they don't check their email. They are relentless. Catch a train to escape it? They will simply walk the distance to get you even if it takes 2 weeks. That's the terrifying thing about It Follows. The gore in the film is minimal because it doesn't need to be, it also asks certain questions about how you would save yourself even if it means knowingly putting someone else in danger.

See also : Ringu

No.7

Cop Car

Last year, Snowpiercer made my top 10 and I said then the film was not yet released in the UK. That is still the case, even the DVD copy you can buy are imported. Cop Car is likely to fall in this category and as such may not appear in many of any top ten lists but it makes mine. Two kids running away from home come across an abandoned cop car and take it on a gentle joyride playing out their adventures for real. Except the car belongs to corrupt beat cop Kevin Bacon who was busy committing the very crimes he sworn to prevent. A sequence of events pits the desperate police officer against two children who are unaware as to what danger they have walked in on. Cop Car is completely understated featuring a bare bones cast (18 entire cast members, 3 of which are dogs). It has the kind of ending that enfuriates the missus but the hard hitting nature of a plot featuring revenge and murder is only more intense when children are involved.

See also : Good Kill

No.6

Amy

The only documentary you need to see this year. I'm no real fan of Amy Winehouse although I can admit to seeing her as a support act many years ago. But just as I had no vested interest in Aryton Senna, the recent documentary gave me a new insight into the racing legend and this is just as, if not better. Here we see a girl who was partially damaged from a young age whose rise to fame only fanned the flames of her addictive and self destructive personality. Her parents are sculpted to look partly to blame and it's hard not to agree given the facts. Her true friends are cast aside for heroin and alcohol and a dream duet with childhood hero Tony Bennett is painful to watch even when brilliance sneaks through that trademark beehive hairdo. We all know the ending to this tragic life and it even sneaks up on us but it's still captivating and you get the feeling that even if we got in a time machine and warned Amy of her future, things may have turned out exactly the same.

See also : Senna, Cobain : Montage of Heck.

No.5

Big Hero 6

The closest Disney have come to making a Pixar quality film. Which is strange seeing as Disney effectively own Pixar. Additionally, Pixar's head honcho Bob Lassiter has been given charge over both animation studios so the recent success with Tangled and that let it go movie isn't much of a surprise. This is a strange one to add to the list morally because it's the one I've seen 46 times. This is 97.7% down to the 3 year old child that has seemingly nested in my house and for a 2 month period wanted nothing else but to watch the cuddly white robot named Baymax. The design of the movie is an interesting choice mixing the location of San Fransisco (another Pixar trait) with Tokyo injected architecture, which isn't hardly explained in the movie itself but is divulged on the greatest of movie geek assets, the IMdB trivia page.

Excuses aside, BH6 is a great film and appeals to the classic Pixar market...children and adults.

See also : The Incredibles, How to Train Your Dragon.

No.4

Kingsman : The Secret Service

Matthew Vaughn's latest venture into adapted comic books after (Xmen First Class and Kick Ass) and also his best. The big difference between this and other spy movies of the year (Spectre, Man from Uncle, Spy, Mission Impossible) is the risk of making it an edgier, more violent affair. As much as the 12A certificate has allowed more violence, it's still more about what you think you saw rather than what you actually saw. In Kingsman, you SEE it. The church scene alone is one of the best action sequences in recent years and the finale is outrageously and gloriously OTT along with a very very risqué joke that James Bond would shudder at. But overall, it's just a real joy to watch and fun, which is the whole point. There's only so many dead inside, broken man, nothing to lose spies we can watch where as the only thing this wants to do is save the world and look good doing it.

Next week - The top 3