2014 Summer Movie Season Awards by Matt Harrison

So this is my 100th post on this blog and I thought I'd do something a little different for it. The 2014 summer movie season has been really fantastic in my opinion and I'd thought I'd give my favourite movies of the summer some recognition with awards I literally made up this morning...


Movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Raid 2 will not be awarded anything as I saw them both in late March/April time. I didn't see every movie of the summer but I saw all of the big ones so without further delay let's begin:



Best Hero - Caesar (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)

Out of all of the characters in the movies which came out this summer, none were more heroic than Caesar. Andy Serkis put in the best performance of his career and gave incredible raw humanity to a CGI ape. The character of Caesar is one of the best ever created and through him channels an incredible amount of human emotion. Plus he's a badass leader, and winner of Best Hero.



Best Villain - Koba (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)

Toby Kebbell's amazing performance as Koba proved that Andy Serkis has made motion capture a thing which any actor can do. Out of all of the villains this summer Koba had the most menacing presence and did the most evil things. And on top of that you could actually understand what his motivations were, unlike villains like Ronan the Accuser or Bolivar Trask.



Best action scene - The Tank scene (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)


We were blessed with some awesome action this summer. I considered putting in the Quicksilver scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past, the Normandy beach fight in Edge of Tomorrow and the cheer inducing final battle from Godzilla, but this one blew my mind the most. When I first saw it I was in awe of how it was created and stunned when I thought about the detail that must have gone into directing and shooting a scene like that. Please watch it if you haven't already, but you must have seen the film by now, right?



Best comic book movie - X-Men: Days of Future Past

I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy, I thought that the characters were all brilliant, the action was good and I loved just how funny it was and how it didn't take itself to seriously. However, X-Men: Days of Future Past was a much more solid movie with amazing performances from actors who transformed into their characters. It had smart writing, amazing action and real drama and tension similar to what Dawn of the Planet of the Apes had. I loved this movie and thought it was the best comic book movie of the summer.



Best music - Guardians of the Galaxy

Star Lord, Gamora, Rocket, Drax and Groot are awesome and yes the movie was funny as hell so I couldn't leave the Guardians out. So I thought about it for a while before I realised that it had the best music of any summer film by far. The actual score itself was sufficient but the addition of "Awesome Mix Vol. 1" added so much into the film's character and personality. The opening scene with Star Lord still impresses me when I think about it today...



Best animated movie - How to Train Your Dragon 2

It had absolutely no competition. It was easily the best animated film of the summer.



Best comedy - 22 Jump Street

There were a lot of really funny movies this summer like Bad Neighbours and Guardians of the Galaxy. But I laughed the hardest in 22 Jump Street. The chemistry and timing between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum is spot on and the "kitchen scene" with Ice Cube is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.



Best limited release - Boyhood

Richard Linklater's Boyhood proved that good things are worth waiting for. It took him 12 years to make this 2 hour and 45 minute long film and it paid off because it naturally and authentically captured the essence of childhood and growing up better than any film before it. It was an easy watch and deserves some recognition.



Best trailer - Interstellar trailer 1 

A lot of cool trailers landed this summer but none excited me more than the first full length Interstellar trailer which came out in mid May. The thing gives me goose bumps even now when I watch it. I love the way it intrigues you without spoiling anything, plus Hans Zimmer's score which progressively builds up in the background is perfect.



Most anticipated fall movie - Interstellar

It stars some very good actors, has the best musician in Hollywood producing it's score and has the best director working today directing it. Christopher Nolan has made some of my all time favourite movies like Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy. He's yet to let me down and I can't wait to see his next movie despite not knowing a thing about it.



Worst movie - Transformers: Age of Extinction

A Million Ways to Die in the West let me down horribly, Tammy was terrible and The Purge: Anarchy didn't work for me. But I've gone with Transformers as my least favourite summer movie because it was everything that I hated about a Michael Bay film; shit CGI, an incomprehensibly stupid plot, dumb military dialogue, awful humour, weak and 1 dimensional boring characters and that same irritating and epileptic directing style. It's awful and I hate that it has made over $1 billion worldwide.



Best movie - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

It has real human emotion, drama and tension. It has incredible acting and memorable characters. It has an unpredictable story. It has jaw dropping action and CGI. It's a beautifully directed movie and is a marvel to look at on the big screen. It has everything a great summer movie should have. We don't need brain-numbing Transformers action to get a good summer blockbuster, we need everything Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has. This is how you make a blockbuster. It's not only my favourite movie of the summer, but my favourite of the entire year.



That was actually really fun to do! If you agree/disagree with any of my choices please comment below and put your winners for each of the categories. I will be doing a Fall movie preview very soon and I hope I enjoy my next 100 posts as much as I have my first 100. I'll keep up the movie reviews, spoilers and movie news stuff plus I hope to introduce 2 new regular segments for this blog as well in the coming weeks so look at forward to that. What a summer its been and here's to an awesome Fall and Winter!

Thanks for reading,
Matt

5 Reasons Why I Hate The Transformers Franchise

When I changed the name of the blog I intended to do movie related Top 10 lists. However, after writing an incredibly negative review for Transformers: Age of Extinction, I thought I would explain why I hate this movie franchise and the films within it. I'm limiting myself to 5 so I don't go on forever...

1) No Creativity

The Transformers movies are the prime example of having a director with a very distinct filmmaking style. This franchise showcases Michael Bay in all of his slow motion, firework explosions, CGI glory. I am not a big fan of Bay's style at all and I don't find it entertaining or redeemable. Some people say that when you go into a Transformers movie you need to "turn your brain off" and you should expect what you get. No. As film audiences we deserve the best and should get the best from a director/studio. Don't treat us like idiots who can only be satisfied by attractive women and explosions, treat us with respect. We like to see movies directed with passion and determination. We like movies which are original and unique. Hell one of my favourite movies so far this year has been The Grand Budapest Hotel for that exact reason. Anyway I'm rambling. The point is I don't like seeing the same movie 4 times over with no creative changes made at all.


2) No Continuity

Why is it that every single Transformers movie there's a change in the mythology? Why is it that every movie sees the characters fight over the possession of the same thing with a different name? Why is it that the Autobot and Decepticon line up changes throughout the movies without any real explanation as to why? Don't ask me!


3) The Humour

I said this a few times in my Age of Extinction review that I do not understand Michael Bay's humour. His comedic characters are awful and they're not subtle as being comic relief as he just shoves these unlikeable and unfunny characters down your throat. The examples of his humour which just boggle my mind include Transformer testicles, racist jokes and stereotyping and at one point 2 dogs having sex. 


4) The Action

My favourite movie so far this year has been The Raid 2. Why? Because the action saw the actors physically commit and devote to their stunts which made the action seem tense and realistic. The action sequences used wide takes and actually showed us what was going on. When Michael Bay has to perform an action sequence in these movies which don't involve CGI Transformers, its just a load of quick cut editing and shaky cam. When he does create an action sequence with 2 Transformers, it is just a CGI slop fest with a panning camera, which means I have no idea who's fighting who and which one I need to be routing for. It leaves me confused and there is absolutely no suspense or weight to the action, thus it isn't satisfying enough.


5) They Make Money

Dark of the Moon grossed $1.2 billion worldwide. It is the seventh highest grossing film of all time. Wow. The thing that really gets me is that people would rather spend their money on a film like this as opposed to something original. I mean The Grand Budapest Hotel is a perfect example of a movie with originality, passionate direction and at the same time is really fun and enjoyable. Edge of Tomorrow is an action movie with incredible action in it, plus is actually something new and refreshing in Hollywood as it is based off a Manga. Even big budget Hollywood blockbusters like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men: Days of Future Past have been of high quality this year, yet I guarantee Age of Extinction will gross more than those 2. The Transformers movies are big, bloated CGI fests with no substance and too many explosions. They make tonnes of money (Age of Extinction has made $300 million I think in its opening weekend) and because of this they will continue to make more and more of the same bullsh*t and Hollywood will be continue to be riddled by movies like the Transformers movies, which scares me!


I'm done being negative. I probably sounded like a whiny little bitch throughout that but if truth be told those are my honest opinions on this movie franchise, which I really hate. If you disagree with anything written down, please leave a comment.

Thanks for reading,
Matt