Yes.
#4 Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
The most beloved franchise in the galaxy spent the last decade or more getting raked across the coals for its three prequels, considered by many to be crimes against humanity. I don't know if I personally would go that far, but mee-sa Jar Jar Binks and the Hayden Christensen/Natalie Portman rolling in grassy meadows construct were both giant missteps, the former being an actually offensive one. Revenge of the Sith was a step in the right direction, (read: too heavy on the CGI, too much "...NOOOOOOOOOO!" from Anakin/Darth) but not enough to make up for the first two.
Enter J.J.Abrams, an absolute fanboy about the Star Wars universe and a proven commodity in Action/Sci-Fi (Alias, LOST, Fringe) who had already successfully rebooted the Star Trek franchise. When it was made known early on that his Bad Robot Production company would be partnering up with LucasFilms, it seemed like a match made in Tattooine.
And it was.
To those who saw Rey (newcomwer Daisy Ridley, fantastic) walking with BB-8 into the twin suns of Tatooine and didn't immediately lose their sh*t, there's something wrong with you. Anyone who watched Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) speaking to the charred mask of Darth Vader and didn't feel chills run down their spine, you've got problems too. And if you didn't well up when Han and Chewie walked into the Millenium Falcon, well, you're probably not a human being.
Notice how I carefully mentioned moments from the previews to protect the 0.5% of you reading this who haven't seen it yet. That's because unlike the previous batch, this one is sacred. In fact, the sixth grader at my school was on the bus around telling people one of the major spoilers received a cold shoulder for nearly a week.
Besides being a reboot of the franchise, it also runs many, many parallels to A New Hope. In some ways, it's the exact same story. Unfortunately, and this is my one and only beef with the whole thing--the move to say formulaic makes for some pretty cheesy moments (even if that is the point, to a degree).
Rey is trading in junked parts and scraps for food tokens when she stumbles upon BB-8, a droid holding a map to the current whereabouts of resistance leader Luke Skywalker. Finn (John Boyega from Attack the Block) is a stormtrooper who becomes disillusioned and flees from the First Order, essentially a spinoff from the Empire, ran by Kylo Ren and General Hux (you guessed it...Domnhall Gleeson!). Oscar Isaac is hotshot pilot Poe Dameron, captured by the First Order and interrogated for the whereabouts of his droid. Which contains the map. Which is now in the possession of Rey.
Yes, friends, it's all there. The cantina on Moss-Eisley. The Millenium Falcon. The sweet, sweet, grunts of Chewbacca. Lightsabers and Light Bo-staffs. The wipes to transition between scenes. The perfectly intact John Williams score. Laser sounds. Explosions. And plenty of intrigue and questions left unanswered.
All praise to J.J. and co. You did it. You've made Star Wars relevant again.
And now, here are some medals to show our appreciation for your service.
#3 Creed
If you talk to fans of the Rocky franchise, they'll tell you that I-IV are the ones worth seeing (Apollo Creed, Apollo Creed rematch, Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago, respectively), and V and Balboa are the ones worth skipping. So here again, we come across a major film franchise in desperate need of a reboot.
Enter Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, last appearing on Mulhern at the Movies in 2012 at slot #3 in the gut-wrenching but brilliant Fruitvale Station. Not only does Creed re-kickstart the franchise, it might even be the best of the bunch.
The movie starts in a group home, where we meet a young Adonis Johnson beating the hell out of another juvenile. In holding, he's visited by Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad) and finds out she is the wife of his dad. "What was his name?" Adonis said.
TITLE CARD: CREED
Grown-up Adonis, living in L.A., less-than-thrilled with his corporate 9 to 5, moonlights as a Tijuana boxer. He decides to forgo his promotion and, much to the chagrin of Mama Cosby, gets a simple one-bedroom in Philadelphia to start focusing on boxing, specifically at Delphi gym, where his old man trained back in the 70s. He asks for help from Mr. Balboa himself, who is out of the game. Of course, he will eventually relent, and they start working on taking down everything in their path, culminating with a fight with "Pretty" Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew), an undefeated Brit. He doesn't just want to be the son of Creed, he wants to be the Creed that people remember.
I loved it. Sure, it was Hollywood-as-f***, and the love story between he and his downstairs neighbor is at times contrived and clunky, but Jordan proved once again that he is one of the best in the game under 30, an Stallone was perfect. I'm kind of rooting for him to win, even though this time it's anything but underdog.
#2 Mad Max: Fury Road
Do you like scrap metal? Do you like cars? Do you like fire? Do you like action? Do you like the desert? Do you like the sensation of being super thirsty at all times?
Even if you don't like any of those things, you can get behind the gonzo ridiculousness that is Mad Max: Fury Road. If I could describe MMFR, in only one word, that word would be:
Spectacle.
For two whole hours, it is one giant spectacle of awesome. Max (Tom Hardy) is a road warrior in apocalyptic Australia, on the run from and eventually captured by the War Boys, a group of vagrants led by the nefarious Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). He is brought back to the Citadel (HQ), where Immortan Joe dumps a bunch of water on folks for maybe, like, 30 seconds. Because he controls the water, he controls the people. Max is kept as a captor for his O negative blood. Meanwhile, Joe sends Imperator Furiousa (a badass shaved-bald Charlize Theron) in a war tank to go get fuel. Along the way, it becomes clear that she is holding onto some precious cargo that Joe wants, and he gets into the cavalry, including this guy, known only as the Doof Warrior:
To go track it down.
And what ensues is the most crazy, visually stunning, outrageous car/jeep/tank/machine chase you will ever see in your life. There are basically no rules in George Miller's epic tale of life after life, and that ends up being a good thing.
Back soon with #1!
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