Fred’s Movie First Take: Awards for 2015

(On a personal note, as I mentioned in my awards last year (below in an older post) I do not go to the movies anymore.  I did see one film this previous year, “The Big Short” as my brother-in-law treated me this Christmas.  Various reasons, health of my wife and the fact that I can enjoy a movie at home more than going to the theater. I didn’t see all of the top eight movies up for Best Picture this year so my opinion on which of the nominated movies is the Best of that group I cannot give.. With that, I did view a varity of new movies at home after their release to ON DEMAND or to DVD Blue-Ray.. And of those I did view at home, some were worthy to being a Best Picture nominee.  I will, in time, view all the nominated movies and I am sure to enjoy them. This is my take of 2015 and the best films that I did see.)

​Movies that I viewed that were in the top 100 grossing domestically in 2015

Total Gross

2 Jurassic World Uni.$652,270,625  A

8 The Martian Fox$228,380,115  A  (Best Picture Oscar Nomination)

10 Spectre Sony$199,844,533  C

11 Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Par.$195,042,377  D

44 The Big Short Par.$68,520,574  A  (Best Picture Nomination)

54 Focus (2015) WB $53,862,963  C

60 Sicario LGF$46,889,293  A

62 McFarland, USA BV$44,482,410  A

78 The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel FoxS$33,078,266  A

88 No Escape Wein.$27,288,872  A

94 Ex Machina A24 $25,442,958  A

So as you can see I saw only eight of the top 100 grossing films of 2015.  Think not that I like movies?  Well, of the list last year, of the 100 I saw 20.  But this year I viewed 65 of the movies in that list that I had not seen before Oscar.  This trend will continue and I will view most of those this year that I did not view.

Other movies outside the Top 100 that I did see this past year were:

143 Little Boy ORF$6,485,961  B

144 The Loft ORF$6,002,684  C

153 The Water Diviner WB$4,196,641  A

184 Assassination (2015) WGUSA$1,904,682  B

210 Child 44 LG/S$1,224,330  B

235 Cartel Land Orch.$704,352  A  (Best Documentary Oscar nomination)

Fred’s Best:

Best Director:  Adam McKay, The Big Short
Best Actor:  Christian Bale, The Big Short
Best Actress:  Emily Blunt,  Sicario
Best Supporting Actor:  Benicio Del Torro, Sicario
Best Supporting Actresss: Alicia Vikander, El Machina  
Best Film Drama:  Sirario
Best Film Comedy:  The Big Short
Best Documentary:  Cartel Land

Waste of time movies that were awful not worth the time spent to watch:  Mission Impossible-Rouge Nation (didn’t finish it)
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Comments:The Academy Awards did some of the same things as last year as this year’s show was the lowest viewed in the past seven years.  Many of the films nominated are not popular with the movie going public and do not have much of an audience.  Best Picture winner SPOTLIGHT did little business this year, not cracking into the top 100 grossing films of 2015.

I am sure it will gain in audience and will take a look later when it comes to home video. Other Oscar nominated films that were panned by the movie going public included THE DANISH GIRL, ROOM,  and TRUMBO.  All three films are worthy of Oscar in various categories but have had little box office.  It is my personal opinion that if the men and women of color are going to be better represented in the Oscar nominations, lets get real and stop giving out nominations to films that nobody cares about.  If we are gong to water down talent because of color (and I ok with that) lets get it right and nominate films that the movie going public wants to see.  For example, why was the new Star Wars movie not in the best picture catagory.  The new Mad Max flick was and it won six Oscars for technical quality. That movie should have been best picture if you want my opinion.
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My personal favorites for 2015 that I have viewed have been The Big Short and Sicario. Both are outstanding films and would have liked to see either win as Best Picture.  Sicario and one of two of its stars, Emily Blunt and Benicio DelTorro were worthy of Oscar acting nominations.  Cartel Land was very interesting and with friends that have told me the workings of the cartels in Mexico, the documentary was very informative. Don’t believe everyting you hear about the Cartels, and the fact of the matter, if you don’t deal in drugs or use them, or not around those who do, you have little to worry about.  And the fact of the matter it has been the illegal drug taking American public that has feed the monster of the Cartels and kept them wealthy.

You can see my choices for 2014 here:  http://www.fredpahlke.com/film.html