This past year offered plenty of bad movies, but unfunny comedies, shabby horror movies, and excruciating documentaries truly challenged the critics at Wylie Writes. Here are some of their “Worst Of” lists, and don’t forget to click highlighted titles for reviews.
All eyes may be on Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, or any of the other Oscar darlings, but 2016 offered a lot of other great movies. Below are Wylie Writes’ top picks; don’t forget to click the highlighted titles to read each contributor’s review!
Jason Statham has proven himself as an action star, but I still believe his performances are only as good as the filmmaker he’s been paired with. In the case of Mechanic: Resurrection, Statham is jumping through the same hoops, but he’s doing so in a way that mirrors the entertaining ridiculousness director Dennis Gansel sets up.
Lights Out, really, only has two good scares. And, you saw both of them in the previews. Despite that, there’s something about David F. Sandberg’s harmless horror flick that warms me over nonetheless.
Sausage Party is a shock comedy that’s heavy on “shock” and light on “comedy”. The film is supposed to subvert clean-cut animated films with inappropriate dialogue and black humour, but ends up becoming a crass and awkward in-joke between the comic cast.
The Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival is still going strong with a total of 44 locally produced films screening over a two-day period (August 5 and 6).
There’s a difference between being self-aware and being self-involved – the former usually has more sense than the latter. For instance, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is aware of its buffoonery, but neglects to be involved in its own idiocy. There’s still a brain behind the immaturity displayed by Mike (Adam Devine) and Dave (Zac Efron).
Sometime after Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and before Brüno, Sacha Baron Cohen was at a crossroads with his comedy: does he expose more social experiments with wry satire or does he stick with outrageous nastiness?
No Stranger Than Love is known around the Wylie household for its unofficial working title I’ve coined – the ‘Alison Brie Hole-in-the-Floor’ movie. However, the only memorable aspects of Nick Wernham’s rom-com are those two details – the former Community actress and the bottomless pit that randomly sprouts in her living room and gobbles up a promiscuous co-worker (Colin Hanks).
We’re halfway through the year, which means it’s time for Wylie Writes’ recap of the best and the worst films of 2016. Sometimes, these early gems fall through the cracks once Oscar season rolls around. Let these choices remind you which films you should still check out, and which movies should stay unnoticed on your moviegoing radar.