Five Movies We Like That Came Out This Year.

We are really bad at seeing movies in the theater, this year in particular because we saw Mad Max in the theater eight times... But we still managed to see a few great flicks as they came out, here's five we liked in no particular order.

Mad Max: Fury Road:

We saw Mad Max so many times not only because it's an exceptionally great action movie to see in the theater, but also because the story is almost seamless. There are leaps you have to make as a viewer (as there are with any film) but every time we watched it something else we'd wondered was answered plainly in the film. By the time we had seen it the fourth time I was discovering things I never wondered in the first place. (For instance, Furiosa bodice is made from same material as the clothes of the women she's saving, making it likely their back stories are similar.) And, unlike most action movies (or movies in general), every word of dialogue is important in some way, you'll never see another action movie where so little dialogue holds so much importance. Nor will you see so many hand built cars smashed in so many glorious ways on camera! So much

Bone Tomahawk:

We rented this one knowing very little about it and boy were we glad we took a chance! Bone Tomahawk starts as one kind of film and shifts gears towards the end (like Botched or Housebound) making it a pretty great slow burn western with an unflinching horror movie payoff. Kurt Russell and Richard Jenkins give amazing performances with some of the best dialogue and chemistry we've seen in a horror movie since Cabin in the Woods. This is one of those movies that we're going to be making sure our movie-fan friends have seen for some time to come.

Ex Machina:

We missed this one in theaters because we were too busy seeing Mad Max, and I regret nothing! Ahem. While very good, it was not necessary to see in a theater setting (to be fair, we have a projector in our living room so we did see it “up on a big screen”). Not to say this film wasn't pretty great, because it totally was. Beautifully shot, blocked, scored and acted, it was certainly one of those films that offered a different perspective on not only on the genre, but how scifi movies are presented as well. Artificial intelligence films usually take place in densely urban futuristic settings, not in lush secluded locations with a cast of four. It's the same simplicity that Primer calls to the time travel genre, but much prettier.

Turbo Kid:

Turbo kid is one of those weird-with-heart movies (Kung Fury, Rubber or any Quentin Dupieux movie) and we liked it! It's fun but very dark, and certainly not a kid's movie. Filled with nods to 80s pop culture, both through the scavenging efforts of the characters and plot development. It's like watching a movie from the future about a past that could have been, if the filmmakers were only drawing from 80s cult movies. The plot is simple and heart warming, the setting is dystopian, and the ending will leave you feeling the same as the end of Pretty in Pink. (Totally not a spoiler, just watch it!)

Finders Keepers:

We love documentaries like American Movie or King of Kong, and Finders Keepers fits into that category nicely. Basically about a man who lost his leg in a plan crash, and then lost the mummified leg in a storage locker auction. Actually though, it's about the trajectories of two men's lives and how something so strange winds up changing them for better and worse. It's as insanely fascinating to watch their lives change, as much as it is fascinating to watch two dudes fight over a gross leg!







Bonus movies we liked: Deathgasim & Final Girls

Deathgasim is a fun little movie about death metal, conjuring the devil and friendship with fresh takes on all counts. It was also pretty satisfying to watch because it delivers on all the fronts we wished Troma films would.

Final Girls takes meta horror and turns it straight on it's ear. They “flip the script” on several tropes making it a pleasing watch for any horror fan. Both movies are fun, both have flaws, but both are worth looking into if they sound like your bag! (Though Final Girls might be the only one of the two of them that will get more than one viewing from us.)