It was William Shakespeare who once said, “Expectation is the root of all heartache.” And, with so much advance media coverage of movies—including written features, fanboy-enraging “spoilers,” and eye-catching trailers—expectations for certain films can get pretty high. Plus, with movie tickets running cinemagoers up to $25 a ticket these days ($100 for a family of four!) you’ve got a right to be pissed off if the product you shelled out your hard-earned money for is utter shit. So, from the terrible Superman flick Man of Steel to the deliriously entertaining Pain & Gain, here are the most surprising (and disappointing) movies of the year.
Written and directed by Jonathan Levine (The Wackness), this romantic comedy—adapted from the YA novel of the same name—about a zombie (Nicholas Hoult) who falls for a human freedom fighter (Teresa Palmer) looks pretty awful on paper. But thanks to the two extremely likable leads, some hilarious supporting turns (Rob Corddry as a wacky zombie, John Malkovich as the head of the zombie resistance), and some inventive new zombie lore—Hoult’s zombie experiences his victim’s memories after consuming their brains—it’s a surprisingly sweet, clever, and well-acted film.
Jonathan Wenk
Expectations were high when it was revealed that Leonardo DiCaprio would be taking on the role of bootlegging millionaire Jay Gatsby, and reuniting with his Romeo + Juliet director Baz Luhrmann. The rest of the cast seemed great on paper, as well: Carey Mulligan as Daisy, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan, the list goes on. But it’s a hot, bloated, over-stylized mess from start to finish. “In addition to the dizzying parties and the narration literally splashed across the screen, Luhrmann’s film employs a variety of other visual tricks, presented in 3-D, that are wildly unnecessary, including split-screens, newsreel footage, and a constantly twisting camera that pulls away fast for several overhead shots of CGI cities and towns,” I wrote in my review of the film. “The two most groan-worthy moments of the film are the car accident scene with Myrtle, shot in slo-mo—and repeated twice—that’s reminiscent of an overindulgent Zack Snyder action sequence, and when an apparition of Daisy actually appears in the clouds.”
Filmmaker Michael Bay has always excelled with buddy black comedies (see: Bad Boys, The Rock), but the explosion-happy director was coming off the atrocious Transformers films, so there was genuine cause for concern here. But this flick about a trio of dim-witted, roided-up Miami body-builders (Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie) who team up to kidnap a shady businessman (Tony Shalhoub) and fleece him for everything he’s got, is a really fun ride. Wahlberg and Johnson are hilarious—especially Johnson as a coked-up buffoon—,the supporting cast (Ed Harris, Rebel Wilson, etc.) are entertaining, and Bay never lets you stop to breathe, pumping this demented flick up with more juice than Jose Canseco.
Jaimie Trueblood
I’m a big fan of Danny Boyle’s, but it seems that for every thrillingly alive film (Trainspotting) there’s a clumsy B-movie (A Life Less Ordinary), and here, on the heels of Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, as well as his fantastic direction of the London Olympics’ opening ceremony, I expected better than this. This flick, dealing with art thieves and post-hypnotic suggestion, has a fine cast (James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel) and is beautifully shot, but the clunky narrative makes so many left-turns that it brings you around in a maddening circle. It’s far too clever and “cool” for its own good.
Susie Allnutt
I had no interest in seeing this strange flick by Louis Letterier (The Incredible Hulk) about a group of con artist-magicians (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco), who rob banks, but it turned out to be a fun B-movie packed with impressive set pieces and visual effects, cheeky turns left and right (including Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine in supporting roles), and fun romantic chemistry between a cop (Mark Ruffalo) and Interpol agent (Melanie Laurent) tasked with bringing down “The Four Horsemen” magicians. Definitely worth a rental.
Barry Wetcher
On paper, Denis Villaneuve’s noir-thriller looks more than a little absurd. A Pennsylvania carpenter named Keller Dover (?), played by Hugh Jackman, has his daughter snatched up in broad daylight, so imprisons the man he suspects of the crime (Paul Dano) and tortures him until he confesses. Meanwhile, Detective Loki (?), played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is on the case as well. But, thanks to an engaging, labyrinthine plot, fantastic turns by Jackman and Gyllenhaal, a fine supporting cast (Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo), and some ace lensing by celebrated cinematographer Roger Deakins, Prisoners emerged as one of the best neo-noirs since Se7en, and has a fantastic ending.
Wilson Webb
I gotta say, after the cinematic abomination that is The Dilemma, I lost almost all faith in Ron Howard as a director. What an awful piece of shit. Also, Formula One doesn’t interest me in the slightest. So I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed Rush. The film chronicles the 1976 Formula One season, pitting the meticulous Austrian Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) against the swaggering, womanizing Brit, James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth), and it’s a hell of a fun ride. The acting is top-notch, especially Bruhl, whose performance is like a high-wire act, dancing back and forth between despicable and sympathetic, the lensing by Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire) is gorgeous, and the script by Peter Morgan (The Queen) is airtight. Howard assembled quite the team for this one, and it really paid off.
Jaap Buitendijk
I didn’t have any interest in seeing this 3D concert/narrative hybrid film. For one, Nimrod Antal, who helmed that lame Predators flick with Adrien Brody, directed it. Also, I don’t really give a damn about Metallica anymore—or at least I thought I didn’t. However, after seeing this bizarre 3D IMAX thriller, which melds the story of a dedicated Metallica roadie (Dane DeHaan) who embarks on a surreal journey after being tasked with getting fuel to a stalled truck belonging to the band’s entourage, and concert footage of the band performing, I left very impressed. The concert footage is kickass and coalesces well with the stunning visuals in the DeHaan storyline, resulting in a hypnotic ode to rock ‘n’ roll.
Picturehouse
Fast Five, the Brazil-set fifth installment in the Fast and the Furious franchise, was the most entertaining action film hit theaters in years. It featured beautiful sequences (a chase through the favelas, a heist involving a safe strapped to a car that may have destroyed half of Rio, etc.), amusing tongue-in-cheek performances—by a pumped-up Diesel and sweat-drenched Dwayne Johnson, especially—and a fun soundtrack. It was like The Italian Job on steroids. The entire team returned for the London-set sixth film, and unfortunately, the magic just wasn’t there this time. The action sequences paled in comparison to the first film, there was less fun horseplay among the heist crew, Diesel and Johnson didn’t butt heads, and the bad guy, played by Luke Evans, was lame. Oh well.
Giles Keyte
