2015 confirmed that the years of movie stars carrying huge box office weight are behind us more than ever. Stars and starlets who heralded huge hits in the past were in some of the biggest flops of 2015; Bill Murray with Rock the Kasbah, Sandra Bullock with Our Brand is Crisis, Hugh Jackman with Pan and Chappie, and Bradley Cooper with Aloha and Burnt. Yet Hollywood works in circles, so someone is bound to rise from the ashes to become a true “movie star”.

In 2014, Chris Pratt became the talk of the town after a giant year with Guardians of the Galaxy and The Lego Movie. He even had a pretty good 2015 starring in Jurassic World. Yet, Pratt doesn’t have all of the characteristics of the Golden Age of Hollywood’s leading men and women. His expressive charisma and good looks don’t completely compensate for his limited range. It’s hard for him to carry a film without strong assistance from a supporting cast, which was noticeable in Guardians of the Galaxy but was more obvious after playing second fiddle to Bryce Dallas Howard in Jurassic World.

Jurassic World movie stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard

Furthermore, Pratt’s mark has never actually been tested; nothing has been sold on his image alone. The Marvel, Jurassic Park, and even Lego brands all have a built-in fan base that assures their films from being box office failures. In fact, many of Marvel’s biggest actors have proven to disappoint outside of the franchise: Chris Evans hasn’t led a non-Marvel film to a gross over $60 million; Robert Downey Jr.’s biggest hits have all been franchise films; Chris Hemsworth has had many leading endeavors tank. Marvel hasn’t historically made any bonafide box office stars; why would Chris Pratt be different?

But another talent has been awoken and he has been thrown into the center of the public’s eye: Oscar Isaac. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Isaac’s Poe Dameron isn’t as utilized as heavily as Finn and Rey, but the part does draw resemblance to the introduction of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo in A New Hope. The two are both cocky, sharp-witted pilots who play the magnetic, charming sidekick. What Isaac has in The Force Awakens that Ford didn’t in A New Hope is experience and a tangible acting prowess.

Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

While A New Hope was essentially Ford’s acting debut, Isaac already has many acting roles under his belt showing his versatility and range. His first leading performance as Llewyn Davis in the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis earned him critical praise and more than a dozen Best Actor mentions. In 2014, he received accolades for his leading performance in A Most Violent Year. And his most impressive box office turn was from this year, Ex Machina, which boasts many critical mentions and award traction.

These indies are obviously in the little leagues when it comes to box office and public visibility, but with The Force Awakens, Oscar Isaac will now become a household name. On top of red carpet events and press conferences, Isaac has been making the rounds on talk shows displaying his confidence and personality. His real life persona is a dashing combination of Pratt’s goofiness and Tom Cruise’s charm, but his talent and scope arguably exceeds them both. Add in his musical talent, and Isaac becomes a double threat that is easy for the public to latch on to.

A pondering Oscar Isaac in Ex Machina

Even though Poe Dameron seems underutilized in The Force Awakens, it’s worth noting that Han Solo’s presence is much more noteworthy in the next two installments of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. With all signs pointing to a derivative series and some characters out of the way, Isaac’s Poe could have much more to do in the next episode. Furthermore, The Force Awakens is only the beginning of Isaac’s blockbuster reign; he is playing the titular villain in the upcoming X-Men film.

With a strong platter of future releases, Oscar Isaac has the potential to latch on to Hollywood and leave a lasting impact. The Star Wars series has started and killed many acting careers, especially Hayden Christensen and Mark Hamill who struggled to brand themselves outside of the series. But Isaac isn’t like these two; he has already proven himself to be strong enough in his past endeavors to outlast the curse. After his franchise contracts run up, he will be one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood. His possibilities will be endless.

As everyone at Way Too Indie scrambles together to watch and rank as many films as they can before the end of the year, we decided to spend some time knocking down and propping up some of what 2015 had to offer. The fun part about having writers with such diverse tastes is that it’s hard to find a consensus, leading to many (friendly) disagreements and arguments between people. After doing our first overrated/underrated feature last year, we had such a fun time we decided to make it a yearly tradition here on Way Too Indie.

All of our writers were tasked to pick one overrated and one underrated film, along with an explanation for their choices. Read on below, and if you happen to disagree with any of our sentiments, we’ve included a link to most of our staff’s Twitter handles where you are invited to express your outrage or agreement or let us know what we’ve overlooked.

Way Too Indie’s Most Overrated And Underrated Films Of 2015

Aaron Pinkston

Inside Out is overrated

Pixar’s first offering of 2015 has become one of the studio’s most successful films—only behind Toy Story 3 in terms of box office and with a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I’m not going to argue that Inside Out isn’t a good film, but it simply didn’t connect with me on a personal level as it has for the public and critical audiences. Many of the film’s relative problems come with the broad nature that allows it to connect with so many. This is mostly true of its humor, which often plays for easy stereotypes even as its emotional complexity is strong. The characters inside of Riley’s head are of course broad by design, but the core relationship between Joy and Sadness aside, this isn’t the height of Pixar. Some have forecasted a heated battle against Anomalisa for animated film of the year (and that even excludes When Marnie Was There, a fantastic film that’s also in this feature), but it seems like a relative shoo-in for Inside Out, especially with the film garnering Best Picture nomination predictions for the Oscars—the new model nod for cultural transcendence in animated film.

Focus is underrated

One of the great film trends of 2015 was the many great throw-back entertainments. While Focus may be a little flashier than Bridge of Spies and Spotlight, it too shows the pleasures of how solid a ’90s-era flick can be. The biggest appeal of the film is Will Smith, who again shows that he is a bonafide movie star in case you forgot. The actor’s natural charm is incredibly fun to watch, in full effect with terrific chemistry with co-star Margot Robbie—they are good enough together that it’s easy to forget the wide age gap between them. As for the film’s plot: the con man hijinks don’t do anything new, and some of the film’s twists aren’t too hard to see coming, but the pace is quick and there are a few excellent scenes. The anchor scene of the film, where Smith gets into a heated double-or-nothing battle with the great B.D. Wong at the Super Bowl, builds dynamically and stands on its own as one of the best scenes of the year. Like many of the ’90s films that it reminds me of, Focus will be a welcome addition to the cable movie cycle for years to come.

Ananda Dillon

Jurassic World is overrated

Immediately after viewing Jurassic World I turned to my viewing partner, a look of disgust forming on my face, to discover that she and almost everyone else in the theater were high on some sort of flashy, merchandised, nostalgia-pandered fairy dust. And apparently the rest of America (and the world) fell victim as well, as this film is the highest grossing of 2015. I admit I had hopes, not even high ones, of the film playing just the right amount on my love of the first film, on their being bigger and badder dinos, of Chris Pratt being the dinosaur-whisperer who’d steal my heart and Bryce Dallas Howard the badass chick who’d save the day. What I got was more Starbucks and Mercedes logos than my brain could even process, a chick inexplicably running through a tropical island in heels, and (the biggest offense in my mind) the sudden introduction of vindictive dinosaurs. The entire premise of the first film can be boiled down into man vs. nature (umm, life finds a way, duh) and now we’re supposed to swallow the notion of 22-years of fraternization with humans suddenly allowing for cognitive decision making on the part of these “animals”? It’s one thing for a raptor to hunt kids in a kitchen instinctually, another for them to follow Chris Pratt and crew around the park on some sort of mission. The other plot holes are so numerous I have no room to elaborate but I continue to be bewildered at how many people were so dazzled by the special effects and novelty of a new Jurassic Park film that they not only dismissed the absurdity happening in front of them but praised a film that pretty much spits on its source material. I guess Dr. Malcolm would call this the truest example of chaos theory.

Slow West is underrated

So it’s not going to make the top of anyone’s Best Westerns of 2015 list as this is surprisingly a heated year for the genre. Bone Tomahawk has gotten more buzz, The Hateful Eight is primed and ready to blow us all away (in 70 mm!), and The Revenant has star power and artistry out the wazoo. But as much as I know what to expect from those films, Slow West has to be the most surprising western of the year. Maybe it was a marketing problem or a release date mismatch but the film came and went with not nearly enough hullabaloo. Big-namer Fassbender just wasn’t enough to counter a relatively nobody director, John Maclean, and I for one had no idea just how charming the film would be or how much it would ooze eclectic humor. Watching it evoked a similar smugness as watching a Wes Anderson film with all the darkly surprising gristle of a Coen brothers film. It’s oddly romantic for a western, lost love being the driver of the action, and incredibly well performed, especially breakout Caren Pistorious who I genuinely hope to see in more films soon. It may not make Top 20 of 2015 lists, but I hope it has a sort of second coming for those who realize they shouldn’t have glossed over this one.

Cameron Morewood

Beasts of No Nation is overrated

With Beasts of No Nation, Cary Fukunaga is often more concerned with demonstrating his ability to showcase flashy visuals than he is with staying true to the heart of his story and characters. The film’s mise en scène consistently feels detached from the human beings on screen. Raids and chase sequences are depicted in crude slow motion and accompanied by awkward synth music. Idris Elba is certainly a saving grace. Many of the children in the film, including the lead (Abraham Attah), also proved to be surprisingly talented actors. With a different director who possessed a better understanding of how to respond to the material and stylized his film accordingly, Beasts of No Nation could have been something that wasn’t so easily forgotten.

Beloved Sisters is underrated

Beloved Sisters had the unfortunate fate of being intended as a December 2014 release, but being dumped off in January instead. As a result, it was either overlooked or forgotten about by many. But what filmmaker Dominik Graf gives audiences is a rich and epic melodrama, bolstered by a trio of exceptional performances and cinematography which is often classical, but occasionally off-base, deviating into territory more commonly associated with other genres. It’s also lavishly produced and wonderfully scored—its locations feel genuine and lived in, absent of CGI in its rendering of a baroque atmosphere.

Byron Bixler

Straight Outta Compton is overrated

As a big fan of old school hip-hop, Straight Outta Compton was one of my most anticipated films of the year. The genre and the artists who work within it has rarely been addressed by Hollywood, and the few times it was represented, the results were shaky at best (I’m looking at you, Notorious). But with an exciting marketing campaign and the active involvement of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E’s widow, I had confidence that this might be different.

I want to make it clear that Straight Outta Compton is not a bad film—it’s just alright. F. Gary Gray’s direction is fluid, the concert and party scenes have an infectious energy, Jason Mitchell gives a breakthrough performance in an ensemble of solid turns and the needle drop moments are on point. However, the script is where I begin to scratch my head at the universal praise. It’s an ambitious sprawl of a story, but all the character relationships, ambitions and internal issues are painted out in broad strokes. The dialogue is frustratingly on the nose and low on nuance, with several moments playing out with the simplistic instincts of a TV movie of the week. I’m thrilled that Straight Outta Compton has sparked a resurgence of interest in late ’80s/early ’90s hip hop, but it could have been so much better. I can’t help but think we’re settling for less due to the film’s weak field of competitors.

When Marnie Was There is underrated

While most Studio Ghibli films open to a rapturous response, When Marnie Was There seemingly came and went without a word this summer. The only substantial discussion revolved around its status as Ghibli’s last film before taking an extended break. Perhaps this was because it lacked the overtly imaginative fantasy of Spirited Away or My Neighbor Totoro. Or maybe it’s because it wasn’t quite as distinctive in its animation or storytelling as last year’s sensation, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Whatever the reason, When Marnie Was There is an emotionally charged gem that soars on its sensitivity to themes of depression, abandonment and alienation. Heavy stuff for sure, but when filtered through the prism of a mysterious spectral tale, it becomes amazingly accessible to both young and old viewers. It’s a ghost story that’s tender rather than frightening and a family film that levels with its audience, refusing to pander and getting to the heart of very real childhood issues. There’s a lot to dig into here, and while it might not be top tier Ghibli, it stays true to the studio’s tradition of beautiful, smart, and universally relatable filmmaking.

Bernard Boo

Carol is overrated

Todd Haynes’ Carol is one of the most overwhelmingly beloved films of the year; on this issue, I stand a lonely outsider. Perhaps there’s some deeper beauty that’s lost on me, but I found the film to be emotionally cold and half-awake. Lifeless, even. It’s ironic for a movie so visually colorful and sublime, but that’s what makes it so irreconcilable in my head. The production and costume design are unbelievably good, and the performances by leads Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett are solid. But I could never shake the feeling that the whole movie felt like an overly studied Examination on the laws of attraction (capital “E” intended). The warmth of the production and Haynes’ directorial style too often doesn’t gel with the cerebral, structured material, an issue that consistently kept me at arms length from the story and its characters. There are a lot of amazing things going on in this movie, but I feel as if the movie needs a big hug, both to heat it up and to bring its terriffic-but-disconnected elements to a tighter state of cohesion.

The Visit is underrated

The first movies M. Night Shyamalan’s made will haunt him forever. I won’t name them here—we all know what they were and, more importantly, how goddamn good they were. Audiences have been watching his movies with arms folded and a skeptical smirk ever since, waiting for him to capture his former glory. He hasn’t, which is unfortunate, but with The Visit it feels like Shyamalan’s finally dropped that weight he’s had on his shoulders for all those years and is starting to have fun again. This selfie-generation take on Hansel and Gretel is wild, mischievous, scary, wickedly funny, and most importantly doesn’t take itself so seriously. It’s not a film that will resurrect Shyamalan’s credibility completely, but I think I’m through with using his early films as the ultimate measuring stick for his career. The Visit is one of the most entertaining horror movies of 2015, though I think the context of its filmmaker’s larger career has stifled its success.

Blair Hoyle

Avengers: Age of Ultron is overrated

It truly speaks to the generic, predictable nature of most current superhero movies that Avengers: Age of Ultron wasn’t even particularly well received. And yet it’s still overrated. Another by-the-numbers comic book adaptation that tries (and fails) to convince the audience that the indestructible characters are actually in danger, the film rarely—if ever—provides any emotional stakes. When the most entertaining moment of a high-octane superhero movie is when the characters are just kind of hanging out at a cabin, you know something has gone horribly wrong.

Project Almanac is underrated

At a time when a vast majority of found footage films follow a formulaic blueprint and execution, Dean Israelite’s Project Almanac brings something new to the table. A time travel film that doesn’t find its protagonists saving the world from a government conspiracy, Project Almanac instead focuses on high school kids doing high school things. They use their time machine to attend past music festivals, to win the lottery, and impress love interests. It’s an insanely charming film, filled with excellent performances that showcase its young cast’s comedic and dramatic acting skills. It’s energetic, exciting, and sure to elicit equal amounts of cheers and laughs.

C.J. Prince

Goodnight Mommy is overrated

Did critics get collectively hit on the head by a brick when they praised Goodnight Mommy? A torture porn dressed up in Euro arthouse clothing, Goodnight Mommy is an exercise in austere agony that uses violence as a distraction from the fact that it has nothing to say. It starts off as an intriguing story about twin brothers who think their mother—whose face is bandaged up after getting surgery—is a sinister impostor, but that’s about as interesting as things get. Eventually writers/directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala decide to let the boys tie their mom up and torture her to see if she’s really their mother. Franz/Fiala try to be ambiguous about whether the boys’ suspicions are justified, but in this case it’s irrelevant. If their mother turned out to be an alien/ghost/demon/<insert evil thing here>, does that make watching her lips get sliced open any less gruesome to watch? And it’s not like showing this sort of gore is an achievement in horror either; wincing at a woman screaming while someone flosses her gums until they tear apart is a natural reaction, not evidence that the people putting it on screen have any talent. Goodnight Mommy is just a vacuous torture chamber, and shouldn’t be looked at as anything more than an Eli Roth movie with a better cinematographer.

Saint Laurent is underrated

Saint Laurent is a strange case for me, since it’s a film I feel passionate about yet it’s one I can’t really defend. It’s definitely a flawed film, one that overstays its welcome and gets lost in itself plenty of times, but out of the countless movies I’ve seen this year this one still rattles in my mind from time to time. Bertrand Bonello has made what I’d be more comfortable calling a far masterpiece rather than a near masterpiece, a film that comes to life in sublime flashes while being surrounded by more plodding and mediocre parts. Besides having a terrific cast and a killer soundtrack (Bonello is flawless in this department), Saint Laurent takes a more intriguing approach to a biopic; it’s more concerned with nailing down the moods and emotions of what being Yves Saint Laurent would be like, a sort of boundless opulence that comes with holding so much talent and wealth. And when Bonello nails that aspect, Saint Laurent hits a seductive, giddy high that no other film this year comes close to matching. It’s understandable why Saint Laurent can prove to be a frustrating experience given its flaws, but that doesn’t mean it should be tossed off or derided. It’s a film that has the courage to try and (more importantly) fail, a quality that should be embraced rather than opposed.

Dustin Jansick

Mommy is overrated

I’m not sure if there were more obnoxious characters than the mother-son duo in Xavier Dolan’s Mommy. Somehow the film walked away with the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and caused even more people to praise the ground beneath Dolan. These characters are irritating by design: the boy (played by a hyperactive Antoine-Olivier Pilon) suffers from ADHD, causing violent outbursts like setting a fire in a school cafeteria and screaming on the top of his lungs for no apparent reason, and the mother (Anne Dorval) is equally unpleasant with her nonchalant attitude on life. Eventually, all the child-like screaming and hitting just becomes exasperating and downright insufferable. Then there’s the frustrating 1:1 aspect ratio. Dolan devotees will tell you this was an essential part of the film which leads to a some sort of epiphany. But I’m here to tell you it’s more of a gimmicky stylistic choice, paired hilariously with Oasis’ overplayed song “Wonderwall”. So while I respect Dolan as a filmmaker—I think some day he may be considered one of the greats—most of his films end up feeling like exercises in self-indulgence, and Mommy is no exception.

Wild Tales is underrated

The only logical explanation as to why more people aren’t talking about Damián Szifron’s Wild Tales this year is that they didn’t realize it counts as a 2015 release (in the U.S.) after generating so much buzz last year from its Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language film. Szifron’s wild anthology film consists of six short tales, each with the same theme of revenge along with plenty of absurd humor. With perhaps the best opening scene of 2015, Wild Tales starts things off with the shortest of its tales: passengers on a plane quickly discover inconceivable connections with each other, realizing it’s more than just a coincidence just before the story comes to abrupt end. With each new story, Szifron finds inventive ways to up the stakes. Most involve well-mannered characters methodically planning schemes to take down the person that wronged them. Of course, their plans don’t always work out perfectly. The final chapter concludes with an outrageous scuffle when a bride finds out her husband cheated on her with one of their guests, resulting in the most ridiculous and awkward wedding reception of all time. Given its anthological nature, there’s never a dull moment in Wild Tales. What’s better than a well-told revenge tale? Six of them.

Michael Nazarewycz

It Follows is overrated

What David Robert Mitchell did with It Follows—this year’s darling of the indie horror scene—is pretty neat. The film’s conceit alone is clever enough: a shape-shifting (though frequently unseen) entity hunts a person—in slow walking, ’80s slasher style—until it catches and kills that person. But if that person sleeps with someone, the person with whom the hunted slept with becomes the new target. Complementing that is a score by Disasterpeace that invokes memories of the great John Carpenter scores of the 1980s. And Mike Gioulakis’s cinematography? To die for. And yet. For as visually great as It Follows is, the other two key points the film’s devotees cling to—the conceit and the score—are flawed and highly overvalued. The score, while wonderful on its own, is as oppressive as it is random in its application. It’s as if Mitchell isn’t sure when to use it, so he uses it when he thinks he should, which is too often. The greater sin, though, is how fast and loose the film plays with its own rules. I’m usually not one to nitpick such things, particularly in the horror genre, but the film’s premise—hell, its entire marketing campaign—is all about “The Rules”. But once the film gets deeper into the second act, Mitchell, who also wrote the screenplay, needs to cheat those rules to keep the film going. That simply doesn’t fly. It Follows is a good film, but it’s too imperfect to be as revered as it is.

Ant-Man is underrated

A pair of things have hampered a full appreciation for Ant-Man. The first is the foolish melodrama that preceded the film’s release—melodrama created by the internet when the film’s original director, Edgar Wright, left the project. The second is the film having been released after Avengers: Age of Ultron. Because The Avengers brought the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase One to a close, it only seemed fitting that Ultron close Phase II and leave the fans waiting for the next major all-out Avenger-fest, Captain America: Civil War. But along comes Ant-Man, closing out Phase II and wedging itself between two event pictures. But what a wedge it is. Not only does Marvel (again) take another familiar film style—this time the ’50s sci-fi flick, cross-bred with a heist film—it makes it so much more than just another man-in-tights entry on a list. Besides the very effective scenes where Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is miniaturized, there is a depth of character and a structure of relationship that is surprisingly impressive, and makes Lang something of a contemporary of (and dare I speculate, heir apparent to) Tony “Iron Man” Stark. Both are technically savvy, both have father/father-figure issues, and both are, in their own ways, tied to the MCU canon at a high and critical level, namely, the early days of S.H.I.E.L.D. (both also have strong women beside them). But while Tony is the “Genius Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist,” Scott is the “Resourceful, Blue-Collar, Father-of-One Convict.” Sure, those are opposite sides of a coin, but it’s the same coin, and because of this clever and deep connection, I look forward more to the future of Ant-Man than any other MCU hero.

Nik Grozdanovic

Amy is overrated

Fame is evil. Something that most of us who’ve seen enough fiction and non-fiction films on the subject have no doubt gathered by now. Director Asif Kapadia doesn’t seem to think so, however, because that’s the just about the only message his doc Amy is sending out. Amy Whinehouse had an incredible voice; she was a naturally gifted jazz singer whose songwriting was basically diary entries broken down into poetic verses. Depending on individual closeness and knowledge of her personal demons, backstage abuses, and unfortunate circle of people, Amy will be hitting all kinds of chords. But, looked at objectively (or, as objectively as possible when judging any piece of artistic expression) we’re looking at a completely average, by-the-books, documentary that reveals very little real insight, and keeps hitting the same point over and over ad nauseam. At the time of writing this, Amy has won Best Documentary with both the LA Film Critics and New York Online Film Critics associations, making it that much more overrated. Wanna see a great documentary about a celebrity? Choose Listen To Me Marlon instead.

Crimson Peak is underrated

Guillermo del Toro might have directed his best film to date (time will tell if Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone will be surpassed overall, but they certainly are on a technical level) and yet, no one’s really talking about Crimson Peak. Featuring a triplet of outstanding performances by Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, and Jessica Chastain—the latter slipping into uncharted villainous territory like she’s been playing baddies her whole career—the film also drips volumes of atmosphere and boasts a production design to die for. With del Toro’s classic mesh of romance, horror, and seeking the beautiful in the monstrous, Crimson Peak manages to even add new layers to the director’s signature trademarks. Painted in thick Gothic brushstrokes and flowing more like a first edition Victorian novel than a 21st-century motion picture, it’s a fantastic ghost story made all the more compelling by being told mostly through resplendently old-fashioned imagery (costumes, set designs, etc.) A truly spellbinding experience that I implore everyone to seek out and get lost in.

Zachary Shevich

The Wolfpack is overrated

Coming off of The Wolfpack’s premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, there was a lot of excitement around Crystal Moselle’s debut documentary as well as the lanky, longhaired clan of film geek Angulo brothers. The film took Sundance’s Best Documentary Feature award, the Angulos partnered with Vice Films to produce an experimental arts & crafts short film, and The Wolfpack received an overly positive review from me during the glow of the Tribeca Film Festival. At the time, Moselle’s discovery of a group of eccentric lo-fi filmmakers confined to a Lower East Side apartment by an abusive father was simply too compelling to ignore. Yet, their story remains an enigma—even months later. Moselle’s film raises twice as many questions and it answers. Her decisions to keep elements of the documentary and the Angulos’s timeline vague makes the liberation arch fall flat. I noted the filmmaker’s hesitation to dive deeply into her subjects in my April review of the film, but in retrospect that treatment is severely limiting. The approach denies curious viewers a fuller experience. The Wolfpack is a prime example of film’s subject matter exceeding the quality of the filmmaking around it.

Unfriended is underrated

Perhaps Unfriended wasn’t best suited for big screens. Watching it on the intimacy of a laptop monitor—the same way the film’s final girl Blaire (Shelley Hennig) experiences the action—creates an immensely chilling effect. Unfriended is a lot more than a riff about young people living their lives through technology. It’s a smart and effective thriller about a ghost that exploits the comforts of private, digital spaces that we create for ourselves online. Director Leo Gabriadze and writer Nelson Greaves ambitiously contain the entire story to a continuous shot of a glitchy computer monitor where the main character clicks through her iTunes library, her deceased friend’s Facebook photos and a group Skype chat infiltrated by the “hacker ghost.” Unfriended has the potential to rely on computer-generated gimmickry and “teen speak” but doesn’t. Gabriadze and Greaves gives each member of this friends group their own skeleton-filled closets, which allows the tension to stem from their increasingly tense dynamic. As the friends turn on one another, it shifts the attention away from an all-powerful digital demon and back to the computer users themselves. Sporadic use of some laptop-related gags (such as the diagetic soundtrack moments) punctuate an enjoyable, slightly campy horror with amusing comedic relief; however, Unfriended wastes no moment of its 83-minute runtime. Gabriadze & Greaves exhibit their mastery of elevating and deflating the stakes.

We’re back with another packed show as we welcome filmmaker Evgeny Afineefsky to talk about his documentary Winter On Fire. Bernard and Zach go over the standouts of the still-rolling 53rd New York Film Festival as well as talk about this past summer’s disappointing string of summer blockbusters. The boys also discuss actors whose movies they’ll watch no matter what and share their Indie Picks of the Week.

Topics

• Indie Picks of the Week (2:13)
• NYFF (6:46)
• Summer Blockbuster Rage (27:36)
• Actors We Follow (43:53)
• Evgeny Afineefsky (55:02)

WTI Articles Referenced in the Podcast

Carol NYFF Review
Microbe & Gasoline NYFF Review
The Walk Review

Jurassic World is one of the mostly highly-anticipated films of the summer, and if the first trailer wasn’t enough to get you excited, the new global one undoubtedly is. Filled with more dinosaurs, more action, and more suspense, if the new trailer is an indication of what’s to come,  Jurassic World could very well be exactly what fans of the series have been waiting for.

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond. After 10 years of operation and visitor rates declining, in order to fulfill a corporate mandate, a new attraction is created to re-spark visitor’s interest, which backfires horribly.

Directed by Colin Trevorrow, the film stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Jake Johnson, Omar Sy and Judy Greer.

Jurassic World arrives in theaters on June 12th.

Jurassic World trailer

There are few movie franchises that have the gall (or the resources) to throw their hat in the ring with all of the other Super Bowl Ad contenders. But Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard had their mugs seen by possibly more people than will actually end up seeing their movie. Around 112 million people tuned in for the Big Game, a new record. Of course, it makes sense, as the premise is about a pool of egomaniacal and naive tycoons looking to make a million bucks by commanding nature to bend to their whims.And of course the disaster that follows. Any excuse to hear Chris Pratt say “I told you so” and then lead his team of velociraptors toward saving an island full of unsuspecting dino-food.

Enjoy the full trailer for that ever enticing Park to entertain us.

Coming June 12th, 2015.

Michael Crichton’s characters are coming to life once again in 2015’s Jurassic World and the first trailer just made its way to the Internet. I didn’t get those all too recognizable chills, however, until the delicate notes of the familiar John Williams theme played over that now haunting skeletal logo.

This time there’s an entire theme park full of people on the run. Wary of the overly futuristic tones that the initial scenes in the preview were implying, I was ready to be in full on doubt over this 4th installment of dino-genetic chaos once again wreaking havoc on the Isla Nubar. After all, what’s a Jurassic World without Dr. Malcolm or Dr. Grant? Can Chris Pratt compare to that lovely British crooning game warden, Robert Muldoon? Can Bryce Dallas Howard pull off the wonderful naiveté of John Hammond? Has anyone noticed that everyone is pretending (perhaps justifiably) there was never a second or third movie?

It’s been 22 years since we were all blown away by the incredible effects and epic stylizations of Jurassic Park. In the trailer John Hammond’s dream has been realized and we are seeing, with a deep awareness of the inevitable disaster to come, the Park actualized. There seems to be a possibility for it to take a more overt comedic slant with top billing going to Chris Pratt, Judy Greer, and Jake Johnson. There is no question, however, that there will not be very many unforeseen plot twists in this new chapter, even with a brand spanking new super-intelligent dinosaur, as they know exactly what their audience wants: to see the catastrophic mess that occurs when a bunch of pseudo-scientists play god and try to tell nature how she should do things.

What I am looking forward to is the hint at the end of the trailer to an apparent alliance built with the new genetic reincarnations of everyone’s all-time favorites, the Velociraptors…clever girls that they are.

Friday at Comic-Con in Hall H was primarily focused on two of television’s hottest shows, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. We won’t bore you with television news, but… oh, who are we kidding? If you love good films, chances are you watch both of these amazing shows and therefore should know you can check out the new preview of The Walking Dead Season 5 here, and be sure to catch the gag reel from Game of Thrones here.

Alright, on to movie news.

RADiUS-TWC Preview Horns and Everly

The first film-related panel of the day showcased two of RADiUS-TWC’s upcoming films, Everly and Horns. To speak on Everly was the film’s lead, Salma Hayek, and director Joe Lynch. The film is the story of a woman whose mob boss ex-boyfriend decides he wants her killed. She holes up in her apartment and defends herself agains the would-be assassins one by one. Lynch talked about his excitement to make a film starring a badass woman and “strong female character” which he said shouldn’t even be a term any more as a female ought just to be allowed to be a “strong character.” No argument here.

Salma talked about the difficulty of making a film shot entirely in one small location, as well as Lynch’s decision to shoot chronologically. For good measure she also mentioned that she “barely wear[s] anything at all through the whole film.”

The real meat of this panel was when director Alexandre Aja, writer Joe Hill, and star Daniel Radcliffe (and let’s be honest, mostly Radcliffe) made their entrance to show off Horns. Based on Hill’s novel, the film stars Radcliffe as Ig Perrish, a young man who wakes up one morning to discover he’s growing horns. His new accessories are fitting as he’s been demonized in his hometown for a year since his girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple) was murdered and the finger of blame was pointed at Ig. With his horns comes the disturbing gift of getting anyone near him to reveal their darkest secrets and innermost evil desires. At first alarming Ig soon realizes he can use his new gift to track down who really killed Merrin and force them to confess to it.

After a full-audience rendition of “Happy Birthday” for Radcliffe, who just turned 25, Hill, who looks plenty like his father Stephen King and has his voice, remarked on the splendor of Hall H saying “Joss Whedon’s butt sweat once graced this chair. I can almost feel his essence wafting up to me.”

After that weirdness they showed an especially fun clip from the film where Ig convinces some reporters hounding him that they ought to fight each other before doing some investigating at a local bar. The bartender ends up starting the place on fire, and Ig walks coolly out the front door with smoking billowing around him, horns protruding, with a red shirt, yellow hoodie and great brown leather jacket. (Any similarities to Gryffindor colors were exclaimed to be purely coincidental — “I’m too young to be referencing my own past work in my new films” joked Radcliffe.)

Of course the audience got a bit swoony, unable to keep from asking Radcliffe questions that related this role to Harry Potter. He very eloquently spoke highly of his experience with the franchise and explained how much he loved the script for Horns immediately, finding himself quite drawn to the dark anti-hero Ig. Aja chimed in saying “Potter was only the beginning of something great.”

Based on what we saw the film has a bit of ridiculousness (how could it not with that premise?) but looks thoroughly enjoyable.

20th Century FOX Presentation

Next up was the two hour jam-packed presentation from 20th Century Fox. First on their slate, The Maze Runner, which they teased by immediately showing an extended look at one of the opening scenes in which teenager Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) finds himself in a fast-moving elevator which opens into a grassy glade surrounding by tall stone walls and filled with many other boys his own age and he himself can’t remember his own name.

Then out came director Wes Ball along with the author of the novel, James Dashner, followed by cast members Will Poulter, Kaya Scodelario, and Dylan O’Brien. They answered a few questions around the film, while audience questions focused mainly on the book series and Ball revealed they are hoping to complete the entire series, even showing a conceptual poster for The Scorch Trials, the title of the second book. Another long clip was shown of the bug-like creatures that terrorize the boys as they run through the maze. Things got slightly awkward when O’Brien accidentally let slip a spoiler that really wouldn’t surprise readers of the book, but was a bit of a giveaway for those who will just be seeing the film.

Next up was Jorge Gutierrez‘s colorfully vibrant cartoon, Book of Life. Showing a longer trailer for the film, it really does look impressively creative with breathtaking animation. (Here’s the first trailer.) Championing on behalf of the film was Gutierrez, producer Guillermo del Toro, Channing Tatum, Rob Perlman, and Christina Applegate. Always a fan favorite at Comic-Con, del Toro received the biggest welcome and was eloquent with his responses to questions regarding the film. The man has always been good in deciphering the difference between being a film’s director, and thus owner, and a film’s producer, which is when he plays advocate.

While del Toro is always geeky charming, and there were plenty of questions for Channing Tatum, especially one alluding to his best asset being his “visual” ones and not necessarily his voice, the real charmer was director Gutierrez who spoke with childlike enthusiasm about his childhood in Mexico and his deep connection with Dia De Los Muertos, a day when the dead are honored and believed to commune with the living.

The panelists left with the audience chanting “Hellboy 3” and del Toro smiling ear to ear.

Next up was Hitman: Agent 47, based on the video game. The film stars Rupert Friend, who sent in a short video hello introducing the first trailer. Clearly his work on Homeland has prepped him well to be a calm collected super-human assassin. The film looks ho-hum and the brief panel with Hannah Ware and Zachary Quinto didn’t inspire much enthusiasm for the film, just a few thank yous from fans to Quinto for his Star Trek work.

Next was a hilarious preview of New Girl co-stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr.‘s film Let’s Be Cops. The extended trailer does indeed look hilarious, albeit completely ridiculous. Jake Johnson sent in a video as he’s currently filming Jurassic World (I mean honestly, what is that movie even going to be like with all these comedians?!) that showed him in a hotel with a long-haired, thong clad man. Weird. Funny. Everyone involved, including Nina Dobrev, Rob Riggle, and Keegan-Michael Key, all sounded like they had a lot of fun filming it.

Last in this jam-packed panel was more on Kingsman: The Secret Service. First a video with Mark Hamill, who has a role in the film, introduced an extended scene from the film. In the scene Colin Firth‘s secret agent character smoothly takes out some local thugs who give main character Eggsy (Taron Egerton) a hard time. The film looks action-packed and surprisingly clean for a comic-book adaptation. Perhaps because the main villain, played by Samuel L. Jackson hates the sight of blood?

At any rate it certainly looks like an interesting addition to the action-packed films on the roster this weekend and seeing Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson in the same panel was not something I’d have imagined every seeing.

The Musk of Tusk: An Evening with Kevin Smith

After a jam-packed day an hour and a half listening to Kevin Smith babble on was almost soothing. Known as a yearly frequenter and panel giver at Comic-Con, this year Kevin Smith started by giving Comic-Conners exactly what they’d want to hear: insider info on the new Star Wars film. Smith is one of the privelaged few who had the chance to visit the film’s set in London by invitation of JJ Abrams. Smith, while careful not to break his NDA, told an extended story (is anything LESS than extended with him?) about walking onto set and going aboard the Millennium Falcon.  He then segued strangely well into a sex-story concerning his wife. And that’s Kevin Smith for you. He got surprisingly more audience questions in than you’d think, considering how long-winded he is. Two of those questions were from children and it was hilarious to watch him try to keep his swearing at a minimum (as if they hadn’t JUST heard the sex story).

Eventually Smith revealed that Tusk is what he considers to be his best film to date, and he’s also working on a film he hopes children, especially girls will love, called Yoga Hosers. Finally Smith gave us the first trailer for Tusk, which he elaborately explained came from an idea developed during one of his podcasts, called Smodcast, where he discussed an ad someone in real-life posted about wanting someone to come stay with them and agree to dress in a walrus suit. Smith began to speculate this would make a great horror film, where the man actually wanted to turn his house guest INTO a walrus. After spitballing the premise, Smith got Twitter to affirm his decision to make the film with the hashtag #WalrusYes, and here we are a year later and his film is coming out in September.

The trailer is fantastic. In it, Justin Long plays a podcaster who travels to Canada to interview his latest subjective for his podcast and discovers the old man (Michael Parks) actually wants to keep him hostage and turn him into a walrus. It’s completely bizarre and looks delightfully creepy AND very Kevin Smith-ish, with Justin Long cracking a joke at the end of the trailer that he “doesn’t want to die in Canada.” It looks great, and you can check out the trailer here. After the trailer, actors Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment came out to about their roles in the film.

In closing Kevin Smith assures us that though the trailer doesn’t explicitly show it, “We do turn him into a f***ing walrus. And it is f***ed up.”

It looks fantastic and it would be wonderful to see a Kevin Smith film we can get behind after all these years.