{"id":4634,"date":"2016-12-19T21:01:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T02:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/?p=4634"},"modified":"2016-12-20T07:42:33","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T12:42:33","slug":"2015-movie-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2016\/12\/2015-movie-highlights\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 Movie Highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

I mostly wrote this early in 2016 and never got around to finishing it. Now that we’re almost into 2017, I feel comfortable saying that any trace of late-in-the-year bias must have been eradicated by now, so\u00a0I can safely evaluate and reveal my movie and TV highlights for 2015. As usual these are not necessarily new, but merely new to me.<\/p>\n

Sidenotes<\/h2>\n

First, a couple\u00a0items not on the “new for 2015” list—one in a good way, one bad.<\/p>\n

X-Files<\/h3>\n

One small mention, not a new highlight, is that I once more watched through the X-Files<\/strong>\u00a0oeuvre. It remains excellent. My favorite episode continues to be S7E17: “all things.”<\/a> It’s arguably\u00a0hippy-dippy and soft compared to the vast majority of other episodes, relatively uneventful on the surface, and mostly revolves around a previous relationship of Scully’s and so-called “feelings” that I guess people have while not fighting aliens and monsters. But I really like how it perfectly slips in the\u00a0reveal that Mulder and Scully are together now, instantly normalizing what’s effectively the culmination of the series, the emotional payoff for the whole thing. It also cements the series as being decisively about Scully, no matter how much more Fox paid Duchovny. Notably, this episode was the first and only directed by Anderson herself.<\/p>\n

\"Scully<\/a>

Scully and Mulder Netflix-and-chill between alien invasions.<\/p><\/div>\n

Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/h3>\n

Another sidenote, notably missing from my highlights is Stars Wars: The Force Awakens<\/strong>. The first third or so of the movie I thought was good, interesting and engaging with a lot of neat\u00a0worldbuilding in\u00a0the background. Then\u00a0most of that got thrown away in favor of replaying Episode IV<\/em>. The first time I saw the movie I thought it was incredibly boring and was literally looking at my watch to see how much more there was. My expectations having been\u00a0re-calibrated, the next go in theaters was better.\u00a0But still, I rate it on my scale somewhere between an 8, “Definitely a good movie, but maybe not quite engaging enough or a little flat.” and a 7, “An ok movie; watchable, entertaining, not something to really come back to.” I am though excited about the prominent and even action-oriented roles for several female\u00a0characters.<\/p>\n

Honorable Mentions<\/h2>\n

A couple\u00a0movies\u00a0all got credit for being great,\u00a0quiet character studies in 2015:<\/p>\n